Month: November 2010

Categories
Everything Else

Cyber Monday Shopping

In case you didn’t know by now… I love shopping. Even more, I love deals! Today was no different.

I follow Hannah {aka Peggy Ann Design} on twitter & I was so sad this morning when I saw that I’d missed out on her great deals over the weekend. But luckily for me & two of my friends {for Christmas!}, she was still doing 20% off today & free shipping! So I might have bought a few things, but I’m not posting what I purchased in case they check ou t the blog between now & Christmas!

I’ve been eying JPK handbags for a while now. Three of my good friends have them in various colors. I was hugging on one at Belk Friday & again Sunday, but not hugging on the $165 price. So I thought I’d check online today to see if they were on sale online anywhere. I was in luck! I found the bag in Vermeille {a raspberry red, I hope!} at Nordstrom for $81.90! Amy at work said it was too good of a deal to miss! So happy birthday to me {a little early} from the husband! I can’t wait until it’s at my doorstep!

I then went to Crate & Barrel during my long lunch to get a few gifts with the 15% off coupon. I shopped for my mom who’s work isn’t near C&B. Santa’s bringing Steven & Beth something drinky fun! I also got Nana, Mom & Beth little somethings.

Mom used a Kohl’s coupon she had to get my Dad his Christmas gift from us tonight. {he might find this, so not giving anything else away!}

I’m trying to find brown leggings to go with my new flat tall brown boots, I looked at Old Navy Sunday and was told they are sold out. I bought black ones from there a couple weeks ago & love them. Old Navy is sold out online too. I checked Macy’s & Gap & Belk today and didn’t find what I was looking for. Mom found some at Kohl’s tonight so I might be going there tomorrow.

With all that, I think I’m done except for a few things for Mom’s parents, picking up a few gift cards & figuring out & buying Jason’s gift. Not too bad right? Anyone else get any deals?

Categories
Family/Travel

Thankfilled Thanksgiving

Yes I know “thankfilled” isn’t a word, but that’s the best way I can think of to describe this past long weekend. Only thing we missed was Jason & my future sister-in-law Beth, otherwise it was fabulous!

I left right after work Wednesday and headed down to Ocean Isle. I arrived just in time to watch a little TV and unpack before my parents & brother arrived from Midlo. My brother brought his pup Quinn so they stayed downstairs & I was upstairs in a twin bed.

I’m realizing now that most of my photos from the weekend are of Quinnie & Nana & Pawpaw’s Bocce. The dogs are about the same size height-wise, but Quinn’s double Bocce’s weight!! Quinn LOVES Bocce. Bocce’s not a huge fan but was kind of won over by the end of the weekend.

Thanksgiving Thursday we woke up early & went to church on the beach. It was a perfect fall day for a beautiful service. We had scrambled eggs, cinnamon rolls (from a can! easy & yummy!), pineapple slices & bacon. One of Nana’s friends had let us borrow her turkey roaster {kind of a big crock pot} & Nana was very organized with all the other food so we had time on our hands. The guys were watching NFL games, so Mom, Nana & I did what we enjoy & kinda do best: shop for deals! We chilled for a little bit then headed off to the two open shops. I’d come up with the idea of starting Mom & Nana Pandora bracelets for Christmas. Island Breeze was open 12-6 & has a whole Pandora area in the shop. We ended up spending over 2 hours with the sweet ladies there! Since neither of them know or look here, I’ll show you what they’re getting from me! Mom’s getting the owl charm & sunburst clip. Nana’s getting the beveled clip & the Bible charm.{my Dad & brother also went in with me for the bracelets & other charms & clips!}

We also went over to Sunset Beach on their new, much debate bridge. I thought it was very nice & convenient. {Before they had a swing, one lane bridge that opened hourly or more of big ships to go through the intercoastal.} We stopped my the gift shop where Nana used to work {& by work Pawpaw would say she tended to owe them money for all she bought while she was there!}. Mom bought a fun sweater dress & she bought me a shopping basket for my birthday {& getting it monogrammed with a “B”}. Everything in the store was 40% off that day.
We all thought the turkey might’ve been the best ever; super moist & delicious. We had stuffing {mom threw it together with celery, onions, oysters & turkey stock since we forgot to buy chicken stock}, sweet potato casserole, green beans & rolls. With the help of Mrs Smith, we had apple & pumpkin pies as well as Nana’s famous rice krispy treats, my pumpkin cookies & fudge.

Steven, Mom, Nana & I played a round of Mexican Train Dominos & I was in the “lucky” broken bar stool & won! Mom & Steven also hatched the idea of doing midnight Walmart shopping…I didn’t plan to buy anything, but I’m a night owl so I was up for it. Dad even came along for the ride to check it out. We ended up finding a couple of $5 & $10 DVDs & Blurays for Steven & Beth for Christmas as well as NBA 2k11 for $29 {the reason we went}. I ended up buying Steven a $15 shopvac that will be part of his Christmas gift. What we passed up that I regret, the Shark Steam Mop for $36. I didn’t realize what a deal it was!

Check back tomorrow for the rest of our holiday weekend.

Categories
Food

Pumpkin Cookies

I wasn’t bringing anything down to OIB for Thanksgiving. That seemed weird to me~ I tend to bake & bring at least something. Then the girls at work decided to have a snack day tomorrow, so I thought perfect! I’ll make cookies for both!

I’d seen these pumpkin cookies on A Wedding Story about a month ago and I’d remembered how great they looked & sounded. I had all the ingredients on hand. They were easy to make. And Husband {not the dessert fan, I know weird right?!} even gave them his stamp of approval!! I doubled her recipe {listed below are my amounts} and 1.5x her glaze recipe {I posted her amounts} with a lot left over. After seeing her photo again, I realized I topped mine with a lot less glaze than she did.
Ingredients
5 c flour {I used 1 c white flour & 4 c whole wheat flour b/c I was out off all purpose}
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp salt
3 c sugar
2 sticks butter, softened
1 c Libby’s pumpkin
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla

for glaze:
2 c sifted powdered sugar
3 tbsp milk
1 tbsp melted butter
1 tsp vanilla

Directions
Preheat oven to 350.

Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, & salt together in a medium bowl.
In large stand mixer, cream sugar & butter. Add in the pumpkin, eggs, & vanilla until all mixed.
Slowly add the dry into the wet ingredients. Bake 15 mins. As per instructions, I let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes before placing them on wire cooling racks.

While the cookies were cooling, I sifted the sugar then mixed all the ingredients together. I placed cookies in close single layer in 9×13 pan then spooned glaze over the cookies. Enjoy!

Categories
Everything Else

Stepping out Saturday {only 2 days late}

I was in Charlotte this past weekend visiting my grandparents. My grandfather had to have another surgery, but he’s recovering very well. He was able to go back to the rehabilitation center while I was there. Then he walked &/or I rolled my grandmother around so we could all hang out.

Beth hasn’t been in town or has been super busy the last couple times I was there. Luckily for me, she was around this weekend! I was originally just planning to hang out/have dinner then head back to my grandparents’ condo, but after the fabulous NCSU win versus UNC, I was in a celebrating mood & crashed on her couch.


A group from her building as well as our sorority sister Kim & her husband joined us at Molly’s uptown then we headed to Stike City {yes, it’s a bar & a upscale bowling alley}. I was pretty tired by 1130p {I’m getting old & not used to going out lifestyle!}. We left Strike City and after a stop for Kim & Jeff & Beth & Kevin at Five Guys {I did enjoy a few fries!}, we all crashed at Beth & Kevins’s condos. 715a arrived really early, but I had so much fun! Thanks B! Hope to see you soon.

So much fun catching up & drinking a little with these two ladies! As for what I wore… I found the Lilly top 70% off at Belk Friday night. I waivered at first & had them hold it, but I’d been loving that print all fall, especially in that top. Since I missed the Fall Warehouse Sale, I was needing some new Lilly in my life, so I went back & bought it. 🙂
After finding the cute navy sweater at the Loft for $25, I knew I’d found the perfect outfit. Jeans… my new standard, GAP long & lean. Shoes… Target leopard print {cuter than they are comfortable}.
Topped it off with a $10 gold necklace also on sale at Belk!

Categories
Everything Else

Mail Call!

I wanted to share with y’all some of the blog winnings & purchases I’ve recently received. I’m so excited about them! Of course the baby items will go into the office/future nursery closet until we have big news.

The Itty Bitty Bums diaper that I won from Alena’s blog. She was so awesome to work with when it came to size & pattern {owls of course!} and answering my questions. And very more cool, she added a cute monkey cloth wipe & some of their diaper wash in the package!


I entered Minimal Mom‘s Simplisse breast pump giveaway. I didn’t win, but I was a winner (there were 25) of one of their Sample packs. I received breast pads, nipple cream & breast milk bags.
I love Jamee’s blog and was thrilled when I won the book If I…I Will by Debbie Covington. It’s a Christian book focusing on moving past the “ifs” in life. It comes highly recommended from Jamee.

I received an email {suzstreats@gmail if you’re interested} from a Penguin books publisher asking if I was interested in receiving an advance copy of You Don’t Look Like Anyone I Know by Heather Sellers. I said yes & received it very soon after! It is at the top of my TBR pile just behind this month’s book club book so look for reviews soon of all three upcoming reads.

On the way to me *I hope!* are these two items. I ordered the Valentino by Shey B camera strap with a discount code from Heir to Blair {after not winning her giveaway}. I just received an email this morning that it shipped!

I won a Sullivan & Sawyer burp wrap from Sally’s blog. I’ve heard awesome things about these so I’m looking forward to adding it to the future baby closet!

What I *really hope!!!* is on the way to me is this Nikon D5000! I found the package that includes the Nikon D5000 Digital SLR Camera, AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR, AF-S DX VR Zoom-NIKKOR 55-200mm f/4-5.6G IF-ED, 4GB SD Card, Carrying Case, & EN-EL9a Rechargeable Li-ion Battery all for $799. It will be my birthday & our Christmas gift from my parents & grandparents! And maybe us chip in a little too. I’m so excited!

Oh and I gave B one of Gussy’s pouches in Green Floral for her birthday. I was thrilled when it arrived. She’s using it as a bag to hold her b-day camera in her purse. I’m jealous because it really is so cute!