Fairly large spider with rounded abdomen. Top of abdomen is yellow & striped, though a brite yellow. Underside has thin yellow stripes 2 of them & rest of abdomen is black. The legs are banded, the bright yellow & black. It is an orb weaver. Has very long thin legs & tiny head/thorax. It was outdoors. The spider I would guess about 1 1/2 inches roughly.

Does it look like any of these?

common garden spiders - Google Search (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sugexp=gsis,i18n%3Dtrue&cp=15&gs_id=28&xhr=t&q=common+garden+spiders&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1024&bih=601&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi)

Yes, it does. Looks like the yellow & black one, with the designs on the abd. I do believe it is a garden spider :) thanks!