Archives For Window Shopping

Whenever I visit Target it’s important for me to get in and out as quickly as possible in order to avoid giving them all of my money. They have so many cute things for the home but most of them are too expensive. Yes, I really am that cheap. Target is too high-falutin for my sensibilities. This is a good time to note that Target is certainly not paying me to write this post (though, hey, Target, if you want to sponsor my blog feel free to give me a holla. You can pay me in gift cards). I feel like their Threshold line is specifically designed for people who read and write home decor blogs. So much great stuff! It’s still pricier than my favorite store-the Goodwill, but there are some seriously cute finds for under $25.

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Threshold™ Acacia Wood Tray | Threshold™ Decorative Wood Chip Tree | Threshold™ Floral Bath Towels | Theshold Serving Tray with Handles | Threshold™ Fretwork Shower Curtain | Threshold™ Global Small Milk Crate | Threshold™ Fuzzy Throw | Threshold™ Chunky Bath Rug | Threshold™ Scalloped Burlap Tree with Glitter Detail | Threshold™ Rectangle Platter Set of 2 | Threshold™ Round Patchwork Toss Pillow | Threshold™ Stoneware Figural Owl Cookie Jar | Threshold Brand Shop

Those towels remind me of these much pricier ones I have from Anthropologie. I’ve also got that gray bath rug and I am totally coveting that blue fuzzy throw as well as pretty much everything else pictured above. I’m not totally buying the “quality” part of the brand description-it’s all definitely mass produced overseas. I noticed that they’re marketing a lot of stuff as brass that’s actually just painted aluminum and most pieces with moving parts (like soap pumps) or anything with a decorative finish (like mercury glass) have really poor reviews. Stick to simple materials like wood, fabric, ceramic, and clear glass or decorative whatnots that won’t see a lot of wear and you should be good.

I hope you each had a wonderful weekend! Nick is off from work all this week but I am out working hard for the money right up to Turkey Day. The tables have turned! It should be interesting to see what condition the house is in when I get home!

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I really don’t buy much for myself these days. Money is on the tighter side since I’m not working full time and the lion’s share of my discretionary spending goes toward cute stuff for the house (after living here for more than three years decorating is still my favorite hobby!). I splurge on a cute top or a professional haircut now and then, but most of my clothes come from the thrift store and most of my bang trims come from yours truly. So when Christmas season rolls around and loved ones start asking what I want, I’m often at a loss. This year I’m starting early with the curation of my list. Behold:

I don’t often take my DSLR camera out of the house with me-I prefer to leave it home and use my iPhone when we’re out and about so that I don’t have to worry about breaking or losing the camera I spent months saving up for. But occasionally, especially when we travel, I do like to bring the fancy camera with me and so far I don’t really have a good method of transporting it safely. I would love to have a handsome leather bag to carry and store it in, and of course vintage wins my heart for style and price.

Also related to photography: I feel like I am constantly moving my memory card back and forth from camera to computer. On one of the rare occasions I brought my camera with me because I really wanted to get some pictures of a friend’s home to share here on the blog I actually forgot my memory card at home (in the computer). Moving the card from camera to computer and back again is one of those little tasks that adds up to be really, really annoying when I am doing it every day for my blog and shop, so this nifty invention would be immensely helpful. It’s a memory card with built-in wifi, so it will automatically send photos I’ve taken on my camera to my laptop with no hassle on my part. It’s one of those things I would never buy for myself but would love to receive as a gift.

Continuing the trend of practical wishes, I’ve been coveting a rotary cutter and mat for ages. This would make cutting paper and fabric for my craft projects so much easier and more precise.

And finally, something with no practical use whatsoever. A friend of mine has a simple necklace similar to this one with her son’s name on it and I absolutely love it. I’m not sure where she got it from, but this one on etsy strikes my fancy just fine. I’m not sentimental in a traditional way but I think that Jack’s name stamped on a necklace as lovely as this would be sweet.

Are any of you lovelies already making your list and checking it twice? I’ve bought my first gift of the season already! I wasn’t looking for anything yet but I saw something at an antiques shop that I knew would be just perfect for someone I love so it came home with me. I’d better start shopping for Nick soon, because he’s so hard to buy for that I’ve come close to giving up. I hope you each had a wonderful weekend and a magnificent Monday!

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I got my first pair of glasses when I was five-and not just any pair of glasses. I’m talking giant frames and coke-bottle lenses on my tiny, tiny face. I was petite even then.IMG_20131021_0001 (382x570)

I must actually be closer to six or seven in this picture because the pixie haircut I gave myself just before starting kindergarten had grown out.

I held my glasses solely responsible for my lack of popularity throughout elementary and middle school (nevermind my awkward nature!) and started refusing to wear them somewhere around sixth grade despite the fact that I needed them desperately. At 14 I finally got contacts. In the years since I’ve done my best to forget that I even have impaired vision, leaving my contacts in for weeks at a time and replacing them so rarely that I could stretch a year’s supply into two. I know, I know, this is irresponsible. Many an optometrist has scolded me for this practice. A few months ago I knew I was well overdue for an eye exam and scheduled an appointment at Target Optical. I now have vision insurance for the first time in years so I figured I could finally get some new glasses to give my eyes a break from contacts in the evening. Imagine my surprise when, even at Target, even with insurance, my lenses and frames were going to be over $150! I was ordering a year’s worth of contacts at the same time so I just couldn’t stomach the cost. When I picked Jack up from my friend Gina (who’d kept him while I did the stressful which one is better? routine with the optometrist) I told her about it and she mentioned that she’d bought her glasses from a discount web retailer. Say whaaaat? Turns out that there are several inexpensive glasses retailers out there. I’m not sure I’d recommend them if you’re bespectacled full-time and would be annoyed by lack of quality, but if, like me, you just need a spare pair to peer through in the evenings then this may be a smart cost-saving measure. Here are a few I found in my search:

Coastal.com-this is where Gina bought hers. She says to sign up for their email list and wait for a promo code. She was really happy with them!

Eyebuydirect.com-this is where I ordered ours. Despite some bleak reviews online they arrived in good condition in about three weeks.

Zennioptical.com-online reviews of this company are actually pretty great!

39dollarglasses.com-the only downside here is that $39 is as low as they go

I went ahead and ordered new glasses for Nick, too. I just called his eye doctor and asked them to give me his prescription. He hadn’t been there in over a year so I’m surprised that they didn’t insist he come in for a new exam, but I think he’s planning on heading to Target for his next one anyway-it’s pretty convenient to get your eyes examined someplace you already frequent. I asked him if he cared what kind of frames I picked out for him and he said no, but later that evening when I showed him the full-rimmed pair I’d chosen he thought I was joking. It’s a good thing he’s not very vain because they’re definitely not what he would have chosen for himself, but I like them!

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I’d tried on a pair of pink girls’ frames before sticker shock set in at Target and thought to myself that maybe I wouldn’t hate wearing my glasses so much if they were fun. So when I finally got around to ordering our glasses online I went for pink. What do you think? I love them!

We didn’t use our insurance for these (I’m not sure EyeBuyDirect even bills insurance, and I am not up for the task of submitting a claim myself) but even paying completely out of pocket we only spent about $80 total! It would have been half that if it weren’t for my nuclear-strength prescription, but perfect vision for the practically blind comes at a premium. If I can get myself in the habit of switching my contacts for eyeglasses every evening before bed maybe I can call myself one step closer to being an actual adult. Next task-getting myself to the dentist twice a year! I was doing well for a while there but I haven’t been since Jack was born. Speaking of the little guy, my heart is breaking at the realization that he’s probably doomed to wear glasses as well. Nick and I both HATED it and I’d rather not subject him to the same thing. Maybe by the time he’s old enough to need them they’ll have invented some miracle cure. Fingers crossed!

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Happy Friday, party people! My brain is absolutely fried after a week full of math and science and very little creativity. I can’t wait until the first of the month when I have some money and can just go freaking shopping again. I’ve had my eye on this from Target for over a month but since it’s only available online I decided to get a Target debit card so I could get free shipping, which required a trip to the store to apply in person and then a week long wait for the card to come in and by then I was of money (note: I have money to spend on other things, like food and necessities, but my home decor budget is usually blown early in the month). Well, now I just found the same exact ottoman on Amazon where I could’ve gotten free two-day shipping without all the hassle.

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Seville Classics Rush Cube Storage Ottoman, Mocha
In case you missed it, I finally got around to making a facebook page for my blog! You can “like” it to keep up with blog posts and photos I post to Instagram. What else do bloggers do with their facebook pages? I’m sort of at a loss here, which is why I didn’t create one sooner. But I wanted a way to connect with readers on facebook while keeping my personal account to people I know personally so here ya go. Still working on the perfect cover photo, obvs.

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Living Well on the Cheap on Facebook

Are you familiar with TED? It’s a nonprofit that puts on conferences where speakers from various fields are asked to give “the talk of their lives” in 18 minutes or less. Videos of the talks are put online for the whole world to watch at their leisure. I’ve been hitting the gym every day and watching TED talks using the iPhone app while I work the elliptical. This one was especially inspiring to me.

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TED

That’s all I’ve got for today. I hope you each have a wonderful weekend! I’m hoping to put my coding woes behind me (the navigation bar at the top of my blog is black and I want it to be white, total first world problem) and knock out some projects that have been on my to-do list for weeks. Wish me luck!

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