Unt zee blogothon continues!Eau and I ended up in Old Town. It's Cinco de Mayo, you see, and Old Town is San Diego's pseudo Mexican touristic mecca. Brimming with cute boutiques, women in old fashioned clothes and quite delicious margaritas.
We visited an old schoolhouse (from the outside, since it was closed), spotted a mariachi band on break, and swooped into a tucked away shop with geodes -- which has gorgeous pieces for rock bottom prices (heehee). One of my San Diego secrets. Eau found a present for a friend, and I found a pair of book ends.
Her geode was $65, my stones were $33.
I pulled her aside before the saleswoman rang us up.
"I could try to get us a discount. Ok?"
"Sure!"
At the counter, I asked if we could get a better price, since we were purchasing two.
"I can do that, sure," she replied. She tapped a few numbers into her calculator and gave us $9 off -- more than 10 percent of the $98 total. Nice! 2 seconds of lip motion for the equivalent of two happy hour margaritas. I'll take that.
Gained I: $9.
Earlier, we started the day at a thrift shop in a different part of town. I parked and as we walked past the store's window, to the front door, I noticed a gorgeous Tiffany style lamp there.
I swooped in and inspected it. It was in perfect shape.
But these things usually go for $300 new, especially when they have long stems, like this one. My secret wager was $80, since this particular shop has great deals.
Still above my budget but... I figured I'd check.
"Excuse me, how much is this lamp?"
"$25."
"Really?" I answered, not sure if I heard right!! "$25."
"Yes."
I bought it. No discount, but never ever would I own such a lamp if I hadn't stumbled upon one in a dusty second store -- and asked.
Gained II: spiffy accent lamp.
