Thrifty Friday

The owner of my regular hair-cutting spot, Salon Moda, went east to live with her parents in Philadelphia. This left my hairstylist, Mike, salon-less. So he is, for the time being, cutting hair out of his adorable house in Evanston. I used my appointment yesterday as an excuse to have an Evanston Adventure, and it was was hugely successful.

Here's what I got for $120:

A new haircut and the promise of a photocopy of a rare J.D. Salinger chapbook of previously unpublished stories ($60 for the haircut [including tip] + nothing for the copy)

A benefit of having my haircut in Mike's house is that I got to meet his dog, Augie (cutest face since Henry) and his partner, Andrew, who's an anthropology professor at Columbia College and offered to send me a photocopy of a chapbook he'd had as required reading in college. The price, written on the cover in pencil, was $3, and the book itself was saddle stitched and apparently unauthorized. Andrew said he's going to mail me a copy of it and I cannot wait.

A vegetarian sandwich at The Cross Rhodes diner ($5.25 + tip)
The sandwich came within three minutes of me ordering it so I only got to read about five pages of my book (Life by Keith Richards [for book club]). I ate well and cheaply.

A skirt, scarf, and soccer ball throwing device (for Trevor...) at the Junior League Thrift House ($10)
 The Thrift House is across the street from Cross Rhodes, and I was compelled to stop in. I was rewarded with a great second-hand JCrew skirt ($6), a little red scarf ($2.50), and a soccer ball on a string ($.50).

A butterscotch shake from Andy's Frozen Custard ($5)
This shop and Cross Rhodes were both recommended by Mike and Andrew, and I say a hearty "Thank you" to them for the deliciousness and the three pounds I surely gained.

A paperback copy of Geek Love by Katherine Dunn from Market Fresh Books, where they literally sell books by the pound (they're $4.99 per pound, but my book was just under an lb so I got it for $4.25).
The only reason I didn't get more pounds was that I had to feed the meter (another reason to adore Evanston: they still take nickels and dimes for their parking meters! quarters, too, but I used my spare change all day and parked for less than $3 for three hours!)

Some treasures from Bookman's Alley, which is closing and selling everything at 50% off. So I got these four books ($35):

• A first edition of Paco's Story by Larry Heinemann, who was the best professor I had during graduate school. I already have two first editions of this fantastic novel, but this copy is in immaculate condition and it was only $12.50 (after discount)
• An early book club edition of Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger, and yes, I already have two hardcover copies (a 35th and a 37th printing) and three paperback copies, but it's one of my favorite books and it was only $12.50 (after discount)
• A 1984 paperback copy of The End of the World News by Anthony Burgess ($3.50 after discount)
• A first edition of The Bridesmaid by Ruth Rendell ($4 after discount)

 But my adventure wasn't over. After Trevor got home we had another suburban adventure, though this one was a bit more serious. We desperately need a new water heater (we fear that our twenty-year-old water heater will go the way of our upstairs neighbor's: splitting open and flooding our apartment [but because our neighbor has two units below her own, her heater also flooded our next-door neighbor Sarah's unit and a bit of ours]) and had made plans to venture out to Glenview and Abt Electronics to do some recon and possibly make a purchase. Within twenty minutes we had found a great deal at Abt and scheduled a delivery for new heater next Saturday.

But our purchase was so easy and quick that we had to get our money's worth out of the trip so we wandered around the store for another half hour, playing with satellite navigation units, car speakers (there were three teenagers trying out sub-woofers and I wanted whatever they were getting), stationary exercise bikes, adjustable kettlebells (I want them), and irons. It was very exciting stuff.

We eventually got hungry and left Abt for our final adventure: dinner at Red Lobster. Trevor had two gift cards to the restaurant from my Aunt Irene (two Christmases worth) so we decided to put them to good use. We ate our fill of cheddar bay biscuits (OMG they're good and each tastes like it's make with five sticks of butter), rainbow trout (Trevor) and king crab legs (me and Trevor). And all of it only cost us $26 (with tip). Trevor documented some of our dinner experience.

Waiting for our table

Lobster beer

Lobster powder

So this dinner put me over the $100 mark for the whole day, but it kept me under $120.

And it was all worth it.