Movin' on Up

Packing schmacking!! Sure I should be doing all kinds of things right about now, but here I sit. Still in front of my computer.

Caroline intrigued me with this whole Wordpress thing. You see... I am on a quest to find a free blogging service that 1. allows me to update my template and 2. has categories. I thought I had found it in Wordpress. But alas... you cannot change the template in any way shape or form. You know that just won't do. Standard templates are boring. And I am certainly not boring.

So, with a little more searching I found what I think may turn into the holy grail of blogging. Wordsome. This little gem is powered by Wordpress, but it has all the features that a blog nerd like me lives for. I can customized my template, I can add categories and if you have the patience the dashboard is relatively easy to figure out. I will say that customizing the template is slightly tricky because they put the code into 4 different pages. Talk about confusing.

Pointing out character flaws one person at a time.

So my bloggy friends... I am going to pack up and temporarily move. You can now find me at my new home. Still Life of Elle, just a new host. I'll leave my blogger site up for now. Just in case that whole Wordsome thing doesn't work out. Besides... all the links in the posts link back here.

Sorry I keep moving things around on everyone. Just like to keep you on your toes.

Spoiled little girl

Up until the age of 8 I was an only child. I was also a very spoiled child. Despite the fact that my parents did not have much money, I was granted nearly everything I asked for. Of course there were a few things I recall not being granted. They were often overly priced toys that we just couldn't afford. My family somehow always found a way to compromise with me. If you ever meet my Grandfather ask him to tell you the infamous "cowboy hat story."

Spoiled little girls tend to evolve into spoiled adult women. I am the prime example of that. I like brand name things, what can I say. I do carry a Coach handbag. I love shopping at Nordstrom. And I rarely drink anything other that Starbucks coffee.

Of course all that changes when you adopt. All of your money is magically vacuumed right out of your pockets. You are given a choice. Curb your spending or get creative. I have elected a happy medium between the two.

Discount brand names. This comes in the form of places like the outlet mall and Costco.

There is one other thing that I had "given up." I had not bought new contacts is about a year. I haven't had new glasses in about 4. Sure, we have insurance. Our eye insurance covers a yearly exam and contacts every year and glasses every 2 years. The problem is that they won't cover contacts and glasses in the same year. Contact lens prescriptions are only good for one year. So rather than get new glasses I always elect for the less expensive contacts.

However, my glasses have gotten so bad that I can't drive at night when it rains. I live in Washington. I rains a lot here. D said that we were going to have eye appointments and that I was getting new glasses. This was part of our Friday morning.

We head off to our local Costco for eye exams. Why Costco? They take our insurance. I am here to tell you that insurance is a fabulous thing! Not only were our eye exams only $40, but we found out that they cover frames up to $130!!! This meant I could pick any frame they had available and insurance would pay for it.

Costco may not carry designer clothing, but they DO carry designer glasses frames. Dolce & Gabana, Tommy Hillfiger, and none other than Burberry!!! That one little word to a woman who has been unable to purchase something so extravagant in a very long time was like the heavens opened up and angels sang. So yes... I selected a very cute and very trendy set of Burberry frames. I am just way too excited about all of this.

I am soooo spoiled.

Pre-emptive Retail Therapy

You ever have the inclination that something major is going to happen in your life so you need to just seize the moment? I am not exactly sure if that is what I was feeling this weekend, but it is good justification for shopping.

In my attempt to peel myself away from my fancy new office I agreed to go shopping with Kathou this weekend for orphanage donations. We headed on up to our local mega outlet mall for some discount deals. In all fairness, the last time we went shopping Kathou left with a very expensive handbag and me with nothing more than a pair of shoes. This time I was the "big spender." Ok it is an outlet mall, how much can you really spend?


It started with, "oh lets go into this store!" So we head off to the first store. Then we passed the Eddie Bauer outlet. Ok we didn't so much as pass it by as actually went in. Herein lies my downfall. They had the cutest kahkis for a whopping $19.99. None of that stretch material and they even roll up to flood pants. Very versatile when you don't know what the weather is going to be like. So I bought them.

I will say that I did buy some orphanage donations. 3 sweaters, 5 hats, 4 long sleeve t-shirts and 3 pairs of sweat pants all for $48! I am learning the bargain hunt from the discount queen!

Of course no trip to the outlet mall would be complete without a trip into Ann Taylor. Cute clothes at reasonable prices. What more can you ask for? I had no intention of buying anything in there. That is until I haphazardly looked through the wall of pants. They had the cutest turquoise short pants for $4.99! I have nothing to go with turquoise pants, but they were $4.99 people. I also found a great pair of brown cords for $9.99. They are a little more flare legged than I usually purchase. They really are the kind of pants that when you look at photos of yourself long in the future you will think back and say... what was I thinking? But they are cute now, and frankly that is all that matters.

So I did a little retail therapy. Little did I know that it was going to be a hectic few weeks coming. I may be stressed, but I will look darn good.