Saving the Economy

I think that I am single handedly saving the economy because I can't seem to stop shopping. I don't know what has happened to me but it's like a switch has been hit in my brain that says, "keep buying stuff you don't need". I didn't do much shopping last year and then the holidays hit. Every store had crazy sales and I just lost my mind.

Crazy sales are STILL happening and I just can't stop buying things. I don't think I've paid full price for anything outside of gas and food in the last 3 months.

Yesterday, I received an e-mail from J. Crew that there was an additional 20% off of sale merchandise sale happening this weekend. Of course I had to check it out. I quickly filled my shopping cart with merchandise that I periodically went through and cleaned out but I was most stoked about a bathing suit. I managed to find 2 tops and a bottom all in my sizes and in the same color. Cha-ching! Each piece would have been $7.99.

I weeded out some of the crazy "ooh - it's on sale so I'll totally buy this sequined jumper" out of my shopping cart and had a good number of solid items. But then… someone stopped by my desk to chat. And by chat, I mean talk to me for 10 minutes about nonsense. I can't really say, "Excuse me but I'm doing some quick online shopping at work before I head off to this meeting so can you please shut the fuck up so that I can proceed to buy things I don't need" because that's not really work appropriate.

When Chatty Cathy walked away, I refreshed the screen and a few items had sold out. Okay - no biggie… they just weren't meant to be.

But then I pulled out my credit card and… another co-worker came by my desk because it was time to leave for our big meeting at a different location. Dammit! We were already a little late so I couldn't ask her to hold on another 3 minutes.

I spent the majority of the meeting thinking about my shopping cart of goodies. When I finally came back to my computer 3 hours later, everything was gone. I wasn't so bummed about the clothes as much as I was about the bathing suit. It was the perfect suit! 2 tops, 1 bottom for 2 different looks? Kelly green looks great against my skin tone. Yarg!

I spent the rest of the day sulking about this stupid bathing suit and my missed opportunity.

But then God, in an effort to apologize for not giving me breasts, shined a light on me this morning because when I went to double check (seriously - you have no idea how much I wanted that damn suit), most of the items I had originally wanted were available again. While I wasn't able to get the bathing suit in kelly green, I was able to get it in rich aqua. Score! Although in hindsight, I probably should have just not purchased anything because I could have lived without another suit.

I have a shopping addiction.

btw - I'd post a picture of the bathing suit that nearly ruined my day but it has already sold out!

Numb

Happy Valentine's Day!

I just got 3 of my 6 cavities filled today and cannot feel the right side of my mouth. Awesome!

This week has kind of been crappy but today, I just laughed at it all. Here are some highlights:

1. I lost one of my favorite hoop earrings. So sad.

2. I tried desperately to drop one of my classes (only if I was going to get 100% reimbursement back) and heard nothing back from the registrar's office. So I had a change of heart. I secured my partner and my team and I finished my reading assignments. And then... the course was dropped from my schedule. I freaked out. I thought it was a sign that perhaps I should NOT take the class but then I thought of having to stay in school that much longer so I went back and forth with all the people I needed to talk to and I'm back in. Ugh. What a pain.

3. I ripped one of my contacts this morning. I have gone through over half of my 6-month supply in 2 months. This isn't boding well. Contacts are f'ing expensive! But I just looked at 1-800 Contacts and they're way cheaper on this site. Why did my eye doctor charge me 3 times the amount that this website is charging? What am I missing here...?

4. As I was getting dressed for work at the gym today, I realized that I forgot to pack my black flats. I normally pack my gym bag with my work clothes the night before since I go straight to the gym in my workout clothes and somehow, I forgot to pack my shoes. I looked like Jerry Seinfeld all morning in my khakis and running shoes. I made an emergency trip to Target to buy new flats... and 2 new shirts and a dress.

5. I went to the dentist today and that was actually not bad. I just can't feel the side of my mouth. And the sound of drilling is awful. But the conversation about the downfall of Britney Spears, the bad influence of Amy Winehouse and the blame of Madonna for starting it all was pretty entertaining. I love my dentist.

How's everyone's day going?

Shopping Madness

So a reader, albeit an anonymous reader, has pointed me in the direction of some very very cute, and not terribly expensive, vegan handbags. And now I'm hooked! The company is called Matt & Nat and I'm starting to go a little nuts with the handbags. I've narrowed down my choices to these (but I def. want others) for my next purchase to this (only $140) or this (also only $140).

And wow! Who knew people hated vegan fashion so much.

Okay - there are others but I'm not trying to flood this post with pictures of purses. Just click the link to their site. I really want a black bag and they don't seem to have any but I'm in love.

Also, I've been sweating TOMS shoes for awhile now. Its a great cause and they're a really cute and inexpensive product. But they seem to sell out very quickly! That's what I get for hesitating, I guess but aren't these fantastic?


They're $48! And everytime you buy a TOMS shoe, a pair are donated to a child in need.

I'm also on the prowl for a cute, reusable grocery bag. I've seen a lot of nice nylon ones like these:



The set of 5 is only $34.50! And its so cute!

Where is all this coming from? Well the vegan handbag was for being called out on my hypocrisy but the other stuff has been on the backburner for awhile. I watched an episode of Dress My Nest last night (its nice to see Thom Filicia getting work AFTER Queer Eye) and they featured a girl who needed a living room revamp but required that everything be as eco-friendly as possible.

I learned a lot of stuff in that episode like there are special paints you can buy that are eco-friendly (VOC free) and that putting a brick in your toilet tank helps conserve water. Who knew?

O Christmas Tree

The holidays are officially here.






And I hate shopping for new ornaments. Thank god for Ikea.

Brain...is melting...

I have spent the majority of the day dedicated to my project and have hit a dead end. I finally met with my no-good teammates and we haven't really gone anywhere... unless going in circles counts. We started off with a problem and a possible solution, but through discussion we realized that our solution wouldn't work and that perhaps it wasn't even the right path. Ugh! I don't know what to do. Why did I decide to go back to school??

On a completely unrelated note - pretty soon, I will be the proud owner of this baby:



The LG Voyager.

I've been on the market for a new cell phone for awhile and decided that it was time to get fancy. Actually - after trying to blog on vacation, I realized that it would be cool to have a phone that could access the web (and an added bonus is that this has a GPS tracker in it!). While it was released on Friday, every Verizon location I went to did not have this in stock so I put one on hold. I can't wait! The Mr. reminded me that if I get this phone, I will have to carry a purse when I go out. This won't easily fit into my pocket and I think The Mr. is tired of carrying my things when we go out.

Alright... now back to work. Ugh.

Success and a Disappointing Friday

First and foremost, we survived Thanksgiving. The majority of our items had to be reheated in the microwave because it took frickin' forever for the stuffed turkey breast to cook all the way through (that's what happens when you try to cook 3 things simultaneously in a small oven) but it looked delicious, was delicious and nobody got sick. I thought the Tofurkey was fabulous although if you ask The Mr. he'll probably tell you something different.

Once dinner concluded, I had another thing to be thankful for and that was the dishwasher. We still had to handwash many items (we used our china! whoo hoo!), but it was still awesome to not have to worry about the majority of the dishes. Oh sweet dishwasher, how I love thee.

And as many of you know, today was "Black Friday", the busiest shopping day of the year. I wasn't really looking for much this year, I kind of gave up on certain items (like the frickin' Wii! The makers of Nintendo are marketing geniuses, I tell ya) - I still enjoy going out on this day because its tradition. Actually, for the last few years (I don't even remember for how long?), its been a tradition with Theresa. She's my serious shopping pal. We always manage to find great deals. We met up this morning around 10am and boy - what a let down. I usually score some awesome items at some ridiculous sale price but not this year. The only store that had any sort of sale was Banana Republic! So disappointing.

And now I'm at my computer about to bust out one of two projects I need to complete this weekend. Oh the joys of school. Why did I decide to go back again?

Hope everyone had a great holiday! And if you scored something at a ridiculous deal, please share your story with me!

Sunday Sunday Sunday

Wow - today has been a super busy day. Yesterday was crazy busy too.

Today was my second class at the Trapeze school. Seriously - this is addicting. If there is a local school near you, I highly suggest you try it out. Its a great workout, its a ton of fun and it totally brings back childhood memories of swinging on the bars in the playground (and it even brings back that one year I did gymnastics and failed miserably).

The first time I went, I didn't invite along The Mr. because I didn't think he'd be into it. I was so wrong. I think he was a little offended that I didn't even bother to ask. Whoopsie. So, this time Theresa and I brought along The Mr. and Sheree (who is a natural!). Here's a dorky little slideshow I created to capture the magical moments. Don't expect this video to be great (it won't make you cry like Maria's videos).



I also realized that the picture quality was lost when I used the Windows Movie Maker. I'm so not technical. Someone really needs to show me how to do this stuff.

Also today, I hosted a Clothing Exchange Party. What the hell is that you ask? Its a get together where a bunch of people (usually all girls) bring their unwanted, undamaged clothing and then everyone in the party rummages through everyone else's unwanted items and potentially takes stuff home. So its like shopping, for free. I scored myself a cashmere sweater (thanks, Theresa!) and 3 other tops as well as 2 skirts. Sweet! And this is what was leftover from 6 girls (all will be donated):



Its a fun was to get your girls together and you never know what you'll find! Plus it was the incentive I needed to FINALLY clean out my frickin' closet. I can cross off another item from my 101 list. Sadly, cleaning out my closet was a really freeing experience for me. I also realized that I had a love affair with stripes for awhile and maternity type shirts.

Fun fun!

And if you're wondering how my trip to Target went... it was a bust. The Target I went to didn't have any of the shoes! Yarg! I may have to order them online. Although that scares me a little. We shall see.

Shoes!

So whenever I can't focus on boring work stuff (which happens quite a lot), I like to pretend shop. I go to several online stores and put things in my shopping cart and then battle internally about whether or not I should buy these things.

I'm about to swallow my tongue because Target has a bunch of super cute, super cheap shoes! Ahh! Help me! What do I do? (btw, Mr - don't answer... I don't want to hear it!)


Mossimo® Geneva Flat Sport Buckle Boots - Brown - $34.99


Mossimo® Garnette Back-Button Closure Boots - Black - $24.99


Mossimo® Glenna Heel Ankle Boots - Black - $29.99


Mossimo® Danae Buckle Pumps - Zebra - $26.99


Hollywould Peep-Toe Pumps - Red - $29.99


Xhilaration® Sable Ballerina Flats - Leopard - $12.99

I think I just had a stroke.