Retail Therapy

There's nothing I like better than to go shopping on a Saturday morning, when I know I can just take my time because Kristen stays home with 'Daddy'. Jason had a couple of guys coming over this morning for a business meeting so I decided to 'pop out' for a couple of hours. I always ask Kristen if she'd like to come with me, but at this age she still doesn't care for shopping and prefers to just stay home watching cartoons for an hour til I get back.

Today I went off to Kirklands (one of my favorite stores) to use the $10 coupon I got online. Have you seen their new website mykirklands.com? You can go on there and see tons of home photos and get decorating advice from other home owners... it's really cool. I love browsing the pictures and taking a peak in to other homes (especially for ideas on how to decorate mine!). So, I thought I'd show you my 'buys' today - wanna see?

First off, my bargain buys... I've never used a 'reed diffuser' (to be honest I've never felt like spending the money on them) but I saw this one in Pier 1 today reduced from $15 to $3.98.

I like the shape of the bottle especially, the other ones you often see are more contemporary to me with the silver rim around the top. This came with a bottle of oil too but the scent was 'darjeeling tea'! Pier1 has a scent called Amber that was really nice but they were out of it. I will go back and get some of that probably next month when the lady said they'd be getting some in for Fall.

In the meantime I've added some of the 'tea' scent to the bottle and I'll see what it smells like in a day or too. It's hard to tell when you smell the bottle because it's so concentrated.

Next I bought these cute square paper plates and napkins from TJMaxx for a dollar each. I thought they'd be fun to use the next time we have our 'wine and cheese' tasting party ;-)

The napkins say "I support the four basic food groups.... champagne, cabarnet, chardonnay, merlot! Then I headed to Kirklands. . . bought these candle sconces to go on either side of my poppy print:

The wall looks almost white in this picture, but it's more of a soft yellow/cream. Here's a close up of the candle holder. . . (I need thin candles to go in them still)


I wanted two of these candles sconces (below, on sale for just $12 each) but there was only one left, so I got it anyway and put it on this corner wall in the dining room:

I think I will add some small things either side of it at a later date (not sure what though), or would you just leave it like this? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I also bought a pretty print to go alone with the other one of poppies (I couldn't resist it at just $11)....

Here's a close-up (couldn't get it without the glare I'm afraid)...

I'm thinking a dark wood shelf under this would be nice so I can add some accessories. I also am still working on what to put up as window treatments in this room.

So, that was my fun morning out. Now I'm just pottering around the house (and doing a little knitting) while Jason works this afternoon (from home). What are you up to?