A Fun Friday, A Relaxing Weekend

Hi Everyone! Hope you're all having a great weekend - and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Today we're at my parents house on Dauphin Island........baby, it's COLD outside! The wind is blowing and it rained overnight, seems our muggy weather is gone for now! The water is sloshing up on the dock and it looks like snowy weather. Of course it is NOT - about 52 degrees out there. Just feels a lot colder because the humidity is kinda high and the wind is higher. Yikes!

Yesterday I had so much fun, started out the day crazy busy. My parents spent the night with us on Thursday, and my Mom and I drove over to Mobile Friday morning. I helped out my Dad with a project - fun fun fun. Then about 4pm, Mom and I left and went over to D'Iberville/Biloxi, MS. And before you ask, NO we did not go to the casinos!! HAHA, we'd have been better off if we did though!

We went to the new ULTA store. OMG those that know me well, you know I'm a total product junkie. Love everything in that place!!!! We were in there about 2 hours, I stocked up on my Bare Escentuals makeup (free gift with over $45 purchase). Also bought some new SMASHBOX products, a brand that is quickly becoming another favorite of mine. A few hair products (naturally!), a new pink hair dryer and some foot cream. BEST PART - 20% OFF ENTIRE PURCHASE. Ulta mailed a coupon and it was good for items that are normally excluded from coupons. A Great deal and so much fun! Then we had dinner at Ruby Tuesdays (thank goodness I ate salad and grilled food, was too busy having fun yesterday to work out!).

Ended our evening at Dillards in Biloxi. This was a DREAM - my all time FAVORITE brand, Lilly Pulitzer was marked down 70% and then an EXTRA 50% OFF. Can you believe it?!?!!? I could have spent sooooooo much $$. Had to restrain myself and only buy what I "needed" HAHA. I bought a few dresses in smaller sizes to save for next spring. Picked up a few things for my sister, my Mom even got in on the action and bought 2 skirts. Drove to their house at Dauphin Island and got here about 10pm. Good thing, my DH and Dad were getting a little worried about us. It was late, foggy, etc but nothing stops a girl from buying Lilly for 70% off plus an additional 50%. :-)

Hope everyone has a SAFE and HAPPY HALLOWEEN tonight. We are hanging in, not big into Halloween partying and since we don't have children to dress and run around we can relax. It's too cold anyway! (Yes, I'm a wimp!)

P.S. Planning to hit the pavement for my 4 miles when I think I won't freeze to death!

Walgreens Trip - FREE + Money Maker of $3.54

Many of you have asked me about the couponing and saving $$ while shopping. This is my 1st post trying to explain, so please forgive me in advance if I make it confusing. Feel free to ask me ANY questions.

For those new to shopping at Walgreens, they have "free" items weekly or monthly. You can find them in the ads that come out in your Sunday paper or are in the store displays. You buy these items with out of pocket $$ and then earn "register rewards". The RR's you can use at Publix in Fairhope to reduce your out of pocket total at the register OR if your grocery store doesn't accept RR's, you can use them to reduce your out of pocket expenses on your NEXT Walgreen's trip. To use the RR's at Publix in Fairhope, if you have more than one, then must all be from a different manufacturer. The manufacturer is printed on the bottom of the RR. I am going to insert a picture so you'll see the Register Rewards also.

Here's what I purchased and any coupons I used:

(1) Dulcolax Balance $7 ($3 coupon attached to bottle in store - plus you earn $4 in register rewards - FREE after coupon and RR's)
(1) Fiber Choice 10 ct. $2.49 (earn $2.50 register rewards, makes this FREE)
(1) Super Polygrip Denture Adhesive $2 (earn $2 Register rewards, makes this FREE)
(1) Chap Stick Fresh Effects $2.99 (earn $3 Register rewards, makes this FREE)
(2) Trident Layers Gum sale 2 for $2 (earn $1 Register rewards, used internet coupon $1 off 2. Internet coupon available here:

Total Spent Out of Pocket $13.96
REGISTER REWARDS EARNED $12.50
THERE IS A $5 MAIL IN REBATE FOR THE DULCOLAX - It was also attached to the bottle - I will submit for that and then my total out of pocket spent -$3.54 so I made $$

You may ask - WHAT in the WORLD am I going to do with Poligrip, ChapStick (most of you know I'm the lip gloss queen), Fiber Choice, etc??? Well, I plan to donate any item that cannot be used by me or someone in my family/friend circle. Nursing homes, churches, battered womens shelters, orphanges, these places would ♥♥ to have your donations. So I made $$ and I've helped someone! I'm happy with that!

Random $$ Thoughts

File this under the category of "shopping justification"...........Does anyone else think it's "odd" to coupon like a wild woman, save big $$ at the grocery/drug stores, and still think it's ok to spend $150-200 on a dress??? Yep - that's me. Can't say I'll ever get over it. I used to live in places where shopping was a lot easier - Nordstrom, Sephora, Belk, Saks, etc. I love those stores! Life is much easier now, no traffic, no office politics, but I've been reduced to ordering online from those stores. It has stopped me - at least a little bit.

Here We Go!

WOW! Didn't think I would ever do this............today is my first post on the new blog. I have thought about doing this for quite some time, but have been somewhat scared to put it out there.

First, let me say this. I have struggled with my weight my ENTIRE adult life. Lose 10 lbs., gain 15 lbs., lose 20 lbs., and then gain 25 lbs. I come from a family where we cook, and we like to eat. We're from the South - duh! :-) Food has always been a reward - not a means of gaining nutrition and full for your body! They say you can't blame who you are on your background, but I believe it certainly helps shape your life. Before you think, oh well she probably gained weight when she had children.........um NO I don't even have that excuse. No children around here.

Well I woke up on my 39th birthday this year. I had to face it - I was a size 16. Just about everything I owned didn't fit me. I could barely stand to look at my body when I got out of the shower and lotioned up every day. I had no IDEA how much I actually weighed, and was scared to look. I decided THIS would be the year. I would NOT turn 40 overweight!!! I didn't want to be winded going up 16 stairs! I was sick of having all those gorgeous clothes and not being able to wear them! So I went to dinner with my family, had a great meal. Woke up the next morning and started trying to change my life.

I'm not going to lie - it's HARD. Some days are good, it's pretty easy to exercise and eat right. Some days are awful hard, and I fall off the wagon and feel discouraged. But next August is right around the corner, and I want to be a size 6 when it gets here. I could care less about the number on the scale. I really don't weigh myself very often. I did weigh yesterday and so far I've lost 20 lbs. Join me as I try to lose the next 20!