Virtual Christmas Shopping

The Wednesday before Halloween I went into Target searching for Halloween candy and to my dismay discovered Christmas decorations littering the isles. Now...don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Christmas, not to mention Christmas music, but I can only focus on one holiday at a time. What about Thanksgiving? It seems as though we skipped right over that one. Anyway, this shopping experience was just a gentle (or screaming) reminder about all the Christmas shopping I had yet to do. I do love to buy gifts, oh how I do, in fact I often go a little overboard and feel the effect afterwards through depleted bank accounts, but I am a very busy girl and don't have much time for shopping (yes I said it, I don't have much time for shopping).

Typically I start planning on what I'm going to buy for my husband in August because I usually need to start saving by then (I don't own a credit card, it appears I have a bit of a healthy fear of them). Unfortunately however, this August I was still without a clue on what to buy for Nick (my husband) and because I am a full-time student, working part-time and doing an internship I have very little time or money to spare. Throughout the year I tried to keep my ears sharp for any hints on what Nick might want for Christmas, but this year I fell short and failed to come up with anything.

Then it happened! Nick started talking excitedly about this Spanish speaking software program called Rosetta Stone (jackpot!). For some reason he has always wanted to learn Spanish, he really likes the culture, people and language, which is very admirable. Needless to say, hip hip hooray! I knew what I was going to get Nick. But whoa was me when I discovered it came with a price tag of $539.00, that is correct, no typo here, that is $539.00. Eeeek! I basically counted that gift out, I was nowhere near prepared for that type of price tag. Bummer. Then one night out of boredom I decided to google Rosetta Stone and came across a DVD website that had Rosetta Stone priced at only...wait for it...$139.00! Can you believe it! So awesome! I mean I could definitely swing that, I already had that much in savings for Christmas anyway. But it gets even better people...FREE SHIPPING and HANDLING! Score! So I of course bought it! Great website by the way, it has lots of deals on all sorts of DVDs and CD Roms. Definitely worth checking out!




Now that Nick was mostly taken care of I could start thinking about the rest of the fam. I started with my sister-in-law Maria simply because I knew she would be the most fun to buy for. I mean she's a 30 year old who loves the color pink and collects Pandas, super fun right? Anyway, I thought it might be fun to get her some wearable pandas so I decided to shop ebay and found panda mittens and a matching hat (below). I haven't made the purchase yet, I thought I would engage all of your opinions first since they both carry a somewhat heavy price tag. Although my sister-in-law is 30 years old she doesn't look a day older than 22. She is very petite and cute, and dresses as young as she looks. So what do you think? Should I make the purchase? The hat is $50 and the mittens are $25.


















Since I interned again today my outfit of the day was business attire.



































Sheer Zebra Print Top: TJ Maxx
Khaki high-waisted linen/cotton trouser: Forever 21
Shoes: 6PM.com
Earrings: Target