Thankful on Thursday

Today I am most thankful for good friends and family. I am so lucky to have amazing and supportive people in my life. We have been pretty open about our inability to have children and everyone has been fabulous over the 2.5 years we've been dealing with it. Two people/couples are specifically standing out to me today.

I'm thankful for my sister and brother-in-law who allow us to tag along to almost everything they do with their son. O is the closest thing I'll have to a child of my own and I cherish every moment I have with him. I'm thankful they are our "besties" and that they invited us to Cavalia last night. It was such an amazing show and I'm glad we got to experience it with them!

I'm thankful for my friend K. She always thinks to ask how I'm feeing about things as we continue on in this journey. She lives in another state and I was so excited to get a card from her this week. Just a little something to say she is thinking of us and she sent 2 pictures of her gorgeous daughter A. It is framed in my office next to my picture of O! I can't wait until they are living in CO again so we can see them as much as we want!

What are you thankful for today?

Do you know?

How dark it is this time of year at 6AM? I'm sure most of you do but I had forgotten since I'm not usually up that early! I'm not a morning person, I don't start work super early like I know some do. I prefer to start my day about 7AM...

In the Summer I usually get up once or twice a week at 6:30 to run outside with our Ridgey. She loves it and I love it too - once I'm up and finally awake that is. The sun was always shining brightly and it felt so good to be out in the warm, quiet morning. I try to work out 5 days a week and normally do so in the evenings (not a morning person, remember?). So when things come up after work and I plan ahead I workout in the morning.

Very different getting up to workout in the Fall/Winter! It's hard!

This morning my alarm went off at 6. I was confused - it was still dark as night, the heat hadn't kicked on yet and I was so comfy under the comforter and blankets! So I hit snooze and vowed I would be up in 10 minutes. And you know what? I was. I put on my sports bra, sweats and a t-shirt. I let out the dogs and got in the car to go to the gym. It was miserable out, I can't lie - dark, cold and SO windy (as it has been for the last 3 days here in CO...). There were a few other people at the gym and I actually got in a great workout! It was nice to watch the sun rise along with the other gym rats. I was there almost an hour and felt really refreshed when I got home and got ready for work.

Now I can enjoy my evening out. My sister got free tickets to a cirque du soleil-type show downtown and invited MrHoppy and I to join them for a double date night. We're going to meet at my parents house for dinner (they are watching the nephew) and head down together for the show. It starts at 8 so I know it will be a late-ish night but I am excited. The 6AM wake up call was worth it - work out is done, I feel good and I'm going to spend time with my 3 favorite people tonight!

Happy hump day!

Weekend Recap - Pumpkins and Fall Fun!

While the hubby was away this weekend I was busy! Friday night ended up being super fun. I went out downtown with my friend M and we got pretty drunk at "her" bar. We gossiped, stayed up late and just hung out. I was in desperate need of some girl time! Even with the late night I got up early Saturday morning (starving and with a pounding head) and made the trek home. My Mom came over and we did some painting in our house. I love the way the guest room turned out! The color is called "Tony Taupe" and it goes so well with the furniture and bedding in that room. I love the contrast with our bright white baseboards and doors. I ended up doing a few other little projects too. I found some sale Halloween/Fall decorations and put them up. Damn I'm productive when MrHoppy is gone! The rest of my night was spent lounging with a movie at home by myself. Sometimes you just need some alone time!

On Sunday my awesome sister and brother-in-law invited me to join them at the pumpkin patch! I am so happy to be included in these outings since we don't have children of our own to have these experiences with. It was so fun. A little windy (annoying), but fun.

This place is just a little family run patch, they had dogs running around, 2 donkeys, rabbits, a corn maze, a big blow up slide and of course the pumpkin patch itself. Since O is so little she didn't charge any of us the $10 fee and said we could do everything and she would just charge us for the pumpkins. Score! So we walked around, K took O down the slide a couple times while my sister and I watched and took pictures. I was SO mad we don't have a new camera yet. I used my iPhone as usual and got some cute pictures. They brought his Halloween costume for the pictures and I almost died from the cuteness...

 When we were done at the pumpkin patch we headed back to their house to carve our giant pumpkins. Did I mention that the owner only charged us $5/pumpkin? And they are SO big! I had printed some patterns on Friday at work and decided right away I would do an owl. I LOVE owls so it was fitting. I think he turned out pretty cute! This picture sucks because again, only have my iPhone and it was dark and lit up but the flash goes off no matter what I do in that light. But it gives you an idea of how cute it is. :)

This random picture was snapped last night as I was getting into bed. What is it you ask?

Oh that's my 85lb Ridgeback wrapped up in a blanket. She spends a few minutes every night getting her blanket arranged on her bed and crawling under it. Then we usually cover her up the rest of the way when we get into bed. Ridiculous right?! She curls up into the tiniest ball you have ever seen and stays that way all night. She is a silly girl... And that bed is not that big, I swear...

Prostitution

Hello, my name is MrsHoppy and I'm a prostitute.

Seriously, this is what MrHoppy said last night. It's all in good fun really but I guess I should explain myself...

Sometimes I'm not in the mood. At all. You know what I mean ladies. Not to mention I am on my period and oral sex is THE last thing on my mind. But MrHoppy was feeling frisky and going out of town and all... So I was pretty sure I could get something in return for his pleasure... I am so bad.

I am a bargaining type of gal, we've traded things for sexual favors in the past. But hey, it's OK, we're married for God's sake! Shoes, clothes, etc. There are things in my closet that have been the result of MrHoppy really "needing" something when I'm not in the mood. And let me just say that he gets laid all the time. It's not something lacking in our marriage and I swear, he will agree with this statement! These are rare occasions.

Last night was a perfect example of this. He came downstairs and asked what the chances were of him getting any "sexy time" before he left. A bloated, crampy and irritable MrsHoppy said "slim to none" and went back to my wine and the TV. Here is how the the conversation went after that:

MrHoppy sits down next to me and says: "how much will it cost me?"

MrsHoppy: "I'm a bargaining type of woman, what is the offer?"

MrHoppy: "how about a nice dinner with me?"

MrsHoppy: "nah, we always do that."

MrHoppy: "how about the money I left on your nightstand for paint for the guest room and going out Friday night?"

MrsHoppy: "that doesn't count, I was going to get it anyway. My manual labor in our house DEFINITELY doesn't count."

MrHoppy (getting flustered and desperate): "how about the jeggings you want from Express?"

MrsHoppy (totally amused at this point): "you already owe me those from a bet we made about Dexter 3 weeks ago and you still haven't paid up!"

MrHoppy (getting very desperate): "fine, how about a new dress for the wedding next month. $50 max though"

MrsHoppy: "SOLD!"

And you can use your imagination as to what happened after that. :)

$50 isn't a lot for a dress but I don't like to spend much on dresses anyway. I don't wear them often and I'm fine with going to Forever 21 or something for a dress I'll likely only wear one time. I'm hoping to get a day or afternoon off next week (since I've been covering work for TWO weeks by myself!) to go shopping. I'll get my dress and my jeggings and call 'er good!

Happy Friday everyone! Hope you have a fabulous weekend!

DisneyWorld!

I can't even tell you how ready I am for a vacation from work! And we confirmed all our details for our trip yesterday afternoon so I'm pretty excited!

We are going to Florida next month for one of MrHoppy's college roommates wedding. MrHoppy is in it (of course!) and we haven't seen "M" since 2007 so I'm really excited. We'll stay with them for 4 nights (along with another couple from college that I haven't met yet) and do all the fun wedding stuff with them. I haven't met his fiance yet and it sounds like she's pretty awesome. Likes to have a good time so we should get along great!

The day after the wedding we'll head North to spend the day and night with my Grandparents in Daytona Beach. One night is about all we can do - they have really become home-bodies (which is fine!) but we get bored there pretty quickly. We'll probably take them out to dinner and hang out. We'll spend the next day with them and then that afternoon head to DisneyWorld for 2 nights!!

With Grandparents that live in Florida I have gone to all the attractions there over the years. Magic Kingdom, Epcot, etc. But MrHoppy has never been! He's been to DisneyLand but I am kind of partial to DisneyWorld myself. :) We are staying at the Port Orleans Hotel and I'm pretty excited about it. I've never actually stayed at Disney so this is a first for me. We're planning to hang out Monday night, probably check out downtown Disney and the Boardwalk. We heard the House of Blues bar there is pretty fun so I'm sure we'll go there. Hit up some nightlife and then we'll spend all day the next day in the park. My personal favorite is Magic Kingdom so that's where I'd like to go. We'll see. Our flight leaves the very next afternoon so we'll have to fit in as much as possible for those 2 nights!

I just keep telling myself it will be here soon. It's getting me through work and all that we have going on until then. I really am excited - it will fly by but I can't wait!

Decorating - My New Obsession

I have had home decor on the mind the last few weeks. Like, seriously on my mind. Like, I lay in bed thinking about all the changes I want to make in our house! Funds are tight right now with a week-long vacation planned next month so I am just waiting. Waiting and obsessing about it!

I think what I'll end up doing is change one room at a time. Slowly.

Step one will be this weekend. I'm going to paint one of our guest rooms. It's a light green and I haven't liked it from day one. The hubby painted it when we moved in and when I saw it - I hated it. But he had put so much time and work into it I haven't changed it. But this weekend my Mom is coming over and we are finally getting rid of the green! I haven't bought the paint yet but I think it's going to be a very neutral brown. I might take a picture down in there too. I like the bedding so that's a plus... Then that room should be OK.

Step two will be in the living room. Next month I want to get new curtains and new end tables that match the new furniture we bought in September. We also have a large open area over our fireplace. It's hard to fill and right now I have a large potted plant there with some candles and framed pictures. There isn't anywhere to hang anything - it's just like a huge open shelf. I'd like to rearrange that - any suggestions anyone?? I'll try to take a picture of it and post it here so you know what I'm talking about.

Don't even get me started on our bedroom. I love the paint and bedding but the decor needs some serious help... And I have a serious budget. Daddy Warbucks is strict when it comes to this type of thing! :) So I'll just research and look at ideas online for now... More to come on this topic I'm sure!

We're trying to sell our big desk in our office as well. I have a table in there with my sewing machine so I want it to be more of an area for me. That will be one of the last rooms that I work on so I haven't thought too much about it yet...

Whew!

So glad the last 4 days are finally over with! We moved our office to a new location and I knew things would either go smoothly or be a disaster. Guess which it was...? Of course it was the latter of the two!

Let me just start by explaining that our new lease was signed in June. June people. The construction in the new office was supposed to be done in July so we would move in August 1st. To say this contractor sucked is an understatement. August 1st quickly turned to September 1st, which turned into October 1st. And then after all the errors made in the construction were found it was changed to October 15th. Guess who had a 2 week motorcycle trip planned for these dates? My boss/Dad. So guess who was left alone to over-see the move and get everything set up in the new location? Yours truly!

So let's start with Friday. We share an office with 2 other people. J was off for the day (convenient) and T was at the new location while a new desk was delivered and the phone lines were switched. I was left to move everything I could carry from the old location to the new location alone for the morning. I only cried once after smashing my fingers multiple times and then dropping a laptop holder-thingy on my toe. Lunch rolled around and after eating I felt better. T was even able to come help load in the afternoon. I was out of there by 5.

Saturday morning we got up at the crack of dawn to move the big items into the new location. I showed up with my Dad's truck and guess what? The new location didn't pass code so everything that had been placed in our offices Friday by ME had to be moved BACK out and into the empty space next door. Are you freaking kidding me?? At least this douche-tastic contractor paid movers to do this part of the job. But all my sweat and tears on Friday were for nothing.

So... We weren't able to get set up over the weekend as planned. Monday would not go smoothly either and I was about to find that out!

The inspector didn't come back until late Monday morning. So after lunch we started moving everything from the empty space next door into our new offices. Except now it's not orgainzied. We have to figure our where everything goes. And nothing can be put away or set up yet because we're still waiting for another inspector to clear the electrical part of the office. So about 4PM this guy shows up for about 3 minutes and says it's fine.

It's Tuesday at 11AM and I am somewhat set up to do business. Do you know how much my boss/Dad owes me? A lot. Monetary and favors. And believe me - when I go pick decor and plants and whatever else I decide I want for this place... He is going to pay for every cent!

So that was my weekend disaster. I'm glad it's over and I NEVER say that about a weekend!

It affects him more than I know...

Our IF I mean. And "him" is MrHoppy. Even though we are technically living child-free we are still IF. We will always be IF. I will always sympathize with others going through it. I will always remember what a failed cycle feels like, the anguish over the child that didn't come to be, the stress over the money you feel like you just flushed down the toilet. And for what? It's a desperate situation, one that affects every aspect of your life and marriage. Whether you want it to or not...

And sometimes I forget that it affects him as much, if not more, than it affects me. When we were in the battlefield of treatments I was the one that cried and got depressed. I was the one that counted days, timed sex so it wasn't too close to our IUIs - but not to far out either, researched to no end. But I didn't always think about how he must have felt when we found out how many sperm we had left post-wash. The numbers were dismal people - every time. I know he felt like a failure. I know he still feels like he's holding me back from being a Mother. I can't imagine what that feels like for him.

But he's always the strong one. The one that doesn't complain and tries to focus on the GOOD that our life holds. But last night at dinner he gave me a glimpse of how he might still be feeling. He told me that he saw on Facebook (damn you Facebook!) that his highschool girlfriend is pregnant with her first child. And that she just got married in July. And is due in May. He asked how it is fair that someone can pretty much get pregnant on their honeymoon and then people like us can't at all? He seemed sad but didn't say much else. I guess it will take us time to get used to the idea that we won't be parents. He's never let on that pregnancy announcements bother him so much. Or maybe I just wasn't paying attention...

Cookie Craze!

Have I ever mentioned how much MrHoppy L-O-V-E-S to bake? He seriously loves it and is great at it. It's always been one of his dreams to have a bakery of some sort or to sell his baked goods.

Have I ever mentioned how much I D-O-N-T love to bake?! I don't enjoy it at all. To me it's a hassle, it just creates a big mess to clean up and I don't even like to eat sweets. Maybe that's part of it? I don't eat it so why would I go to all that trouble?

:::flashback to December 2006:::
It's a couple weeks before our wedding and we get 2 huge snowstorms back to back. The kind that keep us cooped up in the house for days, unable to leave? The snow in our driveway was up to my hips so we couldn't get a car out. And I have long legs people... Luckily (insert sarcasm) MrHoppy made it to the store before it got too bad to get enough supplies to bake for a month straight. And enough beer to keep us happy while we did it - that was my only saving grace. Until about day 2.5 when I put my foot down. NO MORE BAKING! It really was funny. We had baked goods coming out of our you know where's... Pumpkin bread, egg nog cookies, sugar cookies, peppermint bark, ginger snaps... You name it, we baked it. I gave up while he kept on bakin'!

Anyway, the moral of that story is this man loves to bake. So when an opportunity to do it comes along he always volunteers. Yesterday he made about 4 dozen pumpkin shaped sugar cookies for a kickoff party at his work Wednesday night. The only glich? He needed someone to decorate them. I recruited my bestie  (sister) to come over last night and help me decorate. So we had girl's night and helped MrHoppy all at once! It was our first experience making our own buttermilk frosting (only homemade for my man) and it turned out well. After we felt it was orange enough we sat down and decorated. They turned out really cute and we had a good time doing it. We sipped on wine and chatted to catch up (gossip of course!). Great night and he was happy with the results.

Here is a picture of one of mine. Since we still don't have a new camera I haven't been taking pictures as much as I usually would. Plus I was just out of the shower after my sweaty night at the gym so no pictures of me were needed... :)

My little dancing skeleton!

Weird Turn-on

Is anyone else turned on by their husband when he is being uber productive? Or am I the only one?

Example: Saturday was a great day. We got up and worked out (yay!), came home and had a healthy breakfast and then worked in the yard for hours. I just kept looking at him - thankful he wasn't complaining, realizing I NEVER could have gotten all the work done without him, and glad we could spend that quality time together. We only got the front yard done so I'm keeping my fingers crossed he is motivated this Sunday to do the same in the back yard... You truly don't realize how many bushes you have until you have to trim each and every one!

Overall it was a great weekend!

We also spent time with friends we hadn't seen in awhile Saturday night. They had their 2nd baby in June and I am happy to say I only felt true happiness for them when I met her. She is so cute and I held her a lot that night. Their almost 3 year old son LOVED my DH so it was awesome to see them playing together. I know he'll have a great bond with our nephew as he grows up.

Speaking of the nephew.... My sister, BIL and nephew came over for dinner last night. It was a great evening and little O-Town (one of his many nicknames!) is learning and growing SO much. He is "army crawling" and rolling everyone. We are going to have to baby-proof soon too! He goes straight for the dog's water bowls when he's in the kitchen. He has 2 little teeth on the bottom and they are adorable. He loves his voice and screams to hear it. The cutest thing of all is when he gets excited. He shakes his head back and forth and does this little snorting thing with his nose. It's to die for... :) And if you do it he will copy you. He also gives big sloppy kisses which I L.O.V.E!

Here is a little something for your viewing pleasure. Does it get any cuter than that hat?? His Mom and Dad got it for him yesterday and he wore it long enough for me to snap a picture. It's hard to get any good ones of him lately - he's always moving! Such a big boy. :)

Who takes care of me?

I don't know what my problem is today. I am feeling isolated and alone for some reason. And I feel as though I  take care of everyone and there isn't anyone left to take care of me. It's stupid, it's weird and I'm just in a funk today I guess. MrHoppy tries - I know he does. And he does a good job 99% of the time. There are just a few things bothering me lately...

1. I feel like I'm the supportive and encouraging one when it comes to our healthy eating and fitness. I'm the one who drags him out of bed, begs him to come to the gym with me, plans meals and makes sure they are healthy. But there isn't ever anyone to drag me out of bed when I'm not feeling motivated. Nobody to challenge me to get it done, telling me I'll feel better once we're finished. If I'm not the motivating one - it doesn't get done. And then I feel guilty about it.

2. The same is true for eating. If I'm not the strong one saying "no, we shouldn't eat out  or "no we don't need the calories at happy hour" then we go. It's never him telling me we shouldn't, we should save the calories and eat at home, etc. Sometimes if I'm tired I need someone to make a good decision for me. Like I do for them. Stupid and small I know but sometimes that's what I want and need! Someone else to be the strong one!

3. Coffee. Small and stupid again, I know. But I make the coffee every morning for us. This morning I got up to find that since he didn't go to the store like I asked we are out of coffee. So I drove to work tired and annoyed that I didn't have my morning coffee. Plus would it kill him to get out of bed 5 minutes earlier and make coffee for me?

4. Part 2 of Number 3. The store. He had the day off yesterday, nothing planned. I asked that he swing by the store to pick up a few things. We're totally out of food and he said he would. He didn't. It's so frustrating. So I didn't have anything to bring for lunch so will have to get a Lean Cuisine at the store.

5. Courtesy. It goes a LONG way with me. I am super aware of common courtesy and it drives me absolutely crazy when people don't notice they are being rude. I make our lunches every night. I hardboil 6 eggs at the beginning of the week and when MrHoppy takes the last one and doesn't make more it drives me batty. I go to the refrigerator for my normal breakfast to find there aren't any left. He took the last one and didn't bother to boil more. Big deal? Absolutely not. Something that bothers me to no end? Absolutely!

6. Work. I can't even get into it now but I'm taking care of my boss every minute of every day I am here. This will be taken care of come review time in December though. A big raise is in my future...

Sorry to be such a downer in this post. I don't mean to be but sometimes you just have to get it out!

Thankful on Thursday

I'm thankful today for the changing seasons and everything that comes along with them. It's finally cooling off here and I love waking up to the crisp mornings while snuggled under the blankets in bed. We won't be able to keep the windows open much longer so I'm enjoying it while I can!

I'm thankful my sister and BIL are kind enough to let us tag along to do thing with our nephew - we're going to join them at some point this month at the pumpkin patch and I'm so excited to see the little man experience it! And take loads of pictures of course.

I'm also thankful for pumpkin spice lattes at Starbucks on Saturday mornings with my hubby. There are some benefits to it being just the two of us and this is one of them. When else can you sit for an hour and a half without a care in the world - chatting, people watching and playing Words With Friends while sitting across the table from one another?? Yes, we are that nerdy.

What are you thankful for today?

Me Legs!

Oh they are sore today. Yesterday was a frustrating day at work. Without getting into too many boring details - suffice it to say that I was annoyed and ready to go home and blow off some steam. I got a handy new application on my iPhone last week called RunKeeper. So I decided since it was a nice evening I would head out for a run with my big girl Bisa for protection. I thought it might get dark while we were out... But don't worry, I texted the hubby at work to let him know where I was going just in case. Safety first people!

We ran, and ran, and then ran some more. Uphill a lot of the way. It was only about 4.5 miles but that is good for me. I love to run but I'm more of a 5K type of girl. :) It felt awesome and was just what I needed to destress and be a happy balanced woman again.

I was all wired and high on life when we got done so then I steamed the carpet in the living room. Then I showered and ate a healthy dinner of egg whites and a corn tortilla. And then I organized about 1/2 of the 1,000 pictures I got back from SnapFish this week. I ran out of room and need to buy more albums or else I would have kept going. This has become a big project that I put off for too long. I just finished 2008 so I that shows you just how long it's been put off... I have a long way to go!

But this was my mistake: I sat for about 2 hours after my run doing the pictures and when I finally got up to go to bed I realized I was going to be sore! 2 Ibuprofin and a good night of sleep helped but my legs are tired today.

And I gained a pound after all that work? How is that even fair? :)

A New Look!

So I decided to rename my blog. It's no longer a journey through infertility. It's a journey on learning to live my life child-free. Just me and my hubbs. The ups and downs that come along with that. My feelings and emotions as I navigate this new life we are adjusting to.

It looks like in our home there will just be two. Of course I can't forget the 3 other members of our family. Our "furbabies" that we love so much! Technically there are 5 but just 2 humans. :)

Of course I'll still be celebrating the good in my life. All the wonderful things we get to do. We may not get to experience being parents but we will live our life to the fullest no matter what!

So a new name, a new look and hopefully a new lease on life.

Thirty Schmirty

30 is fine, whatever. It's the sudden difficulty to maintain my weight that is driving me insane. It's like someone flipped a switch the day I turned 30 that made it twice as hard. The last few years I could pretty much eat right during the week, work out normally, eat what I want on weekends, have beers and not pay the price. Not the case anymore. My splurges on the weekends (which aren't that much anyway!) have given me an extra 3 pounds that just won't budge. 3 pounds you say? Why is that a big deal? Well I'm not a very big person so 3 pounds is uncomfortable. It makes me feel bloated and my pants just the tiniest bit snug which I don't like.

Here is a typical weekday: keep in mind we try to eat "clean". Meaning no trans fats, no added unnatural ingredients and just whole foods. Fruits and vegetables, protiens and we stay away from processed foods. It's actually pretty easy to do:

Breakfast: a slice of whole wheat toast and a hard boiled egg. Sometimes I replace those with a protien shake (milk, ice, protien powder and 1/2 a banana)

Lunch: 1/2 a sandwich of some sort, 1/2 cup of cottage cheese and a raw vegetable or piece of fruit - yes, I actually measure out my food.

Snack: Usually a berry (strawberries or raspberries) and a raw vegetable of some sort. Sometimes 1/4 cup of nuts for a healthy fat (again, measured out)

Dinner: a protien and vegetable usually. Sometimes a starch such as a sweet potato or corn tortilla

Pretty healthy right?

Weekends usually consist of a normal healthy breakfast but lately on game days we're making sliders or dips or crackers and cheese. I'm pretty good at portion control but I guess my body hates these "splurge" foods now that I'm 30. Twenty year olds have all the fun.

I work out quite a bit too. 5 days a week. Cardio, abs and weights. I do cardio 5 days a week (running specifically) and lift about 3 of those days also. 3 mile minimums and I incorporate interval training to burn fat.

I guess it's time to be more strict on the weekends. I like being in control of something in my life and the way I eat and exercise is one of the ONLY things I can control! I feel better when I'm doing these things and though I'm still doing them - I can do better. I want to do better. My husband thinks I'm crazy and that I should just be happy with the way I am. And don't get me wrong, I am happy. I know I look pretty good. This is more about being in good shape and doing good things for my body. I worked hard to get to this place and I'm not letting it go!

I have a problem...

It's called shopping. Clothes/shoe shopping to be exact. I love it. It's so fun and so fulfilling for me. And it's not even that I go that often or spend THAT much money on it. But I think about it all the time. I make lists of things I want at the moment and research where I could find these items for less. So that I can get more of course! I pour over magazines studying the latest trends and styles.

I absolutely love the month of September because I get money for my birthday and get to shop guilt-free without the hubby asking me how much I'm spending or worrying about our budget for the month. And my family and friends are so generous. So far with my birthday money I have bought: a couple cotton tops (one long, the rest casual styles), a super cute wrap around sweater, 2 long necklaces, a cute fitted flannel style button up top, an adorable faux fur vest and a scoop neck top to go with it, 2 thick belts (one black, one brown), a pair of GREAT grey boots since grey is my obsession lately, knee high black riding style boots and jeggings.

::swoon:: Fall is in the air and I am so excited to break out all my boots and sweaters!

I think this obsession started in 2007. I had lost my college weight (about 22 pounds) and got into pretty decent shape I'd say. My body isn't too shabby and after being a little overweight in college I was ready to show off all the work I'd put in! And it's been downhill from there. :) I do own a good amount of clothes and shoes. My closet is great - everything is orgainzed and in its place so I can easily find what I need. Not to mention the dresser that is bursting at the seams... One good thing about me is that I "purge" my closet and clothes every 6 months or so. If I haven't worn it in the last 6 months or wasn't crazy about it last season - it's donated. And I shop sales (for the most part) and use coupons I earn shopping at various stores.

Don't even get me started on shopping for our home and yard. That's a whole other post!

I have $40 left and it's burning a hole in my pocket... I have a few things left on my list! :) Where are your favorite places to shop?