Where has the summer gone?

It has been a very long time since I've posted, so I will just highlight what I've been doing this summer. First off, I had a rummage sale at the beginning of July. I cleaned out my closets and found lots of clothes, shoes, purses and many other things that had been in there for a very long time. I decided it was time to get rid of these extra things that I didn't even know were in there! I saved the money from the rummage sale for our trip to Missouri/Kansas.

This takes me to the end of July when we went to Fort Leonard Wood, MO to my sister-in-law's graduation from AIT. At the Main PX on base, they have discounted Coach purses AND when you are with a soldier, you don't have to pay tax! I limited myself to just one. On our way back from MO, we stopped in Sedgwick, KS to visit some family. Sedgwick is just outside of Wichita, so we went shopping at the mall in Wichita on Saturday afternoon. My favorite purchase from the mall was a pair of Coach sandals. Here is a pic of my purchases from that trip.

Our next trip was to Minneapolis at the beginning of August for the Twins/White Sox game. We had time to do some shopping, so of course I took advantage of that! Our first stop was the Outlet Mall in Albertville. I LOVE this place! I made several purchases here, but my favorite store was probably the Coach outlet store. I walked in and the lady at the door handed me a coupon for 30% off your entire purchase (which included clearance)! I was like a kid in a candy store, but I did need to limit myself a little bit. ;) I ended up getting these items, plus a keychain.

We also went to the Southdale Center mall in Edina - mainly to eat at The Cheesecake Factory (YUM!) and the Mall of America. I really wish that I had more money saved up to spend there, but I probably would have just bought more stuff that I didn't need!

Lastly, the American News does an online auction (called Bid4It) every year. I took advantage of the opportunity to get some stuff at half-price. The items I ended up winning were gift certificates at Bur-Mar's, Main Street Photo Works and a remote car starter for Ted's car. With my gift certificates at Main Street Photo Works (which is still Artz Camera, since they haven't moved yet) I bought a flash for my camera. I've been having a hard time with some pictures turning out on my camera, so hopefully this will help.

I am hoping to be able to save some money now for our next trip, which is to California at the end of October. The way time is flying, I'm sure it will be here before we know it!