Perhaps it is the spirit of Memorial Day weekend that is putting all the store clerks in a good mood. Having no intention of actually shopping this weekend, but then needing to anyway, I found that spirit at each place we went.


First - the mechanic. After a quick stop at Kroger to get an anniversary card, Christopher noticed a coupon for NTB on the back of the receipt. We needed an oil change anyway, and since it was Friday and I was off of work, we decided to get it taken care of asap. The coupon was for your basic run-o-the-mill oil change. We wanted to make the switch to synthetic, something our coupon didn't cover. Not deterred by silly sheets of paper, the clerk offered us $10 off our oil change anyway. We took it.

Following the mechanic, we wanted to go to JinBeh for sushi for lunch. Their lunch specials can sometimes be really worthwhile. We went in and sat at the sushi bar and looked at the specials menu. Unfortunately, what we wanted wasn't on it. It was on the regular (and full price) menu that we could order if we wanted. Rather than waste an opportunity to watch our wallets, we decided to leave and come back another time when we could catch a different special. On the way out the door, we were stopped by the manager who wanted to know what was wrong. This is a restaurant we love, and the only reason we were leaving was because the rolls we wanted weren't on the Friday lunch special menu. The manager, Ali, took care of it. He said he'd be happy to put the rolls that we wanted on special and there was no reason to leave. So, we stayed, and lunch was delicious (and inexpensive!).

A trip to Half Price Books today (Saturday) was also a good stop. They were having a store wide 20% off sale. Not too shabby. And our final errand of the day was to go to Ulta for some shampoo and what not for myself. I took my 20% off one item coupon in with me. My most expensive item wasn't very expensive at all earning me about $1.30 in savings. The clerk saw my total (about 20 bucks), and said "hang on just a sec." She disappeared under the counter for about 20 seconds and came back and scanned a $5 dollar off store coupon dropping my total down to $15. Pretty sweet. I hadn't asked her about any additional sales or specials going on. I guess she just felt it in her heart to use a coupon for me (or maybe her manager told her to do that for everyone, no idea).

Here's hoping stores clerks continue their wave of kindness after the holiday weekend.

Read More...

The tree man from Scarborough Faire 2009 has been occupying the right side of our home page for a while now. He's pretty cool - so I guess he deserves it. We decided to hit the road again this year down to Scarborough Faire with my brother-in-law, Christopher's brother, along for the ride.

Getting to Scarborough Faire was a breeze, perhaps there was some traffic getting out of town in the first place. But if there was, it wasn't bad enough for me to remember it now that I'm writing about it some weeks later.

Last year, we mostly people-watched and walked around the vendors' booths. So this year, we wanted to take in a few more shows and exhibitions. We started at the potter's place.
His set up was very cool, all foot powered and rustic.

From there we went to the glass blower's exhibition. He started out with a long thin string, which he turned into a very pretty pitcher with handle, which had clear glass with orange polka dots. He was a good speaker, too. Therefore, I think his presentation was even better since he was able to tell the audience exactly what he was doing and why as he was doing it.

I think from there, we may have gone to lunch - I can't remember the exact order. But sometime between the glass blower and the end of the day, we managed to see belly dancers, a bird of prey show (or part of it anyway), fencing games, and the rope trick/whip trick show. We also watched the mid-day parade, checked out the elephants, and browsed many of the stores. A very good day of family fun.

The day was made extra special when, while at the belly dancing show, the girls called up two men from the audience and one of them was Christopher. From that point on, he had the best seat in the house - on stage being fanned by one of the troupe members. They even made Christopher and the other audience member attempt to dance. Christopher's skills were much better than the other guy. However, neither of them has a career in belly dancing just yet. Maybe next year.

Read More...

It's been another week of conscientious eating. I'd like to think that the choices are getting easier. Those calories get spent so quickly! Summer fruit and veggies certainly make it easier to eat healthy foods. I love the avocados that are out now, along with my usual bananas and apples (I also pick up clementines occasionally, but not usually in summer). Just so you know, I doubt I'll continue to blog the food that I eat, just because it's not all that exciting. However, know that I'm continuing to keep my food diary personally and will let you know what I eat if you ask.

Monday
Breakfast -> Oatmeal with 2% milk and a banana, tropical citrus juice
Lunch -> Cucumber,tomato,avocado salad with Ritz crackers
Dinner -> Mac and Cheese
Other -> Blueberry Greek Yogurt, Skinny Cappucino
Total Calorie count = 1334, Total Fat = 26.5g

Tuesday
Breakfast -> Oatmeal with 2% milk and a banana, tropical citrus juice
Lunch -> Cucumber,tomato,avocado salad with Ritz crackers
Dinner -> Grilled chicken with leafy salad
Other -> Plain Greek Yogurt
Total Calorie count = 1145, Total Fat = 28.3g

Wednesday
Breakfast -> 2 Cherry pop tarts, 2% milk
Lunch -> Chicken and avocado sandwich and a banana
Dinner -> Grilled chicken with herb pasta and peas, blueberry greek yogurt for dessert
Other -> Skinny cappucino
Total Calorie count = 1675, Total Fat = 46.2g

Thursday
Breakfast -> Oatmeal with 2% milk and a banana
Lunch -> Cucumber,tomato,avocado salad with Ritz crackers
Dinner -> Cheeseburger (Christopher grilled, yummy!) with portabello mushrooms, leafy green salad
Total Calorie count = 1119, Total Fat = 55.5g

Friday
Breakfast -> Oatmeal with 2% milk and a banana
Lunch -> leftover leafy green salad with cucumber,tomato, and avocado; Ritz crackers
Dinner -> Chicken n' Dumplins
Total Calorie count = 1252, Total Fat = 51.5

So there you have it. I got a little excited at the grocery store last weekend and bought a LOT of avocados, and you can see I've put them to good use. Although my calorie count was a bit too low (women should get 1200 or more I've read to provide appropriate nutrition) on Tuesday and Thursday, I wasn't any hungrier thanks to high fiber foods and Christopher's excellent grilling skills! The next blog won't be a food blog, but I hope you enjoyed it while it lasted!

Read More...