TOMS Shoes

I, like most girls, love shopping whenever my schedule and well, let's be honest, budget (ekk) allow it. Shopping was definitely more fun back when it wasn't my money I was using to buy things but all the same it's still one of my favorite pass times. However, the one great thing about living on a budget is that you pick up a lot of good tricks for spending every dollar wisely and thanks to company's like Groupon, you can still indulge in little splurges every once in awhile.

All that being said, I was pa-rousing my staple online shopping sites last night, discouraged by the high price tags of all the "must haves" of the season when I remembered that I'd been meaning to check out this retailer one of my old co-workers had interned at back in college. She was always talking about all the great charity work the company does and well that engage their customer base. The company I'm referring to is TOMS Shoes.

According to their Web site, TOMS has provided over 600,000 shoes to needy children throughout the world but instituting an ingenious business plan; For every pair of shoes that are purchased, TOMS will donate a pair of shoes to a needy child who cannot afford shoes of their own. The extra bonus? The shoes are super affordable and cute! Their classic shoe is only $48.00 and most of their other styles of shoes fall well below the $100.00 mark. Ordinarily I double check with my gut (thanks to my stupid budget) before making an online purchase, but I have to say this was one expenditure I felt truly great about!

Happy shopping everyone!

The Farmers Market

Today I ventured to the farmers market for the first time and now having done it, I really hope it becomes a habit because I loved it. In fact, being there reminded me a lot of when I was a kid and would beg my parents to go and let me live on a farm. For anyone that knows me, that thought is probably laughable, but yes it is true. I used to want to live on a farm with chickens, pigs, the whole deal. Luckily, my parents decided it would be better to send me off to college than a farm, although I'm sure some times they would have liked to given those years of teenage angst I supplied them with. :)

Anyway, back to the farmers market...

It's great to be that close to your food. It makes the experience of shopping a lot more fun than a grocery store. Every booth has samples so you really know what you're getting when you buy it. The experience could potentially be overwhelming if you don't know what you're looking for so I advise going with a plan in mind, mine being breakfast. It also never hurts to bring a friend along so you have someone to talk you out of buying the ten dollar homemade jam just because it had a cute label.

So sticking to my plan, I got up nice and early, intentionally skipping breakfast so that I would be forced to find something to make given whatever was available at the farmers market. I cheated a little and purchased a delicious peach smoothie after walking around the market for awhile, but I did come out with some delicious Parmesan and rosemary crusted bread, purple asparagus, farm fresh eggs, summer butter and beautiful star gazer lilies. I used it all to make a simple but delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs with purple asparagus and white cheddar and toasted bread with fresh summer butter.

You can see pictures my little Saturday adventure below :)

Lots of fun booths all over the market

Got em! 

Tried them but I didn't get them

Gorgeous flowers

The really expensive jam that I luckily didn't buy

"Purple Passion" asparagus - really delicious. I was told it is slightly sweeter than green asparagus.

Smoothie stand at the market

Raspberry and peach smoothies

My loot!

Cooking up my purple asparagus for breakfast

The end result :)