Filling Up On Furniture

whoosh! we had a long day on saturday. i'll start with dinner and then rewind. i've blogged about cinco de mayo a few times (here and here), and i'm always looking for people who want to join andrew and me for a drink. our new friend kathryn was interested, so we went out for $5 sangria margaritas last night, yum! our food spread that you can see surrounding us include nachos supreme, cheese enchiladas, and a delicious shrimp cocktail with pico de gallo and avocado. we hadn't tried the shrimp before and it was so gooooood.

 kathryn is only here for another month, so sad!

 you know you want that shrimp/avocado/pico glass of goodness.

 yummmmmy!

now to rewind. i work at steelcase (in food services; i'm a barista!) and andrew was doing that too until he just landed an internship there in the HR department. kathryn also has an internship this summer, so that's how we met her (and we are so glad we did!) we are all in the market for furniture, so one perk about working at a furniture company is access to great sales! every week they have "employee sales", where you can get great discounts on slightly damaged items. once a year, they also have a big re-market sale, where they have a huge selection of returned items for a big discount. the re-market sale was yesterday, so we all got up early and hit it!

this SW_1 chair by coalesse retails for around $2000. we got it for $60! and the ikea throw was $6, i think it matches nicely! this was actually from employee sales a couple weeks ago and is technically an office chair, but we have it in our living room.

this leather chair by turnstone is likely to be a good reading chair. this was the most expensive thing we bought - $150. again, an ikea pillow puts the look together. the table next to it was just $5! bargains!

when our roommate moved out we were left with a huge dining room and nothing to fill it with. we got these great move stools for $30 each. we really need to find a great table for these, asap! anybody know of one?

we also grabbed a couple of dining room chairs at employee sales for $15 each. we probably shouldn't have bought these, but we couldn't let them sit there! any ideas for a use?

where do you get your furniture? i'm not opposed to thrift stores or yard sales, but for soft chairs and couches, i'm a little pickier. i think we're really lucky that we have access to some really nice things for a fraction of the price! now if we could only find a great couch!

happy sunday! are you watching the closing ceremonies of the olympics tonight? i hear the spice girls really are going to perform!

Underrated List #1

you know what really bugs me? when there is something or someone just so amazing and no one gives it/her/him/them any credit! so here is my toast to the things i can't get enough of that others have seemingly missed out on.

Kate Nash

kate nash is a british singer whom i have so much respect for. forget adele and try on some kate nash for size. she has a beautiful voice and sings so honestly about her insecurities and feelings, good or bad. plus you can actually understand the lyrics (which is something i tend to have trouble with). look up the song "habanera" and be forever in love. she also has some really raw and real songs like "mansion song" and "i just love you more." ugh, i love it! she had an album called "my best friend is you" in 2010, and it didn't make a single 'top albums of the year' list that i could find. wtf?! she may have more respect in the UK, but in this country i proclaim kate nash, underrated!

Dick

this 1999 movie is so sooo funny but also so clever! i always say that it taught me everything i know about the watergate scandal. they basically revolve the plot around deepthroat, the top secret source who exposed the nixon administration's knowledge of watergate. in the movie, two 15-year-old girls accidentally find out all the juicy information and feed it to the washington post. kirsten dunst and michelle williams are awesome in dick; i watched it last night on vhs, which was a throwback, and laughed out loud more than i thought i would. the soundtrack also has oodles of great 70s songs, and i just think they did a really great job on this movie! dick = underrated!

Cinco de Mayo

cinco de mayo is a mexican restaurant in the heart of downtown grand rapids. it was one of the first places i tried out when i moved here almost two years because i noticed they had a 32oz oberon special on mondays for $4! once i popped, i couldn't stop. not until recently did i try out any of their other drink specials - buy my oh my is the 20oz frozen sangria margarita (pictured above) delicious! they also have a frozen lime margarita that hits the spot on a thursday afternoon.

the food, service, and atmosphere are also great. and of course, they serve free chips and salsa. that should win you over from the start. if you're ever in grand rapids, go to cinco de mayo and see what i'm talking about! you'll love the colorful chairs and booths, the friendly staff, and although the food isn't the best mexican i've ever had, it's at least the second best in town. you can't beat the location, either! for some reason though, it's never super busy and i don't hear much buzz about it. underrated!


i really like promoting the things i love, especially when they really need promotion! i'm going to work on another post like this to share more. what people/places/things do you love that you feel are really undervalued? i'd love to hear about them!

have a great saturday: ) i'm crossing my fingers that i get to have a drink with the lovely colleen tonight!