brokesesh: beverly hills with katie

as part of girl code, one must constantly have meals/hang out time with friends.  it's gossip, fashion, bitchery, and camaraderie all rolled into one.  violate girl code and you find yourself alone and becoming a dog lady.

so a week ago or so, my dear dear dear friend from college, the lovely katie, FINALLY came back home from her native chicago, and we decided to grab an early dinner at urth caffe in beverly hills.  now, urth is pretty expensive as is, but when you were pinching pennies all day (not to mention STARVING), you'll ignore it and go for broke.  i got a lovely small almond milk latte (with a heart!  the cutest.) and the urth caffe salad with no dressing, olives, tomatoes and side of bread (sorry bout it, i'm picky.), with added grilled chicken.  while my bill at urth came out to $22, i can safely say that is one of my FAVORITE salads in town.  it's mixed greens with feta, pine nuts, garbanzo beans, hearts of palm, and the grilled chicken has a pesto rub on it.  heaven and incredibly filling.  katie got the roast turkey salad and a medium almond milk latte (in a tall mug!  so cozy.) and let me tell you, we tried each others salads and their roast turkey is A+.  didn't need salt, wasn't dry....delicious.

while we were chatting about typical girl things (going out, boys, work, life, etc.), katie looks across the street and says "wanna get manis?!" she pointed to a little hole-in-the-wall nail salon, and we immediately decided we should.  for $12 (plus tip, so $14), i got an awesome manicure.

BARGAINISTA TIP: need your nails done in a quick fix but not sure of that corner nail salon?  go look inside, ask how long the wait is for walk ins, and look around and make sure they have their cosmetology licenses out in full display along with a bright atmosphere.  if you feel secure, it's probably a steal!

While our nails were drying, we decided to head to anthropologie to look at clothes on the sales racks, and katie needed new knobs for her furniture in her room for the year.  so we went, and while i did find a couple of cute shirts and a skirt on sale.....i found the most excellent pair of J Brand Jeans ever on the sale rack.  i nearly died of joy.

these are trouser fit, semi-bell flare jeans (and yes, this is my closet door.  suspend disbelief for a second here).  and they were awesome.  problem is, they were too big.  but then i looked at the price tag.

IF YOU CAN'T READ THAT, THAT SAYS $29.95.  FOR A PAIR OF J BRANDS.  THESE JEANS RETAIL FOR NEARLY $200.  THIS IS ABOUT 1/6 THE PRICE.  #SERIOUSBUSINESS.  so i call up a master seamstress who will give me a five finger discount.
"hey mom.....how quickly can you tailor a pair of pants down a size or two?  by tuesday?  you can?  thanks."  "YEAH I'LL TAKE THEM."

i bought three other items, and my total bill at anthro was $115.  which is about the price for 1 item there.  four for the price of one?!  i'll take it.

BARGAINISTA TIP: if something is super irresistible on that sales rack but it's in the wrong size, buy it anyway and tailor it!  especially if you buy jeans that retail for $200 and you get them for $30!

so yeah, i was a little broke by the end of the day, but what's a good brokesesh unless the objective is to go into debt?

RECAP:
urth caffe
4 locations in los angeles (including 267 s. beverly drive, beverly hills)

nail salon across the street from urth caffe: manicure $12, combo mani/pedi $17

anthropologie: www.anthropologie.com for locations.