Crowds, Dresses, and Dessert

Sunday was the big shopping day downtown in the Fashion District. I was all set with my maps, lists and recommendations. We zipped down the 101 to the 110 with no traffic and quickly found a parking lot.

Our first stop was Trendy Too, I had been told they had the biggest selection. They did - a lot of dresses. Sadly, the girls would not let me take pictures - I got a lot of eye rolling and "mommmmmm".

Let me preface the rest of this post with the fact that my daughter is some what claustrophobic. She does not do well in areas with a lot of people (and dresses).

She gets overwhelmed very easily (her room is proof of this....). We started looking at all the dresses and trying to decide on a style, color, etc. We didn't have too much luck here so we tried our luck at another store. Our next stop was Cinderella.

This store was PACKED full of girls waiting to try on dresses. Both girls' faces lit up though when we walked in this store. All the hard work had been done - all you had to do was pick out one of the dresses on the wall and try it on. Ahhhh.... the only trick was they could try on only 3 dresses. At first I didn't understand the reasoning but after spending time in the cramped store, I liked that policy. Get 'em in and get 'em out!

Chels found her dress here, very pretty, very elegant and it was at a good price. Ash had found one but I could tell that it wasn't what she really wanted so I talked her into looking at a couple more stores.

Our next stop was Nobell. This store was bigger and not even as crowded as the first two. A much better environment for my little claustrophobic baby. She looked through the racks until she found the perfect dress she had been looking for. Frosty blue with just a few rhinestones on the straps. Very pretty, very elegant, very Ash. And it was on sale... very me.

We headed down Santee Alley to look for jewelry and shoes. Here is where I learned that Chels' mom, my dear friend Bet is also claustrophobic. We always joke that Ash could be her daughter and Chels could be mine. Chels and I could have shopped down there all day! I was loving it.

It took Ash and Bet just a few stores and they were done.

That was fine, we had accomplished what we had come down for.

Being that it was also the first of the playoff games for the Lakers we decided to leave the area before the traffic go too bad.

We had a lovely lunch at Cheescake Factory and ended it off with a scrumptous piece of Key Lime Pie to share.

YUM!

**Update - I already have the green light to take pictures the night of the prom. The kids are meeting at a friend's house for all the parents to take pictures before jumping in the limo and going to dinner.** Mark my word - there will be pictures. ; )

A Shopping We Will Go

Daughter has her Prom next month so it's all about finding the perfect dress right now. She asked me to take her and her best friend Chels to the Fashion District to shop for prom dresses this weekend.

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I've shopped downtown years ago but not for dresses, namely prom dresses. When I'm entering uncharted territories I like to be organized, have a plan, a map, names, numbers, etc. I research the crap out things. I know I drive people crazy but I like to be in the know. I like to have answers and know what to sort of expect. So far, I've got maps, list of recommended stores, and helpful hints I found on the wonderful web.

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The girls are quite excited to go - I hope we have luck finding what they have in mind.

Ready for their 7th grade dance.
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If anyone has any helpful hints, store recs - please let me know. : )

Weekend Wrap Up

Friday night
Lately we have been going to the movies on Friday nights but this week not too much was out (that was kid friendly) so we just stayed in, rented movies and enjoyed our microwave popcorn.

Saturday

It was a very early game for Buddy. His basketball coaches are frustrating the heck out of me! Look at the score - you'll know why. J takes him to practice and says they really don't do a lot of drills - basically just shooting. Our poor boys were having the ball stolen from them left and right! Poor Buddy - but he still loved it.

Buddy and I decided we were going to check out Game Stop to see if they had anything new for the Wii. We both were excited they had Guitar Hero for the Wii in stock. $89.99. He had $65 left over from his Christmas money. I suggested we go home and go through his older GameCube games and trade them in. So home we went and he found about 12 games he no longer played. After a quick lunch we headed to the mall and traded them in. He got $73! Woo Hoo. I paid the extra and we are now owners of Guitar Hero (a.k.a the best video game ever invented). I frickin love that game!

While at the mall I stopped into Forever 21. My new favorite blog is My Super Sweet Fashion Diary. She keeps an on-line diary of her fashionable outfits. I'm not good at putting outfits together - I have to see it and then copy. She's got a knack, a talent and I'm constantly thinking while I'm shopping - what would mssfd wear? I stopped in really quick (Buddy was itching to get home to play his new game) so I quickly found a couple things and headed home. One of which I liked the other - I'm taking back.

I thought this would be cute paired with some tights.

Front


BackI have been wanting to use my new KitchenAid. I cheated a bit with this cake but add orange zest and made a yummy orange glaze for the top. It was so good. Trader Joe's Vanilla cake is quick, easy and not really sweet.

Sunday

We went to church and then I spent the rest of the day cleaning and watching football. Poor Peyton and Romo. I was happy for the Chargers though and for Brett!

Last night I made some yummy Cheesy Garlic Biscuits with chicken and broccoli. So good!!!

I Saved $103.24!!!

It's been quite a few months since I've coupon shopped using Teri's List for shopping but yesterday I reaffirmed that it does pay to take the extra time and be a smart shopper. I saved close to 50% on my shopping trip yesterday. What would have been a $225.24 bill came to $122. Woo Hoo.

I'm not going to lie - it is a time consuming process but once you get your system down it's quite easy (and for dorks like me, it's fun).

Here is my system:

Ralphs is the only store right now that doubles coupons so I only shop there. Advertisements from Ralphs are mailed on Tuesdays - sales run from Wednesday - Tuesday.

Sunday morning I Log in to http://www.thegrocerygame.com/ to get THE LIST.

Sunday-Tuesday - Shop with TERI'$ $HOPPING LI$T

Make sure you have your coffee. : )

I print out the list of the items I want to buy.

Make sure I have all the coupons out of the newspaper (LA Times).

Start cutting - everything. Even the things you don't think you'll ever use. Sometimes they will be free and you could give them away or find a use for them. (except for items you KNOW for sure you won't use)

I have an idea of what coupons I'm looking for off of the list so I put those in a pile and the ones I'm not going to use that week I'll put them in piles so I can file them after I'm done.

File the ones I'm not going to use this shopping trip.

I have a good idea of the layout of the store so I put the coupons I'm going to be using in groups according to the aisles.

I take my list, grouped coupons and filed coupons with me to the store. I refer back to the list while I'm shopping just to be sure I'm using the right coupon, have the right item, etc.

I've found that if I take an envelope to put the coupons in AFTER I've found the right product I save a lot of time. So when I get to the check out I give them the ones in the envelope.

I also take my filed coupons with me - some times something might be on sale and I have a coupon for it but it's not on the list.

I know the process sounds tedious and way too time consuming but once you have your own system down shopping with be a lot less of a pain.

I buy things even if I don't need them at that time - I like to have nice stocked cabinets. So I have it when I need it and don't have to pay full price.

Loooong Weekend Recap

Today is the Monday after Thanksgiving. I'm still full, tired and really not wanting to be at work today. It was a great weekend spent with family and friends.

Thanksgiving

I had volunteered to make the mashed potatoes, stuffing and green bean casserole this year. J has fried the turkey for the past 2 years so keeping with tradition we also brought the turkey to my mom's.

(my sister and Cousin)

(my cute mom)

My cousin from Oklahoma is working in Los Angeles right now so she was able to spend the day with us. We had so much food (as we always do) and were too stuffed to do too much after dinner.

I have to make a special note about my mom's pumpkin roll. This thing is to die for. She says it is easy to make but I'm too scared to tackle this one. Maybe for Christmas...

Also keeping with tradition we spread out the ads for Black Friday and mapped out our plan for our shopping trip.

Sister and I have gone out shopping the day after Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember. Kohls opened up at 4am this year so this meant getting up and out there around 2am. We have our system down. We take our chairs, blankets and DVD player. By the time the movie is over it's time to put away the chairs and get ready for them to open up the doors.

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Besides having to get up at 1:30am - it's really pleasant. Until you have someone cut in line!!! It's just so rude - especially to all the people that got up sooo early to have some inconsiderate people just slide in line right before the doors open. I was ready to go to blows but I didn't have time - I had to get in and get my shop on!!!

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These pictures do not show how incredibly long the line was but we were about the 15th in line I tried to get a picture of the cutters but couldn't without being too obvious. The front of the line

The end of the line is wwwwwwwwwwayyyy back there.

I did pick up a couple things for me - including this cute little hat...

We spent the rest of the day shopping until I literally dropped. I'm too old for this. I, I mean Santa did find the long sought after Wii for Buddy and a great deal on a camera for Daughter.

Saturday we went to J's mom's house in Laguna Beach for Thanksgiving with his family. Thank goodness she completely understands the lack of desire to travel on holidays. I brought my absolute favorite Thanksgiving dish - sweet potatoes.



Buddy was so good and patient while we waited and waited and waited for the turkey to finish. J's mom's oven is old and needs to be replaced... He helped himself to his fave - black olives.

Is there any wonder why I love this boy so much!!!


Sunday we (Me, J, Buddy, Daughter, "B" Daughter's boyfriend) all went bowling. It was the first time I've actually ever bowled with Daughter - it was a lot of fun. After bowling we hit the arcade. All I hear is "mom - quit taking pictures".

Even J showed his appreciation for the constantly taking pictures....

I have so much to be thankful for - I need to remember to appreciate every day and thank God every day for what I have.

The Weekend

This weekend was a good one - we were busy and a lot was accomplished.

Friday night we went for Chinese food - at the request of my son - who loves Orange Chicken. We decided to give China Dynasty another try. In the past they have been wonderful but our last time was a bad experience.... I won't go into details. We were pleasantly surprised and happy that our old favorite had worked it's way back to our favorite Chinese food.

We shared Orange Chicken, Hot and Spicy Chicken and Kung Pao Chicken. Yum! It was very tasty. I love Chinese food!!!

China Dynasty is right next to Toys R Us - and "buddy" had money burning a hole in his pocket from last weeks goal (my sister rewarded him on his goal with $10). So off to Toys R Us it was. After looking and looking and looking he came home with yet another set of Pokemon cards. No clue how many he now has but he was excited to have some new ones.

Saturday was an early morning soccer game. We were a bit worried that the boys would not be awake and not have as good as game as last week. But they did awesome!! Another win for the Green Extreme - and another goal for "buddy"!!!! To him that $10 more dollars - cha ching!!

After his game was a lot of running around and a lot of errands. Took "buddy" for a MANicure - his poor cuticles were awful. I felt like a bad mommy for letting them get so bad. After the "no way will I go in there" - he told me that he was happy he went and that his fingers felt better. Good mommy!

I took my car into my trusty Firestone to have my tires rotated and my back brakes looked at. Fingers crossed that they were ok. Yippee for a clean bill of health on my car!

Target run! Oh how I love Target! Again, the $10 was burning a hole is buddy's pocket so he spent quite a bit of time in the Lego aisle and came home with this - which he built all by himself! He amazes me!Saturday was also our three Monthiversary - I can't believe how quickly time has flown by. It amazes me that we have already been married for 3 months or 90 days or quarter of a year.
Sunday was another busy day. I hate when the weekend is over but I love when I feel like I was productive and was able to get a lot done. Grocery shopping was my top priority - tip - don't go shopping when you are hungry or you will come home with:

I forgot how much I love Ding Dongs! Yum!

I also made a trip to Bath and Body Works - I had to - I had a coupon for a free plug in! I love Sandlewood Vanilla!!! I managed to find refills that I thought were discontinued. and a trial for a new lotion that comes out this month! Velvet Tuberose - very pretty!!!My last stop with Bed, Bath and Beyond. For our wedding we got a gift certificate and I still had money to burn (like mom, like son) so I picked up a few little items - nothing too exciting but I couldn't pass up this little guy - now hopefully J won't mistake my veggie scrubber for a pot scrubber....Daughter was off and about in her little truck. What a difference it makes. I love it but I still miss her calling me to pick her up.

Yay for great weekends.

Kitchen Items I love!!!

I dream of having a big kitchen where I have lots of counter space and even more cabinet space to store all of my kitchen appliances, cookware and gadgets (the ones I have and the ones I want). On my list of favorite gadgets I have are:


On the top of my list is my all time favorite is Wolfgang Puck Immersion Blender and Chopper. I love this appliance. I use it all the time. Chopping, blending, whipping, everything. I love it!

I love my hand held Cheese Grater from Ikea - It's a cheese grater and a food saver all in one. Very simple but I use it all the time.

My Apple Wedger from Pampered Chef - again very simple but use this all the time. It's the easiest way to cut apples and core them at the same time.

One of my favorite pans is the Kitchen Essentials® from Calphalon - my brother got me this last year for Christmas and I use it almost everyday.

The kitchen items I want

For our wedding we received a gift certificate for Pampered Chef. I have the order coming so until I have them and can use them they will be under my want list. I've always been interested the the Stoneware from PC and have heard great things. I'm excited to get my bar pan. A definite want has always been a Kitchen Aid mixer. I have watched friends make cookies, mashed potatoes, dough using theirs. I've literally drooled not over what they were making but the mixer itself.

I have so many more I could list - I'm getting depressed thinking of everything I want. Click here for a better idea of what other kitchen gadgets I want.