Mama Africa

I'm a sucker for a bargain. Always have been - always will be. I have even been known to travel great distances for a good bargain. So when I heard about "Mama Africa" - I knew I had to go.

Saturday morning Beckster and I headed down to a part of town I don't frequent very often (Read: never) because we had heard there were bargains to be had. What kind of bargain would entice me to take my own life into my hands? Oh - I don't know. Say designer knock of bags for $25- $30? Yes, that kind of bargain.

I had no idea what to expect. I was told "get off the interstate, travel down 3rd street for about 8 -10 miles. It's at the "old drive-in" (if that doesn't sound shady, then you don't know Memphis!). You can't miss it - you will see these huge African paintings all over the side of the road." niiiiccee.

So now, without further adue, I give you Mama Africa


At Mama Africa you can find some things that look like "smelling salts", African carvings, and Pants. (Fuchsia was also available, but somehow those didn't make it in the picture)




Need tires for your car? No problem - you can find those here too! Although I'm not convinced they aren't hot. I bet a set of my tires was sitting over there. But that's another story for another day


If you get hungry while shopping at Mama Africa - have no fear! Chicken wings are near!


If you bring the kiddies along, and they are tired from all the shopping they can play a fun little game -

And if the men in your life can't handle the bargains - they can head across the street for a little action themselves!



But alas - great purses were to be found. Between Beckster and myself, we got 2 Prada bags, 1 Coach bag, and 1 Chanel bag. All for $100.00!







Ben gave me a good talkin to later that day about how 2 girls do not need to be venturing to that part of town alone. Clearly he doesn't understand that I can hold my own!

I've got the urge to shop!

Why is it that everytime I go out of town I feel the urge to go shopping and get new clothes? It's not like the people that I'm going to visit have seen the clothes I have. Today on my lunch break I went out to see if I could find any good bargains. I've decided that I need to get some new shorts....not real sure why I think I need to do this seeing as how I haven't left the house in a pair of shorts (except to go to go running) in about 2 years. I hate the way I look in shorts, I hate how they ride up between in my legs when I walk (if you can't relate to that - I hate you), but for some reason I just spent an hour trying on shorts. I had no luck. They are either hootchie short, or grandma long. The one pair that did find that I liked they didn't have my size. They had the size below, and the size above, but of course not the one I needed. So I killed the urge to spend some money by buying Ben some new clothes. I'm very lucky in that Ben didn't really dress bad when we started dating. He didn't dress good - but he didn't dress bad either. He lacks a style I guess you could say. His closet is full of solid color polo shirts, button ups, and t-shirts. Not much imagination there. I'm hoping to be able to spice up his wardrobe a little.... we'll see if he likes what I got him!

My urge to shop started about a week ago - I spent too much on ebay last week by buying a wallet I've been wanting for ages, 2 new blue-ray movies, and a decorating book. Outside of ebay I've bought 3 pairs of shoes, several tops, some new cute PJ's, and a sundress. Sad thing is I don't really have the money to be shopping like this since I'm not sure what my financial situation is going to be like during my first few months in sales..... oh well!

I wish I was one of those people that just doesn't spend money. I used to live with a girl like that and I was like "how the heck do you do it?!"

POST-IT'S, Post - It's, post-it's

Are you one of those people that rely heavily on post-it's? I am! At any given moment throughout the day my desk is covered w/ Pink, Green, Yellow, or Purple Post-it's. Sometimes, when my handy-dandy Pop-Up Post-It holder has run out, I have to resort to the freebies given to me by some dealer that has stopped by the office. While these work just as well, I don't seem to appreciate them quite as much. Sure they have nice little message about Value, Mission, and Vision on them.... but they aren't the vibrant florescent color that catches your eye and makes you say "Oh yes, I must remember to call Susan at 2:00p today."

I even love the little mini post-it's. I guess they are called "Post- it Flags" - you know what I'm talking about. The little tabs you can stick to papers to flag something. Yep, love 'em!

Anyway, the point of all this was to tell you about the really fun site I found while browsing around this morning. It's called KnockKnock. It's full of fun and unusual things, but what caught my eye are the quite humorous post-it pads they have. How great would it be if could fill out one of these and pass it along to your mom, friend, boss, or significant other? I'm sure Ben's life would be so much better if I just filled one of these out for him on a regular basis:



But what would make my life better is if he would fill one of these out for me when he gets home from work.... ya never know what mood that boy is gonna be in :)

Go check it out for yourself - there is some great stuff on that site!

Shoe - la la

What always fits, no matter how much weight you lose or gain? Shoes! One of the many reasons I love them so very much. As I mentioned in a previous post, I am in the process of trying to find the skinny girl hiding under all this "non-skinny material." And in the meantime I am trying not to buy clothes. Now this has been very difficult! I'm out in the stores, seeing all the very cute spring clothes and I'm WANTING THEM! but I'm not letting myself buy them because hopefully before too much longer I will need a smaller size. *crosses fingers* So in the mean time I'm taking this opportunity to buy shoes. Since I haven't convinced Ben to be my sugar daddy yet, my budget doesn't allow for a whole lot of shoes and clothing buying in one trip... therefore I usually have to pick one or other, but for the time being I don't have to pick. I can just buy shoes..... lots and lots of lovely shoes! Now I just need a pedicure so I can start wearing all these beauties!

My newest love affair...

I have found a new vice, a new addiction, a love affair of sorts.... and it's called Craigslist! For those of you who are living under a rock and have not found the gold mine of treasures and deals, let me introduce you.... www.craigslist.com. It is a site that allows people to sell items, list services, advertise homes for sale/rent. Most every major city in the U.S. has a craigslist site. I have used craigslist alot over the past few years to find apartments, buy TV's, etc... but I had never sold anything on it.... until last week. And now I'm hooked!

I had this TV that I no longer needed/wanted but I didn't want to just throw it out. So I decided to list it on craigslist and see what would happen. Within 2 hours of posting the ad I had 2 people emailing me making offers. By 6:00pm the next day it was sold. The best part? I didn't have to ship it or worry about getting the money (like you do w/ ebay). I simply told them where to pick up the TV, and told them "cash only". Now I'm a little richer, and free from the cumbersome TV that I no longer needed. My friend had a bedroom suite that he wanted to get rid of.... sold 1 day after posting the ad! Wow, how simple! Now I'm looking around my house trying to find other things to sale. haha.

And since I've always been a bargain shopper, craigslist is one of the first places I look when I'm in the market for something. Tickets to a concert or sporting event? Yep, you can find them there! Need a refrigerator for your garage, but don't want to spend the money for a brand new one? CRAIGSLIST! It's a gold mine.... I'm not kidding.

Well, I guess it's safe to say I'm addicted.

oh la la -

So I'm aware that it is a little early for swimsuit shopping, but ya gotta look at something when you're bored at work right? I've recently become quite the fan of modern damask. If you're a fan as well, check out this cute line of Tommy Bahama damask swimwear! I found it on zappos.com

Mistletoe!

Tomorrow I'm calling in sick to work and heading down to Jackson, Miss for MISTLETOE MARKETPLACE! WOOT! I grew up going to Jackson and going to Mistletoe with Nana or Aunt Millie all the time when i was little. This year I'm meeting mom, Aunt Millie, Brandi, and Lindsey for a day of shopping and fun. I'm very excited!


www.mistletoemarketplace.com