time to work on that grocery bill y'all

Now that I'm not going back to work, we're on a quest to save a bit of cash here and there. As I'm sure I've mentioned before, our biggest bill after our mortgage is our grocery bill and I'm determined to get it under control. Mark and I sat down on the weekend to look at our budget and I told him I don't want to spend any more than $200 a week. This still may seem like a lot for some, but our current grocery bill is way more than that I'm telling you! Small steps at a time people!

So, every week I get a veggie box delivered to my house which is about $50, but I wanted to take a trip to the Liberty Village Farmer's Market to see what I could get for the $20 I had in my wallet. I LOVE farmers' markets, however many of them in the city don't offer organic fruits and veggies. Liberty Village does. In fact, the majority of the vendors on site this past Sunday were offering pesticide-free and organic food. Bliss!

The pic above shows what I got for $20.50: kale, beets, peppers, carrots, cherry tomatoes, and zucchini. I really wanted some of the fries they were making on site - they were peeling the potatoes right there! - but I didn't have any money left. Oh well.

So the haul I brought home is about the same amount of veggies I get in my box. Mind you, the box also comes with fruit and eggs however I pretty sure I can get those at the store for less than $30!

Here are a few snaps of the market. I'll definitely be making a weekly trip for the rest of the summer.

So tell me: How do you save a buck?

chair colour?

I have probably mentioned finding these chairs by the side of the road several years ago on the blog, but I can't find the post anywhere. I'm finally getting around to getting them painted hopefully with the gift certificate I won from Rambling Renovators & Paint it Like New last July.

So my question is: What colour should I paint them? I was thinking some sort of navy blue.

Here are some poor pictures I just took of my messy dining room (As Christine always says Just keepin' it real).

Keep in mind the following:

• I will be moving the plant and the easel and I don't store the vacuum there (although it does add a nice shade of yellow to the room complementing my potted mum)
• I'd like to flank the chairs on either side of the side table (which I want to eventually redo as well). 
• My dining chairs are creamy white and I have a bit of red in the room
• I want to get rid of the ikea shelf on the other side but I have to figure out where to put all of my glasses
• I don't want black or white!

What do you think? I need this to be good guys - Mark thinks these chairs are a lost cause and I believe in their possibilities!!! Help me out! :)

mini mioche

There's a sweet store in Toronto (actually there are two locations!) called Mini Mioche. I haven't actually been to the physical store, but I'm constantly visiting the site looking at all the clothes I'd love to dress my kids in. They're having a little summer sale this week and I decided to get a few things I've been eyeing for some time.* The dress is my favourite. Have I mentioned I love having a girl? ;).

dress | bloomers | sandals | natives

*I should mention that the store is about a 15 min drive max from me but I haven't been able to get there so I ordered everything online. Yes I know I'm lazy.