A Little Getaway... Part 3

I promise this is the last post about this trip.  Here are the pics from the Botanical Gardens.  We were able to squeeze this in the last morning we were there before our flight left that afternoon.  Lucky for us the rain stopped that morning and we were able to get out and enjoy a little bit of the gardens in Golden Gate Park.

A Little Getaway... Part 2

While traveling up the coast we stopped at several spots.  We stopped in Jenner to eat some delicious food and see some amazing ocean views.  We also stopped in Point Arena to see the lighthouse, which was really cool... we actually got to go on a little tour and go all the way up to the top.  We stayed in a really cute Inn in Mendocino where we had our own little cottage with our own private yard and hot tub.  We also managed to travel up to Fort Bragg and visit Glass Beach.  Here are the pics from our little road trip up the coast.

 Amazing claw foot tub

 Isn't it just the cutest little cottage!?!

 Here was our private little yard.  Unfortunately, it rained a good portion of the time we were there so we didn't get to spend too much time outside, but I could totally picture eating breakfast out there on a sunny morning.

 Our little traveler

 Glass Beach... a long, long time ago they used to use this beach as a dump until someone got smart and realized that they shouldn't be dumping into the ocean.  After that they cleaned the beach up, but of course all the little pieces of glass were left behind.  Through the years the glass has been tumbled from the ocean and now the beach is covered in tumbled glass and rocks.  It really is so pretty.

A Little Getaway... Part 1

Last week we left Ella and Cameron with Andrew's parents and Andrew and I, along with Ashlynn, snuck away for a week in San Francisco.  Neither of us had been there, which we both found surprising since we both grew up in California.  We've really wanted to visit and the opportunity presented itself when Andrew's mom offered to come watch the munchkins for a week and Andrew's brother who lives in San Francisco offered to let us take over his apartment.  So even though I was very anxious about leaving my two older munchkins (this was really the first time I'd ever left them except when I go to the hospital to have a baby, but even then I get to see them every day), Andrew and I decided that it was a great chance to get away and spend some time together.  Of course Ashlynn and I are sort of a package deal and don't really go anywhere without each other so she got to come with.  Fortunately, Ashlynn proved to be a great traveler and I was even more thrilled to find out that at least one of my children sleeps while on vacation.  While we were there we pretty much did all the touristy things like the Golden Gate Bridge, Baker Beach, Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39 Sea Lions, Ghirardelli Square, Alcatraz, Botanical Gardens, drove up through Napa, rode the Cable Cars, visited the Cable Car Museum, lots of shopping and we ate lots of yummy food.  We also took a couple of days to go up the coast to Mendocino, which was gorgeous.  Surprisingly we still had some downtime to rest as well.  So there are a lot of pictures and I'll probably actually have to do a few different posts.  Okay, here it goes...

 Mmm... sourdough bread

Have You Seen This?

You have got to watch this video.  It is amazing!  I don't have a lot of musical talent, but I can definitely appreciate other peoples musical talent.  Josh Wright has a new CD coming out soon and I look forward to hearing more of his music.  I've heard he has a music studio in Salt Lake where he teaches music lessons.  I wonder how long the waiting list is...

Another "Frugal" Post

Here is my shopping trip this morning that I was so excited about and just had to post because I'm lame like that.  

I bought 55 items, saved $115.63 (72% savings) and only spent $47.50.  Needless to say I was a little excited about this.  I told you I was lame.

Since I'm doing another post about my frugal "adventures" if you can call them that, I thought I'd show you some of my thrifting trips lately as well.  I have always enjoyed thrift store shopping or "dumpster diving" as my dad so lovingly would call it.  Even as a teenager I thought it was tons of fun to go and by clothes and try to transform them into something else.  Lots of fond memories.  But, once I got married and was in college I felt like I didn't have time to go and really kinda forgot all about it.  Then once we started having munchkins the thought never even occurred to me to check out the thrift store.  I'll be honest, I sorta thought you couldn't by stain-free, still in decent shape, used munchkin clothes.  But holy cow, have I been wrong.  Of course with one child it didn't really phase me to go by clothes for her, but then the second came along and I started feeling that sense of dread when I had to buy clothes for both munchkins, it suddenly seemed very expensive and then of course with a third it's a whole new ballgame.  So I've started scouring the thrift store as often as I can to find super cute, name brand, clean clothes for my munchkins.  Now admittedly you have to dig through a lot of crap to get the goods, but when you do, it's totally worth it.  And now I don't feel like having a stroke when Miss Ella decides to drag her feet along the concrete scuffing her shoes to death while I'm thinking that I just spent $20 last week on those shoes, they're already yucky looking and they're never going to make it to Missy Ashlynn.  Of course, I still hate when she does that, but at least now I've only spent $2 on them.

 $11.00

 $20.00

 $3.00

 $8.50

This was bought at a consignment store during one of those sales where they give you a bag and everything you can fit in that bag from certain bins is only $8.50.  The total consignment store price for everything would have been $50.00 so I can only imagine what the original retail price was.

 My little model... this shirt was also from the above loot.

$21.00

The cute Osh Kosh jacket was $5, everything else was $2 a piece including all four brand new boys jeans from Kohl's.

It's definitely worth taking the time to scour the thrift stores in my opinion.