You Better Shop Around

Another thing I have been guilty of over the last couple days is rediscovering my love for shopping and, along the way, decorating. This is not a very good thing to rediscover on a teacher's salary, and it explains why I have been motivating myself to cook at home.

On Saturday, a friend and I went to the Riverside Arts Market (one of my absolute favorite things about Jacksonville). I have found many a gem at this place. My squashed glass Southern Comfort bottle is the perfect piece to tie my entire dining room together. Saturday, however, I found myself drawn to a necklace made from a recycled Arizona Tea can. Sold! Mecaela and I also stopped into the butterfly tent and the following pictures are what resulted. Seriously, you never know what you'll find there.

Then on Monday (as if I hadn't spent enough money over the weekend), I went with my friend Courtney to TJ Maxx. Now, I know what you're thinking, TJ Maxx isn't that exciting. Everyone has been to a TJ Maxx. Well, not me, ladies and gentlemen. It was my first time. All my friends gasp at me when I tell them this. In all honesty, I am glad I dodged that bullet for this long. It is like heaven in there and I barely escaped with a positive checking account balance (just kidding, Dad). But I did go a little crazy. The home goods section had my undivided attention (how quickly I ditched the purses I had intended to buy when I discovered the hidden treasures of home goods). By the time we had finished picking over each and every isle, I had to remove 75% of the contents of my buggie to get out of there with enough money to buy groceries for the week. Courtney said I was just making up for lost time. After all, I had 22 years of TJ Maxx merchandise to make up for. But I decided to start small (and maybe go back next week for more). In the end, though, I came out on top with a fabulous new mirror made out of recycled magazine pages (my splurge...I literally jumped up and down when I saw it), two purple vases, and a new desk organizer that matches the mirror. Needless to say, I wasted no time arranging it all when I got home. I decided my bare guest bedroom needed some new life and this is what resulted...

Scenic Route

Today was another day of photo taking. We spent the day scouting locations for our upcoming Farmers Market cookbook. It should be really fun to shoot on location as a change of pace from being in the studio.

Other than our exciting field trip, I also took a scenic drive around Birmingham and found a fabulous pair of sequined leggings at a thrift store and couldn’t resist buying them. I figured they would come in handy at some social or party next year. Besides those two exciting events, it was just another day of prop-closet organizing, catching up with a friend, broadening my cooking skills and forcing myself to work out to make up for the peach pie and peach ice cream I chowed on while we were out. Tomorrow it’s back to Weight Watchers shots in the studio, a much-needed break from the high-calorie diet I indulged in today.