Shopping Extravaganza

Kev and I decided that we were going to hit up the outlets in Lancaster immediately after work yesterday. I rushed home, we grabbed our list of 'needs' and headed out the door. We chatted along as we cruised down 202 to 100, slowed a little as we approached Exton, but what else is new. As we circled around on the on ramp to 30, we stopped dead in our tracks. Literally. It was nothing but bumper to bumper traffic. Uh oh... Now it makes sense why we passed a guy backing down the on ramp! Well a few (okay it was more little 10) minutes later we had creeped up far enough to the south bound traffic on 100 merges on and found ourselves follow a slew of others and backing down the ramp. So glad there weren't any cops around!

We cut over to Boot road, planning to take 322 to 30, hoping that would bypass the accident or whatever was slowing (stopping) traffic. Soon we are sailing along again, only to slam on our brakes as we cress a hill. What the heck!!!?!?!? Not sure if it was the one lane pass, or the stop light at Quarry road, but it took us 10 minutes to get through and on our way. Luckily, the rest of the ride out was uneventful!

Our first stop was Rockvale. Even though I grew up 5 minutes from there, I was a dork and printed out a directory map and we checked off all the stores we wanted to hit up while we drove up there. Yes, I plan things out a little too much sometime. I went to my stores, he went to his, and we met up starving and ready for Tanger. Kev got some great deals at Van Heussen and left with 2 new dress pants for school for just over $30. I got this super cute baby doll tube top at Ann Taylor for $8. There aren't any pics online and I forgot to snag one at home. It's pink and white and very summer.

After a 5 minute debate on where to eat we settled on Panera. Who doesn't love Panera? I was excited when our bill was over $10, because I had just read over at Steph's blog that you can register it online for a free ticket to the zoo! How sweet is that? I don't know if they've reached their limit yet, but it's totally worth a try!

Once again we parked and went our own ways. One thing I have been realizing more and more when I go shopping is that I have a hard time shopping. I can fit into the clothes at the teeny bopper shops, but I feel like I'm too old to wear stuff like that. Like I tried on one dress that I really liked, but something was off, and I think it was because it was slightly too short. Okay, does that make me sound old now? Plus, most of them are cheaply made and don't last long. A top or two are fun, but any more and I really look like I belong back in high school. My dilema is that women's clothes are too big. Sometimes I can get petites to fit, but most places lack much more than a little corner of selection. My stores are limited to The Loft, BR/Gap/ON, Express, and NYC (which sadly neither of the latter have an outlet). I really wish we could have more money in our shopping budget because I would seriously buy everything at Banana! I love that store!!! After browsing and trying on, and more trying on, and a tiff with the hubby, and more trying on, I walked away with a super cute pair of white shorts, very similiar to the ones below, but Berumda style, and a dark green blouse, again similiar, but not exactly like below.


These two typically retail for $102 (ouch!) but with markdowns and a coupon I only spent $25! Schweet!!!

We then swung by my parents house to surprise them since we were so close. I had talked with my one brother earlier and had planned to steal his big suitcase for Florida since my had a tear in it from the last time I flew, and I didn't want to risk stuff flying out of it. We didn't get home from our excursion until close to midnight, but it was a fun trip to make on a week night!!!

Cheap date

I've never been a girl with expensive taste, expecting to go to a high class restaurant so I can order the most expensive entree. Still going out to any typical restaurant would result in a bill at least $20. If you go once a week that's $80 a month and $960/year! Even just going out for coffee would be a minimum of $6/week and $312/year... and that'd be just coffee, no coffee house treats, and who can do that?

Once a week Kevin and I set aside a night for our date night. Lately they have consisted of staying home and just hanging out, playing games, or watching movies. While there's nothing wrong with that, and it saves money, it's nice to get out once in awhile. So tonight we head out to Barnes and Nobles, got a pumpkin spice latte, green tea latte, and a pumpkin cupcake and went home with 3 books for a grand total of... **drum roll please*... $2.07! Not bad for a cheap date night out! All thanks to the printable coupons for free drinks at BnN! And the books? We stopped by the library across from the mall :-) Gotta love that place!

Free Taco at Taco Bell!

Thanks to our good ole Phils don't forget to get your free taco today!!!!!
I've never eaten there, and don't plan to start now, but hey free is always good right?

Goodwill

So I posted a few weeks ago about how I had some fun finds at yard sales! Well yesterday we swung by Goodwill just for fun. I've heard some of the guys at work rave about the the one down 202, so we stopped by on our way home from Delaware. Here are my finds...for a total of $13!

I got 2 turtlenecks, one from The Limited, the other Ann Taylor, one was silk! I also bought a scarf just because it looked just fun. My last find was an uber cute Kate Spade purse. I figured since I cleaned out my closet getting rid of a total of 11 winter-ish shirts, I can 'splurge' and buy 2 new one :-)

Yard Saling!!!

So basically since the time I was born (well if you want to be technical, even before I was born) I've gone yard saling. Quick side note, I never realized that 'saling' isn't really a word because I've always said it, but never wrote it out...oh well. Anyways, prolly half my toys when I was little was from yard sales, and when I got my first apartment I load up on yard sale finds! It's so fun. The thrill of waking up early and heading out with mom in the often cool, gray morning, wondering what treasures we may find. With all the sweet things that I have found over the years, never had I ever been able to MAKE money off shopping at a yard sale...until today!


This weekend Kevin and I headed up to Lancaster Friday night to see an art show (more on that later) and my mom was talking to my youngest brother about some yard sales close to our house on Saturday since he was in need of some silverware and dishes for his cabin. I heard the word sale and was hooked! We didn't follow true yard sale fashion, but by 8:30 we were out the door and on our way! A few stops and some tough, and some not so tough, decisions later we were on our way home with a full car :-) One place we stopped had an awesome bishop bench that I really was in love with and if we had a house totally would have bought! My mom was close to buy a fuze ball table for like $10 but a quick call to my dad shot that down :-( We did make out very well, she bought a whole bag of silverware (at least 12 forks/knives/spoon each) for only $2 for my bro. And 15 never-been-used juice glasses for herself for only $1.50!

So here's what I found:


2 white crates for $.25 a piece, identical to a black one that we bought for $9 from Office Depot earlier week that we can now return :-)


A white fan for Kevin since we don't have ceiling fans for only $3

And my fave...
These totally adorable glass canisters for a total of $2! I love the antiqueish look with the labels!!!
That brings my total to $5.50...but when we return the black crate we just bought, we will have saved 4 bucks! Freakin awesome I know!