a black friday to remember...

Just thought I would document my black Friday experience... although it's not too crazy, considering other people... just crazy for me.. and definitely not what I had planned on.

We decided to stay at Andrew and Krystle's new house on Thursday night, so we could check out the new place, spend some quality time, and get up early to go black friday shopping together...
After playing a round of Monopoly Deal, it was about 12am or so and we decided it would be good to go scope out Target and just see if there were a lot of people waiting. We loaded up in the car and off we went. We got to Target and there was NO ONE in line! Though there were 2 cars waiting in the parking lot. Of course, we had Andrew get out of the car, so we could document via photo.


Andrew and Krystle were wanting a new tv and Target had a killer deal. So we decided, instead of going home, and hoping to get back in time for Target's opening (4am).. we'd just hang out in the car at Target. Of course, first we needed snacks, games, and blankets to keep us occupied and ready for sleep, if need be.
We ran back to the house. The guys did their thing, then hopped in the other car and headed back to Target while Krystle and I got changed into comfy black friday shopping clothes, packed snacks, games, etc... then we headed to see if by any small chance McDonalds was open for some food... no such luck. After pulling out of McDonalds, we got a call from Andrew saying that when they got back to Target, there was already a line! Looked like we were camping out for the rest of the night. Krystle and I went back to the house and gathered 2 camping chairs, 2 sleeping bags, and 2 blankets and headed on to Target. We joined the guys in the freezing cold. The guys were nice enough to let us sit in the chairs and use the sleeping bags. I'm not quite sure how they survived with thin blankets out there.
At one point, Krystle and I created a fort with our sleeping bags and watched some of High School Musical (the only movie I have on my iPhone!)... until Krystle fell asleep that is... Sleep didn't last for long, since the Target manager came out with some information and had us organize the line.


At 3:55am, we rushed in, grabbed the tv and other goodies, and headed on to Walmart, then McDonalds. We hit the hay at 6:30am.
All in all, we had a great time, even though it was FREEZING outside. Thankfully, they got the tv!

Girls just want to have fun...

Moving to a new city where you know basically no one can be tough... but Aaron and I handled the transition to Atlanta pretty well. I have to chalk most of it up to my wonderful friends from North Atlanta.. especially the girls.
Last year I was asked to be the coordinator for the monthly girls night. We usually just meet at a restaurant to stuff our faces and chat.. but after our summer hiatus.. I decided to spice things up a little with a concert! Can you believe that the ultimate girls concert, Colbie Caillat and Sheryl Crow, just so happened to be on the 3rd Thursday of August? Well it was. We originally had purchased lawn seats (cheapest.. and easiest to coordinate) but when we got there we were informed that we could trade our lawn seats in for regular seats. Holla. The weather was absolutely amazing... humidity controlled itself and there was a nice breeze. The music was great (although I definitely know more Colbie than Sheryl songs...) and the people watching was superb. Nothing like the girl next to you singing her heart out.. or the older gentleman getting down to every Sheryl Crow song from the 1990s.

This weekend I get to spend even more time with my wonderful girl friends. Although it's not an "official" Refuel - Girl's Night.. I figured I'd rather see a chick flick with the girls instead of Aaron. Tomorrow night.. a group of 8 fantastic girls (myself included) are meeting for some yummy Panera (of course I'll have their mac n cheese) and then heading over for Eat.Pray.Love.

Here are a few reasons why I'm so excited about tomorrow:

1. Girlfriends

2. Panera's mac n cheese

3. Eat.Pray.Love - I love movies that explore other parts of the world, make it a chick flick and I am totally sold.

4. This lady right here.
She is truly wonderful at what she does.

5. Saving $$$ - One of my friends recently started a deals website.. and because of her, I not only got my ticket for $4, I also get free popcorn. Sweeeet! Check out her site here: Peach Deals. Unfortunately the $4 ticket is long gone (groupon).. but the free popcorn for tomorrow night only (9.10.2010) is available to anyone who "likes" Regal Cinemas on facebook. Now I just need a coupon for Panera and I'll be all set. :)

Coupon Queen Wanna-Be?

So, I'm considering a new calling. Coupon Queen? I dunno if I'm up for the challenge, but I gave it a first try today and I think it went pretty well. I had never really clipped coupons before. Every once in a while I will clip a coupon for pizza delivery or out of those big entertainment books that you buy for school fundraisers, and I sure don't EVER buy anything online before searching high and low for a "promotional code", but I never clipped coupons for groceries and other personal items. A few days ago I read Kristina's blog about being frugal and she mentioned thegrocerygame.com. I was eager to learn more about it so I checked out the site. It seems to be a pretty good idea. It creates a list of items that are best to buy (in your area at a specific store) based on what's on sale and the coupons that you should have. My only problem was that I really should have waited until I had a stash of coupons to reference to. More than once my list would reference a coupon that was received in the Feb 1 Red Plum... well I sure didn't have that coupon, they all got thrown away if it was received before yesterday. Anyways, the GG has a trial for $1 for a month and then you can decide to keep it or not and then you have to pay $ for it... not too bad though. I'm going to see how much I can save then decide if it is worth it.

Anyways, so since I didn't have a lot of coupons saved up, I did internet searching for coupons for the items that were on sale, and I had pretty decent luck.
So here's what I got today with my coupons/sales etc...

Original price = $33.93

Some of my best deals:
Colgate toothpaste Was: $2.13 each Now: FREE - yep all 3 of them!

Purina puppy chow Was: $4.48 Now: 0.98
Land O Lakes butter Was: $1.89 Now: 0.44
Scotch Brite Sponges Was: $1.69 each Now: 0.50 each

Total paid: $10.12
Saved: $23.81 that's 70%

Looks like I am going to have to try this again. :) I like those numbers!
I was actually kind of nervous when I checked out, because I almost felt like I was ripping them off.. I mean, I got 3 tubes of toothpaste for FREE!