Christmas Clearancing

So, have you had a chance to... you know...

Well, have you?  'Cuz I have! I love this time of year at Bath & Body Works. The post-Christmas and June "Hello, Yellow!" sales are awesome because the savings is bananas and shelves are stocked with the Signature Collection Classic fragrances.  I believe the sales associate gals at my local store keep all of the Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin for themselves, but there's always plenty of Exotic Coconut and Brown Sugar & Fig on display!

This time around, I had our move to New York and a new home in mind as I stocked up on my favorites.  I'm happy to say I've added a tremendous amount of Twilight Woods self-foaming hand soap, Brown Sugar & Fig shower gel, and loofah sponges to my BBW stockpile.  I want to make sure I have my favorites on hand the very first night I spend in my NY home! It's comforting to have 6 bottles of your favorite hand soap on hand when you're living in a brand new place, you know...  Anyway, the best part of my BBW shopping spree is that I purchased all of my goods with a gift card courtesy of my husband's grandma! 3 bottles of Classics shower gel, 1 bottle of I Need a Margarita shower gel, 1 large candle, 3 loofah sponges, and 6 bottles of hand soap for less than $50 - I saved nearly 60% off the original price! I'm one happy (soapy) girl.



Crate & Barrel "Joy" Coffee Mugs
$2.95

  There's another sale this time of year... and it's my absolute #1 favorite sale ever. The Crate & Barrel Winter Clearance totally rocks my socks, and I scoop up all of the cutest Christmas decor and entertaining items at 50-75% off the day after Christmas.  GOOD TIMES! It kind of feels weird, buying a bunch of new Christmas pretties the day after Christmas, but I love it when it's time to put the tree up each year! Especially next year - once again, I shopped my new NY home in mind.  Snowmen pot holders, snowflake-shaped soap and handtowels for the guest bathroom, Glittery red and green mixing bowls, and a red glass "kissing ball" to hang from the ceiling - I think I'm all ready for Christmas 2011!

I know I missed out on a ton of other great sales, but I had my priorities set long before this week - this girl knew long ago that she wanted a surplus of Twilight Woods foaming hand soap in her bathroom and Cute Coffee Cups to sip from next Christmas!  

Did you find any great deals this week? What are your favorite items to stock up on?

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Great Gift Ideas for the Stumped Shopper

Still searching for the perfect gift? Yep, most of us are.  Time is running out! Most online orders need to be placed by the end of this week to ensure timely delivery for Christmas, so you may want to get to mouse clicking lickety split - or haul your rear to the mall before all of the great gifts run out! Continuing with the 25 Days of Christmas, here are my gift picks for both girlies and guys - some of which I may have actually purchased for special loved ones of my own! 




Shop books at Anthropologie

My absolute favorite items of the year are the fresh-cut clothbound literary classics by Penguin.  I stumbled upon these at Anthropologie, but unfortunately, I had already shopped for the bookworms on my Christmas list! I'm definitely keeping them in mind for friends and family - and for myself, too - for future gift giving occasions. The brightly colored and classy embossed canvas covers  accompanied by a color coordinating thin satin ribbon bookmark and thick, shaggy-edged pages would look great stacked on coffee and end tables, and bookshelves, of course! Choose from great works like Jane Austin's Sense and Sensibility, Brontë's Wuthering Heights, and Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.  These gorgeous books are also available in Children's classics such as Peter Pan and Huckleberry Fin.

And now... some of my other favorites!  Get a pen and a piece of paper, and take some notes! 

1. Silk Tie ($60) and 2. Collar Stays ($12.50 for 8), Banana Republic; 3. Power Stretch Glove, $30, The North Face; 4. NFL Training Camp for Nintendo Wii, $100, NFL Shop; 5. "Assistant to the Regional Manager" Michael Scott and Dwight Schrute bobbleheads, NBC Universal Store; 6. Showtime's The Tudors complete series DVD collection, $129, Barnes & Noble; 7. Charcoal keg-a-cue grill by Wincraft (available in all NFL teams), $109, NFL Shop; 8. Picnictime football cutting board, $30, Bed, Bath, & Beyond; 9. Kobalt utility toolbox ($30), long-nose pliars ($9), hammer ($8), and screwdriver set ($20), Lowes.

1. Tree Coin pendant necklace, "Live the Green Life" collection ($28), Fossil; 2. C.O. Bigelow Lemon-Lime body care, $12-$16.50, C.O. Bigelow; 3. Year of Cookie Cutters (set of 12), $25, Crate & Barrel; 4. Peppermint Hot Cocoa mix (8 servings), $6, Starbucks; 5. Martha Stewart Collection non-skid mixing bowl set, $17, Macy's; 6. Knit muk-luk slippers, $15, Old Navy; 7. Boyfriend lounge pant, $40, Pink by Victoria's Secret; 8. "Love" print socks, $7, Gap; 9. Ragtime throw, $50, Coldwater Creek. 

...I'll take one of each, please! Happy Shopping!

Holiday $hopping Tip$

Over the years, I've learned some great tricks of the trade when it comes to Holiday Shopping, via trial, error, and complete success. We're well on our way to Christmas, and most are probably well on their way to finishing up shopping, but what the hay - if you're like me and you just started, you may benefit from these little tips:

1. Make a frickin' list. And stick to the frickin' list. Write or type all of your little friends and family members' names, and beside their names, jot down a gift idea, where to find it, and the estimated price.  How do you know all of this info already?  Hopefully you've searched the web up and down for ideas.  Now take your completed list to the mall and get to work - and mark 'em off, one by one. Once a person is marked off, he or she is D-O-N-E done!

2. Budget, ya'll.  Know how much you can comfortably spend during the holiday season, and do not overspend.  When buying a gift for someone who may be gifting you in return, keep in mind how much they're likely to spend on you. This will prevent any awkwardness when you swap gifts:  you don't want to spend $100 on a scarf for your friend while she purchases an $18 Bath and Body Works travel-sized gift set for you. Just plain awkwardness.
Also, if you're sticking to your list and your budget, you're not going to feel that awful guilt when you get home and start wrapping gifts ("did I buy too much? Not enough? Oh no, will she even like this gift? Or did I actually like it for myself?") Stick to list. Stick to budget. Plan, my friends!

3. Purchase One Great Gift.  Not a crap ton of tiny crappy craptastic ones.  You will save money, trust me on this: I'm guilty of committing the crime, "Just one more thing... oh, just another little thing, ohhh she'll love this extra little thing!"  Can we say, "Cha-Ching"?! Don't do it.  One great thing.  Which is what I'm doing for the peeps on my list this year - my husband and I are all about simplifying this holiday season, as our life is slightly chaotic and out of balance with the rest of the world, with the dissertation/job hunt and all. I can truly speak from experience and TRUST me - the gifts I remember are the great ones, which weren't even that all expensive.  Just great gifts - that were useable, thoughtful, and from the heart.



Join us!

 Have any great shopping tips you would like to share?  Link 'em up at the 25 Days of Christmas!

It's not too late to join up - and don't even worry about trying to play catch up, just hop in with tomorrow's topic: "Favorite Christmas Activities"!



Happy $hopping!

All things PINK.

Since all of us are thinking pink for breast cancer awareness this month, I've decided to share some of my favorite pink online finds!

Coach wristlet; Pet Head pet shampoo; VS Pink raglan crew; "Marilyn" art print; Kate Spade iPhone 4 case; Juicy Couture eyeglasses; Bath & Body Works Winter Candy Apple hand soap; Old Navy Performance Fleece; Mary Kay Creme Lipstick in Fuschia; Fossil watch; Kate Spade Suede pumps; iPod Nano; LLBean Thinsulate vest; Petmate pet carrier; O.P.I. Nail Laquer in The Show Must Go On; Victoria's Secret Bombshell perfume; Tiffany & Co pink sapphire ring.

Bath and Body Works Addicts Anonymous (Meeting #3)

It's Friday afternoon. I leave work, my husband and I go to Applebees for a late lunch, and then he says "I'm not ready to go home yet - let's run around."  I say, "if we're running around, then I'm running to Bath and Body Works - I've got a 20% off total purchase coupon (Coupin!) and a free travel-size product with any purchase offer, burning a hole right through my cheap kelly green vinyl wallet."


Next, Dark Kiss happens.

YUM.  The newest BBW Signature Collection fragrance is super sweet, intense, a little musky, and super sexy. A mixture of Twilight Woods, Midnight Pomegranate, and Black Amethyst, it's the perfect recipe for cool fall days and date nights!  The scent lingers, too - I can smell it on the couch throw pillows, blankets i've been curling up with in the evenings, and my bedding - and that's just from the trial size body lotion I used during the past two weeks! 


I'm still using the remnants of Forever Sunshine which I completely still think is the best scent ever (along with Twilight Woods, of course), so I purchased the full size Dark Kiss shower gel, body lotion, and body spray for my "travel beauty booty" bag.  It's a nice start to my travel beauty case, which is going to be an expensive task - as some of my readers may remember, I'm building a collection of all of my favorite health & beauty aid/makeup must-haves in full sizes for travel purposes only, because I have major problems forgetting items when I go somewhere, and I can't keep up with re-stocking too-small travel-sized products.  Now that I have Dark Kiss waiting in the travel bag, I can't flipping wait to go somewhere! Let's go!


If you're looking for a new fall scent, this may be the one to try just because I said so.  It definitely has nosehair-burning potential, so if you're not used to strong, spicy and sweet, I suggest starting gradual - like with a travel-size body spray, to see if you like it. The new scent is also sold in the form of small candles and Wallflower bulbs, so if it doesn't wear well on your skin (after all, everybody carries scents differently), then give it a try in the home! Or just buy some for the sake of spending $$$ (since we all have extra dough laying around, HA) and mail it to Stephanie Snyder in Athens, Ohio.


P.S. Bath & Body Works/Limited Brands does not compensate me in any way for writing these rockin' reviews - although, they totally should.  So i can use the money to go buy more of their stuff. I've contacted them regarding this issue, but no word yet!  They probably just think I'm a wishful thinking loser high on Japanese Cherry Blossom Anti-bac gel.

Shabby Apple review & more Etsy finds!

I love following Leigh Ashley's blog, and now I'm completely head over heels in love with her new Etsy shop, The Shabby Apple! She makes gorgeous, super sweet jewelry and other accessories, and adds a little bit of shabby-vintage flair. 

Last week, I purchased the "discover necklace" from the Shabby Apple.  As soon as I laid eyes on it, I immediately fell in love - this piece of jewelry spoke to me!  This year is about discovering new everything for my husband and I - discovering our futures, discovering new places, discovering where we'll settle down and add to our little family of three (me, him, and the kitty.)  I had to have the necklace. So... I purchased it and three days later, it's in my home! It's even more beautiful in person than it is in the photo, it was packed safe and secure, and I am definitely stalking the Shabby Apple for future purchases.  Thanks, Leigh!


I've been browsing Etsy a lot as of late. I have way too many items added to my favorites!

Chocolate Pillow.  I need!

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Look! It's my husband and I! :)

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This is super long and I super love it.

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Chocolate Rose ring - It looks so edible!

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I'm a green lover, and a fan of just about any 

liquid that can be slurped out of a mug! Cozy!

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Of course, I can't leave my sweet kitty out.

Primitive style pet bed - genius!

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Crate & Barrel Fall Preview Picks

When a new Crate & Barrel catalog arrives in my mailbox, I feel about as giddy as I used to when I was a child and the JcPenney's Wishbook came in the mail!  The latest C&B catalog is a preview of their new Fall collection, and as usual, the items are smart, stylish, and super drool-worthy! 
And now, my top 10 Fall picks:

1. Appetizer Plates, $2.95 ea.; 2. Madison Shower Curtain in persimmon marimekko, $49.95; 3. Potluck Bakers, set of three, $29.95; 4. Hoopla Table Lamp in amber, $79.95; 5. Max Dinnerware in plum, 16 pc. set, $74.95; 6. Swoop Bowls, $9.95 and $19.95; 7. Conway Rug, $199-$999; 8. Joe Mug in meadow green, $4.95; 9. Reid Throw, $49.95; 10. Red Velvet Whoopie Pie Mix, $8.95.

I'm a loyal Fiestaware fan, but the new C&B appetizer plates come in a huge variety of colors, are lighter weight, lower-priced, and have a slighly more modern look than my favorite appetizer plates from Homer Laughlin China Co.  If you're looking to brighten up your dinnerware, this would be the item to purchase (in every color!) I'm in love with marimekko patterns - any color, any print, just please give me more marimekko - preferably in the form of this deliciously orange shower curtain. The swoop bowls are just too cool - loads of fun to look at, and loads of fun used as serving dishes! The Conway Rug comes in several sizes, and I especially like that the majority of the pattern is a light cream shade (which hides cat hair!)  C&B rugs are super plush and easy to care for, and this particular one would look great in a neutral toned room that needs a color boost.  I don't think I need to elaborate on the Red Velvet Whoopie Pie Mix - just add butter, eggs, and milk!

Totally Awesome Cool Stuff

All of the following items caused me to smile, drool, giggle, or grunt in appreciation when I stumbled upon them:

Quite possibly the cutest stainless steel water bottle i've seen - this would make anyone look cute at the gym, even the gross tread-milling lady that doesn't wear a sports bra!

This is the mirror for the person who doesn't give a $H#* how he or she looks today

Cute and classy leather sleeves for your Iphone. I don't have an Iphone. I am sad.

A candy dish that looks like an opened Ziplock baggie??? HAHA

How could you not have fun at the office if you had an Alligator Staple Puller?

This AIN'T your Aunt Sally's Wicker Furniture... LUUUUV IT!

Little people, to tack up your most important documents!

And now, where to find these cool little items:

Daisy Print Stainless Steel Water Bottle, $5, OldNavy. Perspective Mirror, $150, cb2. Leather IPhone Sleeve, $38, Horchow. Unzipped Glass Bag, $19, and Crocodile Staple Puller, $7, Perpetual Kid. Wicker Olivine Dining Chair, $79, Crate&Barrel. People Push Pins (Set of 20), $3, cb2.