Crazy 8 Sale!

Well we all love a good deal on clothes.  Even more than a deal for myself is a deal for itty bitty baby girl clothes.  Let's face it mommas of little girls, we could probably all go broke buying up clothes, shoes, and accessories for our girls.  Everything is just so cute. 

Even before Ryleigh was born, I set myself a $5 limit on any one clothing item.  I shop friends' hand-me-downs and yard sales, clearance racks and try to buy bigger sizes that she will grow into, buy out of season so that it's cheaper, etc.  I've only gone above my $5 limit for a few "novelty" items--a pair of  BabyTMoccs because baby moccasins are adorable, comfortable, and this girl's moccs are about half the price of FreshlyPicked, but she's got great reviews about her quality.  We'll see, we are still waiting on them to arrive! :) We also went over for her UGA baby uggs ($15) that I can't wait for her to wear this fall!! and her Vera Bradley coming home outfit...that she actually didn't wear until she was about a month old because she was such a peanut!

So, yesterday made me really happy.  Crazy 8 [I love their clothes!] is having a big clearance sale and is doing free shipping with the coupon code STANDOUT.  I've been looking into some spring/summer clothes for Ryleigh, and scored everything below for $57 including sales tax!

The dresses and rompers were $4-5/each, the onesie set was $6, the shorts and skirt were $3, the bathing suits were each $5.59.  Hello awesome deal!  I couldn't pass it up, 13 items for $57, making it an average of just over $4 an item, for a great brand and new clothes.  Including bathing suits! Good quality, UV protected bathing suits.  I couldn't believe it!

I'm in love with the little white tankini, it's got sea turtles, seahorses, and fish on it in fun colors.  The rashguard bathing suit is cute but not my favorite print..but who can pass up a suit for $5.59?!   I like that the onesie set is white and coral because those colors are so popular that it's very easy to find matching bottoms to go with them, including the purple skirt and tangerine/coral shorts.  Love the cute coral & yellow romper, it's got rosettes around the neckline which is hard to tell in this picture.  The chambray dress has white and pink bows embroidered on it which I thought is a sweet little outfit for spring either by itself or with some pink leggings on a colder day.  The ikat and butterfly outfits are cute dresses/romper that are nice enough to be worn to weddings but also good for a casual summer day.  And let's face it...with our age group/large group of friends we have about 5-6 weddings to attend every year!

 

Baby Gear assembly!

Well we had a very fun and productive weekend!  Thanks to some amazing family, friends, and a few coupons, the corner of our living room has looked like this since my baby shower a couple weekends ago [post about the shower coming soon once I upload the pictures!]:

And as of yesterday, every single one has been assembled!  We feel quite accomplished.  Our living room currently looks like a baby store showroom, but these will be making their way to their "places" around the house and in the car very soon :)

In case it's hard to tell from the boxes, here are the items we've gotten for baby Ryleigh...

1. My Little Lamb Platinum Edition Rock N'Play Sleeper / This is what we are using for the bassinet while Ryleigh is sleeping in our bedroom.  I like that she will be sleeping at a slight incline [although I hope that doesn't cause issues when we transition her to her crib later..] and it's the perfect height for sitting beside the bed.  All parts of it are very soft and breathable, and I love how easy it is to fold up or to carry and move around. 

2.  Britax B-Agile & B-Safe Travel System / This choice went heavily on safety ratings and reviews.  Britax is a great brand, and these will be two of the most used pieces for not only Ryleigh but also more than likely for Baby #2 whenever she/he comes along in the future.  Typically strollers & car seats have a "lifespan" of 5-7 years so we wanted something great quality, gender neutral, and a stroller that was easy to fold and use.  Once we saw this demonstration video we were sold.  Of course, Jake wanted it in Georgia Red :)

3. Fisher-Price Discover N'Grow Gym / This play mat just had really great reviews when I was looking at all of the different play gyms for tummy time & stimulation.  I like that it is so versatile and can "grow with the baby" for the different stages of play and learning. 

4. Fisher-Price Deluxe Monkey Bouncer / I have heard mixed reviews about whether or not to get a baby swing [price vs. use], so instead I looked for a good bouncy seat because I've heard they are generally much more useful.  This seat is actually more on the affordable side, but has fantastic reviews.  I love that the activity bar is electronic and has lights and sounds for stimulation, this is the only one that I have seen like that. Usually, if there is an activity bar it just has dangling stuffed toys.  The activity bar is removable so this will also be a great little spot for her to take naps and relax.

5. Baby Einstein Musical Motion Activity Jumper / I admit, I totally buy into the Baby Einstein brand.  I love for every toy or book to be educational in some way.  I think it's great that they have a purpose to the reason things are colored a certain way or including different patterns on things.  Even when babies are too young to understand, they are still getting the visual exposure to the concept.  This jumper has great reviews and lots of fun things to play with. 

6. Graco Pack N'Play with Reversible Napper & Changer / I really like the Graco brand, and their pack n' plays have great reviews.  I really like these ones with the napper/changer attachment so that we have a convenient little changing table when we are traveling, or even if this just ends up being set up in our living room.  We chose the Scribbles pattern because it's a nice gender neutral color and pattern, and it just so happens to match the colors in our house really well too!

 

Did You Know?

This post is just to share some information with fellow mommas & mommas-to-be....so I'm sorry to anyone else who finds it boring or irrelevant! 


Mommas--did you know that most baby stores have text coupons & deal alerts?  Buy Buy Baby advertises theirs a lot, but other stores do the same thing!  I had no idea that you can get baby-specific deals from Target (so you don't have to weed through all of the other categories on the Cartwheel app)....


So, here are the ones I'm subscribed to and find useful:


Target Baby
Text: BABY4 to 827438


Babies R Us
Text:  GO to 72229


Buy Buy Baby
Text:  OFFER to 42229




and one more just for fun:


Redbox
Text:  DEALS to 727272

 

Baby Bargin!

Today thanks to Frugal Coupon Living, one of the deal blogs I follow, we scored a great deal on our baby monitor for little one!

I was checking the blog updates and saw that Kohl's had a great deal on the Motorola 2.8" Wireless Baby Video Monitor that we are registered for at Target.  Here's the breakdown:

Original Price:           $229.99
Kohl's Sale Price:      $189.99   [Target Sale Price is currently $179.99]

Coupon: BABYLOVE20 saved $38
Coupon: LUCKY15OFF saved $23

AND:
Kohls.com on orders of $75 or more = Free Standard Shipping!
Earn $10 Kohls Cash on every $50 spent:  $20 Kohls Cash earned

So, our baby monitor is originally $229.99, and with sales tax I paid $138.23.  With the Kohls Cash that we will receive, that's like getting our monitor for $118, over $100 in savings :)


**Other Mommas:  The Frugal Coupon posting is from yesterday and says to stack the coupons BABYLOVE20 and HAPPY2014, however today HAPPY2014 did not work for me.  I found LUCKY15OFF and that worked like a charm for the same discount!


Gotta love a great deal! Plus, we just received a card for our baby shower gift from my grandparents who live out of town, and used that money towards this purchase.  I love to keep track of what we purchase with gift cards or monetary gifts, because we can let those people know what they helped us get for Ryleigh and how useful/helpful it will be!  Especially with having a lot of far-away relatives, it makes it more fun since they can't experience the actual baby shower.



The countdown is getting real....

Look for another "bumpdate" later this week after my 33 week appointment on Friday :)

 

31 Weeks!

Not the best picture, but it was the only one we got on Christmas day!

How far along?  31 weeks, 2 days

Total weight gain/loss: +23lbs...darn those Christmas cookies! haha but really things seem to be on track and my OB is happy with where we're at so far....

Maternity clothes? All the time!  Now I'm also trying to focus on nursing clothing and taking that into account when/if I purchase any clothing.

Sleep: Seems to be okay...getting tired and taking some weekend or evening naps here and there.  I've gotten a few leg cramps in the middle of the night which is not fun.  I'm having a little more back/hip pain as this bump gets bigger and bigger so sometimes it's difficult to figure out a way to lay that is comfortable.

Best baby moment this week:  Several!  Jake and I went to childbirth class on Saturday and learned lots about preparing for the exciting, yet dreaded, childbirth.  I have to admit that it pretty much scares the mess out of me.  But, I'm now feeling super informed and finding some confidence in myself and the choices that Jake and I will make for bringing our daughter into this world.  We had a great instructor and both really liked the class.  

 

On our way home from class, we bought little one's crib mattress!  Selecting one seems overwhelming and impossible to do with all of the choices available, but I did some research and we settled on the Lullaby Earth Stage 2 crib mattress from Buy Buy Baby [thank you 20% off BBB coupon!].  It's a huge matter of personal preference, but the important aspects came down to organic materials, firmness/support, and it's waterproof so it will be easy to clean and hold up well.

 

Also all the love and Christmas gifts for Ryleigh :)  She's already one lucky little girl.  She got some outfits and pj's, bedtime prayer board book, squeeze/teethe blocks, and two handmade quilts!  I had to hold myself together when I opened up the beautiful quilt from my friend Shanti, which she also had embroidered with Ryleigh's name and it has the softest minky fabric back.  That will keep her warm next winter for sure! 

Have you told family and friends: Yes

Miss Anything?  Being able to sit down and get up quickly...being able to get dressed quickly...being able to do anything quickly...haha

Movement: lots, especially around meal times or after 7:30pm.  Night owl!

Food cravings: Still pasta, chocolate milk, and juice!  Trying out some out-of-the-ordinary flavors but not necessarily weird--like Hawaiian pizza.   

Anything making you queasy or sick: Not really

Have you started to show yet: Oh yes :)  belly bump is measuring right on track at 32cm/32 weeks [I've been measuring 4 days ahead for a while now]

Gender: GIRL!  

Labor Signs: No, hopefully not until sometime in February!

Belly Button in or out?  In, but getting pretty shallow. 

Wedding rings on or off? On, but some days it's a little snug.

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy/tired.  I do get emotional over sad/sweet things.  

Looking forward to: More nursery progress, and celebrating on New Year's Eve--closing out one pretty great year and looking forward to 2014 because I know it will be even better!  Also our maternity pictures and baby shower coming up in a few weeks!

 

 

 

Bits & Pieces....and coupon codes!

Bits & pieces of the To-Do list are getting checked off!  One item down:  crib mobile.  I was checking my deal blogs and found that diapers.com is having some great discounts right now for Black Friday week.  The Tiny Love brand is 30% off [with code JOYTINYLOVE], and while perusing some of their items I found the cutest little mobile that will match perfectly to Ryleigh's nursery:

 

At least from what I can tell from the photos, the colors of the mobile are spot-on with her giraffe fabric!  Also, the mobile arm can detach and once she's too big for it, we can keep using the sound machine.  The sound machine also has a remote control, which might turn out to be handy.  The only thing I'm a little worried about is that a few of the reviews said they had a hard time fitting the mobile to their convertible crib, but eventually made it work with some Velcro or similar straps.  Hopefully it fits just fine, but if not it looks like we will need to get creative!

 

Here is another deal code for my momma friends and mommas-to-be!  Use my friends & family referral code at Diapers.com and you will get an additional 20% off your order!  code:  STAC0250

 

 

Yay for decorating, sales and progress!!!

 



 

Mid-week Randoms...and an exciting purchase!

Well, first let's start with the update from my doctor.  Hydronephrosis confirmed, and the safest way to move forward is pretty much do nothing.  They can put in a stint to help my kidney drain, however in pregnant women stints need to be replaced every 4-6 weeks.  That means having several surgeries between now and the time I give birth--no thank you.  The stints also tend to cause more discomfort in pregnant women, and have been known to cause pre-term labor--again, no thank you!  I'm perfectly fine with managing and dealing with the pain if that means little miss gets to cook all the way!  So, course of treatment now is a follow-up renal ultrasound of my kidneys and bladder in 6 weeks so that they can make sure the dilation is not getting to unsafe levels.  Over the past two weeks I have learned certain things that help the pain to subside and have been able to manage it pretty well.  I just plan to continue with that so that I don't need to resort to any pain medication. I'm allow to take Tylenol but I'm not crazy about putting medicine like that in my body that will get to the baby. 


So, on to more fun and exciting things, let's take a look back at Halloween:

Pretty cute for being thrown together in about 5 minutes, huh?
I had several costume ideas but procrastinated a bit and put this together at the last minute by cutting up some old
cotton t-shirts and pinning it to the outfit I wore that day.

 And now a peek at the Nursery progress:


Room cleaned out, floor mopped, rug laid down, diaper shower goodies brought upstairs, and washed all of the baby clothes that we have so far.  The two green and two clear plastic bins in the picture above need to go up into the attic, but we did not have our ladder so couldn't get that done this past weekend. 

We also changed out the electrical duplex in our hallway upstairs [to the left of the nursery door].  All we need it for is one plug-in to vacuum, so we put in one of these:

LED Nightlight and Receptacle

For about $9.00 at Home Depot, we got this nifty receptacle. The nightlight has a sensor so when it is a certain level of darkness it turns on, which will help tremendously during all-hours-of-the-night trips to the nursery so that I don't have to turn on any brighter lights in the hallway.



While that was an exciting purchase, that's not the one this post title is about.  No, that would be Ryleigh's "coming home" outfit!!!  I'm a little obsessed with paisley and mint green, and this cute little set was too perfect to pass up [plus it comes with a cute little bunny rattle]...

Tutti Frutti Layette Set from Vera Bradley Baby
[I found this set on sale from Zulily...still a little pricey but it's her coming home outfit so I'm justifying it!!]

Also, two good sales going on right now for you mommas and mommas-to-be!  Apparently, with the code THANKSGIVING you get five free pairs of baby leg warmers at www.babyleggings.com, you just pay $12.95 shipping.    The other is at www.Crazy8.com, where they are doing a B1G1 for 88 cents!  This is only for regular priced merchandise, but you can still get some great deals. 


That's all for now!

 

Nursery Rug

Have I mentioned before just how much I love a good bargain?  Because I do....and I found one today!

Pretty much every day I peruse the deals on the Zulily site.  I've been doing it for a while--they have great deals not only for moms but also for women's clothing, holiday items, and housewares.  They also tend to have deals for guys--it seems like this is more "seasonal" around Father's Day or tailgating season. 

Well, they often have rugs on there and I've been trying to find a good deal and cute, kid-ish [like that new word?] 5'x7' rug for Ryleigh's nursery.  I just can't bring myself to pay $125+ for a large area rug that's probably just going to be drooled on, spit up on, etc.  BUT, the dilemma comes in because I also don't want my baby to be laying all over a cheap, itchy rug.

Today, I came across this one and decided to snatch it up!  It's exactly the size I need, the light pink matches the bedding fabric, and the brown will go with the color of the furniture.  It's not exactly what I had in mind, but I think it will look really cute.  It was $250, on sale through Zulily for $84.99+ $10 shipping, and I had a $20 credit on my account so I ended up only paying about $75!  It's from Mohawk Home, which is a great carpet and rug brand and they typically have very soft pile.  We actually have a giant [can't remember if it's 8'x10' or 9'x12'] Mohawk Home rug in our master bedroom that I found for a great deal at TJMaxx last year.  I'm hoping that this rug for Ryleigh is just as nice!

Here is the bedding fabric...

...and here's the area rug!

I also like how it looks as if the colors are heathered, which might also tie in the white from the bedding.  If it is, that's an added bonus.  If not, still cute! 

 

Getting Organized

I've been on a little bit of a kick to get more organized lately.  I have to admit that I am definitely a creative mind so while everything in my home has its place, sometimes I am the only one who understands that junk box organization. So, seriously organizing has been my focus...I don't really know why.  Maybe that happens after you're finally settled into a house with your husband/wife?  When you first move in together it's a merging of "his" and "hers" elements and making compromises.  But over time as you're married, you get "ours" stuff.  And slowly but surely, you purge the old items, or box them up for the attic and a rainy day.

What are my plans?

1.  The previously mentioned & newly decorated bookshelves in our living room...the new photos should be arriving at the end of the week so that they can be placed in frames and I can post pictures on here!  Even though they are photo-less...just the new layout seems so much more purposeful and less like random bookshelves of stuff.

2.  I'm finally getting around to the giftwrap organizer in the closet of the 4th bedroom, lovingly referred to as the Man Cave.  I am seriously excited for when this is finished.  Tutorial to come, using this pantry organizer:

Grayline Back of Door Storage System from Amazon
They also sell this at Target, but it's $9 cheaper, plus free shipping on Amazon! Gotta love a deal.
 

3.  Organizing the rest of the above mentioned closet.  It was seriously a pile of random things ranging from bed linens to giftwrap to massage chair boxes to luggage to folding chairs...Get the picture?  Well, I completely cleaned out that closet yesterday and was extremely surprised to realize that there is not really that much in there, it was just all piled on top of each other and really mis-using the space.  After throwing out some of the boxes and random items, I placed the good items back in there.  All except for the linens, because I need some shelving for those. 

4.  Getting rid of old clothes that I no longer wear.  While many of us are less toned than we were in our high school days, some of us have stayed about the same clothing size.  Yay for us!  However, the downside of that is you somehow end up with this closet full of clothes you've acquired over the past 10 years and at some point you have to start eliminating pieces from your wardrobe.  Also, like many sorority girls, we end up with collections of semi-formal and formal dresses that we honestly won't wear half of ever again.  Unless maybe you marry rich.  But for most of us, finding a charity to donate to sounds like a better idea.  I never just throw away clothes.  There's always somebody else out there who could use it. 

5.  Finally get around to our backsplash.  This isn't necessarily organizing, but I will be able to finally feel like our kitchen is complete.  I'm trying to narrow down ideas and products.  Also, painting one of the kitchen walls and hanging a valence over the sink window if I feel really ambitious.



That's all for now.  Starting back with Day 1 of Insanity tonight, the Fit Test [essentially, maxing out on 8 different exercises].

Photo Ordeal.

Well...it has not been fun the past two days trying to order some items from Shutterfly.  It all started because I had a coupon code for a free 8"x8" custom photo book from Shutterfly because my parents bought something from Best Buy and they were doing a promotion that you would get this coupon.  Well, my parents did not have a need for the photo book so they gave it to me.  I've held on to it for months, saying that I would make the photo book when I had more time.  I was really looking forward to it because after our wedding, I made a custom photo book of all of our wedding photos and it turned out very well!

So, fast forward to last night around 10pm, I wasn't tired and I was catching up on some DVRed shows, so I decided to make the book.  I spend over two hours on the Shutterfly website, making my custom photo book of all of our honeymoon pictures, and then uploading other photos to use for the redecorated shelves in our living room.   So of course, what happens when I click the little "place order" button?  All these messages pop up saying that it couldn't save my pictures and I couldn't order until the pictures were saved...blah, blah, blah...After about 5 minutes of frustration, I just decided to close out of it, shut down my laptop, head to bed and say a prayer for the best.  When I revisited the site this evening, no photo book to be found.  So, I patiently re-made the book and placed the order.  What was different this time?  Last night, I used Shutterfly's "Import from Facebook" option and imported about half of the photos.  For whatever reason, that function must not be working properly and it doesn't fully import the photo information so it won't let you process the order.  Tonight, I went on Facebook and saved all of the photos I wanted to a file on my computer, then uploaded from my computer documents.  There were no issues with that and everything was good to go!  I just had to pay about $8 shipping, which I thought was pretty good.

I decided that the price of the prints & shipping for the photos I was going to get for the living room was a little excessive, so I went to the Snapfish website (since I need some larger scale prints) and ordered those through them instead.  They are doing a promotion right now for large scale [5x7 and 8x10] that if you use the code BIGPRINTS you get half off!

I also decided that I'm going to do a mixture of photos and artwork instead of just photos like I had originally planned.  I think it will be a good way to incorporate my new chalkboard too.  Yes, I decided to join that craze.  I thought it would be cute to have little messages that I could change for whatever season, occasion, etc, was going on.  We already had a small photo easel that is perfect size to hold the chalkboard :)


Have a wonderful first weekend of 2013!

Artsy Ideas

I've decided to enter in a photography contest in Rock Hill.  I have never really had any formal photography training but I think I have a bit of a natural eye for composition when I try.  I have several photos from my trip to Greece that I love and so I've decided to pick two of those to enter.  I would enter four but I think that the two I have chosen work well to be submitted together, and plus since it's my first time doing a photography contest I don't want to pay extra for two additional photos when I don't know what to expect.  I am looking for a good place to get them printed out fairly larger (I'm thinking at least 11"x14" format), anybody have any suggestions?  I know that places like CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid all have photo centers but the print quality is what I am apprehensive about.  The deadline is June 2nd to have them turned in, and then they notify all of the selected competitors by June 8th.  The winners and awards will be announced June 21st.  Hopefully I will make the cut!  We shall see...it will be fun and it's not too much to enter.  The top 3 places get significant monetary prizes so that would be exciting!  If I make the cut they also keep your artwork hanging up for about a month and anyone who visits has the opportunity to purchase it, so that is a possibility also.  Either way, we still need to get some stuff up on our walls at home so these could maybe go in the hall upstairs or in our dining room.  I'm going to try to find a coupon to get frames at Michaels or Hobby Lobby, and hopefully can find a printer at a decent price, maybe even with an online promo code!

There is also an art contest in August for any type of artwork to be submitted in a general contest.  I think I might submit the charcoal drawing I did of one of our wedding photos (shown here).  That one I am much more confident in, it will just be interesting since all of the different types of artwork will be judged against one another and not knowing what the judges may favor.


I will update with how everything goes. 

And yes, I know I haven't updated on Las Vegas yet...It was awesome and exhausting.  I will load pictures and summarize this weekend when I have more free time! (Long weekend, woo hoo!!)

I always love a great deal!!

...And today's was great!!

One of my friends is getting married this summer and she told me about how Belk sends out exclusive coupon emails to people who sign up for it on the Belk website.  She got a great deal back in December on the rest of her holiday fine china.  I signed up to get the emails in January and whenever they send a coupon I always check the website to see if there are any sales going on, because it is always better to combine a coupon with an existing sale!  Well, today there was. 

We got 4 place settings of our fine china as wedding gifts last year, and I hope to eventually have at least 8 place settings.  My pattern is English Lace from Wedgewood, which I absolutely fell in love with when I saw it...

I love how it is more relief monochromatic with just the detail of the silver edge.  It is so intricate and beautiful.  Classic.  My mom's fine china from when my parent's got married was colorful and she told me that it's always better to go neutral because you can pair it with anything and it never goes out of style.  I definitely agree.  I also use this china as our holiday china because right now, the holidays are pretty much the only occasions we use these dishes for!  It looks beautiful with a Christmas tablescape, too. 

So, about the deal I got...The email code was for an additional 20% off, including sale prices.  I looked and the 5 piece place settings were on sale for $65 off the usual price.  With the additional 20%, I got a total of $84 off each place setting, so I decided to order two.  They also had a special offer for most of their china that when you buy a 5 piece place setting, you get something for free.  For my pattern, you got the rimmed soup bowl for free, so I also got two of those.  The last part of the deal was that since it was over $99, there is free standard shipping from the Belk website.  Therefore:



Total before promotions and discounts:  $556.40 w/free shipping
Total Paid (including sale and promo):  $218.14 w/free shipping



Love, Love, Love it!!!

 

Viva Las Vegas!

 

MORE DAYS UNTIL LAS VEGAS!!!!!

I am so excited for this vacation.  I have not been on a full week long vacation somewhere like this since high school when we would go to the beach for a week on Spring Break.  This should be such a fun and relaxing break.  

 So, in honor of this, here are my 5 must-do's for this vacation:

1.  Spend an entire day relaxing by the pool.

2. Go on an ATV Tour of the Ring of Fire desert---CHECK! Thanks to Groupon :)

 

3.  Play Black Jack at a live casino table

 

4.  Attend a show.  Some that look neat to me are:

 

5.  Ride one of the skyscraper roller coasters.  Yes, this is going to scare me half to death but I just feel like it's a must!

 

 

Couponing!

So, life has been pretty much the same as usual...great and semi-busy! We are looking forward to our Vegas trip getting closer and closer. We will be getting on the plane before we know it! I can not remember the last time I was on such a long vacation (8 days/7 nights)...I will be great! I just hope the jet lag isn't too bad...but we are getting home around 10 (I think) Saturday night and we plan to sleep lots on Sunday to get ourselves back to normal before Monday.

Here is an update on some couponing today! I am very excited, we hadn't gone on a good grocery shopping trip in a while, and it is always a rush to see how much we save from our coupons!

CVS (#1)

(3) Coca Cola 12-pack

(2) Wheat Thins

(1) Triscuits

(1) Colgate Optic White Tooth Paste

(2) Playtex Tampons

Total Before Coupons: $51.85

Total Paid: $28.92

*Plus, this gave me $10 in ECB's to use on my next purchase. So, we put those items in the car and then went back in for round 2...

CVS (#2)

(4) Pringles Chips

(1) Aussie Shampoo 13.5oz

(2) Aussie Conditioner 13.5oz

(2) Sunchips

(2) Suave Pro Shampoo 12.6oz

(2) Suave Pro Conditioner 12.6oz

(2) Xtra laundry detergent 32 loads

(1) Swiffer Wet Jet cleaner

(1) Kellogg's Apple Jacks

(1) Kellogg's Raisin Brand

(1) Airwick Warmer

(1) Single Airwick Scent Refill

(1) Double Pack Airwick Refill

Total Before Coupons: $74.82

Total Paid: $33.21

KMart

(1) All laundry detergent

Total Before Coupons: $4.80

Total Paid: $2.18

Chik-Fil-A Lunch

(1) 8-count Nugget

(1) Small Sweet Tea

(1) Small Fruit Cup

Total before discount: $7.00ish??

Total after discount: $3.28

*Today, Chik-Fil-A was giving a free 8-count nugget to anyone wearing a college t-shirt in support of March Madness.

BiLo

(2) Kraft Salad Dressing

(2) Velveeta Shells

(2) Quaker Oatmeal

(2) Quaker Granola Bars

(1) Quaker Fresh Baked Breakfast bars

(1) Dole Pineapple Parfait 4-pack

(2) Knorr Rice Sides

(2) Flavored Breadcrumbs

(1) Minute Rice box

(2) Prego pasta sauce

(1) Greek Seasoning

(1) KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce

(1) Texas Pete 1gal (this was for Will!)

(1) Caribou Coffee K-Cups 12 pack

(1) Hefty Kitchen trash bags 45 pack

(1) Angel Soft Toilet Tissue 12 pack

(1) Tide Washing Machine Cleaner (this is great for when the boys forget a load of laundry in the washer....)

(1) Gain fabric softener crystals

(1) Busy Bones 2 pack dog bones

(1) Easter card

(1) Birthday card

(2) V05 shampoo

(1) Hair gel

(2) Pilsbury Pizza Crust

(1) Pilsbury Crescent Rolls

(2) Pilsbury Chocolate Chip cookie dough

(1) Philadelphia Cooking Cream

(1) Dannon Yogurt 4-pack

(1) Sargento Provolone slices

(1) Yoplait Yogurt and granola 2-pack

(1) Eggs

(1) Gallon Skim Milk

(4) Birdseye Vegetable Steamers

(1) Freschetta Pizza

(6) Healthy Choice Frozen Entree (great for a healthy lunch at work!)

(5) Boneless Chicken Breast packages

(1) Ground Beef

(2) Pork Chop packages

(1) Turkey Ballpark Franks

(3) Johnsonville Lean Italian Sausage with chicken

(1) Celery

(1) Bag of Apples

(1) Bag of Potatoes

(1) Corn Cob 5 pack

(1) Baby Carrots 2lb bag

(1) Fresh Salad bag

(1) Bananas

(1) White Grapes bag

(2) Tribe Hummus

Total Before Coupons: $294.58

Total Paid: $212.41

*Plus, 20 cents per gallon of fuel perks!

So, today was a total shopping trip of $433.05, and with a savings of $153.05, we paid $280.

I <3 Couponing :)

That is all...now off to clean a bit and get ready for Jenna's birthday cook out and celebration!

Plans for a New Year...

Quickly before I get into the New Year, I realized that I forgot to re-cap Christmas...we had a great weekend with our family. Saturday my parents came up to stay with us, and we went to the 11pm service at our church, then woke up Sunday to open presents and had our traditional family meal, lasagna. After that, we went to see Jake's family and had their traditional meal at his Aunt Teri's house for dinner. Jake loves his new golf clubs that I got him, my parents got him a golf bag, and my brother got him a matching golf accessory set. All in Georgia black & red, of course :) Jake wanted to get me a piece of jewelry to have and always remember our first married Christmas together, and got me a beautiful pair of diamond earrings!

Well, 2011 went by in a flash! I can't believe how much has happened over the past 12 months. A lot of first-time experiences for us--buying a home, getting married, going on our first big vacation (honeymoon), buying a new car, getting a new dog, remodeling our kitchen, getting a new job...also, for the first time, Jake's company now has its very own warehouse! I am so proud of him.

So, what is in store for next year? Learning how to file taxes as a married couple & our vacation to Las Vegas in May! I have also decided to start drawing more, and I went out last night and got some great deals on the makings for my new art corner. I am really excited and I have already got my first couple projects in mind...

What makes it better is that I got everything on sale! The storage tower is from Ross, and I got it 25% off because the feet aren't level (something my hubby can fix very easily). The easel is a French sketch-box style that can fold up and be portable, and has a center drawer for storage. I got it from Hobby Lobby, and I used their 40% off coupon this week to get it for $59 instead of $99. I also got a new sketchbook for 30% off. The canson drawing pads were B1G1 Free at Michael's, where I also picked up some packs of drawing pencils and charcoals for 40% off. The drawing board I already had from my freshman year at Winthrop. Now, I just need to find a stool and clip-on light. I also want to get some wall shelves or something to decorate that corner.


We are going to have fun this weekend! We are driving down to Mount Pleasant tonight for a late Christmas celebration with my grandfather, and then coming back up to Rock Hill tomorrow for New Years/Jake's 24th birthday festivities. We also have off work on Monday so it will be another nice long weekend!


Happy New Year :)

Amazing!

...is pretty much how I feel! Why, you ask? Well...our house had become pitifully empty of anything to eat, and we needed lots of toiletries too, so I went grocery shopping last night. It had been far too long since I had made a good couponing run, and it felt awesome last night when I got home. Jake said, "So how much did you save this time?" I wasn't quite sure, so we went searching through all of the bags to find the receipts. Here it goes:

BiLo:

Hamburger Buns

(4) Rice a Roni

(3)Pasta Roni

Cookie Mix

Angel Hair Pasta

Linguini Pasta

Butter Grits

Cheese Grits

Raisin Bran Cereal

Corn Pops Cereal

Saltine Crackers

(3) Campbell's Tomato Soup

(2) Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup

Beef-a-roni

Ravioli

Apple Cinnamon Tea

BBQ Sauce

Tortilla Chips

Parmesan Cheese

(2) Mac & Cheese

Salsa

Wisk Laundry Detergent

All Laundry Detergent

Deodorant

Crest Toothpaste

Layers Biscuits

(2) Pork BBQ

(2) Frozen Shrimp bags

Price Before Savings/Coupons: $122.01

Price After Savings/Coupons: $74.69

FuelPerks: -$0.10/gallon

Total, I bought 40 items here, so that is an average of less than $2 an item :)

Harris Teeter:

(2) Better Crocker Brownie Mix

Bisquick Mix

(3) Kleenex Tissues

Febreeze Candle

Dawn Dish Detergent

(4) Pringles

Tide Stain Release

Downy Fabric Softener

(2) M&M's

(2) X14 Toilet Bowl Cleaner

Pledge Dust Wipes

(2) Glade Scented Oil Refill Packs

(2) Brown Sugar

Pam Cooking Spray

Just 6 Dog Treats

Chocolate Chips

Wisk Laundry Detergent

(2) Xtra Laundry Detergent

Biore Face wash

Herbal Essence Shampoo

Cooking Light magazine

1lb Ground Beef

1lb Ground Chicken

Boneless Chicken Breasts

Pork Chops

Ice Cream

Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls

Crescent Rolls

(2) 4-pack YoCrunch Yogurt

1 Dozen Eggs

1/2 Gal Milk

Advil Congestion Relief

Price Before Savings/Coupons: $177.44

Price After Savings/Coupons: $127.71

So, I spent around $200, and I saved $100. I haven't had a good trip like this in a very long time. Plus, it feels awesome actually having a pantry and refrigerator stuffed full of items!

Aside from the couponing, we had such a nice, relaxing weekend. We had a low-key night in on Friday, Jake played some softball and we stayed in at night on Saturday, and yesterday after church we went to Jeremy & April's to watch some movies. My grocery trip was last night. We have also gotten to watch lots of Grey's Anatomy this weekend. We love this show, plus it has a special place in our hearts since it is the reason that we started hanging out 5 years ago :) Time flies...

House a Home

I am loving my new car! I ended up getting the Kia Soul "!" model, in the metallic black ("Shadow") color. It is really cool because the metallic in it is actually red. I got a heck of a deal! We definitely went at the right time. It has upgraded hounds-tooth interior and a sunroof, which is awesome. In the past I have not really been a 'driving with the windows down' kind of girl, I mean let's be honest that doesn't work well with long hair. However, the sunroof adds a new dynamic and I love it. It is so nice and relaxing to ride around town. It's also got bluetooth which is a feature I am surprised that I use so much. I hate the bluetooth ear pieces and have always thought it was weird, but the car version is really nice to be hands-free even though I probably look weird talking to myself.

So, as I have mentioned before, Jake and I have pretty much been very slack with decorating our house since we have moved in. We didn't have as much time as we would have liked to get things ready before we moved in. Lately I have really been wanting to do more with the house. I would love to paint the bathrooms, and put up framed mirrors instead of the builder mirror sheets. We also need to get up lots of artwork, and I am hoping to slowly but surely do that.

The other big project that Jake and I want to do is to remodel our kitchen. You would think that since it is what I do for a living, this would be easy. To an extent it is, however it really challenging to find good premade cabinets. I do not deal with premade cabinets at work, and ones that I have found at Lowe's and Home Depot really do not impress me. Here is something similar to the look we are going for:

We have a similar kitchen layout and coloring. We have the glass slider on the right wall, and door to the garage where this one is. Instead of an island, we have a peninsula that we are going to add coming off of the left wall. Our flooring is light laminate hardwood like this, and we want some sort of dark (not necessarily cherry) cabinets. The countertops are going to be light/medium tone quartz, and a light onyx backsplash (these were easy to choose from work!).

The new Martha Stewart line at Home Depot has some really nice character to it, and it is so new that they do not have any kitchen displays, only the sample boards. From reading reviews online, as much as these cabinets have in design details, they lack in structural integrity and quality. They are already more expensive than they should be just because they have the MS name, and they are built standard with 3/8" particle board instead of 3/4" plywood (which you have to pay even more to upgrade to). There are also horror stories of everything coming in wrong or damaged, and taking forever to replace. Lots of extra time to deal with other people's mistakes is something that I do not have, working 6 days a week. After lots of research, a new store called Cabinets To Go is opening up in 2 weeks in Charlotte and I think that is seeming like the most promising thing so far. Of course, that could change when I go there and see the quality of their products, but from the information on their website I am keeping my fingers crossed! Jake wants to get this remodel done sooner rather than later to get all of the wedding gifts that we have piled up in the dining room into the additional kitchen storage, and I am not complaining! We are just hoping to keep a good budget so that we can still do the back patio this fall. I love being an interior designer, and feel so blessed that we will get great discounts to allow us to get these projects completed.

Aside from that, we are looking forward to a fun night tomorrow going to Thirsty Thursday at the Charlotte Knights stadium. We are going with some friends from church, and I am using a voucher that I bought off of Living Social a few weeks ago :) I haven't been able to do a whole lot of couponing lately but at least I am still on the lookout for bargains! We bought the "Voucher for 2 field box tickets and one appetizer from the Budweiser Brewhouse from Charlotte Knights" for $15, a 59% savings. www.LivingSocial.com

Goodnight!

My Little Friend

Last night, after the rain storm, I was letting Reece and Kona out one last time before bed and a cute little tree frog was stuck to the sliding door right about eye level! I think he was a tree frog anyway, he was about 2.5" tall and brown. I said a prayer for the little guy before I opened the door because if he got scared from the door moving and jumped off, I think Kona would have tried to have a bit too much fun with him. Luckily, he hung on tight and stayed there. Well, this morning he wasn't there anymore, and when I closed the door after letting the dogs out the blinds moved. I freak out a little bit because of course I am thinking some huge bug has gotten inside. Well you guessed it, my little tree frog was sitting at the door and jumped inside when I opened it. I did a creative maneuver with a plastic bag to get him back outside to freedom, and I am hoping he finds a safe place to live before Kona finds him.

On another note, I got the deal of the century at Michael's on Sunday. I needed a large canvas for our dining room painting, and had a 40%off coupon that started Sunday so I was waiting patiently all weekend to be able to use it. Well, my mom and I went and the gallery wrap canvases (the 1.5" wrap) were just marked 50% off! I ended up getting my large canvas and some more for our bedroom since I also had a 15%off total purchase coupon. Total, I got $210 worth of canvases 65%off, used a $25 Visa gift card wedding present, and ended up paying $45. It was wonderful :)

I am very much looking forward to the holiday weekend and all of its fun festivities! I still have to work on Saturday, but I'm hoping to maybe get to leave early and get in some pool time!

HoneyBee

I am completely obsessed with Blake Shelton's new song "Honeybee". I've always liked him as a singer and this song is so cute. It's also very true, that your partner is your complement and will balance you. They have the qualities that you need or you may lack. That is probably the nearlywed in me talking, but seriously :)

Also, I forgot to update you that I did a trial run for my wedding hairstyle on Saturday and I think I have it about 99% figured out. I'm very excited! I didn't want anything too fancy or too casual and I think I have found the perfect balance.

So, I went to Walmart and Food Lion tonight and did not really have any great savings, but total I saved $17.84 and spent $47.56. I am going to Food Lion tomorrow for all of the great Easter deals, as well as BiLo which I have some good coupons for, so I'm hoping for better results then! I'll update you on how it goes.

I'm really looking forward to this weekend. We are going to the sunrise service for church on Sunday, which is being held on Lake Wylie which should be beautiful. Jake's family is also going to come with us to church, along with some friends so it will be great to have everyone together! After church we are having an Easter Brunch at our house with lots of waffles, fruit, casseroles, and a few desserts yum :)

Goodnight!

Happy :)

I am very happy today! Why, you ask? Because I have had a very productive week with getting things checked off of the wedding list, AND I had some very good deals today. We will start with those:

From RiteAid...

Kellogs Apple Jacks

(2) Special K Strawberry

(2) M&M Peanut Easter Candy 12.6oz bag

Chex Mix Party Blend

Chex Mix Cheddar Blend

Halls Strawberry Cough Drops

Halls Honey Lemon Cough Drops

(2) Secret Women's Deodorant Gel

Secret Women's Deodorant Invisible Solid

(2) Olay Complete Body Wash 12oz

Olay Complete All-Day Moisturizing Lotion

Scope Mouthwash 750mL

Pantene Shampoo 12.6oz

Pantene Conditioner 12.6oz

(2) Dial Complete Hand Soap

Subtotal before Savings & Coupons $94.54

Total amount paid $49.67

& I got 30 Wellness+ points for my next visit!

From BiLo Grocery...

(2) Quaker Chewy Granola Bars

(2) Purex Laundry Detergent 32 loads

Stain & Odor Remover

(2) Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts

Hillshire Farms Honey Ham

Hillshire Farms Thin Sliced Rotisserie Chicken

Hillshire Farms Turkey

(2) Southern Home Cooked Tail-off Shrimp 100ct

Subtotal before Savings & Coupons $67.75

Total amount paid $46.11

& I now have 15cents per gallon for fuel perks.

So, on the wedding planning front...I ordered some beads off of Etsy that I am going to use to make my earrings, which I am very excited about. I make a lot of my own jewelry and it's always exciting to see the ideas become reality! Also, I bought the glass jars and lids for the wedding favors...that's all the detail I am giving about them until much closer to the wedding :) I thought it was pretty cool that the jar company is from Lancaster, PA--pretty close to where we used to live and my Dad used to work there. Funny how little things like that happen. I also ordered the envelopes for our wedding guest book, which is going to look sort of like this, but of course I'm putting my own spin on it:

I saw this in a magazine and thought that it was a really cute idea. I think it could be fun to bring it with us on our honeymoon and either read the notes on the plane or at some point on our trip.

That's all for now, my computer battery is about to die.