Anthropologie... Finally!

It all started on Thursday when Melissa @ The Inspired Room, posted about her visit to Anthropologie.  I was drooling.

Then on Friday, Patty @ Lemon Lane Cottage asked: "You have one hundred dollars in your pocket that you have to spend (guilt free, of course) and the whole day to yourself, where would I find you?"

Well, of course, I was dreaming about Anthropologie.

*In store photos are with iPod -- a little "grainy."  Thanks to my daughter for taking them, though

--since in my excitement, I forgot to bring my camera!

This box of treasures could make a bowl collector hyperventilate!

My introduction to Anthropologie was via Pinterest, of course.  The closest "Anthro" to us is about an hour away -- and not in a direction that I ever head, so I had never actually been to a store.

Here's an interesting connection, though: one day I spotted a mug... in a Splenda commercial.  {I have found more beautiful dishes and mugs that I love in COMMERCIALS of all places!}  I was really admiring this mug, and so contacted the Splenda people who said that their marketing agreements did not allow them to know the source of that mug (or some such thing... I deleted the e-mail, so I don't remember their exact words.) Hmmmmpf.  Dead end -- but they're sending me coupons, and so, you know... it's all good.  Then, a few days later, I heard from them again.  This time with good news.  The mug in question was from Anthropologie! {Wanna bet one of their employees just recognized it from an Anthro store?}  Turns out it was a monogram mug.  I hadn't noticed that in the commercial.  Of course, the mug in the commercial was Splenda-yellow (sort of a buttery color that I love), and that color only came monogrammed with "h," "p," or "y" -- none of which apply to our family of four (unless you count the fact that one ♥crazy sister-in-law♥ calls our daughter Penelope... totally not her name).  Oh well.  There's still that chunky white monogrammed mug that I love -- or so I thought.

Received one of these sweeties from my sis for Christmas!

On Friday night, my sweet hubby came home and handed me some mad money. (No joke)!  He wanted me to spend it guilt-free.  I thought that was pretty sweet of him, since he knows I'm usually worried about buying something for someone else in the family.

When Saturday (adventure time) rolled around, I had an agenda in mind... Anthro!  So off we went, hubby driving, and our daughter as the designated (*if tentative) navigator.  (She was still in a *quiet mode, recovering from a few "sick days," but she manages her dad's iPhone well for travel directions.)  As we drove, I worked on a shopping list in my head...

• colorful latte bowls (like I had first purchased at Target a few years back)
• a pretty and unique monogram mug to add to my bottle-drying rack
• and maybe another guilt-free surprise?

This may be the final cut... nope, what about that mug?

When we walked in, I walked right past the clothes.  I was not there to shop for those!  This girl loves her pretty dishes and mugs.  I don't have a lot of extravagant pieces, nor the place to store them -- and so I like to have pretty every-day things.

Well, I was like a kid in a candy shop!  How on earth is a girl supposed to choose between all of those COLORS of latte bowls, I ask you?  My husband and daughter stood there, staging various groupings of bowls on a table for me to consider.  I'm sure the salespeople were highly entertained.  I finally told myself I was over-thinking the whole thing.  [In reality, my husband and daughter were threatening to leave me.]

I finally settled on five latte bowls, and also picked out two mini latte bowls that my girl fell in love with.  (You can see them in the first photo.)  They'll probably get used for ingredients when baking.  We'll see.  They'd make a sweet jewelry bowl on the back of the sink, too.  Hmmm.  My girl says they're also perfect for holding a few spoons of sugar to roll Molasses Sugar Cookies in before baking.  [No, we weren't trying to justify our purchase.  I don't know what you're talking about.  This was guilt-free spending!]

As for mugs, the "Splenda" mugs were beautiful -- even the "k" that I would've chosen ultimately... but the handles were tiny and awkward, and so I decided against purchasing one.  The chunky white monogram mugs were not available in "k."  So, I went another route, and selected a pretty mug in a similar style to others I'd gotten at Target -- just a different color scheme (not the one I am holding in the photo :: see final photo).

 Hubby said that mug was too similar to one that we have at home,
so I chose a different color scheme.

[Hmmm, interesting to note the copycat styles between Target and Anthro.  Both my bowls, and my mugs! Also, since our little trip, I spotted this little Anthro knock-off project at At The Picket Fence.  I've seen these at Target as well!]

Anyway, the icing on the cake was that when the salesperson rang up my purchase, she made the comment, "Wow, you found some good deals today!"  Turns out everything that I had picked out was 15% off (latte bowls, mini latte bowls, and a pretty mug).  I was pretty excited (but I don't think too excited to miss that sale sign -- and my hubby NEVER misses a sale sign, so... I think somebody had run off with it!)  Anyway, I was pretty happy.  I have a set of 8 bowls now... the new ones perfectly matching the three that I had previously from Target!

And now I can say I've been to Anthropologie!

What did YOU do over the weekend?
Are you an Anthro shopper?  If so, what's your favorite Anthro find?
Have you noticed other Anthro-like "finds" at Target?