AUTHOR: tbooty DATE: 8/17/2004 08:53:00 PM ----- BODY: seriously. let me tell you why. amongst my friends, i am known as the "bargain shopper". it's not that i ONLY buy things on sale, but i do have a knack for getting things on sale. sunday was no exception. now, i KNEW that jc penney's was having a sale, as i got a 20% off coupon in the mail. just because there is a sale, doesn't mean that you're going to find anything you like. but i digress. a friend and i went to the mall. we got to penney's and started looking around. there were a few specifics i wanted. they were: another pair of work out pants (since i'm now going to the gym 4 days a week and don't have time to wash clothes in between), possibly get a new pair of tennies for the gym (the ones i have been using started giving me blisters the other day) and maybe, just maybe, find a cute little dress to wear to my birthday party at the casino on saturday nite. oh yeah, and to maybe find a bikini i ACTUALLY like and will wear in las vegas in october. these are the items i wanted to look for. guess how many of the items i walked away from the mall with? if you said ALL of them, you get a gold star. even though i didn't get the bikini at penney's, it was on sale. 30% off, in fact. but let's get back to the impressive part of the story. i found my workout pants easily. i also found a great pair of jeans, a awesome pair of pants to wear to work (ok, my friend found them), a tank top, a waffle knit v-neck top, a new pair of shoes for the gym, and this................................ this dress? is freaking awesome! i have the same problem a lot of women have. (my hips are bigger than my waist, and therefore i usually have a LOVELY time trying to find clothes that fit correctly.) this dress? fits like a glove. regular price? $80. love the dress. not for $80. look at the tag. what's this? on sale? for $39.99? score! oh, but i have a 20% of coupon. AWESOME! it'll be about $33. great! oh, and the other absolutely amazing thing about this dress? it is a FULL. SIZE. SMALLER. than what i am wearing at this time! 'scuse me whilst i do a little happy dance! ok. so i take my purchases to the register. i have the following: one pair of new reebok leather tennies for the gym, one awesome dress, one pair of workout pants, one pair of jeans, one pair of pants for work, one tank top and one waffle knit shirt. the regular price of all these thing? roughly $277 with tax. how much did i really pay? $200? lower. $190? lower. $180? lower. $170?? lower. i paid, with tax (at 8.8%) $167.05. the shoes alone, were normally $59.99. add the regular price of the dress ($79.99) and then tax, and you almost get to that number. that means that the 5 other things i bought? were basically free. can't do better than that! after we left there, we went to swim in, since penney's swimsuits were decimated. i found 3 to try on. like 2 of them, hated one. ended up with a cute little halter style bikini that is royal blue with hawaiian hibiscus flowers on it. it's awesome. and it's an awesome motivator to continue to go to the gym 4 nights a week. i mean, after all, i've already lost 2 inches on my waist in the last 8 weeks, so i guess it's working. that's about all from here. i'm gonna go watch the olympics now, but one last thing. just a shout out to mir and a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY girl! --------