Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Wearing today!

This is my outfit today. I just got the boots - LOVE them. I've been hunting them for awhile and the last pair at Target just happened to be a 7 1/2 and I had to buy them. I love that they go with black and brown. They will really go with everything. I was inspired to buy them after the glowing review from Kim at Anthroholic - they look awesome with all of her outfits. I'm so excited!


Monday, November 16, 2009

Fall is flying by

I can't believe how quickly this fall is going. I think the fact that Neil and I have been so busy with work, school and watching football that the weeks just keep on flying by and now we are a week away from Thanksgiving.

I'm trying to decide whether to take the whole week of Thanksgiving off and head to my hometown a few days before Neil can come down. I'd love to be able to visit some friends and spend more time with my family that week. I'm trying to move things around in my schedule now, so we'll see if it actually happens!

I can't wait to have a nice long break! I am working 7 days this week! On top of my normal 9-5s I work Saturday 1-5 and Sunday 1-10! So I will be more than ready to head out Monday morning for a week at "home". It's been a while since I've been home - sometime mid-summer - so I'm excited to visit.

I also can't wait to enjoy some Thanksgiving meals and leftovers and just spend quality time relaxing with the fam.

Now I just need to get this week done so I can go home and celebrate!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

35 Questions

I saw this on another blog (Kelinda Kelinda) and thought it looked fun!

It's basically 35 questions that reveal a little more about me:

1. Where is your cell phone?
In my cute black and yellow Vera Bradley wristlet (the color palette inspiration for my blog redesign, apparently!) which was a birthday gift from my mom.

2. Your hair?
Is blonde, but a bit darker than normal thanks to some lowlights I got at the salon today. It's a little longer than chin length and is in the process of being grown out!

3. Your Mother?
Is amazing. She is recently retired and is entirely too busy for a retired person! She is an accomplished knitter, frequent volunteer and contributor to the community, a wonderful gift giver (see #1), and a great confidante, role model and friend. Love her!

4. Your Father?
Is hilarious, smart, silly and the man of many many hobbies. He is into everything - antiques, coins, Civil War, cars, genealogy, radios, gardening and this list goes on! He always has an interesting fact to tell me and is one of the most calming presences in my life.

5. Your favorite food?
One word. Chocolate.

6. Your dream from last night?
Can't remember any from last night, but many of my dreams have to do with me being pregnant or having a baby! Oh and my husband said he had a dream about finding a $1 off coupon on Coke products and was excited that we'd be able to get free Coke Zero. I find this hilarious that he is getting so into couponing with me that he is dreaming about deals!

7. Your favorite drink?
Hot drink? Chai tea lattes. Cold drink? Sweet tea. Alcoholic drink? Blue Moon.

8. Your dream/goal?
To continue to learn and grow and be flexible with whatever life throws my way. My ultimate goal is to do everything with love and be happy - as cheesy as that sounds.

9. What room are you in?
My office at work. I'm on my dinner break - but not hungry yet! I work from 2-10 tonight.

10. What are your hobbies?
Reading, shopping, decorating, neglecting my half-done craft projects.

11. What is your fear?
Hmm. I'm not really afraid of much, but probably the big ones - death of loved ones and being alone.

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years?
In 6 years I'll be 32. That still sounds young to me, so I'm really happy about that! I hope to have at least one child, maybe two. I hope my husband and I have flexible jobs we love that give us enough time and money to spend with each other and our little family.

13. Where were you last night?
At the gym, then to Five Guys for burgers with my hubby. Yes, I see the irony.

14. Something you are not?
I am not indecisive. I'm proud of my decision making skills and I stick to my guns pretty well.

15. Muffins?
Bran or blueberry.

16. Wish List items?
Other than clothes, of which there are too many to mention here, I'd love to have a big tea package from Teavana with all the stuff to make yummy tea!

17. Where did you grow up?
In a small town in Ohio, that's all I have to say about that.

18. Last thing you did?
Um. Walked over to the campus printing center with a coworker.

19. What are you wearing?
Jeans, gray long sleeved tee, black tunic sweater, black tweed flats and a cerulean blue scarf.

20. Your TV?

Is a new HD flat screen. We are so content with our free HD channels that come in on our rabbit ears that we just cancelled our cable package yesterday!

21. Your pets?
Don't have any, aren't getting any! I'm allergic to most animals, and don't have time or the desire to own a pet right now. I love other peoples pets, though. And I have fond memories of my dog growing up, Chevy - an awesome Cocker spaniel who died when I (and he) was 14.

22. Your friends?
Are fun!

23. Your life?
Is pretty good. I really can't complain. I have the most amazing husband ever, a good job that I enjoy most of the time, and I'm pretty happy!

24. Your mood?
Content. I'm feeling a boost from a new haircut and the chai latte I just drank.

25. Missing Someone?
I really do miss Neil when we are apart - I'm always thinking of funny things to tell him.

26. Vehicle?
Is yellow, small and cute.

27. Something you're not wearing?
Gloves. Because I'm inside. Duh.

28. Your favorite store?
TJ Maxx.

29. Your favorite color?
It's always been light blue but I've been loving purple lately.

30. Last time you laughed?
I've probably laughed a lot today already. I'm pretty giggly in general.

31. Last time you cried?
This week's Biggest Loser episode. The time before that? Last week's Biggest Loser episode.

32. Your best friend?
Is my husband. We are pretty much the same person - it's scary and awesome.

33. One place you go to over and over?
Chick-Fil-A. We go there every week, I swear. It's ridiculous.

34. One person who emails you regularly?
Most of the email I get is work related. I really don't email too much otherwise.

35. Favorite place to eat?
We really don't go out to eat much (other than Chick-Fil-A, see above), but I love sushi, so I'd probably say any good sushi restaurant!

Whew.

Planning for Christmas already?

We go to a big Christmas party every year at my fabulous gay uncles' house (actually one of them is my husband's second cousin). Anyway - they are an awesome couple in their 40s who have impeccable taste in decor, music and food which is totally a gay cliche but its true in this case. Their holiday party is a huge event with over a hundred people with full costumed performances on the stage in their basement and it is just an awesome time - something I look forward to every year.

Well, their party this year (which is exactly one month away!) is Broadway-themed and I'm slated to sing a few songs on stage - so of course I'm already planning my outfit. I want to look festive and fun - and since I'll be performing and mingling with lots of people I don't want to be too hot in my outfit - so chunky sweaters are out.

I blogged about my new zebra top in my last post - and I'm thinking it might be perfect for the occasion if I can dress it up and "Christmas-ize" it a little bit. It will be cool enough because its short sleeved, but I'll be sure to bring a cardigan; and its crazy and ruffly and zebra so it fits exactly the mood of this party.

Here is my initial thought on the outfit for now:

christmas party 1

I definitely want to add red to the outfit in some way - I thought the belt was just the touch it needed. Too bad I don't have a thick wide belt! I'll probably also wear dangly earrings and a sparkly bracelet.

I'm sure I'll change my mind on the outfit a few more times - but I'm definitely thinking the zebra top is the right choice!

Monday, November 2, 2009

Just wanted to brag: This weekend's great deals!

We live in the suburbs near an outdoor mall with lots of stores about a minute away. You might think this would be dangerous to my wallet, but actually I think I save money because I can easily go back to a store and see if something has been marked down. I'm also very aware of sales and promotions that are happening because I'm just in these stores a lot so I can really wait to buy when I can get the best deals.

Here are some of the deals I snagged this weekend:

I had a 50% off coupon at Payless so I got these plum moccasins, for $8!


They are really comfy and will go with a lot of my fall clothes. I love purple, so I had to have these! We also bought a pair of shoes for my husband.

I was also looking for a pair of boots - so I went to TJ Maxx, my favorite store ever, and I got these very comfortable, on-trend slouch boots for $30! They are brown Report Mileys, which I believe are a season old but retailed at $60 or $70. I wore them today to work and they are so comfy and fit easily over jeans and also look good with skirts and dresses.




I also picked up this top from TJ's, its a little wild and not my normal pattern - but it was $10 and really fun so I thought I'd give it a try. I thought I could wear it with a black pencil skirt and cardigan to dress it up or wear it with skinny jeans and my black patent booties to go out!




I'm also really getting into couponing, and I got some outrageous deals at CVS and Target this weekend.

With the help of sales and coupons for a total of $6 I got 4 boxes of cereal and 3 jars of Skippy natural peanut butter at Target!

Then at CVS, I actually profited $1 when I got 6 Dove deodorants after coupons and ECBs (Extra Care Bucks - CVS instant rebate coupons).

We also made 2 trips to Kroger this week, once Thursday and once on Sunday night. Each time we only spent around $40 (half of what we used to spend for a week), but got double the amount of stuff! I saved over 60% of my bill for each trip, and got a lot of free items!

I'm having a lot of fun saving money, and it really is a must during this economy. I'd glad I'm getting to hone my coupon skills before we have a baby so I can get it all figured out now while I have extra time!