How I SPENT my Sunday

So...I'm just going to come right out and say it. I have a LOVE/HATE relationship with Target. I love it for obvious reasons...I mean where else can you get a cardigan for $22 that doesn't fall apart (I'm looking at YOU Forever 21)? But here's the thing. Every time I decide to go to Target, I know it's going to be a 2-hour trip. I can try to convince myself all I want that "I'm just going to run in for _________" and SOMEHOW I'll come out with $200 worth of stuff I didn't intend to buy. I don't know how it happens. Even when I have a list, it just does.

So yesterday, when my friend Dianna (who's a total enabler and loves Target just as I do) suggested we "just run into Target" to see if the Missoni pouf ottoman that was an online purchase, therefore was being sold for HALF OFF, was still there, I agreed in a heartbeat. It wasn't there, of course. But another one was in an even better color, so we swooped that up for $50, even though we only semi-needed it. And Dianna wouldn't let me go into the clothes (smart girl), so I jokingly pulled a cardigan off of the perimeter and ended up loving it and keeping it. Puke green with polka dots? I NEEDED IT! Did I mention I'm supposed to be SAVING for a wedding?

Dan and I are going to TRY to pay for as much of our July 2012 wedding as we can, but with the move we just made, saving isn't going so well. Oh, and I have a shopping problem. But anyway.

Then we wandered over to the bed stuff, because I've been searching for months for a blanket that Dan and I would both agree on. I haven't been able to find anything suitable because it's either too expensive or too girlie. There are A MILLION flowery vintage looking quilts out there that I know Dan would hate, so I passed them up and eventually found the ONE. It tows the line between manly and girlie with purple and gray stripes. And since Dan radiates heat like an oven when we sleep, it's the exact weigh we neededt! Thanks a lot Target for having the perfect blanket when I didn't have the budget to buy it (But I did anyway).

So after finding the cutest manket (man blanket?) ever, I realized that my current throw didn't match. And that I should probably have a throw pillow as well! So what did I do? I bought this gray and white striped thing and then headed over to Home Goods, which is conveniently across the parking lot from Target "just to see" what they had.

And boy did Home Goods have a lot.

A $100 bench in IKAT print to be exact!

What that's, you say?! You just bought an ottoman and that IKAT bench totally clashes? That would be CRAZY to buy a bench when you don't have a place for it just because it's the most beautiful bench in the world. Yes, it would be crazy. But I never claimed to be sane. So I bought it...along with a gray fuzzy throw that feels as soft as rabbit fur, but isn't really rabbit fur...because that would be gross.

So let's add this up. I went into Target for a $50 ottoman. And if Dianna and I split the cost, it would have only been $25! But we didn't split the cost because Dianna bought a table runner, serving platter and curtain rods for the apartment (that we also didn't go into Target for) and which cost as much as the Ottoman.

Actual Target spend: $170

I went into Home Goods expecting to spend $20 on a throw.

Actual Home Goods spend: $130

If I'm the lamest person for the next 2 months, it's because I'm now on a self-imposed spending freeze. But you know what's free? Coming over and sitting on my NEW BENCH with me!