What A Deal

I love Swoozie's!!! If you've never visited, either in person or online, you're missing out. It's fun and fresh name says it all...it's a shop full of fun and fresh items, from stationery to monogrammed everything to Tervis tumblers to those great new Lilly Pulitzer paper and gift items. I've done most of my holiday shopping there this year. Now, they're offering one item at 50% off. through October 31st Simply enter code ENJOY50. That means you could get one of those adorable Lilly P coffee mugs for less than $10. I'm off to choose my stuff right now.

Great Deal at Tucker Blair

I absolutely love the needlepoint belts, headbands and key fobs at Tucker Blair. The best news is that they're celebrating Columbus Day by offering 30% off everything on their site today with the coupon code COLUMBUS. How cute are these needlepoint headbands??? They are actually on sale for $25 plus the additional 30% off makes them a steal. Check them out plus the other fun stuff and have fun shopping.

More Fun Giveaways

With Bonus Baby being sick today, I've had nothing but time on my hands. I've spent a lot of that time right here on the computer and stumbled upon a bunch of fun giveaways from fellow bloggers who are giving away some really cool stuff.

The Pleasures of Homemaking is a great blog full of wonderful ideas. Right now Manuela is giving away two books that sounds great ~ a copy of Tracey McBride's fabulous book Frugal Luxuries by the Seasons (Celebrate Holidays with Elegance and Simplicity on Any Income) and Jonni McCoy's Miserly Moms (Living Well on Less in a Tough Economy -revised edition).

Lauren Nicole Gifts has some great monogrammed preppy things. Right now, Lauren is giving away an awesome Vera Bradley purse. Visit Lauren Nicole Gifts blog here to enter the giveaway.

Another fun giveaway can be found at Mille Fleur. Cathy is giving away a great collection of items from Williams Sonoma. Click here to enter.

One of my best finds today was this blog that highlights all sorts of giveaways from artists and crafters on Etsy. You can enter tons of giveaways here. It's so much fun. Here's just one of the great giveaways I found on the Etsy Giveaway blog.
http://stuffundertwenty.blogspot.com/2009/10/giveaway-beautiful-functional-beautiful.html#comment-form

I Love Surprises

Today's been a day sprinkled with several little unexpected suprises...some good, others not so much...

• First snowfall in the Twin Cities.
• Bonus Baby woke up with a hacking cough, runny nose and fever.
• I found several winter accessories I thought were lost forever.
• Have to cancel date with Mr. Madras since BB is sick.
• Discovered the great "surprise giveaway" at Nautical by Nature's blog. Click here to enter.

Twins Win!!!

It's been a thrilling week of sports around the Twin Cities. The Twins played their way into a playoff game and beat the Detroit Tigers for the American League Central Division Title. Brett Favre led the Vikings to a huge (a slight understatement) victory over the Green Bay Packers. Half the town is hoarse from all of the screaming and cheering we've been doing nonstop.

Even though I'm not much of a baseball fan, I must admit that I've caught Twins fever right now...not just because they're a great baseball team with really nice, classy players...they've also got some really nice players to "watch." ;) With the Twins playing the Yankees now, here's the one matchup where the Twins win hands down.

Best Looking Baseball Stud

vs.
Minnesota's Joe Mauer easily beats New York's Alex Rodriguez as baseball's "hottest" player

GO TWINS GO!!!!!!

Dandy of a Deal

If you've never seen any of the adorable products from Barn Dandy's then you've really been missing out. Their vintage-inspired items like backpacks, luggage, lunch boxes, thermoses, tents, tv trays and so much more come in the greatest designs and fabrics. I often visit the website and just oggle all the great stuff. So imagine my thrill when I got an email today announcing their biggest three-day sale ever -- 50% off EVERYTHING in the store. People that's huge!!! Just enter BIGSALE at checkout in the promotion code box and your total cost will be CUT IN HALF! This is a great time to stock up on some holiday gifts. Their fun tv trays are only $24; the adorable backpacks only $17 and half off all their luggage makes a sleepover so fun. Check out Barn Dandy's today through Oct. 4 to get HALF OFF.

A Perfect Match

I was thrilled to see two of my favorite brands teaming up for what is sure to be a "slam dunk." Lilly Pulitzer and LeSportsac have joined forces and collaborated on an absolutely adorable collection of bags due out this spring. I've loved LeSportsac bags ever since high school when I saved up my babysitting money to buy a "must-have" wine colored purse. I'm still delighted when I stumble across a cute LeSportsac bag as I'm meandering through Marshall's or TJ Maxx. Trust me, I won't be waiting for these fresh and bright Lilly LeSportsacs to hit the racks of Marshall's or TJ Maxx. I'm sure I'll be paying full price so I can carry one of these cute bags asap. I'm starting to save my pennies now.

Preppy Pennies

Long time no blog. What can I say??? Life just seemed to get in the way…between juggling the lives of the Madras family; managing this whole house remodel project; and maintaining some sense of order and normalcy while we live in our little two bedroom apartment while the house is under construction. It’s been a wild and crazy ride. One of the more positive things to come out of all of this is that I’ve learned how to stretch our dollars and all while not really having to compromise the Madras family lifestyle. I’ve had so much fun uncovering great preppy bargains and discovering ways to do and get a lot for less that I just had to share. So, I am announcing the birth of my alter ego, Penny Prep. Penny Prep is where I’ll blog about the latest bargains and ideas we’ve discovered at the Madras house. Who doesn’t need to save a few pennies in today’s economy? As we began making all of the choices that go into remodeling a home, I quickly realized I didn’t want to have to sacrifice a Lilly shift for my kitchen sink fixture. I challenged myself – could I be frugal and wear Vineyard Vines at the same time? Is it hypocritical to carry clipped coupons in a Tory Burch tote? I’ve decided you can be a fun-loving, penny-pinching prep. Click on over to see how Penny Prep tries to accomplish just that.

Easter Bucket Fun

Count me in for a couple of these absolutely adorable Easter buckets from my friend Hazel. If you remember, she does those adorable monogrammed key chains and is such a talented artist. I was thrilled to see that she is going to be selling these cute buckets at her Etsy shop starting Friday afternoon and for only $25. How sweet would these look with your little chickadee's monogram? No doubt, these buckets would have tons of uses far beyond holding the Easter Bunny's goodies. I know that the Madras family will have a couple of these filled with fun on Easter morning.

Luck o' the Irish

It appears a little Irish luck headed our way today as we finally got a contract on our home in Texas and if all goes according to plan we'll close at the end of April. While I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch, we're cautiously optimistic about the sale. We can finally devote our full attention to our home remodel. That process is definitely going to be a learning experience. My first lesson is going to have to be how to majorly cut down on my "wish list." Unfortunately, with today's economy we didn't sell our home for as much as we thought so I've got to give some real thought to what I really want & need in our "new" old house.

The next few months we will be pinching our pennies so my trips to TJ Maxx and Marshalls will be few and far between :( . I've also got to think of some ways to make a penny or two... Should be an interesting spring...

A New Home

While it's no news to most of you I'm a very irregular blogger. Always seems there's more interesting stuff going on in other people's lives than mine...so I spend most of my time reading blogs rather than posting on my own. Add to that the fact that we have now moved and are working on getting settled into our new lives in Minnesota, you can see that my excuses abound. As I have tried to keep up with family and friends with news on our move, home renovation, etc. I decided the easiest way to do that was with a blog. So here's the scoop...I've started a new blog Raising the Roof that will chronicle our family's journey through the renovation of our 1300 square foot cottage. I hope you'll stop by and visit. No doubt, I will need your help with all kinds of renovating decisions from light fixtures to flooring to toilet bowls. Let's try and keep in touch.