Cheap & Free Weekend with Mom & Dad

My parents came to visit this weekend and we did so many fabulous cheap & free things!

We started the weekend off on Friday with a delicious dinner at Cantina 1511, and, of course, we used a coupon. Charlotte Citipass strikes again, and we got buy one get one free entrees. We were supposed to then go the the Glue Fest for the Community Mosaic Project, but unfortunately the timing just didn't work out. 

The first order of cheap and free business was a free breakfast. My parents were staying at The Hampton Inn at Phillips Place, and if you have ever stayed at the Hampton Inn, you know that they have a fantastic breakfast. No reason to go out for breakfast! 

We then went and picked up my dog, Mandy and headed over to the Tailgate Farmer's Market to have our starstruck time for the day by meeting Spike and Andrew from Top Chef. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get tickets for the cooking demonstration, but we got to meet them, and I got my cookbook signed and photo taken. They were so super nice and they loved Mandy, which, of course, I loved. This is one of my favorite shows and these two were my favorites from last season, so this is definitely the coolest thing I have gotten to do in a long time!

There's nothing better to me than when someone loves my dog! From there, my dad went and got himself some lunch at Price's Chicken Coop. For $8 he got a ton of food, 3 pieces of chicken, hush puppies, tater tots, slaw, and a roll. My dad is a huge lover of fried chicken, maybe even a connoisseur, so this was awesome for him. 

Next stop was uptown for the Blues, Brews & BBQ festival. We took the light rail so we could save money on parking, plus it's just a great thing for out-of-town guests to get to experience. The festival was a ton of fun. I won a free UNC Charlotte 49ers T-shirt and I entered to win a Saturn car, so I'm crossing my fingers on that one. My mom and I ate delicious BBQ plates from Mac's and we stuffed for not much money. While we ate, we got to enjoy some fantastic blues music too. It was a ton of fun!

On our way walking back to the light rail, we noticed that the Levine Museum was free so decided to head on in. My dad is a big history buff, so this was great for us to get to do. They both loved the museum, and I just think it's a great one.

We were pretty tired after all of that and decided to chill at home and watch some college football for the rest of the day. I definitely love that I got to show my parents so much of our fabulous city!