Summertime

That's right! Summer finally came - we completely skipped over Spring. Last weekend I spent all of my time outside in the sun.

Saturday began with the Beaverton Farmers Market where I picked up strawberries from my favorite vendor, cashew brittle, bing cherries and garlic tips. The market was crowded, which I expected, as it was one of the nicest days of the year to date. I went to Al's (green thumb heaven) and picked up a green bell pepper plant and a sun sugar tomato plant. Let's hope I don't kill these guys! I spent the rest of Saturday afternoon relaxing in the sun and sipping an ice cold Diet Dr. Pepper. For dinner, Stephen BBQd chicken and corn on the cob and we hung out on the deck for the rest of the night; he did homework and I read. Saturday was fabulous.

On Sunday, Stephen and I got up fairly early and headed to Lincoln City. We really couldn't have chosen a better day to spend at the coast. The weather was a perfect 70-ish degrees with a slight breeze. The sky was blue without any clouds in sight.

We arrived around 10am and started out shopping the outlets until it warmed up enough to sit on the beach and relax. Stephen found some really great deals on clothes and shoes. My greatest find was at the COACH outlet. I'd been to this outlet multiple times and never found anything at a reasonable price; at COACH, you're paying for a name. Everything in the store was on sale on Saturday and I was given a coupon for an additional 30% off. In general, I refuse to spend over $40 on purses. I happened to see the purse I've had my eye on for more than a year. I've scoured eBay and other websites and couldn't ever find it for a decent price. I love the style, the interior and the drop. The purse's original price is $398. Absolutely outrageous. Who would spend that much money on a purse?! Anyway, it was marked down to $199.99 (way too much), plus 50% off (still too much). So after calculating the additional 30% off, the price came to $79.99. I used $40 of my work rewards card that I had saved and only ended up paying $29.99! I walked out feeling like I'd stolen that purse.

We sat on the beach for hours watching the Kite Festival, kids playing in the [chilly] ocean, dogs running amok (on leashes of course) and people playing frisbee, catch and volleyball. I read half of a book while Stephen worked on his math homework. I can't even begin to describe how relaxing that day was. Everything about it was wonderful (except for the accident traffic on the way home). We had an early dinner at Mo's before heading home and of course it was delicious!