Adios Halloween!

I love 75% off sales after the holidays!

Let's face it, I don't need any more Halloween decorations or any candy, but I always seem to find a gem in the clearance isle.

Today my big find was 25 cent candles (black, but when they are inside a votive, nobody can tell) and a 2 pack of Halloween underwear for $1! So what if they are black and say "spooky" on the butt (I'm so embarrassed right now)?!? As long as I'm not wearing white shorts, I should be ok.

I love it when things work out ...

So for the past 3 years (no joke) I've been looking at bathroom lights at Lowes. Every time I go to Lowes for anything, and Jonathan lets me, I walk down the lights isle. We have those stupid, ugly bar lights with round bulbs on it.

So a week ago, they FINALLY went on sale! Jackpot. I bought a 3 bulb fixture for the small bathroom and a 4 bulb fixture for the master bathroom. I wasn't sure which glass globe-y thing to buy, so I bought a cheep ugly small one and an expensive big one. I was hoping I would eventually learn to live with the small one.

Fast forward to today (one week later). I go to Lowes again to buy some flowers and, what the heck, let's walk down the lights isle.

The lights I bought last week are even MORE on sale! I can take my receipt back and get more money.

And that big expensive globe-y thing I bought. Those are 50% off! Now I don't have to leave to live with the cheep ugly small one. The big nice ones are now the same price as the cheep ugly small ones.

Jackpot!!! I just love when everything works out perfectly.

Yay for Black Friday!

I hit the jackpot shopping today.

I've been on the hunt for a cute pair of black shoes for about a year now.

I woke up at the crack of 9:30am today, ready for some Black Friday shopping. I hit Ross first, since I figured it wouldn't be very crowded (there's always deals there, nothing special today).

I saw an adorable pair of shoes, but when I picked them up, I realized they were dark brown, not black. For some reason I have lots of brown shoes. But they were pointy, slingback and about 1" heel - exactly what I'm looking for!!

I thought to myself, "darn, if these were in black, I would buy them in a second."

Guess what I found down the next isle ... the same shoes in black!!!!

Thank you shopping gods.

Love at first sight ...

Have you ever been clothes shopping, and you put something on in the dressing room and it's one of those {hallelujah choir singing} "aha!" moments?

Well, that was me yesterday at Old Navy.  I put on a cotton dress, and it fit me perfectly.  Nothing EVER fits me perfectly.  And it's so soft, flowy and comfy.

I debated on wearing it out of the store (and never taking it off ... EVER), but I decided against it.

But I'm wearing it right now ... and I just can't bear to take it off.  I should be wearing grungy clothes to clean the house, but I'm sitting here in a cotton dress.

I {heart} it.

Did I mention I bought it for $3?!?3

Thrift Store Goodies!

So I'm in Illinois to visit my brother and parents.

The one thing I love do to when I come to visit is to go the thrift stores with my friend Julie. We normally find nice stuff (last year I bought 2 Gap skirts) and we also find t-shirts for under $1. Since we're near Chicago, there area always Cubs and Bears t-shirts.

This year we made 2 awesome finds. Julie found a William Sonoma burger press for $2.62. I'm sure it normally cost over $20 at the mall.

And I found a like-new Brian Urlacher Bears jersey for $3.63! Jackpot!

Thrift Store Goodies!

I love a good thrift store!

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find one in Florida yet. The Goodwill store near our local mall wasn't really a great deal busting store.

But I found this tank top, and I'm in love! It cost a budget busting $2.50 (that's a lot for a thrift store), but I couldn't pass it up.

The buttons were messed up, so I had to fix those. One button actually still had a sewing needle inside! That's really safe huh?

I can't wait until summer to strut my stuff!

Best $1 ever spent!

This lame thing was $1 at Ikea, and I'm so glad I bought it.

It's (obviously) a plastic bag holder. We re-use plastic bags for our mini bathroom garbage cans or to pad things we are putting in the mail.

It's so nice not having bags laying all over the place!

Did I mention it was $1?

Somebody stop me!

I bought ANOTHER dress!  I need to remind myself that I never wear dresses.

But this one was 75% off at H&M - and it was cute in an odd way ... it looks kind-of 50's.

Plus, it has a layer underneath so you don't have to worry about bra straps showing!  Although it is a little short ... but hopefully Wii Fit will take care of my chubby knees in time for summer.

My new favorite dress

Thanks to my cool mother in law I had a crisp $100 bill for my birthday.  I decided to splurge on myself.  I decided to go on a super thrify shopping spree and see how far that $100 could take me.

I had a "$10 off $50" coupon to Marshalls, so I started there.  I found $40 worth of sale merchandise, but I needed another $10.  Arg!

Then I ran into this beauty.

Yes, the pattern is a little 'grandma', but it fits me like a glove.  And NOTHING (especially dresses) ever fits my unproportioned body like a glove (I have no chest, a small waist and a big butt).

Now, if you know me, I never wear dresses!  Yet I keep buying sundresses because they are so darn cute.

P.S.  I bought 1 dress, 1 pair of black work pants, 1 pair of shorts and 6 shirts with my $100.  Not bad huh?

Merry Christmas!

Jonathan and I celebrated Christmas today!

Since we're flying to Jonathan's home town (in Missour-a) on 12/24/08 at 7:05am (yikes!), we opened our presents tonight.  I didn't want to have to haul them on an airplane.

We decided to have a $100 limit this year.  Actually, that was Jonathan's idea - which totally surprised me.  He's normally not one for budgeting.

We each makes lists for each other.  Jonathan makes a list of 4 things - and I buy those 4 things (pretty easy!).  I make a list of about 25 things, so I'll be surprised.  I like my gifts to be surprises.

Jonathan bought me some Mary Jane crocs (but in chocolate brown).  Yay!

Thanks!

Yesterday we spent Thanksgiving at Jonathan's grandpa's house.  We also celebrated his Aunt Barbera's birthday.  She's 90!  And she's not your average 90 year old - she still drives and is really active in the community.

Aunt Barbera made all us girls (there were 10 of us - various cousins of Jonathan's) knitted hats.  And they are super cute!

So THANK YOU Aunt Barbera!

Jackpot at the thrift store

In Illinois, one of my favorite things to do is go to the thrift stores.

I've found some great stuff there, from Empire Strikes Back bed sheets, to Victoria Secret PJ bottoms (which I'm wearing right now).

Now, I've had this Chicago Bears hat forever.  I'm assuming I stole it from my brother.  I'm guessing it's from the 80s or early 90s.

When Julie and I hit the thrift stores in early October, I went right to the bed sheet section.  I was hoping to find some retro looking sheets, that I could turn into a skirt or something.

I found his scarf in the bed sheet section.  I saw the orange and blue and I thought, "this could be a cool Bears scarf".

Then I picked it up, flipped it around and notice the patch.  I almost peed my pants.  It's the same stupid Bears patch!!!  

It's a set, and I found it 10+ years later.  I couldn't believe it.  It's a miracle!

Digi Scraping

I've been scrapbooking for about 10 years now.  I enjoyed doing it, and I really enjoyed looking at the finished products (and remembering stuff I did).

Recently I've fallen into a creative slump.  I actually didn't want to scrapbook because it just took too long.  I wanted results, but I couldn't produce results.

Then I discovered digital scrapbooking.  It RULES!  It's 100X faster, it's easier, and most importantly it's less expensive.  All the paper and stickers and ribbon and other stuff I used to buy are all downloadable and FREE!  Now, you can pay for stuff, but there is tons of free stuff out there.

My favorite "give me free stuff" website:  www.ikeagoddess.blogspot.com.  I check out her blog daily.

My favorite "I might eventually pay money for this" designer is Britt-ish Designs.  Her funky style rocks!  I love everything she does.  Plus she loves Disney.  Basically, I want to be her cyber friend.

Here are some of the layouts I've created:

Restaurant Review: Trails End

Over the weekend Jonathan and I dined at Trails End.  Jonathan just LOVES this place.

Normally I'm not a fan of Disney buffets.  I just can't stand spending $30+ on one meal.  There is no way I'm eating $30 worth of food.  (Side note - our weekly grocery bill for 2 is only about $40-50).  Plus, every time I leave a buffet I feel totally sick.  One time, I ate at Tusker House (at Animal Kingdom), and I litterally didn't eat a full meal for 36 hours later.  I think I'm turning into a snake in my old ate.

Back to Trails End ... it's only $19/person to eat there, so I can almost stomach paying that price.  Plus the food is really good.  Jonathan ate 4 pieces of fried chicken.  They also have ribs, buffalo sausage, salad, mashed potatos, mac 'n cheese, some guy cutting some sort of fancy meat (that neither of us had) and desserts!

Magical, magical desserts!  They added something new - an ice cream sundae (sp?) station!!!  They had soft serve ice cream and tons of available toppings - including Gummy Bears!  I'm a huge 'gummy' fan.  I had a delicious cookie/ice cream sandwich for dessert.

Good times.

Cha-ching!

Gas prices are dropping like flies!

It was creeping really, really close to $4, but now it's down to $3.83. I have yet to pay over $4/gallon. Yay!!!

edit: Cha-ching - found gas for $3.79 today!!!

How Soon We Forget

4 weeks ago ... I found the very last gas station selling gas under $3/gallon.

2 weeks ago ... Gas prices are disturbing me, as I pay $3.03 to fill up - my first time EVER paying over $3/gallon.

Today ... I got a little giddy as I saw the local place lower prices all the way down to $2.98. How exciting is that?!? How soon we forget ...

Typhoon Lagoon

Last weekend Jonathan and I went to Typhoon Lagoon. I had forgotten how much I love water parks! Except for the part where your sunscreen gets in your eyes - I don't like that much.

The new-ish water "roller coaster" Crush 'n Gusher is super fun!

And little cheap ole me even bought a picture from the photo pass guy! Jonathan thinks it should be our wedding photo. Even though he was joking ... I think it's actually a cute idea.

Find of the century!

One thing I discovered about Illinois is the abundance (sp?) of rockin' thift stores! I need to find some in Florida that aren't gross.

Here's the find of the century from a thift store. Total cost for a fitted and flat sheet = $3.

Now I need to buy a twin bed and become a 8 year old boy. (ha ha ha).

P.S. For the non-Star Wars fan, these are from Empire Strikes back.

I work hard for the money!

Here is a picture of me hard at work! I work in cube-land. Cubes as far as the eye can see! My desk is relatively clean b/c I just moved cubes; I got a different job.

I used to answer telephone calls and make reservation for DVC (Disney Vacation Club) timeshare owners. But now I got "promoted" (no pay raise). Now I work on paperwork - called the "support team". Out of 130 people, only 9 get picked for support team, so I was shocked when they told me I was hired!

Thursdays stink b/c I have to work from 9-7pm. Hooray for overtime!

What is everybody doing for New Years Eve?