fall style

The past few days, the weather has been SO hot. And I’m SO ready for it to be over. Tomorrow it should be around 80 and the weekend will be temps in the 70s. Ah! Perfect. I’m ready to get out my fall wardrobe: jeans, long-sleeved T-shirts, scarves, sweaters. I bought a new pair of clogs but I need to look for a new purse. Maybe I’ll check out Rebecca Minkoff handbags. This fall I’m really into purple and gray. Last year it was brown and teal, and I still like those colors a lot but… I think I’m looking for colors that are cooler in general. I’m also still looking for some fall jewelry. I’d love to get an antique-looking necklace with some birds and beads or flowers. I’ve been shopping for one for a long time, and have not found just the right thing yet. What about you? What are your fall must-haves?

thinking about the summer

So for Christmas, my parents gave each of the boys a gift card to Target. The cards have been hanging on my memo board for, oh… over four months now I guess.  You see, they got a lot of gift cards at Christmas this year and I’m not one to let them spend willy-nilly. But they have started asking again and really… how long can I let it go? So Drew and I devised a plan. After the last day of school, they can use the cards to buy whatever they want - art supplies, a video game, or toys. Whatever. Their choice. They seem pretty receptive to the idea and they were already scouting the aisles the other day. I can’t wait to see what they come up with!

Fun Day Out

With Noah spending the weekend at my parents, we were able to have a leisurely day shopping after we picked Jake up from his friend’s house. I found a few fun items at Christmas Tree Shops, got some craft supplies at Hobby Lobby, a new book at B&N, and some microbrews at Half-Time. When we were at CTS, as usual some of the people there just had there carts piled high with stuff. Kind of makes you wonder if they’ll need to look into credit repair services after a while! At Half Time I picked up a bottle each of Harpoon’s Ginger Wheat and Souther Tier Brewing Co’s Choklat Imperial Stout. Yum, yum! I can’t wait to try both of these!

to flip or not to flip

Every Christmas we make a DVD with our home movies to give to our parents. This year, however, we realized how little we used it. There was barely any film of Laura (which of course makes me feel terribly guilty). Our camcorder is great, but it’s eight years old and can be a pain to drag out. Lately I’ve been wondering if we should invest in one of those Flip cameras. They’re so small I could keep it with me all the time and then, I imagine, burn the movies onto a DVD so everyone could enjoy them. It’s sad to miss those little moments. They’re fleeting, to be sure.

Christmas shopping

So have you all started your Christmas yet? We are mostly done. Laura needs a couple gifts, but the boys are shopped for. I’ve been trying to get a peek at the Black Friday ads. I wonder what the hot items will be this year… GPS devices, plasma tvs, digital video cameras or maybe nothing high-end? I don’t know. Depending on what the big-ticket items are I may or may not head out super early the day after Thanksgiving. There are a couple electronics I have in mind, and the right price would make it worthwhile to get up at the crack of dawn!

Hooray for Clearance!

For lunch today, Drew and I decided to finally getting around to trying out this Chinese buffet we go by all the time. It was cheap and actually pretty good! The crab rangoon were, I think, even better than the ones at our usual Chinese take-out place, and the hot & sour soup (which I was craving) was just as good, too. Anyway, we stuffed ourselves silly and then thought that maybe we should walk around a bit before heading home. There’s a Kohl’s nearby and Drew wanted to look for cargo pants so that’s where we headed.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have any luck with cargo pants. However, he did score a nice casual vest, a deep purple dress shirt, and a really cool grey/black/brown houndstooth sports coat. It totally was his day, LOL! I headed over to the jewelry department and found a couple cute pairs of trendy earrings on clearance so I was happy with that, too! It was a fun, spur-of-the-moment way to spend lunchtime!

Awesome Target Clearance!!!

I might be pretty CVS savvy, but my husband gets all the credit for Target deals. Since December 26th he has been watching and waiting for toy clearance sales. This morning he was reading a few message boards and became convinced that today was the day our Target would be marking things down to 75% off. He had a plan, which included breakfast out (no doubt to lure me into coming, LOL!) and then a stop at Target. Well, I have to give the guy credit because he was totally right. In fact, they were marking things down as we were looking at them! We got all the boys’ birthday presents (and then some) for about $80. This included the MagNEXT iCoaster, which both boys wanted SO BAD for Christmas, and the big Diego Dinosaur Rescue Set. We got a few smaller items as well, a couple birthday gifts for other kids, and I found two cheap baby sweatshirts and this sweet dress (the dress was just $4.98!):

It’s size 6-9 months and will be just perfect for Christmas, don’t you think? Ah, it feels so good to have the birthdays taken care of, though. Love shopping clearance!!!

Awesome CVS Freebies 12/21-12/27

Wow! This coming week CVS has so many items that are free after Extra Care Bucks on their special two day sale, and on most you can buy multiple items!

2 DAY FREE AFTER ECB (Sunday & Monday ONLY ) after Monday no ECB’s

• Listerine antiseptic 16.9oz $2.99 get $2.99 limit 5
• Sally Hansen Lacquer Shine nail Color $5.99 get $5.99 limit 2
• Arm & Hammer Essentials starter kit $2.99 get $2.99 limit 5
• L’Oreal HIP Metalic eye shadow duos $6.99 get $6.99 limit 2
• ThermaCare neck to arm heatwrap 1ct $2.99 get $2.99 limit 3
• Right Guard Professional solid 1.8oz or aerosol 6oz $6.00 get $6.00 limit 5
• Zipfizz energy 3ct $5.99 get $5.99 limit 1
• Excedrin Express Gels 20ct $3.99 get $3.99 limit 1
• Alteril sleep aid 30ct $9.99 get $9.99 limit 1
• Halls Naturals 25ct $2.59 get $2.59 limit 1
• EAS AdvantEdge bar 2.11oz $1.69 get $1.69 limit 1
• Zantac 150 8ct $4.99 get $4.99 limit 1
• EAS AdvantEdge shake 4pk $7.49 get $7.49 limit 1
• Benefiber drink mix 16ct $7.29 get $7.29 limit 1
• Iceland Health joint relief 60ct $29.99 get $29.99 limit 1
• Slimquick 2pk 4oz total $4.99 get $4.99 limit 1 (I know these sound like diet pills, but I think they are actually energy drinks, or energy “shots” - something like that)
• Sleepinal 32ct $8.49 get $8.49 limit 5

There are some things I will be picking up for sure. I only wish there were a couple items that would be good for stocking stuffers, but… that’s OK. Still some good deals!

The Crazies Are Out!

Oh my goodness, is it ever nuts out there in retail-land. Last night I ran into Target for something and the place was like a war zone! I am not even kidding — people had crazed looks on their faces and they were just throwing stuff into their carts (I assume they were going to be Christmas gifts), tearing into displays, and not bothering to be mindful of other shoppers. I had wanted to buy mouthwash, but… I really didn’t need it that bad.

Today I went grocery shopping at Walmart, and I figured they would be mobbed too. And of course, I was right. Not only is it a week until Christmas, but this area is also expecting some significant snowfall tomorrow — possibly as much as 14 inches. You can only imagine the frenzy that puts people into as well. It’s like they won’t survive for one day if they don’t have three gallons of milk or a week’s worth of cat supplies. Somehow I managed to keep a smile on my face (most of the time) and only forgot a few inconsequential items (including the mouthwash, LOL). We’ll see how this storm plays out, but it is looking like it just might be a white Christmas this year!

Christmas Shopping

Well, I am nearly finished with my Christmas shopping, thankfully! I just need to pick up a few other things for Drew. Since he’s been doing so many home improvements lately, I was thinking of looking at some air tools. He has a compresser so that is a possibility. I’m hoping I can go out tomorrow morning when I drop Jake off at CCD. I’d really prefer to go shopping by myself because the kids make everything take five times as long.

As least their gifts are long-done. We shop year-round, mostly when we find cool stuff on clearance. Then we just store it in the attic until it’s time to wrap. We’ve even bought stuff and saved it for a couple years! It has saved us a lot of money and has always worked out. For our relatives we’re really simplifying gifts, giving most everyone the same thing (though the grandparents are also getting photobooks, which I hope they will like!). My goal was to make this holiday as stress-free as possible and so far, so good!