Shoes Fabulous Shoes!

When I go shopping, I always love shoe shopping!  They are so great because they always fit!  Now, as many people can tell, I believe in always wearing cute shoes while I teach (even if I keep flip flops up in my office for between classes).  So here, I have compiled some of my favorite shoes.  All can be found at DSW.

Favorite Dress Boots:  CL by Laundry Simile Boot ($44.95) - I love the heel style, the buckles, the pointed toe.  Perfect boots with a pair of dress pants or dark jeans!

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Favorite Casual Boots:  Madden Girl Ecker Bootie ($49.95) - I just love the casual feel of these booties and the flat aspect allows for a mommy-on-the-go to chase her kids around too!

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Favorite Fall Heels:  Ann Marino Lottery Menswear Pump ($49.95) - How gorgeous are these?  I love that they have taken the menswear spin into a shoe that still has a heel!  These come in gray, dark gray, taupe (shown) and navy.

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Favorite Flats:  Couldn't just pick one so I have my top 2:

• Kelly & Katie Lexee Corduroy Flat ($39.95) - I love the fabric, the bow, the color (they also come in a magenta color).  They look very comfy and remind me that fall is coming!

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• Qupid Thesis Zebra Flat ($29.95) - I like these because of the neutral print (as well as the price).  They do also come in black zebra as well!

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Favorite Fashion Sneakers:  Dr. Scholl's Women's Jamie Sneaker ($49.95).  I don't wear a lot of sneakers as fashion (I usually just have them to work out), but as a Mom now, it is nice to have a cute pair of sneakers, and if these are from Dr. Scholl's, you know they have to be comfy!

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Favorite Running Sneakers:  Nike Women's Dual Fusion ST 2 Running Shoe ($64.95) - Notice that these are the most expensive shoes on my list - I believe in spending good money on a pair of shoes I'm going to spend some extensive workout time in.  I've just started the C25K program (see here) and a good pair of running shoes is a must!  Might as well look cute too!

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Again, anyone who wants to buy any of these for me, I wear an 8.5! 

Any shoes you are eyeing right now?

Christmas shopping

This year, I haven't been as excited about doing my Christmas shopping.  I think it is because with two kids now, money is much tighter and yet we have more people that we want to give gifts to.  My brother/sister-in-law and us decided to just get presents for the kiddos - which I enjoy buying for the kids a lot.  They are at the age where they are excited about almost anything that you get them.  Really, I just can't wait to actually get to SEE them open them :)

Owen will be getting a bike this year for Christmas.  Couldn't believe when I was looking sizes up that he would need a 16" bike already!  I now he will be ecstatic about it!

While we were Christmas shopping, we were able to get a lot of clothes for Brandon and the kiddos.  JcPenney had a great deal this weekend - we got Brandon 2 pairs of jeans, 2 pair of pajama bottoms, 1 polo shirt, 1 t-shirt, a wallet, Uncle Austin a hoodie, flannel sheets, Owen 2 pairs of cordorouys, Quinn a 3-piece outfit and a pair of jeans, and myself 2 t-shirts for about $150.

I have become a bit more of an online shopper this year.  It makes it a lot easier to find exactly what you are looking for!  Especially with a lot of the companies offering free shipping, this has been awesome!

Shopping Experience

O., B. and I went to Ikea together today. The boys had never been there before and they were probably a bit suprised by how big it was. I, personally, find way too many things that I want! A lot of things I think will be nice to have once the kiddos are older and I have to worry less about them all getting broken. The main part of the trip was getting dressers.

We needed to either get a dresser for the new baby, or one for O. However, we decided to get them each one and taken O's little dresser and put it in the guest room so now our guests will have a place to put some stuff! We got baby this dresser, O's is the same in a ash color.



I also got some drawer organizers for baby since all of her stuff will be so small it may be nice to have it a bit more organized right now!

We did buy one additional thing - I have been wanting a shelf type unit for the master for our towels, but was having a hard time finding something that would work, look nice and wasn't way too expensive. While we were there we found this:



At first we were unsure if we could fit this into our cars as it wasn't needing near as much assembly as our dressers, but with some adjustment and my backseat going down, we got it!

Hopefully next week we will look into paint for the baby's room. Not sure yet if we will do two shades of purple or purple on the top half with green (maybe pink) on the bottom. But I have found one border that I like so far to put between that wasn't near as pricey as the rest:



What do you think? Both color wise and border?

Visit of a great friend

My best friend, Auntie A., was out in KY to visit us for about 3.5 days. We went to grad school together and became very close. She lives in WI now and teaches in MN. We miss each other incredibly so we were both very excited about her visit! She arrived on Sunday afternoon and left this morning (Thursday). It was really great getting to have her out here and spend time with her.

Sunday, we just relaxed and ate supper. We played a couple games of Phase 10 with hubby too. Our main forms of accomplishments the rest of the week revolved around shopping (and eating out). We went to New York and Company, Old Navy, DSW shoes, Gap Clearance Store, Home Goods, and had an appointment at Davids Bridal for her to start shopping for a dress. She was able to cross a few dresses off her list, but we also managed to add a couple. I was able to get her in one dress with ruffles, but you could tell by her face that it wasn't her :) We went out to eat at Steak and Shake, Donatos Pizza, and Cheddars (Steak and Shake mainly for O.).

We were both very happy to get our toes done on Tuesday. I had never gotten a pedicure here in KY, so we had to find a spot. We found a place with a great rep, which happened to be located inside Walmart! Eventhough we were slightly turned off by that fact, it was a great experience and our feet are very happy!!! I was very excited to get to wear a pair of my new shoes on Wednesday to show off my toes. Now aren't these shoes me?



Pretty comfy for how high they are ;)

We took O. on a walk one evening as the weather was really nice while Auntie was here - mid 50's to low 60's all days! Most of our shopping was done jacket-free! Maybe spring is finally here!

By Wednesday evening, we were pretty tuckered out and we were watching "Over Her Dead Body" with Eva Longoria Parker. I did hear Auntie fall asleep for a bit during the movie, but for the most part we were able to keep our eyes open all the way to the late hour of 10:30!

Auntie left this morning as we were leaving for school (I have a conference call today and thought I'd get some grading done). O. was only confused when he could no longer see Auntie's car - I was trying to remind him that she was going bye-bye. The good news was our friend Aidan was at school this morning so hopefully he will have a good day!

Miss you already Auntie! You are the best friend I could ever ask for!






*Note: Auntie A. is not my sister or sister-in-law by blood, but she is just like a sister to me so O. has always called her Auntie. She was there a lot for me when O. was little (before we moved) and spent lots of time with him. She helped with him when I was out of town for interviews, babysat for us so we could get a night out once in awhile, and just hung out. If that doesn't count, I don't know what should!

Rockin' Around...

This is our first year that we have gotten to be in a house for Christmas. So, the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, O and I went to Hobby Lobby to pick out a few decorations and Christmas tree. We found this cute welcome sign with Santa for $6. A pretty good bargain to me!



O really liked this snowman that we found. Luckily, Hobby Lobby was running most of their Christmas decorations for 50% off. I also think that this snowman is very cute, especially looking so cozy by our fireplace. They also had some Santas and elves like this, but I thought we'd start with just one and see how it looked, and of course, how the hubby liked it. I really liked a lot of the decorations, but figured I should only buy a few things this year - it would be a fun tradition to go pick out a few new things each year together, or go after Christmas shopping and get them at an even better bargain!



We had already decided as a family that we would get an artificial tree as we didn't want to have to deal with a real one, though I did like having a real one when we grew up (but didn't like picking up the pine needles each year!) There were about 4 trees that were pretty enough and in our price range. I tried to take pics to send to the hubby, but he couldn't tell the differences. I told him that one had pinecones and berries (O's favorite), one had just pinecones, the other two were "basic" but one was slightly wider than the other. (all were prelit) As you can see, we got O's!




It was hard to pick out ornaments a lot this year - we just went for a basic theme of red and gold this year. I wanted red/blue/silver, but then I thought I would have a patriotic tree! Need to find all the ornaments that we received as gifts and packed away until we had a tree. Next year we will have more special ornaments on our tree!

Shopping

On Saturday, I did something amazing...I got out of the house by MYSELF :) I finally got to use my New York and Company giftcard from Christmas. I also had a coupon that was save $30 on your purchase of $75, My original total came up to $93ish and I had gotten a pair of denim capris and three nicer shirts. After my $30 off, it came up to $60.13 - which I also got $15 City Cash for every $30 I spent...so I just came in with two of these to use in a couple of weeks. Then after my $25 gift card I spent about $38 (with tax).


Then I went to Old Navy since I had a 40% of coupon for a single item for myself which is what the picture is... and I am wearing it today since it is supposed to get close to 60...we can pretend it is Spring. I got it for about $14.

Finally, went to Once Upon a Child and got O a few spring/summer tops...got 3 for about $13...not too bad :)

Finals - Part I

This is finals week at NKU (as I am sure it is at most places). I have already given my 8am final (yesterday) and have one today at 1pm. I gave the students in my lower level class a take-home portion - for some it didn't go very well - talking less than 40/60 on the take-home. I think I will have to take that part into consideration when determing border-line students.

The one today is in my upper-level course. It is definitely not a cake walk and I am expecting quite a bit from my students - but shouldn't I have high hopes???

Wanting to get some more of my Christmas shopping done - don't know when that will happen. Want to get quite a few things but only will have so much room on the way back to Nebraska. Not looking forward to that car trip - but the next time I will be out after that is in the summer, so it will be worth it in the end.

I have passed all the medium songs on G.H. World Tour without ever being boo-ed off! I have started playing some of these songs on hard since I think World Tour is easier than Rock Legends! I would really like to get perfect on Sweet Home Alabama on Medium - getting close (98%), so we'll see. You can see what I have been doing to release stress!