Super Bargain Shopper

I had a great day yesterday, shopping wise that is. I loaded up on coupons from my newspaper and fliers and headed to Macy's. Quinten didn't put up a fight, even got ready on his own. I may have said something about a Happy Meal reward, but I can't say for sure.
So I got to Macy's Kids and although I was taken aback by the three hard core gang bangers I passed, I focused my attention on the racks full of sale merchandise. It was heavenly. I got a couple things for my niece, my adopted niece and a goofy little hat for Quinten, which he hasn't takne off for two days.
I know I should have stopped at the children's department, but I decided to go try the women's area also. I like to go to the second floor....I think they call the department "Impluse". Anyway, since the clearance was additional 50% off I started to look around. Quinten helped by pointing out every bright colored item off the racks and telling me how great I would look in it. I refrained from telling him that his Momma doesn't want to look like a giant watercolor painting. I agreed and told him to find me things that have an "L" on the tag or were black. He didn't catch on. I looked past the distraction and focused because there was a point to this stop.
Anyone who knows me, knows I am a brand whore. This is no secret and I will never deny it. What I will deny and with good reason, is that I pay a lot for my clothing. My first item, a black dress, sleeveless to the knee. Conservative, the way I like it now. Original price $155. Purchase price $7.50. Yes, you did read that correctly! Second item was a pair of True Religion jeans. I have tried them on many times, but have always put them back due to price. I even put them back at Nordstroms Rack, where they are marked way down. Yes, we are on a budget in the Lomeli house. Original price $315. Purchase price $44.82. The heavens opened and light shone down on me. It was awesome! And last but not least. A black BCBG tunic style dress, that I will wear as a shirt because I could never pull that off. Original price $148. Purchase price $19.90.
Yes folks, I think I have mastered the art of sale shopping! Maybe I should rethink being a hairdresser after all and look into personal shopping!

Yosemite

I heard last week that on Thursday, Yosemite was having a "free entrance" day for Veteran's Day. I thought, what a perfect way to go to the park without paying the $20 to get in. So I got all packed on Wednesday and we were ready to leave when David got up in the morning.

On Thursday morning, I made a big breakfast, sack lunches and got the boys in their warm clothes.

The drive was okay, until we got into the park itself. There was road construction so that held us up another 30 minutes, so the boys were super anxious to get out of the car. We made it to our first destination at 1:15.

After our first hike, we had a picnic lunch on some broken tree branches and we were off again. We walked around the little corner store and looked at nik-naks and hikes some more. We had so much fun! The boys weren't excited about having to hike the "easy" trails, but we will wait to hit the more exciting ones for a couple years and when our pending medical bills are paid off.

All in all it was a great trip. On our walk back to the car, we saw some deer walking and eating just off the path. It was amazing. The boys were in awe of the wild animals that they have only seen on TV. Will we do this again? Yes. Will we try to spend the night next time? Yes. it was a really long drive!