My Weekend :)

Hi everyone!  Hope you're having a lovely week. :)  Sorry things have been a bit quiet here.  The girls have the week off for Thanksgiving, so I've been pretty busy keeping them occupied and fed. ;)  I've also been shipping off my latest eBay sales, and recovering from my busy weekend. :)

Although it's not really the weekend, we'll start with Thursday.  I always go to the local library to write, and last Thursday I was a bit early.  The fall colors were just beautiful, so I passed the time with a Mermalade mini photo shoot. ;)

Mermalade loves the Fall! 

Here I am in the library conference room, getting ready to type away on my story.  Yep, this is where the magic happens every week! :}  

Mermalade opted to stay out in the truck and enjoy the cool weather, so Elfa accompanied me to writing time.  (Yes, I do carry Zelfs in my bag for photo ops.) ;)

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On Friday, I had the opportunity to go on a day trip to Sacramento with one of my friends from college. :)  She had some Christmas shopping to do, and I was happy to go along for the ride.  It's been a long time since I've just taken off with a friend (and no kiddos), so that was really nice.  

I took a few pictures of our trip with Mermalade, who traveled with us. ;)  [Side note: You can always tell who your true friends are when you take random pictures with a little blue toy at every stop and your friend doesn't immediately act like she's never met you before.] ;)

Our first stop: a potty break at McDonald's. :)

Our first "real" stop was the Arden Fair Mall (not that you can tell from the pic). ;)  I hadn't visited this mall since I was in high school, so it was fun to go back and see it again.

Mermalade beside one of the Christmas displays.

We walked through a few stores and then decided we were ready for lunch.  My friend treated me to Johnny Rockets.  

Mermalade on the miniature jukebox.

My yummy lunch, complete with ketchup smiley face. :)  It was my first time at a Johnny Rockets;  I've seen them around but have never eaten at one.  I think it's safe to say it won't be my last time. ;)  

Of course, the highlight of the mall for me was the Disney Store. :)

  Look at all the Frozen stuff! :D  (Sorry Mermalade is so fuzzy.)

Things have been pretty tight for us financially this month, so I didn't have plans to purchase anything at the Disney Store this time around.  It was difficult to hold to that since this particular store had ALL FOUR Frozen Sketchbook ornaments (which have been out of stock online for a long time), as well as BOTH the Honey Lemon and Go Go Tomago fashion dolls from Big Hero 6 (also out of stock online). :(  I managed to hold onto my self control, though, and left the store without making any purchases. ;)

There was a Toys R Us Express in the mall, where I asked about Zelfs. (My mom had provided a "Zelf fund" for the trip, just in case I found Petal for Oldest Gal or Manny for Mom.)  They only had scented Zelfs, but told us there was a large Toys R Us further down in the same parking lot. :)

Here it is!  The store seemed fairly small when we pulled up, but just like the TARDIS, it was bigger on the inside. ;)  I found the Zelfs I needed, too, which made it even better. :D

We checked out one more store, and then headed to the Westfield Galleria Mall in Roseville.  My friend had never been there, and it's one of my family's favorite stops for birthday trips, so we decided to check it out.

Two Disney Stores in one day!  Can it get any better than that? ;)

We had a wonderful time catching up and spending the day together, and got home tired but happy. :)

Zelf loot!  These were the Zelfs I picked up for the girls with Mom's Zelf fund.  (I also found Mom her Manny.) :)

The Elusive Petal!!  This is Oldest Gal's favorite Zelf from Season 3, and we've been unable to find her for the past several months.  I was so glad we finally got her. :)  Petal is a Garden Pixie Zelf.

Adorable Manny for Middle Gal.  She fell in love with him after seeing mine. :)  Manny is a Moose Zelf.

Billy for Little Gal.  Billy (a Ducky Zelf) is another one we haven't seen yet.  He's not my favorite Zelf ever, but Little Gal thought he was super cute. :)

Although I hadn't planned on coming home with a souvenir, my sneaky friend managed to get one for me.  I didn't even know it until I got home (after I'd already dropped her off). :)  The Zelfs were on a special sale that day ($3 each instead of $6), but there was a limit of two per customer for the special deal.  I gave my friend some of my cash and asked if she would purchase two of the Zelfs so I could get the special price on those, too.  On our way to the registers, we saw this sweet "Design-a-Pony" Fluttershy, which we'd already seen at the Toys R Us Express in the mall.  I thought she was really cute, but declared I was NOT buying anything for myself on this trip.  Little did I know that my friend snagged one and bought it while she was paying for the other Zelfs.  When I got home, Fluttershy was waiting to greet me in the Toys R Us bag. :)   My friend is pretty awesome. ;)

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On Saturday, we celebrated my youngest niece's first birthday.  We had an early Thanksgiving-style buffet (turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and the works), pumpkin pie, and birthday cake.  Didn't Mom and Mimi do a great job decorating it? :)  

"Z", the birthday girl, was adorable (as always) and enjoyed her first taste of cake. :)  

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 No pictures from Sunday, but the girls and I all sang the special music for church that day.  We sang in three part harmony for the first time, and the girls did a GREAT job, so that was really fun.  I'm so thankful we have the opportunity to sing in our church.  It's a great way to give the girls experience singing in front of others with the perspective of glorifying God and edifying others rather than becoming famous. ;)

I guess that's about all.  This week's been pretty slow.  The girls have been reliving my childhood with me by watching old Disney movies released when I was young.  We've done "Aladdin", "The Little Mermaid", and "The Rescuers Down Under" so far.  It's been fun reliving old memories and experiencing the movies I loved as a girl through my daughters' eyes. :)

More to come later this week.  Talk to you guys then! :)  

P.S. We've gotten a lot of entries for the My Little Pony Express Giveaway.  It's open until this Friday, so keep 'em coming! :D  Can't wait to see who wins!