Deals of the Summer - Shopping Tales

I love to shop and I love deals.  And being on a serious budget does not mean that you can never shop again, it just means that you have to be more creative.

"Deal" includes many things for me: a great price, a great find and sometimes, even paying full price for a particular treasure.

Provo has not been a huge haven for deal shopping - I imagine Salt Lake has some great finds but I rarely get up that way (looking to change that soon)!  I look for deals in thrift stores, any kind of re-sale shops and some of the big chains too: Marshal's, Target, Pier One ... my deal alert is always on.  Online deals are awesome too - Amazon, Overstock and even craigslist are some of my favorites.

Here are some of my favorite summer deals/treasures that I found:

OK - this was the deal of the century, practically.  I have a slight bag, purse obsession and a slight Louis Vuitton obsession.  Marry the two and I am tickled LV!  Imagine my delight/surprise/shock at finding this at DI ...

I was wandering past a huge stack of purses and the logo caught my eye.  First response was - No WAY!  Second response was to fondle it, stick my head in it and smell it and then clutch it as if someone was going to jump out and take it away from me.   Paid $15 and I saw it online for $200-$400!

My second favorite deal of the summer was made for The Beehive Blog - Beehives, Beehive Blog - right?  Then let me introduce you to the Beehive cookie jar!

  Too cute - perfect for the table and this was found at Pier One for $24.95 original price but I got it at 20% off the day I was there. 



Pier One always has great stuff and I love to search through their discount shelves so the other purchase that I made that same day was inspired by Giada on the Food Network.  She was doing a show on having a cocktail party for friends and served this amazing roasted cauliflower couscous salad.  She served the salad on this great tray with wonton spoons and guests could just take a wonton spoon that was already full of yummies.

 
I got the tray for $5 and the spoons were 75 cents each at Pier One.  Great idea for serving any yummy mouthful at a cocktail party!

My final deal of the summer (although summer is not over yet!) was this great little find in a thrift shop on State Street here in Provo.  There is only a tiny sign in the window and I missed it many times going by.  One of my favorite homemade dishes is my Thai curry and I make the paste by hand - the tools required are a mortar and pestle and a hand blender is like the topping on the curry.

 
The box was open but everything was new inside and worked like a charm.  So for $15 we are on our way to a yummy Thai Curry!  Want the Thai Curry recipe?  Click here to see it on Foodies Unite!



Deals make me happy and everyone deserves to be happy - right? 

Ok, Beehivers and Bloggers - what was your best find of the summer?  Share!

Get On Your Walking Shoes

Last night, for the first time since I arrived, I actually had a dream about driving a car.  I was a little surprised that I have not had one sooner since I have not driven in a bit and have no immediate plans for the future to do so (hearing Peter sigh with relief :)).  For sure, London is not a driving city.  It is a walking city and I have done more walking in the past 2 weeks then in the past 2 years.  A good thing too, since most of my time is spent admiring the architecture and gaping at the sights, I would have surely crashed into something by now.

I walk every day to the markets of which we have several excellent ones very close by.  Shopping for food daily has been a great experience.  Everything is fresh - veggies, meat, bread - and to cook it that way has made me fall in love with cooking all over again.  No issue with quality at all, except for the beef but the availability of French products has made that a good swap!  

I had to stop converting pounds into dollars tho - it was making me a little nuts.  A pound feels like a dollar even though the conversion rate tells us that a pound is worth 2 dollars.  So - I keep it to pounds and try not to cringe toooo much.

I did find an awesome little veggie store in Belsize Square (right around the corner but off the high street) and their prices were much better than the high street markets. 

The area that we live in is awesome.  It is full of gorgeous architecture and little surprises all over, like the Keats House which is only a 5 min walk away.  Hampstead Heath as well which is an amazing sprawl of green park is only a little over 5 min away as well.  The area has been home to many artists and poets over several hundred years and it definitely still has that artsy and mellow vibe.

We have good access to central London as well - I can be in Trafalgar Square within 15 min by Tube and a bit longer by bus.  

I am going to be loading lots of pics and giving their descriptions as well as keeping up the blog of my adventures in London.  It is a bit late (I was waiting for Zach man to get home) so I will add some more tomorrow and keep up as I go along!