Day 17: Lots of Yawning

I am fading very quickly, so this will probably be short. It's only 9 and I can't stop yawning. I will be going straight to bed, once I am done with this post.

If you minus work, it was a really great day. After work, I met up with my MIL at Tai Pan. I had never been there before and when I mentioned to her that I was looking for some Christmas decorations, she said she knew just the place. I can't believe how many that they have. I don't think I have ever been to a store with so many. It was amazing! So, So, pretty as well! There were so many things that I wanted to buy, but I was good and picked out a couple items that were my favorites.

We then got dinner and headed over to Kirklands. All that shopping and walking around wore me out. I am never this tired at this time. I just yawned again for probably the 5th time since starting this post. Opps and again! ::yawn::

So, if you live near a Tai Pan, I definitely recommend going there! Right... I am now off to bed!

Day 7: I <3 Heels

The heels that I ordered came yesterday and I luuuve them! They fit perfectly and feel like I have been wearing them forever. There is something about how the way a pair of heels can make your entire day!

I can't wait to wear them next week!

New Shoes

I went shoe shopping on my lunch break today. For awhile now, I have been looking for some new black pumps for work. The pair that I currently have are a little out dated.

I ended up at Nordstrom Rack. I have no clue why I didn't try there a long time ago. They always have great shoes for work at awesome prices. I ended up walking out of the store with these


BCBG pumps for $40.00. That's $50.00 saved!

Deals, Books & Twilight

I love good deals! Who doesn't?

Well, I recently signed up for Borders rewards club. I always thought there was a fee to be part of it, so I never signed up. At my last visit, the sales associate convinced me to sign up, as it was free and that I would also get coupons. She got me, when I heard the word coupons and free!

Unfortunately, she never mentioned that my email box, would consistently be bombarded with emails from them. Thank goodness, I have an extra email account, which I use just for personal emails, as all the junk email would drive me crazy to see it every time I logged on.

Anyways yesterday, when I checked my email, I noticed that I had received a 40% off coupon from Borders. I immediately thought to myself, that I could just go buy Twilight instead of borrowing it. Hmmm, that sounds like a much better idea. So, on my lunch, I headed over to Borders, picked up Twilight and another Jane Austen book, Mansfield Park. My total was $12 and some change for 2 books. Wohoo!

I then headed over to In N Out for lunch and while sitting in the drive thru line, I sat and read Twilight. After work, I then went home and sat and read for awhile longer. Then today, I couldn't wait for my lunch to arrive, so I could read some more. I am already about a 100 pages into the book or about 1/4 of the way through. It's definitely better than the movie, by far! I am a little disappointed though, that I watched the movie first. I am going to make sure I read, New Moon before seeing it in the movie theatre.

I am now looking forward to the weekend being here, so I can read some more. Thank goodness it's only a couple hours away!

Keeping Warm

I just scored an electric $89.99 electric blanket from JCPenny's for $10.00! I love slickdeals.net! Also, no shipping fee as I selected in store pick up. I have been wanting one of these for a long time now!

Coupon code is: BUDDING

Shop it to Me

I am totally diggin this website and their email alerts! Thanks Kristy for letting me know about it! If you haven't heard about Shop it to Me, you basically tell them which clothing websites you like and your size. They do the work for you by sending you an email with the current sale items and pictures. How awesome is that!

I scored two pairs of shorts from New York & Company for $7.99 each. Here are the ones I got. They arrived today and are super cute!












The first pair on the left are a dark grey and the ones on the right are a dark denim.

You should definitely check it out!

Staying Warm

For several days now, it has been rainy and cold. I have thoroughly enjoyed the rain, but not the cold. Since it's warm the majority of the time here in Southern California, you don't really want to go out and buy tons of warm clothes. Also it's hard to find really warm clothes, as the stores don't have a lot of options.

Thus, I always cold and in need of a cheap and easy way to keep me warmer. For awhile, I kept telling David, that I needed some long socks. Well the other day, I was at Target and figured I would stop by the sock section. Sure enough, I found knee high socks and bought a couple of pairs.

Oh how I them! What I don't understand is, how come I have never owned any of these before? Ya sure, when I was a kid I would wear the old school thermals, but those weren't cute at all. They don't even compare to the cute colors of the socks which Target has. Hmmmm, maybe the problem was that there wasn't even a Target nearby when I lived in Indiana. I am so glad that Target is only 5 minutes away.

Anyways, back to socks. I really like the ones I bought, but I do wish they were a little bit thicker. I'll take what I can get though. I wear them whenever I can and I put them on most days, as soon as I walk through the front door after work.

So, I have partially solved my problem. I am nice and toast warm while at home. My new dilemma though, is staying warm in the office!

Any suggestions?

Did I Sleep Through Thanksgiving?

The hubby and I were at Walmart the other day picking up a couple of items. We had been there a little while, when I noticed that the store was playing Christmas music. At first I though I was hearing things, but I listened again and it was true. I couldn't believe it! 2 days after Halloween and the store was already playing Christmas music.

I know that several stores like CVS and Target already brought in some Christmas merchandise awhile ago. But there is a huge difference between some wrapping paper tucked away in the back aisle and playing Christmas music for everyone to hear. I took a look around Walmart and they have already put up their Christmas signage, as well.

The Consumerist reported the other day that due to the economy, retail stores are fearing a poor Christmas season. Thus, they are planning on offering large discounts now, compared to previous years of slashing prices the day after Thanksgiving. Too bad we are saving for house and will not be able to take advantage of some of the good deals!

Overall, I am really looking forward to the holiday season. The holidays always mean lots of really good food and socializing. I do wish though the stores would wait a little while, to bring in all of the Christmas items. I feel like it is only now starting to feel like fall and Thanksgiving. I don't want to skip those and go straight to Christmas!

Things Don't Always Go As Planned

Sometimes regardless of how well you plan something, things don't always go as they should. As I mentioned in a previous post, I have been very anal retentive about planning our camping trip. Well, last night I was up till 12:00am preparing and packing for the trip. My bedtime is normally around 9:30, so needless to say I practically had to drag myself out of bed this morning at 5:45. I am so very tired today!

I don't really know what happened. I was busy the entire evening and didn't even stop to eat dinner. Maybe, I just took on to much? I know part of it is due to the fact that I was on a quest to find cake mix, that only required water. Between the hubby and I, we went to 4 different stores over the course of 2 days looking for it. Note: we didn't go to all 4 stores just for cake mix. We already had to go there for other items. I'm not that nuts!

David is convinced it doesn't exist. I would too if I had not read the comments to the recipe for the Camping Cakes I want to make. Basically, I didn't want to worry about bring extra eggs and oil to make the cakes. Just adding water seemed a much better idea.

When I got off work yesterday, I stopped by Target on a long shot to see if they had it. We had already tried Staters Brothers, Vons, and Walmart by this point. I figured if they didn't have it, I would just buy the normal kind. Well of course they don't have it. They didn't even have "white" cake mix at all. Ugh! I then had to go back to Staters!

Thankfully, the Target trip wasn't a complete bust. I picked up candy for the trick or treaters next week, along with a red and white checker tablecloth for the camping trip. We are completely packed and ready to go. The hubby is heading out early to set up and I will be leaving after work.

The only thing left to do is stare at the clock and wish it would magically fast forward.

Today is my Friday

I am totally looking forward to having tomorrow off! There lots of little errands that I need to get done. My schedule so far is to hit up the local farmers market. Hopefully find some fresh flowers, then off to get a pedicure, go to the post office, get the car washed, buy presents and a new dress for the two weddings that we have this weekend and do some cleaning. Whew! I should be quite busy tomorrow running around doing everything. It's defnitely a good busy though!

I have been doing some what better, about going to sleep earlier. It's going to take some getting used too. I just need to be diligent and remind myself it's not worth staying up with David, if I am going to super tired and grumpy the next day. Sometimes you just gotta do things you don't want too.

Anyways, it should be a good weekend! The second wedding we are going to is in San Diego, so we will be staying down there Saturday night. I need to look into something we can do down there on Sunday. We have done the zoo, Seaport Village, the San Diego Museum of Art and Sea World is a little too much.

Anybody have any suggestions?

Weekend Recap

I thoroughly enjoyed this last weekend! It was very relaxing and a much needed break from all of the busyness of life! Friday, after work I convinced the hubby to come with me shopping (what a great husband)! I had a gift card to H&M, which the girls gave me for my birthday that I still hadn't used. We headed on over there and I found several things that I loved and got them all! Hehe!

After shopping, we hit up Yard House for their happy hour. The rest of the evening was spent playing Mario Kart on the Wii. We just bought it so the novelty hasn't worn off yet!

Saturday, was spent celebrating Melissa's birthday. In the morning, we went to Simple Simon's with the family and it was nice to eat outside on a summer morning. We went home and I took a nap. Then we headed on down to Corona Del Mar beach, for a bonfire. I believe I have mastered the art of s'more making! The marshmallow needs to be nicely toasted and chocolate all melted. Yumm! Hope you had a wonderful birthday Melissa!

On Sunday, our alarm clock unfortunately did not go off and we missed church. It was weird being home on a Sunday morning. For some reason I decided to make crepes, which by the way I have never made in my life (post coming). I had a lot of fun making them. The afternoon was spent doing absolutely nothing, other than watch House: MD. FYI: the hubby deleted all 22 episodes of CSI that were saved on the DVR. We keep getting confused, as the episodes aren't in order and we keep missing critical character development. It's time to add them to our Netflix queue!

We went to dinner at Salsa Mar, to celebrate Father's day with David's dad. Like always their food was good. The salsa was even better than normal. It had a little bit more kick and I love that.

Since my folks are in Indiana, I spoke with my dad earlier in the day and he talked my ear off like normal. Housing prices, the car, and weather are always his topics of choice never fail, but I still love him!

Curtains Pics!

Finally, here is my post regarding my curtains! So I love them and I am so happy to finally have curtains up in the living room. I now want to get curtains for the rest of the place. Oh why, oh why do they have to be so expensive! I am going to have to wait a little bit on getting them for the rest of the house.

Anyways, I got the curtains from BBB and found the curtain rod at Walmart. A little bit of researching and searching for a bargain payed off, as the curtain rod was only $16.99! And the quality is pretty good as well. Every where else, the same thing was about $30.00.

Since several people have requested photos of what they look like, here you go!



You will also see in the picture, the mirror that the hubby gave me for my birthday!

Sur La Table

I have been to Sur La Table's online site many a times and always wanted to visit one. When we were in Santa Barbara, we went into one and I was a really disappointed. The store looked as if everything was just crammed into a tiny little space. Since, their displays were so full of stuff, I didn't get a chance to really look at what they had. I felt almost overwhelmed, kinda like when David and I registered at BBB. I remember standing in the kitchen section and just starred at the wall of kitchen gadgets and thinking where do we start. We ended up glancing around real quick and then leaving disappointed.

Well on Sunday, we went Dos Lagos to eat at Salsa Mar, for Mother's Day. After having lunch, we looked into into the Sur La Table there and it was like visiting a completely different store. I could have spent a fortune there, as they have some amazing stuff. Their items were nicely displayed and I didn't overwhelmed with so many products. I bought some kitchen shears that come apart, which is a definite must so you can properly keep them clean. I hadn't seen any at BBB or Target, so I was pretty excited to find them and at a good price too! I love anything kitchen or cooking related, but I am sure you all know that by now! Anyways, this store is now on the list of places to drop in drool over everything they have.

It's Friday

I am very glad the week is over and the weekend finally here. I don't really have a specific thought or theme for this post. It's more or less just some random thoughts. Anyways, here is what's going on in our world.

• I have been feeling unmotivated at work this week and it has definitely affected my productivity. It seems like there are days where I am all gun ho and get a lot accomplished and others where nothing seems to get done. I can't really put my finger on why I didn't feel motivated this week. My coworkers are great and my actual job is really good as well, so I don't get it. I am assuming, its just my laziness getting the best of me. It has also spread from work, to keeping the apartment clean. We went camping 2 weeks ago and the cooler is still out and there is still pile of stuff that needs to be washed, like the sleeping bags taken to the laundry mat. What's going on?
• We bought the curtains that I had really liked from BBB. I haven't blogged about getting them, because they aren't up yet. We haven't bought a curtain rod, as the ones at BBB were really expensive. I just can't justify spending $30 to $40 on one curtain rod, thus the search began. 3 shops later, I found some I liked and bought them, but it turns out the brackets aren't long enough to go over the blinds. Ugh! Now, I get to return them and the search continues! I just might have to pay for the expensive ones!
• We are also going to Disneyland tonight with some friends. Our passes expire the end of June, so we need to enjoy them now before we can't go anymore. We are not going to not renew them! :( We decided that as much as we love Disneyland, we would much rather be closer to the ultimate goal of owning a house. We also recently found out that the hubby won't be doing much extra film work this summer, so less play money. Luckily, we never depended on those checks and that's also another reason for not renewing the Disneyland passes.
• Tomorrow, I have plans on going and getting a pedicure and I am really looking forward to it, as I haven't been in awhile. I try to go once a month, but lately we have just been so busy. Then, Joshua Tree also did a real number on my toesies as well, the paint is all chipped. The place I go to has this stuff they call "Medicine", which of course costs extra, but makes my feet, oh so soft! Does anyone know what the heck the "Medicine" stuff is though? Maybe, I don't want to know because ignorance can be bliss sometimes.

Wow, that turned out to be longer than expected! I probably could have made 4 posts of just this one. But then that would have required 4 post titles and I can never think of anything remotely clever. I think I will stick with just the one. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

I <3 Bed Bath and Beyond

Whenever, David works on weekends or has to be gone overnight, I always miss him a ton. When these days do happen, I take this time to catch up America's Next Top Model, hang out with the girls and do girl stuff. This Saturday, was one of those days and I quite enjoyed myself. Lots of shopping for a certain someone and lunch filled with laughter and good food.

When David asked what I wanted for my birthday, I immediately said curtains. I think he was a little sad as he couldn't pick them out and wrap them up and thus wouldn't be a surprise, but he agreed. I have wanted some for the living room for ages. We have blinds in our apartment, but I always feel like curtains add a homey feel to the room. My birthday has come and gone and we just haven't had the time to go looking.

Well, I was finally able look for curtains for the living room this weekend! One of my favorite places for home goods is Bed Bath and Beyond. So while shopping, I suggested we should head on over there as I had a gift certificate from the inlaws for my birthday. I saw some curtains that I really liked and would be great in the living room. I just have to show them to the hubby and get his opinion. Hopefully, we will be able to go over to BBB after work today to look at them!

I will take pictures if we buy them, along with the mirror David got me for my birthday!


Image Source: Along The Way

Our 1st Anniversary!

The hubby and I decided to celebrate our 1st anniversary, by going to Santa Barbara for the weekend. I still can't believe that it has been a year, that we have been married! We headed up to San Simeon, on Friday night. Now I am sure most of you are wondering, "Why San Simeon? ". Well, we had plans to visit Hearst castle the next day. Neither David nor I had ever been there. During, our trip to Miami in January, we visited the Vizacaya Museum and Gardens, which is considered the Hearst Castle of the east coast. We figured why not be able to say we have been to both!

We woke up Saturday morning and it was really sunny but oh so cold! The grounds were so beautiful and especially Neptune's pool. We definitely want to go back to do one of the different tours. I would like to see the bedrooms. Our tour consisted of one of three guest houses, Neptune's pool, the bottom level of the house, and the indoor pool. We also recommend watching the movie, either before or afterwards as it will give you a lot of additional information regarding the Hearst family.









After Hearst castle, we took a couple of pictures at the bay and then headed down to Cambria for lunch. The hubby's family recommended, The Old Stone Station. It's a small little place with a lot of character, great prices and some really good food. I got the fish & chips and David the ribs & blackberry cobbler.







We then headed on down to Santa Barbara and we stayed at, the Hotel Oceana. We got an awesome deal on Priceline's, Name Your Price. Overall the hotel has some really cute decor, but our carpet was a little on the gross side. Considering how much we paid we weren't disappointed.

For dinner Saturday night, we headed over to Brophy Bro's, which I found online at Santa Barbara.com. It had a ton of great reviews and was considered more of a local place, loud and very busy. We headed on over and got some great fish. I wouldn't consider it a romantic spot, but we enjoyed the experience and we would go back.

Sunday, morning we headed over to State street and did a lot of window shopping. We went into Anthropologie, when David set a couple of their kitchen timers for 5 min and then told me we had to immediately leave! You gotta love my husband! I also longingly looked at Restoration Hardware, which I love, but could never afford in a million years.

We grabbed lunch at Zia Cafe. They had great chips & salsa and margaritas. For dinner, we went to the Santa Barbara FisHouse. I got the best Ahi tuna! Amazing! We definitely would go back there as well. Monday morning, we walked over to Sambo's for breakfast. Both Saturday and Sunday morning, we saw a line out the door. I got the crab cakes benedict and David just the pancakes and eggs. So very good!

As you can tell our vacation centered around food, which always seems to happen. After breakfast, we headed on back. We got home very quickly, which was awesome because I hate LA traffic! We also pulled out the top of our wedding cake and had piece. It was still really good. Thanks Melissa for doing such a good job wrapping it up!

I wish it had been a little bit warmer and that we would have been able to do a little wine tasting but overall we had a great time! I am definitely looking forward to what lays ahead for us!

No Target?

David and I went up to Santa Barbara, this past weekend to celebrate our 1st anniversary. We had a great time and of course it never feels long enough! This post isn't a recap of our trip though, as I haven't downloaded the pictures yet. Hopefully, I will have time to update everyone about our trip this evening.

Anyways, your probably thinking what is this post really about? Well, we were looking for a Target and couldn't find one. We kept thinking there was something wrong with the GPS and that there was no way Santa Barbara didn't have a Target. We called a friend who lives in the area and it turns out the GPS was right, they don't have a Target. So we asked, how about a Walmart? Nope, no Walmart and no Costco! How can that be? It's not like Santa Barbara is podunk town, its a pretty good sized city. I don't know if I could handle not having a Target!

My question is, since they don't have a Target where do they go shopping?

Image Source: www.caam.ca.gov

Dangerous Thing Called Chocolate

I love the store, Cost Plus World Market. I have blogged about it before, but I didn't go into how I really like their store. They carry so many great and different items. I love their throw pillows and blankets, along with their furniture. They also have lots of little goodies and food from all over the world.

I was hanging out with a friend last night, when we stopped by to take a look. I saw some cute place mats, but couldn't justify spending money on them considering, as I already have some that were similar. :(

Rest assured though, I didn't come home empty handed. I bought some chocolate covered Marizipan, that was made in Germany. Since my mom is British, I grew up with having Marzipan quite often. Every year for Christmas, she would make a fruit cake that was covered in Marzipan and icing. I never really liked the fruit cake, but I would always sneak pieces of the Marzipan off!

Anyways, I have already eaten the entire bar. I have no will power, when it comes to chocolate.! I also got some Aero bars. They are one of my favorite British candy bar's, along with Flake's. The Aero bars come in many different flavors, but I like the milk chocolate and mint the best! The best way to describe them is that they have holes of air in the car bar. They melt in your mouth and taste oh so good!

Overall, it was a good visit. I had a wonderful time browsing and getting ideas for the apartment, along with having some girl time. We don't get to go very often and I wish it was closer. In reality, it's not too far away, but with traffic it can take you 30 minutes to get there! I guess it makes it much more special, when I do get to go!

Busy Bees

I always love 3 day weekends and there definitely aren't enough of them during the year! We didn't have any set plans for the weekend which was a refreshing change. I did some shopping with Rachel on Saturday and got some cute shirts from Old Navy. On Sunday after church, we spent the day with friends at Disneyland. We ate lunch at ESPN Zone so the guys could watch the football game. I got the Chicken Tortilla soup and I did not like it at all! After lunch we stopped by the Jazz Kitchen Express and picked up some Beignets for a sweet snack which were delicious! I think they are my new thing to get whenever we go down there.

On Monday, David had to work so I went shopping with Casey. We headed over to Ontario Mills, but I didn't really find any good deals on clothes. We were almost done for day when we stopped by Cost Plus World Market, when I found Goose Island Root Beer, which I love! Several years ago, when David came back to Indiana with me, we found this root beer. We looked all over for it here in Ca but found nothing. On several occasions, I have bought it back in my suit case or had my parents bring it back for us. It has always been a real treat to have it. So as you can see I was excited to find it! Overall, it was a good weekend!

I <3 Sushi

I saw this shirt on Shirt.Woot and thought it was super cute! Unfortunatly now I am craving sushi! Maybe David and I can go and get some tonight for dinner.