coming out of my (you guessed it) sick fog to post some exciting swag news

seriously, i'm sick again. although i'm on the upswing now, i've been running a lovely fever and having general flu-like symptoms for the last 3 days.

BUT i just read this and had to come post it quickly.

Starting on November 1st, the Swagbucks Swag Store will be bringing you lower prices and limitless rewards. (and they even make sense now. $5 gift cards are 500 swagbucks, $10 gift cards are 1000 swagbucks, etc, etc. the only exception is amazon $5 cards which will still be 450 swagbucks!

You can now snag even more rewards, because the old monthly redemption limits (except the $5 Amazon.com Gift Card which bums me out slightly) will be gone. You’re still limited to 2 rewards per day, but you can get as many repeat cards as you want! 

this means i may actually get a $10 and $25 amazon card or two each month in addition to my normal 5 $5 cards. this means christmas shopping just got WAY easier. and free-er.

um, if you haven't signed up for swagbucks yet, you really should. click on any of the links in this post and (a) you'll start earning free gift cards by doing very simple things and (b) i'll get referral bucks when you search on sb!

oh, and there's a new program where if you go to stores you normally shop at (like itunes for example...) and purchase something you get swagbucks. it varies how many sb you get per dollar spent,  and you don't get instant gratification. but i just got 18 swagbucks in my account for using an itunes gift card (therefore spending NO money) to buy a 8.99 album last month. check out the shop and earn tab to see what stores are featured!

it's a great day to put up my saturday post a day late!

so, we celebrated my birthday and anthony's awesome new job at the pub friday night with friends & family

slept in on saturday morning, then went to see one of the youth group kids in a play

and then anthony told me that he wanted to take me shopping for my birthday

he knew what he wanted to buy me, but knew that i would want input.

he wanted to buy me a north face jacket (which i've wanted for YEARS but haven't justified the money spent)

so we went to a couple of stores, and ended up finding a triclimate jacket on *clearance* for a hundred dollars off normal price...and a light hoodie on clearance as well.

i ended up walking out of the store with two jackets -- and a pair of reef flip flops that ALSO happened to be on clearance, all for well under the amount he had budgeted and set aside for the original jacket.  

i'm spoiled, blessed and happy :-)  

today is church, lawn mowing, and once upon a time/gcb with natasha.
i'm kind of not wanting this weekend to end!


happy sunday, all!

monday's memory: the one with february's 366 photos

another month has gone by already -- CRAZY.  here are the photos that (somewhat) tell the story of my february. 

it's a great day to update my work wardrobe (cheaply)

on this lazy saturday i slept later

and lounged for hours catching up on my dvr

while my husband watched the end game of the world series upstairs

(he's actually in inning 3 at the moment.

whatever you do...

do NOT tell him what happens!)

(i already know)

in about an hour

natasha and mandy are coming for lunch

and then we will head super target

because i have very little clothing that i am currently loving for work

and there's 50% and 75% off racks at target

i can build something from that :-)

after that, natasha and i are going to the 1.50 theater

(conveniently about 2 miles from my house)

and we'll watch crazy stupid love

and then we'll come back to the house

where we will cook dinner for the guys my husband will be playing poker with

just a normal saturday, really

but at the end of the day

when everyone else leaves

anthony doesn't have to 

:D

it's been 3 weeks...

and i'm LOVING it.

have a wonderful weekend everyone!

meal planning tuesday .2

(i'm taking my lunch to work several times this week since my employers are in the process of moving and therefore food is a bit more scarce than normal :)

tuesday (today)

breakfast: coffee
lunch: at nanny gig
dinner: chinese leftovers

wednesday

breakfast: coffee, bagel
lunch: at nanny gig -- bring leftover chinese...there were a lot!
dinner: frozen pizza (church night)

thursday

breakfast: coffee
lunch: at nanny gig -- bring leftover steak
dinner: creamy broccoli soup

friday

breakfast: coffee, bagel
lunch: at nanny gig -- bring leftover sausage/ravioli lasagna
dinner: we're having a pub night with a friend from out of town (YAY!)

saturday

breakfast: coffee
lunch: shepherd's pie
dinner: babysitting -- at their house

sunday

breakfast: coffee
lunch: leftovers
dinner: babysitting -- at their house

monday

breakfast: coffee, bagel
lunch: at nanny gig
dinner: with anthony -- he's making spaghetti for our valentine's meal

shopping list:

i have a few coupon and sale deals to get at harris teeter this week (frozen pizzas are buy 2, get 3 free).  other than that...

• onions
• vegetable broth (low sodium)
• broccoli
• kosher salt
• white cheddar cheese
• bagel chips
• garlic
• mixed vegetables (frozen, at trader joe's)
• tomato paste
• tomato sauce
• bagels

LOVE this

enjoy!

tonight's gonna be fun because it's our youth group outing to buy items for Youth Encouragement Services holiday store...followed by a little party. time spent with middle schoolers who are passionate about making a difference? that makes a pretty good night.

what about you?

Thursday's Ten: Christmas traditions

today's list: your favorite personal or family traditions for this time of year :0)



1. opening one (just one!) gift on Christmas Eve
my parents always let me, and i loved it.  i think i'll continue the tradition with my kids with Christmas pajamas :)
2. Christmas Eve Mass
i'm not catholic, but i love the service
3. sleeping just one night per season underneath the Christmas tree
that wouldn't be hard for me this year...considering the tree is just across the room from where i sleep anyway...
4. black Friday Christmas shopping -- online and in person
i know some think it's crazy but i love it!
5. wrapping presents. it may not be a tradition, really, but i have a rule at Christmas that there will be NO bags involved unless it's just a particularly hard gift to wrap.
i love wrapping gifts.  is that weird?
6. movies -- A's family watches the same movies every year, starting with Elf on thanksgiving night and including White Christmas and It's a Wonderful Life...and a few others ;-)
and anthony and i watched Love Actually tonight...and i think we'll do Four Christmases before Christmas day
7. the Advent wreath. this year I put it up late, and didn't prepare by finding any books to do during the season...so unprepared, but hopefully this is the only year that will be a problem.
there's something so peaceful and lovely about lighting a candle and whispering simple words
8. my open house party...that's another thing that just isn't happening this year :( 
but there are plenty to attend, and i hope that next year's will more than make up for this year's lack
9.  caroling.  i haven't done it for YEARS, but maybe i should change that.  my cell group (small group) talked last night about the possibility of caroling sometime before Christmas, so who knows? :-)
we actually snuck to a friends house to sing a song for them last night...which is what brought the conversation up 
10.  playing Christmas music...constantly
normally i have only holiday music playing after thanksgiving.  this year has been a little strange in all regards.  i'm missing directing a choir, i'm missing decorating a space that's truly mine, and i've discovered pandora to play in the car...but i suppose i could choose a pandora Christmas station...

i'm sure as the years go by and i have children things will get even crazier.  but those are the simple traditions i've kept for the last 5 years or so.  what about you?

well, duh

one of my goals for the year was to become a true coupon lady

and i think i'm off to a good start

besides success at cvs last weekend

i also had mad success at harris teeter yesterday

113.82 worth of groceries for 53.98 

i saved 59.85!

highlights include:

2 packages of Martha White muffin mix: $.05 (reg price 2.36)

10 boxes of Barilla pasta: $6 (reg price $15)

7th Generation dish soap: free (reg price $2.99)

3 boxes of Hamburger Helper: $1.50 (reg price $5.55)

Bic Multi-Purpose Lighter: 1.29 (reg price $4.29)

that was with very little effort, so i'm excited to see what will happen as i begin getting into it a little more!  some coupon gurus save as much as 90% on an average trip.  over the last month or so i've been averaging 50% or so...i'm going to try to up it to at least 75% over the next month or two.

now onto my duh! moment, which does strangely correspond to the above :)

it occurred to me the other day

that my jobs (which i'm loving)

while by nature are "set my own hours" type gigs

are sometimes scheduled a little too tightly

for me to eat healthy meals

and definitely no time to cook them

and yes,

my clients are *wonderful* about saying

"please help yourself to anything in the fridge"

and i do

gratefully

but there are days that there's nothing in the fridge that i like

or there's not much of whatever meal is left

or i don't want to open a whole new package of whatever freezer meal looks good

or there's a ton of junk food in the house and i wind up eating IT because nothing else appeals

this sometimes causes me to hit the drive-thru harder than i want

either between jobs because i'm starving

or after a job because what i had wasn't filling

so here's my future solution

i'm spending one afternoon a week in the kitchen

(besides cooking on other occasions)

where i'll make one from-scratch awesome recipe

that i can divide into a meal for that day, a meal for later that week, and a portion to be frozen

and at the same time

i'll make one "convenience food"

also to freeze into individual portions

so that i can stick it in the car on my way to a job

and if i get there and they have awesome options: fantastic

i have a meal for another day that week

and if they don't?

well, thawed out hamburger helper made with organic beef

is still much better than a 10 pm trip through mcdonalds.
(and cheaper too!)

It's a great day to sleep in

and sleep in i shall

sure there's homecoming at my university right.down.the.road

and earlier in the week i thought i would go

but honestly?

i'm tired.

and i don't know anyone who's going anyway.

eh.

i'm loving this week's wordle

after sleeping in -- coupon shopping time!

yep, i have a plan for some cvs deals...and some kroger shopping as well.  saving lots of money while spending very little?  sounds like perfection to me :)

Thursday's Ten: the pink things i want to buy

it's hard to believe that september is nearly over and october is right around the corner

but it is

and october, as most of us know, is breast cancer awareness month
which has always been near and dear to my heart
but even more so this year, since my friend has a diagnosis and goes in for surgery next week

so today's thursday's ten are ten things that are fun, fashionable...and proceeds go to breast cancer research.

enjoy!

1. first up, from the simply vera collection by vera wang (at kohls -- ALL of the items in the collection are priced at $5 or $10!)

2. also from the simply vera collection

3. and another (i could have seriously filled up this list with JUST the items i want from this collection!)
4. an aromatherapy candle from pink ribbon marketplace

5. also from pink ribbon marketplace, a coffee cup with a courage scripture inside, and scripture cards included

6. from target.com, a fun little cosmetic set

7. brita pitcher (also from target although i'm sure they're sold elsewhere)

8. water bottle (target)

9. i'm salivating over this laptop messenger bag from ebags
but this one is more affordable
10. and if you're into the REALLY designer stuff, here's a coat from tommy hilfiger. no word on price yet, but it should be available on the website soon.

Thursday's Ten: the "new" car edition

ugh.

car shopping is exhausting.

it's especially exhausting when your car was 7 years old, and the payment from the insurance is reflective of that.

it's especially exhausting when you have little money of your own to couple with it...and when you don't at ALL want to go down the road of financing because the only dealers who will finance a recent foreclosure are going to be basically loan sharks (plus, you don't want a car payment. at all.)

sigh.

but then i remember that God has amazingly provided for me countless times this year

and so

why not now?

i remember texting some good friends that the car may be totaled, that i was really sad about that (Ali was my BABY), but that maybe this was God's way of saying "ok...now here's a new car".

and so i said "bring it!"

(still hopeful that i could have MY car back. but no, not this time)

i mean, really. in the last 4 months i've been stripped from the house that i loved and the car that i loved...and both were "taken" away. in the house's case, it was due to a humongous error on the mortgage company's part. in the car's, it was due to me parking on the street and the wrong person coming down the road to play tackle football with my car. yes, i played a part in both...yes, i can shoulder some of the blame in both cases. but in no way was either completely my fault.

which is kind of nice. no shame there.

SO.

since God is clearly up to something here

i'm making a list of what i'd like in a car. a couple of them are non-negotiables (the sunroof, for example. i seriously get a slight case of SAD when the time changes in the fall, and i NEED to have access to the sun). the others are just "what the heck. why not ask for this too?"

1. sunroof (or a convertible...haha)

2. a color that i love. this is different for me based on what kind of car it is, since different cars look good in different colors to me.

3. i'm not picky about leather or cloth interior...but IF leather, then i must have heated seats

4. good sound system (i'm not one of those lovely bass boomin' people at stoplights, but i do like to get in a groove)

5. a sporty look. please, please, no boring sedans. sedans with a sporty edge, sure.

6. good gas mileage. i'm not opposed to an SUV, i just want it to get decent mileage

7. lowish mileage. i drive a lot. i have family scattered all over. i'd like to get a few years out of the car.

8. trunk access in a car (rear fold-down seats, preferably 60/40 split). suv, well that doesn't so much matter.

9. FUN to drive

10. a good value. i don't want to rip anyone off, but i certainly don't want to be ripped off either. i would prefer not to use my entire insurance settlement...i'd like a few hundred dollars leftover to stock away in savings for awhile.

what would you add if you were me? (or you were looking)

It's a Great Day to Shop Tax Free

the person who used to host weekend wordles is apparently not doing it anymore...but that won't stop me from posting mine anymore!

however, six word saturday is still alive and well :)

finally got to sleep in -- ahhhh!

i've just caught up on my sleep. i think...

or

tax free weekend here -- watch out!

yeah...it's a good, but crazy time. i do need a few things here, but most of them (unfortunately) don't fall into that tax free thing. ah well :) i DO have a few coupons and deals to go and grab, so i'm planning out my trip right now. here goes nothing!

Thursday's Ten: Where You Live

Welcome to Thursday's Ten! Please link up or grab the button (and let me know so I can visit you) and write your top ten list! It can be about anything or nothing, what's going on in your life or 10 of your favorite things. Or you can go with the theme I've picked out.



I have a friend visiting me right now, in town for a convention at Opryland Hotel. My house is slightly cheaper than the hotel :0) so she is bunking here.

Now, Angie's been here a few times, so I don't feel the need to "show her around town" like I once did. But if she were brand new to town I definitely have 10 places I'd love to take her (and a few of them she still hasn't done!)

So that's today's Top 10. What 10 places around where you live would YOU take a brand new visitor to your area?

Here's mine:

1. Radnor Lake
gorgeous area, great hiking, easy/intermediate and difficult trails (so something for all), and wildlife at every turn.
2. Pancake Pantry
you've gotta do it at least ONCE while you're in Nashville. The line out the door is legendary, but it's worth it for the experience!
3. Cheekwood
Botanical gardens--so with every season it changes just a bit. My favorite is the Japanese meditation gardens though. Soooo pretty and peaceful. I could spend hours.
4. The Zoo
We're members, so our guests (up to one per person, and children under 3) are free! It's a pretty zoo, and we're always getting new animals and exhibits. It's come a LONG way since I went for the first time in college and remarked "there aren't any lions or tigers OR bears...oh my!"
5. The Village
a grouping of eclectic shops and restaurants...definitely a cross-section of Nashville culture!
6. Parthenon/Centennial Park
A replica of the Parthenon in Greece, it even houses Athena (and an art museum). The grounds around are gorgeous as well, and hold events such as walks/runs for charities, swing dancing, Shakespeare in the Park, free movies on the lawn in the summer, and community concerts.
7. Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
for the country music lover, or just plain music lover. It's something you do once.
Now if you're hardcore into country you should also do the honky-tonks, the Ryman, and Grand Ol Opry.
8. The Frist Center
Nashville's major art museum, and it's always got a traveling exhibit. My favorite so far was the Impressionists, which is really no surprise!
9. Trader Joe's
I'm not kidding. Unless they have Joe in their city I take my guests to meet him.
10. Franklin, TN
Voted the best small town in Tennessee for several years, Franklin is an adorable town with tons of history, a quaint town square, and cute shops and places to eat.

Of course, I'd love to take my guests to a concert or Titans game, walking up and down 2nd avenue on a Friday night, and to Opryland Hotel...but those are the places most tourists see. I like to be a little different!

What about you? Where would you take me if I came to visit YOU?

Sign up on the linky or grab the button and let me know you're participating...see you on your blog!