Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Rise and Shine, It's Shopping Time!

My three nieces came this past weekend to collect on their Christmas present: Rise and Shine, It's Shopping Time!


The deal was to come and spend the night at Elliott's Bed and Breakfast (movie and popcorn included), wake up early the next morning to a Personal Breakfast prepared by Chef Jim, and then head to the Mall to shop the After-Christmas Clearance Sales. They each had $25 to spend. That doesn't sound like a lot but you'd be amazed at the deals they could find when they actually had the time to shop around and compare prices. It took all day but they had a ball! For me, I needed a big glass of wine and a foot massage when it was all over!

I learned a lot from these nieces of mine. First, cheap jewelry Made in China is "out" and higher quality sterling earrings that are 70% off are "in". Fun colored tennis shoes are "in" (they already had those) and adding tie-dyed socks and colored shoelaces adds a lot of punch for not very much money-- the shoelaces were only $2.50.


My niece rolls back the tongues of her shoes so that her socks show and she can change her look from day to day. Who knew?


The spending the night part was just as fun. Remember the Cozies I made as Christmas presents??

Here I asked them to model "How to Use a Cozy"...


These corn-filled microwaveable heating bags were the Christmas hit of 2009. I have back-orders for Cozies until Spring, I think. Everybody wants one!

And, let me tell you, once you've loved a Cozy, there is no going back!


The snuggle factor of these bags have become part of the bedtime routine -- they do a great job of pre-heating the bed...

And, for some reason, the girls love to sit like gargoyles on the ends of my banisters to have their pictures taken...


And yes, they are still wearing their pants from last year's Pants Pants Revolution (you can read about that by clicking the tag on my sidebar) -- it's always a gift back to the giver when you see someone using the present you made for them, isn't it? And the more worn out and used it looks, the better.


It was a great weekend but I can see why their parents would rarely get time alone. For my brother and SIL, we gave them the gift of each other; a weekend of babysitting so they would have time to spend together doing whatever they liked. A gift certificate to a nice restaurant and a pair of hand-embroidered pillowcases (you might remember, I was stitching them at the very last minute!) rounded out the present.

The little embroidered umbrellas symbolize how they first met...It's a cute story so I'll share it...


My SIL was waiting for her friend to pick her up curbside and it was pouring down rain. My brother walked up with a big golf umbrella and stayed with her until her friend picked her up. The next time they saw each other, he asked her on a date and the rest is history. At their wedding, instead of throwing rice, everyone raised colorful umbrellas for them to run through...it was cool...
I guess now I can take down my Christmas tree...

10 comments:

méri said...

I've always loved those pants :)

Wanda said...

Wow. What a COOL AUNT you are!! I can only dream of being half as cool!!! I'm so glad that you had so much fun and I'm sure the gift to your bother and SIL was appreciated beyond words! What great things the girls found to buy with their $25! And I love the gargoyle pose! ha ha I'm so happy that the pants are still being worn. I have my "pants" that my mom has been repairing for me for years. I still wear them too!

Anonymous said...

Fab flashbacks (woo hoo - a photo of Jack without his hat!!! Must of been in the pre-hat days lol). Those pants are fabulous - did you undo the seams to sew all of the bits on?

Looks like you had a brilliant weekend - you are indeed a VERY COOL AUNT.... Do you want my two sprogletts for the weekend??? Aww, No? Oh, ok lol xx

I want an Aunt like you!!!

Shell xxx

Marty52 said...

Cool... the nieces, the shoes, the pants, the shopping and the love story... all verra cool! :)

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

Cool Story and a Great Weekend. The stuff great aunts and wonderful sisters are made of!!
xx, Carol

verobirdie said...

Yes you are a cool aunt, and your nieces are smart young ladies. It must also be a lot of fun to have an after XMas party?
I must keep the idea for when I have grand kids, in a very far away future.

Ingrid Mida said...

I wish I was one of your nieces. It sounds like a fabulous girly weekend and I think turning down the shoe flap is unbelievably fly!

Gerry Krueger said...

What fun...One year my Alaska granddaughter came down in august with $200 for school clothes. It was money she had earned during the summer so was very careful with it. I took her to my favorite thrift store...her first trip to a thrift store. She LOVED it and filled her cart with jeans and tops and THEN we went to the dreaded MALL.. I was soo glad when they had a chair in the shop because she tried everything on 6 times... What nice memories for these girls and YOU too!!!! Gerry K.

Vicky aka Stichr said...

You are the greatest of aunts! My imagination zaa-wings out of control when I think of the things you could do with my granddaughter Megan! You have the patience to go with the fun!

I am going to pass on the tongue tip to my girls, way cool!

Sweetpea said...

Ahhhhh, now that was just the kind of story I needed to brighten my solitary day...along with all the COLOR! I think if I had some tennis shoes like that I might feel like sitting on bannisters, too. SO CUTE, your nieces, and such a lovely story of the wedding umbrellas!

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