Win $100 to Madewell!

Oh, Hello Friend strikes again!  Another amazing giveaway - to Madewell.

They recently put a Madewell in Bellevue Square, and I had my first opportunity to go in last week.  I fell for this sweet bird whistle necklace.  Tim sweetly offered to buy it for me, but I had a momentary lapse of judgment and left without it...I've been regretting it ever since.  Maybe this is my chance to win it!

I've also been searching for a sweet, belly bump covering swim suit.  This could be my ticket...

Want to win?  Go here.

Anthropologie Wishlist

I received my Anthropologie catalog in the mail yesterday, and entertained myself for awhile redecorating my home in my head. Here's some of the things I would love to have if money were no object:

In the kitchen:

Owl cookie jars:

This little bird and grapefruit sugar bowl:

This awesome milk jug/measuring cup combo:

All the while, wearing this pretty dress...I mean apron:

In Charlie's Room:

I'm in love with this mushroom pouf:

Which we would sit on while reading these beautiful children's classics:

On me:

A pretty one piece to cover up excess belly and C-section scars? Yes please!:

A sweet dress just in time for Easter:

Around the house in places yet to be determined:
These adorable poppy hooks...maybe in the kitchen to hold aprons, maybe in the doorway for coats or keys:

This beautiful pendant light. Probably in our living room to replace our current "boob" light that came with the house.

What are your favorite Anthropological finds?

Wanted:

Adorable clothes!

I can't wait to have a littel wiggle worm to put in all sorts of adorable outfits. All of these were found at oldnavy.com - a place my wallet is never safe.

I need to know...

Do you like these boots? I have a $20 off coupon to DSW, and these are tempting me, but I'm hoping for confirmation that they're not silly looking.

Christmas Decorations...in stores now!

Does anyone else have no control when walking into a store with a Christmas display? I can't stay away from it. I have to examine every item, practical or not. There's a magnetic field that continues to pull me back to it if I try to move to something else. Seriously, Christmas decor for sale seems to be my own personal black hole. Today I wandered into Cost Plus and was (seemingly) supernaturally dragged to the middle of the store where Christmas was abundant. I watched in horror as a mother let her little girl run her hands through the display of hanging blown glass ornaments. Take a guess at how long that lasted before one broke. I ogled the adorable old fashioned ornaments, squealed at the dish running away with the spoon ornament. Eventually I appeased my Christmas craving by buying gingerbread. And let me tell you, it's gooood. Now to get some egg nogg to wash it down...

Cars, Costumes, and Creating

That's what my day consisted of yesterday. I went to work for a half day (I was working 4 hours on Saturday, so I got to take it off on Friday), then my dad and I drove to Bellevue to pick up the Volvo, which was having some fits, from the shop. On our way back, Dad veered off the beaten path toward a costume garage sale. $6 later I walked away with my Barbie dress*. Pink, ruched, asymmetrical hem lined, accessorized with a big old flower...score! Then we wandered about Fry's for awhile and compared all the different makes of blender. After that I went solo to Target and got me some 30 Rock Season 3 on dvd (!) , and some ridiculous fake lashes with fake sparkly pink liner. Then I headed home.

Once home I ate some Taco Bell while watching Gilmore Girls, then started on my Barbie jewelry. I now have hot pink earrings, necklace, bracelet and ring to go with my hot pink dress and shoes. All I need now is a shrug or something to put over the dress (preferably purple) and a wig (darn my short hair!) Then, still feeling crafty, I made 10 pendants. Similar to scrabble tile pendants, but closer to the size of dominoes. I used images of reindeer, Santa, some vintage style Christmas cards (shrunk down to iddy-bitty), a pink owl, and a regular old deer. They are turning out super cute, which has me again playing with the idea of opening an Etsy store. But what would I name it? Suggestions welcome.

*Technically it was $6 later for dad. I don't carry that kinda cash around. Too rich for my blood.

So tell me...

When did dresses and swim suit cover ups become synonymous? Seriously, looking at delias.com for Barbie dresses, the models in "dresses" are posed with models in swimsuits - I think because the photographer couldn't tell the difference. I went through Forever 21 and Charlotte Russe last night, and found the same issue. what I took for T-shirts they were advertising as prom dresses. I feel bad for the girls who buy these dresses. Can you imagine never being able to sit, or bend over, or cross your legs, you wiggle in the slightest? How on earth are you supposed to dance with Mr. Dreamy at Homecoming? I suppose leggings could help a bit, but as we learned from Bella's prom outfit in the Twilight movie, formal dresses and leggings (not to mention sneakers - egad!) don't play well together. Poor girls. I say we go back to knee length for awhile. Class and mobility...sounds good to me!

Cup of Tea

Last weekend, Tim and I spent an exorbitant amount of money on loose tea. We were duped, plain and simple. A few weeks ago I'd walked past Teavana at Bellevue Square, and sampled a delicious chai. So, on Sunday, Tim and I were there, and I suggested we try it again. Well, he liked it too, so we thought, tis the season, let's get us some tea.

Well, those sneaky Teavana people had mixed two teas together to get the delicious flavor we were coveting. So, naturally, they tried to sell two pounds in an air tight container for upwards of $30. We haggled a bit, and convinced them to give us a tablespoon - I mean a quarter pound - of each and we'd use our own air tight container, much to their dismay. Then they tried to convince us to buy their special sugar. Unlike any other sugar in the world! I resolutely refused. I thought we'd squeak out of there around $10, but no. The tea alone was $17. Then, after we've paid they let us know, "Oh, by the by, you can't use any old loose leaf cage for this goodness. Buy one of our magic tea strainers for $75!" (Okay, that isn't literally what they said, but you get the drift.) Well, I wasn't going to give them any more money, because at this point I was feeling very tricked and abused. So, we decided we'd brainstorm and make it work, and left with our tiny amount of overpriced (but delicious) tea. At Target I picked up a Bodum loose leaf tea infuser thing for $12.99. So, we have all the necessities for an amazing cup of tea, for only $30! Sounds like a deal right? Eh-maybe not. But it is really good. Let me know if you want to come over for a cup. We'll work out a fair price point and then enjoy it together!

Found - Barbie Shoes

While I couldn't get my first choice in shoes for my Barbie Halloween costume, (somehow I couldn't justify a $100 shoe choice for one night, unless it was a wedding or something) I found some good stand ins (get it? Stand ins? Ha!) See for yourself:


First Choice:

And Choice #2:

So, while they're not quite as perfect, in my opinion, here's what did it. Pair 1: $100. Pair 2: $10 minus 15% = $9.50. Yeah. I'm good with the single digit dollar amount.

Labor Day Come and Gone

What did you do over the Labor Day weekend? I crafted, shopped a smidge, watched movies with Tim and played games with Tim and his parents.

The crafting consisted of making a second cute top using this tutorial. (Pictures to come shortly).

The shopping, you will be shocked to know, consisted of a trip to Martin and Osa, and a fruitless hunt for shoes to go with my jewel green dress.

The movies: We've had a rough go of movie choices lately (excepting Julie and Julia - that was great). We watched I Love You, Man - wow.

This is what I liked from that movie:

A shirt. That's all. Everything else about the movie was uncomfortable. But this beautiful shirt got 4 stars.

Then Tim and my dad went to see District 9. I opted out of this one, and evidently it was a good one to miss.

Then I went to the $1 movie box and rented BedTime Stories...not a bad movie, per say...but it may have been more enjoyable to watch with an 8 year old.

So, this weekend we were looking for a gooood movie. We picked up Sunshine Cleaning. While it was a good movie, it wasn't what we'd expected. We were looking for funny, light hearted, laugh until you cry kind of thing. This was not that. While it wasn't exactly dark, it was sad, and circled around disturbed characters in disturbing settings. It was good - but not what we wanted.

We finally found what we were looking for last night.

Ah....this movie hit the spot. We went to see it at the local Sticky Foot (which, was the scene of my first job in high school when it was a new and fancy theater.) It was so well done, so far fetched, so funny...and so sad. I'm not going to pretend it didn't take a lot of will power not to sob in the beginning of the movie. Most people probably wouldn't have this reaction, but for me the scenes were too familiar. But, sometimes you need a good cry, and this gave a good justification. Then we laughed a LOT for the next hour or so, then we cried some more. Then we laughed some more. Oh, it was great. I love the dogs...if you haven't seen this, you really should. It was everything we were wanting from a movie and more.

As far as the games go, we had quite the Settlers fest yesterday with Tim's parents. The first game went about 10 rounds, which is relatively short, and I beat everyone soundly. The second game went less than three rounds before Tim's mom whooped us all! Three rounds? Unheard of! Then we played some Boomblox on Wii (if you don't have this game, try to find it used, it's really fun and well worth the used price.) (If you don't have a Wii...seriously. Go. Get. One. Now.)

That was my weekend...how was yours?