Stacie's Place

Bringing all my blogs together today!

I know, the day is almost done and I've been shopping and on the computer pretty much all afternoon and evening. It takes time, this online shopping! I only closed out of a few of my tabs but here's the stuff I did get that I am so excited about!

PJ's (panda and owl) for my nieces in WA from The Children's Place ($15)

Shirt, skirt and the cutest shoes from Downeast Basics ($30)

Hot air balloon owl fabric from Joanns ($10)

Half off images from Silhouette ($9)

Dress from Mindy Mae's Market ($15)

A Piano Guys cd ($5)

S'mores Woven Pear socks from Groopdealz

Membership to 365 Mile Challenge 2018!  ($15)

Craft tool on Amazon (affiliate) that is Sizzix and I've been on the hunt for it forever. ($10)

This is all I remember for now. I would love to do 15% off at Target.com and use my Kohls cash and Old Navy cash but time is running out and I'm getting kinda tired. I got such good deals on everything! I'm still a huge Cricut fan but I can't resist half off images that happen every Black Friday/Cyber Monday. The owl fabric I tried to get in Idaho but was unsuccessful. I knew about the panda pjs from a friend but the owl ones light up in the dark so of course, I had to get them! I heart Downeast Basics and the shoes are what I think I am most excited about from them. The dress from MMM is a wrap dress and I have 2 or 3 wrap dresses but this one is a bit longer so I dont have to wear leggings underneath. Anywhooo , what did you get for Cyber Monday?

Do you guys love Black Friday shopping or do you avoid it like the plague? I remember my mom taking me and my sister out when we were young..12? I am not sure, but to Joanns and it was Black Friday! We got up so early it was dark outside. When I became a few years older somehow my sister and I would do Black Friday shopping at the mall in Woodland, CA. It was better then than it is currently.

Now I'm married and my inlaws like to do Black Friday shopping and my siblings..not so much. Those that do are usually not able to come to Idaho where I am at for Thanksgiving so it ends up being me, Tony, his sister, sometimes other siblings, and his parents. We all start out shopping separately and then meet up. If someone wants something at a certain store and another person is starting out there, they pick it up for that person. It works out nicely.

This year it was a bit different, Tony and I started at Walmart at 6pm. We picked up a soundbar ($29), lots of pop sockets ($2/ea), some kids clothes for my nieces and nephews and a SD card for his mom ($8). This was pretty much it and even though the aisles were madness, we got checked out in no time. His mom had started earlier since they do their Thanksgiving on Saturday. She went to JC Penny and got a $10 off $10 coupon. Then she went to Best Buy to get the Ring doorbell for Tony & I for Christmas. Ahh I am so excited! We combined the $50/ea that she gives each kid & spouse and asked for the doorbell. I'm glad she was able to get it! I am not sure where Trishna started but she and her husband met up with us at Target and then we went to Old Navy, Michaels and Kohls. So convenient they were in the same parking lot.

Tony & I went to Gordmans, Shopko...and the rest of the night is kind of a blur. We never did meet up with his mom. Trishna stayed with us and her husband and daughter went home. We ended the night at 3am at JC Penny, a store Tony & I were not planning on going to but I found a super cute long sleeve shirt for $12 and leggings for $5. I dropped Tony off at Trishna's so he could be there to watch the daughter (well everyone was sleeping anyways) so Trishna and her husband could go to JCP early in the morning. I went back to the inlaws house but was so hyped up and figured since Tony's mom would be up in an hour to go to Fred Meyers, I'd just stay awake. Well...nope! I fell asleep with the light on, his mom never came to get me and I woke up with a start at 6:15 and left the house around 6:30 to go to Staples.

Staples opened at 7 and I thought it opened at 6 so that was a relief that I was able to get what I wanted there. 3 packs of Sharpies + 3 for Trishna. In the end they will be 1 penny each with rebates. SO GOOD. Next I headed to Joanns and got some great items on sale and picked up Tony at Trishna's. We went to Savers, Craft Warehouse, took a break for lunch at Tucanos with my dad, went to Hobby Lobby, back to Craft Warehouse and I think Walmart again. Then to dinner at my parents and I was feeling done. Up for too many hours straight with only 1 hour of sleep. I dont know when the last time (Black Friday wise) I did that!

But we got tons of good stuff, the crowds were manageable, the line at Kohls was ridiculously long and slow (wish we had gone to the Kohls at the mall in Boise instead of Nampa), my fear of getting rear ended or in an accident was #fakenews and overall I am pleased with how the experience went!

We are here! We made it! It felt like the drive here took forever but really we just made a stop or two along the way (dinner..gas...checking out some cool teepees people can camp in!) and we got to the Catamaran Resort and Hotel probably around 8pm or so. We were surprised to find out our room had a little kitchen and I think some people in the elevator were a bit jealous of that when they saw us going up with a crate of food and our InstaPot and made a comment. I felt so lucky but we were prepared to make food without a kitchen and just use the ice chest to keep things cold. It all worked out great and it's so super awesome to be able to stay in such a nice place, so close to the beach, for an entire week!

There are about 6 parrots that are on site and it is fun to watch them on their perches. I try not to turn on the TV in our room during the day or I'll get sucked in. It's bad enough that I get sucked in on my laptop with 20+ tabs open but at least the wifi works out on the sand! Haha.

 I met up with my friend Judy at the zoo around 10am and we spent the next few hours riding the zoo tram and visiting exhibits. Even though I was there just a few weeks ago I feel like I got to see a lot of things I hadn't gotten to see the first time around, the reptile area, turtles, gorilla and of course I had to revisit the pandas! It was so much fun and I stayed until 3:30 or so even though Judy had to leave earlier. Luckily the drive back to the hotel literally had no traffic, that's rare!

 We ate in and lounged around. My feet were tired from all that walking at the zoo and Tony seemed pretty tired from his long day at the conference.


It's been quite awhile since we've been able to attend our ward but we got to go today and it was so very good. I always regret afterwards being on my phone too much or not taking notes. But every hour was so good from sacrament meeting (even though we got there a bit late we were able to sit in the gym because they had the breezeway open - yay!) and then Sunday School which usually is boring...had a really good teacher even though he makes me uncomfortable (asking people to expand more on their answers or asking follow up questions) but he brought cookies - pumpkin chocolate chip - my favorite. Then Relief Society..I didnt have to find anyone to say prayers this time so I distributed hymnbooks to people instead and felt a lot less stressed. I still had to sit up in front of everyone and that feels awkward always but at least I dont have to sit up there the whole hour! Just the opening stuff.

Getting Ready

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There are so many things to get ready for! First things...a trip to Palmcaster and our upcoming trip to San Diego. Next, a trip to Idaho, making lists so that I dont forget to bring anything! Christmas! It's weird this year...I feel like I have no friends or family really to buy for but then I start thinking hard and can think of so many people I want to give a gift to. Guess I better start a list for that!

I have this awesome she-shed in my backyard but not much time for crafting lately. At least I have a Pinterest party coming up and so I need to get out there and get everything prepped for that. I can't wait to have people over to do some fun Christmas crafts!


I was snapping for Create Club but since my friend who started it all has been MIA a lot lately and I am the only one snapping on Tuesdays, I haven't snapped the last few weeks because I feel like it's only me trying to keep it going and I've just kind of lost motivation. Before, it felt like a team of sorts, a band of crafty people loving sharing what we were doing but it's hard to feel that motivation going along solo. It was so fun to be a regular every Tuesday for Create Club on Snapchat. Who knows now what the future holds for it.

I got the new Cricut Maker, Easy Press and Bright Pad. I finally have the Maker plugged in and ready to go. I've used the Easy Press a few times now. The Bright Pad, not yet but I have some ideas in mind. I will be bringing all my Cricut stuff to Idaho and am excited to hopefully use it there. I am bringing it to San Diego too. Hopefully I will have some time for crafting!

It's a holiday weekend!!! I am caught up on posts here and there is so much I'd like to do this weekend. Gosh. It's going to go so fast. 

 Here's what I'd like to do....take the teardrop back to Yosemite NP and go camping. Go to Mt Whitney and Trail of 1000 Giants. Go to Los Angeles and do a bunch of things on my list of attractions and places to eat. Visit some other places in our National Parks passport book that are north of us. Go to Apple Hill, Sacramento and Woodland.

 What we are going to do in reality... take out our big front window and install it correctly. Install a new window in the garage as well as our bathroom. Drive to Trona to see the Pinnacles and eat at Trails. Go to Palmdale and Lancaster aka Palmcaster and go to Costco! Target! Michael's! and more. Clean up around the house. Work in the she-shed. Pack for San Diego. 

 What are you doing this holiday weekend?

I know the season has started for shows but I wanted to talk about some of my favorites that we've been watching lately.  So many good, funny and intense shows!

The Middle

Fresh Off the Boat

Meet the Goldburgs

Stranger Things 2

Modern Family

Chicago Fire

Criminal Minds

Blackish

Haters Back Off

Last Man on Earth

The Mick

American Housewife

Speechless

I know, it looks like a lot but we watch them on our own time. Some days we just watch one or two in the evenings before bed. Other days we will be able to watch a couple episodes at lunchtime too. Just depends! What shows are you enjoying right now?

I've been thinking a lot lately about the places I want to go next year. How about you? 

I would love to take a trip to Portland to go to Crater Lake, visit Salt Lake City lots!, go to some new National Parks and explore more in California since I don't know how long we will actually end up living here. Part of me is surprised we even bought a house since we can't decide where we want to settle and live permanently. The other part of me is glad to have a home base but a little sad we are gone so much that it's hard to get to know people here that well since we are always traveling.  C'est la vie!

I started a cool spreadsheet last year I think it was, with columns of all the states in the US. Then, the ideas of places I see that I want to visit (mainly via Instagram) I put in to the spreadsheet. I must say that Arizona, California and Utah have a lot of places I want to see and restaurants I want to try. A lot of states are empty but eventually I will Google cool things to see in those places in case we ever go to..Nebraska or...Tennessee. I just dont really follow people who live in those places I guess so I haven't saved any cool pictures that would be good places to travel to, yanno? I will probably do a post on our travel blog soon that documents what places we plan to head next year in case anyone wants to join us - especially at the balloon festivals because they are way fun!

Lots To Do?

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With upcoming trips and the Pinterest party I feel the pressure to get as much as I can the days I am home and don't have as much set in stone I need to do. Just because I dont have much planned doesn't mean I am making plans of things to organize, go through, schedule, blog about, clean up, etc.

Set for this week is laundry for sure, gotta get that done. Working on the schedule of lessons somehow for next year in Relief Society...the whole lesson format is changing so I am not really sure how to do the spreadsheet but at least I can get it set up I suppose.

I have a plan to find some easy Insta Pot meals to make in San Diego next week so we are not eating out for every meal.  I am excited to go and do some things we did not get to see, eat or do last time we were there which honestly was just a few weeks ago but the inlaws were with us so we did what they wanted to do. Which was all fun stuff...Mormon Battalion, Old Town San Diego, the zoo and we did a quick drive through Balboa Park (my idea) so they could get an idea of what it was like. Fun trip!  

I'm looking forward to having Tony off work on Friday for the holiday and fixing the front window we installed as well as installing the other 2 windows plus doing any other home projects that need to be done. Whee yea!

Ever since I was a kid I would get super nervous about things. Getting up in front of people, whether my peers or adults, and speaking. Going in to a room full of people that I did not know and having everyone turn to look at me. Not having a friend to go with me to events, etc. I was really shy as a kid but yet I could talk to the adult recess monitors on the playground like it was nothing. I ended up serving a mission for my church and while it was really nerve wracking to talk to people, I did better at one-on-one (or two-on-one in those cases, mostly) but ask me to speak in front of a group of people and my palms get sweaty, I imagine all the worst case scenarios, I feel like I am going to be sick, pass out, the whole nine yards. Shrug. It is what it is I suppose and it doesn't affect me much except for when it does. Like being expected to teach in Relief Society. Like showing up to events, all by myself because I dont have any friends who would go with me. It takes all the guts I can muster to walk through the doors of say, the gym in the church, to a room full of ladies who kind of know me or mostly don't know me. I remember going to the church for a Saturday morning activity with my sister and we were a little late. We stood in the hallway for what felt like forever, talking and debating on if we should go in or not. In the end, we left. Neither one of us could convince each other just to walk in to the room. And those were people we knew well, our home ward! Same with blogger events in Utah...unless I have a friend to go with ( I miss you Karina! Laura! ) then it's really super hard for me to go.

So..there is a Relief Society activity next Wednesday and I am in the same boat. Talking myself out of going. Messaged a lady in the ward to see if she is going to go so I can at least have peace of mind and settle my nerves that I will have someone to sit by. But she hasn't  responded and I'm sitting here talking myself out of going to what I am sure will be a fun activity.

It's weird to be traveling and in a state (Arizona) that does not celebrate daylight savings time yet the rest (pretty much) of the US will be changing their clocks back an hour tomorrow. I remember when I lived in Arizona and was soo happy not to ever have to change my clock. It's so silly! Being in AZ during the time change happening reminds me of when I lived here. I loved living in Arizona so much! The weather, the friends, the activities, the opportunities, things to do, family, not far from Vegas or San Diego....only sad thing is that it sure was harder to get to Boise or Portland. It was a long'ish drive to Salt Lake.  Anyways, lots of fun memories from living here. Maybe I'll live here again someday, maybe?

Anyways, soon enough I will be back in California and the time will have fallen back an hour. What will I do with all that extra time?

I dont think I have traveled more in my life in one year than I have in 2017. It's been pretty insane but also really nice to boost the amount of posts on our travel blog.  That being said, I wish some of my trips were not solo, were not for such a long time and were not back to back. I really can't complain though, I've been very blessed this year to have a job that allowed me to work from the road and the flexibility in my life to just get up and go.

Some of my favorite trips this year have been to National Parks, hot air balloon festivals and Utah - of course! I miss my sister and her kids so much. It's hard living far away from family. A 10 hour drive to Utah is long but manageable and I am ever so grateful for friends along the way (Kylee...Brian & Candice...Lindsay...) that have helped with providing me/us a place to crash and help break up the long drive. I also super loved being able to be in Portland again..I have not been since 2015 and the amount of love from people I met there is so incredible, even after all this time. I lived out there 03-05 and while I havent been able to keep in touch with all the people I met, I have been able to keep track of a fair majority and my life would be so different without them in it.

Anyways...tons of trips...tons of going places...I can't wait to see what 2018 has to offer!

I may have talked about this a few months ago on the blog or maybe I haven't yet. I am not great at keeping secrets and I feel like today is a good day to talk about what my "one little word" (or phrase) for next year is going to be. Especially because I did something this morning that reminded me of my goal for next year. 

I've been starting this project early (it's not 2018 yet!) because I am anxious to get the ball rolling and I got a burst of motivation. However trips and visitors to our place have made my motivation come and go.

So! My goal/theme for next year is "Collect moments, not things." Those who know me know I have a tonnn of crap and it's not pretty. Okay, it is. It's stuff that has made me happy over the years...collections, childhood toys, etc. But..it just sits. I don't have kids. Everything is organized in to tubs and nobody gets to look at or enjoy the stuff except me.

I met a really cool girl in Arizona who rode up to Utah with me a month or so ago and she is a professional home organizer. She talked about how getting rid of our things makes a difference when we know it is going to a good home vs. handing it over to a thrift store where who knows what person will end up with it. Especially if its stuff you are still sentimental to. I get super attached to my things! Memories! I dont forget who gave me what or where things came from or how I acquired it. So this makes complete sense to me.

Example! I've collected cute little erasers over the years...okay, to be honest, the collecting probably stopped when I was in my 20's or even when I was a teenager. They are fun to look at and remember collecting, however...they just sit in a mason jar on a shelf where nobody can look at or play with them. Then one day, my friend was over with her daughter and her daughter found them and wanted to play with them. She was so excited about them and had a hard time putting them back in the jar when it was time to go. After talking to my friend on the roadtrip, I realized that I would much rather get rid of the erasers to this cute little girl who had so much fun playing with them rather than donating them to a thrift store. Sure, I'll take a picture of the collection so I can remember it but it's not necessary to hang on to them any longer. 

Now, if I can just keep this in mind for other items I should be getting rid of, it'll make the process a whole lot easier. 

There's more I could say on this topic but that's all I will talk about for now. Thanks for reading!
#NaBloPoMo

Welcome November 1st! Every year lately I feel like the year goes so fast and December/holiday season is here before I know it and it feels like I just went through the traditions I do during the last few months of the year, just a little bit ago.

So I am going to blog here every day during the month of November. I did this last year and it was pretty fun. I cant seem to find much information for "BloMo" vs "WriMo" but I'm not writing a novel or story...just blog posts! 

I guess I will start today out listing 5 things I am grateful for. I am going to do this every week in November I think. 

So here goes...my 5 things...

1. A working car with no check engine light on
2. My good health (always and ever grateful for this!)
3. Being able to see our families for the holidays
4. Nice neighbors
5. That the weather here has finally cooled down and is bearable.

What are you thankful/grateful for today? Do you think there is a difference between those 2 words? Or are they just interchangeable?

About this blog

I have quite a few blogs and I just feel like I need to tie them all into one place so this is where I decided that is going to happen. I'll still be blogging on my other blogs but I will link all my posts to this blog so you can easily find them. We'll see how it goes!





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