Carroll Family Life

 If you know me - you know I am a list person. I am definitely the person that buys the preprinted notepads specifically designed for grocery shopping and other tasks. Actually those lists are quite a reassurance for me, because I know there must be more crazy's out there buying all these little notepads and checking/listing their way through life...

In honor of my obsession and my 27th birthday coming up... I decided to make a birthday wish list. The purpose is two fold:

One - I get to pretend shop with no budget 

Two - I get to share some great finds with my friends!

So... my first stop (of course), was Anthropologie... Like I said pretending leaves me with no budget.. 

On my quick trip through the website I found three fabulous things:

1. This lovely belt. You could make so many plain outfits fabulous with this thing.

2. This amazing dress. It also comes in a pretty gray stripe, and since I'm pretend shopping - I'll take both!

3. These lovely earrings. They come in gold and silver, and once again, I'll take one of each. Please and Thank you.

 Wow, you guys gotta try this. Its like retail therapy without the depressing credit card statement. Fun!

On to my next store of choice. Crate and Barrell.

1. These cheerful mixing bowls. I have two sets of mixing bowls already that we've had since we got married. However, one set is about as cheap as they come and will be moving to the dairy once its done. Also, I love it when I'm cooking/baking with pretty utensils.

 2. Cookbooks for this new phase in my life. Call me a weirdo - I don't eat a lot of meat and would like to find some recipes the hubs will eat. I also drink a lot of smoothies - pretty much every morning for breakfast.

3. And now I'm back to that whole no budget thing - not to mention I have no place to put it. But thats why they call it a WISH list.

 Someday Clint and I will build a house. That house will have two offices because that works for us and because we both like things a certain way. Mine will look a lot like this. This image inspires me. This image would not do the same for Clint. I'm envisioning his office with dark woods and deer heads... big big difference.

Finally, there is that other part of my life this is just my own. The part where I run nowhere and push myself a little farther for no ones benefit besides my own. The part of me that will schedule my vacation around 13.1 miles of running with people that share my love for the sport. 

1. These are Brooks Running Shoes. They are my favorite and will probably be the birthday present I get for myself. Which, by the way, I think is VERY important. Watch out, I'm climbing on my soap box... 

I think women should celebrate themselves as much as they want other people to. I don't want to sound harsh, but I think too many women (from those awful commercials and our materialist society), depend on other people to buy them things to make them feel special. Don't get me wrong, I am admittedly materialistic and love a present as much as the next person. I just think we give our power away when we allow other people to regulate our self worth. Okay - getting off my soap box.

 And this is one of their shirts. I love the way the colors contrast!

Well, I hope you enjoyed this self indulgent post, I had fun writing it!