Very Cute Giveaway by Monogram Chick

Monogram Chick is having a fabulous giveaway for a preppy travel mug so head on over there and enter. All you have to do is leave a comment to enter and if you mention that you saw it on my blog than I win one too!!! The winner will be selected on Monday. Click here to enter: http://www.monogramchick.blogspot.com/. Good Luck!

Can You Tell A Difference?

Put your shoes on, grab your purse, put the kiddies in the car and get yourself to Stein Mart because after you read this you'll want a set of these bracelets for yourself.

A couple months ago I went to Anthropologie. We had a few events coming up that I wanted to get a few new accessories for. I found a great set of silver bracelets. The price was $48.00, a little pricey but I thought they were cute and and would go with so many things. With a swipe of the old credit card, they were mine.

Now I had never been to Stein Mart and my friend decided it was time I checked it out. I found some great things. They had some of the same merchandise that I've seen at boutiques. As I made my way to the jewelry counter I spotted my bracelets, the one's I bought at Anthropologie. Exact same bracelets, not one thing different. And believe me, my friend and I checked over every piece of mine to the one's at Stein Mart. No difference, EXCEPT for the price. Anthropologie - $48.00, Stein Mart - $12.99!!!! (But wait, it gets better.) Now I'm feeling a little sick to my stomach realizing what I paid for them and seeing what Stein Mart is selling them for. OUCH!!! After the initial shock wears off, I decided I was buying them for gifts for my nieces because they were to cheap to pass up and after all they were exactly the same bracelets from Anthropologie. Went to the cash register to make my purchase, still a little nauseous but happy that I've got some great gifts for such a great price. They ring up at $3.23 on clearance. At that price, I'll buy more for gifts... Christmas, birthdays, teacher gifts, swaps. Unfortunately they only had three sets, otherwise I would of probably bought ten, fifteen or even twenty sets of them. Everyone on my Christmas list would have been getting bracelets. Probably would of had my first blog giveaway and had the bracelets as the prize. Oh well, no such luck.

My Little Mr. GQ

My little man has acquired the nickname "Mr. GQ" from our friends because he always dresses so preppy. He loves his polo shirts. So today he asks me what GQ means. I tell him it is a magazine for men that features very well dressed men. He looks at me and asks, "Well why am I not in it?" He always makes me laugh!

When he was in kindergarten his daily wardrobe was a "work shirt" (polo shirt) and "work shoes" (penny loafers) and hair combed perfectly to be just like Daddy. One day he comes down before school in a t-shirt, jean jacket with the collar up, hair spiked up and he's cutting off the fingers of the gloves I had just bought him. Trying to remain calm, I asked him what he was doing and his reply was, "Mom, I'm changing my image because all the kids on the bus make fun of how I dress." I was amazed that my little five year old was already feeling peer pressure and he used the word "image"and to top it off, he knew what the word meant and used it properly. Luckily, trying to change his "image" didn't last long and he went back to his usual attire. Thank heavens!!!

Perfect Day For A Horse Show

We spent the day watching our twelve year old daughter compete in a horse show.

...one jump down

...receiving a ribbon

...heading back to the barn after a long day

It was a great day all around. The weather was perfect. My daughter had a very successful day, even winning Champion in an event. She hasn't competed in awhile and this is a very "green" horse. "Oscar" had only competed in one show before this so were very proud of our "C" for doing so well.

Just Letting Off A Little Steam

I've purchased several things off of ebay and never had any problems until now. I recently purchased a Stampin' Up stamp set and when I received the package, one of the stamps was sent damaged. It was only eleven dollars so I wasn't going to get too upset about it. Ebay asks you to leave feedback after a transaction. I would hate to leave bad feedback and if it was an honest mistake than no big deal. I thought I would contact the seller though to let her know that one stamp was damaged and it should have been disclosed in the description of product. If I would have known, I never would have bid on it. Well, I just received a response from the seller. No apology, not even a nice email. She just said that the stamp set was perfect when sent. Would I make it up??!!!! Just the tone of her email I found to be harsh. Why do people have to be so rude? It was a very noticable flaw and unusable in the present condition. All she had to do was check over what she was selling and either fix it before selling it or disclose that one stamp was damaged. Then there would be no problems.

Sorry about the rambling. I've just encountered some rather rude people lately who seem to have no conscious when it comes to the way they treat other people. And I didn't really appreciate her implying that I was lying. Ok, I've stewed about this long enough. The kiddies are off with the hubby so I should be taking advantage of a quiet house. I'm off to relax on the patio with a good decorating magazine. Thanks for letting me vent!

Summer Vacation, YIPPEEEE!!!!

The kiddies are excited that school is finally out. They just got out last Thursday due to the snow days that had to be made up.

Sam's Club here I come. I already need to stock up again on all the snacks, juice boxes, ice cream bars, etc. It's amazing how much food we go through with school being out.

What happened to the days where you just go outside and play and use your imagination? The kiddies want to know our plans and what each days agenda is. I was so looking forward to some lazy summer days!!!!

My First Award in BlogLand!!!!!

Wow, I'm so excited. I received this award the other day from BOO AND HOOTIES MOM. Thank you so much. It's the first award I have received since I was introduced into this blogworld last fall and decided to give my hand a try at this. I have to say it's been alot of fun. There are so many blogs out there loaded with tons of interesting things from personal stories to crafty ideas to shopping tips to photos of amazing homes, etc. I'm loving every minute of it (probably a bit too much). You can easily get caught up into reading all the blogs and what intended to be only a few minutes can turn into 15 minutes and then you suddenly realize you've been sitting in front of the computer for 60 minutes. I know I spend way to much time reading them but it has been a great adventure. I hope I can do the same for you as many of you have done for me.

These were the first blogs I found that got me hooked, so I am passing this award onto them:

FreckledFarm for all her lovely posts and photos.

Kari & Kijsa for all their decorating tips and inspiration.

Simple Thoughts for her amazing stories and just as amazing photos.

The Cottage Nest for all her interesting posts.

To new ones I recently found :
Green Magsterpie is a fun read!!!

Sarah and Abraham for her sharing her journey of starting her own stationery business. The stationery is absolutely adorable.

Hooked on Houses for all her amazing photos of houses, inside and out.

Abnormally Normal for a good read.

And I have to pass this back to the one who made by day,

BOO AND HOOTIES MOM

.

So here are the rules:

Give the award to up to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and makes you feel so happy about blogland! Leave them a comment on their blog to let them know they received this award. Remember that people can be tagged more than once!!!

Happy reading!!!

Whim Collection At Target 30% Off

I know there are some big fans out in the blog world of the Whim collection by Cynthia Rowley at Target. Well ladies, I was just there and it's all 30% off and it was clearing off the shelves fast. I'm going to have to hit another Target tomorrow to see if they have a few things I was looking for. Happy shopping!!!

It arrived!!!!

My summer swap package arrived!!! Thanks Jennifer for everything. I love all the pink and green!! Now I'm ready for the pool with all my fabulous things. I'm going to have to keep a close eye on my goodies because my daughter already tried to snatch the beach towel and flip-flops.

Soak up the sun with your towel.
Utensils
Madras flip-flops

Mmm lunch to go

Extra Gum

Really cute tote

UPDATE!!! My partner received the package that I sent her. Here's a photo of everything.

Summer Swap - This Is What I Sent

Alex at "Running Just as Fast As You Can" hosted a preppy summer swap. It was so much fun to participate in. I actually had more fun wrapping all the gifts than I did doing the shopping. Here's a photo of how I wrapped them for my partner. (Don't want to show any photos of what I got her just in case she peeks at my blog.)

I also did treat bags for her two children, a girl and a boy. They each will get their own "initialed" bag filled with goodies that spells out S-U-M-M-E-R. I sealed each little individual bag with an initial sticker. Also, personalized some drinking straws and a bottle of bubbles for them.

These would be great to have at a birthday party to keep all the kiddies drinks straight.

These would be so easy to do for a birthday party as part of the goody bag.

Thanks Alex for hosting this fabulous swap!!!! I had a blast.