frugal friday - date night

*photo from shockya


how do you budget for romance?

we are on a budget. we use cash only, and try to stick to that budget like glue. at the same time, we have to carve out quality time in our busy week to spend together, building this marriage and keeping romance alive. to keep the budget in sync with the dates, we have to get creative. our latest discovery is a dollar movie theater about 4 miles from our house. we will never be the first ones to see a movie, but that is ok. we went out to a movie, shared popcorn and a diet coke, and paid less than $10 total. the regular movie theater costs $10.50 per person here in dallas, $13.50 for 3D. that is crazy talk. that means we would be spending $21 for 2 hours entertainment without any snacks. no thanks. i'll take the dollar theater any day.

here are a few more of our budget date ideas:

share a bucket of balls at the driving range
outdoor concerts (bring a picnic)
the zoo
mini golf
hiking
rent a movie at home
bike rides
field trip to ikea :)
walking through christmas lights (in dec., obviously)

what are your cheap date night ideas?

weiner dog wednesday - the art of diplomacy

a few months ago, an australian artist named bennett miller created a unique art exihibit.
he based it on a meeting of the united nations commission on human rights, and staged it in the melbourne museum plaza. this u.n. was made up completely of dachshunds. amazing. bennett described his art installation as a "meditation on the utopian aspirations of the commission on human rights, and our capacity as humans to imagine and achieve a universal system of justice."
if you click on the art exhibit link above, you can see more pictures at gawker.com. the photographer includes photos of the actual representatives from each country, as seen below with the representative from bangladesh.

*all images from gawker

bare feet at the beach

i'm at the beach with my extended family this week, praying for no oil. it will be a week of sun, sand, waves, conversations, fun, catching up, playing, and all around good times. i won't be on the computer much, but i've got some great posts scheduled, so stay tuned. feel free to grab my new beachy button from the sidebar, if you would like to display it. thanks for reading!

verse of the week - galatians 5:1

"it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. "
- galatians 5:1

Jesus set me free, i don't have to be bound by the yokes that the world wants to put around my neck. why do i choose to be a slave when i was meant to be free? i find myself bound by the materialism of my city, the competition to own a house, wear cool clothes, lose weight, and be the best at everything. these burdens take away my freedom and i want to break free from those chains. i feel like i have to go through the process of laying those burdens down over and over again. what makes me want to pick them up again? i guess it is just my selfish human nature that wants to be in control. Jesus gives me freedom. i want to embrace that freedom fully, every day.

what strongholds in your life keep you from embracing freedom fully?

the tour de france turned me into a cyclist, sort of.

i love watching the tour de france. you might say i'm addicted to it. our cable went out the other day and i may or may not have thrown a temper tantrum because i couldn't watch the tour live. i blame my former roommate (jen m.) for introducing me to it. that was back in 2007. last year i took notice of the youngsters from luxembourg, andy and frank schlek. you can have your lance armstrong, i'll take the schlek brothers. frank had a serious injury and is out of this year's tour, but andy is holding strong in 2nd place after several days in the yellow (leader's) jersey.

inspired by my obsessive watching of the tour (3-4 hours a day, people), i decided to get on my bike and conquer a ride i've been afraid of since moving to dallas. jed rides around an urban lake several days a week. sometimes he will do 2 loops. from our house it is 11 miles around the lake and back. for a cyclist, 11 miles is small potatoes. for this girl, 11 miles was terrifying. i don't know what i was really afraid of, i guess just failure, being uncomfortable, finding myself too fat and out of shape, etc. this week i decided to conquer those fears.

i figured if those guys could ride 4+ hours a every day, i could try to ride for an hour. jed and i set out at 2 pm on a HOT july day. it was seriously hot, and we got really sweaty, but i did it. jed was really proud of me, and i was super proud of myself. i can ride around the lake. i can ride 11 miles without dying. ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce my cyclist alterego - sweaty mcgee. now that i've conquered the lake, jed and i can go on more real bike rides, and i feel so much more confident on the bike. that is a great feeling.

what fears have you conquered lately?

get crafty - the doily project

a while back i was inspired by a project i saw on one of my favorite crafty blogs,
tatertots and jello.

you can see her project and a full tutorial here.

i have several doilies that i inherited from my grandmother and her sister. they were handmade by their mother, my great grandmother. i love that my family has a tradition of handmade crafts that i get to carry on. i wanted to test "the doily project" on some doilies that didn't have sentimental value, so i found 3 for $1.50 at an estate sale. i changed up the original project, using painted canvases instead of scrapbook paper.

it turned out well, i think. the colors are fun and modern, but the doilies are delicate and antique. i love the contrast.

i bought 3 canvases at micheal's and painted them with acrylic paint and a sponge brush. it took 3 coats, but eventually looked great.

i centered the doilies and then poured a good amount of mod podge on top of them. i smoothed the mod podge with a foam brush, covering the doily completely as well as the frame.

it will look a little funky until the mod podge dries.

i patiently waited for the mod podge to dry, and the finished canvases look great.

for other awesome mod podge products, check out mod podge rocks, a blog that is totally about mod podge projects.

do you have any heirlooms that you've used in craft projects?

i'm linking to some great parties. check them out here and join the fun.

travel adventures - the mayan city of tulum

on our recent trip to mexico we visited the ancient mayan city of tulum.

the city was built around 900 a.d.

now it is only inhabited by iguanas.

i love the sense of history you get walking around in a place where people lived so long ago. we miss out on this so much in the u.s.a. here we put a plaque on a building if someone lived there 100 years ago.

the mayans built their city right on the beach,
with protection provided by high cliffs.

they were an advanced people who developed a calendar, understood the concept of zero, and spoke and wrote a language that is still used today.

apparently they loved the beach.

tulum is one of the prettiest places i've ever been.
the combination of the ancient buildings with the rugged cliffs
and gorgeous aquamarine water is awe inspiring.

i definitely recommend a visit to tulum or one of the other
mayan ruins on your next trip to mexico.

have you ever visited a place that gave you a sense of history?

weiner dog wednesday - peaceful protest

jackson loves the hot weather. he loves to lay in the sun and be as warm as possible. i, on the other hand, do not. i do not want to sit outside in this heat and humidity because it is over 100 degrees here, and that is unacceptable. this photo above is what happens whenever i try to get him to come inside. he rolls over, looking pitiful, in peaceful protest. eventually i have to lift him up and forcibly make him move. obedience is not his strong suit.

bret michaels and my top 5 bad boy crushes of my misspent youth

i had my fair share of bad boy crushes during my misspent youth. oh how i loved the bad boys. one of my top five bad boys has made it back into the spotlight. unless you've been hiding under a rock lately, you have seen bret michaels somewhere. he has been on celebrity apprentice, and searched for love on his own reality show (twice). he had some serious health problems and was rumored to have died, but is back on top and touring again. in honor of bret's recovery i decided to create a little list of my top five bad boy crushes, along with then and now pictures and little update on each of them. if only i had those old big bopper magazines...

#5 - bret michaels

once a member of poison, he now tours solo and stars in the aforementioned reality shows. he was a really bad boy back in the day, but this latest health scare has forced to really clean up his act. he has even back together with his former love of 16 years (his baby mama). good for bret. i wish him the best. stay clean, darlin'. "every rose has it's thorn" will remain one of the best power ballads of all time.

#4 - axl rose

oh axl, what happened to you? he used to rock a kilt like no one else and lead of one the greatest rock bands ever - guns-n-roses. he had a fallling out with all the other band members, and carries on with fake g-n-r replacements. let's face it, it all went down hill after "use your illusion II". lately he has been sporting these terrible cornrows (they just don't look good on white people) and making bad decisions in public. get well, axl. get over yourself. i'll go rock out to "sweet child 'o mine" and remember the good times.

#3 - christian slater
heathers, anyone?

somehow i fell for his sociopathic bad boy character (j.d.) in heathers. he continues to act successfully in movies and on tv, and seems to be doing well. there have been rumors of drug abuse, hair transplants, and botox. by the looks of that forehead, i'm going to say the botox is not just a rumor. he still looks like trouble, but those eyebrows will serve him well as he ages. i might have to buy that heathers dvd...

#2 - kurt cobain
may he rest in peace.

kurt was the ill-fated lead singer of nirvana, the band that changed my life with "smells like teen spirit" back in middle school. he made cardigan sweaters look good, and turned the world on to grunge. i wore flannel for years. i remember where i was when i found out he had died. sitting in front of the tv in my parents' living room, watching mtv. i cried and cried, feeling like i'd really lost a friend. he was wearing the same converse one stars that i owned when he died. it felt like a bond. theories still abound about whether it was suicide or if courtney got away with murder. we will never know. i see photos of frances bean (their child), and hope she knows how loved her father was. i hope she turns out ok. i need to listen to "come as you are" right now.

#1 - jared leto

better known as jordan catalano from "my so-called life" (the best tv show, ever). his tortured relationship with angela chase made me feel like i wasn't alone in my teenage suffering. today he still acts and is in a popular band, 30 seconds to mars. i feel like he has gone a little off the fame weirdo deep end, but i hope he turns out ok. he still so pretty, even with that guyliner. i'm putting the my so-called life dvd set on my christmas list.

there they are, the top five bad boy crushes of my misspent youth. i hope you enjoyed this little trip down memory lane.

who was your favorite bad boy back in junior high or high school?

super easy key lime pie - a beachy recipe

we are headed to the beach in less than a week, and i am so ready. one of my favorite beachy recipes (and favorite dessert ever) is this easy key lime pie. is was given to me by mom's friend mary (she is my friend as well, but my mom gets the credit for knowing her first. at any rate, it is super easy. there is none of the zesting or making of meringue that goes with other key lime pie recipes.

mary's easy key lime pie
the ingredients:
1 graham cracker pie crust
1 14 oz. can of fat free sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup key lime juice (i use paul and joe's or mrs. biddie's)
i really like the key lime taste, so i use 3/4 cup
1 container fat free cool whip

dump your ingredients into your mixer or mixing bowl.
mix them until well blended and smooth.

pour the mixture into your pie crust.

so simple and perfect...

place the plastic cover that came with your pie crust
back over the pie to make a dome.
put your pie in the freezer for at least 8 hours,
preferably overnight.

be patient. it is worth it.

this pie serves 8-10.
it contains 240-300 calories and about 5 grams of fat per slice,
depending on your slice size.
that is not bad at all for a delicious dessert.

enjoy!
have a slice and dream of being on your favorite beach.

what is your favorite beach recipe or food?

i'm linking to some great parties. check them out here.

verse of the week - 2 corinthians 12:9

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
2 corinthians 12:9

i am so thankful that His grace is sufficient for me. His grace covers me completely. grace covers my sin, my weaknesses, my selfishness, my ineptitude. grace covers me. every time i feel not good enough to be a child of God, i have to remember that i am good enough because He made me so. Jesus reconciled me to His Father forever, no matter how insufficient i am. His grace is sufficient for me.

a challenge, some winnings, and chic click carnival #2

i read about problogger's "31 days to build a better blog" back in march when i decided to get serious about this blogging thing. i put it off, of course. well my friends, the time has come. the sits girls and problogger have issued a challenge to complete the 31dbbb all together. i signed up, and actually won a free copy of the ebook! how cool is that?! i guess it is meant to be. check out the challenge here:


this was the week for winning apparently, because i also won a $25 itunes giftcard from the gotta love chevy contest online. they have a lot more prizes to give out, so go enter here. if you don't enter you definitely won't win.

on to the chic click carnival...
i am a thirty something frugal girl who is all about living in the freedom that Jesus brings, and living in the financial freedom of being debt free. i blog about frugal living, cooking, crafting, and a lot of randomness. you can find some of my favorite craft and decorating posts here.

my new peep of the week is kristi, this week's host. go check her out here: