A girl can never have too many purses!

Okay, I know this is a silly thing to blog about, but I have to tell you about this awesome sale that in all honestly, I just "happened upon" yesterday. I love it when that happens! =0) Well, truthfully, it was just a great day as a whole, so let me rewind. It was Friday. Fridays make me smile just thinking about them... they are my most anticipated day of the week, for no other reason then the fact that Brad is home and we are together as a family. He loves to cook and truthfully is way better at it than I am. So he takes the kitchen over, which I am totally fine with and I get the day off! Woohoo! Most of the time we try to keep the day really low-key so we can just unwind. But this Friday we had several things on the agenda: pictures for the kids, a meeting with our Realtor, a Costco run, a girls interns/youth staff mtg, and a long over-due trip to the Department of Licensing...Yes, it's been six months and I have never gotten around to changing my Idaho license back to a Washington one. It's just one of those things that have remained on my "to do" list! But when Brad found out that you legally only have 30 days to change it, and if you get pulled over you get a $500 fine, I decided I had procrastinated long enough! =0)

Anyway, after our yummy family breakfast, we hit the road running. Brad and Josiah took Reagan to school, while Madelyn and I showered and got ready for the day. As soon as the boys got back we piled into the car and headed to Alderwood Mall for pictures. Now, because Brad was with me, we were actually early, but today it worked out against his favor...the pictures were running late! Side note: Never be early for pictures, they are always running late... The kids were getting antsy, so we decided to walk around. As I was walkin g around I noticed signs everywhere advertising, "The Ultimate Shoe and Hand Bag Sale". Curiosity got the best of me, and I found myself browsing some stinking cute purses! It was about this time, that I had a flashback of the $100 worth of birthday money that I had never spent, and it had ultimately gone into the family general fund for bills, food, etc. When I mentioned this fact to Brad he ever so wittingly shot back, "Well, I think if 30 days have passed, and you've never spent it, you automatically forfeit that money and it stays in the family fund." Crazy Jokester. There was no way I was going to pass up this sale. Especially when I spotted this fun summer purse!

I had been looking for an orange purse all summer! My sister subscribed me to Instyle magazine (I think she knew I need some help!) and it said that orange is the best color to use as an accessory because it goes with virtually every color scheme. Sometimes, it can be overwhelming as an outfit, but it is perfect to use for shoes, scarves, purses, jewelery, etc. When I looked this summer I found a few cute ones, but I couldn't justify doling out $35-80 dollars on a purse that I would most likely not be using on a consistent bases. Okay, are you ready for the price? This purse was originally $65, marked down, marked down, and marked down some more... to $5.39! Yes, that would be FIVE DOLLARS and thirty nine cents! Perfect! I can totally justify spending five dollars on a fun cute summery purse. Orange accessory, check.

So of course after this little taste of a fabulous find, I was on a mission. Hmmm.. what other fun purses could I find? Well, there's this one:

Originally $62, marked down to $8.99! Totally cute, and a great size too, not too big, but not too small. Perfect size for diapers, wipes, and anything else a mommy needs in her purse. Now, I'm rolling, I've only spent $14 on TWO purses! When am I going to have the money and the time to go shopping for such cute purses again?... in my mind, never, so I better take advantage of it! So, next I found this one, and probably my most favorite!
So stinking cute! The only thing I'm not absolutely crazy about is the big buckle in front that says Genna de Rossi. If I could find a way to take it off and still have it look cute I would, but I think it's going to be staying. But hey, for a purse that was originally $72, marked down to $8.99 I can handle a big buckle in front. Besides, I love pockets, and this purse is pocket-happy! It has 9, count them, NINE pockets or pouches to put stuff in. Love it.

Well, now that I'm going crazy, my arms are loaded down with purses, and I'm walking around the store in circles like an excited puppy, Brad starts to catch on to the excitement. I had the three purses I was buying on one arm, and three more purses that I was trying to narrow down on the other arm. One super cute purple one (that I loved, but Brad said looked like an old ladies purse! Sooo did not!), a really cute, but too expensive green one, and then a clearanced fun summery green one. As I was hemming and hawwing over what to do, Brad decided on this one. And since he was starting to get excited about my steals, I was not about to put a damper on his mood! So the last purse he picked was this one:
Again, not crazy about the big buckle, but it's a fun color, and if I use it a handful of times, it more than pays for itself. The original retail price is: $60, marked down to $8.99. Wahoo! Soooo fun!


So the total amount I paid for all four of these purses should have been $259, and I only spent $32! Thirty two dollars on FOUR purses? Now, that's a good day! =0) To celebrate we used a gift card that we had to Romanos Macaroni Grill for lunch (free, again)! Where I had probably the best lunch in a long time! Some kind of penne rustica with shrimp, grilled chicken and smoked prosciutto in a cream sauce...mmmmm yummy! Good shopping and good food make for a GREAT day! =0)

And the fun didn't stop there. I still managed to make the dreaded stop at the D.O.L, and get my Washington State license, pick up Reagan from school, make a costco run, and come home right as an amazing dinner of chicken w/ marinara sauce, roasted potatoes, and salad w/ craisins, roasted almonds, and fresh blueberries was being served by my even more amazing husband! He's a keeper for sure!

Below are some cute pictures of Madelyn, who literally squealed, "ooooooOOOOhhh!" when she saw all the purses and immediately began zipping and unzipping all the pockets and walking around with them! She is definitely not our "girly girl", but she knows a good thing when she sees it, I guess! Here's some cute pics!
So excited to be surrounded with so many purses! The look on her face is priceless! I love it!

Which one should I choose.... hmmm...

I have two arms... why not both?!

Madelyn, like every other two year old, is totally into shoes, doesn't matter how high the heel, or if they're daddy's boots, she loves to walk in them! In fact, at the playground the other day a little girl took her shoes, off and immediately Madelyn sat down took her shoes off, and ran over to the other girls shoes, and promptly put them on! Which resulted in the little girl crying because she was worried Madelyn was taking her shoes home! =0)

Anyway, all this babbling to say, if you need some cute summery purses for next year, head to Penney's and catch their Handbag sale, it's awesome! And I think it lasts for the next two weeks! (But don't go to the Alderwood Mall, they're pretty much cleaned out, compliments of me!)