Thursday 28 June 2012

Thriftastic



Operation Thrift seems to be going well so far.


The other day Betty made pancakes from scratch for breakfast! At Bay Vista it costs $9 for 2, so really the more home made pancakes you eat, the more you save.


I saw Snow White and the Hunstman on Tuesday. It cost $11 - next time I'll go on Student Monday when it's even less.


It was an okay movie. Charlize was really good and it was all very nice to look at, but that Kristen Stewart isn't a very good actress. Her character was meant, I think, to be feisty but she totally wasn't, and I guess there was meant to be a romance between her and the huntsman but they had so little chemistry that I literally thought I had been mixed up and it was actually a buddy film. So I found that a bit confusing. Otherwise it was good though.


I wore a lot of black.


I went to my Nana's op shop and got some bargains but I don't have any snaps yet. Trust me they are thriftastic.


I made a huge pot of pasta and put individual portions into takeaway containers so I have something for my lunch at work.



My fave thing to put with it is butter and cheese but I might make some pasta salads too with pesto, feta, sundried tomato and rocket. The world of pasta lunches is my oyster. And now I won't waste money on sushi!


James and I had dinner at Mike's in Sylvania. On wednesdays you can get $5 fish and chips! Bargain! Afterwards we had Maccas soft serves for dessert.


Also I bought some of my favourite Cadbury chocolate with all the cool lollies inside it. It was on special so still thrifty.


Kiwifruits were on special too, for TWENTY CENTS. I didn't buy any but that's an amazing bargain.



 
Also it's Lara's birthday today!  Happy birthday Lara!  Thanks for being a long-time supporter of Expect Cowgirls and its predecessors xx

 
 

Monday 25 June 2012

Food, Bargains and Stratty's 23rd


I have spent a lot of money lately so I am trying to recommit wholeheartedly to thrift.


James had a voucher for a free burrito at Guzman Y Gomez so we went to the Cronulla shop for lunch on Sautrday.  I had a mini burrito again ($6.50!).  We both chose beef this time and enjoyed it more than the chicken we had last time. 




Afterwards I discovered a corner shop selling old magazines for $1, $2 and $3 (depending how old).  I won't say which, because they might get shut down and then where would I buy magazines at a reasonable price?




Naturally I only bought the $1, but even so I was extra strict and narrowed my selection down to 2.  Cosmo's still not that good, in case you wondered.  Grazia is decent though and it was a bumper issue so well worth my dollar.


Then I came home to play Scrabble with Jimmy and Mum.  Jimmy won with almost 400 points.  What a champ.




Later I went out for my friend Stratty's birthday drinks!  Hello if you're reading and happy birthday!




I had dinner beforehand at Asian King, a Chinese restaurant in Newtown.  They had a deal where you could get a spring roll, a dim sim, steamed rice and a main meal for $12.80 or $15.80, depending how fancy a main you wanted.




$12.80 options included honey chicken (above) and something that looked a bit healthy (below).




I guess I am not as committed to thrift as I need to be, because I ordered Sizzling Thai Basil Chilli King Prawns from the posh menu:




I really enjoyed my prawns though, I think they were worth the extra $3.  I tasted the honey chicken too, which was nice, and also the salt and pepper squid, which I'm afraid I can't really recommend.




On the whole it was a great meal and I will definitely be back.  Thankyou Asian King for a rad dining experience!


Next we went to meet everyone at The Courthouse for drinks and pool and fun in general.







I thought Meg looked pretty good and so did The Willy.




You can't see it in the picture, but she was wearing a necklace with a PRETZEL pendant.


Wiggy wore a Back To The Future t-shirt, possibly the best piece of clothing a person could possibly own.




Everyone else looked like a bunch of babes too, I just couldn't be bothered taking any more pictures.


Today I stayed in, doing miscellaneous tasks and watching Desperate Housewives Season Five on DVD.


I polished my silver jewellery.




You can't tell really but it turned out SO SHINY.  It was pretty much bronze before.


Then I went to Kyle Bay Trivia, where we came third and I ate this garlic bread.




It was okay but I wish I had ordered chippies instead.


And now, a few of my recent thrifty purchases.


Myer had some shoes on sale last weekend.



I have been looking for simple but not dowdy black shoes for about six months so I was pleased to find these patent Miss Shop ones for $29.  They were only $49 originally so not an amazing bargain but they will do the job.


The following wedges weren't on my list but they were on the 75% Off Last Marked Price rack, which brought their price down to $12.50.




They are a bit reminiscent of The Duchess's, except higher and with an open toe and slingback.  So quite different, really.  I think they will be good to wear with black dresses in Summer though.  (I suppose it is nicer not to wear black in Summer but I can never help myself.)


The fabric of my leopard flats is coming apart so I bought these glitter gold ones at Kmart for $8.




They remind me of the sparkly shoes I used to wear when I was little, the ones with sequins and usually also satin roses on the toes.  Does anyone remember these?


I was looking for some hot pink jeans for a while but Kmart sold out of my size before I could get my hands on a pair, and anyway I remembered I had a hot pink blazer so I thought cobalt blue jeans might be better.





I got these at Big W for $18.86.  A great price but I prefer to buy my jeans too small because they stretch, and alas they didn't sell anything smaller than an 8 so these may end up too big.  I will have to see how they go.  They had heaps of other colours (I also bought navy but think they will go back) so if you are looking for some you should get over to Big W ASAP.  I mean Grand Double-Vay.


I have some other bargains too but I will have to show you later because I am too sleepy.


Saturday 23 June 2012

Things I Did During The Week

On Tuesday I went to my Nana's op shop aka Retail Therapy and bought this grey Barkins office dress for $8.


It's quite sack-like because it's a size too big, but I put a belt over it to gather up the excess fabric, and a cardi to hide the gathering:



Betty bought the belt for $3 at an op shop a few years ago and I've had the Tree of Life cardi since 2005 so it's all quite thrifty.



I also saw this blazer there, which I thought was actually really nice but it was too big for me - size 14 I think.  It was only $8 too, I wish it had been my size.


My Mum made toad in the hole for dinner the other night.


This is very English and, despite the name, very tasty.  Amy do you like toad in the hole?


I went to Bay Vista again!


I went a bit crazy and ordered crepes instead of waffles.  They were pretty nice, but the strawberries were underripe.  Even so, I'd order it again.  Only $11!


I went to Trivia Night on Thursday with the girls (hi girls if you're reading!). It was pretty hard this week but we won! The prize was $70 in vouchers, which we used on the spot to buy a few things for the next time we get together at someone's house. So exciting.



And I went to the physio and almost died of pain. That's about everything I did with my first week of holidays. God I'm cool.

Friday 22 June 2012

Ikea, Trivia, Seafood


    

Last weekend I met some friends (hello friends if you're reading religiously) for lunch in Newtown. I don't remember the name of the cafe we went to but it was pretty nice!

    

Also while we were there I made a purchase, which I will share later, and the girls were filmed for Dumb, Racist and Drunk (Wednesdays at 9.30 on ABC). Exciting!


Afterwards I went to Ikea with Meg. It was pretty ace, they had all kinds of cool stuff that I would definitely have bought if I had my own home in which to put it.

   

    
   
 
    

    


Later I went to the Albion Place Hotel for Jaryd's farewell. Hello Jaryd if you're reading! I will miss you when you go! It is a bit expensive there but they had some cheap food options and the decor was nice.


I loved Meg's dress and I thought Ben looked very dapper in his eggplant shirt.
   

On Sunday I went shopping for office clothes, which is always a nightmare, but I scored a few bargains (more on all this later).
At night I went to Trivia Night at The Kyle Bay. While I was there I shared a seafood platter with James. I enjoyed it last time I had it, but this time the smoked salmon was actually sashimi, and they forgot the lemon. Still, not bad for under $40.


And we won trivia! Yay! Well done everyone.
 


Tuesday 19 June 2012

Dinner at Rodizio



On Friday I had dinner at Rodizio in Cronulla again. This time I ordered from the regular tapas menu instead of getting the platter. It cost more but it was well worth it.


We started with some drinks - beer for Jim and a passionfruit caprioska for me.


Sorry about the blurry pics, they uploaded smaller than usual so I had to enlarge them.  I don't know why.


I always have the garlic bread; it's lovely.


The marinated baby octopodes were yummy but too hot for us. If you like quite spicy foods I recommend them. By the way, my phone wants to correct 'octopodes' to 'octopuses' - what a dummy.


The lamb chops are a favourite of ours. The toppings went nicely but I thought the meat was a bit fatty this time.


The baked potatoes were a bit bland. They would be a good option for kids though.


The mushrooms were really yummy. James loved them more than I did so I let him eat most of them.


I loved this - a bunch of rocket with feta cheese and sundried tomato, all wrapped up in a delicious slice of prosciutto. All my favourite foods in one. Since I gave James my mushrooms, he let me have three of the four prosciutto things. Yay!


We didn't match this time. Jim looked spiffy in his purple checked shirt though.


I was wearing my leopard print Kmart dress.




Afterwards we went to the pub to meet some friends. I forgot to say, but after our dinner at Copper Pot we went to The Crest and put $2 on a dog called Cool Señorita because I thought the name was funny. She didn't look that good but she won! At $4.20! (James says this is worth point out but I don't understand why.)


So now I'm a gambler and on Friday James and I bet on a dog called Precious Pretzel (hello if you are reading!) and I won again! Betting on dogs is ridiculous but great because, as James says, even if you lose you still get to watch dogs racing.


Speaking of Precious Pretzel, that's my friend Pete's new nickname.  Don't forget to use it all the time.