The day Missoni crashed Target

If you shop at Target,

or watch tv ads for Target,

or keep up with the designers who've partnered with Target,

chances are you might have known about a little partnership between the designer label Missoni, and the bullseye.

The collection of this famed fashion house was set to debut yesterday (9.13.11), and debut it did. The launch of the line, which included everything from housewares to clothing to bikes, was SO successful that it not only caused many a stampede of ladies through those big red doors, but also a complete crash of Target's website, causing those who'd chosen to stay home and avoid the crowds by shopping online great distress. There's a great article about the whole shebang in the Chicago Tribune HERE.

What was the big deal, you may ask?

Well I'll tell you.

Just as with other designer partnerships in the past (such as Isaac Mizrahi, Zac Posen, and Liberty of London), Missoni for Target offers up high runway fashion without the hefty pricetag.

For example:

This dress from the Missoni label is sold at Saks Fifth Avenue and retails for $1375.00

This dress & cardigan however, are from the Missoni for Target line and retailed for $49.99-$64.99

This dress at Saks = $1045

But this one at Target = a steal at just $54.99

If you're not a fan of the zig zag variety then you're in luck and won't have to look at any of it since most of the stores sold out of almost every item within the first hour. If you are, however, a fan and weren't able to grab any Missoni goods at your local Target or online, there are currently 16,900 Missoni for Target items listed on ebay. Some are selling with starting bids at or below retail, and some are selling with starting bids of $100 or higher for items which cost only $25-$65 in stores. While I was able to make a quick run to my local Target yesterday and pick up several items (thanks seester for zipping through like a mad woman and throwing the goods into your red buggy), the one item which eluded me was this:

the fabulous signature zig zag throw.

I've heard through the grapevine that most stores were only sent 2 of each of the color choices, and lucky for me, I just happen to have an Aunt in TN who went to her local Target and was able to grab this one for me:

A few items made it home with me, including these cutie-patootie shoes for E:

and a zig zag cardigan for myself.

So...

I'd love to know-

what's your opinion of the zig zags.

Love it or leave it?

Anyone else join in the madness at their local Target today?

Anyone out there cursing Target.com under their breath for failing to handle the demand?

Anyone else out there craving cheesecake?

No?

Just me then?

******

And HOW could I not have mentioned the finale of Design Star??

So glad I was able to watch with my friends Jamie and Tim-

we sat through almost every episode together!

Not gonna lie,

never would have picked Meg to take home the prize when the season began,

and...

anyone else remember her hot mess of a white box?

Or how about the HGTV'd home where she didn't finish her spaces which were the ENTRYWAY and LOFT for goodness sakes! Not even rooms! Just quasi-rooms!

Ah well...

Congrats to her, and -

will YOU be watching her 'Great Rooms' show on HGTV?

Do tell...

kitchen reno: week 7

Well friends,

still no kitchen sink.

BUT,

we did score some free laundry room shelves, courtesy of my Pop!

Thanks, Dad, for the awesome shelving that will allow my OCD self to have a spot for all things 'laundry' related, as well as the lovely containers that hold my spray paint, light bulbs, and extension cords.

There's even a rod for hanging clothes (super pumped about that).

And no, I didn't stay up all night organizing all things 'laundry' so my shelves aren't pretty yet, but that's coming. I also scored some vinyl on Pick Your Plum the other day, so the inside of the laundry room will be getting one sweet makeover soon.

Have you heard?

I have a laundry room.

A ROOM, I tell ya...

{happy dance commencing again}

In other kitchen news, I've been looking at fabrics to use in the space and have  lots of beautiful options.

Here are my faves:

found HERE

found HERE

found HERE

found HERE

found HERE

found HERE

found HERE

Whatcha think?

Any favorites among those?

In the beginning, I was dead set on using only turquoise and white in the space,

but now that I've had a chance to really think about it, the last 3 options are in the lead. I've still have a little time to think about window treatments and banquette cushions and whatnot, but at least I'm narrowing down my search a bit.

And...

in other news entirely,

I didn't mention Design Star yesterday.

Can you believe they sent 2 people home?

To be honest, I really thought Meg was gettin' the boot.

What on earth was she doing with her time?

She had 2 quasi-rooms!

Karl had the entire master and was able to accomplish several projects within his space. Mark had 2 entire rooms, and big ones at that. The dining room and living room looked fab. Loved the records on the wall.

How was it that Meg's spaces (foyer & stair landing) were so incredibly sparse and really not finished?

If you're throwing pillows on the floor when time is called, you ain't done.

Glad Kelly got to stay, but when all the kid asked for was bunk beds, maybe she should have bought some bunk beds.

Am I right?

For those of you who watch Design Star,

what were your thoughts?

A hodgepodge, if you will

*** The chevron pillow covers giveaway is still active until Thursday, August 4***
I'm having so much fun reading about your favorite movies! Keep the comments a'comin! You can enter daily too, so pop over and tell me about another movie that you love, AND, if you haven't entered yet.... what are you waiting for?
Comments must be left on THIS post to be entered.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand GO!
_______________________________________________________

Happy Tuesday!

I have lots of randomness to share today, and since it's Tuesday, you know I'm gonna start with this:

**Design Star**

Did you watch?

What were your thoughts?

Did you love the winning room?

Are you as ready for Cathy to go home as I am?

Hmmmmm??

For the past 2 weeks, she's pulled the,

 "You do the demo and painting while I go do all the shopping, mmkay? Bye."

No wonder the other designers have problems working with her.

*****

 I took a little trip yesterday to a place I don't visit very often. In fact, I usually try to avoid this place at all costs, but since the hob lob was blown away and this place happens to carry scrapbook paper as well as toilet bowl cleaner, well...

I did what I had to do.

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know I'm a Target girl. It's nice, it's new, it's always clean, I can sip on some Starbucks while I shop and they have the best clothes. The best. Target also sells scrapbook paper, but I needed it in bulk in a 12 x 12 size and I happen to know that Walmart's price on plain-jane scrapbook paper is better than Target's.

I have nothing against Walmart, mind you, but the one in my town is always crazy crowded and I've never once been there and not had a weirdo talk to me and/or touch my babe.

**A piece of advice from a mother of 3**

If you see a cute babe or small child while you're out shopping, and you don't know this babe, it is perfectly okay to make silly faces and talk to that babe or small child in a silly voice and totally make a fool out of yourself. I do this all the time. It is not, however, okay to ever ever touch said babe or small child and invade their personal space. EVER. This will make the mother freak out and turn into the mother lioness that you've seen on Animal Planet mauling large animals when they've come too close to their young. I have become a lioness several times since becoming a mother and it's almost always happened when someone got too close to my babes at the Walmart. I can't help it. People should know better but they don't. If you're a complete and total stranger, I don't know your story- have you been sick? Did you recently touch something disgusting? Do you bathe on a regular basis? Do you do drugs?

This happened, yet again, while I was shopping at the Walmart yesterday. I stopped to look at the little girls clothes (of course) and a woman, who also happened to have a small child in her buggy, came up beside me and started talking. It's perfectly fine to talk. She told me how old her little girl was and after seeing my phone in my hand (which had my shopping list on it) she explained to me that she had a cell phone too, until the small child in her buggy had thrown it into the bathtub. I chuckled and commiserated with her for a second about kids and how crazy they can be sometimes. And then I started to move on. She was already giving me a weird vibe.

I walked to the other side of the kid's clothing department where I'd spotted a cute pair of pjs. She followed. Now she's asking what I've found, and, "Oh what a pretty dress that is on your little one!". She touches MM's dress. "Oh what a pretty flower that is in her hair!" She touches the flower in MM's hair. I was barely able to stop myself from clawing her or altogether pouncing, but, I restrained. Did I mention she was missing a few teeth? I have no problem with people who are missing teeth, mind you, but again...she produced a pronounced weirdo vibe and had a bit of the crazy eye going on. I thanked her and got the heck outta the kid's clothing department.

Now...

where was I?

Oh yes,

I took a trip to the Walmart to pick up scrapbook paper for school and toilet bowl cleaner and a few other random items, and came home with this-

Hippo-on-a-bicycle pjs. How cute are they?

and these,

Simple little summer dresses- $3 a piece

and these,

LOVED these separates. And the bloomers are built into the skirt- $4.50 a piece

and this.

Cute little toucan top for $2

Can you tell she was proud of her new pjs?

You'll never guess how much they were.

Want to try?

Ok.

Ready.......

GO.

What's your guess?

Because here's the ticket-

That's right.

 One whole dollah for a pair of cute pjs for my E.

If you have younguns, you might just wanna get yourself to a Walmart. And remember- tax free weekend is THIS weekend if you're local. If that's not incentive to go forth and shop, well I just don't know what is.

*****

Have any of you heard of the online decor magazine

House of Fifty

The Fall 2011 issue came out yesterday and it's full of beautiful images and articles. You can subscribe for FREE too- just click the title above to go straight to their webpage and sign up to have it delivered directly to your inbox! Besides $1 pjs, getting a brand new home decor magazine in my e-mail box is pretty darntootin cool.

*****

One last shopping tip before I spend ALL of your money-

There are TONS of 'deal a day' sites that you may have heard of/already subscribe too-

Groupon,

Groop Dealz,

Peachy Cheap,

Pick Your Plum,

DealPulp,

Kid Steals,

Very Jane,

but if you haven't heard of Rue La La, well then it's high time someone told you.

A little over a month ago, I picked up these:

Cute, right?

And amazingly comfortable.

Each day, there are a handful of boutiques/brands that offer some of their items at a discount for the day. Yesterday, Vineyard Vines Kids was on sale, and since I'd picked up clothes for the girls at the Walmart and since O is the only one who actually goes to school and would need school clothes, I thought it was only fair to pick him up some goodies. Plus, I just sold over half of what was in his closet because it was too small. Here's what I picked up for my O man:

The Vineyard Vine polos were $15 and the t-shirt was $7.50. Now, I know some of you might be saying, "Isn't $15 a lot to spend on a shirt for your kid to wear to school where he'll drop his lunch on it and roll in it on the playground?"

Yes.

You'd be right.

But here's the kicker-

when you suggest Rue La La to friends, and they subscribe for the daily e-mail of what's for sale (subscribing is FREE, btw) and if they make a purchase, well then my friends, THEN you are given credit to spend yourself. I just happened to have $10 in credit, THANK YOU KOURY, so those shirts for O were actually $10 bucks a piece. And that I can live with.

So...

what are you waiting for?

http://www.ruelala.com/invite/mmathews46

Just click the link above to go straight to the site. Also- I must warn you- sometimes the deals are SO good that they sell out quickly. In fact, I didn't check the site until late last night and by that time, most of the Vineyard Vines stuff had SOLD OUT. The 3 shirts I picked up were the only ones left in O's size. **Word to the wise- don't wait. **

I've linked to each of the sites above so that you can check them out for yourself. Sometimes the deals are GREAT, sometimes they're a little lame, but it can't hurt to see what's on sale, am I right? All you'll have to do to subscribe is enter your e-mail address.

*****

And that's my randomness for the day.

I'm off to work on decorations for my classroom which I'll be sharing with you soon. Still can't believe it's time for school to start.

Happy day to you!

Kitchen reno: week 2

Have you ever wanted to snap your fingers or wrinkle your nose or click your heels together and make something happen?

Just like that?

That's where I am with the whole kitchen-makeover project.

Don't get me wrong, I'm loving the fact that the hubs (and a few friends) have done the demo,

costing us zip.zilch.NADA.

Also loving the fact that when it's all said and done, we'll have a beautiful, new, updated space that we can be proud of.

But this part?

Ripped out cabinets and packed up kitchen goods and food/dishes/sippy cups all over the house?

Not a fan.

But the pretty kitchen....it's a comin'.

In my last update, I mentioned that we started by ripping up the ceramic tile (which popped up easy as pie) and finding 2 layers of linoleum underneath (which did NOT come up so easy). The hubs and a few friends scraped and scraped and scraped to get a small area of the linoleum up before calling it a night,

AND,

the next day, the hubs rented this-

and within a few hours,
we said buh-bye to ALL 3 layers of flooring.

Awesomeness.

 

The hubs has now turned his attention towards the cabinets, which means I've been packing and shoving and storing kitchen stuff all over the house.

 

Here's a few pics of my strong hubs ripping out 60-year old cabinetry fashioned out of pine paneling-

 

see what's lurking behind that plastic?

It's a little girl.

She knows not to go into the kitchen where there's dust and hammering and general nastiness.

So she sits,

on the rug on the floor,

and plays with a toy

or

drinks from a sippy.

Here's a peek at what the dining room-turned-temporary-kitchen is looking like at the moment.

I feel a little bit like I'm eating in a diner now thanks to the table cloth (leftover from E's Pinkalicious party last year).

I'd also like to give a huge shout-out to Van from Lowe's who put together our NEW kitchen cabinet plan (cabinets + countertops) and who says he can get us our countertops faster than another store that we'd planned to use first.

 I won't use their real name, but it rhymes with Rome Tepot.

Anywhoo...

 I'll keep you updated on which companies/products we use in the new space.

I've pretty much picked out a paint color, and by 'pretty much', I mean that I started with 12 and I'm down to about 3.

I'm making progress, no?

I've also picked out about 6 possible fabrics to use on the windows and on the banquet.

(planning to share those in my next kitchen update post)

I leave you today with my POTD from yesterday-

(POTD = Picture of the Day)

Anyone else watch the season premiere of HGTV's Design Star?

I'm loving the gal that spilled paint all over her and the blond who picked out the made-from-tires coffee table. (I'm terrible with names, can you tell?)

Can't wait for next week!

And thanks to Jamie for letting me watch with you!

Until later-

Happy Tuesday!