-This was totally inadvertent, but someone else ended up paying for everyone's dinners last night, so we weren't on the hook for our super spendy italian meal celebrating SIL. We had agreed to go before we knew the place... so very glad, it saved us at least $60, and that was with no drinks/apps/desserts!
-Opted for a 'homemade' gift for SIL. Split off part of my spider plant, wrote a sweet note to go with it (putting down roots, etc), and it made her cry, so I'll take that as a good sign. Sometimes free gifts can be the best gifts!
-DH and I got to the city of the dinner early, and killed some time walking around a park. Then when it got dark/rainy, we read in a starbucks for a while. The drink we split was way cheaper than risking going shopping nearby I think. We hardly ever go shopping, and I really don't want to see anything we need at a good price, since I'm currently in "DO NOT SPEND IT" mode.