Birthday Money Shopping Haul! (Marshall's, Payless, GameStop)

My birthday was a few weeks ago and this year I received a few gift cards and birthday checks as gifts. When I was home in (tax free!) NH over Memorial Day Weekend, I decided to splurge a bit and *cough*spendallofitatonce*coughcough*. #lessonsyoushouldntlearnfromRiley It had been a while since I had gone shopping for myself (Spoiler alert, grad students do not have a lot of money) so having money that you're forced to spend (gift cards) for a change was pretty exciting! I got a few different things, so I thought I'd show you all what I got!

Clothing

I find that I'm transitioning my wardrobe into more work-type clothes every time I head out shopping. I have *a lot* of casual wear, but I spent most of my working life in retail where I wore a uniform and didn't need to worry about looking nice in an office. Most of these items were bought with my need for office-wear in mind.

Item: Patterned Short Sleeve Top

Brand: Fun & Flirt

Purchased from: Marshall's

Price: $12.99

This top is a great pop of color (perfect for summer!) that I matched with black flats and black skinny pants when I wore it. It's a little bit hot since it's made of 100% polyester, but I just really love this style!

Item: Crimson Khaki Pants

Brand: Dockers

Purchased from: Marshall's

Price: $16.99

There was actually a reason behind this purchase! I'm part of the Summer Orientation program at BSU and Kelly and I discussed that we want to wear red pants with our polos during sessions. I wasn't actively looking but I just came across this pair of pants while sifting through the Marshall's racks and they turned out to be really comfy as well! Score!

Item: Navy No-sleeve Dress

Brand: Max Studio

Purchased from: Marshall's

Price: $29.99 (Originally $98.00! #steal)

Going through my first full banquet season as a non-student this year made me realize something: almost all of the dresses I own are not something I can wear in a professional setting. I had a lot more dresses picked out but none of them really fit me right, but this one was perfect! And so comfortable, too. I'm excited for the first occasion I can wear this to. :)

Item: Brown & Gold Gladiator-style Sandals

Brand: Steve Madden

Purchased from: Marshall's

Price: $29.99

My mom purchased me a pair of really cute sandals for my birthday, but unfortunately they were a size too big for me to walk comfortably around in. :( Knowing that I couldn't have the ones she picked out for me left me itching for a new pair! I stumbled upon these at Marshall's and instantly fell in love. It didn't take long for me to decide that these were a definite purchase for me. I love the style, the metallic accents, and the buckle closure. Yes, please.

Item: Black Flats

Brand: Lower East Side

Purchased from: Payless

Price: $16.99

I was in desperate need of new flats - I had mine for 2 years and they were falling apart. I always hate shopping for flats because I'm pretty picky as to what I want them to look like - plain, rounded toe flats with NO DECORATIONS on them. I always find that there's always a little bit of an accent on black flats and I just want mine to be plain so they can go with any occasion. Much to my surprise (and Brett's relief), when I walked into Payless I found the *exact* same pair that I had bought 2 years ago within the first 45 seconds of being in the store. I quickly snagged them, paid, and headed out the door!

Home & Office

Oh, the Marshall's stationary section. Where my paycheck goes to die. I swear I could spend hours sifting through all of the paper goodies and the many boxes and folders I can organize them with. It's my financial kryptonite.

Item: Safari Animals File Folders

Brand: Roobee

Purchased from: Marshall's

Price: $5.99

These came in a plastic-wrapped pack of 9. When I saw them in the store, I only could see the zebra design and assumed all of them were zebra folders, but when I got home an opened the package, I was thrilled to see there were three designs including the best possible one - ELEPHANTS. If you know me at all, you know I love elephants, so I was over the moon thrilled about this discovery. There are three folders of each design in this pack.

Item: Metallic Polka Dot Journal

Brand: Lady Jane, Ltd.

Purchased from: Marshall's

Price: $3.99

I'm a huge fan of journals and notebooks. Don't know why, but nothing is better to me then the crisp fresh notebook with nothing in it! I got this little guy with the intentions of using it as a positivity journal. My #projectSMASH goal for the year kind of fell apart, because I feel like I was using the journal to vent all of my frustrations. That's good in some cases, but it seemed like everything I was writing down in there was negative and it got to be exhausting. I wanted to do the exact opposite with this. I've been listing everything positive that happens during each day and so far it's really made me appreciate the little things throughout the day that make me happy. I really love the recycled notebook look, as well as metallic features, and it's a perfect pocket size with non-decorative lined pages. Perfect for a positivity journal! :)

Item: Recycled Thank You Cards

Brand: Roobee

Purchased from: Marshall's

Price: $4.99

I have been using the same Thank You cards for about a year and a half now and pretty much everyone I know has received them, so it was time for an update, especially now because it is definitely the season of sending Thank You notes for me (birthday, end of academic year, etc.)! I liked this style because of the recycled look (see above item - I'm currently a huge fan of this style), but I LOVED this style because of how it opened! Check it out:

And the pointy part is actually a tab closure for the card. So adorable!

Item: Pink & Gold Craft Box
Brand: Bella Luxe
Purchased from: Marshall's
Price: $5.50

Marshall's always has a surplus of these really cute craft boxes in every size and I always catch myself drooling over them. If you haven't been able to tell, cute organization is my favorite! I do have a tendency to keep little memories - cards, tickets, programs, notes, etc. - and before I can get them into a scrapbook of some kind, they tend to collect dusk in an unorganized pile on a shelf. I'm hoping to use this as a place I can store those items until I have the time to put them into a book!

Item: Elephant Teapot & Sugar Bowl

Brand: Dutch Wax

Purchased from: Marshall's

Price: Teapot: $9.99, Sugar Bowl: $5.99

(The sugar bowl is the same exact design. I couldn't get a good photo of it, so it is not pictured.) I died when I saw these! What a cute way to decorate a kitchen. There was also a cream bowl (if that's what you call them?) and a single plate at the Marshall's that I went to, but I tend to just pour my cream from the bottle, and I didn't want to buy just one plate - I'd rather have a set. So I just went with the teapot & sugar bowl. In. Love.

Entertainment

Item: Mystery Nintendo DS Dangler - Luigi & Pink Yoshi

Brand: Global Holdings Inc.

Purchased from: GameStop

Price: $3.99

I've had my 3DS since Black Friday 2013, and I've been wanting to decorate it since I purchased it. I just never got around to it. When we were in GameStop, I saw these Nintendo mystery danglers specifically for DS's, and I knew I had to snag one. These were in the packages that you can't see into, so I had no idea what I was buying. I was very pleased to find this Luigi & Pink Yoshi dangler waiting in the package for me! I had a bit of trouble getting it onto the device itself, but once I did it looked great!

Item: Mario & Luigi: Dream Team - Nintendo 3DS

Brand: Nintendo

Purchased from: GameStop

Price: $39.99

I haven't bought a 3DS game since I purchased mine with Pokemon X (I have tons of regular DS games that I've collected over the years so I've just been playing those) so I found myself perusing the 3DS section of GameStop for some new entertainment. I settled on the Mario & Luigi: Dream Team game - a Mario Bros. RPG. I've only played a bit of it so far, but I love the Mario franchise so I'm definitely enjoying myself!

Item: Stretch Bands - 3 Levels of Resistance

Brand: Gold's Gym

Purchased from: Walmart

Price: Gift from Brett :) I believe this was approximately $8.99

This was a gift from Brett, but he gave it to me in the same weekend so I'm just going to include it. :) He has elastic bands that he got for Christmas and I love using them whenever I visit him, but I don't have any of my own. When we were looking at some workout things for my mom as a Mother's Day gift, he grabbed me a pack of my very own! I have yet to use them (Work is hectic - sorry Brett!) But I'm sure I'll enjoy them once I do!

---

I hope you enjoyed my very first "haul" post! Let me know what you think - these posts are hard work! Props to anyone who does these regularly! Make sure you check out the coinciding YouTube video below to see some of these items "in action".