Sunday, November 29, 2015

DIY Starfish Art

Ever since we returned from San Diego a couple of weeks ago, there has been a 'Seaport Village Shell Co.' bag sitting in our guest bedroom.  When we were there, I purchased 5 starfish.  I had no clue what I wanted to do with them, but knew I wanted to display them somehow.

But starfish are tricky...you can't really put them in a jar or stack them.  So I decided I wanted to hang them.

I went to Target tonight in search of a frame.  At first I picked out a shadowbox, but then came across this memo board that I liked MUCH better:

It has a sand colored fabric background, which was perfect.

I then unwrapped my starfish:

I first thought about using my hot glue gun to adhere the starfish to the fabric.  But me plus hot glue guns do not work well together.  Plus I didn't want the glue to squish out the sides.

So I decided on Command Strips:


Both my husband and I have a strong love for Command products for hanging items.  They are sooooo strong and will not ruin your walls.  So I gathered the ones we had and then I started cutting them down to size.



I then adhered a thin Command strip to each leg of each starfish.  I then positioned my stars how I wanted them within the frame.  Then one by one, I peeled off the backing on each of them and stuck down each starfish onto the fabric.  It worked great!  The picture below is the best one that really shows the true colors of the starfish.



And now here is the finished product after my hubby hung it up in our hall bathroom:


I love how it turned out!  I was a little worried about the bottom left star...it definitely stands out the most and I had to scrape some of the pokey stuff (technical term there) from the back side of it to get the Command strips to stick.  But....so far, so good.

This project only took me about 20 minutes.  The memo board was $24.99 at Target and the starfish were $14 total from San Diego.  Not too bad!!!

And that is my DIY project for the year ha ha.

Black Friday

And the annual black Friday tradition continues!  This year was a blast as usual. My friend and I headed out right after our meeting around 9:15.  Our first stop was Target.

I had a list:

Blankets
Sheets
Sweaters
DVDs
Fitbit Charge HR
Slippers

I got EVERYTHING on my list!

Here's what I got at Target--

Three fuzzy blankets.  We use these in place of comforters on our bed.  Normally they are $35 - $40 each.  On Black Friday they were $17 each.  I got one king size and two queens.


Towels.  These were not on my list, but I couldn't pass them up at $2 a pop:


Fitbit Charge HR.  The band on my old Fitbit Charge was broken so I haven't been able to wear it for a while. I decided it was time for an upgrade AND it was a doorbuster so I got a great deal.


A mini popcorn maker.  This also wasn't on my list.  But it was only $10.  And I love popcorn, but not the chemicals in the microwave popcorn.  So I thought I'd give this one a try.


And some DVDs.  Target always has tons of DVDs on sale on Black Friday.


After Target, we went to Kohl's.  Kohl's was new for us this year!  My friend had some Kohl's cash she wanted to use.  But I ended up getting a couple things too.  These Deerfoam slippers are normally $30, but they were on sale for $10.


I also got two sweaters (the blue one and purplish one in the pic) for $10 each (normally $25) and some fuzzy socks:


And then we went to Walmart.  I only got sheets at Walmart, but they were on my list!


850 thread count sheets for $25!!!  What a deal!

And then we drove through Del Taco to recharge with caffeine and burritos.  Because....it's tradition!!

And lastly, we stopped at Old Navy.  The entire store was 50% off!

I got another sweater (the one on the bottom of the pile in the pic above), a scarf, some earrings and some hair ties.



I also got my mother-in-law some slippers (Kohl's), gloves and a scarf and a pair of earrings (Old Navy), some fuzzy socks (Kohl's) and a set of sheets (Walmart).  I always get her a set of sheets each year, but the other stuff was a surprise.  She was so happy!

And I got my husband a video game, some Xbox live and PS4 cards, some pajama pants (Kohl's), and a scarf and a sweater (Old Navy).

It was another successful year!  I did go $93 over budget though, oops.  We had budgeted for Black Friday for a while (using YNAB of course!), but I did go over a bit.  Oh well.  It happens!

I say this every year, but for my friend and I, Black Friday isn't about the 'stuff'. Sure, it's great to get a good deal, but we go because it's the one time a year that we get to hang out just the two of us.  We spend more time in the car talking then we do in the stores!  It's just so much fun.  The deals we get on stuff is just a nice bonus.  :)  

Time to start saving for the next Black Friday!  :)

Saturday, November 14, 2015

San Diego

Just 5 days after I got home from Los Angeles, we left for San Diego.  This is the 2nd year in a row that we’ve been to San Diego in November and it’s been great!  The beaches are practically deserted.
Proof:

In the summer months, the beaches are super crowded.  It’s almost impossible to get a picture of just the beach and water with no humans in it. 
On our first day, we drove to Coronado.  I love the hotel there.  



We had a drink on the patio outside then walked around inside.  I love these old black and white photos they have hanging.  PS - if you haven't seen 'Some Like It Hot', go watch it right now.  Marilyn at her best!



  Then we found an Italian place for lunch. We ate outside on the patio.  It was just beautiful out! 

Then we drove to Horton Plaza to walk around and kill some time before seeing a movie.  We saw ‘The Martian’.  It was really good.  I had read the book and the movie stays super close to the book.  A great film! 
On Sunday we got up early and drove to Anaheim (about 90 miles away).  We went to Disneyland!  I had been there as a child, but my husband had never been.  



We read the ‘Disney tips and tricks’ online and hit all of the ‘big’ stuff first thing after we got there.  We did the Star Tours ride and then headed over to Adventureland where we rode the Big Thunder Railroad (rollercoaster).  Then we did the Indiana Jones ride (my personal favorite).  Those are the ‘biggies’ there.  Oh, and Space Mountain, but it was closed for refurbishment.  We did more walking, did the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and had lunch at a café in the New Orleans section.









I tried a Monte Christo sandwich for the first time in my life.  It was….interesting.  I couldn’t decide if it was a desert or an actual meal.  It’s a strange combo (meat, cheese, jelly, powdered sugar?) but it works somehow.


We walked through Sleeping Beauty’s castle, got our Mickey Ears (you can't go to Disneyland and NOT get yourself some Mickey ears), and did more walking.



After we got throughly soaked on Splash Mountain, we got a famous Dole Whip (sooooo good) after waiting in a VERY long line.  Totally worth it though.

Our last stop was Starbucks in Downtown Disney so my husband could get a mug.  He was laughing and joking with the baristas there, and they gave us free Mickey cookies.  He’s very charming!
It was a lot of fun.  We left just before it got dark.  We were there from about 9:00 until 5:00.  The park stayed open until midnight but we didn’t want to be driving back to San Diego that late and we just wanted to make it a somewhat early evening.  
We slept in on Monday and had breakfast at our favorite little Mexican dive about 4 blocks from our hotel.  Then we drove to Seaport Village so my husband could go to Crazy Shirts.  They are shirt company that dyes shirts out of various things (coffee, wine, money, etc.)  They are super high quality and never shrink and never fade.  We went last year and he bought 2.  This year he bought 3 more.  
Then we went back to the hotel and it was time to get ready for the game!  I wore my Chargers t-shirt but put my Bears hoodie over it.
We took the trolley from Old Town again this year.  It’s just so easy…you park your car, pay $5 for a trolley day pass and hop on and 10 minutes later you’re dropped off at the front door of the stadium.  We had club seats so we got in early.  We went to the top so I could get a birds eye pic (above).  There was no one there, it was great!  We then found our seats and enjoyed each other’s company.  Then the stadium started filling up.  There were just as many (if not more) Bears fans there than Chargers fans.




It was a great game.  The Bears came from behind to win it 22-19.  I screamed so much I was a little hoarse.
Tuesday we walked to Kono’s, a super popular breakfast joint right on Pacific Beach.  There’s usually a line out the door.  But shockingly there was no line when we got there.

Then we made our way back to the harbor to go to the USS Midway museum.  We found a Groupon deal for it (just $15 per person).  It was totally worth it.  The place is HUGE!  I mean…it’s an aircraft carrier, so obviously it’s huge, but it’s REALLY huge.  We toured as much of it as we could.





The beds were not made for tall people.


After that we wanted pizza for dinner so we walked to a ‘make your own’ pizza place downtown. 

And then I saw Chunk doing the truffle shuffle on the wall.  Every time I would glance up at it I would burst out laughing.  His facial expressions!

So my loving husband bought it for me.  He is now hanging at home in our hallway.  At first I thought I would put him in the office, but we hardly ever go in there and we keep the door shut!  So I hung him in the hallway so that I could bust out laughing each time I went by.
Wednesday morning we drove to La Jolla for breakfast and then sat on the exact same bench we sat on last year to watch the seals for a bit.  



Then we drove up the coast to Del Mar.  Del Mar is my favorite beach in California.  I went there so many times with my aunt and uncle to boogie board and just hang out.  So we went to CVS beforehand and bought some cheap throws, spread out our blankets and just relaxed.  We walked a bit and found some pretty shells.


Then we found a movie theater.  Yes, we saw TWO movies on this vacation!  We saw Bridge of Spies.  It also was really good and based on a true story (unlike the Martian ha ha).  The movie theater was one of those ones where the seats each reclined completely and there was food service at the touch of a button.  So relaxing!

After that we had dinner at In-n-Out burger (husband had never been there and wanted to try it…he was underwhelmed…..as was I.  I’ve been there before but have NEVER understood the fascination with that place….I mean, sure, it’s good, but I wouldn’t wait in a drive through line of 20-30 cars (which is usually what the drive through line is). 
We got home Thursday around 1:00.  I came right into work to try to get a little organized.  Then I unpacked everything when I got home and started on the laundry.
It was a nice, relaxing trip.  Until next time, San Diego.  I love you!!

20 Years of Reading

20 years.  TWENTY YEARS OF READING. Okay, so technically this isn’t true.  I’ve been reading since I was 5.  So (here’s my age)…I’ve been re...