Pinterest Sunday

Time for my weekly Pinterest roundup! Every Sunday, I share with you a few of my favorite finds from the previous week.

First up, my obsession with owls is still going strong!

Source: zgallerie.com via Jenn on Pinterest

I love this little owl bank.  I really want to get him to store all the pennies I'm saving up.  One of these days, I'm taking them to a Coinstar machine for a gift card!

Next up, something for the Doctor Who fans!

Source: nerdist.com via Jenn on Pinterest

How cool are these Doctor Who nesting dolls? My husband was amazed that every Doctor was there.

Last, I want this dress so very badly!

Source: modcloth.com via Jenn on Pinterest

 It also comes in purple and green and I have a hard time deciding which color I like best. If I ever decide on a color, I could wear this dress to my brother's wedding this year.

Wedding Wednesday: Ring Shopping Part 1

I'm going to start something new on the blog this week: Wedding Wednesday! Every Wednesday, I'll post about our wedding. I'll start with some planning posts and then I'll start recapping our wedding and eventually our honeymoon. I think this will be a fun way to blog about our wedding without turning this blog into a wedding only blog. Here we go...

When M and I had been dating for about 5 months, he dragged me to a local jewelry store. I felt it was entirely too soon to be looking at rings, even if I did know that I wanted to marry him. M rationalized that he needed to know what I liked so that when it was time to buy, he would get what I wanted. M is adamant that we support local businesses at much as possible and this store was his first choice, so I decided to humor him.

We went to the store, looked around, and were helped by a very nice woman named June. At that time, I picked out a princess cut diamond solitaire with channel set diamonds on a white gold band. June let M know what it would cost and what he could get financed. At this point, I actually had to talk M out of buying anything. (This later turned out to be a very good thing!) Again, I felt it was too soon and I was insistent that I not know when he bought the ring. I have no patience and if I knew there was a ring, I would be on pins and needles until it was on my finger. I reminded M that I did not want to see a ring until Christmas at the earliest and we left without buying anything. We did promise June that we would be back.

Fast forward to November. M must have had rings on the mind. One day, while waiting for me to get ready, he pulled up the local jewelry store's website. It doesn't have much content and mostly links to companies that make diamond rings. I just shook my head and figured this was a clue that he would be going shopping soon.

On our way out the door, I flipped through the mail and noticed a flier from the jewelry store. They were closing! This came as a shock since the website didn't mention this news. Since they were going out of business, they would be having a huge sale. They would reopen the next Thursday and prices would be slashed up to 70% off.

I knew that M and I had to check out this sale. I told him that we would be there when the doors opened and began praying that we could get a good deal.

Living Social

By now, I'm sure you all know about the wonderful website, Groupon. (I'm so excited that they finally have Groupons for a city local to me!) But, do you know about Living Social? 

Living Social is a lot like Groupon.  Every day, deals are offered for various cities around the country. But unlike Groupon, the deal is available without a certain number of people buying it first.  And, my favorite feature, if you tell your friends about the deal and 3 of them buy it, yours is free!  You just buy the deal, tweet/Facebook/email your personal link and then wait for 3 people to buy the deal through your link.

Living Social offers deals on local restaurants, spas, theaters, bars and more.  In just this past week, I've bought 2 Living Social deals.  Last Wednesday, they offered a $20 credit to Amazon for just $10.  Even my husband took advantage of that one.  The next day, they offered $20 at a local pizza place for just $10.  My friend T and I both bought it and we're going to do a double date night. 

Be sure to check out Living Social if you are looking for great local deals! 

Pinterest Sunday

Time for my weekly round-up of my favorite finds on Pinterest this week!  Pinning was light this week as I was back to work and had less time on the computer, but I did find some things I want to share with you.

First up, this yummy recipe for Double Cheese Bacon Egg Biscuits.

Source: picky-palate.com via Jenn on Pinterest

I already have all the ingredients, but the biscuits so I can't wait to go to the store and get some.

Next, a room that I drool over.

Source: houseofturquoise.com via Jenn on Pinterest

I LOVE those book shelves! Sadly, the room we will be using as the nursery does not have this much open wall space, so we'll most likely be doing the Ikea spice rack book shelves I shared a couple Sundays ago.  (And no, I'm NOT pregnant!)

And last, a cute picture to make you smile

Source: expo7000.tumblr.com via Jenn on Pinterest

Little bunnies are too cute especially when they "faint!"

Today Only!

Do you love Amazon.com?  Do you love getting a good deal?  Then I've got something for you!

Today only, Living Social is offering $20 of Amazon credit for just $10!  Want to get in on this deal?  Check it out HERE!  But hurry, this deal is for today only!

Pinterest Sunday

I love Pinterest so much, that I thought I'd make it a regular feature on the blog. Every Sunday, I'll share with you a few of my favorite finds from the previous week.

First up, this cute necklace.

Source: shopruche.com via Jenn on Pinterest

The store this is from has lots of cute and affordable necklaces and other items. I might be tempted to place an order soon!

Next, my crafty find of the week:

Source: sheskindacrafty.blogspot.com via Jenn on Pinterest

Isn't this a cute idea for a Valentine's Day wreath?  It's super simple with ribbon and a foam wreath.  And easily adaptable to any holiday or occasion.

And this week I really got into awesomely decorated cookies.

Source: annies-eats.net via Jenn on Pinterest

These pretty snowflakes are from one of my favorite cooking blogs.  I can barely frost cupcakes, but this is something I would love to learn how to do.

What I Did on My Winter Vacation

Fortunately, I'm good about budgeting our vacation days so I get the most for my time off. With one week of vacation and 2 personal days left, the husband and I have been on vacation since Jan. 6 and don't go back until Monday. It has been wonderful and I am trying very hard not to think about Monday. So, here's a few highlights of what we've been up to the past week.

Thurs. Jan. 6
My birthday as I shared previously. We had a low key day at home taking down the Christmas decorations. The husband took me out for dinner to Texas Roadhouse and he got me a cake from our favorite local baker.

Is it cute?

Even the side was cute!

Friday Jan. 7
Another low key day with cleaning house.  My mom and grandma came over to celebrate my birthday.  I asked for pizza from one of my favorite local pizza places.  I got some great gifts like this:

Source

I also got the lunch size plates in this collection:

Tues. Jan. 11
We took a road trip to Ikea!  The closest Ikea is 2.5 hours away, but so worth the trip!  We picked up some new goodies for our house like these:

source

This is our new side table in our living room.  It matches our coffee table that we bought at Ikea last July.  Technically, it's a children's table, but since Ikea doesn't make a end table that matches our coffee table, we repurposed it.

source

I finally have a nightstand on my side of the bed!  I love having drawers to put my stuff in instead of having it on the floor.  It's nice not to trip over books in the morning. This matches the dresser we got last July as well.  I'm also proud to say that I put this one together by myself!

source

I picked this up for our "mantle." I can't wait to show you all the ways I'm going to use it.

We also made a trip to the Vera Bradley outlet which I was very excited about, but I ended up leaving very disappointed.  I didn't even buy anything!  It was much smaller than I anticipated and the selection was quite small.  They didn't even have the style that I was looking for and I didn't find anything in my pattern.  It's not worth a special trip and I would probably only go again if we were making a trip to Ikea. I'll save my money for the Vera Bradley Outlet Sale in April.

Friday Jan. 14
I put out what little Valentine's Day decorations I have.  I really must get some more stuff!  I had a fun girls only night with my friend T.  We hit up Five Guys for some yummy burgers and fries and then did a little shopping.  I got to try Just Dance at her place and now I'm going to buy it using some Amazon credits I've got.  It's really fun and definitely a workout!













Sat. Jan. 15
Today, the husband and I hit up stores.  I was in search of cute Valentine's Day decor, but sadly did not find anything at the few stores I went to.  I did find a couple of good deals at Old Navy though thanks to their 40% off clearance sale.

Tomorrow will be church and then relaxing and trying not to think too much about work.

Pinterest

Have you heard about Pinterest? It's a virtual pinboard where you can save images of things you love. I love it because I'm always finding home decor ideas online and when I save the images to my computer, I often forget where I found them or why I saved them. Pinterest allows me to save the image, where I found it and a note about the image. I then can also share my find with people who follow me. I also get more ideas from the people I follow.

I've been using it to save and share recipes, home decor ideas, craft ideas and fashions that I like.  I even have a collection of cute animal pictures for when I need a smile.

Here are some my favorite finds on Pinterest so far.

Source: ohdeedoh.com via Jenn on Pinterest

These are $4 spice racks from Ikea.  I am so doing this when we have a nursery!

Source: weheartit.com via Jenn on Pinterest

I saved this as inspiration for our back room.  I really want a vintage Formica table back there and I love these colors.

Source: eighteen25.blogspot.com via Jenn on Pinterest

I'm seriously considering making this cute heart wreath for Valentine's Day.

I'll try to post some of my finds here regularly.

Happy Birthday!

Today is my birthday!  In addition to the cards I've received in the mail and the Facebook messages on my wall, I've also been receiving some birthday wishes in my e-mail.  Today I'm going to share with you what you can get just by signing up for e-mails and birthday clubs from your favorite companies.

Sephora - Sign up with Sephora's free Beauty Insider program and not only will you earn points with every purchase and access to exclusive products, but you'll also receive a birthday gift every year.  This year it is Philosophy's Shampoo, Shower Gel, and Bubble Bath in Vanilla Birthday Cake.  It's a  generous sample size, but I can't wait to go get mine!

Gordman's - Gordman's frequently e-mails me coupons to use in their store and for my birthday, they've sent me a coupon for $5 off my next purchase of $30 or more.

Skechers - Skechers are pretty much the only shoes I wear.  As a member of their free VIP club, you get free shipping on all orders.  For my birthday, they sent me a 15% off coupon to use online or in store.  I'm printing this one since I have plans to go outlet shopping next week and a trip to the Skechers store is mandatory at the outlet mall!

IHOP - A free Rooty Tooty Fresh 'n Fruity (or menu item of equal or lesser value.) We love IHOP, so we'll have to take advantage of this one!

Texas Roadhouse - This is my restaurant of choice for my birthday meal with my husband.  Free appetizer or sidekick of ribs. Sadly, we probably won't be taking advantage of this one as we don't like any of their appetizers and I don't want a sidekick of ribs with the steak I plan on getting.

TGI Friday's - Free dessert with the purchase of any entree.  I LOVE the vanilla bean cheesecake at Friday's, but they are kind of obnoxious with the birthday announcing, so not sure that I want to use this one!

Applebee's - Free Dessert Shooter  Another restaurant that's a bit obnoxious with the birthday singing.  Plus, I'm pretty much boycotting them since they changed their chicken fingers.

Dairy Queen - By being a member of their Blizzard Fan Club, I often get coupons for free Blizzards and my birthday is no exception.  I can get a free Blizzard as long as I purchase another Blizzard.  (Kind of lame especially since my husband doesn't like Blizzards.)

Arby's - Free 12 oz. shake with any purchase.

Fazoli's - Free dessert.

Wendy's - $1 off any premium combo.  I love Wendy's so I'll be using this one soon, I think.  Have you tried their new fries?  I loved their old ones so I wasn't sure I'd be happy with the new ones, but I like them.  They actually remind me of Five Guys fries (although not nearly as good!)

Starbucks - By registering a gift card I received, I became a member of Starbucks Rewards. For my birthday, I got a postcard in the mail good for a free drink of my choice.  You know I'll be using this to get my Vanilla Bean Frap!

I usually also get Birthday offers from DSW and Coldstone Creamery, but I have yet to see those.  I'll keep you updated if I receive any more birthday offers.