our 17th anniversary (with family)

we spent the weekend with our families last weekend--visiting and celebrating our anniversary.
(yes, i know our anniversary is in march. but because that is chris' busy time of year, we always wait a little while until things calm down for him.)

we started out saturday evening with a yummy dinner at a local italian place and then went to mom & les' for our little party.
(we always have a little family party for each couple on their anniversary each year. fun, no?)

didn't the table look pretty?

mom made this coconut cake that was wonderful!

danielle made the most delicious cupcakes that looked like they came out of a bakery!

and mama jeanne made my favorite thing she makes--homemade spice cookies filled with divinity. (is divinity just a southern thing? i don't know--but these are the bomb!)

here we are--do we look like we've been married 17 years?
(that sounds like SO long!)

mckinlee and me
(i love how les is showing chris his telescopic light bulb changer!)

the three of us

mike & danielle--aren't they cute?

danielle, mom & me

mom & les

mom, mama jeanne, & my two aunts--vicki & peggy

sadie talking to "uncle" about her new horse

mck helping sadie ride her "ho" as sadie calls it--totally cracked us up!

some of our gifts--gift certificates
cavendars for chris for new boots
the gift horse for me for pandora charms
we can't wait to use these!

this beautiful family rules sign danielle & mike got for us--i already hung it in my entry & it looks so cool!

mck got gift cards & money, 2 darling charms for her pandora, and other cute things--she was excited!

more gift cards--yay!
anthropologie for me
the art of shaving for chris

mck with her little basket of goodies

my sweet uncle & aunt--aaron & peggy

we had such a fun time eating too much sugar and laughing.
we started playing with the fat booth app on my phone and we were so hysterical we were almost sick to our stomachs!

sunday at lunch we had another little party with chris' mom & dad.
more presents--yippee!

we got some fun money for each of us, i got some french body butter that is amazing, some comfy pajamas (thanks to chris' mom who knows how much i love pj's) and the best chocolate covered pecans. chris got some wonderful lavendar shaving soap in a cool wooden holder.

mck was excited about her straightener

papa, mck & mama dee

buddy, chris, dee & me

we had such a fun time and appreciate our family so much!
we are so thankful we have such a loving family and we miss them all so much since we've moved
(the presents are just an added bonus!)

couponing

do you watch extreme couponing on tlc?
it is absolutely amazing to me that people can get $1000 worth of groceries for $8!
as i've been watching it i think i've discovered that there is fine line between saving insane amounts of money by "stockpiling" grocery items and hoarding!
anyway, it has inspired me to keep up with my coupons more.
now, i will NEVER go to the extremes they do--there is no way i would ever spend 40-60 hours per week couponing and frankly i do not want my pantry & freezer filled with totino's pizza, spaghetti-o's, mountain dew and other so called "food" you can get for free.
but i have decided to "play the grocery game", as they say, at cvs.
there are some crazy good deals to be had at cvs if you clip coupons, match them with things already on sale and use your cvs card. you can also earn "extra care bucks" for things you buy and it's treated exactly like cash for your next purchase.
so here are some of my recent purchases:
(don't expect insane savings yet--i'm just getting started, remember?)

i'm not going to go through each item, but it comes down to the fact that i got all the stuff below after coupons & ecb's (extra care bucks--look at me already talking the lingo!) for $18.75 with lots of ecb's to be used on my next purchase.

now it gets a little better...
all of this stuff was $6.37!
on these 3 items i saved $18.79!

now on to my purchases today...
contact solution $14.99 -- earned $5 ecb
toothbrushes $6.29 --earned $3 ecb
pantiliners .99 each --had 3 coupons for $1 off each--i actually made .03!
i used the ecb's i earned before.
total for this purchase: $7.88
(i was thrilled because this is the contact solution i use and i was running out)

windex--2/$6
ziploc bags 2/$6 --spending $12 earned me $3 ecb
body wash clearanced to $1.12
cotton swabs on sale --$1.99
salmon/tuna -- .83 each
used my $8 ecb i earned on my last purchase
total purchase: $10.29 and i earned $4 ecb to use next time

my rule is never to buy something that i won't use just to "save" money.
i will keep you informed of great deals i find should you want to play the grocery game too!

a fun friday

we had such a fun friday.

mom, danielle & sadie came down for the day & i let mckinlee stay home from school.
we hadn't seen them in so long and couldn't wait to see how much sadie had changed in a month!
she turned into a toddler since the last time we saw her :(
she's talking & she is hysterical!

the weather has been wonderful so we went to corner bakery and ate outside.
it was so warm, i actually got a little sunburn on my arms!

this picture just cracks me up--sadie & i with our mouth & hands full and danielle in the middle looking perfect!

love this picture of us three

then we drove around (forever!) until sadie fell asleep.
we found ourselves at an outlet mall, where we dropped off mom & mckinlee at mom's favorite store--chicos--and we continued to circle the mall while sadie slept. mom found a lot of cute things. then sadie woke up and danielle and i ran into one of our favorite stores!
(we only went in to "look" and came out with some cute stuff, right danielle?)

i already had the coral shorts, but got this cute ruffled tank and the cutest paisley flip flops which i wore today!

then we came home and let sadie play outside

mckinlee made smoothies and half of it ended up on the cabinets, walls & floor!

sadie ate dinner with mckinlee acting as a makeshift highchair

then sadie took a bath and her curls re-appeared!

finally, we took a parting picture
zizi, sadie, "unc" and mimi

our fun day ended much too soon.
but will be followed by many more!

what i wore wednesday

here's another week of what i wore--not to be self-indulgent, just to motivate myself to put a little thought into what i wear & to document it for future reference!
~~linking up with the pleated poppy~~

skirt: kohls (you can't really see but it has the cutest eyelet cutouts all along the bottom)
tank: kohls
sandals: target
jewelry: macy's (necklace) michele busch, sam moon (bracelets)

jeans: lauren conrad for kohls
tank: walmart
cardi: old navy
scarf: brassy apple
flower: made by me
shoes: steve madden from marshalls
bracelet: jcp

skirt: jcrew (my new favorite skirt!)
blouse & belt: local boutique
shoes: dsw
same flower
necklace: the vintage pearl

shorts, cardi & sandals: old navy
tank: wal-mart
jewelry: the vintage pearl (necklace), sam moon (bracelet), michele busch (earrings), pandora (bracelet)

skirt: anthropologie from thrift store--score!
sweater: sister?
tank: banana republic from thrift store
shoes: jcp
necklace: old navy

pants: jcrew from sister
tank: target
cardi: old navy from sister
flops: tommy hilfiger from dsw
bracelet: sam moon
necklace: the vintage pearl (i wear this almost everyday--it's our little family tree)

thanks for stopping by!

a few little pretties...

not too long ago i bought my "summer" purse.

it's one of the new fossil summer collections & i absolutely love the yellow,
gray & brown together!

i didn't think it could be any cuter until...

this little package arrived in the mail.

and look at the pretties inside!
i ordered the posy pins and a zippered bag that i'll use as a make up bag.
if you've never been to the pleated poppy shop--you must go look now!
seeing all the gorgeous things lindsey makes, makes me want to know how to sew!
the latest thing on my wish list is one of her new bloom belts.
hopefully, she'll have more in stock soon!

so here's my purse with the new little pleated poppy addition.

and its little friend. cute, no?
if it ever gets to be summer, i will actually be carrying this instead of just taking pictures of it!

on to other pretties...
at stamp class this past week, we made these cute little candy holders.

i love the chocolate stamp set.

and we made this little scrapbook. isn't it "sew" cute?
(sorry--cheesy, i know.)

you lift up each piece of cardstock to reveal the next page.

i love all the papers so much, i don't know if i even want to put any pictures on them!

there are so many things you could do with this little book--i think i'll make some more with different papers!

that's all for today--see you tomorrow!