A very free weekend

Spending challenge days 14 and 15 complete! People often equate not spending money with sitting at home, being boring and doing nothing. That may be the case occasionally but this weekend was packed full of fun, free things.

Simply turn your head sideways to view pictures in this post because my computer is being ridiculous today.  
Friday was relaxing. I cleaned, cooked and watched Season 1 of You're The Worst, a new hysterical show on FX. Part of my goal for this challenge is to spend more time keeping this organized and getting rid of crap. I took an old cork board that was sitting in my closet and turned it into a necklace rack. My jewelry has been sitting in a shoe box for a year now so it feels great to have it displayed better.

I still need to find a holder for my earings and bracelets but it's a good start!

Saturday I wrote some resumes, enjoyed a walk around Lake Calhoun, and explored my dream life at the Parade of Homes. One of the benefits of the spending challenge is to be in a better spot so I can buy a home so I used this as motivation. These houses were incredible and a cool $1.5 million.

By the 5th house I was starting to get depressed at how far out of reach these were so I headed home, just in time to beat a big storm. I headed to my friend's house to have a drink and watch Jim Gaffigan on Netflix to cheer us up.

Sunday was the best of all. I biked 5 miles to my friend's house, where we met to go hiking at Lebanon Hills. The weather was perfect and the 4-mile workout was fantastic.

Instead of doing our usual Sunday brunch at a cool Minneapolis restaurant, we made our own and it was freaking fantastic! Eggs Benedict, sweet potatoes, asparagus, salmon cakes, bloody mary's and champagne!

We didn't have to wait in line and we each spent less than $10 on the food and drinks. It was a big hit and I'm so glad the girls are on board to do it again! My friends are so supportive of this challenge and it's making a world of difference.

Afterward I had my bike adjusted before I rode back home because not only were the tires nearly flat but the seat was not adjusted to my height correctly. Thank God for friends who know a thing or two about bike riding!! All that exercise showed some great results for my Fitbit that I finally started using!

I ended the weekend with a Paint Nite event with my co-workers. I bought the Living Social deal a few weeks ago so my only expense was a glass of sangria, which I'm regretting since it was $9 that could have been spent in a better way.

Normally I would have picked a different night to go when we were painting a design I liked better but it was a team bonding event and I didn't get a say. Instead of making a painting of flowers that I would never actually hang in my house, I decided to go rogue and make a painting I actually might want. I'm certainly not a skilled painter and my idea became more ambitious that I was prepared for but I was able to cover it up with bold black lines. The instructor was a bit surprised I did something different but if I paid for the supplies, why not paint something I wanted?

It feels great to have another fun weekend without screwing up the challenge! Happy Monday!