12 Days of Christmas Blog Challenge - Days Two, Three & Four

Blog Status: Ella is spending a snowy day in front of the TV

I wasn't supposed to be at home today, but the weather and my car seem to have ganged up on me and force me to stay home. I now present you with the Christmas Blog Challenge, at least days 2-4 to start.

Day 2 - Black Friday/General Shopping Tips & Tricks

Oooh good one! I had my first Black Friday experience this year. Read all about it here. The verdict: I was dissapointed! It wasn't busy at all, or at least not the way I was expecting. My biggest shopping tip is to go at the right time. That may mean early or that may mean late. Either way, I calculate when the least amost of people are likely to be at the mall at a given time.

Day 3 - Meaningful/Memorable Gift(s)


This is a tough one, I'd like to consider all my gifts to be meaningful and memorable. Wow I'm really drawing a blank on this one.

Day 4: Tips/Tricks to a Budget Friendly holiday season



My number one money saving tip: Coupons! I know it may sound cheesy, but I love discounts and coupons. I just recently discovered ebates (hello! where have you been all my life!) and whenever I go shopping south of the border, I scour the coupon websites.
 
Another trick, is wrapping paper and bows, ribbon etc. Hello Dollarama! They have the cutest present accessories for $1 each. It's great!

I'm off to bake gingerbread cookies and enjoy a snowy day and prepare for my last exam tomorrow morning!

12 Days of Christmas Blog Challenge - Day One

Blog Status: Ella is breathing a sigh of relief after handing in her last 2 assignments this morning

Hello bloggers! I'm not entirely on christmas-time yet, I still have one take-home exam, one exam, 2 days of placement and 2 actual classes to go - BUT the last of my official assignments were handed in this morning so I feel a lot lighter.

The Christmas Season has been chugging along without my knowledge or approval the last few weeks. 15 Days from today is Christmas Eve - scary right? I'm almost done my christmas shopping, only a few people left to go.

I've wanted to do this blogger challenge for days now, but I just haven't had the time. So I'm going to start attempting it now. Over at Aly's blog, she and fellow blogger Molly have a wonderful 14-day Christmas themed blog challenge. Go there now!

The "Day 1" Challenge is "Christmas/Holiday Tradition"

One of my favorite holiday traditions is christmas eve with my mom. We spend the holidays with family, but on christmas eve day, her and I always go out by oursleves and either wander the mall or local market or simply sit and have coffee/hot chocolate somewhere. It's a nice tradition to be able to spend some time together amongst the craziness of the holiday season and just reflect on everything that is going on around us.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's challenge, "Black Friday/general shopping tips/tricks" 

It's December in our town..

Blog Status: Ella is happy to be allowed to sleep in past 6am today

I'm at a bit of a quandry at the moment. The urge to blog suddenly hit me the other day, but the need to finish my assignments is hitting me even harder. We're talking hitting me like a MAC Truck kind of harder. So I'm trying to balance school work and blogging, but neither one seems to be surviving at the moment.

But all my complaining aside, I'm completely excited and freaked out that it's December already, and only just over 3 weeks until Christmas. Hello panic mode, nice to meet you.

I have two December/Year End blog challenges that I'm dying to attempt, so expect a few posts in the next few days.

Happy December!

The aftermath of black friday

Blog Status: Ella is feeling very accomplished after a day of catching up on work

After a great few days spent with family in the D.C area, I have returned. I'll save an actual post about what I saw and did for another day, today I wanted to broadcast about my experiences shopping on black friday.

***Now I should add a disclaimer that this was my first experience, so I don't have much to compare it with.

This is what I expected...

This is what I got...

Both images are courtesy of google images, but you get the idea.

The end result - I was almost dissapointed by the lack of pushing, hair pulling and cart stealing. I was prepared for madness, but instead it was a quick and pleasant experience.

It could have been the time of day. My dad and I were both up and ready early, so we made our way to Walmart around 8AM. I figured that the madness would have begun at 5 when the store opened and most people would be gone by the time we got there. I wasn't looking for the big ticket items, although I'll be honest that a flatscreen TV for $98 did tickle my fance, my main goal was cheap DVD's. Those are exactly what I got. Between Walmart and Target I bought a total of 11 DVD's and one season for a little under $70. Not bad if I do say so myself. 

All in all I was very pleasantly surprised with my first black friday experience. So much so that I'm considering making it an annual event. 

How was your black friday shopping? What bargains did you get? Tell me! 

Thanksgiving - American style!

Hello everyone! I'm trying to get back into blogging, but lately I think I've been in a blogging funk. I just haven't had the motivation (or time) to blog, but no fear, I think I may slowly be making my return. My semester is slowly coming to an end, there's only 3 weeks left including exams and then I'll be off for just over a month.

As of tomorrow I'm Washington-bound for Thanksgiving! I'm actually very excited about this, because it will be my first (American) Thanksgiving. Since I attend an American University, we get 3 days off over Thanksgiving, so I'm jetting down to Washington to visit family.

I'm looking forward to a nice break to spend time with family and maybe (just maybe) squeeze in a little bit of shopping. I've only heard stories about this elusive "Black Friday", but I really want to make a pit stop to Wal-Mart and check out the DVD sales.

Is "Black Friday" really as crazy as I've always heard?

I think that's all I have to say for now, I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and Happy Thanksgiving!