Posts tagged ‘shopping’

December 16th, 2011

just {not} gay enough.

last weekend we devoted our time to a serious overhaul of the basement.

it all started with the most terrible musty, mildew, rotten onion smell permeating from who-knows-where in the basement through the entire house.

awesome.

even scentsy couldn’t deliver on the ‘ol coverup.

we moved stuff up and out – with the help of some friends to the dump (thanks d&e!) and other need-to-save-but-don’t-want-to-see stuff to the eaves.

and as justin said, you know you’ve surrendered to the fact that you’re going to be living in a house for a long time when you enter the eaves for storage.

thanks zillow.com for the second ever lowest assessment. we might be stuck here forever.

which brings me to the topic of this post: attempting to buy a chair for our dining room.

as we decided, if we’re going to be in this house for the foreseeable future we need to make a small sitting area in our dining room; for people [who always end up in the kitchen] to chat with and feel connected to.

which brings me to tjmaxx/homegoods, naturally.

where i found a ton of awesome options. which i emailed to my husband.

i was so excited about sharing i couldn’t wait for his reply so called instead.

to which he said a few things but the only words that lingered after the sentence was finished were i despise all of them. wait. maybe that was the entire sentence.

to which i got instantly pissy and short and wished for the one thousandth and forty third time that i was a lesbian.

pretty sure if called my wife at home with those same photos the conversation would have ended with all six chairs in my trunk.

ok. i could have guessed he wouldn’t be super stoked about the purple ones. but all of them?

how he can’t see the pop of colors and textures blending perfectly with our new farm table and added throw pillows i’ll never know.

probably shouldn’t have called, huh? next time it’s purchase and run baby.

sigh.

July 26th, 2011

therapy of the retail variety.

my mom has taught me countless life lessons. all in her non-invasive, it will hit you and register with you when you need it to way.

and although i’m slightly hesitant to rank the life lesson of today’s blog among a top, anything, it is totally necessary.

you, mama, more than anyone else will understand. and approve.

life lesson #9 via mi mamalioni, christine:

when in doubt (i choose the “of what” depending on the day/circumstance)…
head to tj maxx.

last night after the kids went to bed i needed some alone time. i was also in dire need of a new hat. hey, it’s almost august and i live in new england. add fine, humidity-intolerant hair to the mix and welp, thus the dire need o’ new hat. trust me, it’s for the betterment of mankind.

mostly, i needed to aimlessly wander the polished wood aisles.

to run my fingers over and in between rack after rack of red stickered items. knowing that golden ticket anthroplogie coat or free people top was lurking, undiscovered and mis-marked for a crazy steal.

to curve my way in and around the beautiful teal end tables, floral wing back chairs, glorious wool rugs and fringed throw pillows; striking a serious twang of the my house needs a total overhaul cord.

dancing with myself through the aisle of mirrors. lingering for a moment on a handsome floor length beauty. perfect, maybe?

give it a day. or a week. if you are still thinking about it go back and get it. that’s what my mama would say.

there are abagillion and forty two more productive things i could have done for, ah, two hours last night.

but taking 13 items to the dressing room, trying on every shoe in every row from size 8 to size 9 and leaving with a simple, black hat for $9.99 is what it’s all about.

there is something about sifting through obnoxious amounts of average merchandise to find that hidden gem. it gets me every time. and if i do say so myself, i kinda have a knack; a well honed and apparently genetic pre-disposition, if you will.

mostly, i feel the need to pay homage to the great tj maxx gods. to publicly (heh) give thanks.

may you continue to thrive so long as my discretionary income prohibits spending more than $39.99 for an anthropology coat. and my overloaded brain has no other relevant place to run.

you are a part of me, like mahogany hair and eyes off sweet amethyst (thanks, jack).
and i love you so.

*if you are an executive at the tjx companies, yes, please, i want to work for you.
**photos courtesy of hipstamatic for iphone. a really cool app.

October 5th, 2010

hand em on down

for a girl who likes to shop, appreciates beautiful clothes, browses shoe websites for fun – and happens to have young children - you’d think i’d be putting our family in serious debt. i mean, to-hell with shopping for me - the options and amaaaazing stuff out there for kids? really, i can’t even go there. for me, it’s better not to really know – and really, to not even imagine.

for this lack of shopping related debt, i owe many people. many friends and family and even friends of family who we don’t personally know, who have been dropping  bag after bag of baby, toddler and big-kid apparell since conception of baby #1.

and when i say bag after bag, i truly mean it. heaping piles of clothes, boxes of shoes – it’s been unbelievable.

so when the time came a couple weeks ago to de-summerize, sort and clean out kid’s bureaus in anticipation of fall and winter,  i felt totally overwhelmed.

just as fast i purged skirts and shorts and tank tops – saving some for future warm weather days and re-bagging  the rest for other tots we know - i restocked two bureaus in harper’s room, one in jackson’s and an entire closet just from the stacks of bags and boxes waiting in the wings.

i didn’t get a photo of this – dammit- but when justin got home from work one night i had about three loads of this new-to-us wardrobe folded in heaping piles on our kitchen island. when i explained that we had done some back to school shopping i thought he was going to freak. back to school and then some for zero bucks. not to mention pretty damn eco friendly ta boot.

and there are only so many hoodies and leggings and onesies i can keep, and use. the rest get passed down the pipe line to other grateful little ones.

it’s oh so spectacular.

and just as i had finally gotten through this latest season and bureau update, my number one donor (the horne boutique, newmarket, nh) sprung another huge trash bag full on me.

honestly, i almost didn’t open it. i just have that much stuff already. but, alas, it called to me to take just one little peak…

which i did. and sorted and washed and re-boxed for upcoming seasons.

and sometimes, as it turns out, there are little surprises in there. little surprises that two and a half year olds find and polish off in no time.

let’s just hope this was from this summer and not last.

i will be forever grateful for the years of hamidowns we’ve been fortunate to have. and really, it is so much more gratifying (if that’s possible) to bag them up with love and send them back out in the world of cute-as-a-button little bottoms.

to the hornes, johnsons, stewarts, ous, families of toddler’s inn and countless other wonderful people, thank you so.        

and if you don’t hamidown - in my humble opinion - you gotta get with it. and if you don’t know any hamidowners than hit up your local consignment shop – there are tons of gently used ones out there. and if it skeeves you out – do a wash with hot water, a smidgen of bleach and a cup of oxiclean.

oh, and one more thing – i have no idea how to spell hamidowns. hand me downs? hammydowns? i have no clue…

February 11th, 2010

new shoes on

the last several weeks jackson has been obsessed with his new shoes. new,  like 6 weeks ago new. according to many, this is totally common and the shoes will most likely remain ‘new’ until the next new pair. i’m sure this is the case, but i can’t help but think he’s got a little of his mama’s shoe fetish going on. not that i’m really in a position to call it that any more…since all of our discretionary income goes straight to daycare costs. and truly, the last pair of shoes i bought was from kohl’s and were cheap nike shox called nike reax (or something). when i got home with them justin chuckled and said nice reax (turns out they have fake ’shox’. harumph). i had a 30% off coupon to kohl’s and i’m a mother of two, so shove it.
mohawk & new shoes, january 10

mohawk & new shoes, january 10

jax in mama's nike reax, sept 09

in mama's nike reax, sept 09

by the way, did anyone notice when on earth i became a coupon carrying kohl’s shopper?   yee gads. it’s a good thing danskos don’t really go out of style (shit, do they?) and might even become cooler the more broken in (i hope?) because that’s what i’m ‘a rockin these days (ok, years).

so, jackson’s shoes only leave his feet to bathe and sleep. and if he had it his way they’d stay on for both of those activities as well. one of his favorite things to do is run fast, with a ball in hand, and touch-down (aka, fall heavily onto the floor while yelling ‘touchdoooown!’). obviously mommy, this is way better when you can ‘run fast’ with new shoes on.

i don’t necessarily  have a problem with the shoes being worn day in and day out…except for when the news claims the soles  pick up nasty things like stomach viruses (which totally makes sense) and track them around your house. eek and eww. since then i may or may not be squirtting jackson’s soles with a little dial foam every day (he doesn’t seem to mind; just makes them squeaky. which, go figure, has been a big hit). every night we take off the shoes and put them nigh night in the basket by the door. and every morning, feetsy pajamas and all, they go right back on. not that this is strange to me; i have a vivid memory of a new pair of sneaks  i got from toys r us as a kid that i actually brought into bed with me, blankets, pillow and all. i guess shoes have always been treasured treats round these parts. remember this post?

every day jackson asks for his new shoes with wide eyes and a high pitched,  ’new shoes ON?’ well, actually with the little studder he’s developed the last couple of weeks (cute but slightly concerning) it’s more like, ‘na, na, na, na, na new shoes ON?’ and it makes me think of a great song with lyrics that totally resonate with me…

 

catchy, and so true, right?

unbelievably, i’ve only bought harper one pair of shoes (totally could’t resist).  i’m really not a fan of putting babes in any type of restricting, clunky, laced thing that has no true function. jackson was in bobux booties until he was walking (which happened to be 9 mos) and harper will wear his hamidowns, i’m sure. but shit, girl shoes (and clothes for that matter) are so stinking adorable.  and really, i can’t wait to take my little girl shopping for spiffy new kicks. but i wonder, as i’m typing this, if it may not be my fairy-esque little lady who’s fired up about shoes, but her ball throwing, touchdown-ing older brother.  either way, shoes excite me. kids excite me. kids and shoes? watch out.

i once wanted to open an online children’s shoe store. thought i’d call it freckled soles. then i realized there were about 88 billion of them already out there. and then after that i wondered if i’d actually sell any or just put a new pair on every kid i’ve ever known/come across and be out of business before even starting.  probably the latter. so for now, it’s new shoes as needed. and maybe, just maybe, when the discretionary income returns (please?) so will special treat shoe shopping days. it’s the little things in life, like new shoes, that make the world go round. fortunately for me, it’s groundhog day in this household. new shoes daily without the expense.  total sweetness.


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