Bachelorette Party Weekend

What a weekend I had! Not only did my two friends come in from out of town, but my soon to be sister-in-law also made an early trip to Dallas to help me celebrate with other Dallas friends. I am BEYOND lucky to have such amazing friends in my life. I will never forget this weekend.

Friday night was the bachelorette party. We went to Katherine's apartment where she had an adorable set up of food and beverages set up. After feasting and enjoying Nashville's finest Princess cupcakes (thanks, Jodi!), we played a version of the Newlywed Game. I didn't do too bad matching up answers with Mark's e-mail responses, thank goodness! We later went to two more bars, had many laughs, and then called Mark to come pick us up. I think we had as much fun in the car on the way home as we did during the night. I have a pretty awesome fiance to come pick up four girls in the middle of uptown!

Saturday afternoon my mom's friends hosted a shower for me. It was beyond lovely. We had a sit down lunch of salmon salad followed by cheesecake bites for dessert. I received many awesome, and very generous, gifts from friends and family. The best part was the after-the-shower talk we did after the guests had all gone home. They made me wear this veil while opening gifts though I kind of liked it!

Mark and I went to marriage counseling Sunday morning and made a trip to Market Street for some tasty groceries. Mark planned to take his 3 year old nephew, also named Mark, for a slumber party. We met up with Mark's friend from work and his family and took all the kids swimming in their neighborhood pool. We stopped for pizza on the way home and by the time we got home, it was time for Mark to get a bath. This is a picture of Mark in Mark's boots while watching "Wonder Pets" right before bed. Overall, a great evening!

Monday we went to a fish fry at Mark's hunting buddies home. It was a great neighborhood party where I got to eat some pretty tasty fried fish. It was nice to spend the afternoon outdoors. Mark and I were pretty pooped after a fun-filled weekend so we stopped to get two movies. I promptly fell asleep.

Although I am thoroughly wiped out, it was a wonderful long weekend filled with friends, family and fun...I couldn't ask for anything better than that!

A few updates

Mark completed the sink installation in the guest bathroom. It is beautiful!!! He also painted the cabinet so it matches the rest of the white bead board he and his Dad hung. Now all we need is a mirror and a lamp (which we are currently hunting for) and a serious clean and the bathroom will be ready to complete! Mark found a great deal on hardware for the bathroom on ebay so we are anxiously waiting for that delivery.
The big garage sale is this Friday and Saturday and I can hardly wait! I LOVE garage sales and am hoping this is a very lucrative one. We are selling so much stuff it took up nearly our entire guest room. Guess that is what happens when you combine a storage unit full of my stuff and an apartment full of Mark's things! Both of our mothers have graciously offered to help me run this operation so I think it will go smoothly. This picture is just half of the already-packed garage. There are still a few items that need to be placed outdoors. Think "big money!!!"
After getting another great deal on beautiful wood bookshelves from World Market (50% off due to an employee mistake!), our study is almost complete. This is Mark's room to decorate as he wishes (which means all duck-related items) while I get the guest room (which means all girlie items). We have both been working on organizing the room though I asked to organize the desk...that is my favorite job! It is safe to say, our pens are capped, the colored Sharpies have their own home, and the paper clips are safe in their own little spot.

Lastly, I watched "American Idol" last night while Mark was at his work softball game, and although I have been a Danny Gokey fan this whole time, I have officially jumped ship and joined on the Kris Allen bandwagon. I like his style though am afraid outrageous Adam (yeah, yeah he can sing, but he is weird) will still take home the prize. Just had to say....

Just saving money...

After spending many hours with my coupons and ads this weekend (Mark reports I missed his entire workout and 2 hours of home repair), I went shopping and saved over 50% on groceries and toiletries again. It is such a thrill I can't even tell you! I also began an organization system after reading how some other people organize their coupons. It's a good system but needs some refining.

After shopping, I did some number crunching. I spent $87.51 and saved $104.87. Pretty good, huh? Not included in these numbers is the free Casio label maker I scored from Staples along with the $10 in Target gift cards I also got which I plan to use on future purchases.

We do now own 8 boxes of Fiber One (which I eat every morning), 12 Mach 3 razors, and 6 Gillette men's shampoo so I think it is safe to say I will be fed in the morning and Mark will have clean hair and a smooth face for awhile!

A little here, a little there

We continue to add little pieces to our house as we find them. Mark hung the final chandelier in the dining area two weekends ago. It is so nice to have all our lights working! Plus, I think Mark is happy to know he doesn't have any more of these to assemble and hang. It is quite a task! We also purchased this really pretty Better Homes and Gardens entertainment stand. It was VERY heavy. This is the same stand that I blogged about earlier. It had the million screw pack and ended up having a dented piece that we had to re-order from the company. Mark put it together and we both really like how it looks. Now we just need a plant to hide the wires coming out either side.

Mark's parents did us a huge favor and picked out a beautiful piece of granite from a friend's granite store. It was a leftover piece so it cost significantly less than if we bought the piece alone. Mark found this beautiful sink online after we saw a similar sink for three times the amount we paid. We still have to purchase a faucet and the other bathroom hardware along with painting the cabinet but other than those items, the guest bathroom is coming along! It may just be ready in time for friends to use in 2 weeks (or at least I hope it is!).

Sisters of Savings

I have heard of women who go to the grocery store and have a cart full of items and only pay $20 after using coupons. I always wanted to know how to do that but never thought it was worth learning about as a single person. Now that Mark and I are engaged and almost married, I thought this would be a great time to learn how to save money while grocery shopping!

I attended a class called "Sisters of Savings" on Saturday morning. I had so much fun! The lady who ran it taught me all these ways to save 50-80% on each bill just by cutting coupons and checking grocery ads. The lady instructed me to shop at CVS, Walgreens, Albertsons, Kroger, and Tom Thumb...all stores that I would never have shopped at before since I always assume Walmart to be the least expensive. Boy, was I wrong!

Mark and I stopped to buy a double newspaper after church on Sunday. I worked for nearly 2 hours cutting coupons, studying sale ads, and making detailed list of what I was going to buy at each store. Shopping only took me 1.5 hours which isn't bad for going to 3 stores. I usually spend an hour at Walmart anyway.

So how did I do? I bought 48 double rolls of Charmin toilet paper, 2 shampoo bottles, 4 boxes of Coke products, a 24 pack of Dasani water, 3 boxes of Colgate toothpaste, a bag of chips, salsa, a package of 3 Mach 3 razors, a tube of Revlon mascara, and a toothbrush all for $72.88. I saved a little over 50% at each store!!! Had I purchased these items without my Sisters of Savings knowledge, I would have spent over $145. Wow!

I think this was the cheapest thrill I have had in awhile. I know I get excited over the little things but this way of shopping could really save us a lot of money!!! I will say, this is not for everyone -- you have to be a little OCD, have to like detail work, have to love making lists as well as cutting and filing coupons (I have a nerdy coupon file).

It is safe to say I am in coupon heaven and now a Sister of Savings. Can't wait until next Sunday's shopping expedition!!!

We're Expecting!

....a puppy....not a baby. Gotcha! Sorry grandparents, maybe in a few years.

Mark and I purchased a yellow Lab puppy who currently lives in Mississippi. She was born almost two weeks ago though her breeder just now sent us pictures (apparently he is lacking in the computer skills so we can't get too upset about it). We decided to name her Dixie. Dixie will be trained to be Mark's hunting partner so he is as equally excited to have a new hunting buddy as I am to have a puppy.

Dixie should arrive to us by plane sometime in early June. We shared the good news with Macy and Bandera. Macy looked confused though her tail wagged the whole time while Bandera refused to look at Mark when she heard the news.

Which one is Dixie you ask? She's the cute one.

Exercising....with wine

Mark invited me to do one of his P90x workout videos with him last night. It was shoulders and back (at least I think that is what the video was called...that is what is sore today). When Mark did this exercise routine once before, he purchased a variety of dumbbells which are all too heavy for me. I wanted to join him in the exercise so I started by using soup cans but found those less than challenging so Mark suggested wine bottles. Why not do a little exercise with vino, right?

Much to my surprise, wine bottles worked! So move over Richard Simmons and Biggest Loser trainers, I am starting a new workout trend using some people's favorite beverage!