Happy new years!

I was taken quite by surprise when our IT team posted this for the new year.  It is our staff turned into cartoons/avatars!  I have never been turned into a cartoon before, I kind of like it! 

Can you guess which one is me? haha! 

I am at the bottom with the wavy hair and fur collar.  My company does really cool things with DNA and can help you find your ancestral past!  For more info go here.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Merry Christmas to all

via

and to all a white fluffy magical night!

How to: buy affordable flowers for your home

I love having fresh flowers in my home but I am a girl on a budget!  I can't afford to go crazy every week buying flowers that rival my grocery bill!

But I learned a little secret from a friend I want to share with you :)

Go into any flower shop, if it is a warehouse even better, and ask for how ever many dollars you want to spend in scraps.  These shops have scraps because of broken arrangements, snapped bases, etc.  If it is a small flower shop you may want to call ahead to make sure they have some on hand.  

For these flowers you see in the three pictures above I asked for $5 worth of scraps and this is what I got!

I know it isn't a ton of flowers, but for me a little splash of color and greenery in a few rooms is all I really need.  If you need more, you can always ask for more :)

These flowers lasted for two weeks because of the sugar I put in their water making my flower budget $2.50 a week!  I also displayed them in mason jars, and thrifted vases. 

That is lovely and cheap!

Quickbread in a jar.

I while ago I made these for gifts.  They are easy and fun to make and look really snazzy with a cute label too.  Go here to see how!

My first and best black friday deal

I must start off by admitting I never go to black friday sales.  Why?  Because I value my sleep more than a few dollars off anything.  

But this year when I caught wind of Anthropologie having a black friday sale, boy was I in!  An additional 50% off all sale was enough to tempt me out of bed bright and early. 

I was mainly looking for myself for Christmas when I found the Natalie Lete Galah Dress dress I had been stalking for months that had sold out eons ago still too expensive for me.  It was the only one left and fit me like a dream!

BUT!!!  Today it had been marked down from the original price of $178 to 79.95, then to 49.95 then an additional half off for black friday to make it $25.00!  

When I approached the register with a few other things the girl looked inside the dress commenting that the slip that goes with it is missing.  That is totally fine I said. . . I want it anyways.  

Well, that wouldn't do so she marked it half off of that making it $12.50 for a silk dress.  How do you like that!?  This may go down in history as the best black friday deal ever!