Travel on the Cheap- Vegas, Baby!!

So, my husband's birthday is next week and we have been planning for the last 2 months for his 30th birthday-- in Vegas!!! We LOVE to travel, but don't love to come home broke. Here's how we scored a fun trip, for less moolah and hopefully more money to spend at the tables!!!

• Hotel & Airfare
  We booked through Vegas.com and scored a great package! We actually bought Vegas.com gift cards at Costco.com. Each $100 giftcard was only $79.99 (a 20% savings!), online and shipping included. I did some calculations and figured out how many giftcards I would need. We also scored $50 food and beverage credit and up to $50 baggage reimbursement. Our trip ended up costing us $320 (for hotel and airfare) per person!!! And-- we're on the strip!!!
  
• Meals
  Meals in Vegas aren't cheap, like they used to be. A few of the sites we used included:
  * Restaurant.com- be sure to search promo codes to help lower the cost of coupons
  * Living Social
  * Groupon
  * Visiticket
  
• Shows
  We bought more Vegas.com giftcards for shows. The service fees are pretty steep, but we had a little money left over on a card and a promo code for Vegas.com, so it pretty much took care of the fees.

Now, if we can just get lucky with some good hands, virgin rollers, and loose slots, we can afford to come back soon!!!



Wish us luck!!!

A New Fave Recipe

It's been SO HOT here lately that we haven't felt like grilling... even though it's summer.

So.... I brought the grill indoors tonight- with Turkey Burgers. Even the hubs loved them!! (I think he was a little surprised at how good they were!)
This may be my new go-to food!!! DEFINATELY going in the food rotation around here!!!

What I loved is that I already had everything I needed, except some buns. I used Cibatta buns and toasted them with cheese in the broiler.

Seasoned Turkey Burgers
SO- GOOD!! And pretty healthy, too.

Throw together with a cool fruit salad and you've got a meal!!!

I promise to start adding more pictures...I just keep forgetting!!!!

Plants 2 for 3

OK, so our Rosemary plant and tomato plant are still doing well. Sadly, the basil plant didn't make it. R.I.P. little basil.

We had a leak in our A/C unit last week and had to shut off the A/C for about 24 hours....that did the basil in. Luckily, our A/C unite just needed a good cleaning and now has provided us an opportunity to now clean it ourselves. :-) THANK YOU, GOD, for it being a minor fit and not a whole new unit (those puppies are about $5K- but necessary in Texas in July).

We are going to try the basil again.... wish us luck! I DO NOT want to pay for basil- I want to grow it myself!!! :-)

Gardening....on the Cheap

I'm slowly figuring out that by growing some of my favorite items (like basil) myself, I can save a ton of money at the grocery store (and a trip to the store). Around our place, we love basil, rosemary and tomatoes. Since we don't have a yard, just a patio, we are trying to grow these items in pots or hanging baskets. Hopefully, we'll get some good crops soon and get a garden of our own one day. I'm dreaming of my dad's famous salsa, with tomatoes from his own garden. :-)