shopping is not for the faint of heart

i'm here to talk about my favorite shopping websites. after moving to charleston from florida, i found that the shopping here left something to be desired wasn't that great was okay. i mean it's hard to compete with millenia and florida mall..hell, even volusia mall was better then what we got over here. so i'd never had to online shop before...now, i'm pretty sure our UPS guy knows me. we've chatted..he's got 3 kids and his name is ted. 

anyway, these websites below are not the ONLY places i shop - i still prefer trying stuff at a store but i can only walk into express so many times before im over it. have you ever shopped online? give it a try! most offer free returns so try it on at your house [at least this way if the jeans don't fit, you don't have to hand them back to the sales girl with a melancholy look and mumble something about them not working while you go drown your sorrows in an auntie anne's pretzel afterwords. not saying this has happened or anything....]

do you know any websites that i should check out? i'm always looking for help!

GILT

*awesome website. if you haven't heard of this or the one below, i am so sorry. you have to be a member [click the link above and sign up!] which is completely FREE and they send you an email everyday with their sales. you can get jewelry, jeans, dresses, shoes, baby stuff, trips, anything..for a discounted rate. now i'm one to do my research..so when i saw Black Orchid [love] was having a sale on GILT, i looked at a ton of other websites hoping to find something of a better deal...i couldnt..so i ordered two pairs and they are AWESOME. same goes with some jessica simpson and LAMB shoes i ordered from there. jewelry for christmas gifts. it's basically a legit, awesome website.*

HauteLook and Rue La La 

*both are the exact same concept as above. and to describe my morning routine...wake up, roll over, grab phone, check facebook, gilt, hautelook, rue la la. in that order. not lying. sign up! they are all free and you might find something that you love!*

Tobi 

*one of the best online shopping websites everrrr. SUCH cute stuff and great prices. they also run a special, 30% off new arrivals EVERY DAY. so you will ALWAYS get your fix. a lot of these clothes are all up over Pinterest. get addicted...please*

6 PM and Piperlime 

*shoes.shoes.shoes.shoes. need i say more? such great websites..please rachel zoe has her picks on piperlime...yes please*

LuLu's 

*this site has super cute dresses and shoes with a variety of price points..i obviously tend to go to the cheap stuff and there are plenty of options! like these? or these? or these? sorry. got distracted*

Nasty Girl

*a friend of mine actually told me about this website. i'd never heard of it before..but im in love! such cute vintage stuff and great prices on their new stuff. definitely boho but that's right up my alley!*

Shop Sosie

*a little bit "higher end" then the other sites. a little bit. definitely affordable. such cute stuff though but i try and limit myself on this website since it's super easy to spend a lot of money.*

Mango 

*SUCH cute stuff, really affordable. lots of trendy stuff. i seriously love this website*

those are the ones that i visit most often. besides your basic forever 21 and what not - which i don't go to that often [not because i dont want to, but because ours is far away]..all of these websites offer something for someone! if you have any sites you think that i should check out - please comment and let me know! i'm always looking for some new shopping places :) thanks guys.

-xoxo-

A

backyard dreamin'

Buying a new house is a PROJECT. We bought a 5 bed, 3 bath home in a great neighborhood about a year ago. There are always things that need to be "done" but the good news it's habitable. On top of that, we could house a few guests for awhile [with beds and everything!]. I have SO much to do on my "to do" list that it seems daunting. I literally forgot we even had a backyard until my lovely FIL bought us a beautiful patio furniture set with a fire pit to boot. There have been long talks about extending our little 10x10 concrete slab but nothing has been done as of yet.

 

What I would love to walk out to [a girl can dream...]

 

What I could walk out to [nothing crazy - definitely attainable]

 

 What I walk out to [ya....]

So needless to say, we have our work cut out for us. I love that we back up to a protected forest so they can never build there. DH is working on getting the grass "greener" aka I'm pretty sure he's using it as an excuse not to mow - but who knows. Our dog has torn that backyard up with his crazy running around so DH has filled in the bare spots and we are waiting [and waiting..and waiting..literally to watch grass grow]. I have a bunch of DIY projects in the works.

How cool is this? I want to do that along the back part of the fence. I need to amp up my wine drinking. Done and done.

We definitely want to extend the patio but until money magically appears then, we are going to take that bare area next to the house that used to have some pine straw stuff our builder used [which gunner ate within a day]...and we are going to put mulch to match the front. What do you guys think? Any ideas? I would love to hire someone to actually design a backyard space for us - it would be such a selling feature down the road [at least that's what I tell DH].

-xoxo-

A