Today was my first Black Friday shopping experience.

I spent the night with my friends who hosted Thanksgiving because they were the ones who invited me on their tradition of Black Friday shopping. We awoke at 4:30am to quickly look decent and wake up Emma. Emma is their 17 month old daughter, Emma, who is one of the most laid back kids ever. We didnt know how long she’d last but she was all smiles at 5:00am when we left. As we stood in line for Target to open at 6am she did start to fade in her happiness a bit.

Target was probably the high, as we were in the line for 30 minutes and were one of the first hundreds of people in. We grabbed with no thought at the DVDs (got Jason 30 Rock for $15!) and they got a DVD player for $30 bucks along with a cheap digital frame for a Christmas present for Grandparents. We had passed Circuit City on the way, at 5:05am. They opened at 5am. There was still a line out the door. They explained to me that they were waiting to get in, meaning, the store was at full capacity so they couldnt allow anyone else in! OH MY GOSH. We looked at the add, we didnt see anything THAT fanatic. I did get some writable DVD and memory cards there – but hours later and no standing in line.

Here is the store time line we went to: Target – Kmart – Best Buy – Lowe’s – Circuit City – GAP – Old Navy – Macys

I think between the three of us we purchased something at all those stores accept for Macys and Best Buy. Emma last just as long as we did, which was at 10am. And that was after a protein boost (sausage egg and cheese biscuits from Chick-Fil-a) that seemed to have very little effect on us. Plus, the folks who hadnt gotten up at 4:30am in the morning, but took the time to sleep, shower and look nice were out and about. Making us feel a bit more dirty since not everyone looked as grubby as us at that point in the morning.

I dont know what I was expecting, but it wasnt as crazy as I imagination it. People were all very nice, saying excuse me and I didnt feel one person push pass me or anything like that. There was a lot of people and very long lines, but thats what I expected. It wasnt a terribly chilly morning, which was nice. The company was the best part of it, John keeping us in high spirits as much as he could on little sleep we all had gotten. I dont know if Black Friday is something I want to make in my yearly tradition just yet, but it was a lot of fun.

This is my dinner from a few nights ago. It took about 20 minutes to put together, thanks to the wonders of Trader Joes. The pasta? Thats lobster ravioli and yes its a good as that sounds. The asparagus? Yeah I bought a pound of frozen asparagus for the same price a small bundle would cost me. Usually frozen veggies taste like frozen veggies, but not these. They tasted like they had never been frozen before. That is the beauty of Trader Joes, their food is just so good, frozen or fresh! Oh those round patties? They are from IKEA, they were tasty too. But this post is about my love for Trader Joes.

Ive grown up on Trader Joes growing up in Southern California. My family would shop there over the grocery store. It wasnt a health food store, but it was cheap and had a lot healthy choices. Most of the store is full of products that Trader Joes themselves has created. Other part is of the best brands and types of foods they cant seem to make better. I was sad to leave Trader Joes when I moved to Carolina. I thought for a very long time that this state didnt even have one till I found out that an hour away is a Trader Joes. It is worth the drive and the gas to get the foods that I love. I adore artichokes and there was no way I was paying $4 bucks for one like the grocery store wants me to pay. Trader Joes? 4 for $3s! New to me – boxed soups from Trader Joes and I was not disappointed.

Maybe one day my town will wise up and invite Trader Joes into its community. That day could not come soon enough.

Ive been a very bad blogger lately. I have all sorts of reasons – but instead of giving you those, Im going to share with you what my “come-back” is all about. I love how my friend Brandi lists something good that happens everyday and posts it the beginning of a month looking back on the last. My other friend Kendra told me that her husband and her looks back on their days and pick their favorite moment of the day. I love both of these ideas a lot. Here is my own version of that – some of my favorite things and people that recently have been deemed “my favorite” as of late. Number one is…

Pirate’s Booty. I know Ive already lost you some of you. Unless you are into pirates which surprises me how many people out there are actually into pirates. This is the only degree of pirate you’ll find in my life. These tasty morals that make up a bag of Pirate’s Booty are basically a very light weight popcorn covered in this tasty, almost Parmesan cheese but better powder. Trader Joe’s is this delightful grocery store that sadly the nearest one to me is over an hour away. But in my homeland of California they were everywhere. And my mom couldnt keep Pirate’s Booty in the house when we all lived in home. When I was in Ohio this past summer we had a “Kroger Run” (which means we let 180 high school kids run wild in a Kroger) and low and behold not only did they have Pirate’s Booty but it was on sale! So Im currently enjoying a bag of Pirate’s Booty that came all the way from Findlay, Ohio.

I was at the used bookstore in town the other day and found the greatest hits album for the band PFR. I wouldnt have called myself a huge fan, but two CDs I did had of them, I played out. So much in fact that when I put the CD in my car this morning for my ride to work I sang along as if I listened to these songs yesterday. I laughed out loud at the fact I still could sing these songs word for word, even if has been ten years since I sang them last.

For a long time (and maybe still have in a box somewhere in my parents garage) I had a interview with one of the guys in PFR who is married to Leigh Nash. I believe I tore this interview page out of the magazine called 8 Ball? Maybe? Anyways it was this awesome music magazine. I distinctively remember a photo of the PFR guy and Leigh Nash – they were newly married and she was ether just starting Sixpence or just before that. Ether way, it was pre-dark eyeliner days for Leigh. She wore overalls in these photos – as was I when I read the interview probably.

This CD is worth every penny of the $2 bucks that I paid for it.

I recently started reading the blog Apartment Therapy because a few other blogs I follow had mentioned them, one writer’s apartment even got talked about and shown on Apartment Therapy. I love seeing real life decorating as well, so much better than Domino if you ask me. Now, if I was a good blogger, I would of just added this to my links, which is to your left, on my blog but I havnt touched those in a very long time. Jason mentioned to me how out of date a lot of things on my blog are. Part of me felt like any day my other website was going to be along any day, I kept putting the task off. But since Ive been saying that other site is “coming soon” for over a year now, I should turn my energy to this little corner of the internet I have already poured myself into. A mini-face lift, or more so a little update of me on the internet. I tell you all instead of just announcing all the changes so that its somewhat of an accountably to myself. So stayed tuned for more on that. Going back to Apartment Therapy, its also bad for a person like me who should not go to places such as T.J. Maxx or Ross alone. Just yesterday I was in there shopping for size 11 high heels (it was for a game for youth group) and totally walked out with other decorating things for my house! There went my state tax refund! I couldn’t believe myself, but they have such cool stuff in there to make my living space look like the apartments at Apartment Therapy. And at a very responsible price…I promise I have self control when it comes to shopping. Just house stuff must be my biggest temptation of all, that made need some therapy, or accountability of not being alone in those stores. Do make sure to check out Apartment Therapy, you probably dont have problems like I do.

Here are a few new things that have recently come into my possession that Id like to share:
BOOTS! Yes! I got boots. Not only did I get boots but I got these boots for $8.74. Target and their clearance prices crack me up. Why $8.74? I would of willing handed over the extra 25 cents. I thought of asking for cowboy boots for Christmas or my birthday but once I saw how pricey they were, I wasnt so sure. So I put it off and off and didnt get some for those holidays. Then Target had this lovely random sale, allowing me to get my very first pair of boots! I wore them today with a jean shirt and felt very, well Rory Gilmore. My pastor thought my boots were great too, which means ether the boots are awesome or my pastor is.

I know. Who would of thought that I would get this album? I thought I was done with Caedmon’s, but the used bookstore had it for cheap and why not complete the collection, no? Im only three songs into it, (which were a Derek then Cliff then Danielle songs) but Im surprisingly enjoying it. Before I bought it, I did check to see how many songs were written by Josh Moore. None! Thats was the selling point for me. Still surprised at this purchase.

Few weeks ago I got this pretty, shinny, iPhone. Well, Jason and I both got one. A year ago, I didnt see the need for an iPhone. I had a perfectly good phone and iPod. After both have let me down within the past year, the iPhone became more and more appealing. Jason of course has wanted one since MacWorld of last year when he was there listening to the Key Notes speech. Im pretty happy with it, other than most of the folks I talk to are on Verizon (who I do not miss one bit. Verizon, not my friends). Im being scarce with my minutes this month so they roll over to the next so I wont have to be as careful. So, this is letting all of you Verizon people know, your daytime minutes will be charges, but please still call!

For those of you who didnt hear, The Office won the SAG award for Best Comedy Ensemble. Yay The Office! (I have a new coworker who just got into The Office and she keeps talking about parts she has just seen. I love being excited with her over it too. She thinks Im getting sick of talking about it. Ha!) Heres the deal, I love Jenna Fisher for a lot of reason that I will not go into right now. But I will say that I really loved her dress that she wore to the SAGs. I can totally see it being trashed by the fashion police, but I love it so very much. Usually I dont say that about Hollywood dresses, but its different.

Just look at it (okay boys you are more than welcome to check out at this point, I understand. Then again surely there are many of you who have a crush on Jenna. So maybe I wont lose your readership). Its vintage looking. Its got some shiny silver at the top but not annoying at all. The straps, OH THE STRAPS. They are different than a formal dress normally has, and I love how its cut. I cant tell what the color is, ether a navy or a greenish blueish color, but both are great. Just think its so formal yet vintage fun, which Id love in a formal dress (if I ever had a need for one). Wonder if she’d let me borrow it? You know, to wear to youth group one night?

You can now find heart covered items, Easter kitchen accessories and bathing suites at Target. I may or may not of tired a couple of those on. In January! I also may or not have checked out the Valentines stuff. I dont know, I dont really decorate or pass out Valentines anymore. Those cute little hearts just were calling my name or something. But wait, Christmas was there last week, wasnt it? Its almost my birthday so its appropriate for Christmas to be trickling away, but it seems to be swept away this year. Im glad to see a few tinkle lights still left up to enjoy in the evening.

If you been around me much at all, you know my love for Harvey Seatbelt Bags . They send emails once a month tempting me and I always forward them on to Jason as a hint. Strange how seatbelts folded into a cute bag pull me in. And its the same design really, just different size and colors. Today I got an email from them with huge letters in red that said SALE. That word that many times is deceiving, but I clicked anyways. Ladies, it is truley a sale! My first Harvey bag is $40 cheaper than when Jason bought for me years ago. Ive been eyeing a baquette for a while now, and was going to ask for it for my next birthday (its what Jason gets me, a new bag) but its a steal! So I just ordered it because last time I saw a purse I wanted on Harveys site, I waited to think over it a bit and then when I went to order it was sold out. I wasnt letting that happen again at such a good price! If you have been hearing me singing Harvey Seatbelt Bag praises over the years and been wanting to check them out, do so now. Get on thier great sale they are having and get one for your very own!

Now, I know I get teased about how crazy my drinks at Starbucks sound. Especially to Jason who sweetly goes and gets a coffee for me time to time. Well, I have found his “Starbucks” because this is how he likes his McDonald’s hamburger prepared:

We are so even with my complicated drink order at the ‘Bucks if he get to order his hamburger this way (tee hee). I guess McDonald’s is where Jason gets to have it his way.

Jason and I have been eating at McDonald’s a little more than healthy. Actually, sometimes just for a diet coke because, Monopoly is back. I always like playing this game but never get that into it. I have now collected every piece from each color of properties cept one. This is where you come in. You just have to get a medium (or larger) drink or a premium sandwich (which I got for the first time this past week, I wouldn’t of guessed it was from McD’s) which also comes with a Best Buy buck. Im looking for the following pieces and would be really fun if yall would want to help me out on this. And of course, we’d share the prize money. So keep your eyes pealed (no pun intended) for: Pennsylvania Avenue, Ventnor Avenue, Kentucky Avenue, Tennessee Avenue, Virginia Avenue, Vermont Avenue, Mediterranean Avenue and Boardwalk.

The other day I broke down and brought myself a throw blanket for Jason’s house. One petite girl in a two big guys house who likes to keep it like a friggin igloo. So Jason made the mistake of letting me go to Target alone to find said blanket. It took me a good long while to find a throw blanket. I found lots and lots of comforters that were all so cute and pretty but way out of the price range of a cheap blanket. I finally found a cute comfort that would do the job, cheap for a comforter but too expensive for a throw blanket. But then I thought to myself, my down comforter has been quite warm. In California I was fine with the down comforter year round because it actually got cool at night. Not in the south, so I put the comforter in my cart and found an end cap of throw blankets and purchase a red one for Jason’s house (I think all my things in house are red, tee hee). I also bought some sheets because I apparently didn’t pack the set I remember having. Now I have almost all new bedding and I think they are so cute (see flickr for notes on the photos).

I’m currently have one the best salads ever at Panera. It has tangerine, strawberries, pineapple, blueberries, chicken and walnuts with a poppy seed dressing. If you are anywhere near a Panera, I highly recommend you going and enjoying this tasty salad. Perfect summer time treat along side a glass of lemonaide.

Unsure to what exactly posed me, but when I purchased my latte today, I also handed over a dollar for a copy of the New York Times. I’m not much of a newspaper reader myself, but again New York seems to be taken over my mind. I will let you know how I feel how things are going on in New York later.

Anne Taylor Loft is a place that’s sophisticate normally. In my mind at least because the price tag is not one I take seriously unless its on sale. Well, unknown to me, I walked into a sale. My mission was to find some capris for summer since I’m not a huge fan of shorts. Little did I know that this sophisticate place to shop is a battle ground when there is a sale going on. I was in my section looking at a shirt and a lady comes up almost pushing me to get the shirt behind it. Let me just say she was not the same size of me so she must be kidding herself as she tired to take me out.

I rarely wear my hair up when I am not at work. Not sure why this is, maybe for the same reason I don’t like wearing collared shirts when I’m off work. Those things I associate myself to work and when I’m off work I want to be done with it. The other day I left my hair up after work and actually liked it. Seems to me I don’t give much effort to what I look like when I go to work. This is probably why I put my hair up to simply to keep it out of my face when I’m running around, not because I think it looks cute.

Driving up my street today I got a little teary. Listening to Peter Bradly Adams (half of the no longer eastmountainsouth) thinking one of these songs would be good for Carla and my road trip cd. Thinking of the last time I will drive up my street is in my near distance future. Okay not the last time ever but moving away from it. Which we are not going to think about too much about that, instead, check out Peter Bradly Adams.

I don’t have enough files to get a filing cabinet of any sort. Nor do I really have a need for a desk since Marla came along. So to keep my files under control I use those according style file folders. Nothing fancy because well they don’t really come fancy. Sure there are those are hard covers, but I’m just too cheap to pay that kind of money for something that holds bills. But then I took a little trip to Target for something completely different and found fancy file folders! It was on my list of things to clean out before I move next month, so why not start clean with new ones? Practical question I think too. So, I bought new cute flowery file folders today. They are so cute, I should take a picture to show yall. And during Amazing Race tonight I’m going to clean my old not cute at all file folders. I’m looking forward to that, not only will I have fancy, cute (most important really) organized files, but something else marked off on my list. Go ahead and make fun of me all you want, I don’t care, I have cute file folders.

I just found one of the coolest stores on the internet. Its called Koo de Kir . Here are just a few of the items I want from it:

Have I made you a fan too? (Im seriously considering the tea pot and cups. Goes too well with my red kitchen don’t ya think?)

I think it was, of all people, Oprah who said what you wear the most you should spend the most money on. Meaning, if you have a career that wears suites, buy expensive suites. If you are a stay at home mom who wears jeans, buy high end jeans. You will wear these pieces the most, giving them the most wear and tear. The most bang for your buck basically. Well, I’m no stay at home mom, but I wear mostly jeans outside of work. As much as I think this is a good principle when it comes to clothes I can not bring myself to pay good money for clothes I am just gonna get coffee smells on. My work clothes are differently from the bargain stores mostly. Anyways, being a short girl I’ve always had problems with length on jeans being too long. Fitting everywhere else, just too long. TLC’s What Not to Wear’s solution to this problem is “get a good tailor”. For some reason I have had this fear of tailors, that these great jeans I love, long but still love, would be ruined! But during Christmas time I used a GAP gift card and got some of the new curvy (cause I’m kinda curvy) jeans on sale for I wanna say $18 bucks. Good deal for GAP jeans and this is something I should spending like $40 on(the most I spent on a pair of jeans, which apparently is not a lot still). They fit perfectly everywhere… but the 4 inches of extra fabric at the ends. I found a tailor downtown that said they’d match the thread and everything for me for $8 dollars. According to my mom, this is pretty average for hemming, so off I went with my jeans. I walked in and it seemed very Italian which I hope isn’t stereo-typing, I don’t mean it in a bad way. I was actually quite comforted by this fact. I put on the jeans to get measured and think of the Friends where Chandler goes to Joey’s tailor who goes up way too high to measure. Lucky for me, they were staying way south of that area cause I just needed length off. The nice lady pinned and chalked me up and I left my jeans in their hands. When I went to pick them up today I was still worried something would turn out wrong. But I tired them on and I’m now officially the biggest fan of tailoring! Why didn’t I try this sooner? Fear, silly fear which I over came today. Here’s to good tailors and new jeans!

Months ago I bought a large bottle of Dove shampoo from Costco. I had commitment myself to finish that bottle before moving on by buying another bottle of shampoo. Then I started to heard or read about Brilliant Brunette shampoo. But I shied away from it because of the bottle of Dove that sat in my shower. The more I read the more I became curious of this shampoo that claimed to make your hair color better.

I have never once colored my hair and probably wont till I start going grey. I like my hair color though time to time I wish I leaned darker or lighter, usually depending on the season. Also, I really don’t want the high maintenance that highlights or roots would give me if I did color it. I’m always for improving my hair whether it’s making it healthier, softer, more volume or the color. Last week I was at Target and saw that Brilliant Brunette was on sale. My first thought was that I didn’t need it, even it was on sale because I have shampoo. But then the reviews I had read, all these great things about this shampoo flooded me and bought it anyways (sorry Dove).

I had already taken a shower that day, but I was really close to taking a second one (really not needed, it wasn’t a dirty day for me) just to wash my hair. I restrained myself to wait till the next day to lather up. Once I did, I realize less is more when it comes to this shampoo. With lots of bubbles and lots of volume for my hair to get clean on every single strain. I had high hopes for this shampoo as I dried my hair as I usually do. Once it dried, I really didn’t notice a difference which was disappointing. I returned to the great review I had read seeing if I had missed something. Really didn’t see anything I was doing wrong (its just shampoo right?). But I still paid for this shampoo, tossed Dove to the side for the sake of this experiment so I can’t get up on just one day. So day two, wash, rise and dry. Even tired different lighting, but saw nothing really noticeably different. Few more days of no real change, until today. Unwrapping my hair from my towel turban, parted it as normal and started to dry. The blow dryer reveals a new hair I didn’t know I had. I thought maybe I was feeding myself something to justify buying this shampoo. But then my mom noticed my hair looked different, it wasn’t styled different but just looked different, darker, “more brown”. My hair looks fantastic and its thanks to my new shampoo. What girl doesn’t love a good hair day?

So Clark’s was having a sale and I got some new shoes.

Now, she just needs a name!

After Farmers Market, Jason got a message from Kate wanting to hang out. I surprised Kate (she did not know I was in town) by returning the phone call to her. We made plans to hang out after Jason and I went and saw “Just Like Heaven” (I know I have the best boyfriend ever who willing goes with my to chick-flicks). Kate called to say she was bringing Starbucks. I knew I liked this girl, after all, she was the one who turned me onto americanos. After chatting over Chinese food with Jason’s room mate Tim (no match making here… but wed like to find a nice girl for Tim…any takers?) I told Kate my idea of rearranging the boys living room. Thus the night of late night decorating begun!

The guys moved into their apartment a few months ago and didn’t really ever finish settling in. To them, if its not broken then don’t fix it. They didn’t see anything wrong with all their furniture leaned up against the walls making the couch and Stevie (the TV) a hundred feet from one another. Okay so it wasn’t hundred feet, but close. I told Kate my suggestion to put the couch at an angle. We started moving things around much to the boys protest. Realizing we needed a couple key pieces to make this come together was dashed (literally) off to K-Mart and Wal-Mart. I now know why men do not decorate. I knew Jason would kill me if I brought anything back anything close to being girly. It all was girly! Not even a dark forest green curtain for his room like he wanted. Martha Stewart needs to do something about that. So we dashed over to Wal-Mart (can I just tell you its amazing how many people are there at 11 at night?!) and were still disappointed but did not leave empty handed. We found a modern-chic looking black coffee table and two end tables. Lugging the box in an awkward cart up to the check out picking the shortest line (we had been gone too long for the boys comfort). Don’t ever pick the shortest line because when you do, something always happens to make it no longer the quickest way out. The lady in front of us had a trash can that rang up as 9.83 and she was arguing its only 8.88. After arguing her pricing point and having the guy walk to where the trash cans are I was so close to handing her a dollar so she’s move right along.

Arriving back at the apartment Kate and I were welcomed back by a newly rearrange living room. No, not how we left it but the boys decided to be funny (as they usually are) by putting the couch on its arm, the bookcase upside down with a pumpkin on top, the dining room chairs stacked on one another… you get the idea. As we praised them for their creative we set up our new purchase of tables (all four of us, it was really quiet sweet). We set up the new pieces, stole a lamp from Jason’s room (in exchanged for one the end tables for a new bedside table) living the room not looking quite so bad. We still need to hang the photos they have on the wall, though the room still needs some color. Much to do in so little time. I think I have been watching to much TLC since being here.