I want this!

Some of you may know that I own a ridiculous amount of jewelry. And even owning this much, my husband still buys me more. And it makes me happy. The problem is that it is all stuffed in bags and drawers where it is difficult to get to. I never remember to check what might go with my choice of clothing for the day. So for some time now, I've been looking for something to put my jewelry in that would:

A. Make it easy to access
B. Be lockable in case I get to one day hire a cleaning lady!

I have found both! I found an awesome jewelry armoire at Pottery Barn (of course!) that just came out. It's the Hudson Jewelry Armoire and it's perfect! Now to convince J to get it........

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A productive day!

With only 9 days until our ski trip, I decided that I should go shopping for my ski jacket. The problems I have run into thus far are:

A. This is San Antonio and there aren't too many places that sell ski jackets whose prices aren't horribly overinflated.
B. I've never been skiing so I'm not sure if I will like it.
C. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on something that won't get used a lot.
D. Most ski jackets are ugly.
E. I have monkey arms and most coats aren't made to fit them.

I have been on a quest to find a cute jacket that I will actually like. My husband informs me that cuteness is not a factor on a ski slope because no one cares about how they look. I beg to differ but even if what he says is true, I plan to break that mold. Ha!

A few weeks ago, I tried on a North Face coat and it fit my long monkey arms. Unfortunately, it was $300 which was quite a bit more than I wanted to spend. So I searched eBay high and low, but I couldn't really find a good deal on such short notice. I had already been shopping at Academy and tried on some Columbia coats, but said monkey arm problem reared it's ugly head....and my wrists and a couple inches of my arms. On to today.

For some reason, I decided to stop at Academy again but in a different location. They had a lot more ski jackets and everything ski related turned out to be 30% off! So, I decided to try a Polar Edge jacket and guess what? It fit my monkey arms! Hooray! And to top it off, it wasn't completely ugly. So how much did I pay for this? $70! Not too bad considering it even has a pocket for my iPod and a removable jacket. I think I can live with this for a while. Here's what I bought:

So, I am now almost prepared to leave in 9 days for Colorado. But I'm not done yet people!

The other super productive thing I did today was buy a pair of jeans. I have been looking for quite a while and the problems I discovered have been:

1. I have monkey legs that are generally too long for any pair of pants on the planet.
2. I have an ox butt and a greyhound waist which is an evil combination.
3. This combination usually causes me to throw my arms in the air while kneeling on the floor screaming, "Why?!? Why?!?" Okay, just kidding. That was an exaggeration.

Actually, that was a bald-faced lie. Disclaimer: I like to do that sometimes.

So today I happened to stop over at Nordstrom to check out what they had in stock. I picked up one pair of jeans that looked long and the salesgirl brought me another pair that she thought I might like. I tried on her pair first and they were long! She had given me a pair of Seven jeans bootcut in a long length. She said it was the only Seven jean they carried in the longer length and I fell in love. My booty was contained and my waist was hugged. I took those suckers straight to the register and paid for them without even asking how much they were. Any pair of jeans that I love that much are truly priceless!

Oh, and in case any of you were wondering how I have been feeling, I have been MUCH better. I guess crying to your mom and blogging it out help the blues. I now plan to celebrate with gusto!

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Oh, the weather outside is frightful.........okay, not really......

Today, like most other days, I was very bored at the house. I knew that another cold front (read: 60 degrees) was blowing in, so I wanted to get some cheap long-sleeve shirts. Where does one head for this? Why, Old Navy of course!

Most of the time, I hate shopping for long-sleeve clothes. They never fit. Never. I have been blessed with ape-like extremeties, making it difficult for just about anything to fit me properly. Most people tell me to just push my sleeves up to make a 3/4 length sleeve. These people are almost undoubtedly short. Always. I've done this for years. In fact, I think I should be attributed for single-handedly starting the 3/4 length sleeve trend. But I digress.

I went to Old Navy and found myself 3 tees that were $10 a piece. They fit okay, even if the sleeves are a little short. But they're not as short as usual, making them much more tolerable. Of course, once I get home, I check out www.oldnavy.com and see that they actually carry tall t-shirts. Who knew? When did this trend start? But, be wary of online pricing. The t-shirts I bought for $10 are on sale online for $12 but only if you buy at least 2. Without further ado, here's my t-shirt.

Of course, the colors I bought are no longer available online, but you get the gist. These will be great for lounging around the house. Now if I could only find a great pair of jeans that actually fit my world would be complete.

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Dinner at last!

After putting our table together on Saturday afternoon, Jason I went to a Halloween party. This meant that we didn't even get to eat dinner at our new table! Strike one for Saturday. On Sunday, we slowly woke up (after Jason practically slept until noon) and ate some breakfast in the living room. Jason moved on to go work on his truck at his parent's house while I stayed home and did some laundry and cleaning. You know, the FUN stuff. When Jason goes to work on his truck, I know to never expect him home until around 10 or 10:30pm. He just gets so into his work that he doesn't think about anything else. So, strike two for Sunday. On Monday, I did my usual grocery shopping and decided what to make for dinner.....yummy pecan crusted chicken. I even bought some fall-ish flowers for our pretty table to set the mood! Jason came home after work, helped me make dinner and then we promptly walked right up the stairs to watch TV. As soon as we sat down, we both realized that we had a dining table that we could actually eat at. Well, we were already upstairs so we just said we'd do it the next day. Strike three. At this point, you'd think we bought a useless piece of furniture. Finally, last night, Jason & I had our dinner at the table. Jason even got out placemats so our plates wouldn't scratch the table. How sweet is that? The funny thing is what I made for our first dinner at the table: turkey loaf. Talk about the most boring possible thing to make! But, it turned out alright and we enjoyed dinner TOGETHER.

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All aboard, bargain shoppers!

Being a true bargain hunter myself, I've found several websites where you can find out lots of great deals. Sadly, no one is paying me to endorse these (I have no idea why....), but out of the goodness of my heart I present these to you "secret" sites to you, my fellow bloggers.

The Bargainist
http://www.bargainist.com

This is my favorite of them all. They update their site daily, bringing you coupon codes and sales from every store imaginable. It's always a good idea to check them out as often as possible since sometimes the codes don't last more than a day.

RetailMeNot.com
http://www.retailmenot.com

This website has a plethora of online coupon codes and sometimes printable coupons. All you need to do is type in the website or store you are looking for and see what coupons pop up. It even has the users label whether the coupon was successful or not, so that you don't waste your time.

SmartBargains.com
http://www.smartbargains.com
This site is sort of like a giant outlet mall online. They carry a lot of name brand things at outlet pricing.

Free Shipping
http://www.freeshipping.org
This site carries free shipping codes to over 800 stores. This should come in handy with the holidays coming up!

Now, I know that the true bargain hunters are always out on Black Friday to get the good deals. Personally, I do like to shop on Black Friday, but I refuse to get my arse out of bed to be in line at a store by 4:00am. Just. Too. Early.

But, for all the troopers out there who want in on the deals beforehand, check out these:
http://www.bfads.net and http://www.blackfriday.gottadeal.com

But wait! The fun doesn't end there! Some retailers wait until the Monday after Thanksgiving to cut their prices. Thus, "Cyber Monday" was born. To get the scoop on these deals, go to:
http://www.cybermonday.com or http://www.bestcybermondaysales.com

I hope that these help some of you out! Happy shopping!!!

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Score!!!

Jason & I have been looking for a dining room table for a few months now. We found one we really liked back in August, but it couldn't be delivered until mid-October. Plus, they didn't even have a sample of the chairs on the floor. So, we decided to keep looking around for something else. Up to this point, we were interested in a glass-top table, but weren't able to find glass-tops anywhere. After awhile, the pub-height tables caught our eye. I started searching Craig's List and low and behold, we found a table that we could live with! The downside? The table is 40 minutes away, it's 1 year old and the owner wants $900 for it! You've got to be kidding me, right? Rather than go try and bargain with this guy, Jason & I went searching on our own. We found the EXACT SAME table (brand and color!) for $200 less! The icing on the cake? It's just a couple miles down the road! I'll post pictures when it comes in two weeks from now. Hooray for Sunday deals!

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