Wake Up Light - Go Buy One

Let's talk about wake up lights. In case you don't know, a wake up light is an alarm clock with a built in lamp that gradually brightens in addition to the typical alarm sounds. According to many studies, the human body prefers to sleep and wake in sync with the sun but modern work schedules prevent that. In the winter this disconnect can cause tiredness or even depression.

I have always been intrigued by wake up lights because I am a terrible morning person and would sleep all day if I could, particularly in the winter when the sun makes itself scarce. The final push I needed was my new running schedule (first thing in the morning, 3 days a week). As the days got shorter I found it increasingly difficult to get out of bed or have any motivation to exercise. With the many binge-eating opportunities this season - the state fair, my birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas - this was no time to fall off the wagon. So I put a wake up light on my birthday wish list and my hubby obliged me.

I went with the Philips Hf3470/60 model, available from Amazon for $70. There are a multitude of wake up lights on the market, but I chose this one because it is inexpensive, sleek, and had good reviews. Some of the more expensive models have additional features but I didn't think they were worth the extra cost.

These two promotional photos were pulled from the Amazon listing and give a good illustration of what this light looks like. What? You don't look that happy and gorgeous when you wake up?

This light is very bright and does a wonderful job of gradually waking me. The light has adjustable brightness and will go from 'off' to your selected brightness in the 30 minutes before alarm time. The light is so bright it even helps wake up my husband from across the room - no need to buy one for each of us. You can also add an alarm sound - beep, birds, or radio - that you can snooze. The only downside is that, like a typical alarm clock, you have to remember to turn on the alarm each night. It's not a deal-breaker but I had gotten spoiled by the programmable alarm clock on my phone, which I still use as a back up.

This last shot shows the light at home on my nightstand. All-in-all I would highly recommend a wake up light in general, and the Philips model specifically. I have only been using it for a week, but I am already in love. Anything that helps me drag my butt out of bed is a sound investment for me.

NOTE: no one paid me or perked me for this review. I selected this wake up light based on my own research and all opinions are my own. It makes me happy so I thought you guys might want to know about it.

WTF

I recently bought a very large stock pot from a certain housewares store. No big deal, I just needed something big enough for making marinara sauce.

I got home and un-boxed the pot to find out that it was less than new. Discoloration, spoon scrape marks on the bottom, and smudges all over the lid. Who does that? Who buys a piece of cookware, cooks with it, and then returns it? Weird.

In the end I decided to keep it because it will look worse than that after one batch of marinara sauce. And really, it's no different than borrowing a pot from a friend but it disturb me. Come on people, you know better.

When In Rome, Go Thrifting?

Our family has escaped to the beach for a week and yesterday my mom and I had ourselves a thrifting adventure while the men-folk had their afternoon naps. I admit thrifting is not the first thing most people think of when they hear "beach trip" but when I get the urge to thrift, it must be satisfied. I grabbed a few gems, which you'll get to see in a later post, but today you get to see the lovely items I had to leave behind. *sniffle*

One of our stops was Deja Vu which had some quirky little knick knacks, but was mostly nice antique (i.e. out of my price range) furniture. Before I even walked in the door I spotted this chair and promptly fell in love.

Between the wicker body and the curvy tube legs I fell hard for this guy. The seat cushion was a little grungy but that's to be expected for old furniture. At $90 it wasn't exactly a steal, but doable for a vintage chair with character and in good condition. But, it failed my (husband's) major shopping test: where will we put it and do we actually need it? No on both counts - curse you tiny house with adequate seating! - but it didn't make it any easier to walk away from.

Just inside the door I found yet another chair that I was pretty sure I needed.

It doesn't immediately seem to match my style but it was just so sculptural and striking. Plus the stripes were way cute. It was even more impractical bigger than the first chair AND more expensive, costing an imposing $175, so yeah, it didn't make the cut either.

Buried in the middle of the showroom (thus the wonky photo angle) was the granddaddy of all mid-century furniture. I call it the granddaddy because it's freakin' huge! It's as tall as me and about 12 feet long. Yowza!

It was deliciously leggy and it would hold so much stuff! I really, really, REALLY wanted to justify buying it for our master bedroom (which is technically finished in terms of furniture) but A) it would dwarf the room and the other furniture, 2) there is no way we could get that home with a van full of beach-going cargo, and D) it was $650. Again, not outrageously expensive for what you're getting but still more than I happened to have in the change jar at the moment. Drat. The last treasure I left without buying (or photographing) was a set of mounted bull horns. Why do I want them? I'm not exactly sure. But I just might stop by the store again on my way out of town to make them mine.

After failing horribly at my 'No Chair Left Behind' program, we moved on to Seahorse Antiques. This was one of my favorite types of thrift stores - one big space with smaller booths stocked by individual vendors/consignors. I like this set up because the various sellers guarantee an assortment of items in term of style, price, age, etc. Once again I was struck with chair envy when I stepped through the door.

Maybe it's because a certain super-blogger was just on the hunt for an egg chair, but I was immediately smitten by this chair. What can I say? I'm easily influenced. As fun as this blue vintage chair is, it is the mayor of "I-have-no-room-for-this-ville" so it stayed put.

Like I said, I ended up bringing a few goodies home with me, but you won't get to see them until they're in their new habitat.

Do you like to go thrifting on vacation?

Going to Best Buy on Tax Free Weekend Will Test Your Faith in Humanity

Several weeks ago the hubby and I decided we should replace my aging, decrepit laptop with an iPad. First it was slated to be a birthday gift (meaning not until October) but when we remembered Tax Free Weekend was only a week away we decided I could get my present early.

Of course everyone else in the world was on the same page as me. Who DOESN'T want to fight crowds just for the chance to save 7%?

As soon as we arrived we discovered I would have to stand in line if I wanted my precious iPad. Yes, it's kind of lame but as someone who was worked in retail, more than once, I get it. It's not in anyone's best interests to flood the sales floor with a bunch of customers with not enough sales people to answer their questions. Better to pair each customer with a sales person to make sure everyone gets fast, efficient service.

Yeah, tell that to the jerk in line behind me.

He was complaining to his mother, very loudly, that this was crap. "I don't want the tour, I don't want the song and dance. I've already picked the damn thing out. I know what I want! I just want to go to the shelf, grab the box and pay for it." I wish I could says I was exaggerating for effect but he really did whine that much.

A woman with a clipboard came over and asked everyone what they planning to purchase, presumably to make sure we were in the right line. Everyone else just murmurred what they were getting but jerk wad started in again "I don't want the tour..." "Sir, your associate will take you right to the item." "I just want to go to the shelf, grab the box..." "Sir, there's nothing on the shelf. We get it out of inventory for you." Etcetera, etcetera. Then he starts complaining that this is a terrible way to treat customers and I'm thinking "You're a terrible way to treat people." After clipboard lady leaves he starts venting to his mother again, "This is ridiculous, I'm never shopping here again."

Sir, let me tell you a secret. When a difficult customers plays the "I'll take my business elsewhere" card the staff have to act disappointed because you're still a customer, but as soon as you leave they "Good! Glad I never have to see THAT asshole again."

When it was my turn I was a good little sheep. iPad. Yes, I want a case. No, I don't want an extra warranty. Done and done. The process was painless, and if the guy had just shut up long enough to look around he would have seen that.

Also, if you want to browse at your own pace and not be herded like cattle, DON'T SHOP ON A BUSY SALES DAY. Duh. If you want to save your hard-earned money you have to get in line with everyone else, but please be quiet about it.

[end of rant]

Did you shop during the Tax Free Weekend? Get anything good?

Soda Stream

Nothing too dramatic today, I just wanted to tell you about a product that I love.

Recently I picked up a Soda Stream machine from a fellow Freecycler. I assumed it had to be broken because who would give one away that works? Well, that lady would, apparently. It needed a good cleaning after having sat in her storage room but other than that it worked perfectly. Luckily there's no electronics or moving parts so sitting in less-than-ideal conditions can't really hurt it. Long story short, I love it. I'm a big soda drinker at home and I love that this saves money and the waste from soda bottles and cans. My favorites are the fruity sodas but they have pretty convincing standard flavors (Coke, Dr Pepper, etc).

OK, I admit it, I don't have a real Soda Stream. It's a Soda Club and it looks almost exactly like this one:

After a little internet research I found out that several years ago Soda Club changed their name to Soda Stream - no idea why - and updated the look of the machine. Since they're essentially the same product the current soda bottles and carbonating cartridges fit my old unit so I could care less what it looks like. I just like being able to make my own soda at home. The units start at around $100 and if you drink a lot of soda it would pay for itself pretty quickly. Fortunately I got a head start by getting my machine for free. God bless Freecycle.

Any products been changing your life lately?

As usual, no one paid or perked me for this opinion.

So, I Just Spent $113 on Shampoo and Conditioner

That's not an exaggeration for the sake of being dramatic. I really did just drop over a hundred dollars on 2 bottles of stuff for my hair. Just typing that makes me feel like I'm guest posting on Goop.

I just found the best leave in conditioner for my hair. It's hand-made by blind monks using the tears of free-range goats and the silk of endangered silk worms. At $40 an ounce, it's a total bargain.

OK, it's not that bad. But it's close. Last week when I got my hair cut the stylist gave me some samples. Of course she did. I took them home and fell in love with the stuff. Of course I did. I looked it up on line and it was $20 for an 8.5 ounce bottle. You're kidding me right? For the math nerds that's $2.35 an ounce. Mucho pricey.

After some digging I found a (semi-sketchy) website that was selling the same bottle for $13. At $1.53 an ounce that's getting better but still way more than I'm willing to pay for shampoo. Then, lo and behold, I found the mother load. I can buy my beloved shampoo IN BULK. For the absurd price of $57 I could be the proud owner of 68 ounces of liquid gold? shampoo. But then I did the math and realized that's only $0.84 an ounce and Burt's Bee's, my hippie friendly normal brand is $0.80 an ounce. So that got me officially out of crazy person territory. Sort of.

I bit the bullet and ordered the tubs o' shampoo and conditioner.

PROS:
I love the way it makes my hair look and feel
it's organic and sulfate free
it should last me a year or two

CONS:
$114 dollars? Are you freaking kidding me?

It still feels strange to spend that much on something so frivolous, but I don't color my hair and I don't spend much money on styling products or make-up, so it should even out. And (I keep telling myself) it's not that expensive, it's just costly to buy it all at once.

Am I crazy?

Motivation

I just bought a cheap ipod shuffle from Ebay to use when I'm running. Can you guess what I named it?

I already have an iphone (and the hubby's old iphone that I use as an ipod) but this one is nice for running. Yeah, yeah, first world problem. Don't judge me - it was only $10. I like it because I can just clip it to my bra* and go. And if it helps me be more active, that's money well spent.

*Let's be honest - it's too effing hot to wear a shirt when I run.

Mantle Gets A Makeover... Twice

This is a prime example of how terrible I can be about blogging regularly. When I wrote the first draft of this post it was shortly after New Year's and I had just packed away the holiday decorations and given my mantle a new look for the new year. Well, it is now April and I have since tweaked the mantle design. Ideally I would have posted about each layout on its own, but it feels wrong to write a whole post about what my mantle used to look like so I'll include them both in one post. Consider it a freebie.

Here's what the mantle looked like for Christmas. A little holiday cheer with lots of simple neutrals. Riveting stuff but let's jump to the present, shall we?

MANTLE 2.0

This mantle-scape is a little bland but serviceable. I was trying to go for quirky and (believe it or not) asymmetrical. But looking at the photos, this is anything BUT asymmetrical. I have true symmetry on the ends and in the center, with what I can implied symmetry in between. And above it all is my winter wreath. I didn't design it this way, but the wreath has nothing going on in the way of Christmas or snow, I figure it can hang around for a bit.

On the end I have a wicker votive holder that I grabbed before Christmas and a glass hurricane with some tall, elegant sticks. The hurricane was originally bought to use at my wedding reception and the sticks are from - where else? - my yard. Only losers pay money for stickly vase fillers.

My next mini-vignette has a short stack of vintage National Geographic mags, an owl that was my great-grandmother's and a vase with pennies in it. Why pennies? It's because my great-grandmother (the original owner of the owl) had the nickname Penny and I thought it would be a nice little tribute. I'm a sucker for unique and sentimental decor. I got the idea for using National Geographic magazines as decor from Apartment Therapy a while back and it was just a matter of time before I snagged some on Freecycle.

On the other side I have another wicker votive and stick-filled-hurricane - twinsies! - that add balance and symmetry.

This mini-vignette has more National Geographics, an empty vase (from a thrift store?) and a stack of rocks that I stole brought home from a beach when we went to the west coast a few years ago. For added stability I glued the rocks together with some clear liquid nails. Those rocks aren't splitting up anytime soon.

In the middle I have the pair of check-envelope prints I made last summer and this silver-toned peanut my mom got for me at an estate sale.

Like I said, it wasn't hideous or anything, but it wasn't as dynamic as I was shooting for.

MANTLE 2.1

Before I show you the new mantle design I want to start with the cast of characters. Partly to heighten your sense of anticipation, but mostly because I don't want to write things the same way twice. It's all about me.

New Players:

blue ombre vase I just snagged from Home Goods for $7

sterling silver Jefferson cup my parents got as a wedding gift

white vase, also from Home Goods for $7

mercury glass bird on it - $8 from Home Goods

Returning Cast Members:

holiday wreath

wicker votive holder (still using two of these)

just one hurricane full of sticks - the only difference from before is I doubled up on sticks and vase filler (which is uncooked rice, by the way)

vintage owl

estate sale peanut which - surprise! - is a storage box (nothing in it just yet)

stack of rocks (and the same National Geographics)

Mini-Vignettes:

I paired the new vase with the vintage owl because I liked how the vase pulled out the blue details on the owl. And those two play nicely with the glass hurricane and one of the wicker votives.

On the other side I sat my cheerful little bird on the magazines, put more sticks in my new white vase and filled in the little spaces with my west coast rocks and the other votive.

In the middle I centered one of the envelope prints under the wreath and flanked it with the silver peanut and Jefferson cup. Then I just added 2 glass vases I've had for years because they fill the space nicely without being visually intrusive. I haven't added the pennies back in yet, but I'm trying to figure out where to put them. Maybe in the vase behind the peanut?

And now, the big reveal...

ta-da!

Much better, right? I just love this arrangement. It's balanced without being so on-the-nose symmetrical. I think putting all the magazines on one side went a long way toward creating more visual interest. I also like how the two stick arrangements have such different shapes. I can't take credit for that - it's all because one vase has a bigger opening than the other - but since I'm the one that picked the vases, maybe I can take full credit. I still have one big craft project up my sleeve that will eventually replace the wreath, but for now I think the mantle is pretty settled. I'm not one of those people that likes to shake things up by swapping out decor all the time so the mantle will probably look like this for a while.

We're almost done here, but I can't let you leave without a backstage pass into my crazy. When I went to my yard to get more sticks the trees were wet from a recent rain which meant my sticks had to dry before I could put them on display. So what's a girl to do? Hang some sticks from a laundry rack, that's what.

Stones May Break My Bones, But Sticks Are Great For Holding My Purse

Allow me to explain that bizarre title. I just got the Sticks multi-hook rack and I love it. Love, love, LOVE it. And for just $20 you should, too. The Sticks is designed by Umbra and sold at The Container Store (among other places). It easily ups the cool factor of my foyer by at least 50%.

When it's not in use I can return the pegs to their upright and locked positions and this coat rack could pass for some sculptural wall art. But when I need a place for my purse or hubby's lunchbox I just flip down a peg for some much-needed storage space.

With 5 operable - and strong! - hooks that works out to a measly $4 per hook. How could you not want one? If you were ever inspired to do something I did, this should be it. This is way cooler than crafting with the contents of your recycling bin.

I May Have A SLIGHT Shoe Problem

And by slight I mean crippling. I constantly feel the need for new shoes to satisfy some requirement that has cropped up, whether it's shoes for running, shoes for work or shoes for being sexy yet also in pain.

Most recently I decided I needed new shoes for my new on-my-feet-all-day retail life. I survived my first 3 months wearing only my Asics running shoes. They were (and still are) supremely comfortable, but I was getting a little tired of wearing the same pair of shoes every day. That's just not appropriate behavior for a shoe hoarder like myself. I had also been thinking that I wanted to get some tennis shoe sandal things* that still provided foot support and were close-toed for work, but that also allowed me to go sockless. Seriously, I HATE wearing socks when it's hot out. I've been planning on buying some work shoes for a while and it's a small miracle I held out this long.
*official industry term

Without further ado, allow me to introduce you to my newest acquisitions, which were all purchased at DSW:

J-41 Tahoe - $60

J-41 Dash - $60

Naturalizer Yarkona - $42 (on clearance, down from $75!)

Puma Imani Shimmer - $38 (on clearance, down from $70!) -- the link goes to the silver color, but I got the purple as pictured

 

When I buy shoes, I BUY SHOES. I mentioned I have a problem.

Now before you judge me for buying old lady, orthopedic shoes, I'm already judging myself a little bit. But, DUDE, they are so comfortable. When you're on your feet all day, comfort is key, so you make a few concessions on aesthetics. And I must say, for comfortable shoes they're fairly cute.

As usual, I am not of the magnitude to have sponsored posts. These are just shoes I own and adore.

To The Thrifter Go The Spoils

I had a little adventure at the thrift store this morning. I stopped by to make a donation, but I figured I might as well make a lap around the sales floor. Can't hurt, right?

My first find was a simple glass bowl that I snagged for a single dollar. As you can see from this (fairly awkward) photo the bowl is the perfect size for appetizers, candy, nuts, etc.

Next I strolled over to the basket bin - yes, that's a real thing - and I picked up this wicker basket, also for a dollar. He's quite handsome, but I think he might be more comfortable without all that fabric on.

Ahh, much better.

Within minutes of bringing him home, I put him to good use in the media cabinet.

 My new basket is the perfect size to hold hubby's x-box controllers and accessories.

He may already be pulling his weight in the practicality department, but he's doing some heavy lifting on Team Eye Candy, too. Look at that texture, the beefy handles, the shadows. Meow.

After I cleaned up in housewares, I headed over to the ladies clothes. I found two lightweight blazers for 5 bucks each, one red and one black. I am a serious cardigan junkie and, to me, a lightweight blazer is nothing more than a fancy cardigan. So consider me thrilled with these purchases.

I didn't realize it until I got it home, but the black blazer has some mismatched buttons; one per cuff and one on the placket. I don't know if that was original to the jacket or something the donor repaired, but trust that I will switch those out ASAP.

Since I can't help myself, I sifted through the tops, too, and look what I found for a measly 3 bones. The scoop neck is quite wide so it's a little immodest for me on its own, but it would be perfect under a gray cardi or black blazer. Now where could I find one of those? Heh.

Then on the way to the dressing room, I just happened to see a cute dress hanging on the end of the dress rack. I wasn't planning to even look at dresses but, come on, it was right there! And only four dollars!

I admit, it doesn't look that impressive on the hanger floor but it was very flattering when I tried it on. And even though the print may be floral or, even worse, butterflies I choose to believe it's just a twirly, abstract feminine thing.

Lastly, I couldn't leave without something for my little guy so I grabbed him some new pants for 2 dollars a pair. That boy is growing like crazy so I figured it was a good time to stock up on some clothes in the next size up. Moms, don't be afraid - or too proud - to buy your kids clothes at a thrift store (or yard sales). Most kids outgrow their clothes before they wear them out so buying secondhand is a great way to find practically new clothes for cheap. Cotton shirts and pj's may be a little pilled or worn, but more durable fabrics like khaki and denim tend to look brand new even after some serious wear.

So, that's my plunder. Have you scored any good deals lately?