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theycallmebeccawrites · 6 years ago

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Chris & Ellie Series: Episode 14

With Tumblr holding my original writing blog @beccaheartschrisevans captive (aka flagged as explicit), I have made a secondary writing blog and may end up closing the other all together. In the meantime, I am reposting all of my stories on my new blog.

Pairing: Chris Evans x Ellie Spencer (OFC)

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: some minor language

Episode Summary: Basically how Chris and Ellie spend December 2013 while apart

Disclaimer: This work of fiction is not to be reposted, used or translated without my permission.

This episode can also be read on AO3.

The Chris and Ellie series is primarily chronological. It begins with a flash forward to 2016 and has a few other scenes in the future. However, the majority of their story is told in chronological order starting in 2013 and going through 2017. Each episode starts with a date to help you place it within the story.

The Chris & Ellie Series Masterlist | Chris & Ellie Masterlist

Episode 13

Episode 14: The Most Wonderful Time of Year

December 2013

It was with a mix of great joy and pure exhaustion that Ellie walked into the house on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Too tired to walk down to the guesthouse, she collapsed on the couch in the living room and closed her eyes. Thanks to her cousin who had offered to watch Daisy over the weekend due to the extra hours Ellie was working, there was no reason for her to even get off the couch.

Which was why she woke up six hours later with a crick in her neck from the awkward position she'd fallen asleep in. Still, it took a lot of strength to pull her exhausted body from the couch and make her way down to her room. Despite it being a little after two in the morning, she took a shower and let the hot water ease her sore muscles, before she got into bed and fell back to sleep.

After picking Daisy up, later that morning, Ellie spent most of the day cleaning and doing laundry, chores that had been completely overlooked in the days leading up to Black Friday weekend at the bookstore. It was as she was checking the pockets of her clothes that she came across the business card of the lady who she had met at her aunt's house on Thanksgiving. She hadn't looked closely at the card until now and was slightly disappointed when she saw that the lady worked for a publishing company and not a literary agency, which likely meant she had no use for someone who aspired to be an editor. Setting the business card aside, Ellie continued with her chores, quickly coming to terms with the fact that she would just have to wait for another opportunity.

During the craziness of her weekend, the texts between Ellie and Chris had been sporadic, but they often found time to shoot each other a message or two in the days that followed. It was a couple days in December, however, when Ellie's phone rang at just after eleven p.m. Curious as to who was calling her so late, Ellie grabbed the phone and stared at in shock when she saw that it was Chris. With a sick feeling in her gut, especially since it was after two in the morning on the east coast, she accepted the call and said, "Chris? What's wrong?"

"I'm kind of freaking out right now," Chris said and she could hear the anxiety and panic in his voice. "We start shooting the movie later today, well, tonight really, but that’s beside the point, because I don't know why anyone would trust me with their manuscript. I'm just an actor."

Ellie let out a mental sigh of relief that no one was sick or seriously injured before she stepped up to the task of helping him through his freak out. "You're more than just an actor," she told him. "Yes. You've acted all your life, but you've been studying your craft and learning from those around you."

"But directing?" he sighed his voice thick with tension. She hadn't seen him in this situation before, but knowing him, she imagined him wringing his hands and pacing the floor of his hotel room, likely to the annoyance of his neighbors. "What the hell was I thinking?"

"That you wanted to challenge yourself," Ellie said firmly, repeating the words he'd said to her months ago when he'd told her he was looking for a script to direct. "You have a great team around you, Chris, they trust you and they want to take this journey with you."

"Insane, every last one of them," Chris with a scoff that gave way to a forced laugh. "Even more insane than I am."

"You're not insane, you're just nervous," Ellie said as she pushed herself up into a sitting position on her bed, jostling Daisy slightly, who glared at her before rolling over and falling back to sleep. "You just need to distract yourself so you can get some sleep."

"You're right," Chris said and she heard him take a deep breath. "Ok, distracting myself." He took another long, slow breath. "Distracting myself... Oh! Did you send that lady your resume?"

Caught off guard at the change of subject so quickly, Ellie stammered, "No… not really."

"What does that mean?" Chris inquired. "You either did or you didn't."

"I didn't," Ellie confessed, biting down on her lower lip.

"Why not? That's the door you've been waiting for," he said, practically lecturing her. She was happy to hear a more positive tone to his voice, but not so happy that it was at her expense.

"It isn't though," Ellie said before defending herself, "she works for a publishing company and editors work with authors and literary agents, not the publishing company."

"But if she works with authors and literary agents then she has the contacts to forward your resume to," Chris countered. "Therefore, she has the contacts you need."

"You're trying to confuse me with logical shit and it's too late for that nonsense," Ellie muttered, rubbing her forehead. "Can't we go back to talking about your anxiety over directing?" Ellie pleaded before letting out a deep shy as the pressure of the situation began to wear on her. She'd come to LA to be an editor only to have her dreams of that career go up in flames thanks to her sexist pig of a boss.

"No," Chris said with a chuckle. "This is a great topic to distract myself with. That is what you suggested after all."

"Ugh, remind me to never tell you to distract yourself again," Ellie grumbled, slumping back against the headboard.

"At least not when we're across the country from each other," Chris said, smoothly. Despite their time apart, he was even more sure that Ellie was the girl he wanted to be dating. After all, she was the first person he'd needed to talk to when he had started freaking out an hour earlier. He understood why she was hesitant, however, and he didn't want to push her into anything she wasn't ready for, but there were some innuendos even he couldn't resist even on his best behavior.

"Or ones that require us to talk," Ellie responded as her mind flickered back to their kisses in October. What she wouldn't give to be with Chris right now, kissing his worries away. She cleared her throat, pulling them both back to the topic at hand. "Ok, Evans, give me your sales pitch."

"My sales pitch? What? … Oh, right... We were talking about you submitting your resume." Chris let out a genuine laugh that made Ellie smile. "I don't really have a sales pitch, I just think you'll live to regret it if you don't send her your resume, El," he admitted. "Like you said yourself, she isn't the person you're trying to get to hire you, but she’s an avenue to that person."

"If she even reads it," Ellie said in a negative Nancy tone.

"Then make her read it," Chris said with an overzealous amount of enthusiasm. "Send her flowers or chocolates or -"

"Something stolen from Chris Evans' house?" Ellie suggested, jokingly.

"Ha," he replied before sobering. "I've seen your resume, Ellie, and you've accomplished a lot. If this lady is smart, she'll take one look at your resume and know she has to send it on."

"But what if she doesn't?" Ellie said quietly, voicing her biggest fear. "What if the only reason she gave me her business card was because my aunt was nagging her to during dessert?"

"What if someone had helped her to her first job in the publishing world and she wants to help you? Chris countered, his tone part fierce and part compassionate. "I know I sure as hell didn't make it where I am now without help from people in the industry who took a chance on me."

He waited a moment, likely for dramatic effect, she thought, before he continued, "You're damn good at what you do, Ellie, and don't you ever forget that. We both know that selling used books and managing my house are not what you want to do for the rest of your life. Editing is where your passion is. I've never seen someone actually light up over a writing reference book like you did when you bought that book that someone had traded in."

"It wasn't just a book, it was a first edition of -" she started but stopped when she heard him call her a nerd. "Hey!"

"Does it make it better if I say you're an adorable nerd? Hot even." Chris asked, thankful that he had distracted her from what he knew would be another hour-long conversation about the importance of that book. "Because you totally are."

"You aren't so bad yourself, though I don't think anyone would confuse you for a nerd, you've got too many muscles," she replied her tone turning a bit wistful at the end. "Lots of bumpy muscles." A part of her wanted to tell him right then and there that she wanted to try to be a couple with him, but that would put them exactly where they were now, nearly 3,000 miles apart.

"Nerds come in all shapes and sizes," he reminded her, biting his tongue to keep from telling her he'd show her his bumpy muscles again if she showed him her bumps. He cleared his throat and quickly tried to recall what they had been discussing before their detour. "Right. You're resume. You're going to send it to her, right?"

After taking a moment of her own to recall the conversation, Ellie replied, "Yes, I'll send it in the morning, if it will make you happy."

"No, don't do it to make me happy," Chris told her, shaking his head despite the fact that she couldn't see him. "Do it because you want to, because it will help you achieve your dreams. Because this is the job you want so bad you can taste it, because it's all you think about."

"Ok, I'll do it for me," Ellie replied, feeling somewhat inspired by his passion. "You know, if this acting and directing thing doesn't work out, you'd make a great inspirational speaker."

"Ha ha ha. No." Chris shuddered at the idea. "Gimme a script and tell me to play a superhero. I've got that. Tell me to stand in front of a bunch of people I don't know and tell me to just speak, you'd better have something for me to fall onto when I pass out."

"I'm sure it wouldn't be that bad," Ellie told him. "But I don't think you need to worry about a second job, or is it a third job, now that you're an actor and director?"

"It's too late to think that hard," he replied with a laugh.

Glancing at the clock, Ellie's eyebrows shot up when she realized they'd been on the phone for over an hour. "Chris! You need to get some sleep!! You're going to be pissed when your lead actor shows up with dark circles under his eyes!"

"Wouldn't surprise me, that guy is an asshole," Chris joked and then yawned. "But you're probably right…"

"Of course I'm right and you need your beauty sleep, too, Mr. Director," she snickered. "Even though all you have to do tomorrow is sit still and look pretty."

"It's a hard job, someone has to do it," Chris said in a self-sacrificing tone. Returning to a more serious tone, he said, "Thanks for answering your phone, El. You're exactly who I needed to help me through my panic tonight."

"I'll always answer my phone for you, Chris," Ellie replied, her tone also serious. "And I'm glad I was able to help you out."

After saying goodbye to Chris, Ellie plugged her phone in and turned off the lights. She slid under the blankets of her bed and whispered to Daisy, "I know he is worried about directing, just like I'm worried about this job�� but I have as much faith in him going for his dreams as he does for me."

The next morning, before going to the bookstore, Ellie did as she had promised and sent her resume and a carefully worded cover letter to the lady at the publishing company. She still wasn't convinced that it would open any doors for her, but she'd promised Chris she would do it. Before pressing send, she took a picture of her computer screen with her phone and sent it to Chris and got an 'you got this!' in reply.

Over the next couple of days, Chris kept Ellie up to date on how things were going with the movie (good) and how he was getting on with the cast and crew (great). Due to his late night shoots, however, all of their communication happened via text since by the time he got out of bed, she was already working. The texts were usually funny things that were happening around them as well as encouraging thoughts for each other.

She was at work the day she got the email from her aunt's friend with a formal introduction to a literary agent who wanted to meet Ellie for a possible job. Before even replying to the email, during her break, Ellie sent Chris a text with a screen shot of the email, to which he replied with a simple, "told you so."

Once again, Chris was the first person she reached out to, a few days later, when she got into her car after the meeting with the literary agent. Way too excited to type, she took a chance and called him, hoping he was awake and available to talk.

"How'd it go?" he asked, answering his phone without a proper greeting. He'd known that her interview was that morning and there was an edge to his voice that told her he might have been more nervous about it than she had been.

"It was amazing," Ellie gushed as she leaned back against the car seat. "We talked about my goals and what I wanted to achieve as an editor and the typical 'where do you see yourself in five years' questions. But Chris, he said he was impressed with my resume and that he was familiar with a couple of the self-published novels I've edited."

"That's awesome," Chris said and, knowing him as well as she did, Ellie could hear the smile in his voice. "See, I told you. You should listen to me more often," he added, cockily.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," she replied, rolling her eyes playfully. "I haven't even told you the best part yet."

"Well get to it then, I don't have all day!" he teased, sarcastically. Before she had a chance to tell him, however, he started humming the Final Jeopardy tune and then continued when she did start.

"CHRIS!" she complained while laughing. "Shut up so I can tell you!"

"Sorry," he replied attempting a tone of sincerity while still laughing. "I'll behave, promise." She said nothing, not trusting him at all. "I'm done, I swear!"

"He gave me a manuscript for one of his authors!" she exclaimed and let out an excited squeal, nearly dropping the phone as she did a little happy dance in her car.

"That's fantastic!" Chris couldn't help but chuckle at her antics. "Do you have a due date?"

"That's the thing," she said, her excitement tapering off. "He wants me to read it, mark it up and do my thing to it, but before Christmas. That's less than two weeks away…"

"I've seen you read an entire book in one sitting," he stated. "Which let me tell you, is an impressive and mind blowing sight. I have no doubt you can get this done in that time. Assuming, of course, it's not like a War in Remembrance length…"

"It's not, thank God, it's a little more than two hundred pages and double spaced," Ellie replied. "I've edited longer ones, but I'm kind of nervous, ya know? This is a real book and author. I mean, when it's finished, I could walk into a bookstore and pick it up off the shelf."

"You've got this," Chris encouraged her. "And when it comes out, I'm going to buy that book and make you sign it."

"You don't even know what kind of book it is," Ellie said with a laugh. "It could be a self-help book on embracing your sexuality as a woman."

"Is it?" Chris asked, hesitantly.

"No, lucky for you, it's not." She laughed. "It's a mystery novel."

"Whew, that was going to be an awkward purchase otherwise." He let out a sigh of relief. "But you've got this, Ellie. Editing was what you were born to do."

"Thanks for pushing me, Chris, I wouldn't have had this opportunity if it weren't for you," she said, seriously.

"Exactly and when you become the most in demand editor, I expect residual checks," he stated with a chuckle. "I know there isn't much room to work in the guesthouse, so feel free to use my office to spread out, if you'd like."

"Are you sure?" she asked, hesitantly. "I don't want to invade your personal space."

"I'm pretty sure we crossed that line on Halloween," he said casually, but the memories of that night and the kisses they had shared brought extra heat to his words.

"Which line was that?" she asked, flirtatiously. "When I pushed you against the wall? Or when you flipped us around?"

"Somewhere in the middle," Chris replied, lowering his voice since he was on set. He'd moved aside when he'd answered the call, but he wanted to protect Ellie and their, hopefully, budding relationship.

Feeling emboldened by his words, her meeting that morning and her desire to clear the air with Chris about her feelings, Ellie opened her mouth to tell him she wanted to take that step with him, but before she could get the words out, someone on his end shouted at him.

"Shit," he cursed into the phone. He pulled the phone away and she could hear a hushed conversation happening on his end, followed by additional cussing from him before he finally returned. "I've got to go, El. We're having an issue with one of the cameras. We'll finish this conversation later, good luck with the editing."

After hanging up, Ellie held her phone to her chest and breathed in deeply. Chris's support and refusal to let her give up on her dream of being an editor had only made her more confident in her decision to take a chance with him. It was early--way too early, if she was being honest with herself--to even be thinking along the lines of a definite future with Chris, but she couldn't help it. There was something special about the bond she shared with Chris and she hoped it was the forever, even if it was just forever friends, kind of bond.

In the week that followed, Ellie spent her free time working on the manuscript, which left little time for more than a few texts with Chris here and there, which ended up working out fine because Chris, himself, was busy with the final days of filming. There were times that she wished they could talk on the phone as she was trying to go to sleep at night, but she knew that they both needed to focus on their projects before distracting themselves with relationship talks. As she powered through the corrections and comments for the author she was working with, Chris acted and directed, which resulted in them both finishing their projects on the Friday before Christmas.

They exchanged texts the next day as they sat in airports across the country from each other waiting for their flights: hers to Oregon to spend two weeks with her family and him to Florida where he would join his family for the last couple days of their annual Disney World trip before they all returned home to Sudbury for Christmas.

By the time Ellie got to her parents’ house, in a small town in the Willamette Valley, it was nearly dinner time and the house was already full. Her younger sister, Riley, was home from college and her older sister, Sydney, and her two kids had arrived a couple hours before Ellie had. The only people who hadn't arrived yet were Sydney's husband and her sister Izzy, who both had to work the first part of the week.

After a dinner of pizza, Ellie retired to the room she'd shared with Izzy growing up and was unpacking her clothes when she got a text from Chris asking if she'd made it home yet. Sitting down on the bed, she smiled as she replied yes and then sent him a selfie she had taken with her niece and nephew earlier. They texted a few more times, including a couple pictures of him with his nephews in Disney World.

Distracted by the texts, Ellie didn't realize Sydney and Riley were in the doorway to her room until Riley cleared her throat, startling Ellie completely and making her jump in fright.

"So, how's Chris?" Sydney asked with a knowing smile.

"Good," Ellie replied with a slight blush. It had been during their last sisters group chat that she had told her sisters what had happened between herself and Chris after the baseball game and about the decision she had made on Thanksgiving. Her sisters had been happy for her and had teased her about it a bit, but Ellie had noticed that Izzy hadn't been herself.

It hadn't been until a private conversation between the two of them over the phone that Ellie found out that Scott had already told Izzy about the kiss at the World Series and the lipstick incident at the Halloween party. Her sister, and best friend, had been understandably upset for not hearing about those two incidents from Ellie herself. Things were still a bit touchy between the two sisters, which is why Ellie had offered to drive to Portland to pick Izzy up on Christmas Eve.

When it came to talking with her sisters, it was easier to tell all three of them at once than each individually, especially if you weren't trying to tell them everything. Ellie, herself, had been part of the post one-on-one conversations where notes had been compared to figure out what the sister on the hot seat had left out. She had hoped to avoid that situation, but clearly Riley, Sydney and Izzy had different plans.

"Have you told him you want do have sex with him yet?" Riley asked in the casual way a college student talks about sex.

"Not yet," Ellie replied before going on to tell her sisters how her attempt the week before had failed and how she and Chris had both been super busy. "It's the whole distance makes the heart grow fonder thing, ya know." She shrugged.

"But what if the other heart doesn't know it's supposed to be getting fonder?" Sydney asked with a sense of caution in her voice.

"Seriously, even I know that," Riley stated. "He's a celebrity. All he has to do is give a girl a look and he can bone her."

"Riley!" Sydney scolded as she quickly got up and closed the open door. "Little ears have big mouths."

"Sorry," Riley replied, sheepishly.

"And if Chris is out there 'boning' other girls while waiting for you to decide what to do about your relationship then I'm sending Garrett and his brothers to get your stuff from Chris's house and we'll have Izzy get a restraining order -" Sydney went off on an overprotective big sister rant.

"He's not boning other girls," Ellie cut her sister off. "Chris isn't that kind of guy."

"I'm just saying," Riley said with a shrug.

"Well you can stop saying," Ellie replied with a pointed look.

"And you could start saying who that guy in all your Instagram photos is," Sydney said, changing the subject and putting the fire on Riley for a bit.

By the time Christmas Eve rolled around, Ellie welcomed the peace and quiet of the hour drive to the airport. She loved her family, but her parents’ house was smaller now than it had ever been, especially since her brother-in-law had arrived the night before and there had been another shuffling of sleeping arrangements.

It was while she was waiting for Izzy in one of the designated cell phone waiting areas that the literary agent called her. The conversation was short and to the point: he and his client had been impressed with the notes and corrections that she had made and they both wanted to work with her in the future. So much so that he told her he had put in a request with the agency he represented to sign her as an independent contractor contract at the beginning of the year.

As soon as she hung up with the agent, she called Chris without a second thought. She was crying happy tears when he answered the call and it took her a moment to compose herself before she was able to tell him the fantastic news. "The author said she has never had such helpful notes," she gushed to Chris, repeating what the agent had told her. "She wants me to be her main editor and she already has another novel in the works that she wants me to read as she writes it!"

"I knew you could do it!" Chris cheered then jested, "Next time text me first so you don't give me a fucking heart attack when I answer the phone and you're crying!"

"Sorry," Ellie said with a giggle. "I'm just so… over the fucking moon right now!"

"I knew you had it in you," Chris praised. "You're talented, you just needed to have a little faith in yourself."

"This never would have happened if you hadn't seen it and had the faith in me that I didn't have," Ellie pointed out.

"True, but you did the hard work and I am so proud of you," he agreed, encouragingly. "How are you going to celebrate?"

"I don't know, you're the first person I told," Ellie replied still in a state of awe over the whole thing. "In fact, I'm by myself waiting for Izzy at the airport. And -" She paused as she realized now was the time to tell Chris something equally as important as her job.

She took a deep breath and then laid her heart on the line. "Chris, I want to try us out," she said. Her voice had lost some of its bubbliness of a few seconds prior and a sense of anxiety had taken its place. "We both know the riskiness of it was what was holding me back, but I think it's worth it."

"Try us out as in date?" he asked, to make sure he was following the sudden change in conversation.

"Yes." She felt like her heart was going to explode as she waited for him to tell her that he still wanted to try. If he said he didn't, though, she wasn't sure what she would do.

"Are you sure?" he asked, cautiously. "You're really sure?"

"I've been sure for about a month," she admitted as she nervously picked at a dent in the steering wheel. "I was just waiting for the right moment to tell you." Recalling the conversation with her sisters the other day, she cleared her throat and added, "Chris, if me taking too long led to -"

"No, I haven't been with anyone else nor have I even wanted to be," Chris interrupted her. "That is where you were going with that, right?"

"Yes," she admitted, feeling relieved. "Really?"

"Really," he confirmed.

"So you still want to, too?" she asked, she felt silly for asking, but she wanted to know for sure.

"Yeah, I still do," Chris assured her before attempting to ease the tension with a joke. "And not just because I don't have to deal with LA traffic to pick you up for a date." To his relief, she laughed and he couldn't help but laugh, too. "So, out of curiosity, why did you wait so long to tell me?"

"It sounds silly now, but I didn't want to make it harder since we're on opposite sides of the continent," Ellie explained.

"I will resist the urge to make a joke about it being hard," Chris snickered with a hint of cockiness in his voice.

"You didn't resist too hard," Ellie pointed out with amusement. Now that they were on the same page, it was easier to be herself again without watching what she was saying.

"What can I say, it comes naturally to me," he played along. "Why fight what comes so easily."

"Hopefully not too easily, that would be disappointing," Ellie teased before dissolving into a fit of giggles.

"I guess you'll have to wait and see what happens in two weeks," Chris stated.

"Wait. In two weeks?" Ellie asked, quickly sobering. "You're coming home?"

"We got scheduled for reshoots beginning in early January," Chris confirmed, appreciating the excitement that was in her voice at his news.

As Ellie was letting that information digest, Izzy's text alert sounded in her ear. "Suddenly, I can't wait for Christmas to be over," she told Chris, finally. "And I love Christmas."

He chuckled and said, "I find myself feeling the same way, all of a sudden."

Knowing her sister was waiting, Ellie said goodbye to Chris with regret and then made her way to the arrivals area. It took her a good twenty minutes to get to where Izzy was waiting and they didn't have time to do anything other than get Izzy and her luggage into the car before they had to move on. Which meant that Ellie had to wait until she was out of the airport area before she could find a place to pull over. By the time she did, she was practically bursting from all the pent-up excitement. She then spent the next twenty minutes telling Izzy everything that had happened while she was waiting for her.

She was still on cloud nine when they got back to their parents’ house and found out that a package had been delivered for her while they'd been gone. The package, which had been overnighted from Florida, was from Chris and contained a Donald Duck stuffed animal with a note.

Ellie - Found this guy at Disney World and remembered you telling me how the Oregon Duck mascot was basically Donald Duck and, well, I knew you had to have him. Merry Christmas, Chris

Ellie felt tears come to her eyes as she held the stuffed animal to her chest. She felt Izzy behind her and felt her sister squeeze her shoulder before heading into the kitchen. Instead of following, Ellie took the present up to her room and placed it on her bed. She took a picture of it and sent it to Chris with a 'thank you' and 'I love it'.

When she finally made her way downstairs, she was surprised to find her family waiting for her with glasses of champagne and sparkling cider for the kids. Izzy handed her a glass and said, "I told them you had exciting news and that a toast was in order."

Ellie shared her news with her family and laughed as they showered her with exclamations and excitement. After they sipped their celebratory drinks, they shifted gears to their usual Christmas Eve festivities: watching Christmas movies and playing board games while munching on snacks. Followed by present opening since Sydney, Garrett and their two kids would be there in the morning for stockings before spending the rest of the day with Garrett's parents and siblings.

As she went to bed that night, with Donald Duck tucked in beside her, she couldn't help but think of the future. Per tradition, she and her family would head to the coast for the final week of the year, where they would ring in 2014 with four generations on the family compound of beach houses. Then she would return to LA and Chris would be there or get there shortly after her… and then… well, they'd be together and kicking off what had the potential of being an amazing year.

Episode 14.5

Want to find me off tumblr? I’m @beccatheycallme on twitter. I also post my stories on AO3.

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owlsoap · 4 years ago

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I feel like talking about my wedding dress because it arrived the other day idk

It was originally $800 USD, I actually first saw it on their website last year and it was like “omg, that’s the one” and then it went on sale for $400 I think during their black friday sale. but I hesitated (because I thought, “oh, if I take a trip to the states I can try it on in store”... hindsight is yeah I’m not gonna finish that sentence) and it was sold out. so I kinda pined about it for a while but found a couple of other dresses on Etsy that I liked as well, then kinda forgot about wedding stuff because of school. then my fiancee and I decided this summer to get more serious into wedding planning so I showed her one of those Etsy dresses and she was like ehhh but what about that first one? that was more you. and I was like it was sold out, see? then I opened the website and it was AVAILABLE again omg, and this time for $300 USD! so ofc I was like holy shit, but which size should I buy?? because I’m in between sizes or their dress measurements are weird or something. so I emailed them like heyyy which size should I get? ur supposed to fill out this whole form like “what is your wedding date? what’s your style? what’s your budget? :)” and I’m like I don’t care about any of that I want this one dress and I wanna know if I’m a size bleep or bloop that’s it that’s all. and they were very nice and emailed me back like oh you should probably go for a size bleep, also here’s a coupon for free shipping! (which I should mention shipping to canada is $100 total because of ~gown fees~ or w/e) so I was like holy fuck yes and I bought it and the shipping wasn’t free but it was much cheaper and I figured it was because they couldn’t comp all the fees. so I email them back like thanks so much for the coupon I appreciate it since shipping to canada is so expensive! and they were like oh you’re in canada? I should’ve given you a different coupon then! I’ll comp the remained of your shipping fee :) and I was like fuuuuck yes I am so luckyyy! and then I got hit by $130 in duties :| but anyway the dress arrived! i was so excited! i opened it up and it had a lot of damage because it has a lot of beadwork and embroidery and I am guessing it was worn and returned? or someone let their cat claw it up? idk either way I was like aw darn so I took some pictures of some of the damaged spots and emailed the same lady back like hey I understand with this type of gown that it’s normal for some loose threads and some beads to be missing but this is kind of a lot... and she was like because it’s an older gown we don’t have any left to send you a replacement but I can give you a discount of $75 for repair costs or you can return it. so I was like I really like this dress and want to keep it and repair it so that would be great thank you (so now I have to find someone to repair but I think I’ll be fine). so now the total I’ve spent on this dress after duties and minus the extra discount is like $460 CAD? I mean I’ll still have to get it repaired and hemmed a tiny bit but honestly way better than I thought especially since the original price from a year ago would equal like $1k CAD

#this is just stream of consciousness and probably incomprehensible to read sorry #long post #i'm not putting in paragraph breaks deal with it

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pbandjesse · 7 years ago

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It’s been a very long day. So I am writing this through that text to type thing wait talk-to-text thing. It’s been a really nice day though even though it was long.

I slept okay last night. But I kept getting woken up because something was poking me. And I didn’t realize until I got up for real at 9 that I was sleeping on top of my tablet. But whatever. I got up and dressed love my outfit but my hair was not working out for me. But since I was going to get my haircut at noon I didn’t care. I had breakfast with Mom. Thanksgiving leftovers. And we just kind of hung out for a while. I laid on the couch and played with Molly. We left here around 11:45 to go down the street to the hairdresser.

When we got there the hairdresser I was working with was already with a client. But we don’t have to wait long she was going to be working on both of us at the same time. The other woman was getting complicated hair dye. And so she was able to work on both of us. I showed the hairdresser the pictures and we talked about how I work on my hair normally, which is nothing. And I decided that I was going to go a little bit shorter than I was originally planning on since my hair grows fairly fast. She wash my hair and all in all the cut didn’t take very long. I was there for maybe a half hour. It was weird getting my haircut, mostly because I almost never do. Like the last time I got my haircut by another person was last August. And the time before that was like 5 years. But it was very comfortable and she was really awesome. It was scary seeing my hair that short but once she was done drying it I felt really good.

Throughout the day I kind of went back and forth I’m feeling really good and feeling really bad. Mostly because when I try to take a picture I don’t know the angles for this haircut yet. But it’s growing on me. That is not a hair pun.

After my haircut me and mom went up to Bristol and walk around the shopping area down there. We went a couple really cute antique stores. The first one that we went in was called polka dot and was absolutely precious, and has a lot of vintage stuff but it was curated in a very trendy way. I got a set of playing cards with art nouveau paintings on them, Ouija board mint box, and a wolf pin. And the owner was very very nice.

We walk down to the water and took some pictures. It was very beautiful but I was not wearing a coat and the wind was a little cutting. So we kept walking. We went in another couple stores. But the best one was probably the Antique Market which was two stories and had a lot of stuff. I almost bought a new compact but decided not to and wait for something else. But I did have a nice conversation with the woman who was selling it and she was very sweet. I ended up buying a pendant that is very similar to something I’ve seen online a few times that I wanted but it’s been too expensive. So I’m very excited and I’m going to work tomorrow on a piece of string because I don’t have a change for it. Ah well.

We were going to go to the bookstore that we were at last year. But it closed! We were both a little disappointed about that, it was a very cute place. But we were both running out of steam anyway. So we drove up to go get lunch at the diner. It was surprisingly good and very retro and cute inside. The family near us though kept spilling their drinks and it was a very silly. But the food was good and my hair was something I was getting more used to at that point and I was feeling very good. When I went to use the bathroom and I saw myself I realize I kind of remind myself of the dark haired girl in Twin Peaks or that girl from that Leon movie. So it’s definitely something I’m getting used to and I’m excited about because I’ve never had my hair this short before. At least not since I was a kid.

Pretty tired but we still want to stop at the one thrift store since we were right next to it. That one isn’t one of those good ones that’s really packed and kind of messy but have a lot of really fun stuff to find. They’re having a lot of sales for Black Friday like all their mirrors were $5. But mom wouldn’t let me buy them. I did end up finding a couple coats I really liked. And I got one that fits me really well and I’m very pleased because it is a hundred percent wool.

We were there a little longer than I was hoping cuz I was very tired, so we didn’t stop at the other thrift store even though I might have wanted to. We went home and chilled and rested. Mom went to lie down and me and Dad had pie. He was funny though because he was watching a show and I thought it was too loud and I asked him if he could turn it down, and he made a face and all these grumbling noises, and I was like but Dad it’s in Spanish and you’re reading subtitles you can’t understand them anyway! We had a good laugh about that.

That want to go lay down and I hung out in the living room by myself for a while. Chris came over around 6 ish. He actually had my figure skates so that’s good. And we watched videos on my phone and then finished watching the rest of car Boys on my tablet. Which was very funny and I’m glad he enjoyed it.

In the kitchen with my family for a little while and Molly really loved him. It was nice to just hang out without any expectations. We are both very tired. So even though he was here for only a few hours it was okay because we’re both exhausted. And he still had almost a 45 minute ride home.

I hung out with mom in the kitchen for a little while longer and Dad came back from Home Depot where he bought a Christmas tree that we did not need, much like the new TV he bought. But it’s his money he can use it however he wants I guess. Me and him are going to go out tomorrow and hang around New Hope. I’m really looking forward to going to sleep right now though. It’s been a really nice day. And writing this through the talk-to-text is definitely been faster. Even though I feel weird talking out loud. But that’s okay. I hope you all have a good night and have a restful tomorrow. Sleep well

#ootd #selfie #hair cut #babe #antique #thrift #store #good day #friday

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arplis · 5 years ago

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Arplis - News: Emily Bowser, back with that bathroom I promised you in my bedroom reveal last week (catch up: intro here, makeover here)

SO! Welcome to my airplane-sized bathroom. Okay, that’s a little obnoxious to say. I’m sure plenty of people live with smaller bathrooms. Let’s call it economic? My whole house is very economic. There isn’t one space that isn’t used. There’s no “bust through this wall and use that empty space between the bathroom and hall closet,” because that space is where the fridge is in the kitchen. The closest during this renovation that we got to adding space was when we took out two closets in order to make our bedroom big enough to fit our bed AND a dresser, but even then, we lost two closets! I’m here to talk about how we completely renovated without (completely) breaking the bank and got creative with what we had to work with, both with $$ and space. This room is a total #ipaidforthis inside and out! Let’s get into it! First, I thought it would be helpful to show the layout oft he house, since, after the last blog post, there were a handful of curious commenters: Neither the home nor the cats are to scale above, but it does the trick. As you can see above, this is the one and only (teeny) bathroom in the house. Side note: Kudos to Sara, who was somehow able to take pictures of this space because apparently I could NOT. I didn’t take these pictures thinking that they would be on a blog for a lot of people to see one day so my apologies, they are crooked and dark and not terribly in focus. The bathroom is off our hall and in the center of our home (read: no walls that face the outside). You may be surprised by this because isn’t that a window? Why, yes it is! A window that looks directly into our laundry room! The original home didn’t have the master bedroom or the laundry room (“room” may be an overstatement). We think the laundry room may have been a small porch because the door that leads to it from the kitchen appears to be original. The laundry room is very small, however, on one wall there is a window and a door that has a window in it so a lot of light comes in. The bathroom window is directly across from that wall so the light goes through the laundry room and lights up the bathroom pretty nicely. The window is made of obscure glass, so you can’t see through it and even though it’s not particularly pretty, I made the decision right away to keep it because it was a natural light source. Side note here that there are SO many decisions you have to make right away when you are doing a bigger renovation like we were. If you are a person who likes a lot of time to think things through and talk them out, this part may be particularly hard on you. The reason being, once demo starts, you better know what’s getting knocked out because if you change your mind later, it will cost you and for sure, there will be things you hadn’t thought of or things that come up because of the demo. The window staying or going was one of those things. The second reason I didn’t touch the window was because it was simply cheaper not to. In a perfect world, I think I would have taken the window out and done something creative along the top of the same wall, like a long and skinny window that was more interesting architecturally. That way the light could come in while giving me more wall space for a decent sized mirror and shelves. I don’t know, I didn’t let myself think about it too long because it wasn’t an option. Along these same lines, all of the plumbing fixtures, although we replaced all of them, were kept in the same places so that we didn’t have the extra cost and also, WHERE ELSE COULD THEY GO? There are only so many options in a 32-square-foot space. About the Demo: As you can see, there was chair rail height tile that continued into the shower and I probably could have lived with it, I mean, with a toothbrush and bleach to the grout (which was a lovely shade of orange throughout). The floor tile is the same that was in the rest of the house. It was damaged, many of the tiles cracked and obviously it was something we weren’t going to invest in keeping. We were ripping the tile up off the floor anyway, so why not go ahead and rip the tile off the wall too? Turns out it was a good idea because there was a ton of mold hiding behind those tiles. We took out all the plumbing fixtures. The toilet here got moved to the back house because it needed a new toilet and if someone was getting a brand new toilet then IT WAS GONNA BE ME. The pedestal sink was also in fine condition but I wanted to try to find something that would have even a little bit of storage. I gave the sink to my contractor and he used it in one of his other personal projects. The tub was trashed unfortunately because of damage from the demo and the mold. For those of you who will for sure ask, I didn’t throw the vintage corner storage cabinet in the dump. No, I paid $100 for it to be fixed because I neeeeeded that storage and it fits perfectly in the small amount of space I have between the window and the wall. When the workers were installing, they somehow dropped and shattered it so my contractor sent it off to be fixed and I never heard about it ever again. When you owe someone $80,000 (if you don’t know why, you probably missed my “buying an income property” post, read that here), it is kind of hard to be like “YEAH BUT WHERE IS MY MIRROR, RON?!” On Choosing Finishes: Tile: As I discussed in the master makeover post, choosing tile was as simple as “what do I not hate that doesn’t cost a fortune?” Answer: subway tiles ($2.30/square foot) and black hex ($5/square foot). A little on the boring side? Kinda. Did I wish I could have afforded fancier tiles? At the time: yes. Now, I don’t know. My house is economic so I feel like it makes sense that the finishes are, too? I am one of those people that always picks out the most expensive thing in the store. My soul child is fancy AF (wallet, not so much). If I had been able to get whatever I wanted for this space, I feel like it wouldn’t have fit the house. I live in a box, one that doesn’t have a lot of architectural character, and the kinda boring finishes we ended up with make sense for the house, if that makes sense? I like it feeling more like a minimalist space whose character comes from the art or vintage pieces I bring into it. I wouldn’t have minded doing the same chair rail height tile situation again, because it makes cleaning up a bit easier and protects your walls from water (and let’s be honest, other bodily fluids) but I didn’t care enough about it to spend the money on the tile or the labor. I did tile the shower walls all the way up and onto the ceiling. I had lived in many a rentals and noticed what the constant condensation would do to the area right above the tiling in a shower. I’m glad I did it. Plumbing Fixtures: First and foremost, I found a toilet, but not just any toilet. It’s the toilet of my dreams. Well, my economic dreams anyway. This toilet, hands down, is one of my favorite things about the house and I’m going to tell you why. I wish it was because it has a dual flush and therefore conserves water, but no, to me that’s just a bonus to the fact that IT DOESN’T HAVE THOSE WEIRD LEG THINGS THAT COLLECT PEE RESIDUE AND HAIR. This toilet is so easy to clean and I give it 5 stars based solely on that. It’s also not expensive. I will pay $299 (the price when I bought it) all day long to not have to get on my knees with my mouth all too close to the lid of the toilet, and awkwardly use my pointer finger through a rag to try to get in the crevices to remove bodily fluids that are most likely NOT MINE ANYWAY. Pro tip: buy all your fixtures and appliances during Black Friday sales. I even bought all my kitchen appliances and Home Depot waited to ship them out until I was ready for them. I have a funny story about the mental state of a person in the process of buying a house vs. that of one that OWNS the house. As I’ve mentioned in this post, I was in escrow from May until October of 2016. That’s a long time. It’s also fair to mention that I didn’t get to see the house much before we actually owned it. There was a renter here that was in the process of moving out so we couldn’t bother him. That said, the idealistic side of me that was excited about becoming a homeowner remembered the house very differently than the day after I actually owned it and saw it naked for the first time (the house, not me). The house was naked in that it wasn’t full of the renter’s stuff and it was naked metaphorically because the rose colored glasses I was wearing were suddenly more like a cheap pair of glasses, smudged and scratched, found in the bottom of an unused purse in the back of your closet. The reality of a $630,000 mortgage and an undetermined amount of money to be spent on the renovation changed my perception. Is this what they call buyer’s remorse? In the five months of being excited about being a homeowner, I did the thing you’re not supposed to do but couldn’t help myself: I bought stuff for a home I didn’t yet own. One of those things was a vintage dresser from the flea market that I wanted to turn into a sink for this bathroom. The dimensions of the dresser are 21.5” deep, 31” wide and 35.5” tall. What actually barely fits there: a sink that is 13” deep and 24” wide. Maybe that doesn’t seem like a lot but believe me, in real life, it is insane and laughable that I thought this piece of furniture (that now lives happily in my living room) would fit in this space. If you could see it you would understand me, as a person, fully. After realizing we definitely would not be able to use it (immediately), I had to pivot, quickly. There was no time for sourcing a very specific piece of vintage furniture. HELLOOO IKEA. We bought the Hagaviken sink with the Hemnes sink cabinet that we later painted my favorite green and changed out the knobs. The faucet is from Amazon and actually works great. They no longer sell the sink cabinet in the size we have, but they do have the Godmorgon which I honestly don’t know why I didn’t get. I would have much preferred to have a floating sink (easier to clean—sensing a theme??). I have a lot of opinions on this sink. It’s nice to have the storage. I fit a surprising amount of stuff in these two slim drawers. The depth of it would be fine if it were for a space where people just used it to wash their hands, a powder bath off your mudroom, for example. HOWEVER, washing your face is the most obnoxious process one could think of. I’m going to put this in the same box as “black floors” and “my cat, Puck”—they aren’t for everyone and by not for everyone I mean, “don’t have them unless you don’t mind cleaning, all the time” (we can talk about my cat Puck’s strange addictions in the comment section). Here follows my nightly routine: wash face, dry face with a small washcloth (kept in the top drawer of the sink, folded Marie Kondo style DUH), use used cloth to wipe down the top of the sink, the wall behind the sink, the front of the sink cabinet, the inside tops of the drawers, and finally, the floor. Every. Single. Day. I’m not kidding. You would think I was washing my face like a Clean & Clear ad from 1995—everything is soaked. There are two positives to this situation: 1. I dry my face with a clean towel every day which is good for your skin because of the bacteria that is on our everyday towels and 2. My sink and bathroom floor get a wipe down every day and therefore look cleaner throughout the week. *Rose colored glasses, put back on.* One of the only—maybe THE only—“must haves” on my husband’s buying-a-house list was that it had to have a tub. There was no budging on it. He’s a bather which I find slightly disgusting (because he doesn’t shower first or sometimes at all). But, whatever, he likes to do his creative thinking in a bath and doesn’t demand a lot, so a bath we would have! Plus, if we can ever afford children, a bathtub would be helpful. We bought basically the same tub that was in there, a run-of-the-mill alcove tub that we got somewhere in the valley for $300-ish. It’s 58” long, by 28.5” wide by 13” deep so a grown human can barely fit in it and have water covering them, but it gets the job done I guess. We put in two inserts for shampoo, soap and what have you and I’m very glad we did but I have a question: Am I supposed to put shelves in these things? They are entirely too tall. If I could do it again, I would make them a more reasonable size. In 2016, matte black plumbing fixtures were still weirdly hard to find and if you did find them, they were $$$. We ended up with this one in wrought iron and it was only $270 when we purchased it. I wasn’t stoked on it but I will say, it works well and we haven’t had any issues. This one is more modern and definitely what I would buy now. It’s also by Moen so I would assume also good quality and an even lower price point than the one we bought is now. Something else I wish we could have invested in is a matching tub drain, but alas, we used the stainless steel one that came with the tub. To shower door or not to shower door?? My contractor tried to convince me I needed a shower door and that water would go everywhere and it kinda does, but it was an extra expense and, you guessed it, impossible to keep clean. I bought a matte black tension rod, matte black shower rings, a hemp canvas shower curtain (hemp is antimicrobial and does better in moist climates) and a liner that has suction cups that *mostly* work to help any leakage onto the floor. All in all, it cost me $143 and saved me years of wiping down glass panels. Another positive to shower curtain vs. doors is that if you do have kids, it’s much easier to have the whole space open rather than having a glass wall in front of half of the tub. I can’t believe I have this much to say about 32 square feet! Moving on. Storage. If you will allow me to don my rose-colored glasses when the corner mirror was destroyed/disappeared, I had to make do, and as making-do usually does, I was inspired. I saw an opportunity in my window box (22”x22”x4.5” deep) to add shelves and create storage space. I simply bought a piece of wood and some smaller square wood dowels (0.5”x0.5”), cut the wood to the appropriate length, screwed the dowels in from the sides with 2 screws to hold the shelves and placed the shelves on top (with a little wood glue between to keep them from slipping). At first, I put a small tension rod with a sheer curtain over it so that I didn’t have to look at the clutter of misc bathroom stuff but I found that the stuff, along with the curtain, blocked too much of the light. While musing about it on Instagram stories, an acquaintance (shoutout Shadi!) told me I needed to just lose the curtain and make the things on it prettier and I took her advice. This meant I needed to decant and find some minimalist products that I wouldn’t mind looking at every day of my life. In my search, I found Public Goods which has the most simple packaging and simple ingredients to match. I figured if I didn’t like the products, I could just reuse the packaging because at their price point, it was just as, if not cheaper, than doing a run to The Container Store. Turns out, I do like most of their products (I have a lot) and no, they did not pay me to say that and yes, we can talk about it in the comments. All of the things on “display” are things I use most, if not every day. A great thing about having limited storage is that it’s hard to keep stuff you don’t really want to have. The little containers with cork are Saxborga and the glass container holding my reusable bamboo cotton rounds is H&M Home (similar). I decanted mouthwash into the Korken from IKEA, pulled obnoxious labels off of my nail polish remover, and even decanted ibuprofen. My husband shaves his head and he always needs a mirror to see the back of his head and he somehow misplaces them?? It’s a mystery. My pretty way of solving this problem was to buy a vintage mirror with a handle and a hook for the wall so I never have to hear “WHERE IS THE MIRROR??” ever again. No room for towel bars (at least not if you want art!), but these Turkish towels dry fast so hooks are just fine. I regret not thinking about lighting in this space. If you don’t specify things, contractors will always do the standard without asking. I came over one day and he had installed recessed lights, one in the shower area and one in the middle of the wall, closer to the window. If I had been thinking before they closed all the walls up I would have had them run electrical over the mirror, but alas. The recessed lights are SO bright and my husband and I are both super sensitive to bright lights. We retroactively put dimmers almost everywhere and will here eventually but immediately upon moving in, out of necessity, threw these string lights up from Target (similar) and they have just kinda stayed. The naked lady art was $20 from the Melrose Trading Post and came framed (WIN). The wood frame was also a welcome addition to the other wood/warm accents throughout the space. We bought a perfectly small wooden stool from a local neighborhood store (here’s a similar one in two sizes) so that he would have a surface to put a book, a candle, a mug of hot tea or whatever else he needs for his romantic tub time alone. The smaller art is MaryAnn Puls framed in a Ribba from IKEA. I was toilet paper holder-less for over a year before I found this maker on Etsy and I’m glad I did. Let’s talk about clean butts. Pretty sure that’s the only time that’s been said on this blog. If you have a keen eye, you will notice that I own a Tushy. I wanted to take the opportunity to give a review of their product. I became obsessed with bidets when I moved into my grandmother’s house for a year to plan my wedding 10 years ago. She had a Toto and you could say that there was the Emily before she lived with a Toto and the Emily after. For bidet aficionados, you know that the Toto is the top-of-the-line bidet. They range from $500-$2,000 so you can see why this bidet had me second-guessing if I really should get married and move out of my grandmother’s home. In truth, there were MANY things about my grandmother’s home that made me never want to leave, but the bidet was up there on that list. 2010-2018 are considered the dark years for me. The years I lived without waking up in the middle of the night to a welcoming warm seat on a cold night, years without the confidence that I was squeaky clean no matter what time of the month it was (PERIOD POSITIVE OVER HERE). Then, Erik (upholstered-my-headboard-while-I-watched Erik) got a Tushy and told me I should, too. With the low price point of $69 for the non-heated (water, not the seat) and $99 for the heated, I opted for the heated. Here is what I have to say about my purchase: I love having a bidet and I 100% would buy it again. However, I would buy the $69 model because the water never really does heat on the other model unless you run your sink water until it gets hot, which is a huge waste of water. One knob would also be easier to clean than two. The place where the bidet connects to your seat is very hard to clean, let’s just say my cleaning supplies for this product includes a Q-tip. So this should be thrown into the box of things to pass over if you’re not a clean freak. However, if you don’t mind a little extra cleaning, are a firm believer that showering every day is probably not good for your sebaceous glands but still want your underbits fresh, want to conserve toilet paper use, this is a good product for you. Unless you can afford a Toto. I can’t give you accurate labor cost because everything in my house was happening at the same time and my contractor didn’t break it down by room, unfortunately. But here is a breakdown of all the things in the bathroom (rounded up): ***photography by Sara Ligorria-Tramp Don’t miss other posts in this series: Makeover Takeover: How EHD Stylist Emily Bowser Tackled Her Awkward Master Bedroom | Reveal: Emily Bowser’s Bedroom “After” is Unrecognizable From the “Before” | DIY How-To: A Step-by-Step for Making Emily B.’s Wrap-Around Velvet Headboard The post MOTO Reveal: Emily Bowser’s 32-Square-Foot Bathroom Is Packed With Small Space Hacks appeared first on Emily Henderson. #Makeover #Reveal #Makeovers #Bathroom #Moto

Arplis - News source https://arplis.com/blogs/news/emily-bowser-back-with-that-bathroom-i-promised-you-in-my-bedroom-reveal-last-week-catch-up-intro-here-makeover-here-1

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goarticletec-blog · 6 years ago

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Best Cyber Monday 2018 smart-home deals still available: Nest thermostat for $139, Echo Dot for $30, Philips Hue and more

New Post has been published on https://www.articletec.com/best-cyber-monday-2018-smart-home-deals-still-available-nest-thermostat-for-139-echo-dot-for-30-philips-hue-and-more/

Best Cyber Monday 2018 smart-home deals still available: Nest thermostat for $139, Echo Dot for $30, Philips Hue and more

Looking to expand your smart-home setup? You’re in luck, because some Cyber Monday deals are still live and going strong — but time is running out.

The 2018 holiday shopping season has delivered some of the best bargains we’ve ever seen on Alexa and Google Assistant gadgets, smart thermostats from names including Nest and Ecobee, connected lighting kits, video doorbells, app-enabled robot vacuums — you name it.

Update: Deals and availability confirmed on Wednesday, Nov. 28 at 11:40 a.m. ET.

To that end, here’s a running list of all the best deals you can still pick up this year, including any leftover sales from Black Friday and Cyber Monday that are still live (believe me, there are a couple of really good ones). We’ve kicked things off with deals from Amazon, then followed suit with bargains from Target, Best Buy, Walmart, Lowe’s and Home Depot. We’re keeping our eyes peeled for online deals from names such as Newegg and Dell, too.

Remember the usual caveats: Stock levels and prices fluctuate throughout the sale period with many items selling out fast. We’ll update this page with the latest information, so keep it bookmarked. And please know that CNET may get a share of revenue from the sale of the products featured on this page.

(Oh, and if you’re looking for the best smart TV deals, or deals on smart appliances and kitchen gadgets like the Instant Pot, we’ve got those listed in separate posts. Just click the links to see the full rundowns.)

Got it? Good. Now let’s get to the deals.

Deals available now

Nest Thermostat E for $139 (save $30)

Chris Monroe/CNET

The best Cyber Monday deal on the Nest Thermostat E was at Newegg, and it brought the price down $40, to $129. That offer is sold out, but you can still score an almost-as-good $30 discount at Best Buy.

See at Best Buy

Read the CNET Review

Two Google Home Mini speakers: $58 (save $40)

Chris Monroe/CNET

Google’s answer to Amazon’s Alexa is no longer on sale for its $25 Black Friday price, but if you want to go all-in on Google Assistant by buying two, the savings is still pretty sweet.

To get this price you must add two Google Home Mini speakers to your cart at checkout.

See at Target

Read the CNET Google Home Mini review

Google Home Mini + WeMo Mini smart plug: $58 (save $30)

Tyler Lizenby/CNET

One of the smallest smart plugs available, the WeMo Mini is just the right size — and we really liked it. Paired with a Home Mini it lets you realize the dream of voice-automated control of Christmas lights, or just about any other plug-in thingy.

To get this discount you have to add a Google Home Mini and a WeMo mini smart plug to your cart.

See at Target

Read CNET’s WeMo Mini Wi-Fi Smart Plug review

Google Home Mini + Chromecast: $69 (save $20)

CNET / Sarah Tew

If you want to get Google’s voice control paired with a TV, this bundle is one cheaper way to go. It includes the newest Chromecast streaming dongle and a Home Mini speaker for a substantial savings.

To get this discount you have to add a Google Home Mini and a Google Chromecast to your cart.

Note that Target’s $20 discount is still $5 more expensive than the same bundle at Walmart, where it’s called the “Google Smart TV Kit” and currently costs $64 (and includes a $15 credit for Vudu). But maybe that Walmart price has reverted back to $74 by the time you read this — or maybe you just like Target $5 better.

See at Target

Read the CNET Chromecast (2018) review

Amazon Echo Dot (third-gen) for $30 (save $20)

Tyler Lizenby/CNET

Note: Item is currently in stock but delivery is delayed until Dec. 10.

Amazon has a relatively aggressive discount available now for the new, third-gen Echo Dot, too. At just $30, you’ll be able to get it for almost half off. That’s not quite as good as the $24 sale we saw on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but it’s still a good deal if you missed out.

See at Amazon

Read the CNET review

Amazon Smart Plug for $5 with purchase of any Echo device (save $20)

Ry Crist/CNET

Note: Item is currently in stock but delivery is delayed until Dec. 4.

Picking up a new Echo Dot, or any other Echo gadget? You can tack an Amazon Smart Plug on to your order for just $5. Plug it in and plug something like a lamp or a space heater into it, and you’ll be able to tell Alexa to turn it on and off via your new Echo gadget. And if you’d rather shop at Best Buy, it’s offering the same deal.

Update: As of Monday Nov. 26 at 5 a.m. PT, it appears this deal is no longer available from Amazon (instead, it’s offering a $10 deal on a TP-Link Smart Plug).

See at Amazon

Read the CNET review

Philips Hue White two-bulb starter kit and a new Amazon Echo Dot for $70 (save $50)

Amazon is selling Philips Hue White two-bulb starter kits bundled with a new Amazon Echo Dot for $70 total. The bulbs won’t change colors, but the starter kit comes with the Hue Bridge, and you can always add color-changing bulbs to your setup later.

See at Amazon

Read the CNET review

Amazon Echo (second-gen) for $70 (save $30)

Ian Knighton/CNET

It isn’t just the Dot — Amazon’s basically running a sale on its entire fleet of Alexa-enabled smart speakers. That includes a $30 discount on Alexa’s flagship, the second-gen Amazon Echo. That discount brings the price down to $70, more than $100 less than the original Echo sold for. And note that the popular Product Red Edition Amazon Echo is now back in stock.

That price looks like to be available elsewhere, too, including at Target and at Best Buy.

See at Amazon

Read the CNET review

Echo Button two-pack for $14 (save $6)

Ry Crist/CNET

Amazon’s Echo Buttons seemed like gimmicky, kid-friendly Alexa extras when they debuted last year, letting you buzz in during Alexa trivia games or play an Alexa-hosted memory game. But the Buttons got a lot more interesting this month when Amazon started letting users trigger their Alexa Routines with the things.

That lets you use them as makeshift light switches, magic buttons that can trigger your smart home scenes, or any number of other creative uses. Available now at just $14 for a two-pack, the time to give these gizmos a shot might have arrived.

See at Amazon

Read more on CNET

Amazon Echo Dot Kids Edition and Kids Edition Fire Tablet for $100 to $180 (save up to $90)

Amazon is offering discounts on the Echo Dot Kids Edition bundled with a Kids Edition Fire Tablet. You’ve got three options depending on which tablet you want:

For my money, I’d probably go with the Fire HD 8 bundle.

See at Amazon

Read the CNET review

Amazon Echo Look for $50 (save $150)

Tyler Lizenby/CNET

Here’s a steep price cut for the Amazon Echo Look, a smart selfie camera with onboard Alexa voice controls and the ability to offer fashion or shopping advice based on your personal style. It usually sells for $200, but right now, you can still nab one for just $50.

See at Amazon

Read the CNET review

Chamberlain MyQ Garage Hub for $60 (save $20)

Chamberlain’s MyQ Garage controller lets you open or close your garage from your phone, and it works with a bunch of popular smart home platforms. Buy it on Best Buy for $60, saving you $20.

See at Best Buy

Read the CNET review

Nest Cam Outdoor for $149 (save $50)

Nest

Prefer Nest’s weatherproofed outdoor camera? The rugged, weather-proof Nest Cam Outdoor typically sells for a steep $199, but you can pick it up for $50 off at Lowe’s and Kohl’s.

See at Lowe’s

Read the CNET review

Cree Connected LED for $12 ($3 off)

Tyler Lizenby/CNET

It’s the smallest discount in this roundup, but hey, nothing wrong with saving a few bucks per bulb if you plan on filling your home with automatable Zigbee smart lights like these. And, despite the fact that they’ve been out for a few years now, Cree’s Connected LEDs, which work with Zigbee controllers like the Philips Hue Bridge and the Amazon Echo Plus, are still some of our favorite bargain bulbs.

Look for them on sale at Home Depot this Cyber Monday — both the soft white and daylight versions, I might add.

See at Home Depot

Read the CNET review

iRobot Roomba 890 for $350 (save $90)

iRobot

It’s not as good a deal as we saw on Black Friday, but Target has the app-enabled Roomba 890 marked down by $90 for Cyber Monday. That discount brings the price down to $350.

See at Target

Netgear Arlo Pro 2 4-Camera Starter Kit for $580 (save $220)

Chris Monroe/CNET

If you want current-gen cameras from Netgear, Best Buy has the newer version of the Arlo cameras available in a four-camera starter kit for $580. That sounds like a lot, but this kit usually sells for $800.

See at Best Buy

Read the CNET review

Philips Hue Lightstrips for $60 (save $30)

Colin West McDonald/CNET

If you’ve already got a Hue Bridge and just want to expand your system, these Hue Lightstrips look great beneath cabinets and behind TVs, and $60 is about as low as they ever sell for.

See at Best Buy

Read CNET’s first take

Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance Smart Bulb for $40 (save $10)

Tyler Lizenby/CNET

Just want to expand your existing Hue setup with an additional color-changing light bulb or two? Best Buy is selling them for $40 each, a savings of $10.

See at Best Buy

Read the CNET review

Philips Hue White LED four-pack for $40 (save $10)

Amazon

If you don’t care about the colors and just want to fill out your home with automatable white light, this four-pack of plain, vanilla Philips Hue White bulbs is selling for $40 at Best Buy. This four-pack usually sells for $50, which is already a pretty good deal.

See at Best Buy

Read the CNET review

Buy a Philips Hue 4-Bulb White and Color Starter Kit, get a free $50 Target gift card

If you buy a four-bulb Philips Hue White and Color Starter Kit from Target this Cyber Monday, the retailer will throw in a free $50 gift card.

See at Target

Read the CNET review

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gokinjeespot · 6 years ago

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off the rack #1234

Monday, October 29, 2018

The inaugural Capital Comic Book Convention yesterday at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Ottawa was a success as far as Jee-Riz Comics & Appraisals was concerned. We covered expenses and went home with a bit of extra for all the hard work that my partner Chris put into gathering and pricing stock and setting up our booth in the dealer's room. My old body is sore from all the moving but I've got two weeks to recover before the next Capital Trade Show at the Jim Durrell Arena on November 11.

The highlight of the con for me was talking with my pen pal Ryan from Kingston who I wished could have been able to attend. His fiancé was there and got him on the phone for me and I gave him a very brief report on how things were going. It was busy and noisy at the time so I might have said some things that were odd or confusing. Sorry about that Ryan. I also had a long discussion about the joy of comic books with an older collector named Steve. We went on and on about appreciating the art form. There was a moment of connection when we were talking about Barry Smith's art in Conan: Red Nails and he mentioned the panel where Conan spears the dinosaur. We could both picture that panel in our heads and knew exactly what each was talking about. That kind of enthusiasm and camaraderie never gets old. Steve made me even happier when he bought one of our old DC Digests. I hope he returns to buy the one reprinting the classic Green Lantern/Green Arrow story that Neal Adams drew. He remembered reading that when it hit the racks back in the early 1970s.

I only managed to score four comic books off the racks to read and review after subscription service copies were pulled. I had to read Die! Die! Die! #4 and Silencer #10 before the store opened so I could put them on the racks to be sold. I'm sorry I can't write more reviews, but on the other hand it's less unpaid work for me. I would love to be able to just read comic books and not have to think of anything to say about them afterwards. I got a chance to do that during my shift last Wednesday. Heather did a bit of moving in Comet Comic's new space and had some racks and a table set up when I got to work. I moved the subscription service boxes downstairs and racked all the comics that were sitting in boxes so that they were displayed for sale. It's comfy and quiet down in the basement of Black Squirrel Books and I had time between our customers coming in to pick up their subscriptions. I was surrounded by bookshelves full of books but chose to read comics to pass the time. I didn't expand my horizons much since I didn't want to read anything new that was ongoing. Since Marvel had a plethora of number ones that came out in the last month that were on the racks I read those. I originally passed on starting Spider-Geddon so I read #0 and #1. They were just as I thought they were going to be. The evil Inheritors have been resurrected and are on the hunt again for Spider-Folks throughout the multiverse. Too many universes and too many Spider-Folks to keep track of and the only one I really cared about was Miles Morales. He only had a cameo and they're already using the comics to shill for the next Spider-Man movie. Ugh.

I also read a bunch of the new What If? comic books. The first one I read reminded me that Uatu the Watcher was dead because the guy introducing the story was good old Nick Fury on the moon. This guy took over watching over the Earth in one of the Secret Wars I think. Either that or it was another mega crossover Crisis. This was in "What If Flash Thompson became Spider-Man?". Flash was a jerk and he learns that with great power dot, dot, dot. It was okay. I also read "What If Peter Parker Became The Punisher?". Let's put it this way; Peter Parker is no Frank Castle. The others were worth reading but all of them weren't as fun as I remember the old What If?s being. What turned out to be fun was "Black Panther vs. Deadpool #1" and that is as it should be with Wade Wilson being his stupid self against the very serious King of Wakanda.

I probably would have written reviews on all of the comics that I read but I didn't have my laptop with me. I won't be schlepping it to work until we're all set up downstairs and I have somewhere I can sit and write. It's weird that I want to pass on my thoughts about all the comics that I read. I think it's because of my obsessive compulsive need to keep doing reviews since I started writing these things. I'm addicted to giving people my opinions. Hello, my name is Kin and I'm an over sharer.

Exorsisters #1 - Ian Boothby (writer) Gisele Lagace (art) Peter Pantazis (colours) Taylor Esposito (letters). Kate and Cate Harrow are twin sisters who retrieve souls from hell for a price. I really like the art because it looks as good as Dan DeCarlo's Archie comics but with a lot more detail. You'll see that the sisters aren't really twins in the conventional sense and that should keep you reading. Plus they fight demons but are not as taboo as Warrior Nun Areala.

Die! Die! Die! #4 - Robert Kirkman & Scott M. Gimple (writers) Chris Burnham (art) Nathan Fairbairn (colours) Rus Wooton (letters). I love this hyper violent story about 4 identical brothers who are highly trained assassins. George is a douche bag who killed his brother Paul and tried to impersonate him. Paul's girlfriend Jennifer saw through the ruse and this issue starts off with a wicked fight scene as Jennifer avenges her boyfriend's death. I love the art in this and the humour too. I'll never eat rhubarb pie again. The other brother John just wants to be left alone but he is about to be visited by a whole lot of commandoes sent to kill him. I can't wait to see how those killers Die! Die! Die! next issue.

Silencer #10 - Dan Abnett (writer) Patch Zircher (art) Mike Spicer (colours) Tom Napolitano (letters). Hell-iday Road part 3. They jumped the gun with the cover showing Talia trying to kill Honor. Spoiler alert: Silencer and Quietus's alliance fails to kill Talia al Ghul. Oh, and their Freaky Friday adventure ends. I didn't like the art in this issue as much as I used to and I find the burden of Honor's husband and son to be tedious. I'm going silent on this book now.

Action Comics #1004 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Ryan Sook (pencils) Wade von Grawbadger (inks) Brad Anderson (colours) Josh Reed (letters). Invisible Mafia part 4. So why am I still reading this book but have stopped reading Superman? First of all the art is really good. Then there's the heartfelt relationship between Superman and Lois Lane. It's highlighted very well in this issue. The first page shows the screen of Lois's laptop and I read what was written on it and I think it sums up what the Man of Steel means to Brian Bendis. He has distilled Superman down to the essences of Truth, Justice and the American Way. I'll accept that for now and will keep on reading.

Books of Magic #1 - Kat Howard (writer) Tom Fowler (illustrator) Jordan Boyd (colours) Todd Klein (letters). Tom told me he was going to be drawing this Sandman Universe title months ago but I had to keep the news secret and it was agony to do so. I am happy now to share with you my delight at seeing the book hit the racks. Tom was in high school when he first walked into Silver Snail Ottawa and showed me his sketchbook. I was amazed at how good his art was. I was particularly struck by his use of colour. When he told me that he hoped to have a career drawing comic books I knew that he would succeed and he's proven time and again how good he is at telling a story using sequential art. My favourite character to come out of Sandman is Timothy Hunter and I read all of the first Books of Magic series. This new one is starting off excellently and is very new reader friendly. Tim first appeared in 1990 and I always thought that Harry Potter was a rip off of Neil Gaiman's boy magician when I started reading J.K. Rowling's books in 1997. I am happy to say the TomKat did a great job of bringing Tim back.

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itsworn · 7 years ago

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He Bought His 1971 Mustang Mach 1 New as a Teenager, Sold it to his Uncle, and Bought it Back 28 Years Later

As soon as he could hold a toy car in his hand, the fixation with cars began. As a kid, Mike Querio spent hours leafing through car magazines, racing slot cars with his friends, building model cars, and loitering around car dealerships collecting sales brochures near his home in Walnut Creek, California.

Mike grew up around cars and trucks, and his father favored the “Family of Fine Cars” produced by Ford. The Rett-White Ford dealership was located just next door to their family-owned trucking company in Walnut Creek, and his father was a good customer. Querio remembers Fords were always in the driveway. “My mom had a 1957 Fairlane,” he says, recalling his childhood. “One day my dad traded it in on a new 1968 Mustang coupe without discussing it with her. I thought it was great, but she did not. My mother complained that the Mustang was too small for a family car, and of course she was right. Soon the Mustang was gone, replaced by a brand new 1969 LTD with a 429 under the hood.”

Determined to have a new Ford of his own, Mike set his sights high. For his first car, he would not settle for a used one or a family hand-me-down like most teenagers. He not only wanted a brand new Ford, but a hot new muscle Mustang. All through high school he worked hard at the family trucking company, plus he worked as a busboy in the evenings. Most Friday and Saturday nights his friends were going to movies or on dates while he worked at the restaurant. The tips were much higher on the weekends, and he wanted that money to buy his car. He still rode his bike to school even after he and all his friends got their driver’s licenses.

As soon as he graduated high school, cash in hand, he went to the Ford dealer to purchase his dream car: a new 1971 Mustang Mach 1. The newly restyled, lower, longer, and wider 1971 Mustang SportsRoof featured a windshield slanted at a 60 degree angle (a slope increase of 5.5 degrees). The extreme fastback design came with an almost flat back glass that looked sporty, but offered minimal visibility for the driver. It was an interesting and futuristic design to Mike, who was about to begin college as a design student. After all the hard work, hours of lusting over images of the new Mach 1 in magazines, and drooling over them at the nearby Ford dealer, at 18 years of age, Mike was ready to place his order.

He knew precisely what he wanted from the option list. The first thing he specified was the 429 Cobra Jet engine with a four-speed transmission, Hurst shifter, and Traction-Lok differential. He also chose front power disc brakes, power steering, and a set of F60-15 white-lettered Wide Oval tires. He chose not to opt for the popular Magnum 500 wheels, knowing he was going to mount some aftermarket mags on the car soon after he took delivery.

Wanting some luxury to go with his muscle, he checked off several deluxe interior options, including the Mach 1 Sports interior group, a tilt steering column, console, instrumentation group, Sport Deck (folding) rear seat, tinted glass, and a “Stereosonic” eight-track tape system with AM radio. The most expensive and lavish luxury item ordered was air conditioning at a cost of $412. The finishing touch was to order the car painted in Light Pewter with optional body side tape stripes. The only thing left was to wait for his dream car to be built. Or so he thought.

A few days later the Ford dealer called. The salesman told him he received a Telex from the Dearborn factory informing him that Ford had discontinued the 429 engine in the Mustang. After some thinking and number crunching, the order was changed to an M-code 351 four-barrel with Ram Air. He could have ordered the higher-horsepower Boss 351, but that would have been more money, and he was tapped out financially.

In August 1971 Mike took delivery of his new Mach 1, and not long after he started to personalize the car. The steel wheels with hubcaps and trim rings were among the first things to go, replaced by a set of 15-inch slotted mag wheels mounting big, L60-15 tires. He jacked up the back of the car and installed a set of Gabriel Highjacker shocks and traction bars. Under the hood he installed a set of Hooker headers and an ACCEL Super Coil. The stock intake and carb were removed in favor of an aluminum Offenhauser intake and a Holly 780 carb crowned with a Cobra air cleaner. A set of fog lights was installed, as well as a pair of rear stereo speakers. At a local body shop, he had a radio antenna frenched into the right quarter-panel. Some of these mods might make you shriek today, but in the early 1970s they were considered cool by many.

Most young men would have tossed the original parts removed from the car and forgotten about them, but Mike was not your average young man. As he explains, “A lesson I learned from my Dad when we started to restore Model A Fords in the 1970s was to always save your original parts. You never know when you’re going to need them. So I boxed them all up and stored them in the attic.”

In 1975 his then-girlfriend (later his wife) purchased a 1966 Shelby G.T. 350. After riding in and driving the Shelby he was hooked and wanted one for himself. Mike purchased a 1966 Shelby for $3,000 for himself, but that meant the Mach 1 would have to go. His uncle had always liked the Mach 1, so he sold it to him, along with all the original parts he had stored, with the stipulation that his uncle would offer him the car first if he ever decided to sell it.

That stipulation took effect 28 years later when, in 2003, his uncle asked him if he would like his old car back. Of course he said yes and went over to pick up the car. His uncle had installed a hot rod 351 Cleveland engine, but he had only put 5,000 miles on the car the entire time he owned it.

Even though the car was in need of restoration, it had gone only 70,000 total miles, and it had been parked inside a garage the entire time. As part of the deal, the replacement engine would go back to his uncle, however the original engine was sitting in the garage right next to the car. His uncle had saved all the original parts Mike had given to him with the car and handed everything back to him, still in the same boxes he had packed them in.

The Mach 1 was in really good condition, with a well-preserved original interior and an uneven, but original, metallic paint finish. After 30 years, Mike had grown out of his teenage hot rod tastes, and in 2007 and decided to return the Mach 1 to exactly how it looked when he took delivery in 1971.

It was time to remove all the aftermarket parts Mike had bolted on it when he was a teenager. “I had to un-screw-up my own car,” he says. “I wish I could go back and talk to that 19-year-old!”

As restoration began, the car revealed itself to have a super-solid body and an exceptionally clean interior, including a beautiful, and intact, dash pad. One of the challenges was repairing the damage to the rear interior sheetmetal where speakers were mounted more than 30 years ago. To do the repair to the damaged speaker areas correctly, an entire rear clip section from another 1971 Mustang fastback was acquired. The needed metal was surgically removed and carefully installed in Mike’s Mach 1 to look perfect. A bonus was a set of N.O.S. carpets, purchased by his uncle years ago at the Ford dealer, still in the original box.

The restoration took about a year to complete, and the result is stunning. Everything on the car is now correct. Resisting the urge to add Magnum 500 wheels, a rear spoiler, or any modern upgrades, Mike took great pains not to deviate from the build sheet, returning his car back to exactly as it had left the factory. Having all the original parts was a big help.

At a Glance

1971 Mustang Mach 1 Owned by: Mike Querio Restored by: Kenn Mann Engine: 351ci/285hp M-code V-8 Transmission: 4-speed manual with Hurst T-handle shifter Rearend: 3.25 gears (required with A/C) with Traction-Lok Interior: Black vinyl bucket seat Wheels: 15-inch steel with hub caps and trim rings Tires: F60-15 Goodyear Polyglas GT Special parts: Factory tachometer and gauge package, Ram Air, AM/eight-track player, Mach 1 Sports interior group

Larger than the ponycars that came before, the 1971-1973 models are considered the final restyle of the first-generation Mustang. Mike Querio drooled over these cars at his local Ford dealership as he saved money for his very own Mach 1.

During the years Mike’s uncle owned the Mach 1, he installed a hopped-up 351 Cleveland. But the original-issue M-code 351 was stored right next to the car, and went back in it during the restoration.

A look under the hood shows the functional Ram Air plenum and the bottoms of the twist-style, chrome-plated locking hood pins that came as part of the package.

Mike’s desire to return the car to absolute as-delivered condition meant putting steel wheels with hubcaps and trim rings on. He originally ordered the car that way, instead of ordering Magnum 500 wheels, knowing an upgrade to slotted mag wheels was in his plans.

Long-term storage by his uncle kept the original interior in Mike’s Mach 1 in mint condition.

Mike treated himself to a few interior amenities when he ordered his Mustang, including a tilt column, console, air conditioning, and the eight-track/AM radio.

If you were a teenager in the late 1960s/early 1970s, your tape selection probably looked a lot like this, too.

The pop-open gas cap was available on the 1971 Mach 1 only; it was replaced by a more conventional twist-style cap for 1972.

Today the Mach 1 triggers an early-1970s flashback for Mike every time he gets behind the wheel. He loves popping in an eight-track tape and going for a drive, back to 1971.

The post He Bought His 1971 Mustang Mach 1 New as a Teenager, Sold it to his Uncle, and Bought it Back 28 Years Later appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

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sixthousandninehundredmiles · 7 years ago

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11/24/2017

Started my day off with more Black Friday shopping! Well it would have been nice if I actually woke up on time LOL. Danae and I were supposed to meet Peter and Hong Ha at Valley Fair around 11. I didn’t wake up until 10:30. OOPS! I was tired hehehe

Anyways, as expected, the traffic to Valley Fair was bad. The parking at Valley Fair was packed so we parked at the back of Santana Row. The drivers in the area were all pissed…yea money makes people crazy lol. Took me about 45 minutes from the time I arrived at the mall to when I actually met up with Peter and Hong Ha. But check out the jacket they’re wearing! I thought it was pretty cool. They are Harry Potter themed varsity jackets. I considered buying it for us or at least for you but figured that we would actually never wear it because we never wear that type of dorky fashion. Maybe we can reconsider after we meet up if you actually want it.

My first purchase was at American Eagle. But it was for you and not me haha. I saw a light blue-green sweater that I thought would look good on you. Well even if the color isn’t to your liking, you might change your mind after you touch it. ITS SO FUCKING SOFT! Danae also got one after she saw me looking at it. Sorry, I know girls don’t like having the same pieces of clothing but I just really liked it…PLUS I SAW IT FIRST! There was also a flannel that I really liked. Peter bought a black/grey/white one. I saw a navy/green one that had a gradient fade that I liked. Too bad that it only fit if my arms were down. The sleeves and back would be too tight if I raised my arms. I also bought 2 pairs of black jeans from Old Navy. Not sure if you remember me buying a pair a while back but I never found it again after the first wash. So yea, we’re gonna have a problem if these 2 go missing as well. I tried looking for shoes for you but there weren’t any deals on the Vans and Converse designs that you would like. There were sales on the ones I would like you to consider but that’s where our fashion tastes clash and I don’t feel like getting yelled at :P I tried asking Danae and Hong Ha for opinions on your black purse. They tackled me on questions as to what brand, design, and material you were looking for…so I concluded that I would just go shopping with you another day and I’ll just buy it for you rather than risking on one that you wouldn’t like.

For lunch, I went to Sarku at the food court….yea that plate looked so depressing. Kinda sad considering I used to think that their food was pretty good. We also stopped by Bar Code, which is the bar you see in Valley Fair. I remember people saying there is alcoholic milk tea there which I wanted to try…I think as the word spread, it’s like a game of telephone. The ending message sounds nothing like what the original message intended to be. I think people meant “there is alcohol and milk tea” became “there is alcoholic milk tea.” The bartender was confused as to why we want to to mix a shot into our milk tea LOL. I just settled on a honeydew milk tea. Surprisingly, It’s not bad. Expensive but I would go again if I was thirsty while shopping.

After shopping, Danae and I went home because you and I originally had a video call date? Oh babe…it’s ok I know you’re busy so I don’t blame you for forgetting. At least we rescheduled. My original plan after I left the mall was to talk to you when I got home, dinner, then go bowling. Things changed drastically aside from our video call. As Danice was about to go out with her friends, she told me that gramps wanted me to call mom to tell her he isn’t going to cook because he isn’t feeling well while Danae went out to get medicine. I checked up on him and he said his whole body felt super weak and his stomach was hurting super badly. Scared the shit out of me. I told my bowling group that I might not show up. These guys really put on a different character when I said I had an emergency. Kevin, Dylan, and Peter were all like “yea stay home,” “we’re here for you,” “hope everything is ok.” Like bowling we all goof off but I’m really glad that when they hear I have a situation, they actually sound concerned. Gramps mostly slept for a few hours before he was up again so I checked on him. He couldn’t sleep so he was just using the computer. Danice also came home and said I could go out if I wanted to now that she’s home. I went to bowl a few games…not sure what happened today because my scores were all horrible for my standards. I thought maybe because I hadn’t eaten or because I wasn’t drinking (yes tipsy me bowls better than sober me, sadly) but even after my orders came, my games weren’t going well. Oh well. Can’t win them all LOL

Sorry this is just a really shitty post with things all over the place. I hope you day has been going well babe. I can’t wait to talk to you again. I miss and love you so much.

#goodday #BlackFriday

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endlessarchite · 7 years ago

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Living Room Updates, Major Sales, And What I’m Buying

Our living room is still in flux since we took Karl to the beach house and bought our new sofa (one new living room thing = me wanting to CHANGE ALL THE THINGS!), but I couldn’t wait to show you a few sneak peeks and share a ton of weekend home sales going on right now. We’re talking about $60 side tables and $119 living room chairs and kitchen stools for under $100, so let’s get into it.

The two cane-back living room chairs that we recently bought are on sale for 30% off (just $119 per chair plus you get an additional 15% off with the code TURKEY). They’re not too low (they’re around the same height as our sofa) and they’re very comfy if you add an accent pillow to the back so you have a bit more plushness and aren’t feeling as reclined. I also added a coat of Minwax Provincial stain to make them closer to the color of our kitchen stools.

Speaking of our kitchen stools, all of World Market’s furniture is 40% off with code FURNSALE, which means you can get our kitchen stools for less than $100 each! We’ve had them over a year and love them. No issues at all – in fact I’m debating them for the duplex… when we actually have kitchens in there.

But back to our new sofa, which we have been LOVING (it’s durable, kid/pet friendly, and comfy). Thanks to all of the weekend sales, it’s $400 off in the color we picked (“steel”) and it’s 50% off in the slightly darker “truffle” color, which is more of a warm charcoal in person than brown (the site pics don’t do it much justice – but this photo looks pretty close to its true tone). I’ll wait while you scream “$824 for a 93-inch Crate & Barrel sofa that is normally $1650?!?!” to no one in particular.

Anyone who follows us on Instagram has heard me obsessing (at length) over that deal because Crate & Barrel never has sales this steep, and it’s just really comfy and well made. You can’t even get cheap bad sofas for that price most of the time. In fact, those are the arguments I used to convince John that we should get two of them for the duplex! The deal sealer was when Crate & Barrel said they could send them out to us next July instead of right now, which solves the whole where-do-we-store-two-sofas-while-we-fix-that-house-up issue.

That picture above shows how pretty those $119 cane backed chairs are from behind (me-ow!) and it also shows you the side tables we found for just $62 bucks!!! And remember, you can get an additional 15% off both with the code TURKEY. We love that the side tables are big enough for lamps (those are old HomeGoods lamps on them). On the mantel you can also see my favorite little faux ginkgo leaf branch, which is also in the foyer (I got two of ’em). It’s on clearance for $6.97 right now and I love the happy vibe they add to a room, so for anyone else who was eying them, they probably won’t get any cheaper and might be gone soon.

But back to this picture for a sec. See that marble table between our cane back chairs? It’s the perfect size to slip into a bunch of situations, and SO CLASSIC thanks to the marble top and the perfect medium wood-toned legs, and it’s on sale for just $89.99 (plus you get an additional 15% off with the code TURKEY).

Under $100 for a marble table = jazz hands in my book. In fact, we liked it so much we bought another one for the beach house, so you can see how it can slip into so many different spots:

And this is what it looked like when it was living briefly as a living room side table (“my name is Sherry and I’m addicted to moving stuff around”).

The capiz chandelier in our foyer is part of Serena & Lily’s 25% off sale, just use the code BESTDAY at checkout to save about $75 and bring the price down to $225! It’s pretty rare to get more than 25% off at S&L (ask me how I know, because I stalk their site – ha!).

That same Serena & Lily 25% code can also save you almost $200 (!!!) on the 8 x 10′ rug we have in the front room at the beach house (it’s regularly $798, but with the sale it’s $598). It’s the softest outdoor rug we’ve ever stepped on – it literally feels like a chenille sweater – and we love that it can literally be hosed off and left outside to dry. Durable rugs = the jackpot. And that blue throw blanket on the bed is 20% off.

Speaking of beach house bedrooms – this striped duvet set is 40% off, so it’s just $48 for the queen sized one. The 400-thread count sheets we got for the beach house are also 40% off ($20 off per set!) – we love these so much that we have them in our house too (and spending $29.99 for a queen sheet set – especially in the 400 thread count category – is pretty amazing). Even that bedside table is 10% off (with an additional 15% off with the code TURKEY) and the beach photography over the bed is on sale for $62.

The aqua kilim rug in our daughter’s room is on final sale at West Elm, so you can save $180 on the 8 x 10′ version. We’ve had ours for years, and have loved it (no issues with staining, wear & tear, or anything like that).

There are a couple of other items I’m stalking from Serena & Lily for the beach house (dang it if I don’t love everything they sell). Both the tasseled towel and the woven basket are marked down already plus there’s an extra 25% off with the code BESTDAY: making these fringe-y towels and this striped woven basket even cheaper.

I’m also getting heart eyes for some things from West Elm, like this 50% off metal task lamp (just $29.99 and it comes in several finishes!) and the metallic throw pillow is just $14.99.

And if you need some fun tabletop and bookshelf items, this cheeky marble car phone is marked down to $25 (it would be THE BEST conversation piece on a home office bookshelf or desk at work) and these chic striped marble vases are $20 off.

Over at Pottery Barn, they’ve got some great lighting sales – like this Moravian star pendant that’s similar to the one in our beach house, which is over $50 off (just $125!) and this sweet capiz flush mount that’s $75 off (just $175 and soooo perfect for a bathroom or hallway).

These faux silver dollar eucalyptus branches aren’t on sale yet, but I’m keeping an eye on them because they look so convincing! The pretty pink votive set is now $17 (down from $24)… for all THREE! I love the idea of them glowing on a table for a dinner party (not too tall that they’ll block faces) or on the mantel on a cozy winter night.

Wayfair has this well-reviewed neutral rug that every blogger and their mother is loving. We were heavily considering it for the beach house, and now it’s 10% off which makes it just $145 for an 8 x 10′ (that’s crazy cheap for such a big rug).

This pretty metallic art from Target is on sale for $33 (love that it comes pre-framed). I haven’t seen it in person, but online Target stuff is so easy to return (you can just bring it to the store) so I might just go for it. That frame color is perfect, and I love the subtle blue, pink, and metallic tones going on.

You can also get these sleek leather and wood chairs for nearly 50% off using the code TURKEY at Target, which makes them less than $100! Two of them in a living room with the round marble table we love between them would look so much more expensive than they are.

This glossy Martha Stewart casserole dish is super high rated, comes in a ton of colors and it’s more than 50% off. I love the white one for the beach house (imagine it on our pink stove) and the gray or the blue one looks perfect for our kitchen at home. Now if only I could cook…

This World Market armchair is 40% off with code FURNSALE, making it $140 less than the previous $349 price tag (just $209). The reviews are good, and the clean mid-century lines mean it can slip into a variety of rooms. It also has a pretty slatted back that would come in handy if you’re putting it somewhere that you’ll see the back of it.

And we can’t forget Small Business Saturday (also: support small businesses year-round!), so here are some of our favorite shops on Etsy (and beyond) with gorgeous hand-made wares! They’re not all on sale, but it’s AWESOME to have original art and hand-made pillows/ceramics/leather goods, in fact I was just telling John that two of the items on this list are in my “top ten things I’d grab in a fire”:

We’ve been longtime fans of Claire Elsaesser (we have a print of hers in our bedroom, which you can see in the picture below).

These leather pulls can instantly elevate any furniture item – picture them on a Malm dresser from Ikea giving it soooo much more swagger

We are THE BIGGEST fans of Danielle Oakey’s Etsy shop. Not only did we buy two of her pillows for our new sofa, we also bought two more pillows for the beach house. They’re so well made, and no two are alike. She’s having a 15% off Black Friday sale plus free shipping on top of that, just enter the code FREESHIPPING at checkout.

I’m a bonafide Emily Jeffords groupie (we bought one of her prints years ago, and have loved watching her brand grow – she deserves every single eyeball and more). We currently have four different landscape prints of hers, and just can’t get over her talent.

Handmade ceramics feel so special, and this dock/planter is full of function and beauty. How much prettier would the kitchen counter be with one of these instead of a long tangled charger cord?

A Samantha French print was one of the first “real pieces of art” we ever purchased back in 2011 or so, and we LOVE her work to an insane degree. It’s hard to believe someone’s hand can paint this way, with so many light refractions and ripples. Gorgeous.

You know me and tiny houses. I’m always IN. This cute little tea towel from Garbella is great for a kitchen or a bathroom (lately I’ve loved hanging a tea towel on a hook near the bathroom sink and calling it good). Casual and functional with a homemade twist.

We purchased original prints from Joanne Ho of HeloBirdie around 7 months ago and they’re hung in our living room frame collage. I can’t tell you how many times I catch myself staring at them instead of at the TV. They’re hands down two things I’d grab in a fire without thinking twice. I love that they’re one of a kind original paintings, and they look so good in one of these gold frames from Target.

I have had my eye on this Gwen Meyerson print for a while – I love the painterly strokes and you know I’m a sucker for a pink house.

Ok, I’m off to eat more and order some serious house stuff! Ha! But before I go, here’s a rundown of the sales & codes I’ve found so far:

Crate & Barrel – 15% off full price items with the code SAVE15 and up to 40% off 150+ furniture items

Target – Lots of markdowns with an additional 15% off all online furniture with the code TURKEY

Pottery Barn – Free shipping with the code BLACKFRIDAY and tons of individually marked down items (25% off sofas!)

Serena & Lily – Save 25% off with the code BESTDAY

Anthropologie – 30% off everything on their site

CB2 – 15% off every full price item (even furniture) with the code SAVE15

Minted – 20% off holiday cards, gifts, art, and home decor over $150 or 15% off everything with the code: BF2017

World Market – 40% off all furniture with the code FURNSALE

Rejuvenation – Up to 25% off, depending how much you spend

McGee & Co – 20% off everything with the code GIVETHANKS (love this intricate inlay frame and this little dark green & gold alarm clock)

West Elm – Up to 30% off and free shipping with the code SAVEMORE

Annie Selke – 25% off everything with the code CYBER17

Urban Outfitters – Buy one, get one 50% off

Old Navy – 50% off your entire purchase plus free shipping (no code necessary)

Banana Republic – 50% off all regular priced merchandise (no code necessary)

J. Crew – 40% off your purchase plus free shipping with the code THANKU

Gap – 50% off every single thing with the code BLKFRIDAY plus an extra 10% off that with the code JUST4YOU

Hope you guys are enjoying this holiday weekend with family and friends and all the pie! And feel free to tell me on Instagram or Facebook if there are any sales I’m missing. You know I love to soak them all up (picture me basting myself with them, turkey-style). Tis the season!

Psst – For paint color info & source links to nearly everything in our house, this page has got the goods for ya.

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