A Little R&R

We went down to AC for the weekend, and it was glorious. We purposely didn't set up lots to do so we could just kick back. Even though we haven't had a lot of big plans the last few weekends, we always seem to end up working on stuff for the wedding or doing chores. Sometimes you just need that change of scenery to be able to slow down enough to relax.

The weather all weekend was pretty grey. We walked down the boardwalk a bit on Saturday, but were pretty wet from the mist by the time we got back to our room. And speaking of our room, I don't understand at all how the Tropicana decides what type of room to give you. This is the fourth time we've stayed there, and each time our room gets a little better. We had booked a basic, no-frills room as part of our package. Mark asked during check in how much it would cost to upgrade, and was told they don't do upgrades - but we ended up in a Junior Suite in the nicest tower. Go figure.

Grey skies over Atlantic City.

The whole weekend was laid back. We wandered around a lot, looking in the different stores and trying out different slot machines. This was the first trip we actually found video blackjack, so we were pretty excited by that. We also tried two new restaurants in the Tropicana - we're getting close to having all of them under our belts.

Inside the Quarter at the Tropicana.

As we were driving home, Mark commented that our next vacation would be our honeymoon. It's so weird to think the wedding is really that close!

Great Blog Party Finds

Last week's blog party was a great way for me to jump into the blog community a little more. I added a ton of blogs to my reading list- lots of women my own age that are going through similar things and lots of women a little bit older than me that I'm hoping to gleam wisdom from.

Most of the blogs that I'm now following are mom blogs or coupon blogs or food blogs. I realy enjoy reading them all. There were a few blogs I found this week, though, that stood out from the rest so I wanted to share them for people who may be reading this and didn't participate in the blog party:

Be Different, Act Normal - she puts together a lovely collection of entertaining and home decorating ideas. She's been in Easter-mode all week posting beautiful pictures of projects you could tackle at home. I wish I had more time to try out some of the ideas she finds!

Frutto della Passione - Ok, so it's a cooking blog... but it's so not your average cooking blog. She's living and cooking in Italy. Her pictures and recipes are amazing. Since I'm marrying into an Italian family, I'm planning to put her recipes to good use!

Love, Actually - This is a new blog - less than a month old - but it's genius. She's posting fun and original ideas for romance on a budget. She walks you through all of her ideas, and even includes printables to make things easy. I love it!

Did you find any great blogs this week? Share!

Atlantic City, here we come!

There are some places you can’t just visit once; they keep calling you back. For us, it’s Atlantic City. The first time we visited, we ended up there by chance - the casinos were the only hotels on the Jersey shore we could find that would let kids our age stay (go figure, right?). Since then, we keep finding reasons to go back.

Atlantic City thrives mostly off of its reputation of being the Vegas of the East. Still, there’s a lot more to it than just gambling and partying. There’s a big boardwalk, a big beach, and a big outlet mall, just to name a few. And restaurants! It’ll take us years to try all the different places to eat. Every time we’re there, we manage to find something new and different to explore.

One of our best adventures to date was about two years ago, just a few weeks before they imploded the Sands casino. We noticed a small sign on the boardwalk saying they were selling all of the contents of the casino, so we went to check it out. The lobby had been transformed into a giant garage sale. They were selling everything from slot machines to hotel soaps to all of the kitchen pots and pans. Since the sale had been going on for a few weeks already, and it was a weekday, the place was virtually abandoned. There was maybe two dozen people there total, including workers. As we wondered around we got to the elevators and realized they were letting people go to the upper floors to scout out furniture or televisions and other miscellaneous things. We took the ride up and got to explore around. Once we were out of the lobby, we didn’t see anyone – it was like we had the Sands all to ourselves.

It was kind of spooky. We walked through the old managers’ offices with payroll sheets strewn around forgotten. We walked through the old poker room and the teller booth in the poker room – the winners tallies were still on the desk. And we got to sit in the theater. It was kind of amazing to think that so many greats had performed there and they were just going to tear the place down. It was also recently announced that the new owners of the land have tabled the new casino project indefinitely because of the economy. So much history gone, and for what?

I can’t wait to see what we find this time!

Mission: Bathroom Baskets

We did some number crunching last night and found out that we're officially over-budget for the wedding, thanks mostly to an ever-growing guest list. That means for any projects that aren't already in the budget we have to forget - or get creative.

Bathroom baskets is something that has been on the back burner. We bought baskets on clearance at Walmart after Christmas - now we just need to fill them up. I've been doing pretty well with my couponing ventures so far so I'm fairly certain I'll be able to fill up the baskets on the cheap.

Here's what I'll be hunting for:

Women's Room Basket
Tampons
Pads
Panty Liners
Tide Pen/Shout Wipes
Mylanta/Tums
Advil/Tylenol
Spray Deoderant
Lotion
Bandaids
Floss
Safety Pins
Brush/Comb
Mints
Hairspray
Bobby Pins
Emory Boards
Clear Nail Polish
Body Mist/Perfume Samples
Qtips
Wipes
Visine

Men's Room Basket
Tide Pen/Shout Wipes
Mylanta/Tums
Advil/Tylenol
Spray Deoderant
Lotion
Bandaids
Floss
Safety Pins
Brush/Comb
Mints
Gel
Cologne Samples
Wipes
Visine

If you have any couponing tips for these items, or know where I can get free samples, let me know!

More Parasols

I made this parasol for one of my Knottie buddies, Christina and even though I posted mine when I finished, I wanted to post this one because I think it came out even better. If you look here, part of the Y is thicker - a result of dripped paint. Thankfully, this time things went smoothly!

I can't wait to see how it looks in wedding pictures!

Oh, Pancakes!

I adore pancakes - which was why I was super excited to find out about the PJ's Pancake House Challenge.

After our hunger challenge week, the plan was to make a donation to the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen. When I looked up their website I found that if you made a $50 donation to TASK, PJ's would send you a $50 gift card. There was no way we couldn't participate in that!

We've been driving past PJ's for years now saying we'd love to stop in, but haven't managed yet. You can tell it's good just from driving by, though - there's often a line out the door. Knowing that they're helping out TASK makes them even more appealing.

Our gift card arrived in the mail yesterday, and it totally has me craving pancakes - I can't wait to go!

10 Rules for a Happy Marriage

One of the lead couples for Pre-Cana gave us their 10 rules to a happy marriage:

1. Never both be angry at the same time.

2. Never yell at each other unless the house is on fire.

3. If one of you has to win an argument, let it be your mate.

4. If you have to criticize, do it lovingly.

5. Never bring up mistakes of the past.

6. Neglect the whole world rather than each other.

7. Never go to sleep with an argument unsettled.

8. At least once each day, say a kind or complimenting thing to your life's partner.

9. When you have done something wrong, be ready to admit it and ask for forgiveness.

10. It takes two to make a quarrel, and the one in the wrong is the one who does the most talking.

Do you agree/disagree? Do you have your own "rules" for marriage?

5 Minutes for Mom: Ultimate Blog Party 2009

Okay, I know what you're thinking - Mom?! You're not a Mom!

It's true. I'm 23, engaged, and not planning on having kids for a few more years. Still, I've been reading more and more Mom blogs lately. With the wedding a little more than three months away, I'm happy to read about how my fellow brides are doing with their planning, but the more general blogs are being less appealing. Instead I've been reading up on things that are more "wife-ish" - home tips, couponing, cooking. And while a lot of these blogs do have things to say about children, I still find them more relatable than the daily inspiration boards of different wedding themes.

The Ultimate Blog Party is a chance to find some new blogs - and they have prizes. When I first saw that, I thought the list would be full of little kid items. There was a lot of things for children and babies, but there was also a ton of stuff that any almost-wife would want.

These were the top three I found:

-#58,Kitchen Aid Artisan Stand Mixer Provided by: Moms Who Think (my kitchen would love it!)

-#89, $100 gift card to HomeGoods Provided by: HG Openhouse (I could overhaul the whole apartment!)

-#19, $50 gift certificate to Target Stores Provided by: Shoot-Me-Now

Other prizes I love include #s: 21, 22, 88, 26, 118, 91, USC56, 123, 130, USC58, 69, 70, 95, 50, 45, 135, 113, 54, 107, 121, 99, 114, 85, 82, USC7, 96, 27, 49, 7, 56, 60, 65, 109, 2, 12, 17, 20, 39, 43, 61, 75, 80, 37 and 63. The prizes are all fantastic though, I'd take any of them!

If you've found this post via the Blog Party, please let me know! I'm looking forward to finding some new blogs to read relating to married life and setting up a home - and some new people to talk to who will have advice on surviving newlywed life!

Hands

Last weekend at Pre-Cana, they read a poem to begin the sand ceremony. When the Pre-Cana leaders read it, there were a lot of tears; it’s a really beautiful piece and I thought it was worth sharing here.

Hands

A good marriage is a lifetime of hands.

It’s a shaking hand sliding a shiny gold band onto the finger of another shaking hand.

It’s an anxious hand tugging on a suddenly shy hand.

It’s hands touching in sudden tenderness, or swinging together down a crowded street, or fingers interlocking in the darkness of the theater.

It’s expressive hands: The playful pat on the fanny, the beckoning wave, the rumpled hair, the “help me, please” gesture… and sometimes, but not often, the clenched fist.

It’s two ecstatic hands being grasped by tiny brand new hands.

It’s hurrying hands setting dinner for hungry hands.

It’s angry hands pushing away angrier hands.

It’s an optimistic hand patting a discouraged hand.

It’s a panicky hand clutching a calm hand.

It’s a proud hand introducing an embarrassed hand.

It’s joyous hands grabbing happy hands… and hands sharing sadness with a touch.

It’s healthy hands holding sick hands.

It’s hands joining in prayer.

And finally, it’s a shaking hand sliding a dull gold band off the finger of a very still hand.

Pre-Cana Recap

Saturday Mark and I had our Pre-Cana. We had heard a lot of stories about what it would be like from other people. Everyone had said it would be a lot of sitting face to face and talking about things that would really impact your marriage like money and in-laws. We had already hashed out a lot of things, and the FOCCUS test had no surprises for us so we expected this to be the same.

One of the things that really surprised me was how much we were just expected to listen. Our whole Pre-Cana was based around listening. The four couples leading it all took turns telling stories about their wedding days, how they made decisions about having a family, how they forgive each other, intimacy and a host of other topics. There was some time for Mark and I to sit together talking, but for the most part we just took in the experiences of these other couples. In a way, it was a much more helpful exercise than talking to each other. We were able to draw comparisons to their stories and talk about how we would do things differently if we were in their shoes.

The Pre-Cana session ended with a sand ceremony. They had pink sand for the girls and blue sand for the guys and little glass heart jars. We stood together in front of the group saying what we’ll each bring to the marriage as we poured the sand into the bottle. The idea was that they wanted to give us a visual reminder that once we’re married it’s something that can never be undone – like you could never separate the grains of sand. It now has a place of honor on the entertainment center.

After the Challenge

I dropped a donation to the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen into the mail yesterday, officially ending the last thing we planned to do for the Hunger Challenge.

I’m thinking this won’t be the end of the frugal living, though.

I’ve always been a bargain shopper – clipping coupons, waiting for things to go on sale, etc. For the challenge, I kicked my deal-seeking up a bit; I Googled coupons, looked at manufacturers’ websites and planned what I was eating around what was on sale. I was pretty proud of myself.

Until I was watching a morning talk show this week.

One of the guests was a woman that runs a coupon blog. She was explaining that you should hold onto coupons until the items go on sale. I already knew that. They she said that there are people who really like to do this, and that if you Google “storename deals” you’ll be able to find a blog that does all the matching up for you and tells you what the best buys are.

All I could think of was, how did I not find this for the challenge week?

I quickly started searching and found blog after blog written by fabulous, frugal women that have grocery bills that boggle my mind. I found out some rules of coupon use that had never occurred to me, and learned about store reward programs I didn’t know existed. And I just couldn’t get over how cheap they got things. Of course, I decided I had to try this for myself.

I had some free time last night so I hit up a few stores in the area to see what I could dig up. I ended up with a 21 cent bottle of Garnier Fructis Shampoo from Walgreens and a 6-pack of Mott’s Applesauce cups for 15 cents from Target. I also went to CVS and got two boxes of cereal, a box of granola bars, deodorant and toothpaste for just about $13 – which doesn’t sound impressive until you add in the $8 in Extra Bucks I got to spend on future purchases.

I’m wholeheartedly impressed.

Hunger Challenge, Day 7

Seventh and last day... and we didn't do too well.

I punched up my usual breakfast. In addition to the usual yogurt and granola, I toasted up one of the English muffins from last night. Total = $0.65.

Lunch was were we failed. We met Mark's parents for some shopping, and ended up going to Pizza Hut for lunch. Our portion of the bill would have been about $20, but his parents treated.

For dinner we had pasta and garlic bread - $1.08.

Total for the day - $1.19 or $11.19, depending on how you count it.

And, it makes the total for the week $16.71 (or $26.71). All things considered, I think we did fairly well. We stayed relatively in budget, and there was very little food wasted.

We do a bit of work to keep our grocery bill down usually, but this week was still eye-opening in ways. We rely a lot on convience foods like frozen dinners - we're going to work more on cooking fresh ingredients. I also didn't realize just how much produce cost. When we were shopping last weekend, I was happy to snap up fruit that was on sale for $1.49 a pound... and didn't realize until much later that each pear was $0.67. Fortunately, the "how-to" of coupon shopping is becoming more trendy which often leaves more money to be spent on fresh fruits, vegetables and meats.

Umbrella... ella... ella...

The weather can be completely unpredicable - today is evidence of that. Two days ago I was bundled up in a winter coat, scarf, gloves and freezing. Today you can easily be outside in a t-shirt.

We took advantage of today's nice weather and met Mark's parents at the outlets for some shopping. While we were there, Mark found this beauty:

If you can't tell from the picture, it's an oversized umbrella... in pink.

Being that our wedding is in the middle of July, it could very well rain. Rather than be a bride who gets all worked up over whether it will rain on the wedding day, I decided I'd hope for sun and be prepared for rain. I figured with a big umbrella and matching rain boots, we could take cute wedding pictures no matter what the weather brings.

The umbrella is big enough for two (we tried it out in the store) and was a steal at only $8. Now I just have to find myself some bright pink rainboots!

Hunger Challenge - Day 6

I'll give you one guess what was for breakfast - it cost $0.44.

Since it's Friday and we're in the middle of Lenten abstinence, lunch was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a pear - $1.09.

For dinner we made English muffin pizzas that came to $2.03 for the two of us. It's our first dinner that's been over-budget.

Tomorrow is our final challenge day, and I can't tell you who is more excited about it. One of the things we didn't do pre-challenge was rid the house of non-challenge food- all week things we can't eat have been staring us down. I’ll be glad to get back to picking whatever I want out of the freezer. I’ll also be happy to not have to sit with the grocery receipt and calculator as I’m preparing each meal!

Hunger Challenge - Day 5

Breakfast was the same yogurt and granola - $0.44. Lunch was the same liverwurst and grapes - $0.88.

For dinner we had stuffed peppers and mashed potatos - $1.98 for the two of us.

When we were planning for the challenge, I tried to come up with different dinners for every night that used the same kinds of ingredients. All of the igrendients for stuffed peppers we already had on the list for other dinners, so it seemed like an obvious choice. These, though, just didn't work. I didn't use enough sauce (because I was trying to stay on-budget) so it was a bit dry, and the ground chicken tasted a little weird in the context. All in all, I wasn't happy with them at all - but ended shoving it down anyway because picking something else would have been over the limit.

The only saving grace of the dinner was the mashed potatoes. I scored the package for only $0.20, thanks to a doubled coupon. It was a good, filling side - I don't know what I would have done without them!

Hunger Challenge, Day 4

Today was the hardest day for me so far – mostly because I worked in the office. I’m used to walked down to the cafeteria once or twice a day to see what that have. It also didn’t help that every time I went to the bathroom I had to walk past the kitchen and the smell of whatever people were microwaving – popcorn, leftover Chinese, pasta. It made me very disenchanted with my own food.

Breakfast was the same yogurt and granola I’ve been having every morning - $0.44. Lunch was salami on wheat bread, and apple and pretzels - $1.45.

Dinner was sort of a cheat. Last week Quiznos Subs ran a Million Sub Giveaway – Mark and I both signed up and received coupons for a free small sub sandwich. We cashed in our coupons last night and split a $1.59 raspberry lemonade.

Total for the day - $2.69

Day 3, In Pictures and Prices

Yogurt and Granola – $0.44

Liverwurst on Wheat Bread and Grapes – $0.88

Hot Dog and Fries - $0.98


Total for the day - $2.30

Now, if you remember, part of our guidelines was to be relatively healthy. Hot Dog and Fries? Not very healthy. Mark ended up working late so I wasn’t up for making myself dinner. It’s an area I definitely need to work on.

Hunger Challenge - Day 2

Today's breakfast was probably the cheapest meal either of us will have on the challenge. I made a yogurt and granola parfait - but thanks to good sales coupled with coupons, it only cost 44 cents.

Lunch was a liverwurst sandwhich on whole wheat bread and a pear. I know what you're thinking, Liverwurst?! I guess it's the German girl in me, because I've always been fond of it - and from my time working at the deli I knew you could get a good amount for decently cheap (like the salami we also bought). This is one instance where we did sacrifice heathiness in favor of price. The two slices of bread and two peices of liverwurst came to 66 cents. The pear was 67 cents, putting me significantly over for the meal - $1.33. It was a good thing I was under at breakfast!

For dinner we made Chili in the crockpot, which was perfect since we were snowed in. This is one of our favorite dinners, even when we're not watching our wallets - so I wanted to share the recipe.

Mark's Crockpot Chili

1/2 lb. browned ground meat (we used ground chicken this time) - $.89

1 can crushed tomatos - $1

1/2 onion, diced - $.19

1 clove of garlic, chopped - $.04

1 Tbsp. chili powder - $.05

1/2 tsp. each of salt and pepper

1 can dark red kidney beans - $.69

Mix together all the ingredients except the kidney beans. Add to the crockpot and set on low in the morning. About two hours before you're ready to eat, add the can of kidney beans partially drained. This easily makes 4 very generous servings - which would clock in at 85 cents per serving.

We also always serve the chili over something - either rice or pasta. This time we used brown rice, which brought our total to $1 per serving.

Grand total for the day - $2.77.

Hunger Challenge - Day 1

Today was day one of our hunger challenge, and our weekly food shopping trip. Since we're two people, we'd technically have $42 for the week. Our grocery bill came to $42.88, after we took off the laundry detergent. In case you're wondering, this is what $42 worth of groceries looks like:

There are a few things there that definately won't get used this week. We bought two boxes of pasta and two jars of peanut butter but we probably won't even make it through the first one of each. We also picked up a frozen pizza that was on sale - it won't make an appearance this week either. On the other hand, there are some things that we have in the pantry already that we'll be breaking out, like tomato sauce.

Our first day on the challenge went pretty well. We actually went out for breakfast this morning; Mark dug out Dunkin Donuts coupons so we could stop there on our way to Shoprite. He got a bagel with cream cheese and I got two doughnuts. We brought water bottles from home, so breakfast came to 99 cents for each of us.

Lunch was a little trickier - Mark had lots of leftovers that were hanging around the fridge. We're not sure how to measure that, but we didn't want the food to go to waste, so we're counting his as an even $1. I had a salami sandwhich, pickle, pretzel sticks and a cake truffle; it came to 96 cents.

For dinner we made melty meatball subs. We used turkey meatballs to make them a little healthier. We did some prep-work for other dinners this week and had some leftover peppers and onions that I added to my sandwhich. I also had some mozzerella cheese while Mark opted for some Parmesean. We cut up a carrot to have on the side. The total for both of us came to just about $1.90.