Bon Voyage

Aloha, my friends!

In two days I’ll be winging my way through the air headed for blue water and sunny skies! Hawaii, here we come! I can’t begin to express how excited I am!!!! I never really minded winter while I was growing up, but I’m coming to dislike it more and more with every week that passes. I love snow for the holidays, but after that, I’m ready for springtime -- birds, sunshine, flowers, open windows, and just being outside!

Plans for our time in Maui include whale watching, driving to the top of the volcano Haleakala to watch the sun rise, soaking up lots of rays on the beautiful beaches, swimming in the amazing pools, driving the Road to Hana to see the beautiful waterfalls & lagoons, visiting Pearl Harbor, eating great food, and whatever else strikes our fancy! Who knows, maybe Mike will even get me to try snorkeling! We are both looking forward to warm weather and relaxation, a break from work and the busy schedule we have around here. I hope to come back with hundreds of pictures and plenty of stories to tell.

I need to whip up a couple snacks to take on the long flight with us, charge my iPod, load up all those camera batteries, and hopefully finish up making my new sack purse before we leave (I’ll post pictures if I get that accomplished!).

We are literally counting the days and hours until we can leave the cold Midwest and head towards the sunny tropics! I’ll doubt I’ll be posting while we’re gone, but I’m still going to try and put up my 365 pictures which will give you a glimpse of what we’re doing!!!

Do any of you have “winter escapes” planned while we’re waiting for spring to appear?

Bargain Shopping & Thrifting

I love a good bargain; I shop resale, clearance racks, thrift stores, and ebay. If there is a deal to be had, I try to be the one to find it! My parent’s raised me knowing how to make-a-dollar-stretch, and for that I am very thankful. The inspiration for this post came not only from years of thrifting, but also some recent bargains that I've been excited about. I like to be cute & fashionable as much as the next girl, but I just don’t want to pay big bucks for the look…and I can’t afford to pay big bucks for it! Besides, I think my way is more fun! My wardrobe includes clothing from New York & Co, Gap, the Limited, Banana Republic and Old Navy… and I didn’t buy anything from the stores themselves.

There are so many ways to find a good bargain, but the only ‘down’ side is that sometimes it takes a bit of extra time….but not always. When I enter a store like Target or Kohls, I head straight to the clearance racks where the sales vary from 30%-80% off. When you’re bargain shopping, you have to be able to think “out of season” because sometimes that is where the best deals are. It might be a little disappointing at the time, if you’re out looking for a cute summer skirt and end up with a fuzzy sweater, but when it comes time to pull out clothing for the next season, I love seeing the clothes I had forgotten about because I bought them in the off-season and hadn’t worn them yet!

A tip I’ve learned is “thinking outside the box” when it comes to clothing so you can get the most wear out of your wardrobe. I’m trying to get better at making my clothes more versatile by adding layers, accessories, a scarf, etc to make it work for various seasons.

For example: I bought this dress a couple weeks ago for $5 off the clearance rack at Target. Basic black dress, but I’m determined to make it work for all four seasons.

Fall & Winter: Add: Cardigan or Blazer
Nylons or Tights
Knee boots or Heels
Scarf in coordinating color

Spring:Add: Colored cropped short sleeve cardigan
Colored flats
Long necklace

Summer:Colored flats or dressy sandals

Silk scarf or bright jewelry to lighten up the black

There you go; a $5 dress I can wear all year long!

A few months ago I bought an adorable black & fuchsia dress at Macy’s off the clearance rack, that when combined with my gift card, I paid $4.50 for! And low & behold, when I was thrifting this week, I found the perfect pair of fuchsia sandals to go with it – for $2.99!!! $7.50 for a smashing outfit that will be perfect for summer dates with my hubby! Gotta love it!

Goodwill & Salvation Army shops:It can be frustrating to walk into thrift shops sometimes because they can be big, unorganized, or dirty. It helps to go in with a little imagination and the hopes of finding a gem in the midst of the rubble! Here are a few things lessons I've learned along the way.

Look & FeelMy husband has taught me to be a fabric-feeler – if it doesn’t feel good then there is no point in trying it on even if it’s your size. One of the best ways to find good deals on the racks is to feel the fabrics. The trend in clothing the past three – four years has been softer fabrics, so learn to know what you’re ‘feeling’ for, and learn to recognize these fabrics by looking over the racks – it certainly makes the process go faster!

Be Creative

You found a cute blazer but it has shoulder pads… before putting it back on the rack, take a second look. How hard would it be to take those pads out? Cute cardigan but it has hideous buttons? Buttons at the fabric store are cheap – switch out the buttons to something cuter & trendier. Pants fit great but are too long or too short? Check the hem – can you let it out? Or if it’s too long, hem it up. The same rule applies to skirts.

Double CheckLook carefully over your clothing before you make your final purchase. Look for stains you don’t think you can get out, stretched out hems or holes in sweaters, unraveling seams, or basically anything that you can’t fix or don’t want to take the time trying. The clothing may be cheaper, but it doesn’t mean you want to waste your money if there were moth-holes you didn’t see before you bought it.

Tags

I get so excited when I find ‘used’ clothing that still has the tags on it! SCORE! It happens more often than you might think. I also find name brand clothing with increasing frequency! I found this wonderful pair of dress pants from New York & Co at Goodwill, and three days later I found the exact same pair & size at the Salvation Army store (no, I didn’t buy them again…LOL). The name brands are everywhere, but I’m not a brand-snob. I want my clothes to fit and flatter, so I don’t really care what the label says. It is fun to stumble across them though because I know how expensive they were brand new.

Used ShoesI know buying used shoes really grosses some people out… I always look over them carefully to see if they are still in good condition and I always clean them with rubbing alcohol before wearing them. If anybody else has any good sanitizing tips, let me know.

Resale & Consignment shops are usually higher-scale than thrift shops but they have a slightly narrower selection. Often they are cleaner and more selective in what items they will accept in their store. They are pricier, but sometimes you can find the perfect outfit for a special event or occasion. My bridesmaid dress for a friend’s wedding was bought at a consignment shop four year ago – it was the perfect fit and perfect color. These places often have great purse and shoe selections also.

 

Books & Music are also fun to buy second-hand. When purchasing CD’s, always take the disk out of the case and check it closely for scratches or cracks! I have bought several used CD’s over the years and never had a problem with any of them if I take time to check it first. I love books, but it would get expensive if I gave into all my book-buying-impulses, so I always hit the book section in used places. There if often quite a bit of Christian fiction, cookbooks, and trashy romance novels, but I stay away from the latter section. ;-)  For usually $1-$2 you can get books that are practically new and would cost you $15-$30 to buy new. Who doesn’t love that?

 

The possibilities are endless with bargain shopping. Even my wedding gown came from the Salvation Army shop, and it was my dream dress. I had been scouring the Internet for a dress like that, and walked into the store and pulled it right off the rack -- $40 plus the cost of alterations. My wedding veil was given to me by a friend who was getting rid of hers, so I had the hair piece altered and the bottom tier cut off. My shoes were on clearance at JC Penny for $10.00 and the earrings were 60% off at Kohls.

I also have several friends who bought their dresses at Goodwill and Ebay.com, and all the girls have loved them and nobody ever new know the difference!

These are some of my recent finds:


New York & Co: gray dress pants - $4.99

IZOD: black capris for work - $3.99

Coral crop spring cardigan - $3.99 (w/ tags!)
Fanfare: fuchsia sandals to go with my dress from Macys! - $2.99

Point of Grace: Christmas CD - $2.99 (in cellophane!)

"Before I Wake" - by Dee Henderson - $1.99

Well folks, that's about all I have in my stash of bargain information.  If you have any questions or bargain tips, please ask or share! 

Here is a sneak peak at what Nordstrom's is calling the

2010 Spring Color Palette:

Aren't they pretty!?!?

Our January Life

In case I haven’t mentioned this before, I blog in my free time, therefore, absence of posts = absence of free time. Going into year 2010, I knew January would be a busy month for us.

My best friend got married last Saturday, which made for a very busy week of preparations. I will have a more lengthy post about it some other time, when I actually have a picture of the Bride. A plethora of pictures on my camera and yet somehow I managed to neglect getting a good picture of her. But you can still see a sneak-peak of her here. My husband was an usher and I was the Matron of Honor – it was a simply beautiful day and the bride was stunningly gorgeous.

The next big event in our lives is getting ready for our Hawaiian vacation! We leave next week and are SO ready to get out of this Midwest weather! Six full days in the beautiful tropics, 80 degree weather, soaking in the sights, sounds and sunshine! We are beyond excited and are literally counting the days until we leave! This trip will be my first airplane ride, about which I am both nervous and excited. So many new experiences; I’ll be taking pictures galore on this trip!!!!  We are staying at a resort in Maui, and I drool (not literally...) over the website looking at the beautiful pools and lush surroundings.  Oh beautiful Sunshine, you can't come soon enough!!!

On an unrelated topic, I am in the midst of constructing a post on Thrifting & Frugal Fashion (as I’m wearing my NY & CO dress pants that I bought for $4.99), which will hopefully get finished and posted sometime this week. It's a topic that I personally get very excited about, and hopefully some of you will too! :)

… so stay tuned!

Randoms

Just a couple random thoughts! 

• The book of Proverbs has 31 chapters and there are 31 days in most months. I am trying to read one chapter a day in this wonderful book of wisdom. I’m sure I’ll learn a lot if I do that all year! I mix other things in with my devotions, but it’s nice to have that as a ‘constant’ every day.
  
  
• I have discovered that I eat less and am more careful about my food selections if I am keeping a food journal. When forced to write down every single morsel that enters my mouth, I’m way more conscientious about letting those calories touch my lips!

There you have it folks,
my two deep thoughts for the day. 

Come to the Table

Growing up, the dinner table meant “family time.” Our lives were busy and everybody was often headed in various directions, but we always tried to make it home for dinner. Around the table we talked about our day, our plans for the week, grades on a test, news headlines, a sermon at church, something we read, updates on a friend…anything and everything. We laughed, we cried, we spilled milk and we flung mashed potatoes. It was family time; it was the gathering place.

Time around the table isn’t special because the food is always amazing (although that never hurts!) but because it’s a chance to sit down and reconnect for a few minutes no matter how busy the day has been. So many of my memories growing up were centered around the kitchen and the dining room table.

I always look forward to sitting down at the table for dinner with my husband at the end of a long day. Sometimes we are so exhausted that there may only be a dozen words passed between us the entire meal, and other times it takes half an hour to eat a bowl of soup because we have so much to talk about. The point is simply to be together. I love knowing we are both home safely under the same roof, and whether there are many words or few, sitting at our little table is a beautiful thing. Nobody said it has to be fancy; there is no gold trim on those kitchen chairs, no satin cushions, or hand carved scrolling. Sometimes it’s covered with stacks of unopened mail, other times it’s spotless with a decorative candle burning cheerily in the center. But regardless of how it looks on any given day, it’s our table, in our little home, where our memories are being made.

Project 365

After some thought and a final dose of inspiration, Bibelot: Project 365 has been launched!  I thought about doing this last year, but it just never happened.  Now, thanks to many of you who decided to do this as well, I am fully inspired and have finally decided to make use of my random-picture-taking. 

Enjoy!

Our New Years

Our New Year's Eve:

the Air Zoo

followed by Chicago Style pizza:

After a quick stop at my folk's house, we headed home and promptly fell asleep on the couch watching a movie.  We crawled into bed about 10:30 pm and didn't really think too much about watching the "ball drop"  I guess we're too old to stay up until midnight. :)