Shoes for Christmas

5:59 PM

I know I'm probably the very last person in the entire world to get on the TOMS shoes train, but I'm thinking of procuring some as Christmas gifts this year.  In case you're even more under a rock than me, TOMS shoes are slip-on style casual shoes that run about $50 - $70 a pair.  You may be thinking, "seventy bucks for canvas shoes?!"  Stop.  You need to understand:  you're paying for the brand. 

See, the TOMS brand stands for helping children in need.  The shoe company donates a pair of shoes for every pair purchased.  So really, you're buying shoes for a child in need as well as rocking some trendy kicks that scream "I'm doing something to help others."  I figure it's perfect gift for Christmas. 

Check out some of their designs on www.toms.com.  

Black Friday

Personal financial planners will tell you to not buy impulsively.  Only buy something you've already been meaning to buy.   So with that in mind I've been working on pre-meditating a lot of purchases for this Friday.  I started following @blackfriday and @blackfriday_org on Twitter which has been  a major help in my search for Black Friday deals.  My metrics for success this year are simple:  buy warm clothes for my upcoming trip to New York.  Macy's has Charter  Bay cashmere sweaters on sale for $39.99 (regularly $80), and Loehmann's is offering 25% off their already low prices for coats, boots, and denim.  GAP is having 60% off their in-store purchases.  OMG. 

I've also been checking out these multi-day deals including the IKEA 3 days sale.  Retail stores will be crazy this weekend and I can't wait to be part of it.  

Please let me know of any other deals I'll need to check out. 

I'm going to be in San Francisco early on Friday.  Wish me luck.. And safety!!

Get cozy

Nobody likes shivering through cold winter nights or lazy winter Saturdays. Thats why you should get some stylish sweatpants to keep you warm when you are just laying around the house. While I love my Santa Clara University yoga pants, they don't offer the warmth needed for winter days. I recently found a pair of Ralph Lauren sweatpants at Costco for $19.99. I love them because they are thick and baggy; the perfect lazy pants. I've also discovered that this week only, you can get your hands on some $6 sweat pants at Target.

Black Friday Wonderland

Our family has a long tradition of getting up early on the Friday after Thanksgiving and hopping onto BART to head to the city for some good old fashioned bargain hunting. First stop this year will be Loehmanns. Loehmanns carries this year's designer fashions at crazy low prices. The Loehmanns in San Francisco is huge, with three stories of clothes and accessories and a basement of shoes. This year's black friday deal is 25% off select regular priced coats, denim, boots, shoes, & cold weather accessories. These deals are perfect for getting ready for the Christmas season. Its a good idea to pick up a present for someone special or even yourself. Loehmann's backroom is the best place to find the best deals. The backroom is full of discounted items such as formal dresses and wool coats. In past years, Loehmanns hands out coupons to the first people in the store on Black Friday and the following Saturday. I wonder what this year's coupon will be. I really appreciate how many stores have extended black friday savings to the whole weekend. Some items that I will be looking for this Friday:

Coming back to life with a warrior weekend.

This weekend I came back to life after a very busy season at work.  Here's how I chose to spend my long weekend:  I cleaned up my little container garden (which is a lot more work than it sounds), cleaned the house, hit the gym, got a pedicure (crazy midnight blue color), took in a Giants game at AT&T park, visited my local animal shelter to say "hi" to the cats, hit the club for a friend's birthday party, cooked a simple but fantastic home-made meal for myself & the hubs, cracked a bottle of wine we'd been saving, caught up on some magazine reads that have been piling up, and am looking forward to a 50-minute "pure relaxation" massage this evening.  This is my idea of being a weekend warrior.

Business Girl

My internship has been a learning experience like no other. It is rather fun to dress up and go to work everyday in an office. I answer emails and take care of many important accounting tasks. Its really great because many things that I learned about in my introduction to accounting courses are coming into play. Like the puzzle is coming together.

I've started bringing an iced tea with me to work so that I don't have to buy a drink at lunch time. I buy lunch everyday either at the cafeteria or somewhere close by. Subway is amoung my favorites. I try to keep it on the inexpensive side. I have not brought my lunch to work because I just don't really know where I would eat it. In my cube? at the cafeteria? If we had a break room , I would eat it there... but no break room.

This summer I've started selling my school textbooks on half.com as a mini business, which is a very easy way to get rid of unwanted books for a little change.

This week and last week I've been trying to squeeze in a workout before work. Hitting the gym in the morning makes me feel so awake by the time I get to the office. I'm down to one cup of coffee a day.

I'm beginning to see what work life is like for people after graduation. It is a little sad that while friends are free to eat out together, go swimming, to the beach, or anywhere else, I'm in a cubicle under florescent lights. But here's my secret: Jergen's Natural Glow. I just put on the moisturizing tanner every morning and I look like I've been to the beach this past weekend.

FredFlare.com

I recently re-visited one of my favorite shopping sites:  FredFlare.com.  My favorite department is the Home section, with household essentials like a table saw cake cutter, shadow of a duck shower curtain and an ice cream sandwich pillow, it has long been my favorite destination for whimsical, offbeat, and downright hipster accessories.  Please enjoy:  http://www.fredflare.com/AT-HOME/?orderby=&all=true