i. hate. budgets.  for the past four months, eric and i have been on a pretty dang strict budget to allow us to pay a lot of moolah toward the student loans that built up while i was getting the degree that i'm not using (i swear i'm not bitter.  maybe a little).  the best thing that has resulted from this budget is my love for thrifting.  i know i'm a day late and a dollar short with this frugal friday post, but i have to share.  i have been wanting for some time to do a big wall piece of plates in our dining room, as we have a very large wall that i've been struggling with since we found the house (inspiration).  i understand that it is supposed to take some time to round up a good collection, but when you've got a salvation army as great as the one by my office downtown, sometimes it only takes two trips to find ten that coordinate pretty dang well.  i know i still have a way to go before filling the wall, but here's what i've got going on so far:

oooo...and see my little owl friend i found that matches the colors perfectly? i'm thinking of incorporating him somehow, hopefully along with some other little kitschy finds.

p.s. that's about $6 folks.  that's a small price to pay for pride in a job well done.