Sweepstakes

Another Bzzkit

Here is my newest bzzkit.

This one doesn't come with a full-size version for me, but plenty of nicer sized bottles to give away. Can't wait to try it!

Interested in spreading some bzz of your own? Head over to BzzAgent and sign up.

On my agenda for today is laundry, making egg salad, exercising, and getting some seminary reading done.

Late Cali pics and more Freebs

1. Here are my latest freebie finds and contest wins:




Just received my Aveeno Nourish bzzkit which included everything in the photo above: notice my FULL SIZE shampoo and conditioner for me to use?? Awesome! I also hand out the samples and coupons and spread "bzz" about the product ("bzz" is my honest opinion about it). So far I really like both products. It is supposed to repair damage to your hair using wheat complex after only 3 uses. My third use will be tomorrow, so we'll see!

Also recently I have gotten some other great freebies: $25 preloaded mastercard from MyCokeRewards Instant Txt and Win Game, Free advanced screening tickets to Zombieland (saw it last night - very funny!), 2 free $10 giftcards to the Galleria Mall (Dan and I treated ourselves to Cheesecake factory), and a free after rebate bottle of the a new palmolive dish soap. Also I'm finishing up a month long beta test of a shopping website and will receive a total of $70 at amazon.com for participating. Last but not least, The Black Eye Tour added one last show - in Saint Louis! So we will get our free tickets to see Derek Webb and Sandra Mac on October 27 at blueberry hill. I will have to leave my night class a little early to attend, but hoping Tasha will not mind.

2. Here are some late california trip pics:

Eating the first night in San Francisco at Mel's Diner


We found you out Crule: Miley Stewart:Clint Rule as Hannah Montana:George Lucas. Moving to Rochester for an "internship" mhmmmm....


Dan and I before going to see "Wicked." Wicked was originally staged in San Fran before it went to broadway. It was a great cast - excellent Elpheba. Dan loved it too. Notice my green scarf, green purse and red shoes I wore for the occassion. AND notice my awesome headpiece I won from Charissa at mudpiemagnolia.blogspot.com!

Pasta

Last night Dan and I made fresh, homemade pasta at a hospitality class our church had. I already know what I want for Christmas:



We didn't use the kitchenaid pasta attachment, we used the manual ones you attach to your counter. But Karen, who taught the class, told us the kitchenaid ones are awesome. So if anyone is still planning on getting us a late anniversary gift, this would be a great idea! :)

I do plan to get some more california pictures up soon. Today Dan and I are painting a cabinet we scavenged from dumpster week at the church. Also on the agenda is bathing Lucy. Yay for days off!

California Dreamin

Dan and I and the other Smith-relations have been living the dream this week in cool, beautiful Pacific Grove, California. To give you a little context: Pacific Grove = Carmel by the Sea = Monterey Peninsula and Cannery Row = Pebble Beach Golf.

The weather is steadily in the upper 50s and 60s. We got in late Sunday night and had some take-out Chinese food. Monday was orientation - we slept in, ate some yummy Mediterranean lunch in Carmel (I had Duck ravioli with feta) and walked around a little bit followed by a delicious lasagna dinner cooked by Sarah and Ellen. Tuesday was spent at the Monterey Bay Aquarium followed by asian grilled chicken Dan and I made for supper. Today we are getting ready to head out to Big Sur to do some hiking and see some awesome coastal views.

My cord is hiding, so I no telephoto pics for the blog yet. Here are some from Dan and Dotty's camera though.



Eating breakfast at the airport


G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S, flying first class


Upon arrival, taking pics of the sea lions on the coast


Dan getting some Love


Sarah, Ellen, and the sea lions (The sea lions are on the left)


Ellen and Regan trying to resist their sweet tooth in Carmel


Awkward Braniel

My New Hobby: Coupons, Promotions, and Free Stuff

I am bursting with awesomeness over some recent savvy shopping I have recently accomplishments. Here I share them with you. (If you decide to get in on any of these sweet offers, please refer me so I can get rewards for recruiting you!)

1. I am in Ellen’s wedding this coming January. She wants us to wear gold, closed toed or peep-toed shoes. She send us some beautiful choices from various places, but shucks they were all $60 or $70 bucks each. Every week I receive an email from Shop It To Me, a site that shops your favorite online retailers for sales in clothing/shoes in your specific sizes. I get sale items from JCrew, Ann Taylor Loft, Banana Republic, etc. sent right to my email. I hadn’t bought anything that I’d seen on there yet, but that exact week Ellen emailed us about the shoes, what was on sale at Old Navy but gold high heels at only $10! Score! I ordered them along with a few other cheap tops since I was already paying the flat rate shipping. Got the package today, tried them on and they fit great! My smaller right foot slips out just a bit, but I’ll put some kind of pad in there to fix it.

2. My sweet friend Charissa told me about MyPoints which everyone should do if you like free giftcards in the mail. The basics of it are that you get points for reading advertising emails they send to you – you really don’t even have to read them, just click through to the site and then delete them. Also you get points for clicking through their site before you go to an online merchant to make a purchase. For example, before I made my sweet Old Navy purchase, I went to the MyPoints site, searched for the Old Navy link, and clicked through to the website from the MyPoints link. The promo for Old Navy was something like 3 or 4 points per dollar spent. So not only did I get my cool gold heels (+ extras), I also got 91 points towards a gift card redemption. (Giftcard redemptions run ~3500 points = $25 gift card).

3. I do the office supply ordering at work. MyPoints has a great deal for Office Depot, which is what we already use to order our supplies online. I asked to be in charge of the ordering, so I could clickthru MyPoints before and rack up the points. So far it has been great – I have already gotten a free gift card out of it. We order so much paper, I usually get either 500, 1000 or even 2000 points per order!

4. Also, I have been scouting the web for promo codes for Office Depot after seeing an advertisement for a free gift with purchase. So far I have received (with $100 or $75 purchases) the following: A free picnic coffee tote bag with stainless steel coffee mugs and vacuum flask ($60 value), A free red tote bag which I used this past weekend on our trip to Jeff’s Graduation ($40 value). Coming in the mail is a free 2GB mp3/4 player, which looks like a shuffle knockoff in the picture ($70 value). And while placing all these orders, I am still racking up the MyPoints to get free giftcards.

Maybe some of you think this is nuts but I am flipping out with delight. I also started clipping coupons and scanning all the weekly Wal-Greens, Target, and local grocery adds for deals to match up with the coupons. When we move in June, I am going to ask if Bill and Sally will give us their coupon section of the Sunday paper every week, so I won’t even be paying the $1.50 for the paper. For some reason, CVS only has locations east of the river, which sucks because they have a cool coupon program I wish I could get in on.

Cream colored ponies

Yesterday I wrote this haiku for Dan about myself while at The Daily Bread:

My wife, the raptor
She eviscerates strudel
I get the entrails

(It was my secretary's day strudel, thank you very much!)