Are you ready for some football???

“So far from forgetting the blessed place, I think my picture of it grows clearer every year: it was as close to magic as I've ever been . . ..” -Thomas Wolfe on Chapel Hill

What a great Saturday! We started today with breakfast at Chick-fil-a in Greensboro...


Followed by a quick stop at Center City Park downtown...


Where I got a cool shot of the falling water on the fountain...


From there, we drove to Chapel Hill and got there a little before lunchtime. We started by doing a little shopping at University Mall. We got to go to two of my favorite stores, "A Southern Season" and "Branching Out." After that, we went back to campus and ate lunch on Franklin Street at Cosmic Cantina. The nachos there have been a favorite of mine since college! I actually skipped class once just to eat Cosmic nachos (seriously). They were delicious today as always (and David ate the best quesadilla he ever had)...


We got some fantastic shots around campus...






We walked AAAAAALLLLL the way across campus to go to the UNC Basketball Museum, only to find that it wasn't opened. I wasn't pleased, but at least we did get to sit and take a rest outside of the Dean Dome. Oh well, we've both been to the museum before, so it wasn't the end of the world...


Before we headed to Kenan Stadium for "Meet The Heels" (which is like a preseason football fan day) I got a cup or organic Peruvian iced coffee. It was delicious (And "very Chapel Hill")!


After that, we headed to the stadium for the big event. We had a blast! Got tons of autographs and met some of the best players. David, the football nut of the pair, especially enjoyed it!





We capped off the day by eating dinner at "Franklin Street Pizza and Pasta"! Yum! A great day in one of my favorite places with my favorite person! :-)

"Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints on your heart." - Eleanor Roosevelt

We have really had a great weekend so far! Last night, we went to the house of our Bible Fellowship leaders, Alan and Emilie, for a Marriage Foundations Sushi Night. It was so much fun! Emilie taught our class how to MAKE sushi, which is not something I ever thought I'd learn. David and I both made some (I made mine vegetarian). I took pictures of David's sushi-making process:

It starts with raw tuna (the outside of the seaweed wrap had already been coated with sticky rice at this point)...


And then a little lobster salad...


Then also a little crab salad...


Put on some carrots and then some mango...




Then start rolling!


And voila! A full roll of sushi (of course, then you cut this into smaller pieces and eat it). Thanks Emilie, for showing us how to do this!


This morning, David and I had our last day delivering groceries with the Food Assistance Program in Greensboro. We have been doing this one Saturday a month for about a year as my Junior League placement (David goes with me, making him an AWESOME Junior League husband). We have grown very attached to our four clients over the year and will miss them greatly, so we made sure to get pictures of all of them.

Ms. J...


Ms. M...


Mr. B...


And Ms. E...


And the fun weekend didn't stop there! David and I went to the Wyndham Championship golf tournament at Sedgefield this afternoon (going back tomorrow), then ended the day by going to dinner at Bonnie Kay Seafood in south Greensboro (it's been there for YEARS). Afterward, we got to go hang out at the little lake outside of the place. It had TONS of turtles in it!!!






HAPPY WEEKEND EVERYONE! :-)

Danville Tank Museum

"Our enemies and our would-be enemies are working very hard at cyberterrorism... They're trying to level the playing field because they know they can't beat us tank for tank, plane for plane." -Curt Weldon

Friday night around 9pm David finally got back from his week-long business trip. I was so happy!!!! What a long, long week it was without him! :-( I am so happy to have my best friend back!

Yesterday, we went to Danville, VA, to visit the Military Tank Museum up there. My parents often work with the disabled veterans living at the Servant's Center in Greensboro, and were taking a group of about 20 from the center up there to see the tanks. So we tagged along and are so glad we did!

As soon as you pull in, there were some pieces of equipment outside to get you started. David had a fun time looking at these, as did the veterans...




There were TONS of tanks from small to gigantic...


We all go to pose as soldiers, with uzis...






My father and David got a little careless with the weapons...yikes! So much for having children! ;-)


David got to crawl in a bunker...


We got to see a mortar much like the one that my grandfather (Papaw) shot in WWII...


And we got to see an awfully good-looking mule...


The whole group ended the trip by going out to lunch together. It was a really interesting way to spend a Saturday! It must have worn us out, because when David and I got back we both took naps for several hours!

Today, after church and lunch, David and I headed to Harris Teeter to take advantage of Super Double Coupons. We walked away with $102 of groceries for only $77. I was very pleased!

What a great August weekend!

SUPER DOUBLES!

"The best things in life are never rationed. Friendship, loyalty, love, do not require coupons." - Unknown

Just a quick reminder to all my couponing friends - Super Doubles right now at Harris Teeter through Tuesday August 17th. Don't miss it! I'd love to hear what types of deals people find! As for me, I plan to get some SUPER cheap Martha White Muffin Mix for $0.20, toilet bowl cleaner for $0.94, a 4-pack of yogurt for $0.99, Colgate toothpaste for $0.50, a bottle of Kraft dressing for $0.50, and Kraft Homestyle Mac and Cheese for FREE! Remember, times like Super Doubles are great times to stock your pantry with items you need. Happy shopping! :-)

The Fun (and Savings) of Samples and Freebies

"Traditionally, the sample is always better than the stock you deliver to the store."
-Calvin Klein

Since I promised "frugal living" posts I decided it was time to get started. So I thought it would be fun to begin by taking about the fun and frugality of requesting samples and freebies. This is a topic that you can learn a ton about on the majority of frugal living blogs out there, so I'll just try to hit some of the major stuff.

I started the sample routine when I first started really learning my frugal living techniques (around March of this year). In just five months, I have been amazed at the awesome things we have gotten and how much money it has saved us. I know what you are probably thinking - how can getting a few little samples or "freebies" here or there really make much difference in the budget? Doesn't the trouble of finding these offers outweigh the benefits? Well, let me tell you, I thought the same thing at first, and I was totally wrong. Sure, a sample-sized bottle of shampoo may not last you more than a few days. But what if you get several different bottles of different types of shampoo? Well, then you are looking at weeks or even a month of FREE shampoo. That's time you DON'T have to spend any money on these items. Get the idea?

So here is my #1 piece of advice - CREATE A SEPARATE EMAIL ACCOUNT! I cannot overemphasize the importance of this. I have a special email account that I use ONLY for my frugal living things - sample requests, sweepstakes entries, "E-Clubs" of various businesses (which is an awesome way to get great offers). If you don't do this, your regular email account will end up with copious amounts of stuff you probably don't want to weed through when trying to read emails from friends or family. In my special "frugality" email account, I sometimes get up to 30 emails or more a day because I have ended up in so many different e-clubs and signed up for so many special offers. But it's easy to go through these things and find what I want (while deleting the rest) when that's the only type of emails coming to that account.

Once you have created your separate email account for this, there are a lot of sampling and freebie websites you can start using to keep you informed of the best offers. My two favorites are www.freakyfreddies.com and www.thunderfap.com . Both of these usually update their sample offers each day. Simply pick the samples you want, click on the link to get them, and enter your information (including that special email address). It may take up to 6 weeks for your samples to start coming, but once you do I think you'll be well pleased (and it really doesn't add much in the way of junk in your snail mail...what is added is totally worth it in my opinion)!

We have gotten so many things, including a lot of food samples. This is great, because often they are items like chips or other snacky type food (recently, we got a sample of "turkey jerky.") Many of you know I pack lunch for David and myself each day to take to work, so these things are great to stash away to slip in the lunch bag for a little variety (I added the turkey jerky in David's lunch one day and he loved it!)

Below are just SOME of the items we have gotten recently during sampling and requesting freebies (we have gotten many many more, but a lot of them we have already used):


-Cottonelle Fresh Flushable Moist Wipe
-Wisconsin Cheese Variety Guide (I love cooking info to keep in my kitchen file, and this is a great guide to cheeses)
-5-Day Supply of MegaRed Omega-3 Krill Oil - David takes fish oil sometimes for his health and this is very similar. These types of supplements can get pricey, but this sample will last us a whole work-week.
-A packet of carrot seeds -we've been wanting to start a garden, so we were thrilled by this
-A free pedometer from Nature's Bounty
-A Salonpas Pain Relief Patch (much like a Bengay patch) - with my periodic neck issues I cannot have too many of these things!
-A pack of 3 Pampers Cruisers Diapers, Size 3 - yes, I am putting together a whole stash of baby stuff even though we are not parents yet. When we do have a baby, we will be a step ahead on some of these things, and they won't go bad!
-A tin of Maple Street Pipe Tobacco - David is planning to take this with us to Highlands on our next trip so the men can have a little "pipe time" on the front porch

There is so much out there to be had, and trust me, your budget will thank you!

Happy sampling! :-)

Missing my love

"And ever has it been known that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation." -Khalil Gibran

For those of you familiar with the concept of "The Five Love Languages" you know that quality time is one of those languages. For David, in fact, it's his #1 love language and for me it's a close 2nd to "words of affirmation." Long story short, we like to be together. A lot. All the time, if possible. We don't do well being away from each other and feel like we are just "not right" without the other half. So it's no surprise that, in almost 10 months of marriage, we've managed to arrange things to where we only had to spend the night apart one time (the night before Heather's wedding...and that was fine because we knew we'd see each other the next day).

But this morning, David had to leave for a 5-day, 4-night business trip to Flat Rock, NC (which is near Hendersonville). Him leaving this morning was terrible for both of us! We were both so sad and were almost never able to get in the car and go. I took this picture right before breakfast to capture the sadness...


At least there were a few little things that make the trip more tolerable. For starters, I packed my Sweetie a few pieces of homemade pound cake that I made this past weekend. That way I at least know he has a little something to snack on.


I was also able to sneak a little "I miss you" card into his suitcase for him to open when he got to his hotel. And I was so happy and surprised this evening after work when I discovered that David had written me a full letter telling me how much he loved and missed me! What an amazing husband!!!


One more thing we found helpful to do...we gave each other a piece of clothing we'd recently worn so that we could sleep with it at night (it has that sweet smell of each other that helps us feel happy and comfortable). David took a shirt that I had been sleeping in this week, and I kept one of his shirts that he'd worn one day last week. If we can't sleep next to each other, at least we can sleep with something that smells like each other. That makes me smile! :-)

I miss my Sweetie and am counting the hours until he gets back home Friday evening!

Frugality and Fun!

"Frugality is one of the most beautiful and joyful words in the English
language, and yet one that we are culturally cut off from understanding and
enjoying." -Elise Boulding

Something I’ve really been focused on learning more about over the past 4-5 months is different techniques of frugal living, and I have loved that learning process! When most people hear “frugality” they often think about commonplace ways to save money. But the truth is, there is so much more to being frugal than that. It’s learning how to make the most out of your money and also how to best utilize what you already have. Creative home economics, if you will. David and I believe these strategies will especially be helpful when we have a family.

I think another image that the world “frugality” tends to bring to mind is that of “depriving” yourself. Yes, it does sometimes involve sacrifice, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun! Some of the most fun that David and I have had as a married couple have been activities and events that required little or no money (like camping at Myrtle Beach instead of staying in a hotel).

I have a ton of blogs and “money-saving” websites I frequent to get great ideas. I have in particular learned a lot on couponing and grocery savings. One of my favorite websites is “Balancing Beauty and Bedlam” - http://beautyandbedlam.com/ - which was created by a woman who goes to our church, Westover. Another favorite is “Money Saving Mom” - http://moneysavingmom.com/ (I've found that blogs of stay-at-home moms often have great tips that they have learned over the years) . Like I said, there are tons of similar sites out there, these are just two of the ones I like the best. I have learned and put into practice many techniques involving best use of coupons, creative cooking for cheap, free giveaways, and requesting product samples (which has led to some very creative items to add to our weekday lunches such as “Turkey Jerky.”) My next focus is to learn more about creative decorating ideas and easy (and inexpensive) home projects. Like I said, making the most of what you already have available is the name of the game!

So anyway, I’m going to start periodically posting some of my money-saving and money-stretching ideas and projects on this blog beginning in the near future. I hope that some of our friends and family that read our blog will find some of these ideas useful to try. After all, in this economy most people wouldn’t mind a little extra breathing room in the budget, right? So stay tuned!!!!

National Night Out

"I want you to be concerned about your next door neighbor. Do you know your next door neighbor?" -Mother Teresa

Tuesday evening, we went to my parents neighborhood for the Old Starmount National Night Out celebration. It's a nationwide initiative in the form of a neighborhood picnic to fight crime and promote neighborhood safety and has always been a lot of fun (http://www.nationaltownwatch.org/nno/). Our neighborhood doesn't have a community watch to sponsor such an event, so my parents let us come join them (we're only one neighborhood over anyway).

There was a good turnout of members of the Greensboro Police Department and the Greensboro Fire Department. One of the police canine officers brought his bloodhound, Bosifus. He made a new friend in David!


There were fire trucks that we got to tour...


Although David had to help me get down...


There was an animal control officer with some sample "critters..."


And of course David and my Dad had to throw the football...






Everyone really had a really great time hanging out with their neighbors!

Back to back victories

"I don't want the cheese, I just want to get out of the trap." -Spanish Proverb

My mother said that if we caught one mouse in the house, there would be another one. Said they almost always come in two's. I just couldn't believe that there would be another one, and so I was SHOCKED when I walked into the kitchen again and there was ANOTHER mouse in MY trap! WOW! I guess they really do travel with their friends. We are fairly certain this is all, and what a relief that is!


So anyway, I counted up my total winnings, which came to $2.75...


Then put another dollar with it to buy myself a Chai latte at Starbucks...


Thank you, mice, for helping fund my tasty Sunday afternoon treat! :-)