i can hear them laughing. a day after i posted about my tarte experience at sephora, they’re having a friends and family sale – 40% off plus free shipping over $40 and a free gift….

and i thought i was going to save some money by waiting until later. aaahhh…i guess not.

i wore the sample the SA gave me yesterday and today. i am loving this! i’m giving myself until the end of the week before i place my order. if i do not break out by then, i think i’m good. LOL

anyway, if you guys want to check out tarte, the sale will last through august 9th.

http://www.tartecosmetics.com

my awesome co-workers were so thoughtful that they threw me a surprised baby shower today! i was really surprised and there were so much food but atlas, i was too excited (and yes, surprised) to eat much. if you remember, i mentioned i was going to decorate the baby’s crib in the fisher price rain forest theme? they got me that! how super wonderful of them! *hugs* i can’t wait to set up the crib and put everything on.

fisher price rain forest crib set, blanket, plush throw, waterfall soother, & rolling piano

a large handmade diaper bag from my awesome co-worker debbie. it is so beautiful! comes with matching changing pad.

various outfits for the baby

a one-of-a-kind handmade crochet baby blanket from kathy – it’s so soft and just beautiful! has matching booties! various plush musical toys and accessories.

today, i also did my first ever coupon-shopping at walgreens! it went smoothly too. here’s what i bought:

huggies pull ups (55 count) 2 @ $9.99 each

kids essentials chocolate milk 1 @ $9.49 each

coupons used:

walgreens $5 off $25 (-$5)

huggies 2 Q’s (-$6)

kids essential 1 Q (-$5)

total out of pocket with tax: $14.78!

that’s a great deal considering we were buying huggies from costco at about $38 for 88 pull ups.

here’s a coupon from jcpenney – go here to print it

good until june 2nd, 2009.

thanks to slickdeals.net

first off, go here to get your $5 off a $25 purchase at walgreens. hurry, may 20 and 21st only!

i would really really love to get away from using paper towel or paper napkins. granted, we don’t use a lot but james like them. i’m shopping around and am going to get some paper napkins for meal time. i think i have enough towels already. it would be really nice not to have to buy paper towels – they’re about $15 – $18 a bundle at costco. i saw a mama on etsy listing 28 dyed cotton napkins / towels for $40 incuding shipping. that comes out to about $1.43 a piece. i’m thinking i may be hitting the buy button soon.

photo from small wonder wipes

talking about un-paper towels, i bought some cloth wipes for my baby. i do not like disposables wipes and have never use them with my first 2 girls. with jaelynn, we used paper towels wetted at each change. yea, can you believe that? i don’t want to go there this time. i have a custom order for (24) 8×8 sherpa / velour wipes of assorted colors. they are neat huh?

disney’s got a upcoming animated movie called “up” that’s opening nationwide may 29th. we saw the trailer and it look super cute. my girls can’t wait to see it too. just watch the video clips!

we don’t normally plan movie nights but this time, we’re planning to watch this one. so i was looking for free movies online and stumbled upon this site: checkoutfree. sign up for one of their free trials and get 1 free movie ticket. good thing i found that because trialpay is no longer offering fandango tickets. bummer.

or if you don’t want to mess with trials and have a visa signature credit card, you can buy a movie ticket and get 1 free. go here to purchase from fandago.

lastly, enter to win free tickets to a VIP screening of the new “terminator: salvation” in a city near you. go here to enter

enjoy the movies!! thanks to slickdeals!!

first off, here’s a $10 off coupon for any $50 purchase at walgreens – now through may 2nd. enter code WONDERMOM at checkout.

the simple living guide

clear your clutter with feng shui

creating sacred space with feng shui

i finished reading scaling down, and clear your clutter with feng shui. the latter is a very good read, has great tips, and is very interesting how everything connect together. i’m going to reserve her book, creating sacred space with feng shui. now, i’m starting the simple living guide.

we’d gone through just about everything in the garage and have more donation items that we need to drop off.

i have greatly reduced the amount of clothes faith, jaelynn and i own. now, they have a very reasonable stash, and just the things that i know they will wear and fit. anything that was stained or doesn’t fit right were thrown away or goes in the donation bag.

i decluttered some cupboards in the kitchen – most of them are fill with dishes anyway – so that i left alone. the old spices and seasonings we no longer use or never liked went in the trash. i feel so much better with everything and feel like i have a lot of time each day. i’m starting to get an idea how content and free i feel with everything neat and orderly. sure, i was content before but this feeling is slightly different. you’ll have to experience it to know for yourself.

my next steps are the bathrooms – although i sorta declutter them a bit already. and the last step is my skincare and make up stuff. most of it is going to trash because i don’t care for them. you should see our walk in closet! i mean that in a good way. it’s clean and tidy.

i also didn’t just threw the clothes away; i cut and made a bunch of shirts into cloth rags. 2 goals i have for us in the next 2 months (until we’re out of our current supply of paper towels and water bottles) is to be paper towel-free and water-bottle-free. that’s going to be a big step for james but i feel we can make it work. therefore, all the cloth rags that we’ll need for the transition; by cutting these shirts into rags, we won’t have to spend money to buy any re-usable towels.

another coupon from bath and body works. perfect for mother’s day.

get $10 off your purchase of $30 instores, now through may 11th! go and buy mom something nice.

click here to print coupon

coupon won’t work online, but you can get free shipping on purchases over $65 – use coupon code FREESHIP65 at checkout.