My purchases.

I didn't plan to spend so much money, but since I hadn't gotten the job/promotion I applied for at the library, I did decide I was spending money on myself and I wasn't going to worry about it.
Here are the two notecards I bought at the art gallery, the bag of button , for a closer look at them, check out my art blog, the egg fabric
Here are the two linen pieces I found and the flower frog

Here's the two shirts I got at the consignment store. I had found quite a few cute shirts, but these two fit the best

And two Okoboji shirts, because you have to buy some of those while you're there

Now, you can't see the bag of candy I bought at the sugar shack, because that's gone.

I think I bought some great things, I just wish the weekend lasted longer, or that I got to have more time up there. I felt like we pushed a lot into the weekend and it would have been nice to spread it out and relax more. But, that seems to be the norm when I go up there lately. When I went with my ex three or four years ago, we had to be back by Tuesday afternoon, last year I had to be back by Monday afternoon and this year by Tuesday night.

Day three

All the pictures in this post are of chalk drawings from a contest in Spirit Lake, it had actually happened during the weekend, and we got to see these beautiful drawings when we were there on Monday.
It was a very relaxing morning on Monday, we all got up when we felt like it and just lounged around the condo.

At about 10AM we went mini golfing at Treasure Village, my mother felt sorry that my brother wasn't up there yet, so she decided to play a round with me (she never does that). We decided not to keep score and it was pretty fun. By the time we finished it was lunch time.

We went to a close town, Spirit Lake, and drove through looking for a place to eat. We decided to got to a little bistro called Rebab's. It was pretty good, I tried a pesto chicken sandwich, and it was great.

After lunch we went to another art gallery and were blown away by the gorgeous photographs. Mom and I loved them so much we bought some notecards.

We then went to a quilting shop, where my mom had tons of fun. I found a cute egg fabric to go with some bird images I had at home.

We then went to a consignment store where mom and I found a couple pieces of clothing. I also found a few linen pieces that I couldn't pass up.

After that, we went back to the condo and proceeded to pack up for the next day.

And that is the end of our short exciting weekend. Tuesday, we got up, packed the rest of our items and left.

I had taken over $100 with me and spent about $80. Between the sugar shack, the flea market, a t-shirt store, the art gallery, the quilting store, and the consignment shop, I spent that much money. You will get to see my purchases in the next post.

I was kinda disappointed that my brother couldn't make it up to spend some time with us, but we all know how work goes. He is up there now, and will be there til the end of the week.

My trip, Day one and two

I went on vacation this past weekend. My parents and I went up to Lake Okoboji, in Iowa. We have a timeshare there, and we decided we could take a long weekend. We left shortly before noon on Saturday and arrived there shortly after 3:30PM.
Our first stop was to go to a consignment store we'd been going to for 27 years, only to find out it had closed. Next we went to the mall that's right next door to our condo (we had time to kill as we couldn't check in until after 4PM), and had to stop at the Sugar Shack. It's a store that's all candy. I only bought somewhat healthy things this year (chocolate covered nuts are healthy, right?). We traveled down to the amusement park and past some cool cars. By the time we got back it was time to check in. Here's part of the view from our deck:
We decided to go to a local ribs joint across the street for supper. My mother was not impressed with it. When we got there, there were only 3 seats at the bar and it was sit yourself place. So, we're all crammed into the bar, with a big gap between the bar and us, it was a perfect setup to spill all over yourself.
I'm trying to be more healthy lately and drink only water, milk and the occasional adult beverage, but I almost stopped that night. A root beer float just sounded so great, fortunately for me, they were out of root beer. After supper we traveled back to the condo and relaxed for the night. It was pretty hard for me to sleep. I was in the smaller room with 2 single beds, I hadn't been in that room since I was there with my ex.

The next day, we got up early and went to our favorite place for breakfast, The Koffee Kup. Then we decided to walk off the calories we'd eaten (I don't think we even got close). The original plan was that my brother would be coming up on Sunday and we'd have a few days with him and his girlfriend, but work got in the way, and he wouldn't be arriving until Tuesday, the day we were leaving.

We weren't really sure what would be open on a Sunday, but we had seen an ad for a flea market on Tv on Sat night, so we went out to that. There was a lady selling buttons, both mom and I had a blast picking throught them. I also bought a flower frog, I've been wanting one of those for awhile. You'll see all my purchases in a later post.
This is a weird backpack I found in one of the stores. It wasn't much more bigger than a basketball, but cost over $30.


By the time we were done with the flea market, it was lunchtime, so we went to a local park and had a picnic. Afterward we went to an art gallery and then to the Barn Swallow for shopping.

After shopping, we decided to take an evening cruise on the Queen II, we got there a little early, so had to get some ice cream to pass the time. After the cruise we were all tired and went to bed.

I'm losing my mind

My mood's been off lately, for at least a couple of months. I keep saying it's because I'm waiting to find that really great buy at a garage sale or antique mall, but when I went to Lake Okoboji last weekend, I found some great handkerchiefs and a nice photo album (see previous posts), but I still didn't feel better. I would love to buy some more crafting supplies, but I know I already have enough.
I could blame it on being wicked busy at work and tired after work, but that would have only been from last week. I started full time at the book store again last Tuesday, and I love working there, don't get me wrong, but some days working from 9AM to 6PM standing, is a very long day. I wonder if it's the stress of knowing the other store I work at is closing sometime (probably soon) and I'll have to worry about finding another job. And the fact that my parents now know about it and have been telling me about every help wanted sign they have seen, and asking me what I want to do with my life since I'm now at a cross roads again.
I guess I just need a job that pays a ton whether I want like it or not.
I could also blame it on not really doing anything this summer. I haven't really been in water since Hawaii (that was Jan), I guess Kevin and I walked through the flood waters 2 wks ago Wed. I haven't really gone out and done anything outside this summer. The only time I'm outside is to do errands or go to work. I don't have any close friends here in Ames, and Kevin's been working 7 days a week since July (actually since he started back up in April, but he had some days off over the 4th of July).

I suppose I could also blame it on things falling through lately too. Kevin's work generally pays for their employees to spend a day at Adventureland in Des Moines, but they didn't do that this year. I kinda wanted to go to the State Fair this year too, and I had a chance when my brother said he'd be in town, but he (and miscommunication with my parents) got dates messed up, then he got a great business opportunity in Europe, so of course he jumped on that. Then, someone told me that if it was nice in the evenings last week (which I thought it was) they would call and we could go, but that didn't happen.

I am wondering if it's more on the job front though, like I said I've been somewhat depressed for a few months, and I was told June 1st (or around there), that the store would be closing at the end of that month. And I have found my mind drifting to something it hasn't drifted to in awhile, and that scares me.

By the way, the pictures are from Okoboji, those are the views I had off our balcony of the condo.

Going up north

OK, last post for today, I promise, probably the last post until sometime next week.
The flood/water situation. It seems that almost all roads are open, one I heard sustained quite a bit of damage on the road, so it's still closed. Apparently people aren't conserving water as much as the city needs to refill the water towers, so it might be a little bit longer before we can drink water. I'm stocked up on bottled water, I don't flush as much (which by the way is kinda gross), I took a very short shower last night, I was going to wait longer, but I just felt so gross.

I'm going to go to our condo on Lake Okoboji this weekend. Originally, my brother was supposed to go up for our week, which is usually the last week in August, but since the schedule is a little off, it all depends on how January starts out, he got his dates mixed up. And it turns out my aunt, and cousin and her kid wanted to go for the weekend, and I happen to have the weekend free, so we're going to have a little girls weekend. It takes about 3 to 4 hours to get there, so we're leaving in the morning tomorrow. Check in is usually about 4pm, so we'll have a little time before we check in, but there's always plenty to do.
I've decided I want to shop and go swimming as my main priorities, since we're really only going to be there about 2 days, I have to work at 1 on Monday, so we have to leave early up there. Our condo is right next to the mall, a little further down is a strip mall across from the amusement park (which I haven't been too in ages, haven't been to the condo in 3 years). I'd love to also go to an antique mall there and a thrift store, I'd like to go to the scrapbooking store too and another shop close to it, but it's not within walking distance and we all know I don't need more artsy stuff.
I will take plenty of photos for you all to enjoy, our condo looks right over the lake, downstairs you can jump right into it off the dock.

Starting on Tuesday, I will be working full time at UBS because the college kids are coming back, so between that job, the library and the store I will most likely have very little free time during the week. I do have to finish the bird swap for one of my yahoo groups, and I do have two swaps due on the 30th, and another one due in Sept. I guess I'll have to see how busy I am next weekend, I know one day I'll be working at UBS.

Now you know where I'll be if you don't see me here.