Friday, January 28, 2011

Frugal Friday, Sale at Jeremys!


The beloved Jeremys in Berkeley(on College) and the SF location are having a big sale tomorrow and Sunday, where all of their full priced clothing will be 30% off and all of their previously marked down clothing will be 60% off! If you haven't been there before, or even if you have, you should check it out, lots of new designers and name-brand favorites. They also have a men's store and shoes and home decor store a few doors down (personally my favorite!).


Thursday, January 27, 2011

Ever dreamed of sleeping in a palace?? Well, now you can!

Why am I jumping for joy? Well, I'm not talking about Cinderella's castle in Disneyland (which admittedly I still think is really cool), starting this time next year you can stay at the Versailles Palace in Paris!! Right next door to the palace is the Hotel Du Grand Controle, a mansion that was built for the king's treasurer and his family, it was built in the 1680's. When everyone fled Versailles during the French Revolutionary war, this was vacated as well and it was never restored to its former glory, until now. The hotel will have 23 rooms and another big excitement is that hotel guests are rumored to gain access to the Versailles gardens which have been closed for over 300 years. Am I the only one having "Secret Garden" fantasies??

I went to Versailles for the first time last summer and it simply blew me away. There was so much to see and everywhere you looked was more impressive and breathtaking then the last. From a design standpoint it was incredible to see vintage furniture and fabrics I've seen
replicated a thousand times, all in their original forms! The lush baroque upholstery, grand
chandeliers, massive gardens, enormous beds with feather plumed corners and all!
Versailles was my favorite place in Paris (technically just outside) and the whole time I thought about whether there could be a corner I could sneak off to and hide myself in so that I wouldn't have to leave when they closed for the night.

The idea of staying in a five-star hotel right next to the Palace, or having an event there (WEDDING AT VERSAILLES???!!!!) it does truly sound like a fairy tale!

Friday, January 21, 2011

Frugal Friday, for the Craigslist Scouter!


I've, of course, preached on the amazing finds one can get for themselves on craigslist, but sometimes scouting for those items can be a challenge. Let's say for instance that you're looking for a bedside table, but you're looking for a vintage one, maybe from the 40's or 50's because you love the look of the smaller size and the original pulls on the drawers. You may think that you can just type in "vintage night stand" or something to that effect and find, well, what you searched for. Think again! Sometimes your search criteria will yield exactly what you've searched for, sometimes you'll find something like this: an actual search find. This my friends, is not vintage.

There was recently a post on Apartment Therapy that made me laugh, and finally feel validated in this irritation I've found with craigslister's definitions, that was about just this!

"Do You Suffer from Craigslist Elitist Syndrome?



I, Sarah Rae Trover am a Craigslist elitist. I can't help it. After buying everything from pets to houses and selling more home goods than I could pretend to recall, it just seems to come with the territory. It's not something I'm proud of, but I feel the green monster trying to hulk out inside of me when someone labels or tags something incorrectly just because they want it to sell and they read a home decor blog once (and obviously didn't learn anything). Now you might be thinking, wow, she's such a jerk, but more so, I'd like to consider myself honest. I can't lie, if I read the phrase "rot (or rod) iron" one more time I might scream or do more than grumble under my breath. Although spelling errors mean you have to comb

through the entire furniture section instead of searching for what you want, more annoying are home design buzz words. Now, I can no longer set my Google Reader to follow key phrases (hopefully allowing me to get the jump on those who work in an office during the day). It would seem that anything made before 1990 is considered "vintage" or "retro" and don't get me started on the word "modern." All you'll find there are horribly over-stuffed furniture that would swallow even the largest human whole.


Now one might ask why I would highlight this horrible trait, after all it's not exactly something one strives to be. To be quite honest, I still haven't decided if I'm seeking company in my annoyance or looking for a 12 step program of some sort. I'm tired of keeping a list of designers next to me because no longer can I hope to stumble upon a find where someone doesn't really know what they have, instead I'm left looking for pieces from those sellers who know exactly how much their Eames Lounger is worth.

Is it just me? Does it seem to be getting more difficult to find what you want on Craigslist without spending more and more time sifting through items that are listed incorrectly? As Walter Cronkite would say, "That's the way the cookie crumbles," and although that holds true in this situation, I still haven't learned how to deal. Have you?"


I, obviously suffer from Craigslist Elitist Syndrome as well, as least I have a diagnosis now!

Friday, January 7, 2011

Frugal Friday, Post Holiday Glut.

We're back from our amazing time home in Oregon with family. We soaked up every second that we could get and even got to see some snow! Now that the holidays are over this is usually a time that most people try even harder to save money for any overspending they may have done during the holidays.

A & B are here to help with a post holiday money
saving tip: cook at home. I know, it's so boring and so obvious, BUT cooking at home really does save money. You can freeze things ahead of time, cook and buy in bulk to save even more money, and have the self satisfaction when you're tasting your creations to know that you did it yourself and saved money in the process!

As I mentioned before, we are trying to cook and freeze meals ahead of time, both for saving time and money. A great food that you can freeze, make in bulk, AND that's inexpensive is:
soup. Oh soup, how we love you. If you're also dieting, or just like to eat healthily I found a great recipe in the Times that was for a sweet potato and butternut squash soup that we made, and we can attest to the fact that it actually was really delicious and I was able to freeze a
bunch too. Split pea soup is another great staple to make ahead and peas
are very, very inexpensive when you buy them in bulk. For a little extra DIY bonus, here are some of the most adorable canning labels I have ever seen that you can add to your jars of soup when you're freezing them.
Paper Crave made these free printables for a canning party, which I just may have to do!