Shop Eleanor

I am very excited to announce that I have now opened up an Etsy shop called 'Shop Eleanor'!  I now have a place to display and sell my creative projects.  Currently I have the cutest little Candy Drop button earrings for sale.  They make the perfect little stocking stuffer for any special lady!  I have a variety of beautiful fabrics, some of which are vintage.  Please stop on by and take a look...and maybe pick up a few gifts for the holidays!!

Here are a few of my favorite earrings!  View more here!

Selah Harbor

Last month I had the pleasure to meet my new niece, Selah Harbor.  She was born on my husbands birthday too!  A special day in August was made even more special.

Earlier in the year TJ and I were given the opportunity to live and work in Hilton Head, SC for the summer doing portrait photography.  (I will post more on this over the next few weeks)  One of the biggest things I was going to miss out on was the birth of my first niece!  I made sure that I was kept in the loop as soon as any action happened.  When Selah decided to make her appearance, I immediately began putting together a plan to drive back home and capture her first few days before she changed too much.  TJ was unable to come due to our work commitments, but I was able to snag a few days away.

Needless to say, I was smitten once I met this little girl that was now a part of our family.  I like to brag that she is the only other girl with true Woodfin blood in our little family (so far that is!).  Anyway, she is a beauty and her parents (my brother and sister in-law) are beyond in love!

Earlier in the pregnancy, I had told them I would take newborn photos.  It was so much fun!  My mom came over to their house with me and we all just sat around ooooing and ahhhing and saying how cute she was.

Last week we moved back home.  It was so joyous to come back and hold that 4 week old in my arms and marvel at how much she had changed already.  I was so glad I had the privilege of photographing my beautiful niece.

She is now 5 weeks old and becoming so much more social.  Just the other day she had her first ladies coffee outting at "Aunt Bekah's".  :-)  Since before she was a glimmer in her parents eyes, all of us ladies have been getting coffee weekly.  It has been such a great time of friendship and sisterhood.  Since then, there have been 2 beautiful babies added to the group.  Meet my friends and sisters, Alisha (due next March with my other niece or nephew), Beka (and her little guy Laef), Me holding Selah, & Mallory (Selah's beautiful Mama).

Ok, Ok, Ok.  I know you are just reading through all my mumbo jumbo in order to get to Selah's newborn photos!  Without further adieu, let me introduce to you, Selah Harbor Woodfin.

And lastly, the first Woodfin Family photo. :-)

I love you, Selah Harbor!

My Couponing Adventure

Warning, I go into great detail on the savings I saved. :-)

The past 2 days I have filled my days with grocery shopping and couponing.  Finding the best deal is my goal.  I don't typicaly chart out my deals and savings, but I thought I would this week since I'm so excited about what I found.  Thanks to some amazing blogs that point me in the right direction, Money Saving Mom & Southern Savers, I have been able to print store coupons and manufacture coupons that save me lots of money.

So this was yesterday's shopping trip.  I'm gonna break it down for you.

CVS

From last week's CVS trip, I had acquired $5 in Extra Care Bucks.  So, I headed to CVS to grab a few more needed things and see what kind of deals I could get.  I knew there was another shaver deal and I had also printed a $2 manufacturer coupon to use with it.  First thing I always do when I get to CVS is scan my Extra Care card and see what store coupons I'm given.  Yesterday I got a great one, a $4 off of $20 purchase.  Combined with my previous $5 extra bucks, this was a good savings.  I also noticed that if you spent $20 in Burts Bees product, you got $5 extra bucks.  I try my best to purchase healthy products that don't have any parabens and sulfates, so I liked this deal a lot.  I found some great conditioner, lotion, and lip balm that I knew I would use a lot.  I also picked up the BIC shaver I came for.  

BIC Soleil Shaver - 6.99 get $2 ECB

Burts Bees - Spend $20 get $5 ECB

$2.99 after ECB's

BIC Soleil Shaver - $6.99

use $2 coupon (print here)

Pomegranate Conditioner - $8.99

Radiance Lotion - $7.99

SPF Lip Balm - $3.99

Used $4 off of $20 CVS coupon

Used $5 ECB

Paid $16.96

Earned $7 ECB

If you are not familiar with Extra Care Bucks, you can read about how to use them here.  They are CVS dollars that you earn by purchasing certain items.  Once you begin getting them, you can then just keep using them towards other purchases that give you back more ECB.  It's wonderful!  I have not done it in a really long time, so I'm jumping back on the CVS train. :-)

Harris Teeter

This week, at Harris Teeter, it is Super Doubles.  That means they will double any coupon up to $1.98.  I didn't need a lot of groceries and I didn't get the paper the last couple of weeks, but I quickly did a scan of the printable coupons and deals.  Coffee was definitely on my list of things to get, and there were GREAT coupons and sales on Starbucks coffee.  After printing coupons I headed out to the store as soon as I could.  The first couple of days can be hectic during coupon week.

Starbucks Flavored Coffee, on sale for $6.99

Used printed $1.50 coupon (doubled to $3)

$3.99

Starbucks Coffee, on sale for $6.99

Used printed $1.00 coupon (doubled to $2)

$4.99

Kashi Chicken Fettucini, on sale for $3.00

Used printed $1.00 coupon (doubled to $2)

$1.00

Febreeze Pet Stain Remover, on sale for $3.99

Used $1.50 coupon from Sunday Insert (doubled to $3)

$0.99

Yoplait Greek Yogurt w/ Granola, on sale for $2.50

Used .75 coupon from Sunday insert (SS 3/25)

$1.00

Paid $11.97

Food Lion

TJ & I have been eating the Morningstar Spicy Black Bean burgers a lot lately.  It's our favorite.  So, I definitely wanted to stop and get some while they were on sale at Food Lion and use a $1/2 coupon.  

Morningstar Spicy Black Bean Burger, on sale for $3.69

Used $1/2 printed coupon

$3.19 each

After checking out, a coupon printed out at the register.  On my next purchase, if I buy 4 boxes of black bean burgers, I can get $3 towards ANY Food Lion purchase.  So, next time I will use two $1/2 coupons, and get back a coupon for $3.  This will bring the black bean burgers from $3.19 a box to $2.44.  Not bad considering its something we eat a lot.

Aldi

If you have an Aldi near you, I would highly suggest it.  I buy most of my fruits and vegetables there.  Although I try to buy organic, it's not always possible due to the price.  Buying at Aldi gets you great quality fruits and veggies for a whole lot cheaper.  I also like to buy my tortilla chips and certain cereals there as well.  They do not take coupons, but their prices are good enough that it doesn't matter.

Half & Half, $1.79

Multi Color Peppers (3 pack), $1.39 (This is the BEST deal around right now)

Dried Cranberries, $1.39

Kiwi (5 pack), $1.49

Tortilla Chips, $1.19

Strawberries, $1.89 (last week I bought these for .99 each)

Deli Sliced Cheese, $1.99

Diced Tomatoes, .59

Paid $10.33

Last night I was on a cleaning high.  I scrubbed our kitchen sink, washed dishes, organized cupboards, vacuumed the living room, etc, etc, etc.  After all that I decided I would have a cup of coffee (the yummy Vanilla flavored Starbucks coffee I got at Harris Teeter).  This was a bad idea as it was 8:00pm.  Needless to say I was wide awake in bed.  So, I started browsing the coupon sites on my phone and saw all these amazing Target deals.  I was so awake and literally got so excited that I got up at 1:00am to print the coupons. LoL.  I don't think I can drink coffee in the evening anymore.  It was around 2:30am before I finally started to get sleepy. Oye!  BUT, I had my Target trip planned out for today.

Today's Target trip

Target
What's great about Target is that you can use both a manufacturer coupon AND a store coupon on the same item.

Purina Beneful Dog Food, on sale for $24.99 (For our monster puppy)
Used printed $2.00 Target coupon
$22.99


2 Purina Beneful Baked Delights dog treats, $3.89/box
Used printed .75 Target coupon
Used B1G1 free coupon from Sunday insert
$1.57/box


2 boxes of Magnum Ice Cream Bars, on sale for $3.25
Used two printed $1.50 manufacturer coupons
Used printed $2/2 Target coupon
.75/box


2 Mossimo Tank Tops, on sale for $6 each
Used printed $3 Target coupon
$3 each


Merona Tank Top, on sale for $6
Used printed $3 Target coupon
$3


4 NUK/Gerber Baby items
2 items for $2.69
2 items for $3.00
Used two printed B1G1 Free coupons
$1.50 each

Paid $39.61

I hope this post helped you find some good websites and tips for saving money.  I would love to start doing more posts like this and letting you all know the great coupon you can find online.  I enjoy being pointed in the right direction as well.  Money Saving Mom & Southern Savers are where I find all my information.  They also have lots of other links you can check out from other people who love to save money.  It's just a matter of taking the time to look.

Have a great day!

Easter Sunday: Part 1

The reason I have Easter Sunday in 2 parts is because it was a full day!  First we began the day at church where TJ played guitar for both services.  It was awesome!  I took a good bit of photos during the second service as well.  I will be posting them in the "part 2" of Easter Sunday. ha!

Part 1 consists of fun family shots taken at my parents house later on in the day.  It has become a lot harder to arrange all of our schedules and get together as a family.  So, it's always so much fun when it actually happens!  Aside from the "Woodfin" clan, we also had my new sister Leah, and Alisha's dad, Robin.  Alisha's mom was visiting her sister, so we didn't get blessed with her presence this time.  One thing that I LOVE about siblings marrying into other families is that I too have adopted them as my family as well.  The Brinkley's (Alisha's family) have been a part of our lives for about 15 years and it's been an amazing journey to see our families become one.

For lunch we had a wonderful smorgasbord of yummy foods that each of us made.  There was ham, my wonderful mac n cheese, fruit, salad, baked beans, and i know something else is missing.  It was all so delicious.  To top to all off, Mom and Leah both made desserts!  Leah made a WONDERFUL apple cobbler and my Mom made some really good angel food cupcakes with a mocha frosting. Mmmmm!!  One of the best parts was sitting out on their deck, soaking in the warm sun, and laughing together.  We managed to get some fun family photos as well.  Most of the time we only get a good (or decent) shot at Thanksgiving or Christmas.  I think they turned out really great.

And then some funny ones! :-)

Can't wait to meet Miss Selah Harbor in August!

Doesn't Mallory look great?!

I got a new dress! :-)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

Garden Girl

I was so excited to see that our cilantro plants from last year reseeded and sprouted new cilantro plants.  They actually grew throughout the winter months and got HUGE.  Today I finally went outside, pruned it back, and harvested a TON of cilantro.  My Easter gift to friends and family will be cilantro. Ha!  I also cut some lavender to decorate our counters in the house. The purple blooms are so beautiful right now!

TJ let me have this broken "First Act" drum head to use as a planter.  I think it will be so cool to have pretty flowers blooming in this.  But, until then, it worked great to hold my cilantro. :-)

DIY Water Can

Recently I saw a great thing on Pinterest (I know, hard to believe. lol).  It was a recycled watering can from a milk jug.  Well, I decided to try it using a Polar Seltzer water bottle.  I figured this size would be perfect to water my flowers on the front porch.  I nailed quite a few hold into the bottle top and voila!, a watering bottle.  What makes it even better is that we use rain water to water our plants! 

So cool, huh?

This is my favorite time of year.  The warmth of the sun on my face, everything blooming and becoming beautiful, and feeling the breeze in the air.