Weekend Recap (+deals)

Good morning.  Monday again? It came so soon.  This weekend flew by, which is surprising considering how uneventful it was. 

Friday night we drove out to the 'burbs to take Oscar to the bulldog vet for a second opinion on re-occurring eye infections he's been getting. Very exciting Friday night, right?

Saturday morning I went to the gym which felt like bliss.  With all of my studying, I have been much forfeited going to the gym on weekdays. Until I hop the on the treadmill, I forget what a stress reliever exercise is for me and how much I love running.

The rest of Saturday was spent at Starbucks, until my mom surprised us by asking if she could stay at our apartment. She was in the suburbs for a work training which ended early on Saturday.  We took her up on the offer and enjoyed another delicious dinner at Northdown Cafe. We relaxed after dinner with a few episodes of HGTV's House Hunters.

My mom often says that she feels like all she does when she comes to visit is eat.  So we were rather surprised when she asked if we could go out for breakfast the next morning.  How could we say no, especially when she was buying?

Sunday morning we walked to our tried and true Bakin and Eggs.  Surprisingly, we got there before it opened (8am) and beat the baby rush. (We go here often enough to know that the 8-10am crowd typically means a baby or toddler at 75% of the tables).  I ordered the Banana Bread French Toast, which was awesome.

After my mom left, it was back to Starbucks for me. After a 4.5 hour study session, I headed home for a snack, as well as grocery shopping with Ben.  Even though I always take a list with me to the store, and I'm typically good about sticking to that list, we were even more conscious about what we were putting into our cart with our new budget in place.  We have a ton of meat in our freezer (I tend to stock up when there's a good sale), which worked to our benefit because we only spent 40% of our allotted grocery budget. I've never been more thrilled with a grocery bill in my life. <Dork>.

I studied at home in the afternoon as Ben had some work to do.  I finally called it quits around six, in time for us to watch the movie Flight.  We had heard it wasn't very good from Ben's sister, so I had been surprised that Denzel received a nomination for best actor.  Now having watched the movie, I understand why! Both Ben and I thought the movie was good; maybe not theater worthy, but perfect for a movie night at home.

The banana bread earlier in the morning warmed up my taste buds for some banana chocolate chip muffins.  On Sundays I like to bake something to serve as a mid-morning snack or breakfast for the week.  For these, I use my banana bread recipe, but add 3/4 cup chocolate chips (to the flour mixture, prior to adding the eggs/sugar/bananas) and bake for ~25minutes.

There you have it, my weekend in a nutshell.

 

Today's deals and steals:

• Ann Taylor Loft: 40% off regular price items in store and online with code SHOP40
• Banana Republic/Gap/Old Navy: Online only through 3/5, save 30% off all stores with code SPRINGAIR (2% back via ebates.com)
• Express:
• 30% off dresses
• All shorts, buy one pair, get a second for $29.99
• Express jeans, buy one, get one 50% off
• J Crew Factory: Through 3/5, extra 25% off with code MOREPLEASE (3% back via ebates.com)
• The Limited: Buy one jacket, pant or skirt, get one free (any combination)
• philosophy: Free shipping today (no minimum) with code bday3 (5% back via ebates.com)
• Piperlime: The Outlet is open; up to 70% off (2% back via ebates.com)
• Pottery Barn: Bedding Sale (up to 20% off) ends 3/6
• Shutterfly: Through 3/6, 50% off photobooks
• Ulta: $3.50 off any $10+ purchase through 3/9
• Walgreens: Through 3/9, 50% off all prints, enlargements and collages with code FIFTYOFFPICS