Thrift store finds and an early Christmas gift

Yesterday I went to the Goodwill store that is right down the street. They usually have some cute things. I found a vintage beaded purse (black with embroidered flowers on the front) it is in very good shape, a Mickey Mouse cookbook. This is plastic spiral bound and probably from the 70's with recipes from different disney restaurants, in very good shape. Funny thing about this is that before I could pay for it some guy had offered me $5 and the Goodwill price was $1.99. I think this will be a fun one to look through so I hung onto it. I also found a tile trivel with a rooster. One of my kitchen walls is done in roosters so this will be a nice edition. It is red and white and seems to have been hand made in San Francisco. I don't like posting without photos, but I'll get on that either today or tomorrow and have some photos available. For anyone with a Goodwill if you are looking for sweaters, this is a great place. I found a red cashmere that seemed vintage in great shape but it did not fit too well if I wanted to button it so I put it back for someone else, but I saw plenty of vintage, some landsend pure wool, silk, cashmere, beautiful sweaters! I'll keep looking and since I have plenty of sweaters already I can be picky and wait for something that really jumps out at me.

Now on to a Christmas problem.. I was ordering some things for my little niece for Christmas and came across a great deal online. At Piperlime.com they have adorable baby shoes and the Robeez (sorry if that is spelled wrong) are about $29.99 a pair. For their 3rd birthday (the site) offered a $25 gift certificate for anyone placing an order that day. Seemed like a win/win as I was going to order some cute little shoes anyways. I'm always trying to think of things I can do for others, so I would like to give the gift certificate code to someone who can really use it. Money is tight for a lot of people and this might help solve a problem for someone. Check out the site and tell me why and how you can use the gift code. It won't make the shoes free, but they will be very, very close! I'll pick someone at random.

Bungalow Hunting and other stuff

Since moving to San Antonio I have been pretty happy where I am. The complex I live in is beautiful and there is plenty of room inside. Recently I have been thinking about having a house again and I would LOVE to have a cute little bungalow. I do not miss trying to keep up repairs on a home like I did in Houston or worry about things breaking, but a little tiny house would be great. There are plenty of older neighborhoods here in San Antonio and lots of these types of houses available. Now all I have to do is come up with some kind of plan to pay for it. I have a goal, 2 years to find a way to make it happen! I've been looking at pictures and thought I would post one of the type of little house I am looking for.

Thrift store finds: Today at the thrift store I found some straight pins for the pin cushin I got on etsy.com. Since I purchased some last week at the fabric store, I know that the .10 I paid at the thrift store for the ones with little pearl balls on the end is a great deal. Now to get the sewing box organized and start working on some projects. Oh, I also found a package of vintage yarn needles for .10.

More Christmas shopping today. Found some cute little outfits for my niece and picked up a couple other things (sorry Laura, but I HATE shopping in December!). My budget this year is very limited so I'm having to be much more careful about planning what I will give to everyone and since I'm not in a hurry it's really been a lot of fun.

Friday I am making a turkey dinner. There were some huge birds at HEB this week and with the price less than ground beef I couldn't refuse. Wish us all luck this week as I am making ossobucco on Wednesday with beef shank from the farmer's market. I've never made this before but I've heard it's delicious.

The only other exciting thing is that in my pursuit of free or nearly free activities I finally went and got a library card, and there is a library branch right around the corner from me, yeah! Oh, and I got the dr. to give me a temporary disability placard so it will make getting around much easier for now!

I'd love to hear from anyone who has ideas on the bungalow or if anyone has purchased one that was in not so great shape and rehabed it, or made ossobucco before :-) More updates later.

Something for the miniature garden

After my original post, it made me want to get started even more. I won't be going and looking for the container today (we are supposed to get a lot of rain) so I purchased a little wheelbarrel that I was watching on Ebay. It is too cute and I know it will look great in the miniature garden. I may go back and purchase a couple mini gazing balls with pedestals that I am watching also, but I'll save that post for another day.

Starting a fairy or gnome garden

I saw something interesting on this cute little blog the other day http://www.cozylittlehouse.blogspot.com/ about fairy gardens. It seemed like such a cute idea, and the planning and gathering of stuff for it might be almost as fun as the finished product. Since I'm not big on fairies, I will probably use little gnomes (I am watching some on Ebay along with some other mini garden accessories), but I will also scour the thrift stores where I have previous had luck in finding miniatures for the patio plants.

I also came up with the idea of making a fun one. I have some lego mini sets (pirate ones) that I have been collecting, so I may make another one and use them in it. Anything that you want to do in miniature would be cute for one of these little gardens and you can change or add things as you come across them.

I'm going to post regular updates leading up to putting it together and the final product althoug I may be a few weeks away from the finished product.

I'm adding a picture of an especially cute one.

Wedding plans

For some reason I found myself volunteering to plan my daughter's wedding (translation, paying for it). Anyone that needs to do a great wedding on a reasonable budget there are lots and lots of resources to help. First, I would recommend going to http://www.theknot.com/ this site will give you tons of ideas and then you can find less expensive ways to use them. I will post more pics after the wedding, but I have a few of the wedding site to share. I recommend finding the location before you make any other plans. When I first learned about the little church in La Villita on the Riverwalk I thought it would be WAY out of my price range and booked for years in advance. Surprisingly, it was neither. For $700 I was able to book the church in August for an October wedding. You will see how beautiful from the pictures. Another one of my cheap tips is to go to your local grocery store for flowers (I can almost see David Tutera crawling on the floor in agony at the suggestion, but hey...he did not come to save me and move the wedding to the Plaza Hotel). For $285 I got all flowers needed for the wedding, and the woman in charge of the floral dept. is a professional florist and not just a clerk. I limited my daughter to 50 guests, and the reception is going to be held at their favorite mexican restaurant. There are many benefits to not having a traditonal wedding reception, but the cost savings was a major one for me. A dinner for 50 people, wedding cake, champagne toast and tip (tablecloths and a few table decorations) cost approximately $1200. The tip was included in this, but I believe in being generous to people that work hard and will tip extra at the end of the night if the table is not neglected. I'd be more than happy to share more of my tips with anyone that is interested (just drop me an e-mail) and I did splurge on a few things such as paying all expenses for the wedding party, limo, and honeymoon to Hawaii. The grand total was still under 10k . Considering how fast that money went I can see how weddings get out of hand, but when the envelope was empty, it was empty. Enjoy the pics of the little church and watch for wedding photos in the near future.

Something new to share

Ok, don't go into shock because there is a new post :-) I recently went to the Witte Museum here in San Antonio and really enjoyed this display of gowns and tiaras that were worn by former fiesta queens (or is it princesses?). Thought I'd share a few of the pics.. some of these gowns are so elaborate and look heavy and I can't imagine anyone wanting to wear them in Texas. Enjoy the pics.

San Antonio Botanical Garden

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I have posted.... (I'm so ashamed!). Since I don't have much to write about right now, I'm going to post a few photos from a recent visit to the San Antonio Botanical gardens..I can't wait to go back when it cools off outside.