The End of Summer

Aka Labor Day weekend.  This is the first one for the hubster and I together in San Diego.  It doesn't seem like the end of summer since warm days don't seem to be at an end.  In fact, we went through a mini heat wave this week.

We had a busy Labor Day weekend as it marks the start for me being offsite at work for 3 weeks.  I'll still be local in Carlsbad for this week, but then I start another two weeks of work travel, leaving the poor hubster all by his lonesome.

We kicked off the holiday weekend with a visit to Disneyland.  We were pleasantly surprised at how not crowded it was.  Not only was it a holiday weekend, but it was also race weekend for the Disney Half Marathon... the same one I couldn't get registered for this year.  After seeing everyone with medals and race shirts, I am even more determined to sign up for next years!  It was a pretty successful trip in that we got to ride Splash Mountain and Indiana Jones.  We also snuck in California Adventure to hit up Midway Mania in which I came from behind and kicked the hubster's booty!  Sweet, sweet victory!

The hubster was a little sad when his favorite ride was not open - Haunted Mansion.  They are preparing it for The Nightmare Before Christmas which is the hubster's most favorite thing at Disney.  He put up with the minor inconvenience and to make up for it, we bought our Halloween gear early.  We got another Halloween mug (that makes 2), another recyclable grocery bag (that makes 3), a Halloween themed Mickey ghost lanyard to act as our pin lanyard for the pins we've been collecting, and a UCLA Mickey football pin for my alma mater.  Overall, a super successful trip.

On Sunday, we took it easy and hit up the swap meet.  We paid our $ 1 admission plus coupon and went scouring for treasures.  We spotted a couple of gems including a really awesome kitten plate for $1 which the hubster passed on.  We scored a new meat thermometer, coffee grinder, and two books for $11.  After the swap meet, we went to Home Depot to buy a large pot to transplant the hubster's money tree.  While we were there, I ended up buying some starter pots of tomatoes, herbs, and squashes.  Hopefully, they don't die from the way I manhandled them for transplantation.

For dinner, we went to my parent's house for some grilling.  We even brought the dogs and they enjoyed some leftover bones from the steak.  I think the girls miss their canine cousins.  I stocked up on leftovers and other food items my parents wanted to part with and we went home to hit up the pool.  It was a very hot weekend and we were both pooped fro all the walking we did.

For actual Labor Day, we had plans to go kayaking in San Diego Bay, but the hubster's back hurt when he woke up and I was still a little tired from the walking.  So instead we took advantage of the Labor Day sales and went shopping.  We scored some good deals at REI.  I got another yoga towel which I've been wanting since I've been practicing 2-3 times a week and don't always have time to do laundry.  I also got some of the Goop travel toiletry containers also on sale.  The hubster got some gray Sperry's.  Finally upgrading from his Kohl's version.  He loves those shoes that he's gone through two pairs of the Kohl's ones.  When he tried on the Sperry's, he commented on how much more comfortable those were compared to Kohl's.  That's the difference between $17 and $44 shoes.

And that was our Labor Day.  Next, paid holiday from work won't be until Thanksgiving =(

Let's try this again

A year ago I tried to watch Orange Is The New Black and I didn't like it. The hubster is out for the evening and I figured I would try it again.

I started on Netflix and it remembers everything. Apparently, I didn't make it passed the credits before I decided I didn't like it.

I might have been a bit hasty.

Yay for Nordstrom Rack

I had a Nordstrom note to spend and headed over there to look for a lightweight robe.  I headed to that section first and found one on clearance for $42.  It was lightweight, turquoise, and short which would be make for a perfect summer robe.  I browsed around for a bit and had a cart full of clothes and finally made it to the shoe section.  Nordstrom Rack has two separate shoe sections aside from men's and women's.  They have a designer women's section and I always poke my nose in there just to see what they have.  It's usually weirdo looking shoes and even at a discount, I would never consider them.

Well to my surprise, they had Tory Burch Reva flats for sale.  For $160!  These never go on sale and are never included in the Tory Burch site sales.  So almost 30% off was a great deal.  I've been meaning to replace my current ones for a long long time.  They got pretty beat up from the rain in Paris.  They were super faded.  So I ditched the robe and snatched them up!

On a side note, an Off 5th open up right next door to Nordstrom Rack.  I popped in over there and they had a buy 1, get 2 on clearance items.  I was too tired to peruse everything and made a quick loop around.  Even the clearance items were expensive.  I did see a $3000 Carolina Herrera gown...  Maybe for Kevin's wedding, lol.

With nothing I could buy at a reasonable price, I figure I could pop over to the kids section and pick something up for my nieces or nephews.  Well, I ended up finding two dresses for me to try one.  Surprisingly, they fit pretty well, but I passed on them because one was a clearance item and would require me to find two other items less than that for my free items and I did not want to spend that much time doing so.  The other was just kinda eh and since I already spent $$$ on my new shoes, I just put them back on the rack.

It only took a year

to stop being an Ohioan!  Want to know how I came to that conclusion?

I'm sitting in my hotel room in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  I'm glare angrily at what I think is my AC unit because it's making noise... noise that sounds like rain.  I realize slowly that number one that noise IS rain and second, there is no AC unit under the window, it's just a window.

It's like I forgot what real rain sounds like when it falls from the sky!

Celebrate!

So what do you do after two years of hard work finally pays off?

 And massages with the very supportive hubster!

And shopping!

And dinner and drinks with great friends!

I can finally relax!

#treatyoself