Thing I'm Lovin'

I recently purchased a bunch of things that I love and want to share with you. I know these are going to be materialistic things, just know that I do love a lot of people, but for this post its all about things. A few months ago we got a $100 AMEX gift card from work for being awesome so most of these purchases were my splurge items for that.

 I LOVE these roses that David got me this weekend. They are spray/mini roses and I love all the tightness of the layers. So beautiful.

I am loving this storage ottoman I got from Target for $16. I had a regular one that I set all my workout sheets, coupon organizer etc on, but it was an eye sore in our family room. This one allows me to open it up and nicely store my coupon organizers, magazines, weights and papers.

I am loving my Rick Steve's Italy 2011 book. It has fold out maps and is a great read. I am highlighting and taking notes like I am taking a college course. I love doing that, but I am basically rewriting the whole book in my notepad because I don't know much about Italy it seems.

I bought a steam mop! This is the Eureka 313A Enviro Hard-Surface Floor Steamer purchased from Amazon for $63. I LOVE it. The water heats up to 220 degrees so NO harsh chemicals needed! How green is that!? I read a ton of reviews (there is a great detailed comparison by someone already on amazon) and have already tried it out. It works on finished hardwood floors, ceramic tile, laminate etc. It works great, is super quiet and did I mention I love it.

Last but not least is my new KitchenAid Fruit/Vegetable Strainer and Food Grinder for Stand Mixers purchased for $34 from amazon. I am going to try canning my own tomatoes this year and since the machine we used this past september with my Grandma is up in NY (and I don't think she'll ever part with it) I found an alternative. This attaches to my kitchenaid mixer and will allow me to can tomatoes. It also has a grinder attachment so I can twice grind my meat (like Grandma does for her meatballs). I am excited to try it out this summer. Tomatoes are in season July in Georgia and September in NY. Any family reading this, we're setting a date in July so if you want in on any sauce this year, you must be in attendance!

House Tour and Shopping Trip in TX!

I love looking at houses and taking home tours. We always used to go to the tour of homes every chance we got, its fascinating to me. So I thought I'd take you on a tour of our cute San Antonio Cottage.

 Here are some of the room highlights:

 This is the very large and spacious kitchen. It had a 6 burner gas stove that you can see and upgraded counter tops and new appliances.

 There are 2 entrys into the house, one at the front (pictured above) and one at the back where the garage and backyard is that goes into the little laundry room and then kitchen. They have a great fireplace area with the built in shelves and some stain glass on the windows.

 Here is the back entrance and yard area.

 There is a sun room off of the living room where you can sit and enjoy morning coffee, this is where they had set up a Christmas tree in the window for us.

 The house had 3 fairly large bedrooms, 1 with a king, 1 with a queen, and 1 full bed. The house was like a big circle. There were 2 doors per bedroom that led to another room in the house. It was like a big maze.

This is where David and I stayed. I loved the windows and moldings that they had and the ceiling height was very tall.

There were two bathrooms, 1 with an old fashioned tub and this one with a walk in shower. I loved all the blue glass tiles.

 This was the view from the front door looking out. The houses around ours were huge 2-story mansion types. Some people didn't have driveways/garages, but this house did although it was a very tight squeeze.

We also did some shopping while we were there at The Shops at La Cantera. It is a cool area and their 6 flags is right next door. You can see roller coasters from the parking lot! Bella was investigating our bags saying "What did you guys buy!"

This was the coolest shopping area I have seen so far in my life. Everything is connected via a courtyard in the middle. All the stores have canopys, which came in handy because it was rainy the day we went. I love the charm and feeling of everything.

Look how big it is! I am happy to say we covered the whole entire area. It took us 4 hours, but we had fun.

Michelle is going to model a few outfits for us that she purchased. This was a dress she found on sale at Anthropology. I have never been to the store because it is usually out of my price range, but the sales were great and it is so interesting in there. I love the bedding they have. 

This is a cute sweater dress that she got from Express, I got one in purple. She is wearing this outfit today with black tights and boots (so trendy she is). Shes also showing it off with her black over coat that is so universal that I also bought one.

We also bought cute scarfs from Old Navy. Hers is pictured above and mine is black and white. We had a fun time shopping together with each other and Mom.

Fully Stocked Freezer

As of last night, I have given myself the weekend off from cooking and cleaning (I did that too last night). I have fully stocked my freezer with meals, meats and goodies. Here is a look at my freezer.

Don't let me buy anything else at the grocery store for the rest of the month!

Boots at Kohls!

 I discovered that my search for boots was going to be harder than I thought. A lot of the ones I liked were out of my size, I think I'm a little late in the season for just starting to look. I decided to head to Kohls since I had a $10 off card. I also had a $100 amex giftcard so I set out and found some shoes I liked.

I purchased brown boots, black flat slip ons, 3 pair of leggings/tights and earmuffs (not pictured). My total after the $10 off was right at my gift card level. I did buy a Columbia fleece jacket that put me over, but it was worth it, I needed something warm. I also received $20 kohls cash to spend soon!

Here is a close up of my boots. I'm going skinny jean shopping later in the week so I'm almost getting with the trends. I do still want brown leather type boots, but everything I tried on was too baggy and David wasn't a big help in telling me if they looked good or not. He hates when I ask him, he always says "Call your sister".