Target: Cozy Chic Sweatshirt Cardigans!!

Every time Fall rolls around, I go cashmere nuts and then when Winter hits, my dry cleaning bill skyrockets.  My favorite cashmere items are my cashmere wraps/cardigans.  I live in them.  But I think I found a great dry-cleaning-free alternative today!!  Every so often, I find something in Target that's just perfect.  And Target has hit it out of the ballpark with this Mossimo wrap cardigan in sweatshirt material for only $29.99:

I'm going to get this cardigan in deep purple!  I'd post the deep purple but the shade is all off in my pix, so that's why the heather grey one is being shown.  It runs large so, I'd size down if you're in between sizes.  And since it's made from sweatshirt material, no dry cleaning is needed!  I'm also looking forward to the lack of pilling that inevitably shows up on my beloved cashmere wraps/cardigans.  If this cardigan goes on-sale, I may buy all three colors: black, purple and heather grey!

I also found this Merona shawl-collar cardigan in sweatshirt material for $19.99 that would make a great alternative to your hoodie:

I adore grandpa sweaters/blazers and this totally reminds me of a grandpa blazer.  I know this cardigan doesn't look so fabulous in the pix above but trust me, this cardigan looks way better on the body than on the hanger.  Oh...and I'd pass on this cardigan in the other colors.

My Summer Project: Kitchen Renovation!!

I spent the summer gut-renovating the kitchen and the thing I missed most about not having a functional kitchen?  Ice.  And now (now that winter is here and I have a less pressing need for cold drinks), I will never want for ice again!!  Yes...the kitchen renovation is done!!

The renovation took longer than expected and I went slightly over budget but the resulting kitchen is fabulous!!  I wanted a light, airy, easy-to-maintain kitchen with clean lines and that's what I got!

My 2 favorite things about the new kitchen?  The white marble-like granite countertop and the glass backsplash.  We wanted to use white marble for our countertop but apparently that was a big no-no.  It took many trips to the granite fabricator and then the granite wholesaler, but the perseverance paid off!  We found our white marble-like granite slabs!!  As to the glass backsplash, I always cringe when I think of tiles and grouting and the cleaning involved to keep everything look new.  So I went with full sheets of frosted glass as the kitchen backsplash.  Spray with Windex and wipe...and you're done cleaning!!

Here's the before:  A very old 20+ year old kitchen.

Here's the after:  A new kitchen that's ready to bake cakes, cookies and brownies!!  I will eventually get around to cooking other items...