Nickel and Dime: Summer is here!

Summer Dress, $29, Joe Fresh (Superstore)

Columbine by Dave Cullen, $29.95, Chapters 

I love the summer. How's that for a broad generalization? Doesn't everybody? However, we had a brutal winter in Thunder Bay this year and a short, crappy spring. This weekend was the first one in a long time where it didn't (a) snow (b) rain (c) contain some other apocalyptic weather event. Everything is green and gorgeous. My parents brought over some dark purple lilacs from their backyard the other day and we had an impromptu barbecue for Father's Day — my guacamole hamburgers were a hit! Doesn't everything taste better with guacamole on it? The cottage is all set up for summer use and I decided to splurge a little and get a few things to get me ready for summer. 

I spent $70 on groceries over the weekend and got both a bag of avocados and a bag of lemons (to make homemade lemonade!). The summer dress was $29 from Joe Fresh — which is basically a grocery store version of H&M. The line has been around for years at Superstore and is about as inexpensive as you can get. Although I draw the line at buying shoes there — it does offer cheap clothes along with your cheese and crackers. The dress is great for the beach (mine is brown). It's cheap enough that I don't care if it gets smeared with BBQ sauce and can be thrown over a bathing suit. Dresses are great and so simple to wear in the summer — I hate thinking about coordination when I have more important things to do... like having a sauna and laying out on the beach!

The book was a recommendation from my friend Bryn. Bryn used to be a books editor for a newsweekly. He has an uncanny ability to know exactly what someone wants to read (he made his living at it for years). The book itself is about the Columbine tragedy. It's non fiction and steeped in old school journalism — informative, well written, engaging, lots of pop culture references. It almost reads like suspense crime novel. Surreal even. Hard to believe it actually happened. The book was a total splurge — I normally get my hardcovers at the library. But as soon as I read the first few pages of the book, I couldn't put it down. Totally engrossing. It's great to get recommendations from friends who know you so well. He also told me to read Night of the Gun and  Ten  Days in the Hills — two books that became instant classics in our house.

Didn't make it to the yarn store but hoping to get there next week. Stay tuned for more crafty spending!