Weekends & Such

We've put in a busy couple of weekends, 3 birthday parties, cheerleading at a basketball game, I had the pleasure of emceeing a Women of Faith event at our church, our first Supper Club dinner, church & Sunday school, dance, dinner out and as a result, a very messy house.

Tomorrow we finish the weekends off with a little Super Bowl watching and some much needed grocery shopping and housecleaning. 

The back to back busy weekends, kicked off with a little shopping. I enjoy blogging about deals, because I was born and raised to be a bargain shopper. I am a go to the back of the store, find your J.Crew twill pants on clearance kind of girl. But, there is one store that I enjoy just as it is. Sure, I love to celebrate it's anniversary, I do not ignore it's outlet, but at the end of the day I just enjoy shopping it without an extreme bargain hunting mentality. I like to take it all in. 

Nordstrom is a very happy place.

So pretty and the quality, sigh.

I've never regretted a denim investment made possible by the help of the very attentive, but not too pushy, sales staff. The same is true for shoes, I still wear leather boots purchased in high school! Some items are just worth the investment. 

Like furniture. I am clearly always up for a bargain, but when the budget allows, I think a splurge adds a touch of class and rounds out other 'character' finds. 

Kelly snapped a couple photos while we shopped with our little guy. 

I'm thinking I should have bought this hat, and it was on sale!

Shopping day with the Smith boys! 

We don't get to the mall much, but when we do, nothing excites this boy more than the escalator!!

And yes, he insists on wearing his coat and hood at all times.

 After our shopping, purse returning, watch sizing outing, we took the advice of many a Southern blogger and found our way to Chick-fil-A. I hadn't been to a Chick-fil-A since I was a student at Emmaus Bible College visiting my friend Ashley's hometown. I remember sitting in the mall and not understanding at all what the hype was. I was addicted to Culver's, but as a poor college student I didn't really jump on the chicken sandwich bandwagon when I knew I could get one at McDonald's for $1.00!

Well, fast forward a million years later and I prefer CFA hands down over the value meal option. From the atmosphere to the condiments, way better. It is like an In & Out of chicken. 

And it has a cute little play area too!

Our little cheerleader getting ready for the game.

I painted her nails purple and gold and she was happy to demonstrate her cheer moves!

Leading up to the game, anytime she would talk about cheering, she would follow it up with...

"But, my mom can't come."

Dagger in my heart. The date of the game was only announced at the clinic and I had already committed to emceeing our church women's event. I reminded her of how much fun I had while I watched her practice for 3 hours, and she smiled and said "it's fine!" Followed by listing everyone who would be there to cheer her on while she cheered, thus proving she would be fine. Oh Georgie girl, if you only knew how badly I wanted to see you perform. 

She assures me I will have future opportunities. She appears to hold no grudges against me. She is a practical girl, however my absence is still recorded in her kindergarten writing journal. 

Yep, forever documented.

Georgiana and her bff Grace.

So much cuteness.

Now, onto my latest bargain.

Love me some Dollar Tree finds. Obviously the Dollar Tree does not have any sort of peaceful shopping atmosphere like the store I lead with, not at all. But, it is very peaceful on the wallet. If you get creative enough, you may just be shocked at what you find!

I like to buy the kraft wrapping paper. I love the sturdiness and the look. I was thinking of maybe going with a gift bag look for a baby shower I attended on Thursday, but then I saw the canvas-y storage bins and thought I would think a little out of the box. Plus, I do love the look of a wrapped gift, I feel like wrapped gifts are hard to come by these days. It's all tissues and bags (which I too use quite frequently), but when I have the time and the materials, I like to kick it a little old school and get out the tape.

Levi was equally shocked by the outcome!

(no, he is not posed. Levi would not pose for anyone, ha!)

The confidence I am seeing in this boy is warming my mommy heart like no other.

Look at his precious face!!

There's a bargain shopper and then there is a, well a...

A crazy lady who picks up what Georgiana would describe as truly stinky weird stuff off the side of the road. Yes, I admit it, you know when you see the cardboard FREE sign on the side of the road leaning against some depressed looking piece of furniture and you think to yourself who in the world would ever touch that, let alone put it in their car and take it home!?!  Well, as long as it is not made out of fabric, it is very likely me. 

I couldn't pass up 3 wooden windsor chairs!

Levi said, "I don't like dirty trash."

Me: "What dirty trash buddy?"

Levi: "The chairs."

Building character right? Or maybe just providing material for future counseling sessions.

In a recent post, I said I couldn't quite handle thrift store clothes shopping, I've heard too many first hand germy stories. Well, Kelly's cousin is quite successfully shopping and flipping items from some thrift stores in LA, making me rethink my bias.

Although, I feel pretty confident I would not find the #louisvuitton's like this LA thrifter found!

There is an entire community of thrift shoppers linked with eBay stores, it's impressive I tell you.

I already posted this on instagram & fb, but I just cannot get over my blue eyed boy. If there was a shell, he's coming out of it and boy oh boy do I love it!

This morning I got to snuggle sweet precious Ginny (my friend Jessica's adorable baby girl). She was holding my hand, oh my word I loved every second. 

PS - that's my Target clearance sweater with a Nordstrom scarf and a tiny Nordstrom Rack purse (it's a new parenting season carrying around this itty bitty thing), a little bit of this and a little bit of that!

This pretty much sums up how we felt at the end of today.

But, then we all woke up for a cupcake!

Cupcake favors. Love it. We tossed this idea around for Levi's 3rd birthday but went a different route. Now that I've seen it and tasted it, I just may have to duplicate it!

Oh, and a random picture of the Smith boys out to Gyoza as Levi would say. He says, "Let's go see Andy(the cashier and smiling face of our favorite Teriyaki shop) at Gyoza!" He gets really excited when we eat inside. While the boys dined inside, Georgiana and I ate McDonald's in the dance studio lobby between her classes. Did I mention it's been a busy week and I need to do a Costco run??

Yes, I had a McChicken no mayo (because I cannot even handle the smell of plain mayonnaise, it gives me the heeby jeebies). Kelly said, "I can get you a Big Mac, I know you like those." My pride can only take so much. Can't you just picture me, sitting next to a dance mom watching her ballerina daughter prep for class stretching her leg up to the ceiling while I am shoving my face with 3 layers of gluten, 2 mystery patties, lettuce sprinkling down and sauce smeared across my face. With the most embarrassing part being the fact that I would enjoy every bite! With all the clean eaters around me, us dirty eaters feel a little self conscious sometimes. The chicken sandwich was all I could handle, and I standby my thoughts on the Chick-fil-A. Somehow CFA feels like a more sophisticated fast food option.

The owner of the studio walked right past me while I was sneaking Georgiana's fries down my gullet. I jokingly said, "please don't judge."

She laughed and told me how at another studio she worked at, she enforced a no fast food rule. Then she had kids. Now, we just call it life.

Last blog item in the titled 'such' category.

My friend Kevin is coming up to Seattle for a comedy show, I guarantee you will laugh SOOO hard. Laughing is super healthy for you, it's like clean eating for your soul.