Second Grade teacher, Adventurer, Photographer, Blogger, a Phi Mu Sister and a Florida Gator till the day I die!! users online

Sara Smiles

Life Update: Meet Harley

So what was I up to all of 2022? Well, I definitely did some traveling that I promise to post about, but the biggest change was adopting my new pup HARLEY! I adopted him in September when he was about 10 months old. He is a MASSIVE Golden Retriever Puppy. When I first got him, my anxiety and stress level sky rocketed…I seriously don’t know how people do this from the puppy stage. I was SO lucky…


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Jan 19th at 9AM / reblog / 3 notes

One Year Later: Summer 2021

One Year Later: Summer 2021

A moment of peace during my Spring Break

This is the absolute longest I have gone without posting to my blog in the 11 years I have had it. I am totally blaming Covid for the lack of posting. This year has been crazy. This year has been focused on surviving. In August the world was very different than it is now, but I still found myself back in the classroom in person teaching while so many…


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May 29th at 10AM / reblog / 1 note

30, Flirty, and Thriving

30, Flirty, and Thriving (a post that should have been shared a year ago. whoops)

(Edit this is from a year ago, found it sitting in my drafts for an entire year…whoops. Posting it anyways)

It finally happened…I am officially 30 years old. Growing up I loved the movie 13 Going on 30 with Jennifer Garner. It is about a 13 year old girl dreaming to be 30 so she can live a fabulous life, hence this title “30, flirty, and thriving.” This post is a tad late…but hey I’m old now…I…


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Blue Ridge: Mountain Getaway

Blue Ridge: Mountain Getaway

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My best friend Amanda and I were supposed to travel to Scotland in June to celebrate out 30th birthdays, but Coronavirus had other plans. We were devastated to have to postpone our big trip, but still wanted to do something. We brainstormed a safe and easy trip for both of us. Amanda lives in Atlanta, and I live in Florida. I usually fly to Atlanta when I visit, and I even had a flight purchased.…

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Annual Summer Vacation

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Every summer since I was little my family has taken a summer vacation somewhere. When we were little it was usually National Parks out west, but the past 10 summers it has been the Bahamas. We were all set for our annual trip to Exuma, the flights were booked, the house was set, and we already had several days planned with Out Island Explorers . Covid-19 had other plans for us. We ended up…

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Dealing with Travel Changes

Dealing with Travel Changes

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Well, if you read my last post you know all about how I had to cut my Spring Break Trip short due to Coronavirus…but cancelling a trip WHILE on the trip is not the easiest thing in the world. It is very stress inducing which is not good for this anxiety prone girl. Thankfully I was traveling with my Biffle who took the reins and called to talk to places (I HATE TALKING ON THE PHONE)!

Changing…

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Traveling at the Start of a Pandemic: Portland, ME

Traveling at the Start of a Pandemic: Portland, ME

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I am going to start this post by saying that in hindsight we probably should’ve rescheduled our trip from the get go, but we took the advice of doctors/research and left on our trip. Before we left things were still fairly calm in most places, the day we left Maine only had one confirmed case. We left on March 13, and once we arrived things continued to change rapidly.

We tried our absolute…

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My Life as a Teacher during the Coronavirus Crisis

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I have been in a funk recently, and I think almost everyone has been feeling the same way! There are several posts I want to share from before all this began, but looking back they seem trivial compared to everything happening right now…so instead I figured I would give you a glimpse into my everyday life. I usually only share about my travels…but did you know by day I am a second grade teacher? 

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30 before 30 Update: Coronavirus

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This post is killing me to write…but reaching my goal of 30 trips this year is not looking promising due to the Coronavirus. I am absolutely devastated by trips that are being cancelled BUT I completely understand the need to stay home and keep everyone safe. I know a silly little trip getting cancelled is not a big deal in the big scheme of things, but that doesn’t mean I have to enjoy it…

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Mar 28th at 10AM / reblog / 1 note