Adventures in Hello Kitty-land - the Sanrio pop-up shop hits Atlanta (plus Publix deals) - November 28, 2010

My friend Missy (she of the famous zines and crafts galore) tipped me off that the Sanrio pop-up shop was going to be in Atlanta this weekend. It's the kind of thing I either usually hear of after the fact or find out about but don't get to go to. But hey, we happened to have a Sunday with nothing planned while it was here, so we headed out.

Oh. My. Gah. the cuteness. It was like a little Sanrio village had been set up in Atlantic Station. There were cars and trucks covered with Sanrio goodness (including the sweetest little Sanrio Smart Car), there were ladies dressed up in pink sparkles and frilly dresses, and there was the shop itself, which may have made me squeal a little bit.

I hate pictures of myself. This is no exception. Focus on the car!

First we hit the spin-the-wheel table. I won a small prize - a bookmark and a coloring book (plus a packet of almonds that have a coupon on them that has expired and that have partially hydrogenated oil on them...). Then my daughter "spun" with help from daddy, and she won the GRAND PRIZE, a $10 Target gift card. Mama like! Plus, my husband recognized one of the women working (I think?) as San Smith, who is a local artist who makes ADORABLE things. Of course I had no idea who she was until we got home and I got to see her website - but now...LOVE. LOVE! Check her out.

Then we went over to the shop. I was kind of...surprised at how laid back the staff was. Whatever, I wasn't there to impress anyone. Not surprisingly, on the other hand, everything was pricey if freaking adorable. I couldn't justify the Lomo camera nor even a $35 T-shirt, so I settled for a box of bandaids (the tin itself is cute too) and a little Tuxedo Sam (my fave) memo cube. It came out to less than $9, so I came out ahead - woohoo! Plus I scored a little goodie bag full of extra Sanrio stuff including a bizarre gelatin-laden (aka on-the-way-to-the-trash) Kitty pop and some stuff from the Target dollar bin. Still, extras are always appreciated! Plus they gave me two coupons for free HK bandaids at Target. And everything was packed in another cute Sanrio bag. Seriously, could I say cute a few more times? CUTE. I'm really glad I managed to get to it. Thanks, Missy!

All I actually bought were the bandaids and cube at the bottom. Everything else was a freebie.

The stuff from the goodie bag, including the nasty "pop" and the trans-fatty almonds. And lipgloss!

And finally, since we were out of a few basics, we went over to the Atlantic Station Publix. There I scored two free bags of rice (added to my ever-growing bag for donating to the food pantry) and 10 packages of Gardein for $1 each (I bought 20 $1 coupons on eBay for $1.50 once I saw the sale was happening, something I rarely get my act together enough to do - even if I don't get any more, the overall deal was totally worth it). Oh and more Laughing Cow for $1. The cashier even commented that I saved almost as much as I spent (we also got non-sale items like milk and eggs - although soon we should be getting in on regular backyard-chicken egg deliveries from a friend...) and of course that made me happy.

And tomorrow? PRESCHOOL STARTS BACK UP. Mama like.