Target Haul

I've been more motivated to save $ since Zach and I moved out on October 30, 2011.

We've been settling into our new place and love it. Marley had some trouble adjusting, but he loves his new home now. I definitely have a lot to update.

In the mean time, I've just been told I'll be the maid of honor for my BFF whose wedding is in August. That means I'll have to start saving even more money and try to budget myself to get gifts and other things that I'll be planning for her.

I hit up Target this week and noticed their cosmetics had a lot of items on clearance. I decided to take advantage and stock up to use these items for goodie bags and prizes later for her bridal party and other friends and family.

Although it was still a lot of money for me to spend, check out my savings! I think it was worth it.

It all started with me going to look for Olay moisturizer for my mom. It ended up being the best deal I found! I bought 3 bottles that had a bonus facial cleanser with it. Each of them were on clearance for $4.77 and I had a 2/$3.00 off coupon, so I paid about $3.77 for each bottle!

The Buttery Leather

The gorgeous A. Wang brenda zip chain bag that retails for $725 and the Converse One Star crossbody bag at Target for

$19.99.

The latter is faux leather, but surprisingly has that super soft leather feel to it.

i ate too much

my 4 little cousins came to the bay this past friday to join us in our non-stop weekend of activites. on saturday, we went to six flags marine world. zach's company held a picnic there so we got discounted tickets and free lunch. however, we still gave in to the six flags food also and i ate some pretty good onion rings and garlic fries there. we did miss out on funnel cake so i was pretty bummed out..but also relieved i didn't get any since i know that would just throw my tummy over the edge, and by edge, i meant my pants.



on sunday, my family, incl zach and my lil bro's gf, and the 4 cousins, took my parents out for lunch in SF to celebrate their 30th year anniversary. we ate at the slanted door which is located right off the pier in the Ferry Building. the place is definitely overpriced, but the experience and the food made it worthwhile. the waiter was great, the vietnamese fusion style food somehow kept the vietnamese authenticity which my parents enjoyed, and they placed us in a sectioned off room in the restaurant where we all could hear each other (cuz the restaurant was packed). the atmosphere was relaxed, but still felt high end. my cousins thought the restaurant was fancy, but then again, they've never eaten in SF before. i would definitely go back again...but with a smaller party since gratuity alone for our tab was about $100. eek

***ty and i posing for pix while we wait for our food to arrive
i'm wearing richard chai for target (i went crazy for his collection)

***party of 14 ***2 out of the 3 appetizers: daikon rice cakes and imperial rolls aka egg rolls (my favorite)

***1 of 2 dessert trays

***zach and i about to eat the 2 of 2 dessert tray

***the cake we got for our parents
***view from outside the restaurant (and our group pix minus ron and zach)

so after the lunch, we went to the zuchinni festival in hayward cuz ty had a performance there. you would think after such a big lunch, we would steer away from the heavy foods, but nope. as we walked around, we saw fried artichoke hearts and garlic fries, which i definitely indulged in. and then there was this:

on monday, i drove the kids back home, but before i did, i took them shopping for school clothes. they found a lot of great stuff. i kinda just helped them with their purchases by browsing around with them. the only item i got was a jacket for zach at old navy and a pair for jordans at the nike outlets for $40 bucks. not bad huh?

richard chai & my new boots

went out the other night to Palo Alto cuz one of my friend's BF had never been there. the two of them just recently moved to the Bay Area and Zach and I have been trying to take them out to explore new places. we went to a Mediterranean restaurant that had a belly dancer. it was a little awkward having her dance around since the restaurant was pretty empt y. i got to wear my new skirt from Tarjay...courtesy of Richard Chai. I got a few other things from his line. imma try to display them whenever i wear the other fits.

*in other exciting news. my sis and i came back from costco and there was a package for me. i thought it was my botkier bag, but it turned out it was my shoes that i ordered from nordstrom. my sister ended up getting the black version they had at the store when we went last week to order my boots (they ordered these from an east coast nordstroms since these were no longer avail online). here's how mine look.

<3 target

***selected old navy stores had a sale where they took 50% off clearance items. the white shirt was only $9, and that was one of the higher priced items i got that day. the bf and i definitely stocked up on stuff from that sale.

i am a bargain shopper 85% of the time. however, if i truly love something, i will definitely splurge. target helps me splurge less though (in terms of $$) and unlike some people, i appreciate and love the fact that they bring in top designers to help with their merchandising. i know other stores are bringing in top designers to help brand their products too (i.e. gap, payless, old navy), but target is the only place that gets it right for me. oh, and also the bitten line from SJP for Steve & Barry.

Some things I am (and will be) eyeing....

Botkier for Target:

the fuscia bag caught my attention online, but when i went to the store and looked at the collection, i ended up liking the smaller rose gold bag more.

i didn't buy any of these (yet).

Richard Chai for Target

I am an outerwear person. these 3 outfits are my favorite so far from what i've seen. i'm most excited to see the blue blazer and the dress in the second picture =)