I'm gonna miss her!

So...my friend Emily (aka my MINT "boss") is moving to South Carolina this summer. I'm thrilled for her and her sweet family, but I'm not happy about her leaving. Maybe that makes me selfish....but I don't care.

She and I have known each other since we were kids and I've been so happy to "reconnect" with her these past few years as one of her employees! Anybody who knows Emily would probably agree that she was born to be a boss! I lovingly tell her that often. In all seriousness, MINT was only possible because of this girl, and whoever takes over the store when she leaves has some major shoes to fill! I definitely couldn't do what she's done.

The "MINT girls" (minus Catherine and Heidie!) all went to eat the other night. Good times.
WE'RE GOING TO MISS YOU, EMILY!
(oh...and her birthday is tomorrow, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY, too!).

why would you want to miss THIS?

THE BIG BAG SALE!!!!

Mint's BIGGEST sale of the year!

This Saturday, Oct. 17 at 9am

Stuff a brown paper bag full of great merchandise for only $25 in the boutique!
Plus...10% off storewide in the home store!

COME EARLY FOR THE BEST SELECTION! (Oh, and did I mention that there will be coffee and donuts waiting for you???) :)

Again I ask...WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO MISS THIS???

make plans to attend!

The GREAT Tailgate SALE
Thursday, August 27th
6-8 pm
30% off storewide at the BOUTIQUE
10% off storewide at the HOME STORE
$1 clothing racks
$1 shoes and purses
$5 throw pillows
...and lots of HUGE markdowns on home accessories!
MINT
823 Highway 12 West
Starkville, Mississippi 39759
662-324-2641
mintconsignment.blogspot.com

my new find!

Look at the new addition to my living room! I got a great deal on this awesome table at MINT Home Store (the new best thing in Starkville!). I decided I had too much brown in my living room, so I headed up to the store, fell in love with this table, and was able to sell my former brown table to a friend! It definitely adds a little "pop" to the room. It was exactly what I needed and I just love it.

Be sure to check out the MINT blog and read about the sales that will be going on at the boutique ALL SUMMER! Also, if you're in Starkville next Thursday, you definitely need to come by for the "Cupcakes and Cocktails" after hours party from 6-10 pm. The later you shop, the more you save!

Now, I'm heading to bed, because I've got a long day tomorrow. Doing what, you ask? You guessed it.. working at MINT! Come see me!

I.LOVE.MINT.

So, not only does MINT have a clothing consignment store, but now Emily has opened a MINT home store! It's amazing!

I have a tiny kitchen. I have a nice sized kitchen table that I've used since I moved into my house, but as you can see by the picture, I had very little room in my kitchen for it! I emailed a pic to Emily in need of her assistance. In less than a day, she'd found the perfect table for me! It's ideal to use as my kitchen table for now, allowing MUCH more open space in the room. Then, when I DO move, it can be used as a side table for any room in my house! Thanks Emily! I love it!

old table

new table

The small one is just perfect for me right now. The bigger table and 2 of the chairs will be taken to MINT where hopefully they will sell! So... if you're looking for a basic brown kitchen table, be sure to stop by and check it out!

The BIG BAG sale...

I love my "other" job--working at MINT! I don't get much working time there during the school year, but I'm looking forward to spending some time there this summer! Last weekend was the semi-annual Bag Sale at MINT, and needless to say, it was very successful (as you can see in the pics here!). If you've never shopped at MINT, you're really missing out! Oh, and get excited, because as you may already know, Emily is opening up a MINT store for your HOME in just a few weeks!

Big Bag Sale!

Mad chaos is a good way to describe the Big Bag Sale at MINT! The sale started at 8 am Saturday morning. The first picture was taken around 7:30 am. The line went all the way down the sidewalk. The next picture was taken shortly after the doors opened. It was fun but oh so tiring! If you weren't there, you really missed out!

ready for the weekend!!!

It's Friday and all I can say is THANK GOODNESS.

Yesterday was one of those days for me. It wasn't necessarily a bad day, but it was just not a good day I guess. I left school with a pounding headache, my body was hurting because I was so tired, and honestly all I wanted to do was go to my house, be by myself and cry. Pitiful I know, but it's true. I've come a long way since a bombshell hit my life 5 months ago, but I still have not-so-good days and yesterday was one of them. Kristen had an appointment in Starkville yesterday, so she and Henry were just here for the day. I honestly thought they'd already be gone by the time I left school, so I wasn't expecting to see them. To my surprise, they were still in Starkville, so I decided to go to my parents' house to see them (as opposed to going to my house, being by myself, and crying). I still expected to walk in my parents house and just let the tears flow, but as I was walking towards their door, all I could see was the top of Henry's head. His eyes were glaring at me as I was walking towards the door and he was laughing in excitement because he was about to see me. My mood quickly started changing.

It only gets better though.

When I walked in, he quickly jumped in my arms, laid his head on my shoulder, and started playing with my hair. Now, Henry is a loving child. He'll hug you, kiss you, and love on you, but usually only very briefly. Then he goes back to being a boy--running around and throwing things. Not yesterday though. He stayed in my arms for a good 5 minutes and THEN said "LaLa- rock-book." In other words, he wanted to me to rock him and read a book to him. I proceeded to do that for another 10 minutes or so. He just wanted to be with ME, as if he somehow knew I needed it yesterday. I.LOVE.HIM.

I just had to share that story. It always amazes me when small children (pets, too!) can sense sadness. That little boy is the love of my life and I was so thankful for him yesterday.

Changing the subject now--

I've been going to MINT a lot after school and some weekends lately to work some and help get ready for the Bag Sale NEXT Friday (see cute postcard below that I stole from Emily's blog).
I just can't stay away from that place! If you're going to be around for the game next weekend, you must come see me at MINT and get some good deals while you're there!

Thanks for commenting about my new layout. I suppose I'll keep it like this for now. Maybe I can get someone to make me a cute (but simple) header. :)

FINALLY...I have a fun (cheesy perhaps) favor just to ease my curiosity. If you're a regular reader of my blog OR if you stumble across my blog accidentally, PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT! Don't be ashamed if you're a "regular stalker" of my blog and don't even know me. I, too, am a blog-stalker, so there's a good chance I've read yours too!

I've asked you to do this before because I think it's fun to see who all is actually reading my blog! It'll only take a second, so if you're reading this, take a second and let me know!

HAVE A GREAT LABOR DAY WEEKEND!

cast your vote!

OK, so I had a nice chat with my fantastic aunt Stephanie (the hair stylist) re: my hair color. She is all for it. While most of my blog readers (inlcuding almost everyone in my family) are pretty much against me taking the plunge and coloring my hair, I'm actually leaning towards doing it. Is it like me to go against what most people suggest me doing? No. Still, I trust Stephanie and she 100% agrees that I need a change and putting a 6 week gloss on my hair would be the perfect way to do it. Heather was there and after listening to Stephanie talk about how good it would be for me to change my look a bit, she has given me "permission" to do it. :) I figured that if I don't like it, it'll be back to black in 6 weeks.

So, friends, it really might happen. Your opinions are important, so cast your vote on my poll on the right!

While I'm blogging, there are a few new favorites that I must share with my loyal readers. First of all there's a new TV show that's surprisingly very entertaining. It's no secret that I'm a fan of TLC. I love "What Not to Wear" and I'm totally addicted to "Jon and Kate Plus 8". The name off my new fave is "Rock the Reception." Seen it? It sounds cheesy I know, but hear me out on this. Now, if you know me well at all, you know that I DON'T and CAN'T dance. I wish I could, but that's a gift that God gave both of my sisters--not me. I especially wish I could dance after watching this show. IT'S SO FUN. In case you haven't seen it advertise, I'll fill you in on exactly what takes place. A bride and groom hire a professionaly choreographer to teach them a fun dance for their reception to totally surprise their guests. So, when it's time for the first dance, everyone expects it to be a slow, sweet song, and guests expect to watch the couple gaze into each others' eyes (while probably discussing how awkward it is to have so many people staring at them). BUT, when the couple walks out, they totally break out in an out-of-control choreographed dance. I think it's so fun and would totally love to have the ability and the money to do that if I get married one day. You really need to watch it.

Moving on...here are a few new favorite snacks (you know I've got to talk about food!). I LOVE LOVE Triscuits. Normally if I buy them, I get the plain kind. BUT that was before I had the life-changing Fire Roasted Tomato and Olive Oil flavored Triscuits. OH.MY.GOSH. They are heavenly. PROBLEM-I can't buy them. Why you ask? Well, embarrassingly I bought some one night not too long ago. I was totally craving them and nothing else would satisfy my craving. Ummm...let's just say that by the next day THE ENTIRE BOX WAS GONE. I am so embarrassed to admit that. I have absolutely no portion control. I buy them only on special occasions, and try to stick to my 100 calorie packs on a daily basis. Speaking of 100 calorie packs (which, by the way, were a GENIUS idea), have you had the 90 calorie Mini-Delights? They are small rice cakes drizzled with different flavors. There's caramel, chocolate, chocolate mint, and peanut butter. There may be more, but those are the only ones I've tried. They are all so yummy and really do satisfy my sweet cravings.
I would love to meet the person who invented 100 calorie packs. I bet she (I assume it's a female) is skinny.
It really helps people like me, who have no concept of correct portion sizes!
Tomorrow is my last day at MINT. It will be a sad day for me I tell ya. I plan on working in my classroom all day Wed. and Thurs. and then Fri. is my REAL first day back!
WHERE IN THE WORLD DID THE SUMMER GO??

MERRY CHRISTMAS! (in July!)

It's been quite a busy week! My days have kinda been running together for some reason lately. I just had to look at my phone to see what day it was.

As you can see, MINT had a big Christmas in July sale! It was last night from 6-10. This is an event that Emily has been planning for a while now. Little did anybody know that little Smith would decide to enter the world a few weeks early! He was born Tuesday afternoon. Needless to say, Emily was NOT at the sale, but her 3 little employees (including myself!) managed just fine! Don't worry, Emily, you were definitely missed!

Back to the sweet baby--

I went to see him in the hospital Wednesday night. He is absolutely adorable. This picture isn't too close up of his cute little face, so you can just take my word for it, or look at Emily's blog for more pics. I got to hold him for a while and loved it.

Here is the "shrine to Smith" we made at MINT. :)
Congratulations Emily and Reed!

Subject change. You know my blog posts wouldn't be complete without a bit of randomness.

Ummm...can I just say that I have to be at school in A WEEK?! Ahh. I'd be lying if I said I was absolutely THRILLED about going back, but I am anxious to get back. See the difference? Don't get me wrong--this summer has been great. It was exactly what I needed and I am not ready to give up my summer job, but I am ready to meet my new students (I think). I've spent a little time in my classroom this past week (whenever I wasn't working), and I've still got quite a bit of cleaning and organizing to do before I'm completely ready. I'll get there though. I'm not stressed. Heather and Trey are coming today, and although Heather doesn't know yet, she's coming with me to school tomorrow to help me clean! Shhh...don't tell her...she may decide not to come. :)

Also..I need to talk to the person "in charge" of this town. We are in the process of getting ANOTHER Sonic (approximately 1/2 a mile from one of the other Sonics nonetheless). This makes like our 47th Sonic here. Slight exaggerration, but I'm not that far off. I mean, this is not a big town. Is another Sonic REALLY what we need? I also happened to notice that this Sonic has a drive through window. I don't get it. What's the difference in the drive through and the regular place to order at Sonic? I thought that was the whole point of Sonic. You know, the whole -you don't have to get of your car thing?! That just doesn't make sense to me.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not dogging Sonic. They have fabulous ice, and as long as they remember to put a cherry in my Diet Cherry Limeade, I'm a fan. However, there are more important things in life.

It's time for Starkville to get a Target.

The Robertsons and other ramblings on a Monday.

Chad, Candy, and not-so-little-anymore Landon were in town for a wedding this weekend. I love it when they have an "excuse" to come to Starkville and stay with me. My house is by no means child proof, so I'm not sure Landon appreciated my lack of toys, but nonetheless, I think they had a good time. I had a pack of plastic straws that kept him quite entertained. :)

I absolutely loved seeing them!
Yes, internet access at my house is still a negative right now, so blogging time has suffered a great deal lately. Sad. I know you all wonder "What has LT been up to?," so to ease your minds, I am posting a bulleted list of the exciting events of my daily summer living.

• I've been working at MINT a good bit lately. I absolutely love it. In fact, as much as I love teaching, I told Emily the other day that if I could financially do it, I would take a year off teaching and just work for her at the store. I'm telling you--if you've never been to this fantastic place, you must come in. I have snagged a few great pieces of clothing including a pair of Seven Jeans, which were priced at $210 (they had NEVER been worn). I paid $15 for them. Yes...you read that correctly FIFTEEN DOLLARS! There's always cute stuff there. I enjoy working AND shopping there.
• I have become obsessed with eye make up. That is random I know, but I have found that changing up your regular eye shadow routine can really spice up an outfit. (Too much time on my hands? Perhaps). I'm a Bobbi Brown make up wearer, but I've ventured out a bit and bought some "fun" eyeshadows from random places. I mostly use browns and greens, but I'm thinking of trying to try some blues and purples. I think it's fun to play with even though I may end up looking like a clown. Any good recommendations?
• I made a fabulous summer salad yesterday. If you're into fruity salads, you must jot down this recipe and try it. INGREDIENTS: 1 bag Romaine lettuce, I can mandarin oranges (drained), 2 c. sliced strawberries, sliced almonds (desired amount really), 2 c. chopped chicken, I small red (or is it purple???) onion -sliced, poppyseed dressing. I actually came up with my own dressing. I bought a yummy fat-free strawberry balsamic dressing and mixed some poppyseeds in it. I'm sure I don't really have to list the directions here, as I know you're all intelligent people and can figure out how to "make" the salad. The only recommendation I have is to serve the salad tossed and put the almonds on last, so they will be nice and crunchy. Give it a whirl! It's delish!
• I miss Heather's daily blog posts. Since she's started a new job, she has little time to blog and it makes me sad. In fact, I think she should quit her job and just become a full time blogger. She's so entertaining and the blog world is just not the same without her. But alas, I suppose blogging 8 hours a day will not put food on the table and a roof over her head. Plus, it would be kind of weird if that was all she did ALL of the time. I'm sure Trey would not go for it. Scratch that whole idea I guess. I'm planning on visiting them in a couple of weeks, and I'm looking forward to some good times in the 'Burg.
• You need to purchase the latest People Style magazine. I love it when magazines show you pictures of fantastic (but expensive) outfits that famous people wear and then they show you how you can look similar but spend less money to do it. There are several websites provided in the magazine that I'm going to be checking out. Oh, and I must add that there are several celebrities wearing yellow dresses somewhat similar to the Kate Hudson one that I borrowed to wear at Rob's party last weekend. I MUST find one of my own. I can't stop thinking about it.
  I guess that does it for my blogging today. I'm off to get my day started now! Enjoy your Monday. I guess this should be a 4-day week for most of you! Yay!

All is well with me...just NOT my computer!

So....my computer is not doing so well. On top of that, I don't have internet access at my house either (long story). Hopefully, both of these issues will be resolved shortly and my blogging will be back to normal. I know I am missed by all. Ha.

I need to give a couple of important anniversary shout-outs. The older sister, Kristen, and her hubby Rob are celebrating their 5th anniversary tomorrow!

The little sister, Heather, and her hubby Trey celebrated their 2nd anniversary June 3rd. Sorry I'm late!

Happy Anniversary!

I've started working at Emily Stringer's consignment store, MINT this week! I'm going to work here a little this summer. Emily is quite pregnant so I wanted to help her out while also making a little money too! If you're in the area, you most definitely need to stop by! There's SUCH cute stuff there! I apologize for not being a loyal blog reader lately! It's killing me not knowing what's going on with everybody! :) I promise I will be back as soon as I can! Until then, I will bum people's computers AND internet like I'm having to do now!

Have a great weekend!

G

I hope some of you are enjoying my little alphabet game thus far. I must admit, it's been kinda fun for me too. I'm impressed that I've been able to post everyday so far and anxious to see how much longer I'll keep THAT up!

Anyway, moving on to the next letter...

G is for gift card! I think gift cards of any kind make the most fantastic gifts. I give them to people a lot. Not because I'm too lazy or impersonable to buy something, but because I know how much I love to get them!

For Christmas I received 2 Ann Taylor Loft gift cards-one from my Nana and the other was left by Santa. If you're a faithful blog reader of mine, then you should know that ATL is my fave. I've been anxious to use the gift cards, but I wanted to wait for the spring arrivals. Well, yesterday my mom and I headed to Tuscaloosa for a day of shopping! Have you been there lately? They've always had decent shopping (including one of the most fabulous Super Targets I've ever been to!), but the shopping has gotten even better, my friends. In November, they opened an ATL store in a new shopping center, which also has some other really great stores. You can imagine my excitement when I realized that I didn't have to drive to Jackson or all the way to Birmingham just to go to ATL. It's fabulous.

Well, needless to say, I had lots of luck! I got some really cute spring items that I'm excited about wearing (it almost makes me excited about go to school tomorrow--weird!). It's been quite a while since I'd gotten new clothes, and it really is amazing how good a couple of new outfits can make you feel! I'm actually in the process now of getting together some more of my older clothes to take to Mint!

I also got a really cute purse from Target. It's rather large (aren't big purses stylish??) and I really like it. When JR saw it, he said (hopefully jokingly) "You can fit an entire person in that thing. Do not use it anytime when we're together." A little harsh I know. I mean, is he really going to make me choose between him and my cute purse? :)
Mom and I had a great day together. I always enjoy good hanging out time with her, and in my opinion, shopping is the best way to spend good quality time with someone!

I hope you have a fantastic week. This is my last full week of school before I head to San Antonio for 3 days for a conference! Woo hoo!!

much needed hanging out time with Candy!

My dear friends Chad and Candy were in town this weekend! They came in late Friday night and spent the night with me. Candy and I spent the whole day Saturday just hanging out (Tipico was included of course), and it was long overdue. Our original plan was to hit up Mint for the "Big Bag Sale" at 9 am. What a great idea this was-you pay $20, get a brown grocery bag and whatever you fill in the bag is yours! I knew it was going to be a big deal, but I had NO IDEA it would be as crazy as it was! We pulled up at 8:58 am, thinking we were smart and we'd be there before anyone else, but we were so very wrong! There was a line going all the way down the sidewalk! Candy and I decided that we just couldn't fight the crowd, so we didn't stay. :(

Sorry I didn't make it like I'd promised, Emily, but it looked as though it was a huge success!

Candy left Saturday afternoon to head to Carrollton to spend time with her family, and see her little Landon, who I GREATLY MISSED! Our time was too short, but as always, I loved loved seeing her!

I hope you had a great weekend! JR and I are heading to Heather and Tom's tonight to watch the Super Bowl. I care nothing about the NFL, nor do I care anything about the 2 teams playing. I don't like Eli Manning, though, so it looks like I'm pulling for the Patriots tonight!

what a GREAT idea!

Last weekend I finally cleaned out my closets. It's something I've been saying I was going to do for a while, but I always found something else that I would RATHER be doing. :) (Imagine that).

I'm one that enjoys cleaning and organizing anything (a little OCD perhaps??), so it's a great feeling to now have a really organized closet that's free of clothes that I would just look at everyday knowing that I would never wear them again. Of course now I have somewhat of a bare closet...I guess that means that I better plan a good shopping trip soon!

What did I do with these clothes once I got them out of my closet? Glad you asked. :)

I took them to "Mint", a new consignment boutique in town owned by Emily Stringer. MSKS blogged about it recently and I had heard other people talking about it, so I definitely needed to check it out. I took my load of clothes yesterday and did a little shopping there too. There's a little of everything in this cute store-clothes of all kinds, jewelry, shoes, purses, etc.

I am looking forward to this because: a. if she's able to sell my old clothes for me, I'll make a small percentage of the money while helping out her business a little too! b. I was able to get rid of the clothes that somebody else will hopefully want. c. This town needed a consignment boutique like this one--cute stuff at a really inexpensive price. I'll definitely be stopping by often.

I walked out of there yesterday with a great purse that looks unused and I got for SUCH a good price. As Heather would say, "I will look totally unstoppable" when I use it. :)

Anyway, you should definitely check this out the next time you're in town. And if you've got clothes that you're wanting to get rid of, take them to Emily!