If you want to get 50% off a shrub, then march on over to Logan’s One Stop Garden Shop with this coupon.  That’s my favorite Raleigh garden shop located at Seaboard Station. Not only is it fun to walk around that nursery and shop in the indoor shop and outdoor areas, but I think they carry very high quality plants. And lots of the tropical bright colored ones I love! Not that Lowe’s or Home Depot doesn’t have nice plants. But I have found the ones that I buy at Logan’s live longer and look better after I bring them home. And this is coming from someone who doesn’t have a green thumb.

Just to give you an example, I nearly gave up on this beautiful plant that I bought a few years ago from Logans…

Carafe Wine Makers Owner

Did you know in Raleigh you can buy “homemade” wine as cheap or cheaper than you can buy for retail?You’ve probably heard about home brewing, but what about home wine making? It’s been around for awhile but as you can imagine the process can take yearrrs depending on the grapes of the season. Gosh, that takes a lot of waiting and patience…more than I can say I have.
We stopped at Carafé Wine Makers, a microwinery in Raleigh that sells wine that they keep bottled (isn’t it supposed to be barreled?) …before the finishing process.

Raleigh designer boutiques are small time compared to Beverly Hills’ Rodeo Drive and New York’s Fifth Avenue. If you go to Cameron Village or North Hills, you’ll see a dotted row of designer boutiques. But some of these designers  have unrecognized names…ones you may never have heard of. They’re shall we say… up and coming.  Not like for example, Louis Vuitton whose brand name is so recognizable.

The Raleigh boutiques to me are more like the ones found on Los Angeles’ Melrose Avenue or New York’s Bleecker’s Street in the West Village (where the famous Magnolia Bakery Cupcake shop is ). Both these areas carry chic and trendy one of a kind clothing items. I remember Melrose Ave. was where I bought my first designer Betsey Johnson dress that I wore to a Los Angeles wedding I attended. And I bought this dress I’m photograped below from a boutique on New York City’s Bleecker Street.  I’d never remember the name of the boutique. I’m sure it had a cute name though as most of them do…

For Lilly Pulitzer fans, there are some Raleigh stores and boutiques that carry her colorful designer prints and patterns. You can find her signature bright pink prints that I call Palm Beach Pink, mixed with dark lime green clothing at Belk Department Stores, Nowell’s Clothing, and Palm Avenue at Cameron Village.

Recently 9 celebrity moms including Gwyneth Paltrow, Marcia Cross, and Brooke Shields designed some Lilly Pulitzer styles.

Oh, and Lilly doesn’t just make clothing, she also has print accessories and stationery that you can find at places like Swoozie’s. There are a couple Swoozie’s stores in Raleigh. I really like prints and patterns in general because they’re interesting and unique. Lilly’s colors and patterns remind me of Florida relaxed elegant clothing which is where her inspiration comes from.

Michael Stars Collection

25% off all Not Your Daughter’s Jeans. But only through tomorrow! Where? At C.T. Weekends…for Women stores in Raleigh. If you haven’t heard of NYDJ Jeans, it’s the growing popular jeans for real women who want to wear a jean size smaller. The jeans have a stretchy lycra material along with denim (of course…otherwise they wouldn’t be jeans) …and they are meant to be comfortable enough to wear all day and during low intensity workouts like pilates and yoga. I don’t own a pair but they supposedly help flatten the belly and give butts a lift. What non-stick figure woman doesn’t have one or both of those needs? Would love to know if anyone owns a pair and loves/hates ‘em…

If you go to the sale, be sure to check out the Michael Stars clothing line they have too. Have you heard of him? He designs clothing that has caught on with many celebrities like Jennifer Garner was seen and photographed wearing one of his tops.

Besides going to Creative Memories and Stampin’ Up parties, where do Raleigh scrapbookers get their fill? Where else but Archiver’s Scrapbooking Store at Triangle Town Center. It’s such a happenin’ place. I remembered when they first opened I was there as most die hard scrapbookers were. We’d been anticipating their opening day for months.

These days, you’ll still find that Raleigh store very busy, especially on weekends. They offer workshops and FREE …(the best word from a store!) classes in the back. When I went there today, you could make a free card. See what I made below…oh by the way, I cut too much off of the paper with the cupcake before I stuck it in the punch, so this is the second one I did (…nice, you’d never know that if I didn’t tell you):

Oh, and you can only swap designer jeans of today…brands like Citizens of Humanity, Rock & Republic, and 7 for all Mankind. No designer jeans from when you were a kid (like Jordache, Gloria Vanderbilt…LOL!)

But if you don’t have designer jeans, you can still play. See me all smiles with my Levi’s. 

You can take two pairs of Levi’s and swap them for a designer jean or get $10 each store credit. Most every girl out there has at least one pair of Levi’s in her closet. I love my Levi’s!

So I went digging in my closet and pulled out 4 pairs of my Levi’s boot cut jeans. One pair I put on and wore.  The pair in the photo here.  I was sad that I had to pick out two pairs ‘cause they still all fit pretty good. And U know how difficult it is to find jeans that fit! Oh and my husband had to make it harder on me. Before leaving for the store, he said to me, “…they better not be ones I like”. I’m thinkin’, um, H-e-l-l-o…since when did you become part of my fashion equation? I had made my decision minutes before consulting him and I was gonna move forward with it. So I just bit my tongue and said “no, they’re not. ” Yeah-right! Who would’ve guessed that jeans would stir such emotion! I dare you to try going in your closet and find some pairs to give up. But…only jeans you really like and can still fit into…oh, and that you weren’t planning to donate anyway…uh huh…that changes everything.

I was watching the new season of Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice last night. I don’t know if this has ever happened to you? (…’cause it happened to me)…but it’s a strange feeling when you see someone on TV that you’ve met… especially when at the time you met, didn’t know that person is a celebrity.

When you’re out furniture shopping in Raleigh, do you only think about new furniture? What about antiques? When I hear that word, the first couple things that come to mind for me are auctions and $$$$.

Well, Glenwood South Antiques is neither of those things really. They sell furniture in the store with prices marked right on the furniture. No haggling or bidding. Though, I wonder if you could negotiate…everything is negotiable, right? But the written price on tags are comparable to Raleigh furniture stores that sell new furniture. You can buy this lovely Victorian Mahogany Love Seat for $600.

Need a Raleigh office furniture solution? Then Glenwood South’s Edge Office is the place! They provide office furniture for large Raleigh based companies like IBM, Cisco, and NC State. But, they also provide office furniture for individual consumers who have a home office or just need a single office desk.