The grand adventures of us

Celebrate the season together with someone – and something – you love at Starbucks. On November 17–20 from 2–5 p.m., when you buy one holiday beverage, you’ll get a second one free. Warm up with your choice of a Peppermint Mocha or new Skinny Peppermint Mocha, Caramel Brulée Latte, Gingerbread Latte or the longest-running holiday favorite, the Eggnog Latte.

I'm sad the Caramel Apple Spice is not on this list, because I destroy those things.

Found via Freebiesforu.com

Freebies, Coupons, Deals | FreebiesForU: FREE Arby's Curly Fries - Today Only 11/15:

Click the link to print out a coupon valid for a FREE Arby's Curly Fries! Valid Today only!

 MmmMmMmm.. free fries.

Starting Tuesday there will be a BOGO (buy one, get one) sale on some playing card sets at Kroger. It looks like Uno, Yahtzee, and Phase 10 will be among them. They won't be free, but you can get them for 3 bucks each or so, which is a pretty good deal. We buy these up whenever we can find them cheap because they make a great last minute gift for that birthday invite you get Friday afternoon.

Click this link to go to the page until November 10th. There's a small form to fill out and you'll receive the magazine in a few months. I did this for a free Shape subscription a couple months ago and just started receiving them, no strings attached!

It may not arrive in time for Christmas, but I would probably type a little certificate up and use it as a stocking stuffer so the recipient knows they're getting it. Yay, free gifts!

So, I've been on the dealing with myorganicacres.com all day. Back in June I bought a box of produce from them for half price using one of those deal sights that offer a different deal each day for half the price. This one was called Moolala, but you've probably seen others like Living Social and Groupon.

This farm I'm dealing with is unable to produce the amount of product they sold so now I'm still waiting for my stuff, even though they've had my money for months. This is a classic case. Be careful when you purchase these half priced vouchers for things. That hot house yoga instructor may not have realized she'd sell so many sessions. She also didn't keep in mind that everyone waits until the last minute to use their vouchers, which means the last class of the day on the day before the voucher expires is going to be standing room only.

So now I'm looking in to a refund, because unlike a yoga class which could, maybe, be pushed back to make room for the influx of people. I am not willing to wait any longer for this farm to grow enough cabbage to send to me (or whatever was in the box I ordered. At this point, I honestly can't even remember).

The moral of this story is to be leery of the groupons and living social deals or whatever site you use. I'm not saying its a scam, I'm just saying they sometimes can't produce what they intended to in the time frame they promised. If you make an appointment or redeem it early you may be fine, as most people wait until the last minute. Also, if you're in no hurry and can wait for them to have time for you, you won't find a set back like mine frustrating. So.. go ahead and buy that half off facial, but don't only buy it because you are going to your cousins wedding next week and HAVE to have it. You may not get it in time.

I've gotten this deal a couple times now.

I found out its up and going again from freebiesforu.com

CLICK HERE to get FREE Full Size Suave Styling Products! When you get the page you have to watch the videos and answer the questions correctly.

Pssst... here's a hint: the answers are B, B, A, A, A, A, B, A

Enjoy!

So.. this deal is awesome.

There are quite a few option for this both online and in store at Walmart. You buy the basket for 10 bucks and on the inside you'll find a code for a free year subscription to a magazine. However, you are not required to subscribe to the magazine. You can go to the website on the insert and opt out of it. By mailing in your receipt they will reimburse you 9.99! This makes the entire thing free!

 They have olay, dove, venus, old spice and a few more to choose from. If you spend 45 dollars you get free shipping!!!

I'm going to buy a gajillion of them.


Head on over to grab yours!

..And for the fellas.

Shamelessly borrowed from PS... I made this.

If you don't read her blog, you should. This chick is living proof that not all crafts have to look like they belong in a nursery or your grandma's house.

So, I'm totally stealing this idea and making a bunch of them. My dream is to go find some inexpensive black fleece for this project. 1. because its warm and 2. it doesn't have to be hemmed, which means no tattered edges. All in all I think it'll take a total of 45 seconds to make one of these, which frees up a lot of time for me to do other things... like, watching people with strange addictions on TLC.

I think a yard of fabric would be more than ample for this cape, which means you can make it on the super cheap AND, depending on fabric choice, can do it without sewing.

This giraffe print purse is on sale on Amazon.com for 13 bucks (down from 92.00)

I see a lot of girls wearing purses like these. It would make a good gift for the ladies in your life.

Here ya go.

go go giraffe print purse link!


Its also available for free shipping with minimum purchase. I typically never meet this minimum purchase, so I'd be inclined to just pay the shipping, which shouldn't be more than 5 bucks or so.

Om nom nom. If you watch this video for Pei Wei you'll get a BOGO coupon at the end of it toward entrees. We probably pay at least half of Pei Wei's rent here in midtown, so, for me, this is awesome.

If you don't shop at Target.com in their clearance section, you are missing out. I'm sort of coveting this dress right now.

OooOOooohh... pretty.

The best part. Its 6 bucks. (6.30 to be exact). I don't know how much shipping is, but they offer it free if you spend 50 bucks.

I'm thinking its a cheap way to get a hold of a snappy holiday dress, or a cheap easy gift for the fashionista in your life.

PS. Check out the entire clearance section, TONS of awesome stuff. 

The "quotations" are because they aren't pillow pets, they're "cuddlee pets" which basically means they ganked pillow pets idea and are now selling them for cheap. Which.. I'm okay with. 

If you don't check Hip2Save.com regularly.... please do. I cannot even BEGIN to tell you how much this woman has saved me because of her deals. This deal comes from her website, so I can't say I discovered it myself.

But! I'm going to send it on down the line. So, the stuffed animals are 1.50 and shipping is a trillion times that, which is silly, but all the same, the little tikes can get one of these in their lives for under seven bucks and you can be the one to get it to them. I personally don't see the obsession, but Skye has lived and breathed for the moment she could get one of these things.

So.... here's the link via Amazon.com

Clickity Click Click for Cuddlee Pets.


You're welcome! =)

     So. I work at a bar. I think we all already know that. If we don't; I do. The point of this is that most cash based incomes are very difficult to manage. At the end of the night I don't go home thinking "wow, I made a lot of money for my paycheck" I think "wow, I have 150 bucks in my pocket, spending 20 of it really isn't that big of a deal". This can be INCREDIBLY destructive for us restaurant folk.
     
I've always been sort of cheap frugal. When I got a few dollars to go to the mall with when I was little I would squirrel it away while my friends rushed off to spend theirs on cheap earrings or sodas or whatever. Being naturally a tightwad, I found it strange that I was unable to save money. My bills were always paid, food was always in my fridge and I felt successful for that, but I never even started a savings account because I never had any extra to put in it.
   
Fast-forward to St. Patrick's day of 2011. I work in an Irish bar. I don't think I have to paint a picture for you on how busy we were on said day in 2011. At the end of a very long shift I started counting my hard earned money and found it to be somewhere in the realm of 700 dollars. Now, this is NOT a typical days wages for me. If this is a typical days wages for you: 1. congratulations. 2. is your workplace hiring? Anyway.. I started diligently sorting through what I could spend the money on. We could use a dining room table.. we would put it away for the trip to California this Summer. Clothes? Make up? I wanted to be responsible with it and have a plan on how to utterly blow through it.

This is when a lightening bolt struck. How dumb is it to try to be responsible in how you throw away your money? 

Why did I have to spend it?

I went online and started two new savings accounts. One named "retirement" one named "emergency fund".  I also started a ROTH IRA. The next step was crucial. I set my account to automatically deduct 25 dollars a week into each account. Here are my rules: The retirement account is not to be touched, however, it is in a standard savings rather than the IRA because you can still take money out of a traditional savings if, say, you chop your leg off and absolutely need it. The emergency fund is for emergencies. Which means I can get in to it for things that happen that I wasn't planning for (car repairs, etc). The IRA can't be touched even if I want to. The money is stuck in there until I'm 59 1/2.

Can I tell you something? I don't miss the money. I don't even notice its gone most of the time. 300 extra bucks a month squirreled away without my knowing and I don't even miss it. How insane is that? I was trashing all that money each month on crap.

I'm not going to sit here and tell you to start brewing your own coffee because starbucks is ruining your retirement or how using 1 ply over 2 ply can save you 73.15 a year in toilet paper. Sure, I've started using some of those concepts to save more money (accept the toilet paper, a girls gotta have standards), but we are all our own people and some of us just really like the things we do and buy and I'll leave it up to you to decide which of those things are wasteful and which are rewarding. We all work hard (or at least I do) and when I decide to splurge, I feel like I've earned it. But please do think about retirement and saving money if you haven't already. Its really important.

No, not like that!

I'm a bzzagent. Which means I signed up at bzzagent.com and now get to test all sorts of awesome things and report back on my experience. One of the really great products I'm getting to try out right now is the Disney's Cars 2 video game for the Xbox360! The stipulation behind my participation is that I have to invite 20 people to play the game with me. Well, if you know me, then you know I'm still meeting new people here in Memphis. So, I figured what better way to meet new people than to host the party at my work! I work in a pub, so naturally, we will do a bit of drinking with our driving game. Hence, drinking and driving.

I'm, of course, not promoting any REAL drinking and driving. I find that behavior incredibly selfish and dangerous. Some of you may already know that one of my cousins was hit by a drunk driver and was a quadriplegic for 15 years before his death. So, any of you coming: make sure the driving stays in the video game. Call a cab or have a D.D!


There, now that my lecture is over, anyone that is going to be in or around Memphis should seriously consider stopping by Celtic Crossing Sunday the 7th at 9pm. We're going to have a blast playing this game! I've already played it a few times to unlock some of the characters for the big night. It is a lot like Nintendo's Mario Kart, but with a few tweaks to make it original. Very fun, and worth a play!

This flip flop tutorial was posted on one of the blogs I read. I thought it was a great way to dress up some cheap flip flops. I personally don't wear them because I hate the plastic straps (and have a strong aversion to anything between my toes, ever.) but thought these might give me a dressier option on the cheap. Sorting through my bag of scraps I found some cute doilies I got at the dollar store. Here's what I came up with for Skye.

They were exceptionally easy to make. I probably spent a grand total of five minutes on both shoes.

Here's the tutorial!

For those of you who may not know us in person, I thought I would give you a brief introduction of our little family. Top of the totem pole we have Skye, my fantabulous 11-year-old daughter. Everyone say hello to Skye.

Skye is much like I am in that she is in to everything. She is a renaissance woman in training. It is nice to know that no matter what crazy craft I decide to pick up next, she will be right beside me asking a gajillion and one questions about it. I pretty much love her to death as any mother should and can say with absolute certainty that she is my number one favorite daughter. (Okay, so she is my only daughter, but I think that's neither here nor there.)

Next up are the two naughty dogs, Foxxy and Chloe who are just as naughty as they are dogs. They are Jackaranians, which is a fifty-fifty mix of Jack Russell Terrier and Pomeranian. Without further ado:




Both dogs are a great source of entertainment and love...and barking. If anyone has any non-violent advice on how to reduce their barking at people on the sidewalk I would love to hear it.

Well, that about does it. It's very nice to meet everyone out there. Hopefully I'll find some free time soon to put up some real posts.

Until then, everyone be good!

~Summer

Hello, Everyone!