i'm a loser.... usually

image from here

remember back in elementary and middle school when you'd come home all excited because you'd been apart of an assembly that day introducing the next fundraiser? and then you'd passionately go door to door selling Christmas candy or getting signatures for your walkathon - all so you could earn those lame prizes and get your name in the raffle for the cool kids tv, walkie talkies or remote control car?

ya. i remember those days. i worked my rear end off, and i never won a thing. sure, i maybe earned a bouncy ball and the random plastic toy that took eight weeks to come and then broke in two days.... but i never won any of the cool stuff. in all of those nine years.

fast forward to golden valley high school's infamous rallies, football and basketball games. nope, i never won any of those raffle prizes either. and all of the bridal and baby showers i've ever gone to? nope, i've never won any of those prizes either.

i'm not a winner. i'm a loser.

but, there happen to be two exceptions - two pretty awesome exceptions. first, about a year and a half ago i was visiting my parents and was awakened by a phone call from todd (he had just flown home from an OMFS (oral and maxillofacial surgery) conference), and i vaguely recall him telling me about a message on the machine saying i had won a britax marathon carseat from the local baby boutique. for those unfamiliar readers, those things retail for $280! i was stoked! i entered that drawing with the thought "well, i know i'll never win, but you can't win if you don't try." and low and behold, i actually won! maybe my luck had changed.

but not really.

until yesterday. yesterday was a good day.

you see, a few weeks ago while my mom was visiting, we went shopping. she very graciously purchased an awesome jacket from jcrew for me, which i wouldn't be able to afford myself for another 30 years. we also found a pair of jeans that i liked at gap.... but i decided to order them online because i had a coupon at home. well, i went to return the jeans (didn't end up liking them) and exchange the size on the jacket yesterday. as i'm going through my receipts, i found my packages had come with two 'coupons' promoting gap's new line of jeans - one for 25% off an entire order. not a huge deal, but i'll take it. but then, the second - a FREE pair of jeans. wow. i actually "won" something of value! so, to make this long story a bit shorter, i ended up walking out of gap with three great pairs of pants for five bucks LESS than i originally spent on those inital pair of jeans. score.

but wait, it gets better. i go to jcrew to order the jacket via their phone (i need a size tall and if you order in-store, you can avoid paying shipping), and it turns out it's on sale online but not in stores, so i end up having an excess of $32 in jcrew credit to spend as i'd like. score again.

image from here.

it was a good, good day for shopping. those types of shopping trips are far from common in these parts. i was definitely a winner yesterday.

i know all of you boys don't understand. you're probably rolling your eyes wondering why some silly girl would write a post about something so lame. but i know... i just know you girls understand exactly where i'm coming from.

i'm a happy camper.

thanks for reading.

p.s. one side note - i didn't really love any of the gap's new jeans. just didn't love the fit. but since i had won a pair, i just had to pick one.... so i went out a limb. i got a pair of skinny jeans. my first real pair of skinny jeans. don't laugh. and please don't laugh when you see them on me.... if i ever get the guts to wear them. (and by the way, todd hates them. oh well. too bad for him :)

p.p.s. okay, one more side note - i also purchased my first pair of white pants. yikes. i love them, but what do you wear with white cords in the winter?