Or, in my case, when you rediscover something? All kinds of fuzzy buzzy and fluffy-ness? Okay, so I'm totally making up that phrase but it's all I can do to explain how lovely I feel right now. At this very moment. Warm and fuzzy seems adequate. It's just a wonder what beauty can do to a person, isn't it? Let's get down to business. Hobby Lobby is an arts and crafts store that has been around for ages and ages. I'm not going to lie to you: I've never been much of a fan of the place (for obvious reasons) and the last time I stepped foot in the shop was when I was a child and my mother and I were making a mad dash of the place to try and find a few items for a school project.

Every week (when schedules don't conflict) my mother and I spend the day out together, typically wandering everywhere and nowhere all at once. Sometimes we get drinks. Sometimes we wander newer antique/secondhand shops. Some days we just go to Macy's, Sephora or Ulta. Other days it's Target or something new altogether. You get the idea.

The summer has been filled with mostly her choice of outings: craft supply shops and/or other places involving the arts.

Because one of my childhood friends has been working at Michael's since we were both seniors in high school, I can't believe it's been so long since then, we usually only go there, but my mom surprised me by saying she'd rather head over to Hobby Lobby to see what has changed since she last visited. I should at least clarify, too, that while I'm not exactly familiar with the chain store my mom is a long time customer. So, at least one of us knew what we were getting ourselves into.

My wallet had no idea what hit it by the time we left. There's so much to look at there that I feel like I absolutely didn't even scrape the surface. Ah! Basically, I would look at something and have an internal debate that typically goes like so: "Jessica, NO!" to "Jessica, YES!" and well, you get the picture.


I know, I know... technically, the fall isn't here just yet but you guys know me by now. I get into the autumn state of mind the second August comes and that's all you need to know. I adore the colour combinations we get to do when summer begins to fade and the leaves fall. All those dark, rich shades of red and green and purple and, well, you know the rest. Although my favorite colours tend to be along the pastel section of the wheel, I am very passionate about the change of shades and am more than happy to shake things up a bit.

Hobby Lobby has a ton of cute things to decorate your home or bedroom/dorm with and picking just a few options was absolute torture for someone who just wants ALL THE DECOR. Let's talk about my love of coffee, which lasts year round. I have a bit of a problem, ahem, when it comes to collecting coffee mugs and it's probably not something we should talk about. I will say that it's gotten so ridiculous lately that I have no room for them and use a lot as pencil cups or places to stash my beauty brushes.

Hobby Lobby is such an enabler, though, because I purchased this little cutie to use in November:



And let's face it, I was completely excited to use one of my darker filters on at least one photo. If you were wondering, it's the P5 filter on VSCO Cam. I can't remember which set it was from, unfortunately, but it looks great and shadowy on autumn themed photographs. I'm going to use it on quite a few images this year, I think.

But back to the mug--isn't it just the cutest? I love the way it's styled and it is a pretty sturdy little cup. I forgot to mention most of the store was 40-50% off (until this Friday, I think?) and that's what I'm going to use to justify the amount of money I spent. Hey, we gotta justify it somehow. I tried to find a link on the website for you to purchase it but had no luck finding it but there were several in stock at my location so this may be one of the items that you have to go to the store directly if you want to buy it.

The next thing I picked up was a bunch of fake flowers. I know, I know, that's a bit boring but I am huge on floral arrangements and if I wasn't so allergic to a good chunk of flowers/plants, I would splurge on the real deal and have a garden of my own. Alas, that isn't happening.

 
I couldn't resist snagging up a few things of these beauties because that is one of my all-time favourite colours and I have no self control whatsoever. I plan on heading back come payday and picking up some others to mix in with it as well as a vase to put it in. Which, FYI, guys, they had some seriously pretty crystal ones that I have my eyes on which were pretty reasonably priced even without the percentage off.


As of lately, I've had my eyes on a lot of decor that revolve around the use of maps. I didn't find much that I really and truly loved at the store beyond this print for my wall--which is probably a good thing.

There is something so appealing about the way this looks and I have a distinct idea of what I want to do with it/where I want to hang it in my place. I love that it's relatively minimal in terms of how it was made. Granted, it's probably an item one could make pretty quickly if they purchased a map and wrote over it, but I have terrible handwriting and this was just too cute to pass up.

Once again, I'm unable to find a link to it on their website... so it's another find you may have to just search for in-store. My guess is that all the items that I've found at my local Hobby Lobby are unavailable online and are only found in the store itself, so I'm going to just leave that as a bit of a disclaimer.

No links. How frustrating. Sorry, guys! On my next day off, I can try to look into it some more. For now, just images of my haul will have to do. Sigh. Deep sigh. I guess it's time to move on, right? I don't own many travel mugs because I tend to down my caffeine at home before heading out for the day and if I can't, I just pop around to Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts (because there are an obscene number of both nearby) to grab something on the go. I also have never found a travel mug that I've liked or trusted to not burn my hand.

Guess what I found?


Because, seriously. No explanation needed. No talkie before coffee. Bye.

I'm in the process of redoing my bedroom and making up a desk area. I know it is pretty surprising to hear this but I've never had a desk of my own--I use my vanity table as one, which I have had for roughly 15 years. But I talked to my father about having him and my friend go and use their muscles/brains to just make one for me to rest underneath my wall of shelves. It's not going to be any special layout and certainly won't have a drawer--essentially it's just going to be there.

So, I've just been looking for little things to decorate it with and have hang on the free space of wall. I don't want anything too overbearing but I also don't want anything too mundane and minimalistic. I found quite a few things I liked while out and ended up getting one item to start things off with. I would have purchased more but at this point during the day, I was trying to control myself a bit more:


You can see a few other items that are perfect for the office behind my image and well, you need to proceed to your local store to drool over it. I'm coming back for you kids! *waves to the items in the background* I also got another sign that is just a bit bigger but generally matches the one above in terms of colours:



Next up, I was looking for some more new decor for autumn and I stumbled on this cute little carriage. I had Cinderella on my mind after watching the live action version that came out last year and I just couldn't pass up this little guy. I'm probably being perfectly obvious about it, but I've been digging this style lately so this wound up in my cart. My mom and I are probably going to split ownership over it, though, because she wanted it as well--but there was only one in stock!

Pout. 


It's the perfect item for fall, right? I'm going to surround it with some pretty red and orange flowers and that's pretty much it. Nothing entirely spectacular or anything.

This next item is another one that had only one in stock so far as we could tell. This time, my mom is the one who purchased it and not me. It's just a cute and simple, girly designed, plastic pumpkin that says Happy Harvest on the front and has the cutest gold/white stripes on it.


I'm hopeful that they'll have another one in stock during my next trip! I'm weak, I'm weak, I'm weak! Lastly... I'm more than happy to be a stereotype:


Pictures of it up on my wall coming soon. I'm thinking about hanging up some of my fairy lights around it but we'll see! I think that's everything, re: purchases! 



Because of the fact that I, well, need to eat for the rest of the week, I stopped myself before i bought the entire store. Still, there were plenty of items that I am dying to get my hands on and I do plan to go back on payday (which is a few days away) to take advantage of the remainder of the sale days. Here are a few of the items I plan on purchasing:


I'm absolutely gooey over these fake books/boxes. I've never owned fake boxes for storage but these sold me on them.


I'm in need of some storage/drawers and I was really torn on whether or not I should purchase this. Still debating, really. The price is great and there is a lot of room in this cutie, but I not only was I concerned of overspending I was also unsure of how I would get it home. Small car and no muscles, really. I reckon if it's still there on Friday, I will pick it up and force my darling friend to carry it for me. He just doesn't know it yet.

Lastly, they have a lot of Christmas stuff in stock and I found many things I'd like to get. But... August feels far too soon (it's still summer!) to go and purchase new winter holiday decor.



That about wraps up this haul!

Now... I'm going to go question my ability to have control over my finances.