things that make my heart happy

remember that song that "ren and stimpy" would sing, "happy happy joy joy, happy happy joy joy"? well that is exactly how i feel whenever i find a good deal, it's true, i am a total bargain shopper and i LOOOOOVE a good deal. tuesday allie and i set out to do a little shopping and came across one of the best deals ever, one so great it totally made my day. but before that, i should tell you that forever i have loved fiestaware, the colors, the weight, the simple style, the pretty latino dancing lady by the display, i don't know, it just makes my heart happy. it's expensive though, like $50 for one place setting and especially because i own beautiful, and functional pfaltzgraff that i love, i could just never justify spending that much money. so fast forward to allie and i's shopping trip on tuesday. we headed into kohl's and low and behold, they're having a sale, 50% off fiestaware! oh man, i started drooling right there in the store while doing the math in my head at the same time that i was rehearsing my sales pitch to rich about why i had to have these dishes. yes dear, dishes. i stopped by patsy's for a minute and found out that she had a coupon for an EXTRA 30% off, including sale stuff. ok, seriously, 80% off?! that's practically stealing the dishes, how could i pass this opportunity up of owning my own fiestaware that i've dreamed about all these years? i couldn't, i didn't. after a quick call to rich and visiting two kohl's locations to collect all the colors i wanted, i got $625 worth of dishes for.......$220!!! and i was singing, (really singing, that's not a figure of speech) on my way out of the store carrying all those glorious boxes. allie got into too, she unpacked and washed all the dishes and then took about a million photos of it all stacked nicely on the counter. my counter just looks prettier with all these cheerful colors adorning it. happy happy joy joy, happy happy joy joy, i love a good deal!

meatball breath

kristy and i made the ridiculous drive out to ikea today to find a few specific things for my house. i need a few new picture frames, a lamp, a small table to house a large plant in a corner and that's it i think. i ended up only finding a plant table that i liked, everything else was a bust! ehhh! can i just say though, how fun it is to hang out with kristy! last year we spent a TON of time together working on our school's fundraiser, we co-chaired the event together. we knew each other of course before this, but the biggest blessing that came from that event was a wonderful friendship that will last a long long time! the best part of hanging out with kristy is her honesty and all the laughter that seems to follow in our conversations. today i got a little taste of what the next few months getting gift baskets ready is going to be like and i am excited! not not so much about the fundraiser mind you, but the hanging out with kristy full-time part. we should have more than this year than last anyway because now we know what we're doing and are a little less stressed about the whole thing. and, after having lunch at the little ikea cafeteria, we highly recommend their sweetish meatballs, yum - except they gave ethan (and i can only assume me) bad meatball breath. so, eat them and then chew gum.

**can you ever find what you need at ikea?**

**have you tried ikea meatballs?**

**do you have friends from too much volunteering?**