Deal of the Week

I love shopping! For some reason, I hardly come home with anything for myself but I don't mind at all.  I love going shopping then coming home and telling Russ and Mom about my great buys.  Mom listens and Russ just says that's great.  I would really like to be a personal shopper for people.  At Christmas time I do all the shopping for my Grandma for my family, all the shopping for the gifts from Russ and I, and I assist my Mom with almost ALL her shopping for others.  I love it!  My new thing is to make packages.  Instead of giving just one big gift, I like to do themes or a package of items then put it in a cute box, basket, or arrange it all cute.  Lately, I have been doing this for Mom's clients.  Her last one was a couple from UT so we did an orange and white basket...it turned out so cute! (I will have to get pictures from Mom)

Now that I am 90% healed and the weather is nice, I have been working in the yard a lot.  We pulled up all the ivy in the front and side of the house, removed six trees, and planted some flowers.  Dad built us a deck and our next project will be a stone patio off the deck in the yard.  We looked at tons of different stones over the past year and we found the one we list.  It was on sale at Lowe's last week for a $1 off so I went to order the stones then I found a coupon for 20% that stone.   I ended up saving $500 for the stones for my back yard!!  I have to say that's one heck of a deal!!!

Don't Drink The Water

Everything happens in waves...you graduate with your friends, start new jobs, get married, buy houses, adopt pets, start a family, and the cycle goes on and on.

The past couple of years our summers were filled with wedding after wedding.  Don't get me wrong, I love weddings!  Its a great time to celebrate your friend's relationship with their significant other and a reunion for everyone.  With weddings you have the dress fittings, bridal showers, bachelor/bacherlorette parties, Bridesmaids luncheons, rehearsal dinner, and the big day...countless activities and times with your friends.

The next wave was house buying, Russ and I participated in this wave as well in July 2008.  You and your friends go from wedding talks to your latest home improvement project.  Your shopping trips go from finding dresses to finding knick-knacks for the home and visits to Home Goods.  I love this hobby, I like making a home reflect who we are and it gives me bonding time with my Dad.

After home buying, you now have a fenced backyard or the space to adopt a pet.  We adopted Willie in January and now our lift revolved around taking him on walks, playing with him, talking to him like he is a child.  My shopping trips still have the weekly trip to Home Goods but now I spend time in the pet aisle or swing by PetsMart on my way home!  When you talk to your friends, every conversation has something about the pets in it!

The next phase includes children.  If you all get married together usually this stage happens around the same time as well.  No we are not pregnant but everyone else seems to be.  In the past two weeks, I have found out that 5 people are pregnant and of those, 4 are at my work.  We are starting to think there is something in the water at our work, so pre-packaged beverages it is!  This wave will happen in the next couple of years with my friends and our conversations will be around getting the nursery ready, how to raise a kid, advice, buying baby things, etc... but for right now I will focus on getting my house 100% perfect and pretending Willie is my baby!