Outside, In the Shade

I spent, oh I'd say, 90% of this past Saturday on a patio of some sort. And it was wonderful. I'm determined that I'm going to have a summer this year. It doesn't have to be fancy, it just needs to be fun. And frugal. Saturday I had my morning coffee on the lounger on the deck while flipping through the latest issue of Traditional Home.

After a lazy afternoon of painting my toenails and such, Josh picked me up and we met the Calhoun boys up at The Boiled Owl, where I spent several hours sipping several beers with our musical pals. Holly eventually met up with us over there too.

We abandoned our patio roost when it was time to check out the new Live Oak Music Hall & Lounge, where Calhoun was playing the soft opening. Free beer and a free show = two thumbs up.

We quickly made our way back outdoors afterward, when we headed over to Shaw's for burgers on their patio. Service was poor, food was very slow in coming, and I had to sort several things out with the bill, but the pleasant company made it tolerable for all of us.

To cap the evening off we went back to our friends' house for more beers on their beautiful back patio. There was lots of laughing late into the night. We finally packed up and headed home, happy to crash into our comfy bed.

If I can keep this up it will be a lovely summer indeed.

Copy Cat Savings

Let's play catch up, shall we?

Survived Spring semester with my 4.0 intact
Joined the Student Government Association
Became an aunt again, second nephew due in November!
Chosen for an inaugural peer leadership program on campus
Husband laid off at the end of April
Really need a vacation

That about covers it, I think. In between all that stuff I ate some food, read some books, watched some movies.

Can't really do a lot of shopping, what the the husband not currently being employed, but I did have a couple of gift cards stowed away in my purse that I put to good use yesterday. I've been eying this $70 bedding from West Elm for some time now.

This weekend I spotted this bedding from Target in the Weekly ad for a measly $25.

And while I was picking up the bedding, alright, and some nail polish, I saw these cute sandals for $14.99. I decided to think it over.

Thinking it over included Googling for pics to show some gal pals on twitter. Which lead me to discover that they're a decent copy of these Dolce Vita sandals that are, ironically, $70.

And I just so happen to have about $18 left on those stow away gift cards. Me thinks I'll be stopping by Target on the way home tonight. :)