Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Giveaway Reminder - last day!

Today is the very last day to enter my latest giveaway. The giveaway is for a personalized pillow case that will be hand embroidered in the color of your choice and the name or word of your choice.

Here is the link to enter:

GIVEAWAY LINK

Make sure you check out the Valentine's Pillow Cases that are on sale for $12! They are already made & ready to ship.



Here is the link to the store:

STORE LINK

I will be choosing a winner tomorrow so make sure you enter today! Open to all US residents.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Dog for a Day

My husband & I use Home Exchange to find homes to stay while on vacation. This past Friday we stayed at a place just outside Washington DC. The couple whose home we used will be using our home in March. They were in FL while we were there but they left their dog at home.



Let me start out by saying my husband is allergic to dogs and I also tested positive for being allergic to most animals years ago. The couple had a person to come in and take care of the dog (walk, feed, clean up, etc) so we didn't really have to do anything with the dog.

The dog's name was (well...I guess it still is) Bailey. She was super cute and followed us around constantly. It was adorable. I took a nap and she curled up by my feet on the bed.

It was wonderful to have a dog for a day. I can honestly say I do not want a dog though. I was wondering what it would be like to own a dog and this gave me a lot of perspective. The dog hair was everywhere and by the end of one day my throat was scratchy. Not a good thing by any means!


Thursday, January 26, 2012

Washington DC

Last night my hubby & I went to the world premiere of Big Miracle. It is a movie about whales and it was very, very well done. It is rated PG and I would highly recommend it. Here are a few photos from our big night on the town.

The movie premiere was huge. Loews Theater in Washington DC closed for the event and showed the movie on every screen. I cannot believe how many people were there. The first two photos are just of the crowd to give you a sense of how crowded it was.




The next two are of my husband & me in front of the "Big Miracle" screen. There will be more on the TAPS.org website. They had a professional photographer taking photos. These were just taken by someone in the crowd on our way out.




After the movie was an "after party". If you don't know me, let me just tell you my bed time is literally around 9-9:30pm every night. I am not an "after party" person. I don't drink, dance or eat anything "different" or "hip". We stayed for just a bit and had a virgin Shirley Temple. I took a photo of my husband with the light up cups - they are so cool!



After we stayed for about 10 minutes, we went for pizza & then came back to the hotel. It was a great evening.


Today we were busy. We slept until 10am (something I NEVER do!) and then we checked out of our swanky hotel (they had robes in the closets - awesome!). We drove the two blocks to Georgetown Cupcakes and ate a few cupcakes. The marshmallow fudge was the best!



After we got to our new hotel, we took the metrorail (a subway in Washington DC) to down town Washington DC.



Outside the Holocaust Museum:

At the Smithsonian Castle:



And finally at the Air & Space Museum.




Overall we have been having a wonderful time!

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Looking forward to today...



In just a few hours, my husband & I will be driving to Washington DC. For my 32nd birthday (which is this weekend) my husband bought something special from ebay. That something is a red carpet gala, the world premiere of the movie "Big Miracle" and then an after party with the stars. I will be able to meet Drew Barrymore, Dermot Mulroney and a few more of the stars in the movie. We also get to stay at a really nice hotel ... one we would have never picked for ourselves due to the price.

And then we will be staying in Washington DC for a few more days. We used HomeExchange.com to find a house just outside of the area that was willing to swap homes with us. They will stay at our home in March.

It took me quite a while to figure out what to wear and I decided on a black dress I love with a velvet blazer & heels. It should be warm enough in the theatre but nice enough for the after party.

I will be posting photos throughout the weekend. Have a great day everyone!



Saturday, January 21, 2012

Ebay Results

I have been doing fairly well with ebay. Here are some items that have sold within the last two weeks.

A sparkly dress! These almost always do well in plus sizes. I don't do well with smaller sized dresses like this though. Purchased for $4.99, sold for $49.99.


Ralph Lauren velvet dress. Purchased for $2.50, sold for $39.99.

My husband's coveralls. These had been hanging in the closet for the last few years. They were given to him by an employer and sold for $36.99. I listed them at night and by the next morning, they sold! I love those kinds of sales.

Another quick sale -within hours! This Talbots jacket is a larger size and a more current style. I purchased it on 1/2 price day for $3, sold for $36.99.

I purchased this at a thrift for a few dollars about a year ago. I wore it and enjoyed it and now I was done with it. It is a Lilly Pulitzer hoodie and it sold for $34.00.

CAbi has a cult-like following for some reason. They print style numbers on their items which makes it very easy to find what to call the item. This was a sweater with oversized buttons. Purchased for $2, sold for $32.99.

This is a Lululemon item. Lululemon is huge and it always does fairly well. I was actually surprised this didn't do better but there were several on in the same size at the same time. I should have waited until those sold and then listed but I was a bit impatient and I like when I have everything listed that I have in the house. Purchased for 99 cents (the thrift didn't know the brand since there were no tags), sold for $32.

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Here are some that I thought would sell but didn't. I will relist these when ebay has another sale. Lately ebay has been offering free listings (it usually costs about 50 cents to list on ebay) every 10-12 days or so.

Escada cropped pants. Escada has literally no following on ebay and yet I still pick it up. Escade retails for hundreds of dollars and I should be able to get atleast $10 for these, right? Nope. I will list them again closer to spring and hopefully they sell. I paid only $2 for them.

These also did not sell. Christopher & Banks is a mall store in our area. Perhaps they are nation wide? Anyway, this skirt was pretty, new with tags and was in a larger size. It retails for $50 but I found it at a bag sale so it cost me about 50-60 cents. So why couldn't I get $7.99 for it? I haven't the slightest idea.

This is also Christopher & Banks (note to self...do not buy Christopher & Banks!). This was also from the bag sale so it cost just 50-60 cents. It didn't sell for $4.99.

Coldwater Creek also doesn't do so well on ebay unless you have something special. CWC has huge sales on their website -usually you can get their pieces 75% off. This kills the ebay market for these items since you can purchase CWC retail cheaper than on ebay. For some reason I still picked this up. I have had it for months. I am not sure if I am going to try it again since it didn't sell for $9.99 with free shipping.

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Ebay is a great place to make some extra cash if you know what to sell. Research, research, research before you start. If you have an item you want to sell, go to ebay.com and type it into the search box. Check what active listings are selling for and then if you do an "advanced search", you can search what completed listings have brought.

I saw these at a thrift shop for $1. I bought them to keep them. But I came home and researched them on ebay. I realized they sell for a lot and I didn't need them that badly. I listed them and now they are up to $61 and they still have 4 days left! Want to see the listing? CLICK HERE.

If you don't want to click, it is a set of Wrap Masters. You put your wax paper, foil and plastic wrap in these and it cuts clean.


Have ebay questions? Feel free to post them or email me. I am always willing to help!

Friday, January 20, 2012

Friday Follow

I haven't been posting as often as I like. Mostly because I don't have as much time as I would like.

As most of you already know, my hubby & I were laid off from work last month. Well...he was fired (stupid thing really) and I was let go since it was a couple's job.

In the last month we have been praying for unemployment to come through. It took over a month, but we are finally getting unemployment. I have worked for over 16 years and never needed unemployment. I am truly thankful for it since jobs are scarce after the holidays.

I have been selling on ebay more and surprisingly have been doing really well with it. The hubby & I have been applying for part-time jobs to supplement unemployment.

I had a job interview today and got hired at a cute little pizza & ice cream shop. They are completely willing to work with my crazy hours (I can only make a certain amount or I lose unemployment) and are excited - most applicants are teenagers (probably due to the pay being less than $8/hour!).

We have been painting & updating my father-in-law's house. He turns 86 years old next month. He is fairly independent for someone his age but he has been thrilled to have us back home. We have painted every room, changed every outlet & light switch, re-arranged the two bedrooms, cleaned out the attic, replaced bedding & curtains and a whole lot more. It has been keeping us busy.

We also had a really, really bad virus on our computer that completely shut it down. Thankfully we have a genius computer friend who was able to fix it and it is working. I am so thankful he didn't have to wipe our photos - I would have lost a bunch.

So...that is what I have been up to. I have been busier unemployed than I had been when I was employed!

Today's Friday Follow is brought to you by my cousin. She is awesome and I love reading her blog.



Tuesday, January 17, 2012

January Giveaway - CLOSED

Today's giveaway is thanks to my sister. My sister is awesome. She is a few years younger than me and lives in New York. Here is a photo of her that was taken when we went to FL together for her birthday a few years back.


Isn't she gorgeous?!? Anyway...she is super talented. Amongst many other talents, she hand embroiders pillow cases. We recently put some of her work in my etsy store to see how it does.

Here are a few things she recently made:




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The giveaway is for a personalized pillowcase. It will be white in color and YOU choose the name or word that you want hand embroidered. You also choose the color and font style. Great for an adult or child!

The giveaway will go until the end of the month and I will pull the winner on 2/1/12.

Here is how to enter:

MANDATORY: 1 comment - Visit the etsy store. Post anything about the store in the comment section below. Here is the link to the store: MELLISSA ROSE

1 comment - become a follower or let me know you are a follower.

1 comment - let me know what you would like embroidered on the pillow case


There is a total of 3 entries per person. Leave a comment below for each. Good luck!

Friday, January 6, 2012

My Day in Photos



Running errands today...











My hubby called about 1/2 way through the day and told me one of our neighbors' house burned down. More than a dozen fire departments were there and the entire house is ruined. Our contractor was driving past, saw the flames and called 9-1-1. The family was out of the house but a dog died inside. We knew the family. They are staying with our contractor for tonight and the Red Cross is helping out. Please keep them in your prayers.




And a Friday Follow: