Book Sale

A couple weeks ago CBS47, Chad's television station, sponsored a community book drive benefiting the local county library system. The sale is taking place at a local mall (Sierra Vista, for you locals) this week and there are lots of great deals on books. We went with my parents and ended up with fun kids books and some great cookbooks. Go if you have the chance. The sale benefits a great cause!

Jason Wu

Oh yes I did. Bright and early Sunday morning I waiting with others outside of Target for the debut of the Jason Wu collection. And it was such a fun experience! I was nervous that the people in line before me were going to buy everything to resell on eBay, but that was not the case at all. We all worked together. Even before the doors opened we knew who was looking for which styles and in which sizes. In the dressing rooms we were sharing the clothes that didn't fit/we didn't like and ultimately I ended up with a dress and 4 tops. I'm really excited about each of them. Yeah!

Urban Salvage

On Saturday Chad took me to a new store downtown called Urban Salvage. It opened on October 1 and I was excited to see what the fuss was all about. It's a mix between a garage sale, an antique store and a regular retail shop, with a heavy emphasis on garage sale. They have vintage tables and chairs from local restaurants, window frames, tools, signs, old pictures and mirrors and lots of crap. But within that crap, given the chance, no doubt you'd find something that is a keeper. The shop is only open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays so the time to head down there is limited. Most of the good stuff was gone by the time we got there, but I'm not going to count it out in the future when we're looking for something specific.

This librarian's heart went a-flutter when I saw this old book-drop.  I couldn't figure out what I'd do with it in our house so we let it go. Sigh.

A quick shot of the inside.

Boots

Now that Fall is here and the weather is sometimes chilly, sometimes warm, I figured this weekend was a good time to bust out the new Ugg-type boots I bought for Mags. She has more adorable new shoes (you'll see those in future posts) but Sunday was the day for the new boots. And shorts. And cuteness. They're a little big for her now but will hopefully be the perfect size by winter. With heavy socks. Or cute striped tights. Or skinny jeans. Lots of options there. So anyway, Sunday Maggie wore the boots for the first time and happily walked up and down our street with them on. Back and forth and back again. She had fun clomping around and we had fun chasing her. Here are a few of the snapshots we took.

Summer Sandals

Maggie has some new summer sandals. They are super cute and she likes them. Apparently they taste as well as they look because the first time we strapped them to her feet she started gnawing on them.

Fans of Fans

 

Since this was Chad's first Father's Day Maggie wanted to make it a Father's Day Weekend instead of just one Sunday. To start it off she gave Chad fans for our outside patio. He's wanted them for awhile now but neither of us made it a priority to get them. Maggie decided that now was the right time so I took her to Lowe's to pick some out. She didn't pick the right ones but at least he had something to open and compare. Early Saturday morning we were off to Lowe's and Home Depot in search of the perfect ceiling fans. And we think he found them. After we got the fans home our friend Mark saved the day and helped us install them. For about 3 1/2 hours! They greatly improve the look of our patio and will definitely come in handy during the warm summer months.

Farmers' Market

Every Friday during the spring and summer seasons our town has a farmers' market. It's a nice little event with fresh local fruits and vegetables, plus live entertainment, booths and food. We went to the first market of the season and it was chilly and windy. Weird! Unfortunately my point-and-shoot camera battery was about to die, but here's a photo of Chad and Maggie at one of the booths. See that top row of zucchini just to the right of Chad? We bought that. It was delicious.

New Kicks

Maggie is already just like us. For years and years I had pink shoes like this. In fact, I just finally tossed them when we moved into this house. Chad has Vans snowboarding boots like this, only his are black and a bit thicker for the snow. Even though they're a bit big, we wanted Maggie to wear them early so she'll have lots of time in them. Too cute!

jasmere.com

I'm pretty sure I've told most of you about this fun new website but for those of you I missed, you need to check out jasmere.com. If you like shopping, discounts, unique and quirky wares, buying from independent, up-and-coming and lesser-known retailers or just getting a great price on something different, this website might interest you. Here's how it works: every weekday there is a new deal on their website (similar to babysteals, onekingslane, minisocial) and that item is offered at 50% or more off the retail price. Then, as more people buy the item, the lower the price becomes. Everyone who buys the item that day gets the lowest price. Cool, huh? They call it "social shopping".

I hope I haven't made this concept sound more confusing than it is because really, it's simple. Post any questions you have in my comments section and I'll get back to you with answers.

So anyway, what kind of items do they sell? Anything and everything! In the past they've had clothes, handbags, organic soaps, wine labels, kids stuff, brownies, paper products and more.

If you go to the top of their website (jasmere.com) you can enter your email address and they'll notify you of the deal that day.

Even better, if you decide to buy something between now and February 28, 2010 you'll get $5 off your first order. On some days that means the item will be nearly free. Enter the giftcode lm635 when you check out for the discount.

If you don't like the deal today, check back tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that. Most likely you'll find something soon that interests you or someone you know. Head on over to jasmere and get ready for some fun deals coming your way.

***(Full disclaimer: jasmere is a business owned and operated by our good friends. If you came to my baby shower you met one of the owners. Even more reason to sign up, right?)***

San Luis Obispo

This past weekend Chad, Maggie, my parents and I spent a long weekend in San Luis Obispo. We had a great time and really love visiting that area when we can. Chad and I met when we were both living there (11+ years ago) so there's an extra fondness for us because of that. This was Maggie's first trip there and I'm pretty sure she loved it too. We know she liked seeing Santa (smart girl). Most of our time was spent in San Luis Obispo but we also walked along the bluffs at Montana de Oro and hit Morro Bay for lunch. Another great weekend that went by way too fast.

Moving Right Along

My mom spent the day with me today and we were super productive. We got three things done in the baby's room and together they've made a huge difference in the look of the room. First, my mom found an orange rug in Visalia and it looks darling in front of the crib. I've been looking everywhere for one and hadn't found anything even remotely as cute as the rug she found. It's hard to tell from the photo but it's fleece shag. Too cute. Second, we picked out the fabric for the window decor and then made and hung the orange valance in just a couple hours. Actually, my mom told me what to do and I did it on the sewing machine while she hung the curtain rod. And third, we made a cute green photo board and hung it in the room for future baby photos. Thanks to Michelle for the inspiration and advice on how to make it!

All in all it was a productive and very fun day. My self-proclaimed non-crafty Mom did a very good job at tolerating and helping me with my craft projects--and I think she had a little fun doing them too.

Productive Baby Planning Day

A couple weeks ago my mom came up to help me look at baby cribs. By the end of that day we were more confused and overwhelmed than we were when we started. It's hard finding a crib when there are so many to choose from out there. I was looking for a crib with a particular style, in dark wood, quality craftsmanship, coordinating dresser--and one that didn't cost a million dollars. Since it had been a couple weeks since our first shopping trip my mom and I were ready to try again. She came up this morning and we were successful! We picked out a crib and matching dresser, brought the crib home and set it up. The dresser is on order and should arrive in the next 12 weeks. I can't wait until it gets here! We also picked out a paint color for the baby's bedroom. We chose a sage green and I think it's going to look great. Here are a couple photos of me with the crib we picked out.

Candies

My mom came up earlier in the week for the night to do a little shopping and baking. Overall I think we were pretty successful. We made chocolate-covered pretzels, rocky road, caramels and ginger snaps.

Friday Chad took the red tray of goodies to his coworkers. That night we delivered the candies and cookies to our friends and neighbors.

Here's a photo of me hand-rolling the caramels.

Chip Off the Old Block

This weekend I woke up early and hit some garage sales. Most of the sellers had crap but at one of them I scored pretty well. Here's a photo of what I found. I got Chad a metal garage rack for $5 (don't ask how much we paid for the other ones we have from Lowe's), a long skinny folding table that's perfect for buffets or crafts, again for $5, and a box of books that I'm going to try to resell.

The brown table is much older and junkier than the new one we got from Grandma for Christmas. Plus, the one we bought today is 6 feet long and really skinny--not conducive for sitting at and eating a meal. With that said, for $5 it was too good of a deal to pass up!

Oh and there's something in that box for my dad for his birthday next week. Don't get too excited Dad--remember it came from a garage sale!

New Arrangement

For the past few months I've been searching everywhere for a cactus like this one for our patio. When Chad and I hit the coast earlier this month we stopped by a shop that had one! In fact, they carried lots of unique plants and we enjoyed browsing around. We decided on these three little cacti (including the green pearl necklace cactus I'd been looking for--the one in the front) and brought them home. Last week we found the perfect pot for them and planted them on Monday. We love how it looks--what do you think?

Americana

The Americana at Brand opened this past month and I finally got to see what it was all about. I watched them tear down the old businesses, flatten the area and ultimately build the center that is now home to high-end shops, restaurants and condos. Since I moved nearly eight months ago I didn't get to see them put on the final touches nor did I get to attend the grand opening. But I can say that I've been there now and it's a great shopping area. I would have had lunch at the park there every day.

While we were in Southern California we also went to the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana to see the Chinese Terra Cotta Warrior exhibit. I wasn't sure what to expect but it was actually really interesting. Saturday night we went to a farewell party in La Canana-Flintridge and Sunday we spent the morning in Montrose and the afternoon in Old Pasadena. We fit a lot into two days and had a great time.

Blue Man

I saw Paul Karason (aka "the blue man") today. He was recently interviewed on Oprah so when I saw him walking I knew exactly who he was. With a TV crew of 7-10 photographers, assistants and a host (who I didn't recognize) he was interviewed for about 30 minutes outside a local mall. I'm thinking it might have been for a network TV special but I never got close enough to ask anyone.