It never fails. Every time my sister comes into town from Chicago to visit, her, myself, and Ellen inevitably climb into one our mid-size SUVs and take the strip malls of Dallas by storm. You see, Allie and I come by our shopping habits honestly. I mean, when someone as magnificent as Ellen births you with genes that happen to love looking cute for a bargain, you can't fight it. Sure, you can do your best to ignore it or convince yourself that the clothes, accessories, and adorable home goods don't make the woman, but who are we kidding here?

So, all that said, you can imagine that Mother's Day weekend was full of Target runs, online orders, and a jaunt to the mall because when the Golden Girls ban together, no retail stone is left unturned.

My biggest goal with my sister being in town was to use her uncanny interior decorating skillz and eye to spruce up my place. I've lived in the same duplex for four years now and, while I'd love to buy an updated new home and litter it with upgraded furniture and home goods, LOOOOL. So, instead, I employed Allie to help a sister out by using her magic powers to give my place a reasonably priced facelift. And boy did she ever.

You've all probably seen THE RUG by now, but just in case you missed it, this beauty from Amazon replaced the dull, grey number in my kitchen and literally gave the middle of my house new life.

Now, I paid $82 for it a few weeks ago but, as we know, Amazon is always fluctuating because it's a sassy little bitch. Right now, the 5x7 is $89 which is still fucking incredible for a rug this good (p.s. it's so soft? Like plushy and lovely to stand on). Cece loves it as much as me, but she knows if she ever pees on it, it's the rug over her. We've had that discussion.

Next was my bedroom. This is where I needed the most help because it's my sanctuary after all. Here's a before of the setup:

Not bad, but in need of improvement. The first thing we tackled was putting together a decorative pillow treatment for my bed. Since upgrading to a king bed in February, my pillow situation has been bleak. Truth be told, I've never had that many decorative pillows, like, ever. But getting a big bed with lots of room for activities and decor brought to light for me the importance of cute throw pillows that hold no function other than making your bed look more presentable by covering up the fact that you fart, sweat, burp, and get weird in it. Truly, they serve no purpose but fuck me if they don't look cute as hell and create the illusion of you having your life together. As you can see, my bedroom's color scheme is a mix of #onbrand, grey, white, neutral, and some hints of brass/gold. Somehow, my beautiful sister did the damn thing at Target (DUH) by combining all those colors plus an added pop of black all with just three pillows. After those were in place, Allie's next lightbulb moment was changing out my curtains. I'd had the neutral, patterned ones up f.o.r.e.v.e.r, and she decided they were way too close in color to my headboard, therefore darkening my already pretty dark, private, back-of-the-house bedroom. She suggested white, which I initially scoffed at. "WHITE?! What is this? A hospital room? A hotel?" However, after she slapped me across the face and called me a fool, I saw the light of switching my curtains out for white ones. So, new pillows + white curtains =

SHOP MY room

So much better right? But also hey. Did you know that curtain shopping is expensive and overwhelming? I sure didn't. Did you also know that most curtains come ONE panel at a time, so if you see curtains for $95, you ain't getting a 2-pack — you're buying one curtain panel for $100. After scouring the Internet to try and find reasonably priced, white curtains, I finally thought I spotted some on Bed Bath and Beyond. Lucky me, there is an actual brick and mortar store across the street from where I work so, naturally, I spent a lunch break over there curtain shopping because I'm 31 and my life is enthralling. I found what you see up there for $30 a piece (AMAZING price), and I needed 4 panels total so I ended up spending $120 which, if you know anything about curtain shopping, that's pretty damn good. Also, Allie — you're a visionary. My room now feels more open, brighter, and crisper while still blocking out the horrid sun so I can continue sleeping peacefully in my dark dungeon.

Next, we had to deal with the random build-outs in my home with random decor occupying them. I didn't take a before picture, but just picture a big BOWL sitting on a shelf with chords on chords in a big, confusing pile. Then add to that random mail and coupon codes and cards in small piles on both my kitchen table and chairs. That's what was going on. I'm typically a cleanly, OCD kind of gal, but when it comes to mail or wires, I seem to get very confused on how to organize it all. Therefore, Allie insisted we get me a couple of these.

Of course they're by Chip and Joanna. Are you surprised? We decided to deem them my "junk boxes" even though, from the outside, they look like nothing of the sort. From the outside, they look like two very nice boxes designed by a loving family who flips homes for a living in a small Texas town with 4 kids and 1 on the way. The inside is somewhat of a different story, but that's just for me, Allie, and all of you to know.

The last little bit we did for my place is change out my kitchen table's centerpiece. Seems small, but makes a massive impact. Also, before the junk boxes, the tray in the middle of my table was my main dumping area for mail. When Allie picked out this cool piece at Target (again, from Chip and J), she made me vow that I wouldn't use it as a junk tray and I plan to not fail her.

Ain't it cute? I love the gold detailing so much. There's nothing like a good tray (I am old and what brings me joy and peace is sad).

Now for clothes

because you know DAMN well this wasn't going to end at home decor. DO YOU EVEN KNOW ME?

I'm blaming it almost entirely on Ellen and Allie's influence, but I went a little apeshit Mother's Day weekend with clothes shopping, both in-store and online. I acted like I had been saving up and waiting for this moment my entire life when, in reality, that's how I act pretty much every week re: shopping. However, I do feel I made some great decisions and, with the help of my mom and sis, made some great retail discoveries.

For example, Ellen found this purse at Target and I dare anyone to argue with us that it's not the perfect summer bag.

First of all, it's not all-straw which is great because that look gets old fast. Also, it's $25, can be held as a clutch or worn as a crossbody/shoulder bag, and isn't completely see-thru like its very expensive cousin, the Cult Gaia clutch, that every fashion blogger under the sun carries. In short, this is without a doubt my summer bag and I have Ellen to thank for it.

I also scooped up these cropped culottes from the Who What Wear line at Target because how could I not? They're white and cream striped, a cotton/linen combo, and obviously flattering on or ya girl wouldn't get them. Plus, they're 35 fucking dollars. I'm typically a 4 but took a 6.

My last Target purchase but certainly not my least (actually these should've been first) is the softest, most adorable and, at $20, CHEAPEST pajama set I've ever owned. Big time shoutout to my friend (and fitness inspo), Cara, for finding these at Target.

Yeah, I know I look tired as ball because I was. But y'all, like. I can't stress enough how insanely soft and cozy these are. I need to get more colors because I've already worn my grey ones too many times. I love this set so much. I also took a medium and the shorts are a little roomy, but I'd rather have roomier bottoms to sleep in than small ones that go up my ass and completely ruin the entire purpose of having comfy sleep clothes.

Oh and speaking of Cara, she ALSO paved the way by purchasing this ADORABLE AF swimsuit from Amazon and posting it on her story the other week. It's one of the first things I've legitimately swiped up on and ordered right then and there (for $23 no less!), and I'm obsessed.

It is SO flattering and just as pretty IRL. The only downfall? You can't interchange sizes in the top and bottom. But, if you're a sneaky fuck like me, you can "accidentally" send back mismatching sizes if you need a large top and small bottom... Just a thought 😉

Upon stumbling into Anthropologie, I literally sat down on a chair and refused to allow myself to look around since all the Target damage had already happened by this point. Alas, my efforts were thwarted when Allie dangled this adorable tee in front of my face.

I mean, how adorable under overalls?! Ugh. The good news is she felt badly enough about tempting me that she gifted it to me. So thanks for that, sister.

With switching brand loyalty from Nike to adidas, I've been weak when it comes to new gear. It started with the Trefoil t-shirts (literally best workout shirts I've ever had the pleasure of owning) and made its way down to my feet during Mother's Day weekend in the form of both slides and sneakers. The slides, I know, are old school. Like, can you even remember the last time you sported adidas sandals?! I can and it was in the 8th grade. But when they say everything comes back around, they mean it. And lucky us, usually fashion trends come back even better than they were before. Such is the case for this new Cloudfoam situation adidas offers. These slides feel like literal butter on my feet, just not as oily or hard to wash off. They've become my new house shoe (again, I'm old), but I can't wait to sport them outside the house on a deserving summer's day. They truly are like walking on clouds.

Then I took my obsession a step further by suddenly deciding I wanted, nay NEEDED, a pair of all white adidas workout shoes a la Kayla Itsines. What I ended up with are their Swift running shoes for women, and let me tell ya — I've never felt as cool in any other sneaker ever. Plus, they're comfortable as all fuck. Will I run in them? Absolutely not because I don't run. But I WILL workout in them and feel like a badass doing so.

That's it. If you've gotten to the end of this post, I thank you for being interested in the stories and descriptions behind what I'm spending my money on rather than just wanting to browse pictures with no background info. And, if you end up getting anything you see for yourself, let me know your thoughts even if they're bad because we're all entitled to our own opinions (even though I rarely steer you guys wrong). Browse everything I mentioned below and hey — have a great long weekend!