What I Bought

Shopping in California is always nice.  There always seems to be just the stores I want all at the same place.  I went to an outlet mall in Petaluma and they had GREAT stores.

I ended up buying 2 things at the Michael Kors outlet:

I’ve wanted another MK bag for a while (I have one, but it’s about 13 years old).  But I will NEVER EVER NEVER EVER pay full price for designer handbags.

I mean, come on:

$400???  Seriously?  No way.  I will however pay $75.  Which is what it was marked down to.  It’s all leather, the lining is great, it has shape and look at the color!!!

Same with the wallet.  

$168??  NO. WAY.  It was on clearance and I paid $35 for it.  Again, all leather, and it will last forever.

I am not into designer clothes, shoes, makeup, hair, nails, etc.  But I do love a good handbag.  And I use them all.  I am constantly switching them out (sometimes daily).  I carry my planner, my pouch that holds various things, and my wallet.  So it’s not like I’m transferring a ton of stuff each time.  I LOVE my new bag.  I’ve gotten so many compliments on it already.  😊

At Hamilton, I bought a mug that says ‘Wait For It’.  I love it.  And it has the words on the box!!  It doesn’t take much to make me happy ha ha.

And I bought a hoodie and a t-shirt from Bergin University.  All of the proceeds go to raising and training those amazing puppies.

And that’s it!  Oh, I did buy one other thing….a tie on clearance at Old Navy for .97.  Worth it.  😊 

Colorado

We took a short little vacation to Denver last weekend.  We left on Saturday around 8:00, and arrived around 2:30.  Denver is not a bad drive, about 6.5 hours.  Here is my recap with a few travel tips thrown in.  😊

We first checked in to our hotel.   We stayed at the Hyatt House Denver Tech Center in Englewood.

TRAVEL TIP:  Price check, price check, price check.  We were going to try to find an Air BnB, but in this case the hotel was cheaper.  And it was a GREAT hotel.  Our ‘room’ was more of an apartment, with a separate bedroom and a full kitchen.  It’s so nice to have a large fridge/freezer/microwave when traveling.  I had packed a bunch of snacks (yogurt, fruit, nuts) so it was convenient to throw those in the fridge and put my ice packs in the freezer so they would be ready for our drive home.

ALWAYS check the amenities of the place you are staying.  Like free wi-fi.  A lot of hotels advertise free wi-fi, but they only offer the free wi-fi in the lobby, and then charge you for wi-fi in your room.  Check the details of the breakfast.  This hotel served a hot breakfast every morning complete with an omelet bar.  There are a lot of hotels that offer free breakfast, but most of them are cold cereal, fruit, pastries, and make-your-own waffle type breakfasts.  And there’s nothing wrong with that!  But if you’re expecting a hot breakfast and find cold cereal, that might be a tad disappointing. 

After we checked in to our hotel, we found a local tavern that hosts Husker fans every game Saturday.  It was so much fun!  It’s nice to be in a roomful of people rooting for your team.  I had their version of a Runza.  It was not the same.

Sunday morning I found the nearest Pure Barre and took a class.  It was a pretty full class (compared to what I’m used to).  It felt good to MOVE after driving for 6 hours on Saturday.

After Barre I went back to our room and hubby informed me that he got tickets to the Bears/Broncos game at 2:25 p.m.  YAY!!!  I showered, we relaxed for a couple of hours and then got back in the car and headed to Mile High Stadium.

TRAVEL TIP:  If you’re going to a large event, like a football game, do NOT attempt to find parking near the stadium.  It will be impossible and lead to loads of frustration.  So we drove to the nearest ‘box store’ parking lot in proximity to the stadium and parked there.  And then from there, we took a Lyft to the stadium.  It was soooooo nice.  Free parking at Target, and then a $5 Lyft ride to the stadium, where we got dropped off pretty much at the front door.  After the game, we did NOT attempt to get a Lyft back to Target.  Lyft’s prices go by supply/demand, so their prices skyrocket after events like football games and concerts.  So we started walking away from the stadium towards Target (it was 2 miles maybe?)  About halfway there, we found some Lyft scooters.  Basically, if you have the Lyft app (which we do), you scan the barcode on the scooter and off you go.  It was fun, and slightly scary at times ha ha.  So for about a mile, we rode the scooters back to Target.  The scooters charge by the minute.  I think our rides ended up being $4?  Totally worth it!

Now let’s talk about the football game.  Oh my.  I have NEVER in my life been so stress out about any football game.  First off, we paid a LOT for our tickets so I was really, really, really hoping for a Bears win.  And all looked great up until the last 2 minutes.  There were SO many things that had to happen just right.  First, the Broncos attempted point after kick to tie the game.  The kicker missed, but there was a penalty against the Bears.  So then, the Broncos decided to go for 2, which would put them one point ahead of the Bears with 30-some seconds before game end.  And they made the 2-point conversion.  At this point, I was heartbroken because I figured it was over for the Bears.  The Bears had just a few seconds to get the ball down the field in field-goal range.  At 2nd down and a bunch of yards, the Bears QB couldn’t connect with anyone.  At 3^rd down, he connected with his receiver who got down the field a bit further.  And then the clock ran out.  And Broncos players and coaches started running onto the field thinking the game was over.  BUT…the Bears had called a time-out with one second remaining on the clock.  ONE SECOND.  One field goal attempt.  A 53 yard attempt (not easy).  Everyone lined up, the kicker kicked and I swear it felt like the football was going in slow motion.  And he made it.  Game over.  BEARS WIN!  It was fun because we had Bears fans right behind us AND in front of us so we were all celebrating and high-fiving as the disgruntled Broncos fans were making their way around us trying to leave.

What a game!!!

After parking our Lyft scooters (you can just leave them wherever) and retrieving our car at Target, we headed back to Englewood and found a meatball restaurant for dinner.  Yes, a meatball restaurant.  It was delicious! 

Monday was Ikea.  We took our time in the morning, had a long breakfast, packed up our stuff and the car and checked out around 11:00.  And then drove to Ikea, which was only about 5 minutes away.

I don’t really have any Ikea tips, except HAVE A LIST.  And try to stick to it ha ha.  Ikea is like a wonderland of good quality cool stuff for cheap.  The Ikea employees are extremely helpful.

We pretty much stuck to our list.  We got a white shelving storage unit for my mother-in-law.  Light blocking curtain panels for our sunroom for the super hot summers.  A couple more bookshelves for the library.  And misc. odds and ends.

After Ikea, we packed up the car.  My trusty CRV.  I should have taken a picture with the Ikea boxes, bags, and our luggage all piled up.

And then we headed back downtown (ish) for the entire reason we went to Denver.  Of Monsters and Men!!!!  I got the tickets a couple months ago, pretty much as soon as they released their tour dates and cities.  They are an Icelandic band and they put out an album every 3-4 years.  So this is only their 3^rd album.  I kicked myself for not going to see them in 2015, so I did NOT want to miss them this time around.

They played at the Mission Ballroom, which is a relative new concert venue in Denver.  It was a really nice place.  It was a sold out concert, I’m guessing there were maybe 3,000 people there? 

TRAVEL TIP:  Again, when going to a large event like this, don’t count on parking near the venue.  I found a really cool parking app which lets you reserve a parking spot in a secured parking garage for WAY cheaper than event parking.  I paid $5 to reserve a parking spot at a parking garage about 6 blocks away from the venue.  I reserved it from 4:30 p.m. until 1:00 a.m.  When we got there, I just whipped out my phone, held it up to the little scanner at the garage and the arm magically lifted and let us through.  IT WAS AMAZING.  Especially when we got to the venue and saw they were charging $20 to park in the lots nearby. The app is called ‘BestParking’.  I’m a fan.

The venue was really nice.  There were bars and bathrooms everywhere, so there were NO LINES EVER.  It was general admission.  Meaning…there are no seats.  On the balcony level though, there are ‘tiered’ steps to sit on though if that makes sense.  So that’s where we sat.  Which was nice because we got to sit down for the majority of the concert.  It was mostly the older people in the balcony so we fit right in ha ha.

The concert was AMAZING.  It exceeded my expectations.  They sang every song on my mental list that I hoped they would, with the exception of one on their new album (Stuck in Gravity).  They sang maybe 20 songs?  They played for an hour and a half.  It was just amazing.  They didn’t do a lot of talking in between.  They speak English (obviously), but with heavy Icelandic accents.  After each song Nanna (the female lead) would say ‘thank you’.  It was so cute.  😊  They did introduce about every other song.  One of my favorites, Lakehouse (from their 1^st album), they introduced by saying ‘this song we wrote reminding us of summers in Iceland’.  And another one they introduced by saying ‘if you’re an awkward dancer, then  you will dance great to this song’ (Wars, from their newest album).  😊  They’re just such a great band.  It was an all-ages show, so it didn’t get crazy or anything.

They didn’t go on until about 8:45 and ended around 10:15.  We waited until a lot of people had cleared out before we left.  So we got back to our car around 11:00.  And then we started the drive home.  We had to drive home after the concert because hubby had to be in Santa Fe on Tuesday at 9:00 a.m.  I did the driving so that hubby could sleep.  I took my time (no speeding!), stopped for gas 2 times, ate a gross Arby’s sandwich at 3:00 a.m. (I was starving and it was my only option!), and listened to ‘Into Thin Air’ on audio.  Hubby slept.  We rolled into Santa Fe around 5:00 a.m.  I found a grocery store parking lot, parked the car, and looked at my pictures and videos on my phone while hubby slept.  I woke him up around 6:30.  We found a Starbucks, got cleaned up (thank goodness for disposable washcloths), had coffee, and then I dropped hubby off at the Santa Fe office and I headed home (he caught a ride back to ABQ with his co-workers).

It was a great trip.  Kind of a whirlwind, but we packed a lot in.  It’s so important to get away every now and then!

Black Friday

I was solo at Black Friday this year.  Because of this, I got done earlier than usual (usually we don't get started until about 9:30).  This year I started at 5:00 and was home by 8:30!!

On Thursday morning, hubby and I have the tradition of going to Village Inn for breakfast (it's the only thing open).  We first buy a newspaper, then go to the restaurant and go through the ads during breakfast.  I make a list.  

This year was a bit different.  A lot of the stores are starting their Black Friday ads deals online.  So...on a few items, you can order online starting at a certain time on Thursday.  This is good and bad.  Good, if you're aware of the process.  Bad, if you expect to go the store and find a hot ticket item in the ad and it's no there because the store's stock has been sold out online.

This year, there was an exceptional deal on Playstation 4's.  It came with a Spiderman game and was more than $100 off the original price.  It was at Target and Walmart and I believe Best Buy.  I KNEW this would be an item I would have to get in line for.  So I read the fine print on the ad, and saw that it was available for order online.  I checked Target...sold out (both online AND in stores).  So (while we were sitting there at Village Inn), I ordered it online at Walmart for store pick-up.  I had to wait about a week before I was able to pick it up, but I got the exact unit that was advertised for the exact price.  And I didn't have to stand in line.

While I was at Target, I overheard a few people asking about the PS4 in the ad and the employee said they had sold out of those before the store even opened.  Which is really not fair.  I mean...they should reserve SOME to keep in stock.  But oh well.  I was just glad I didn't have to wait in line for it, ESPECIALLY at Walmart.  Ugh.

And my husband's PS4 broke down like 3 years ago and we haven't replaced it until now.  I'm glad it all worked out.

Then, I noticed a great deal on Dyson vacuums in the Target ad.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE my cordless Dyson stick vac.  LOVE it.  But, it's a few years old and is temperamental sometimes.  It still works great, but I just have to clean it a lot more (like, take it apart, wash the filter, etc.) than usual.  So when I saw Target was having a sale on Dyson stick vacs, I ordered one of those online as well.  It was delivered a few days later.  Of course, husband checked Consumer Reports on all cordless stick vacs first.  And guess who won....Dyson!  

We're going to keep the new one for upstairs use.  The current one is mounted on the wall in the laundry room.  The plan for the new one is to mount it in the small storage room located in our library.  But there's no electricity in that little room at the moment.  So for now, it's hanging out in my closet.  (and yes, we have a mini fridge in my closet):

So around 5:00 I headed out to the actual stores.  First I went to Gamestop and got husband two video games he's been wanting.

Then I went to Target (my biggest haul).

Pyrex!  Couldn't pass this up, especially since I hate plastic storage.  $18 for this boxed set.

A few movies/TV on DVD.  I haven't seen the 3 movies, but I HAVE seen the 2 TV series.  :)  The TV seasons were $10 and the movies were $6 and $4.  Not too shabby!  They are all movies I've been wanting to see too.

Usually I get sheets each year at Walmart, but this year, Target had them.  1200 thread count sheet sets for $25 (any size).  We got a King size bed earlier this year and I only have 2 sets of sheets for it, one of which is not in great shape.  Animals are HARD on sheets!!  Anyways...I got 2 new sets of sheets for our bed and one full-size set for the guest room (Amy's Room). 

Some little lotions. They were BOGO.  I like the little ones for my gym shower bag.

One sweater.  They had loads of sweaters for $10!

A throw.  $10!  It's super soft.

Then I moved on to Walmart. 

Slippers for hubby.  I get him new slippers almost every year.  These were $7, marked down from $20.

 Loungewear...pants and hoodie set for $12.

An oil diffuser set for the man cave.  It came with 6 little bottles of oils.

And some fun little slipper socks.  :)

And that's it!  It was fun, and it was nice to be home at 8:30.  It put my husband and mother-in-law's mind at ease, especially because I was by myself amongst the crazies.

Now to start putting away a little bit of money each month for next year!

Prime

My love for Amazon Prime continues to grow.

I believe Prime membership is $100 per year?  You get Prime video with it as well.  AND FREE SHIPPING ON ALL THE THINGS.  And, as you’re about to see, the membership fee pays for itself. 

Our latest order included:

3-pack Fleece Lined Thick Brushed Leggings (for me…Iceland!)

Speck CandyShell Grip case for iPhone 6 Plus (we’re playing musical phones again in our house)

Ka-Bar Tactical Military Sporks – Spoon Fork Knife Combo Set (husband added these to our cart)

Mpow Floating Waterproof Case Underwater Type Dry Bag for iPhone 6 Plus (Blue Lagoon!  Waterfalls!)

So, nothing too crazy.  But then I looked over our orders over the last year, and the list is just SO RANDOM and funny:

Minimalist Genuine Leather Slim Wallet

Batteries

Rechargeable Battery Charger

Bottle Silicone Sleeve (for my husband’s Yeti bottle)

Durable orthotic shoe inserts

Two shower hoses (one for our master bath, one for Amy’s bathroom…they were both leaky)

Check paper (to print checks at home if need be since we don’t have checkbooks)

Vitamins

Hikpro durable lightweight backpack water resistant (Iceland!)

Apple watch band

Antique Map Puzzle

Two Chicago Blackhawks t-shirts

DVD – Only the Brave

Donut hemorrhoid pillow (ha ha…this was recommended after my surgery….I didn’t use it once!!)

Post-op hysterectomy underwear (I’m not kidding)

Cork plant mat surface protectors (to set plants on so that they don’t ruin your table, etc.)

Permanent fabric pen (my husband has been putting a ‘W’ on the tag of his workout t-shirts so I know what’s what and what drawer to put them in)

Book – We Were the Lucky Ones

Sheets

Comforter

King size bed & bed frame

Swiss Army Pocket Knife

7-inch aluminum round cake pan (for my Instant Pot)

Black & Decker shoulder bag (for the leaf blower of course, because ours busted)

Fidget Spinner (for my husband….it helps w/ ADD)

Stretch Strap for physical therapy

Treadmill Maintenance Kit

Compostable Biodegradable Food Scraps Kitchen Trash Bags (for our ever growing compost dirt pile)

Echo Dot

Outdoor string lights

USB plug in fan for my mother-in-law’s tv that was shutting itself off for overheating

Gorilla cart for the garden

Meat thermometer

Garden torch (this thing scares me to death but it WORKS)

Smoke alarms

Ron Swanson POP figurine

10 pack of needles & tips for fountain pens

Melatonin

Oil Diffuser

Water resistant dog shoes

DVD – Call the Midwife Season 6

Green Mountain Coffee K-Cups

Powdered Peanut Butter

Blender bottles

‘Service Dog Inside’ door hanger (for husband’s office)

What a variety!

Amazon literally has EVERYTHING.  And you cannot beat the prices.  That’s the whole reason I thought of doing an Amazon post.  The other day I went to Target to buy a phone case.  I am partial to ‘Speck’ cases….they are much less bulky than Otterbox cases, but provide fantastic protection.  Anyways, the one at Target that I wanted was $45 (typical price for Speck and Otterbox….yikes).  I pulled up my Amazon app and found the EXACT SAME ONE for $13.  Yesssssss.

Same with the leggings.  The least expensive ones I found at Target were $10 per pair (and they weren’t fleece lined).  I got a 3-pack on Amazon for $22.

There are a few exceptions though….like books.  I DO occasionally buy books on Amazon.  But I haven’t had great experiences.  I am VERY picky about the condition of brand new books.  Even at Barnes and Noble, I won’t take the first one on display, I’ll dig around and find the perfect one (no bends or cracks in the spine, no tears in the book jacket, etc.).  The last couple of books I’ve bought from Amazon (both paperbacks) have had bends in the cover.  I am just not okay with that!  When I’m buying a brand new book, I want it to be in pristine condition.

I also usually only buy DVDs in-store.  The only reason I go to Amazon is if the store doesn’t have the version I want.  The price is the same on new releases.

And if there’s something that I see at Target that I want right away, I’ll check Amazon….Target will price match!  You just have to take your item to customer service.

I hope Amazon Prime sticks around forever!

Roi

(apparently I’m titling my blog posts in French now)

We finally bit the bullet (where does that expression even mean, anyways?) and bought a king size bed.  We’ve wanted one for years, but our bedroom in our old house wasn’t large enough for a  King size bed.

Our current bedroom however is much larger.   

So my husband did a BUNCH of research on Consumer Reports (because that’s just who he is, and I love him for it).  We didn’t want to spend thousands of dollars on a mattress.  And they can easily be thousands of dollars.  He compared prices and quality of different brands, discussed it with me, and then we placed an Amazon order.  My main concern with the new bed was I wanted to make sure it would be as tall as our night tables.

We purchased the Sleep Innovations Marley 10-inch Gel Memory Foam Mattress.  It came with a 20-year warranty.  The price?  $425. 

We also purchased the Zinus Quick Snap 18 Inch Platform Bed Frame/Wooden Slat Support, no Bolts or Nuts, Easily Assembly.  Price?  $145.

We also ordered bedding, sheets, and a 100% waterproof mattress protector (a MUST HAVE with animals):  $208

TOTAL:  $778

I think this is pretty unbelievable for an entire king bed, frame, and bedding.  And it was so easy!  We ordered from Amazon and everything came in 3 days (with free shipping since we are Prime members).  Our mattress came in a box about the size of a dishwasher.  We opened it up and put it upstairs in our library for 24 hours (as instructed) to ‘breathe’ and expand.  And my husband put together the frame in like 15 minutes.  I’m not exaggerating.  It was so simple!

We did NOT get box springs.  The mattress did not need them, and the frame we got is 18” high.  We got the taller frame for 2 reasons….I wanted the bed to be at least as high as our night tables, AND it will be sooooo much easier for our dog to get underneath the bed when there are storms.  See:

We’ve been sleeping on the mattress for over a week now.  It’s always a little scary when you order these types of things online without trying them out first.  But so far, so good.  It doesn’t sleep ‘hot’ as some of the memory foam mattresses do (I think the ‘gel’ part is what keeps it cool).  It’s VERY firm which I’m still getting used to.  It doesn’t feel like a bed ha ha.  You lay down and it’s hard as a rock, but then you start to just slowly sink into it and it’s lovely.  My back is feeling much better and I’m sleeping pretty well.

And the size!!!!  I can completely extend my arm to the side and barely touch my husband.  We have so much room!  Hannah has been sleeping all stretched out horizontally between us and she has room to spare by her head and her feet.  Abby just gets lost in the bed and I typically never know where she is.  And Watson stays at the bottom of the bed pretty much, more towards my husband.  I usually can’t tell where he is.  It’s so nice to have the extra space and spread out more.  The difference between a Queen Size and a King Size is unbelievable.

I thought it might make our room look a little smaller with the larger bed, but….no.  We still have plenty of space ha ha.

I also got different curtains.  I didn’t really like the ones I had up there, so I ended up getting the same ones that we have on the other side of the room.  Just simple sheer balloon shades from Target.  I like that you can lengthen them if you want.  I might lengthen the ones above our bed a little since it’s a longer window than the one above the desk.  They’re strictly for looks as they don’t provide any darkening for the room (that’s what the blinds are for).

We gave our old bed (it’s 5 years old maybe?) to my mother-in-law.  And we’re checking to see if anyone wants her old bed, if not, we will dispose of it.  Right now it’s hanging out in the sunroom and Macy (my 15-year-old cat) is having a ball hiding in the rolled up foam topper that was on the bed ha ha.

So anyways….if you do your research (and aren’t too picky and don’t have major sleeping/back issues), buying a bed doesn’t have to cost thousands of dollars any more.  It can come in a box and be delivered right to your doorstep!