Stacie's Place

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 …

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 c…

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…

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.

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 ye…

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 thin…

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 Balbo…

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 gu…

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 …

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 w…

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 in…