You'n Wanna Start With Me...Because the 'F' is For Finisha

AWKWARD

-My attempt to recreate this weeks Inspiration Monday look. Here is the inspiration:

Kim Kardashian

And here's my awful interpretation

Inspiration Monday

White is so incredibly hard to wear-no matter what time of the year it is. It looks gorgeous but you have to be dead on when styling it, otherwise you look like a complete fool as I do in the pictures above. I didn't post this on Monday because I was totally embarrased by the way it turned out-it looked good in my mind but in all actuality, I think it sucks. So much so that I think I'm gonna go ahead and donate these white cotton chinos to someone who can wear them better than I can. Anyways, you can learn more about and participate in the Inspiration Monday challenge by visiting TwoBirds.

-How to correctly rock the color white! Comments are encouraged.

-My job telling me that the tuition reimbursement funds have been depleted for the year which means that I have to pay 100% of the out of pocket costs for any classes that I will be taking this summer. UGGHHH! Speaking of which, I still have a balance from last semester so they won't even let me register for any new classes. They are soooo gonna kick me out of school!

-Old ladies having 'fun' parties.

AWESOME

-The after holiday sales. That's the only time I can rack up on seasonal decorations and gifts without feeling like I've spent a fortune.

-Good music. I'm a huuuuggggeee music fan-a lover of all types!! So I couldn't resist this one. This is my new favorite band! They go by the name of Karmin and they are straight ANIMALS! Loves them:

-Old ladies having 'fun' parties that are more fun than the parties thrown by the ladies who are my age.

-My 'spur of the moment' purchases for the week:

Savin' Maven (Walgreens)

$1.26 Walgreens purchase.

Everything listed was on sale and I had coupons for each one of the items. The Butterfingers were $.39 and I used 2 ($1 off 2) coupons which made them FREE. The Skittles were $.44 and I used 1 ($.50 off 2) coupon. The Capt. Crunch (my favorite) was $1.99 and I used a $.50 off coupon, so $1.50 for my favorite cereal= me being psyched!

Savin' Maven (Rite Aid)

$1.83 Rite Aid purchase

I got 6 packages of candy for the price of 2-how great is that!! How I spent more on this trip than I did on the other one is beyond me though. If you've been following me and ny weekly trips, you should be fully aware of the fact that I have enough candy to last until hell freezes over! (J/K)

-My 'Spring Break Beauty' Giveaway. A lil' of this, a lil' of that-all beauty related. Entry begins on Monday.

What's in your beauty bag?

I Can't Leave You Alone...You Got Me Feigning!!!

I want this....



Sleeveless Denim Jacket

 I debated for months about what I was going to do with my vintage Levi denim jacket that I picked up while thrifting. I wanted a Levi jacket for sooooo long and then I finally found one for $4.98. The sleeves were a little too short but I made do with it anyhow. Theeenn, I started to feign for a sleeveless denim jacket. I had one a long time ago from Express but I believe I gave it away once I felt that the trend was no longer trendy to me. Needless to say I went back and forth about whether I should cut the sleeves to my newly acquired Levi jacket.  I ultimately decided to wait until I found another denim jacket that I liked before I experimented with cutting up my 'ole Levi!

Well, I found an Aeropostale denim jacket just last weekend so this is what I did with 'ole Levi after careful debate:



DIY Sleeveless Denim Jacket

And I have to admit, I can't leave this baby alone. She has me feigning!! It goes well with literally ANYTHING!! 

How do you rock your denim?

Sidenote: I'm definitely gonna rock my denim with a nautical striped dress like the one pictured above.

This past week the BF and I watched Conviction starring Hilary Swank. Very touching, family based plot and I believe it's even based on a true story. If you're into law, attorneys, and the criminal justice system, this is for you. It's about a working mother who puts herself through law school in an effort to represent her brother, who has been wrongfully convicted of murder and has exhausted his chances to appeal his conviction through public defenders.

MY RATING-7.8/10

What's your 'Word on the Street' this week?

Any favorites?

(fashion trends, new bloggers, books, movies, events, etc)

Stacks On Deck...

Good Monday!!

I'm right back up and at 'em today. It seems as if my Spring Break was nowhere near long enough. I think I need another week off. I can honestly say that I wasn't productive at all during this break (at least not enough to my liking)-very little to no spring cleaning went on around my part of town. But hey, at least I found these goodies when I checked my mailbox. (This, by the way, is two weeks worth)  

Mailbox Monday

Tons of magazine subscriptions, samples, and coupons. And being that my Spring Break has practically flown by me, I'm not sure when I will ever get around to reading all of these new magazines. Maybe I should send them off to someone who does have the time to read them.

Let me know if any of you are interested in receiving either of these mags.

(You can leave me a comment of click on the 'Email Me' button on my sidebar).

 And go to AFrugalFriend to see what everyone else got in their mailboxes this past week. 

Though I didn't get much accomplished in the cleaning department last week, I was able to catch some sweet deals at my favorite local stores. I believe I visited 5 stores-Rite Aid, Walgreens, Target, CVS, and lastly Walmart, which I very rarely venture to these days.

My first stops were Rite Aid and Walgreens.



Savin' Maven Monday (Rite Aid/Walgreens)



This was the best trip ever!! I spent $31.52 on all of this stuff. Rite Aid was offering a special for $10 RR (credit that can be used like cash towards a future purchase) when you purchased $30 worth of cleaning products. Can we say 'stacks on deck'! My stockpile is growing bigger by the week. On top of all the other cleaning supplies that I have purchased throughout the weeks, I will NOT be needing any more of these supplies anytime soon.  The Airwick aerosols that you see were on special B1G1 FREE-when stacked with 3 (B1G1 FREE) coupons, they were absolutely free of charge. The Loreal makeup, of course, was not a part of the 'spring cleaning' special but they were B1G1 50% off, all of which I had coupons for. Annnddd a $5RR was rewarded with a $15 purchase of Loreal cosmetics. All of the remaining items were purchased at Walgreens. The deal with the eggs was that if you purchased 2 dozen, then you would receive 2 FREE Redbox rentals. I needed eggs and I love Redbox so this deal was perfect for me.

Just a little sidenote-I am really beginning to despise Walgreens. The weekly sales begin on Sunday and by the time I shopped there on Tuesday, the shelves were totally cleared of all of the specials that they were advertising in the paper. Needless to say, they are on my shit list right about now.

My next stop was Target



Savin' Maven Monday (Target)

  

Savin' Maven Monday (Target)

I spent $17.76 on all of this stuff! It would've been about $6 cheaper than this but I didn't realize until after my purchase that the cashier missed one of my coupons and also that I had a Target gift card that I could've used.  It is particularly important that you watch intently when the cashier is scanning your coupons to make sure that nothing is missed. The coupon that she skipped happened to be for $4 off so I was hot when I looked over my receipt-as luck would have it, this was after I was already long gone from the store. Anyhow, the Reach flosses were all $.97 for which I used 7 ($1 off 1) coupons that I found in last Sunday's coupon insert. So they were all FREE! There wasn't anything too special about the rest of the stuff from Target-I just used regular coupons with those items.

All in all, these items totaled $200.19 (this include purchases made here)

My Savin' Maven out of pocket total was $56.14

which means I saved $144.05!! (woot woot)

What do you think?

What kind of deals did you find this past week?

They Call Me Tune...No Bugs Bunny!!!

Happy Easter Friends!

What are you all doing today? Are you spending time with the family, going to church, dying eggs, or dressing up in an Easter Bunny costume and making special crafts for the kids?

I'm gonna go to church with the BF and his fam and then we will have dinner with my fam later this eve (I'm posting this early just in case you're wondering). 

This year I made some extra special, extra frugal Easter treats. Since I don't have alot of younger children in my fam I shared these treats with friends and coworkers.

Remember the Snickers Easter eggs that I brought here?  Oh yes, I put them to great use.

I began by using these printables that I got from BethProudfoot.

Get your printable here

Then, I had to cut them out...

Here's the other stuff that I used...





 I used the scraps from cutting out the printable, plastic snack bags, the printable itself, trash bag wrappers (not pictured) and of course the EGG! I crumbled the scrap paper up, threw it into the plastic snack bag along with the egg, placed a wrapper around the bag to keep it shut, and finally I wrote mine and the recipient's names on the printable and stapled it on top. They turned out like this:

What do you think?

What kind of crafts did you create for Easter?

Because I Walk Around With Pockets That Are Bigger Than My Butt!!

I'm beginning to become swamped in coupons!!! Everywhere I turn, there's a tiny piece of paper. They are falling out of my purse, they are inside of my makeup bag, they are literally everywhere. If I were to stuff them all into my pocket, they would easily be bigger than my butt (and that's a pretty decent sized mass of meat)!!! Hence the reason I've been hitting stores left and right this week. I usually only do my weekly shopping on Saturday and Sunday but in an effort to get rid of some of the coupons before they expire (lots of them expire on 4/24) I made a few impromptu trips to Walmart and CVS. 



Savin' Maven (CVS)

This was a super easy trip at CVS. I spent $1.24. The gum was B1G1 FREE and I used 3 ($1 off of 2) coupons. The Listerine was FREE-they were on special for $1.00 and I used 2 ($1 off) coupons. When I scanned my CVS rewards card at the 'big red coupon thingy' in the store it printed a coupon for $1 off any Hershey's candy. I also received a $.99 coupon reward for purchasing a Green Bag Tag. I'm loving CVS.

Savin' Maven (Walmart)

Another easy trip. I don't usually go to Walmart nowadays because they don't have good matchups with my coupons but I made out on this trip only spending $4.68. The body washes were both FREE when I used my ($3 off) coupons. The Airwick was a great deal too!! It was only $4.98 and came with the Freshmatic Kit AND a refill. After I used my ($4 off) coupon, it came to a whopping $.98!!! The red bucket that you see was on clearance for $3-I have no idea what I will use it for but I love the color red and for the price I just couldn't leave it there.

These two trips cost me $31.20 but I only spent $5.92 out of pocket! I saved myself $25.28.

With these trips I found that it is soooo much better to shop earlier in the week because then the stores are fully stocked with the items that are on special. If you wait, you are bound to find that the shelves have been cleared-especially on the items that offer rewards bucks back when you purchase a certain dollar amount.

Questions, comments, concerns anyone?

On To The Next One...Somebody Call The Waitress...

Whew....it's been a loooongggg week!

I can't believe it's already Friday and almost time for me to go back to work-ALREADY! So much for Spring Break, huh.

Well, within this week that I've been off (well, not really off because I also work from home) I've taken on a lot. It's on to the next, on on to the next one for me! I'm finishing some challenges, starting some new ones, doing some giveaways, etc, etc, etc, all while continuing to live up to my mission of being

 'Thrifty and Shameless'.

Originally I had stated that I was going to do two rounds of Colleen's Color Rotation (which contained 7 colors and 1 pattern) but I dropped it down to only one just because I want to participate in all of the other exciting challenges without being restricted to wearing certain colors. Here's my wrap up:

Color Rotation Challenge 2011
(pink,red,orange,yellow,green,blue,purple,pattern)

I've also begun the Inspiration Monday Challenge hosted by TwoBirds and the Bloggers Do It Better Challenge hosted by Kristina of PrettyShinySparkly. At some point I would also like to take part in The Shoe of the Week Challenge hosted by AHeartAndSoulStory.

I mentioned a couple of days ago that once I reached 50 followers, I would be doing a 'Spring Break Beauty' giveaway....just 2 more followers people!! It's gonna be a pretty hefty giveaway just to show my appreciation to all of you who take the time to stalk me and comment on my ramblings!! And theeennnn, I have another very special jewelry giveaway coming up shortly after that. Also stay tuned for my 'Word on the Street' interview with Jessica of Wrinkled Dollar. She's gonna share with us how she got started thrifting and even give us some cool tips on how to spend our very own wrinkled dollars.  Ohhhhhh, I can't wait.

Please stay tuned and when you come back bring a chair with you, because this may take a while. Before I go, I would like to ask you this:

What do you have in your 'Spring Break Beauty' Bag?

The Shoes...It's Gotta Be the Shoes...

I want this...

Target Xhiliration booties

I'm not exactly sure who I saw with these cuties on but when I saw them in Goodwill for $5 (brand new too), I knew I had to have them. So what that they have a few minor scuffs on them from being thrown around in the thrift store...so what that they are black and suede, I'm still gonna rock them for the spring. As a matter of fact, I have them on today-it's gonna be close to 85 degrees! And I also rocked them here when I went to the Wendy Williams show.  They retail at Target for $29.99 so I'm definitely gonna get my money's worth out of these babies. Talk about the look for less!

What are your favorite types of shoes-you know the ones that look good with anything?

Before I give you the movie of the week, let me make you fully aware that I'm seriously lagging behind with this.  I guess it will be okay though considering the fact that Mina over at KimChiGirl still hasn't seen The Social Network (which was last weeks movie)! So here goes...this week the BF and I tried to watch Catfish. Key work-tried. I believe that both of us fell asleep on it as it was sooooo slow. We can't complain though because when we read the movie description it clearly stated that the excitement wouldn't begin until the last 30 minutes. So once I awoke from my deep slumber, I pushed play and watched again. The second time wasn't really any better.

Catfish

Catfish is about a 24-year-old New York City photographer who became entangled in a twisted online love affair with the girl of his dreams.

MY RATING-7/10

What's your 'Word on the Street'? Feel free to share any cool books, events, movies, or fashions.

In New York...Concrete Jungle Where Dreams Are Made Of...

Here's to Spring Break.

Monday marked the start of my 5 day Spring Break and I couldn't be happier. It's been such a loooonnnnggg year so this break couldn't have come at a better time. I decided to treat myself to a mini vacation and travel to New York. I've always been into live entertainment shows so I figured it would be fun to try and get tickets for the Wendy Williams show.  Mind you I applied for the tickets back in February and up until a week before my spring break I still hadn't heard anything sooooo.....I applied again (even though the application clearly stated that you shouldn't apply more than once). I figured it was worth the try. Apparently it was because about 2 days later, I got an email saying that I needed to RSVP by a certain date and time or my tickets would be forfeited. One of my besties, who is originally from New York had the day off so she went along with me. This worked out perfectly because without her I would have been so lost in the 'big city'. Once we arrived, everything was smooth sailing. There were soooo many people though; people from as far as California traveling all the way to NY just to see Wendy. That must feel awesome. Anywho, here are a couple of pics from the trip:

The ladies over at TwoBirdsBoutique have thought of the wonderful idea to host an Inspiration Monday segment in which they pick an awesome outfit and have everyone link up with how they styled their fit based on the picture for the day. I figured that my mini vacation was the perfect opportunity to for me to rock this (which also serves as my pattern segment of the

 Color Rotation).

Blazer-Zara(Thrifted)/Shirt-TJ Maxx/Pants-NY & Co/Bag-Vintage/Shoes-Target(Thrifted)

The fit was actually inspired by this Gwen Stefani getup:

 How did I do?

You can re-create this look for yourself and link up over here.  Even though MeganBird disclosed that she hated styling this outfit, I on the other hand, absolutely loved it. It was right up my alley!!  Right up my alley to sit in the audience at the Wendy Williams show and almost jump up out of my seat with excitement (during the live taping) when Wendy announced that everyone in the audience would receive a $50 Speigel gift card so that we could cop our very own accessories much like the one's she featured in her 'Spring Trend' segment of the show. Ahhhhhh, I could've screamed when she told us that. Meanwhile, my bestie was WEEEAAAAKKKK because alllllll I talked about on the ride to NY was the giveaway. What girl doesn't love free shopping money!? Needless to say that Speigel doesn't have a store in NY so I have to order something online and pay for shipping. *insert mean face*

Our next stop after the show was of course-the MAC store!! A friend of mine was training at their 'Pro Store' while we were in town so he invited us to come and take a look around. For those of you  who don't know, the 'Pro Store' is where all of the MAC employees go to get their stock.  They have all of the merchandise that you don't see in the 'regular' stores. Basically, it's a warehouse-a MAC warehouse!! How sick is that? When I entered, I instantly became oblivious to any and everything that was going on around me. Here's why:

I was in Heaven!!!

 IF you had the opportunity to visit this MAC store, what would you purchase?



Warm, Wet, and Wild...There Must Be Something in the Water!

Hope everyone's had a Happy Monday. I know I'm getting to you a little late but I was out of town on a super mini vacation and was too much in a hurry to schedule my post. 

SORRY!!!

I didn't have alot of mailbox freebies this past week but I did however, score some free goodies from Bath and Body Works.  Bath and Body had sent out coupons for a free sample of their newest fragrance 'Into the Wild' so I printed 2 coupons and went to score these:

Savin' Maven Monday (Bath and Body) 

I had a previous coupon to buy one item and get a FREE travel sized item, so I scored an extra sample of the lotion (will possibly be included in my Spring Break Beauty giveaway package) and some zodiac inspired 'hanitizer'.

The other deals that I spotted this week were at CVS and Target. This was my very first time shopping at CVS since they just built a new one in my area and I must say that I was thoroughly impressed not only by their awesome deals but also with their very friendly customer service.  On my first trip I scored these items:

Savin' Maven Monday (CVS)

My $3.54 CVS haul was made possible with coupons for each of the items pictured. The laundry detergent was already on special for $1.49 and with my coupons they ended up being $.98 a piece. The jelly beans were FREE due to a coupon that CVS had emailed to their Extra Care Card holders. You may sign up here to receive your own CVS deals and discounts.

Savin' Maven Monday (CVS)

I spent $14.11 on this trip to CVS and received $15 in ECB's to use on my next CVS purchase. (I believe that the Lysol Neutra Air Sprays alone are originally $14.99).  So essentially everything that you see listed above was FREE because I earned money back.  What a way to go, huh!?

My last trip to Target was the best one yet! This is what I came out with:

Savin' Maven Monday (Target)

All of this cost me $.74!!! I was sure that the cashier had rang something up incorrectly but when I factored in the coupons that I had, I figured that the total was about right. I'm sooo proud of myself for this one because I scored some pretty great items. The Zyrtec is one of my favorites in particular because my allergies have been getting the best of me this season. If you haven't looked yet, the Sunday paper inserts have $7.00 off coupons for Zyrtec that expire on 4.24.11 so snatch one up ASAP. Another of my favorites is the Sally Hansen Nail Effects Polish Strips. I've been waiting for the price to go down on them and Target has the lowest price yet at $8.50.  I used a Target coupon stacked with a manufacturers coupon and got them for little or nothing. I can't wait to wear them!!  Lastly, that green thing that all of my loot is sitting upon is definitely a wall mirror. It was on clearance for $3.48 and even though I have absolutely NO lime green decor in my home, I'm gonna make it work. Even if that means I have to remodel!!

So there you have it.

This week, my Savin' Maven Monday grand total was $122.54
(this includes my Farm Fresh purchase I posted here)
My total out of pocket was $23.70
For a total savings of $98.84

What do you think?
What kind of deals did you find this week?

You Mean the World To Me...You Are My Everything!

Happy Sunday y'all!!!

I hope everyone has had a stupendous weekend!!

I'm so thankful that I don't have work tomorrow, or Tuesday, or Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday for that matter. Spring Break has finally arrived and I am ready for some much needed R & R. 

I don't have anything 'fashionly' or 'thrifty' to share today BUUUUTTTTT I do have some sentimental thoughts to ramble about. 

I started my blog in January of this year and I'm so happy to have even made it to 42 followers. It may seem like a minuscule number to those of you who have a gazillion people faithfully dedicated to you but for the little people like me, it brings me great joy and it let's me know that someone is interested in keeping up with my ramblings. For that I want to say 

 You guys and gals are



SOURCE



With that being said, I'm in the process of preparing myself to host a 'Spring Break Beauty' Giveaway once I reach 50 FOLLOWERS. (I'm anticipating this to be sometime next week so keep your eyes open). Once again, thanks to those of you who are currently following me and a special kudos to those of you who have left me awesome comments and have featured or mentioned me on your blogs. You mean the world to me!!!

Because Girl You're Worth It!

AWKWARD

-Long toenails with sandals. Okay ladies, I know the weather is beginning to get nice but please, please, please get a pedicure. Even if it means that you have to get the pumice, nail file, and cuticle removers and go at it yourself, do what you gotta do, but DON'T come out with your toenails hanging over your shoes! It's disgusting and so tasteless!

-I saw my breath in the air this morning. Like really, I thought it was supposed to be spring!

-Fifth Graders!!!! With bigger butts than mine...and tits too!!! WTH...there's gotta be something in the chicken.

-Whoever made that 'no white before/after Easter/Labor Day' rule? They suck at life!!!

AWESOME

-It's almost Spring Break time!!!!!! One more day and then I have a whole week of freedom. Patiently awaiting my mini getaway to New York with one of my besties. More details to come next week! Yay!!

-Wearing white before Easter anyway, because I'm grown and I do what I want.

-Rocking purple for the Color Rotation Challenge. I'm almost done with my first round. I'm going to complete a total of two rounds with the colors that Colleen has selected so if you see me wearing the same hues next week you'll know why!!



Pants..Jean Jacket-NY & Co./Button Up (Am. Eagle)-Thrifted/Shoes-Bakers



That's better!!

-Double Coupon Wednesday at Farm Fresh. Here's my purchase. I spent a whopping $5.35!!!

-Being spoiled by my BF. He bought a naked lady home for me the other night! He knows me so well...knows exactly what I like! She even smelt good too!

(get your minds out of the gutter, I'm talking about perfume-Blue for Lady) And going out for a dinner date. Not only is it important, but it is also awesome to continue to 'date' you significant other no matter how long you have been together. It keeps the flame burning! Also express your appreciation for whatever the gift may be-small or large. After I thanked the BF, he replies with a, "not a problem babe, you're worth so much more than this". #SWOONING AND BATTING MY EYELASHES

What are your date nights like with your boo?