Taking the wind out of my sale ...

It has happened to me too. Once I became a mother I started (almost) exculsively shopping for my kids. I can still remember our long back to school shopping days with my Mom where we would return home with bags and bags of clothes but nothing for her - thanks Mom, if I knew then what I know now, I would have made sure we shopped for you too! If it makes you feel any better, I assure you, I am paying it forward to your wonderful Grandkids! :-)

I recently went to the infamous Nordstrom Anniversary sale (back in the day that meant a day off work - or at least a partial day off work - hey, I was in sales and it usually went unnoticed). This year, I bought for 5 people at the Nordstrom Anniversary sale. Out of those 5, none were me. In fact, I never made it past the men's and children's departments. When you have a husband, two kids and two godchildren who needs to shop for themselves?! I had more fun shopping for them. It only took 30 something years to get here. LOL!!!

Have you been yet, please share!? My favorite finds - these adorable jeans for DS and a great shirt for DH (not available on-line) that I plan on asking him wear to BC's birthday celebration in Laguna Beach next weekend .

Red tag alert.

So, am I the only one that gets excited when I see the little red clearence tags at Target? I often walk the back aisles just to browse the "red tag" sales. I usually am so excited to find a great red tag item that I miss that the sale price of $4.29 is only marked down from the original $4.99. Yes, they have me fooled with the bright glossy teeny tiny red tags! And please don't remind me that I really don't need another package of colorful paper napkins or pink stationary. A girl can never have enough of either of those in my book ... and they were on clearance you know!

So you can imagine my complete euphoria when I discovered a teeny tiny glossy red tag affixed to the corner of the beautiful Britax Marathon's ever-so-popular-Brooke-pattern at my local Target. But after recruiting a salesgirl to help me desperately locate one we discovered that not only did my Target not have one in stock but no Target in the western United States had one. So, alas, I drove home and ordered my Britax Marathon in the ever-so-popular and adorable Brooke pattern on-line for a premium price (because, as I told DH, this pattern isn't available just any where you know & Britax are the safest).

2 lessons learned:

#1. Yes, those glossy red tags are a marketing gimmick to get you to spend more! :)

#2. I want only the best (& cutest) for my DD! :)

**lowers head and walks away in shame**

Still Christmas shopping ...

Sephora is at it again .... spend only $25 and get this darling metallic clutch for free. Perfect metallic clutch to go with your holiday attire and fun festive events!!! Apply coupon code METTALIC and you will get this free clutch PLUS 20% off, all you need to do is spend over $25!

Two for you, one for me, two for you, one for ...

I am not sure if everyone else is like me ... but I have a very hard time Christmas shopping and not picking up one or two things for myself too! I always feel guilty about it and have also been known to come home and give it to DH and tell him to wrap it for me for Christmas because I feel guilty that I bought it for myself during the holidays. It is just so dang hard when you see a great sale or better yet, find the perfect shirt (jeans, stationary, candle, frame .... lol). Well, as I was Christmas shopping on line today while DS naps (gesh, what did our Mother's do during this season when internet shopping wasn't available?) I found a great way to satisfy both my gift giving spirit and the occasional self-buying trap I fall into ....

Sephora is offering a 13 sample product pack free when you spend only $25. WooHoo, a nice gift for that friend, sister, co-worker, Mom, Mother-in-law, etc. and a FREE packet of 13 fun beauty products for yourself (& trust me, I looked over the list first, these are the kind of samples you actually want). Enjoy! The pack even includes a sample of the Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer ... gotta love 2-steps in 1 when your a Mom!

As good as free ...

Don't you just love having a close girlfriend that knows you really well? My great friend KC knows me so well that her hubby used to ask if we shared a brain! LOL! It is wonderful having a great friend that knows you so well and last week KC gave me yet another reason to be thankful. Her message sounded something like this ....

"I thought of you and I know you will want to mark your calendar ... for $.31 cent scoop days at Baskin-Robbins." Yippee ... another Ice Cream deal ... calendar is marked!

(Ok, maybe not the best example of how well she knows me since my love for Ice Cream is no secret but I am still thankful for the tip!)

Don't forget about FREE Ice Cream scoop day this Tuesday, April 17th at Ben & Jerry's stores and next month don't forget to mark your calendar for .... .31 cent scoop days at Baskin-Robbins on May 2nd, 2007. It is from 5:00pm to 10:00pm and is in honor of the National Fallen Firefighter Association. Great cause and great taste!

What could be better then a scoop of Ice Cream?

Getting it for FREE!!!

I absolutely adore Ice Cream. It is by far my favorite dessert. I got this Great Tip from a Mommy friend and I just had to share ....

GET A FREE ICE CREAM CONE from the guy's that made "Chunky Monkey"& "Phish Food" sinfully good. The one and only "Jerry Garcia" fan's Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream.

Get your FREE cone at participating Ben & Jerry's stores on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 from noon to 8pm. Click here to find participating locations and more information.

By the way, are you a Chunk Spelunker? My DH definitely is. I now get my own pint after suffering through too many "chunk-free" bites of Ice Cream. No more sharing with my Chunk Spelunker Hubby. Click here if you are not sure what a Chunk Spelunker is.

Delicious & Under $20

Recently my great friend KG hosted our monthly Wine Club at her beautiful new home. Besides a fabulous meal of stuffed pork chops and a scrumptious dessert of chocolate fondue we tasted FIVE FABULOUS and SCRUMPTIOUS wines that were all under $20!!! They were so fabulous that I had to share them with all of you and I must admit this is hard for me since I really want to keep these FAB FIVE FINDS all to myself so I can serve them to those with expensive taste without them knowing the cost! (hee hee)

(There were actually two that were my favorites but since the 2nd one wasn't technically under $20 I will share the first one).

Clearwater Creek Cabernet Savignon 2004. It is exactly what a Cabernet is supposed to be. Recommended to me by Bacchus Secret Cellar in Irvine, CA. I was anxious to try it when she told me the vintner is best friend's with the owner of the ever so popular Silver Oak Winery. Even if you don't normally drink Cabernets you most likely still know about Silver Oak Cabernets. She said that Clearwater is the only vintner to get Silver Oak Alexander Valley grapes and I was sold. Once I tried it I was convinced that it was the best Cabernet I have ever had for $19.99. I would serve this Cab to even the most discerning Cab drinker.

You MUST try this wine.

The other 3 wines we tasted that night under $20 were fantastic too:

Cardwell Hill Cellars Pinot Noir 2005 ... you can never go wrong with a Willamette Valley Pinot Noir and for only $18.99 a bottle you might want to buy an entire case (purchased by SS at The Wine Pavillion in Lake Forest, CA)

Marques Phillips Sarah's Blend 2005 (purchased by ST at The Wine Cellar in Corona del Mar, CA for $13.99 .... this is a steal for such a great tasting wine.)

Water Wheel Shiraz 2004 (purchased by KG at BevMo for $15.99)

Is this considered cheating?

So most of you know, I love coffee, really, I adore coffee. My all time favorite Coffee shop is Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. My local Coffee Bean shop is about a 25 minute walk from my home. My local Starbucks is a 5 minute walk so for the past 6 months I have been cheating on Coffee Bean and walking with DS down to Starbucks every morning to get my cup of java. I am not feeling too bad about this though. Coffee Bean is better looking (I mean, tasting) but just wasn't meeting my needs on a regular basis (remembering my order). And I don't have one of those long, weird, complicated coffee orders. Although Coffee Bean will always be my first love, I am enjoying my new relationship with Starbucks and they are giving me yet another reason on Thursday, March 15, 2007 from 10am to noon with a FREE CUP OF COFFEE. This promotion is at all Starbucks worldwide. I don't remember Coffee Bean ever being so generous?!?

Life is as good as a box of (dark) chocolates

Did you know that the wonderful See's Candies now carries a box of all Dark Chocolates? I think this box has now passed my old favorite: the Nuts & Chews (which I still consider one of the best boxes of assortment chocolates). I thought this was a good time to remind you about the wonderful chocolates by See's Candies since we are coming upon Easter time.

My Mom always loves a great sale but when it came to our Easter baskets she never skimped on the Chocolates. Our baskets were always filled with WONDERFUL chocolate eggs and various chocolate bunnies from Sees (no grocery store bought chocolate for our kiddie baskets). I have kept this tradition going in my own family. (DH certainly made out last year since DS was much too young to eat his).

If you want the box of Dark Chocolates for Easter gifts (by the way, they make the perfect Host gift) you better get them fast. DH told me all the Valentine wrapped boxes of Dark Chocolates were gone prior to Valentine's Day. But lucky me, unlike his coworkers, he got me the plain white wrapped box of Dark Chocolates instead of the Valentine wrapped box of Assortment chocolates. I was thrilled.

Did you also know that Consumer Reports rates chocolates? See's Candy (even though considered to be a very small player in the chocolate industry) always gets mentioned as one of the best in the smaller brand category?!?! Gesh, what us Californians take for granted!?

Oh, almost forgot my great deal tip ... you can buy 1lb. certificates at discounted prices from Costco and redeem them for 1 lb. boxes at any See's Candy store (dark chocolate boxes included). They also ship to any where in the U.S. with gift cards included. I know this because my sweet sister TC sent our family a wonderful box for Valentine's Day this year (last year she sent us the other ever so popular & absolutely addicting Moose Munch from Harry and David.

(PS I choose the picture of Scotchmallows for my wonderful friend DM. Those are her favorite See's Candies)

Bonus time .... Target here I come!

Prior to DH and DS being in my life, my Annual Bonus was a time for me to get in the car and head to South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, CA. I would hit up all the designer stores and spend hours "trying on" purses and deciding which designer purse looked best on me. It was great fun but now most of those designer purses sit empty in the closet next to my DH's lonely tennis racket.

Like many SAHM's I now look forward to Annual Bonus time so .... I can splurge at Target!!! (Boy, have times changed). Yesterday and today I spent time (not hours and hours though because who has hours and hours when you have a Toddler?!) looking over the best plastic containers to organize toys, markers, cars, plastic bowls, wooden intruments and more.

I choose the Rubbermaid Revelations collection. I bought several sizes to fit the various objects I am trying to organize. The entire collection (every size) is on sale at Target this week. I love that they are clear so I can quickly see what is inside with out opening the lid. My DH thinks Rubbermaid makes the best quality for this type of storage product and since I couldn't find a specific rating for that category on Consumer Reports (those that know me I am sure are not surprised I checked there first, LOL) I agreed with him. Oh and I should mention - Consumer Reports does rate Rubbermaid "food storage containers" one of the best. If you are ready to get a jump start on your Spring cleaning/organizing head to Target before the sale is over!!!

I think DH will be happy that I choose to spend part of his Bonus at Target rather then South Coast Plaza, don't you agree?!?! :)

Who doesn't like First Birthday parties?!

So DS (Darling Son) has now officially been to 5 "First Birthday" parties. Not too shabby for a kid that isn't even 13 months yet.

As with most First Birthday parties: The adults out numbered the children. The food was pizza. The cake was white not chocolate. The child entertainer sung songs in an animated way only certain people feel comfortable doing. The Birthday Girl wore a fancy dress.

But what wasn't usual for a First Birthday: The Birthday Girl was happy the entire time. She never cried. She stayed awake. She ate her cake. She didn't hit her head, fall down or ruin her outfit. She was a perfect angel. But we were not surprised, we love her so much.

A site that saved us a litle money on our over-priced DS's First Birthday Party (aren't all First Birthday parties over-priced?!) was www.orientaltrading.com. WOW, almost as bad as Target though .... so many cheap things and great deals you can't check out of the web site with out spending a $100! :) But if you are looking for some fun (inexpensive) ways to add to the theme of your child's Birthday party you must look there. We got race car pinatas, checkered flag toothpicks for the cupcakes, chocolate cars, racing car playing cards and more. (I added the link to the left hand side under "links").

PS DS was most excited about the cookies he got to take home.