Saturday, May 29, 2010

Shop first, ask questions later...

I've been shopping.....

Spring is just around the corner, Miles is turning 2 & we are preparing for the summer patio/camping season. So there is a lot to shop for (ask me anytime of the year & I can give you at least 2 reasons to shop...).

Here are some of my favorite purchases from the past couple weeks.

I follow the blog www.lifeatthestore.com religiously. For a couple of reasons: 1. The blog was started by a friend of mine who is an owner of the Home Hardware in Lloydminster. 2. The blog is awesome. It has great recipes, reviews, gardening tips & best of all, the 411 on all the great new products coming into their store. Herein also lies the problem: Lloydminster is about 6 hours from here. So, I save my pennies & look forward to May. This store is amazing. I can't even begin to tell you how lucky you'll feel to have discovered this gem (A Hardware store! In Lloyd!). I could spend an entire day here. There's a cafe for a good latte (and a kick ass chocolate chip cookie) & in the gardening seasons the garden center boasts an ice cream shoppe (with more than just boring old vanilla ice cream), live animals (Miles loved watching the goats climb on the roof of their house) & more healthy* vibrant plants than you can imagine. I am obsessed with this store (and not just because I know the owner.)

* I had to add that the plants were Healthy. It should just be assumed that a garden centre would have healthy plants but with every big box/chain store opening a so-called "garden centre" these days... it isn't so. Can you honestly tell me the staff at Wal Mart/Zellers/Superstore know anything about the plants they are selling, let alone how to keep them healthy? Unlikely.
Here are a couple of things I picked up on this trip (Sadly, after visiting & ice cream, I only had about 30 minutes to shop)

I got this little Gardening box as a gift for a friends daughter. It's adorable and a great way to introduce gardening to a child. It's fun for kids to watch things grow... but there's also some instant satisfaction for kids who can color cute little wraps for the Bio Pot container (pencil crayons are included!). And get this: The box turns into a play garden. Love it.l also bought Miles this sound puzzle from Melissa & Doug. I have bought him wooden puzzles in the past, but not the ones with sound effects. He loved it. He also loved the "How Do Dinosaurs..." books that I picked up for him. These books are great & the illustrations are impressive. Miles is really into dinosaurs right now so this is a great way to get him counting/learn his colors etc.

If I could buy stocks in these Floursack tea towels I would. There are some things in life that are so worth spending money on (like Glad Force Flex garbage bags...). THESE tea towels are one of those things. I know. You think your tea towels are just fine. You got 10 of them for $5 at Wal Mart. They suck. I know because I used them for years not knowing that there was something better, and not caring (I mean come one, they're Tea Towels for Pete's sake). Floursack Tea Towels aren't just nice to look at (the colors are beautiful) but they are the perfect size, super absorbent & they dry faster than regular tea towels. I've never felt so passionate about a Tea Towel (and likely never will again). Buy these.
I picked up a bunch more stuff at HH (they have fabulous candles, jewelry, bags & yoga wear.) including a great Sugar Booger day pack for Miles (ok, I got one for myself as well....). These bags are adorable & are the perfect size for little guys. Check out Sugar Booger's cute gear. I have the Weekender Bag & I love it.
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Miles Birthday is around the corner. He is so into Toy Story. And with Toy Story 3 coming out, the stores are filled with great merchandise. I was at the Disney Store today (I loooove the Disney store) and bought these. They are from the new Pook-a-Looz collection. Pretty freakin' cute huh? Shhhhh. Don't tell Miles, he won't get them until his Bday.



And my mini-spree wouldn't be complete without a stop at a scrapbook store. This time I hit up Pam's Photographs & Memories Scrapbooking. It's relatively new & I hadn't been there before. It's a small store but I love to support the 'little guys'. I picked up this embossed cardstock pad ($19.99) & I am pretty excited to use the embossed wood grain paper.

4 comments:

Lee-Anne said...

Love all the cool items you bought. The tea towels look fabulous and Miles is going to love his new Buzz and Woody. It makes me want to get Rick to stop on his way back from Fort Mac (LOL) and buy some stuff. It's a wee bit out of the way though LOL.

Tasha said...

Nice! A million hearts to you.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE those teatowels. I can't get enough of them. Plus, they are so big, Hannah sometimes tucks herself in with one to watch Elmo (ha ha). So glad you had a good time and found some things!

Jennifer DeWolfe said...

Those Toy Story dolls are stinking adorable! I'll have to look for those tea towels because I absolutely loathe mine.

kaly said...

Wow! Great shopping, girl!
I LOVE the sound effect puzzles by Melissa and Doug and the How Do Dinosaurs have been favorites for quite some time! We even were able to get one in board book form! Great for wee hands.

I remember using my grandmother's tea towels, fashioned out of actual flour sacs and prettied up with some embroidery. They were the best! I didn't know you could get a new version of the old make-do! I'll have to keep an eye out!