Oh hey. How are you doing this fine Wednesday? The start of school is creeping closer and closer. According to our Instagram feed, it's already begun in parts of Texas! Early Birds. For my family it's 2 weeks from today. Eeek. So, it's no surprise that most of this week's five are relevant to the back to school mood.

1. Getting new shoes for the new school year is tradition around here. Well...part tradition, part necessity. It's special to have new kicks for the new school year. And, my kids' feet literally grow a size a season. So, I've been shoe shopping! These are all brands we have at home. They're all quality and CUTE.

Gray Oak Studio Back to School Kids Shoes 2018

Gold ballet flats / Blue sneakers / Pink glitter Mary Janes / Washed gray sneakers / Gold sneakers / Gray and leather hightops

2. I recently discovered that when kids are learning to write, they should use short pencils and rock shaped crayons and any sort of stubby writing tool. Their little hands will gain the fine motor skills much more quickly and with a lot less frustration. So, I went to Amazon and 2 days later (of course I have Prime!) my girls were practicing their letters with golf pencils. They come in all sorts of colors.

Gray Oak Studio - short pencils for kids handwriting

3. Taking a break from the back to school talk, let's dip back into the world of interior design and talk mixing metal finishes. This is one of those client questions we get ALL. THE. TIME. Can I mix metal finishes? Yes. But should I? Yes. We recently found a great guide to mixing metals from Kathy Kuo Home. There's a whole bunch of really simple Dos and Dont's. Well worth a read.

I mean, when done right, mixing metals brings an extra WOW.

4. The first day of school picture for your memory book or photo album...or the cloud because so few of us actually print photos. Anyway, have you figured out how you want to capture the moment?! Chalkboards are pretty popular (for good reason) - they're adorable and classic. I found an awesome reusable chalkboard on Etsy that can be personalized with your child's name or not (if you have multiple children and want to use the same chalkboard and just hand write each name). And, guys, it's $14.99.

Gray Oak Studio - Wednesday Five - Back to School Chalkboard

5. I've started a new book guys! Look at me. It's a new, old book. Does anyone remember Prep: A Novel by Curtis Sittenfeld? It was sort of the rage when it came out...10+ years ago. New York Times best seller. The whole thing. I knew it was about prep school drama. And that's all I knew (and all I know). But I never read it. What I did read, years later, was American Wife. Now that was a fantastic book. It's, allegedly, the fictionalized story of Laura Bush's life. Whether or not that's true, I'm sure I'll never know, but either way it's one of my all time favorites. So, as I'm diving back into the world of being a nightly reader, I went through my list of old books I always wanted to read, but never did, that are probably on the shelves at my local library. I'll keep you posted.

Happy Wednesday.

- Leah

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