- This adorable striped romper from Polarn O. Pyret. Addie needs this. She looks good in rompers.

- These sandals. They’re super comfy and I wear them with everything. I can’t say no to ruffles.

- Addie’s new sandals. She wears them with everything too. (And they really take me back to my childhood!)

- Lark Rise to Candleford. It hasn’t been playing on our PBS station so I’ve finally been able to watch it at my mom’s house. It’s delightful.

- So You Think You Can Dance. I like Lauren and Kent. And it’s fun seeing All-Star Neil.

- Peanut Butter Cup shakes from Arctic Circle. Guilty pleasure, yes. I’ve never had a better shake than at Arctic Circle and so it’s a special treat when I’m in Utah!

- This fantastic new blog about kids birthday parties: Hip Hip Hooray!

- Almond milk. Trust me.

- This purse. Love love.

- Recipe for Santa Rosa Salad. I make this all the time and everybody always raves about it. I promised several people I’d post this so here you go!

SANTA ROSA SALAD
1 box long grain wild rice (Uncle Ben’s ORIGINAL)[I used two packets of the microwave style, cooks in 90 seconds, 1- Wild and Brown Rice and 1- Santa Fe]
3 chicken breasts, diced
4 green onions, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
3 oz. Chinese Pea Pods (Snow Peas), ends cut off and cut into thirds
1-2 medium avocados, diced
1/2-1 C. chopped pecans
Cook rice as directed and cool. Boil chicken breasts approximately 15 minutes or until cooked through. Dice the following into VERY SMALL pieces…chicken, green onions and red bell pepper. Cut ends off of Snow Peas and cut into thirds. Combine all ingredients (except avocado and pecans) and refrigerate overnight.
DRESSING:
2 cloves garlic, diced (or 1/4 tsp. garlic powder)
1 T. Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/3 C. vegetable oil
1/3 C. Nakano’s Seasoned Rice Vinegar
Combine in BLENDER or beat well with hand mixer. Refrigerate overnight.
NEXT DAY:
Pour dressing over salad and mix well until coated. Refrigerate 2-4 hours before serving. Immediately before serving, add diced avocado and pecans – mix well. Serve on lettuce leaf.

Today I’m over here sharing 14 things I love. You should check it out. And while you’re there, read the rest of Megan’s blog because she’s a hoot.

(More posts coming soon. Wait for it….)

Yesterday, Janssen had an awesome post on the “Frugal Wife = Wealthy Life” blog she started with her mom and sister Merrick. It was a very wise post entitled “Keeping Your Money Temptations at Bay.” Learning how to budget, especially on student loans, has been tricky for me. In her post, Janssen likens money temptations to food temptations, like when you buy cookies and say you won’t eat them. “The goal, then, is to empty your money cupboards of cookies and chips and other things you can’t resist, and just make it easy on yourself to not spend. Make it so you don’t have to decide EVERY SINGLE TIME you open that cupboard to say, ‘No. No cookies.’”

One way she combats the temptation is to avoid going to the grocery store more than once a week. This tactic also works for me. It’s nearly impossible to go into the store and only leave with the 5 things I wanted to pick up for dinner. It helps that Jacob takes the car to school most days so I don’t even have the option of going out to run errands.

My biggest budget-breaking temptation is Target. I often have totally legitimate reasons to go there (and it’s just a mile down the street from my house…) Like the other day, for example, I went in with some coupons to pick up a few super cheap and free toiletry items. For the record, stocking up on those items is great for the budget. But then when I decide to wander around the store afterward I find other “deals” that I didn’t need as much. I’m never buying anything expensive, but the little less-than-necessary items add up. Just like Janssen, I’m a sucker for a good deal.

So I’ve discovered something new that works for me. Alice.com. It’s an incredible new website where you can order household items online, delivered right to your house, and keep you from constantly running to the store. Shipping is free (as long as you order at least 6 items at a time). Now if you are a player of the Drugstore Game who has a closet stocked with deodorant, razor, and shampoo that you got for free, then Alice probably isn’t for you. But if you’re the type, like me, who generally just buys toiletries when you’re out of them and don’t have time to shop around and find deals, then Alice is great. For the most part, Alice has good prices. And the cool thing is they post coupons to items for you to use, so you don’t have to have clipped coupons. A couple of weeks ago they had 3-packs of Ivory soap with a coupon that made each pack .18! The deals aren’t always that good but sometimes they are. From what I can tell the diapers are priced well and you can’t beat the convenience. And like I said, I don’t buy everything there, just the things that I find to be good deals.

Alice also has a cool budgeting feature. They track “your products” so you can see the things you like to order right on your “shelf” and see if they have a coupon or are on sale. And you can go to “Other Ways to Shop” to see the items that are current good deals.

The only drawback I’ve found to this website is that shipping to the West coast takes about a week. I’ve heard it’s lightning fast if you live on the East coast, though.

Shopping at Alice can keep me from making unnecessary trips to the store that will cost me not only gas, but the added expense of picking up items I don’t need. It’s not a fix-everything solution, but it helps and works for me.

(Note: if you sign up for Alice from any of the links in this post you’ll get a $10 credit after you’ve spent $50 (you don’t have to spend the $50 all at one time.) Also, the first time you order from Alice, you don’t have to order 6 items. They let you order less the first time so you can try it out.)

P.S. Do you use Swagbucks? I earn “swagbucks” everyday by searching on the Swagbucks toolbar in my browser. So easy. And I’ve cashed them in for gift cards to Alice and Amazon! (But you can cash them in for lots of things.)