And then it happened...

Last weekend, was a weekend that pretty much changed our lives forever.  We had something pretty unexpected happen and with that... an enormous weight was lifted.

What happened?

Well...

• We paid off our credit card (BAZINGA!)!
• We set aside money to pay for childcare!
• We're getting very close to paying off our only car loan!
• And we each got a few dollars to spend on ourselves, our kids and our house, hoping to update things from all aspects.

 I'm not going to go into how this all came about, but we are thankful that it happened.  Basically, we lived with the bare-bones of our income for a long time, we "struggled" to do a lot of things, we also didn't do a lot of things and we only did what we had to do to survive this way... And now, we've put ourselves in a really great spot.  I didn't believe that we would ever get here and I never thought it would be this early in our lives.  But, we are here and it's really freaking awesome.

With this happening, my little shopping trip to use (only) my gift cards from Christmas, went from being a little stressful to only stick to those gift card amounts, to having a little extra to play with.  I made a list (duh) of stores I wanted to hit up, items I wanted to look for and then it was off to the races.

My list of things I was looking for or wanting to buy...

• Black boots (something that could be dressy & casual)
• Jeans (skinny and regular)
• Makeup
• Tops
• Tights
• Chamilia Beads

I started my day of shopping with my friend and little Emie.  We started at Bliss to buy a few Chamilia beads because they were on sale.  I don't like to buy them for myself and when I received this bracelet with Coen was born, I said that I really didn't want random beads, rather I just wanted beads that meant something to me.  Most of my beads are baby/kid related, but this time I did buy myself the camera bead because it was cute and because I'm really enjoying my camera right now.  Once we left there, we went to Ann Taylor Loft to check out their clearance racks.  We didn't find much, but I did buy a top there that was an additional 50% off!

From there, we were off to the mall.  Not my favorite place to go, but I had gift cards to Gap, JcPenney and Macy's... so hitting the mall was the only choice.  I knew that I wanted some boots so we went to Macy's first because they were having shoe sales too, I had my gift card and I had a coupon!  I tried to have them pull a few boots but unfortunately they didn't have my size.  Then I pulled a few more and they had my size in two of the three.  So I tried them on.  They were a smaller wedge heel, black and pretty close to what I would want... They had a few too make decor buckles on them for my taste, but I bought them anyway... knowing that I could return them.

From there, we had lunch at Panera Bread which was and is always amazing.

Then we went onto JcPenney.  My friend told me, going into this store that JcPenney was where it was at and that I needed to just give it a try.  I had a $25 gift card, so if nothing else I was hoping to spend it so that I didn't have to go back.  Right off the bat, I grabbed a handful of things, headed to the dressing room and then Emie needed to eat.  So, while trying on clothes and trying to be careful with Miss Emie and her snotty-ear-infection-not-keeping-her-meals-down-well self, I feed her in the dressing room, only to have her slip up down my back.  Luckily, nothing actually hit my back.  We clean her up, change her diaper, set her down and get back to trying on clothes.  My very patient, pregnant friend is locating the bathroom and then pacing around while I try on more clothes.

I grabbed a "fit and flare" black wool coat  for $45, two pairs of jeans for $20 each (what?) and a couple of wool sweaters that were of various cardigan styles.  After a couple rounds to the dressing room, I ended up buying these things and really only being VERY excited about the coat.

We leave and head to Gap.  They too are also having a sale with additional 40% off their sale/clearance items.  So we raid the sale racks and we both grab several things.  I end up with a corduroy skirt, a wool skirt, a dress (that is more like a moo-moo but thought that I could belt it) and a tank top with some large sequins on it.  I use my gift cards, pay for those items and by this time Emie is FREAKING out.  So, we call it a day and head home.

I get home, do a quick fashion show for the hubby, decide that I hate everything and end up keeping the top from ATL, the corduroy skirt and tank from Gap and the jeans from JcPenney.  I'm taking everything else back.  I just felt that while I liked most of those things that I had purchased, that some of them weren't really what I wanted and a waste of money and the others were just not a good fit.  The boots were just not that attractive once I got them home, so I decided to return them.  Then I decided to return all the sweaters I had purchased at JcPenney because it was just too much wool and we are quickly approaching spring.  And I'm returning the moo-moo dress because it looked worse with a belt and the wool skirt because it's wool.

The next day, my husband was looking at shoes on Zappos which triggered me to look at boots on there, too.  I found some that I really like and I cannot wait until they arrive!  Should be a few more days, now.

In other news, my medicines for ppd have been switched.  I'm not sure how much time I should allow before I might feel a difference, but today is a good day.  I think it has a lot to do with the worry of money being basically non-existent... I am totally sporting these new skinny jeans that help me feel a little more skinny than normal...and that feels really good too. I'm glad to be feeling really good.  It's a good day and I'm very glad.