What's Better Than Saving Money?

Saving gifted money, of course!

You may remember that I mentioned we got an Old Navy gift card for $75 from our health insurance company.  Well, Patrick's company Christmas party is Sunday night, and like the typical woman, I had "nothing" to wear.  Except in my case, I literally had nothing to wear.  Unless they go for the whole torn jeans and tee shirt look. 

On Wednesday, Madison and I headed out on our first mother/daughter shopping excursion.  I was kind of dreading the experience, to be completely honest.  But Madison was an angel the whole time.  She seemed enthralled by the new sights and sounds.  The only difficult part of the trip was navigating the narrow aisles with her stroller.  Old Navy, if you can hear me, I'm pretty sure your Humble store is not handicap accessible.  You might want to look into that.

My goal for the day was to find a dress that would work for the party.  I picked out probably five options (basically every dress in the store), and fell in love with two of them.  I chose the more festive of the two, but only after promising the other one that I would come back.  Navy blue boat neck size small (no one was more surprised than me on that one) jersey three quarter sleeve belted at the hip dress, I haven't forgotten about you.  I'll come back for you soon, you pretty thing, you.

The only reason I didn't get both dresses on Wednesday was that I was dangerously close to the $75 mark once I added in the accessories, and spending "real money" was just not part of the game plan.

Speaking of accessories, have you been to Old Navy lately?  They actually have a huge selection now!  And most of it's really pretty! 

<coughpatrick,anyjewelryfromoldnavywouldmakeareallygoodstockingstufferespeciallythecocktailringsinlargeormediumbecauseihavehugefingersandmadisonripsearringsoutandsucksonnecklacesendcough>

Excuse me!  Darn allergies.  : )

Anyway, after the bittersweet farewells to my sparkly friends, I headed for the checkout.  As the clerk was scanning my items, I was watching the credit card screen, like I always do, to make sure things are priced correctly.  I hate it when things are more at the register than they were marked as.  Imagine my surprise when my marked-as-$39.94 dress rang up as $13.49!

I was sorely tempted to turn that stroller around and march back for "my" dress, but I figured I had pushed Madison far enough, and that she shouldn't be penalized for good behavior.  But mark my words: that dress will be mine by Sunday. 

Have you done any shopping for you lately?  How about a surprise good deal?  Do you ever fall in love with and converse with articles of clothing?
-Kelli