My thoughts on trends

I have said it before and I will say it again, I am not a fasionista by any means. I am not a trend follower nor do I think a lot of the things look nice. Now this being said, this is MY opinion. If you are a trendy fashionista than so be it, rock it. There was a time when I wanted to have something brand name. I wanted to be part of "that" crowd. By that crowd I mean the person carrying around a brand name bag or brand name shoes. I opted for the purse. I bought myself a coach purse. Now when I bought this purse I liked it for about a week. Once I had it I started to notice EVERYONE had them. To me I just felt like another bee in the hive. I didnt want to be that bee. I sold my purse. 

Does this sound a little silly? Sure. But I have never been one to follow trends. I want to be me, and if being me is being unique than so be it. With my purse gone I still notice people with Coach purses. It is like a plague of Coach out there. 

There are some trends that I will never understand. Like Uggs...... I hear they are comfortable. But am I the only one to think they are the ugliest boots EVER?!?!?! It is like you are tromping around in humongous slippers. They are hideous. I think the name is quite fitting for them. Uggs, damn rights they are. But people flock to them. For the brand? Absolutely. What a trend people, what a trend. 

I get the same feeling when I look at Toms. Toms may be one of the ugliest shoes going. To me they look like a burlap wrapped up shoe. But again, people flock to them. I have heard they are comfortable. But so are Croc's and that is just a whole nother sort of wrong. I do get that they donate a pair when you buy one so that is one thing going for them. But in all honesty, I don't see the appeal. I mean, for a trend, shouldn't it be eye appealing? They are so not. 

Another trendy piece of footwear I do not think is eye appealing is Bogs. They too are pretty darn ugly. I don't think that rain boots needed a built in handle. They may be the greatest rain boots out there. But I wouldn't wear a pair. I laugh just looking at them. Don't get me wrong, I get it, they are good quality, but they are also part of the new trend. If you are a trend follower you have at least 2 of what I have posted so far. Sorry, I know you like them, again, this is my opinion. 

Dont even get me started on print leggings.....

In saying all this, do I hate brands? No. I myself had to have a something from Tiffanys, anything. I got it. I would love to own designer heels. You can read about that here. Thing is... The shoes I want, sure dont look like these :)

After I sold my Coach purse I bought one that was definitely all me. I had seen them at a craft sale years and years ago and I loved them. I hunted them down in the city and for my birthday I got one. Will some people find it ugly? Absolutely!! As people are all different, some people will love it, some will hate it. Me, I love my new purse. It is not part of any trend and it is unique. It is me. It is a purse made entirely of seatbelts. I love it. 

Have you seen my last post? Click here

My Versatile Blogger Award

The Versatile Blogger Award

You see these awards floating around the blogging world and I am sure every blogger secretly hopes someone nominates them as worthy of such an award. What is The Versatile Blogger Award you ask? It is an honor bestowed to you from a fellow blogger who considers your blog to be worth reading and worthy of such award. I will take my nomination with pride. 

I started blogging during the recovery to my depression. Be it as therapy or just something fun to occupy my time I have grown to love it. All my fellow bloggers know how hard it really is to blog, it isn't just about writing down your thoughts and pressing publish... Now to some it may, but there is so much more involved. You spend your time researching your topics, interacting with others via social media, linking up to link parties to share your blogs, than going back and reading other peoples blogs and taking the time to comment on them as well. It is like a little job in itself. We wouldn't be here if we didn't enjoy it :) 

My blog views are growing and I am happy that I could have inspired even one person to say my blog was worthy of an award, and I thank you Milly for that. Click here to see her wonderful blog and here to follow her on twitter.

If you have been awarded the Versatile Blogger award, do this now:

• Thank the person who gave you the award and include a link to their blog
• Choose and nominate 5 other blogs for The Versatile Blogger Award. 
• Share 7 facts about yourself.

Seven facts about me

1. I dont like the feeling of metal scraping on my teeth or the plates so I eat with plastic forks and spoons. (is this a fun fact or a weird fact? lol)
2. I met my husband on the internet and he moved here from Italy 6 years ago to be with me. We married and have 2 daughters and are still together today. 
3. I had post partum depression with both my daughters and I have finally overcome it and I am extremely happy
4. My most popular blog posts are the ones I was hesitant to publish because I was worried what people would think
5. I hate to cook, absolutely hate it. I could eat out every night because I hate it. But I love to eat ;)
6. I absolutely love the smell of lilacs. Spring is here and all the lilac trees are blooming. The air is filled with their smell and I am in bliss
7. I have an irrational fear of caterpillars and I will walk off the sidewalk to get away from them (feel free to laugh at me) 

MY NOMINEES: 

 I have chosen my favorites, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. 

The Single Swan - I fell in love with her blog through her post "I dont think I like Tinder" you can read that post here. 

This is her blog http://www.thesingleswan.com her posts are from the heart and honest. I appreciate that. 

My Random Musings - This post is what kept me reading. I agreed wholeheartedly with it and I love this post. You can read that here

This is her blog http://myrandommusings.blogspot.ca/

Beau Twins - This post is what kept me coming back for more. You can see it here. I think if someone writes something and I dont want it to end, they are doing something right in my books. 

This is her blog http://www.beautwins.com/

The Triplet Dad - His post you can read here was one I loved to read. It was sweet to the core. It is what kept me returning. 

Here is his blog http://www.triplethedad.blogspot.ca/

Days in Bed - I was a fan from the start. This is my fav post she has done. You can read it here

This is her blog http://www.daysinbed.com

Have you read my last post? Click here

The good ol times. WAIT im only 35

I am 35 years old. I never felt old until recently. My new work phone is the Boss's daughters old phone. So now I get random texts about homework. I let her know about it and she said she would get her teachers to switch her number so she would start getting the texts again. I found this quite interesting. It never occurred to me that this is how students would get reminders of homework. We joked about it as I never had cell phones in school. I said, I graduated in 1997. She laughed and said "I wasn't even born yet". 

BAM.... 

thats the moment I felt old. 

But it got me to thinking. How things are changing. Things have changed. When I was in school cell phones were non existent. I sat thinking back to when I was a teenager. There was no personal phone that was mine. If you were lucky you had your own phone in your room, if you were even luckier, you had your own line. I had neither. The times of prank calls are over for kids with caller id. The times of calling your crush are over with caller id. I remember when getting a second line was the coolest thing going.... Are you with me? Have I made you feel old too? If not, lets keep going.

I believe this is how my parents felt thinking back to things I will never have experienced. The 5 cent chocolate bars or 25 cent movies. A&W drive in.. I will be telling my children my stories and they will feel the same way as I did. It was interesting, but they will never know. Never know the pain of dialing a rotary phone. Make a mistake, start over again. #@$#. Ever tried to book concert tickets on one of those babies? haha. Good luck!

Even that, tickets. There was a time where if you wanted a good seat, you sat in line, possibly camped out in line at Ticket Master. Now, online, you just click. There is no pain of dialing in and hoping you get a good seat, you refresh your screen and the computer will help you out. Simple as pie

My first car came with a tape player. Cd's would come not long after but for the time being, as a child, all I knew was tapes. I am sure that like most of you, your tapes got stuck once at least once!! Pulling all that shit out of the tape player mad as hell. Using something to wind the tape back in. If it broke, you were really mad!

I remember as a teenager listening to the top 20 songs and waiting to press record on my stereo so that I could have my song recorded on tape. There was no itunes, no internet for that matter. As sad as it sounds, that is what I did. And the god damn dj talked right up until the song started so they ruined the beginning. Lyrics.... Anyone remember Snow, Informer? God help you if you knew even half of what he was saying, but if the lyrics were not in the tape booklet I remember sitting watching a taped video with lyrics from Much Music and doing play by play on pause so I could write down the words. Yes, not only am I old, but I am real cool too. haha. Today, you type in the computer. Its so easy....

Even the internet is something that when it came out, is nothing like it is today. To download one picture you could go make yourself lunch and slice by slice the picture would appear. SERIOUSLY.... And dial up internet that was hooked to your phone so in the middle of downloading said picture if someone picks up the phone, there goes the internet connection. It makes me laugh thinking back. I remember thinking....Internet huh... Ok, whats so great about it. 

My school research was done by going to the library and hunting down the right books to take out and use for whatever project or essay I was doing. Now....... yes, internet. Man these kids have it easy. 

I even remember our tv. It was one of those huge wooden box tv's that sat on the floor. I am sure it had 13 channels. Thats it!!!!! So when you are flipping through your 100+ channels thinking there is nothing to watch.... Ya, tell me about it. 

I remember when we got our first cable box and I thought we were living in luxury.  

All this and I am only 35. 

Its amazing how fast things change.

What things do you remember?



Have you read my last post? Click here

Weddings bells or Wedding bills

Weddings... you fall in love, you get married. If anyone has gotten married recently they know the price tag on one of these babies. Weddings today cost the equivalent of a decent deposit on a brand new home.

 Now dont get me wrong, not everyone chooses to go this route. I was definitely not one of them. 

They say every girl dreams of their wedding since they were a little girl. I am sure this is true in a sense. Not one of my friends have NOT had a big wedding. In fact, I am not sure I personally know anyone other than my self who has chosen to not do a big wedding. 

Let me explain my feelings on this

When my husband proposed to me and it was time to start thinking of our actual wedding, it got me thinking. My sister had gotten married prior to me. Her wedding was the traditional wedding, married in the church, a rented, beautifully decorated hall and a fabulous supper followed by dancing and drinking. It was beautiful, I had a great time. But I knew, I just knew, this wasnt the kind of wedding for me. 

• I did not get married in a church

• I did not have a reception, there was no after party, there was no dancing, there was no drinking

• I did not wear a traditional wedding dress (I bought a dress that was free flowing that would fit over my 5 month pregnant belly *Note, we did not get married because of the baby lol )

• I did not have a professional photographer

I am not a fan of crowds of people, I am just as much not a fan of idle small talk. Neither me or my now husband are religious in any way so a church was immediately out as I personally saw no point in being married in a religious place and having them speak things to me I have no idea what they mean. So we went for the other option of a Justice of the peace. Now my idea of being married in a courthouse was not what I wanted either. I wanted something that was me. Now a church was not, and neither was standing in a courthouse.

After some searching we found a man who would marry us at any location, we just needed to pay him. And believe me, the price was ways less than any church fee. Now none of my decisions were based on money. My father was going to pay for my wedding. But a big fancy to do, it just isnt me. We decided we would get married in Banff, AB at Bow Falls. March 6, 2010 to be exact. I despise the heat so a summer wedding was immediately out! It was a beautiful winter day.

When it came to inviting people, I did not wanted to invite anyone. This caused quite a stir among everyone. How could you not invite people? I think this is where the tradition has gotten people swayed. Me, I never felt I needed the validation of every person I knew being there to witness me marrying the man I love. All I really felt I needed was my closest friends, which were 4 of them, my parents and my sister. Done! In the end I compromised with my family and we invited my mothers friends who I have known since I was a baby so they are like family, three of my uncles and my cousin who is my best friend. That is it. It was truly too many already. Like I said, I never needed alot of people, I just wanted to marry my best friend. 

In making this decision like I said I kinda of irked my mother a little. She wanted her family to be there, she wanted her friends to be there. My Father had a friend that me and my husband new quite well. Because of my decision to not invite people to my wedding, she took great offence to this. My Father lost his friend. She never spoke to us again. Even after many apologies, which I do not believe I really needed to give, however I did on behalf of my Father. I was sad to see him lose a close friendship over a choice I made. But in the end...... Was this not my choice? Was it not a choice I was allowed to make? Somehow along the way I believe people have a preconceived idea of how a wedding is "supposed" to be and are a little shaken if you steer off course. 

When I look back at my day it was a damn good one. It was simple, and just how I wanted it. I got married on the side of the river that day, with a small group of people. We had dinner afterwards in a restaurant in Banff. Everyone together. I opened my cards from people and that was it. Me and Enrico went back to our hotel and everyone left the next day and we stayed there for a few days together. It was perfect. Just how I wanted it to be. 

I am not a dancer in any sort of way. If I do dance, it is to look silly or to dance around with my children. There was absolutely no way I was going to have a dance at my wedding. I laugh even thinking about it. 
I do not drink, I do not like the taste of it, any of it! When I do drink it is purely to get drunk and have a good time. Was this what I wanted to do on my wedding day? I think not. My thoughts were, do I really want to pay a bunch of money so people can get drunk on my wedding day? Um.......... ya right! 

I married the man I loved that day. Just that. I didnt feel that I needed to traditionally feed an army a dinner and than get them all drunk and dance the night away to celebrate. I needed him. And thats what I got. 
Do I regret not having a big wedding? 
Do I regret not having professional photo's to look back on? Not even a little bit. 

What do you think of weddings? Traditionally overdone? Or love the tradition?

Have you read my last post? Click here

Saying goodbye

Today was a big day for me. Not a big day in the sense of something exciting happening, but today was a milestone for me. For those who do not know I spent the better part of 2014 suffering from Post Partum depression and depression subsequently thereafter. 

I had seen a Therapist since the beginning of my diagnosis. She was there with me the whole way. When I first met her I was hesitant to say the least. Who is this lady and how is SHE going to help me? I mean really? 

 I was in a terrible relationship in my past, I went through a lot of emotional abuse and my mother asked me to see a therapist after the breakup of this relationship. I was less than impressed with the lady who was supposed to help me. When she suggested we burn a few of his belongings as a sense of closure I was done, I thought how hokey. So going in to this therapist I thought, ya sure, what are you going to throw at me here.   

I never knew that first day sitting in her office that this woman was going to change my life. She was going to essentially save me from myself. She brought out a me that I didnt even know I had in me. Now, I have thanked her numerous times, but how do you thank someone for saving you? How do you let them know that what they have done has paved a way to your future that you only dreamed of? 

 When my courses were coming to an end in December of 2014 we talked about the fact that there would be a time to "close" my file. I was terrified, no way! I NEED her. I pushed the thought out of my mind and was not going to think about it again until I had to.

March 23 I started a new job. My depression behind me I was essentially starting out in a new beginning, new job, new me. I felt great. When I told my therapist she was very happy, at the end of the call she brought up when should we decide to close the file. I immediately was hesitant. I cant let her go. Not yet. What if I need her, what if I go back into depression, what if, what if what if. 

We are almost two months to the day we had that last conversation. She called me about two weeks ago. I forgot to return her call until today. I felt joy in telling her how I feel. Telling her how far I have come and that although returning to work is hard for me as I become overwhelmed easily with two little children a full time job and a messy house to take care of, however through everything I learned I believe I will make it through. I smiled the whole time we spoke. Even though I would love love love to see her again, to sit and chat about how happy I am and how far I made it but... in my heart I knew, today I knew, I didnt HAVE to see her anymore.

 I no longer felt scared, I no longer felt hesitant. For the first time in almost a year I felt a definite feeling of certainty. I can do this. On my own. There is a lot of sadness in having to say goodbye to someone such as this. As I write this tears fall from my eyes. She was such a huge part of my life, a huge part of my recovery, she knows all the deep dark parts of my heart and helped me work through them all. Oh if you could show someone a feeling. She would know how grateful I am. 

To this person, 

Thank you for holding my hand through the hardest time of my life, for guiding me to be the person I always wanted to be. The person that was inside of me that I could not see and you could. Thank you for giving me my life back. Thank you for giving me back to my family. There could have been so many people I could have sat down in front of that day and you have no idea how happy I am that it was you. 

 Today is May 27, 2015. I am me again. I feel free from depression and I will continue to persevere.

Have you read my previous post? Click here

Sticks and Stones

Bullying.. Statistics vary, but I am positive it is safe to say that everyone has been touched by bullying one way or another. This is a subject that weighs heavily on my mind from time to time. I have two daughters, they are 2 and 4 years old. Now they are young, they are not even in school, but school will come. Will the bullies? 

When I was in school bullying started for me when I was 9 years old. At 9 you are pretty innocent. I remember me and my best friend at the time both being bullied together by the same person. We went home that day and I am sure we shocked her poor mother when we innocently asked her mother "What is a cu#t"? As this is what we were called at school. If she or her mother is reading this today, I wonder if they too remember this. 

I have often thought, what will I tell my daughter when she comes home crying, or when she shows the signs she is being bullied at school. What will I do? I am sure every parents first thought is to go down the school and wring the damn kids neck. But in reality, what do we do? I hope that in raising my girls I will instill in them the will to talk freely with me, to be open and comfortable to talk with me about anything. I hope....

I think most of us do the best damn job we can with our children. But this is one part of their life I feel so strongly that I can not fail them. I know what it feels like after all, to be bullied. I am sure most of the people reading this do too. At least in some way or another. It takes your spirit, your happiness, your will to be you and learn new things, your confidence dwindles away. I will be honest and say I am scared for my children. 

This day and age you hear alot about suicides related to bullying. It is one of the saddest things to happen to someone so young. I remember very well at that age that you really feel that your whole life is crashing down. You will never understand that, at 35 years old all that bullshit wont matter anymore. It will be behind you and you will have moved on and created a life without those people. At the time you are encapsulated in your own little world. It IS everything at that age. That is your whole life. All you know. 

I remember being 14 years old and thinking I knew it ALL. I was so mature and I new the world. Looking back, what a naive child. I knew what was in my circle, and to me that WAS everything. I will remember that when my girls become teenagers. I hope to instill good values in them and raise them to be decent loving people who will treat others with respect and expect the same in return. 

I hope that if my daughters become the victim of bullying that I approach it in the best way possible. I look back to elementary and I think of one girl, one girl in particular who never let the bullies get the best of her. I wish I could talk to that girl today and ask her thoughts on it all, I am sure it would be a great insight. 

I have asked quite a few people their thoughts on bullying. Have their children been bullied. 99%  is yes. A girl I spoke with talked to me about her 7 year old son who was being bullied at school and another 7 year old told him "when I get to grade 4 I will bring a knife to school and kill you". I have to admit I was a bit taken aback at this. 7 years old!! She immediately went to the school to the teacher and the principle. This is what all the parents I asked said. They went to the school to have a meeting with them. Now in this incident parents and teachers and principle were involved however since their young age no police. I did think about it on the way home and thought, it would have probably been a good idea to get the police involved and set this kid straight. 

What are my personal thoughts on my daughters getting bullied? I will not tolerate it (as I am sure none of you out there will as well), I will teach them to not tolerate it. I hope that if the time comes I will persue it properly. I think there is more awareness of bullying than there was in my day. I am glad for that. I think that bringing parents of both parties in is a great idea. Now as a teenager, absolutely mortifying. However each situation is different. When you are a little older things are different. If push comes to shove will I tell my daughter to walk away? Absolutely. If it continues, I have always thought, than you defend yourself. I will stand behind them the whole way.

Now I know some people believe that bullying is a part of life, it toughens you up. Maybe so, but I do not believe it is the right way to toughen someone up by breaking them down. Will I be the one to  let my daughters change schools if they want to? To "run" away from their bullies. Your damn rights I will. I remember feeling that same way. I begged my parents to change me schools. I wont forget the way I felt about it, so if I am posed with the same question, I will do all in my power to make my child a happy one through an already difficult time in their life. 

I watched a video this morning. It sat with me all day. It is the reason I wrote about this. This woman spoke about her son and how he was bullied. It was heartbreaking. As a mother you can not help but to feel the pain as she tells her story. I never want to be sitting there telling such a story. So this is why, at 2 & 4 I am already thinking about what my daughters will face in life and how as parents we can protect them.

 Because.............. it happens, and it can happen, to anyone. 

This is the video 

What are your thoughts on bullying?

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My brutal truth about blogging

Writers block.... When you are stuck at an impasse. There are many things to help with this. Pinterest is full of them. Blog post ideas, blog topics, 600 great ideas for your blog. I have read so many. The problem is, the only thing swirling around in my head is this. Blogging is damn tough.

Of course you are just typing your thoughts, your passions, how hard can this be? Aside from just writing the personal stories from my life I thought to branch out. To explore the world of blogging. It is quite a place. I have read alot of articles on what mistakes people make in blogging to what makes your blog successful, what makes some posts go viral. I have to admit I was intrigued. I want to be part of this. It is exciting thinking that people out in the world could possibly enjoy reading your blog. There are mommy bloggers, daddy bloggers, fashion bloggers, beauty bloggers, even video bloggers (vloggers) there are so many kinds. Where do I fit in, where is my niche? 

 Lets be honest here, I never aspired to be writer, if I was asked what a the difference between a noun and a verb I would have to google. School wasnt my forte, paying attention and retaining this information even less. I dont see myself as a famous blogger or one who is paid to write articles. I am just one in the many hoping to entertain. 

You meet all types of people in the blogging world. There are ones who are willing to extend the olive branch and give you a little insight, some advice, even grab your hand and pull you up a bit. Than there are others. If you are a beginner blogger I dont even think you rank in their books. Dont get me wrong, I have met a lot of great people. Certain ones in particular who go out of their way to help me and I am ever so grateful. But it also feels a little like highschool sometimes where you are left out of the clique. 

I may have lost my way in the last little bit. I was caught up in numbers. How many people look at my blog. If you read my previous posts, especially the one about my disaster banana bread you know I am a results oriented person. I want the big bang before the work. I want it all NOW. This is no different, I am me after all. Why do I not have more followers? There has to be something wrong with my numbers, I whine to my husband. But alas the numbers do not lie. I do not have a large follower base, I wouldnt even call it a base it is so small. I was devastated. How could I have so few? Was my blog that bad? 

 I ask my Father, how did you like my last post? His reply "You're losing me, I like your stories about you and your life". So now I am thinking over and over "You're losing me", "You're losing me". If I cannot keep my father interested in my blog well by golly lets just throw in the towel. I read somewhere they said "It doesnt matter if you have 50,000 views daily on your blog it matters how many followers you have. Content is king they tell you. Content is King..... So I figure, who is this "content" and where is he king of so I can go choke him. 

 With all my devastating news pouring out to my husband he gives me his pep talk. Now, sitting humbled I realize. I started all this for ME! I spent the last year digging myself out of the devastating effects that post partum depression buried me under. I started writing because it made me happy. Now is this making me happy what I am doing? Worrying about the numbers, trying to please others, what they want to read what they want me to write. The answer is no. I can scroll through that article on pinterest of 600 blog ideas and if one doesnt touch me, I cant write about it.

Take this for example, I was to write a blog about a cake I made. In the world of blogging you can share your blog through blog sharing. There is one for recipes. I thought, hey, I can submit one about the cake I made for my sisters Birthday. The thing is when it comes down to it. I am not a food blogger, I hate cooking!!! HATE IT. I like to bake but I am not overly good (results oriented and I ruin alot of baking rushing it) So tonight, as I am trying my best to get a good picture of this cake, a picture worthy of some of the food blogs I have read, it hit me. What in the world are you doing? I dont have the right lighting, I dont have a decadent looking piece of cake, I mean it was damn good, but was it magazine picture worthy? no lol. 

 So as I sit here frustrated I think about why I started and where I have come from since than. I really only started to blog seriously, just shy of two months ago. What was I expecting? I need to focus on where I did come and what I have achieved rather than dwell on what I havent. In just under two short months my blog has jumped over 10,000 views. I wrote a post on April 2nd with excitement that just over 2,000 people had viewed my blog. I now have over 12,000 views. Now whomever said that it doesnt matter how many people view your blog it is about the followers, he/she can piss off. I will take these views as my own personal accomplishment. I worked damn hard to get here. I guess, if you are reading this, I am doing something right :)

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FB Consingment for frugal mommies and daddies

Online Consignment If you are not familiar to it you will be by the end of my post. I have spent the better part of my children's lives shopping from online consignment. I would have to say I am quite the connoisseur of consignment. I have found myself quite a many deals doing this. 

Now by this time I would hope that everyone knows what Kijiji is. I was hooked when I found Kijiji. I used to buy many kids items from Kijiji.   Kijiji is behind me now. Facebook Consignment shopping that is where its at. 

If you type into your search on Facebook, consignment and your city you will for sure find some. They are everywhere. I will use one of my favorites for my examples here. 

I am going with Ask Consignment in Edmonton, AB. 

Once you enter your shopping trip has begun. Now they all usually work the same and I can only imagine that it is universal where you are. You open up their page and you are presented with albums. These albums range from toys to shoes to purses, clothes, baby clothes, home decor, they have it all. Below is an example of clickable albums that will take you to the items. 

Below is an example of a toy I chose from the toys & Games album.

I worked with a online consignment company for about a year. I learned the ins and outs of this business. This my friends is where you are to get the best deals. The bargain albums. 

When new items are posted they usually run for two weeks at full price, than they are marked down to 50% and than further reductions happen. There is the 75% off albums and the wonderful $1 and $2 albums. Do not disregard these albums as junk you can find quite the gem in here. 

I have opened up one of the bargain albums to show you an example of what you can find. 

Now this is just a few items. These albums come loaded to the hilt. There are toys, boys clothes, girl clothes, shoes, purses, home decor. They fill these with whatever did not sell the first few rounds. You will always find great things here. Below is a great example.

This dress. Quite beautiful. Original price $12 and here it sits in the 75% off album at $4.....$4!!!!!

Lets say you have a kid in soccer and this is his shoe size. Tell me you haven't just scored a great deal for soccer shoes at $2.... 

You comment "Please" if you like the item. If someone has beat you to it you comment "Next", more often than not people pass on their items and it comes to you. Yay. 

Now how do you collect these items you are shopping for? 

There are albums for that as well. There are people from the consignment who will go to what they call "Meets" and at a designated location you meet there to pick up your item. 

It is a set time and place every two weeks. If you can not make this "Meet" they usually have a delivery service which they offer. I have never seen it over a $5 charge. To be delivered to your doorstep!!!! This is shopping in luxury.

Here are a few tips for deciphering the acronyms

• EUC - Excellent used condition
• NWT - New with tags
• VGUC - Very good used condition
• GUC - Good used condition

HAVE FUN!

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Nail Polish Strips, yay or nay

I had decided to grow my nails. I love having nails. I am not one for the fake nail look. Not only does it make it hard to type at work but god help you if you need to take your contacts out. You may as well stick a spoon in your eye. 

The problem is, I think I may have a tad bit of OCD when it comes to my nails. I constantly feel them, I feel them all day. I check the sides, are they sharp? Did they end of my nail peel? Is there a small crack? Its like I am looking for any imperfection and than BAM I am messing around with it and I have a broken nail. 

When this happens I usually end up getting rid of my nails one by one. I decided if I keep my nails painted than I at least will not look for the problems and break my nails. I painted my nails with regular nail polish and working in an office dealing with paperwork all day the nail polish quickly faded off the ends of my nails and I was again inspecting for impurities. 

I went shopping and decided to try these. Lasts up to 10 days huh. We will see about that Sally Hansen

It comes with many strips and extras in case you mess up (which I did) a file and a stick to push your cuticles in.

Lets do this Sally

Its fairly easy process. You take the strips and you peel the backing off and place them on your nails. 

I used the cuticle pusher to push the nail wrap into the cuticle as well and it worked well to cut the excess off. 

The file is what you use around the tip of your nail to file the remaining nail wrap off.

I did it! It was not a horrible process but you need some time to get it right. My nails are by no means perfection, as told in my previous posts I tend to rush to see the results making mistakes along the way. Of course I did that here too. Its just me :)

I put a clear coat of nail polish on top. I waited........

7 days later, these are my nails. 

The tips wore off by the 10th day. But overall I would say that its quite a great product. 

The only thing is..... 

Ladies, have you ever tried to take off glitter nail polish before? You may as well have put concrete on your damn fingers. Good luck is all I have to say :)

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