top two tuesday.

i'm linking up with the undomestic momma for "top 2 tuesday"

top 2 favorite purchases made this year

{1} slide on chacos. these shoes have been my favorite purchase of the summer- by far. they are so comfortable and look "less mountain woman" than my other pair [according to my mother].

{2}insulated tote bag. this bag was such a great purchase- it is perfect for taking drinks and snacks to the pool without having to take a huge cooler- plus there are pockets and zippers inside for sunscreen and cellphone without getting wet! i'd take this to the pool any day over a cooler...[it is smaller than it looks!]

don't forget to go and check out the undomestic momma!

just a thought.

fabulous finds friday.

ashley over at 6 inches of ribbon has a great link party going on and i love being part of it! last week i couldn't participate because i was out of town without my camera to upload the pictures of my finds! so, this week i'm going to make up for it by having a few "fabulous finds"!

{1} my first find[s] are some silver picture frames from marshalls... the original plan was to buy the ones from potterybarn because they are simple and cute, however- their price tag was all sorts of crazy- luckily marshalls saved the day and we were able to get some at a fraction of the price!

all of these frames were between $4.99 and $7.99- such a deal, considering the ones at potterybarn started at $14!

{2} second find[s] are some wonderful black picture frames to do a photo wall along the stairwell- i haven't hung them yet, but i've got them in frames- still searching for more pictures and frames to add to the wall. once again- these are from marshalls (i promise i shop other places, however my mother is a huge fan of marshalls- that's actually an understatement!)

these frames all ranged from $5.99 to $12.99- such fabulous prices!

{3} my third find is actually part of my birthday present (my birthday isn't until the end of july, but i will explain!). a while back i saw this purse in a local store that i loved, but the price was almost $300... and that is just not part of my budget, so i decided that i would just look around when shopping and see if i liked anything as much as or more than the original find- i never found anything that came close... so i just decided not to worry about it, i have a straw bag that i could carry for the rest of the summer until something better comes along.

meanwhile, my mother found a purse at dillards that she thought i might like so she got it and wrapped it up as a birthday present- then, just while browsing through ebay i found the original purse for $80! i wasn't going to buy it but i just casually mentioned it to my mother and she said that if i really liked it i should buy it (so out of character for me to spend any money on something, but i decided to take the plunge and do it) then i found out about the other purse she bought me (of which i couldn't stand) so mother returned the other purse and ended up saving money because the ebay purse was cheaper! wow... that took a whole lot of explaining!

[side bar: i still think that $80 is expensive, but the last purse that i bought was my junior year of high school from china town in new york... it is falling apart and i actually stapled the inside lining so that it would stay together!]

there it is! i love it because it is green (my favorite) and also neutral, so it goes with everything!

that's all for today! make sure to go and check out ashley's blog!

just a thought.

fabulous find.

this week i'm linking up with ashley at 6 inches of ribbon- she's started her own link-party called "fabulous finds friday" and boy have i found something exciting to share with you!






while shopping at marshall's this week i found a lovely hobo wristlet... it is a lovely shade of green and i think that it will work for both dressing up and dressing down- it is regularly $78 in the store, but at marshall's it was only $24.99! i was so excited when i found it that i scooped it up right away! i've found some other good deals this week, but we'll save those for later!

today was the last day of vbs- thank goodness! i love vbs so much, but i am so glad that it is done, though i must admit that i'm pretty excited for next year- we started talking about next year's theme and ideas at the leadership meeting today- so that was fun, but it will be nice to have a break from vbs for a little while!

i hope that you've enjoyed my find- i know that i am loving it and can't wait to use it!

just a thought.

steal of a deal.

i've never been much of a "yard-saler" however i'm trying to become one while i'm furnishing my apartment. the whole idea of waking up at the crack of dawn to go and drive around looking for things didn't really interest me, however, i've grown on the idea. my first round of shopping didn't go very well, but attempted for round two and boy did i hit the mother-load! i was looking for bookshelves, a kitchen table, bunk beds, end tables and other things that might be useful for storage. well, i found bookshelves (2 matching sets for $40), a kitchen table ($20), and an end table ($5), which is a grand total of $65- thank-you very much! let me just say that these pieces are of the highest quality and just need to be painted to make them look like new!

on top of those great prices i am going to use my desk from when i was little (free) and just re-paint it so that it looks fresh and received a red couch from family friends (free), this apartment on a budget is going famously well! i do need to find bunk-beds, so if anyone knows of a good place to get bunk beds that an adult could use (as silly as that sounds) let me know! i also need to find some chairs to go with my kitchen table- either going to do 4 different chairs or 2 sets of different chairs, just depends on what i can find and for how cheap i can get it! also- in reference to my miscellany monday post about how i love cooking supplies: i bought some more today- they were all on sale and i really did need them know how to use all of them, so it wasn't a wasted purchase!

now here is the deal- i need to figure out what colors to paint things- i don't want to paint everything the same color, but i would like them to "go"... so help a sister out and give me some advice!

on a different note: i have been thinking about my relationship with Christ a lot lately and realizing that God is so providential and puts people in your life at the exact moment that they are supposed to be there- so encouraging. i'm so thankful and blessed to have such a great group of women surrounding me and so glad that i am able to get advice from them- such a wellspring of encouragement- and i love it.

just a thought.