Macys Friends and Family

If you are headed to Macy's for some Holiday shopping, you can use this coupon for 25% off your purchase for being a Macy's Friend or Family. I went yesterday and bought 2 pairs of knee high boots. LOVE them!!!

2010 Christmas Card

Snow Kiss Red Christmas

Get custom photo Christmas cards online at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

Just ordered our Holiday Cards this year. This will be the first time ordering from Shutterfly because their prices were much more reasonable than others that I found.

Fantasia 2000 Coupon

Don't forget to print out 2 copies of the coupon for $10 off (by hitting the back button before closing the window). Makes a great gift!

GAP 40% Nov 26 - 28

After purchasing our tickets to see Tangled tomorrow on Fandango, a coupon for 40% off all items purchased from Nov 26-28 was available for me to print. How awesome is that? I don't have to wait in a line to buy movie tickets tomorrow when I take Ava to our girls night out (with her girlfriends and their moms) AND I got a 40% coupon as well. AWESOME!!!

Tampa's Scholastic Warehouse Book Sale

Every year Scholastic Books has a warehouse clearance sale where there books are SUPER cheap. They make great gifts for the holidays. This year the sale in Tampa is located at

Comfort Inn Conference Cetner

820 East Busch Blvd.

Tampa, FL 33612

800-241-1448

Thursday Dec 16 12-8pm

Friday Dec 17 11-7pm

Saturday Dec 18 9-3pm

If you sign up online for your fast cart pass (Enter Promo Code: DIRECT) you can skip the sign in lines and go straight to shopping when you arrive. There you will be able to download discount coupons as well.

Christmas Tag Idea

During my search for advent calendars, I came across this really cute idea for gift tags at A Spoonful of Sugar. Note to self: Super Cute Idea.

In Search of an Advent Calendar

Last year, I tried out my 25 Days of Christmas, where the kids and I (sometimes, Daddy would do it too if he wasn't too busy with work) would do a holiday activity every day. Experts say that kids remember events and time spent together more so than the "things" that they were given. So I wanted to see if we could start a new tradtion and make Christmas last longer than a day in addition to spending more time together as a family and not letting the holiday stress get to us. Every morning, the kids were excited to retrieve the card that told us what we would do together and I made the decision to continue it for as long as they will let me.

I currently have a felt advent calendar (not using it as a religious piece) that I found in the dollar section of Target last year. I hung it up and inserted little cards with a daily holiday activity. This year, I kind of one want something that is cooler in design since I think that this is a long term tradition. I have seen some creative ones while searching on the web. I have also seen a pretty one in the stores but I am not sure that I want to spend $40 and up for essentially a container of 25 slots. So my hunt is on.

Beauty and the Beast

This sunday you can get Beauty and the Beast on Blu-Ray for $9.99 at Target.

Use the Disney Rewards Coupon for $10 off and combine it with the Target $5 coupon in this sunday's ad. Then go to Disney Rewards and submit for the rose charm to add to the Tinker Bell Charm Bracelet.

GAP 40% Off Tomorrow Only

Mention FLASH40 at the register tomorrow 11/20 only and get 40% off your entire purchase.

Target Daily Deal

Target Daily Deals

Seems like everyone is getting onto the Groupon bandwagon these days. (Which by the way is offering a $50 Gift Certificate for $25 today- Limit 1). Must be a great business model because Target just started doing the same thing where they offer 1 deal per day with free shipping and it expires at midnight.

Other sites with the same concept is Living Social and TBO's Daily Deal . I, personally, haven't been as excited with their deals as much as I have Groupon's. Groupon has offered such awesome stuff that I can't wait to see what the deal is every morning when I wake up.

Fantasia 2000 Release on Nov 30th

If you currently own Fantasia on a VHS or DVD, you can submit your code to upgrade to a Blu-Ray DVD. You can print 2 coupons per computer. So I will be upgrading my parents VHS and using the second coupon to purchase my own copy.

$10 OFF Fantasia 2000 Blu-Ray DVD

BOGO at Toys R US

Friday (11/19) and Saturday (11/20) Only

BOGO 50% OFF Legos, Star Wars, Transformers, Bakugan, Kung Zhu

Wellness Dog Food

For some reason, I ALWAYS purchase my dog's food the day before this coupon is emailed to me. I think that someone is watching me and laughing at me. In any case, I go through a large bag every 3-4 weeks so I will use this coupon the next time.

$3.00 off Wellness Dog Food

Disney DVD Coupons

Get $10 Off A Christmas Carol Blu-Ray Combo Pack


Get $10 Off Santa Paws Blu-Ray Combo Pack


Both movies will be released on Tues, November 23rd.

Personal Reminder

For some reason, I am addicted to the Nate Berkus Show. I love his style and he gives fantastic ideas on a budget. Sure you can have a great style when you have an endless 0's in your bank account, but for me that is not the case. Plus, I personally don't think that you have to spend a fortune to have great style just some creativity and a passion for decor. Almost every day he mentions a website to check out and get ideas from. I need to check out:
Thrifty Decor Chic and Young House Love

15% Off Children's Place Till January 2, 2011

15% Off In-Store Coupon Or Use coupon code C6C2010

$5 Shipping on Every order

Disney Store Friends and Family

Starting today, You can print this out to save 20% at the Disney Store
or you can bring in a shirt to recycle and save 25% off in the store.

If you shop online and spend $75 or more use code SHIPTODAY for Free Shipping.

Old Navy 30% 11/11- 11/18

November 11 - 18

Receive 30% off your Purchase at Old Navy

Gap Give and Get Coupon

November 11 - 14th receive 30% off your purchase at Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic

Novemeber Wellness Dog Food Coupon

$3.00 Off of Wellness Dog Food. Coupon Expires 11/10/2010

Toy Story 3 Coupon

If you have children. This $8 off Toys Story 3 Blu-Ray Combo Pack coupon pertains to you. Combine it with sale that Target or Walmart with have on it the day of release 11/2/2010 and it is a good deal.

This is something that I like to do for family presents. I purchase extras of these movies with the coupon. I grab the $1 Popcorn bucket in the dollar section of Target, grab some BOGO microwaveable popcorn with a coupons, and package it together for a fun family movie night in as a Christmas Gift. If you are one of my friends that receive this gift, disregard what I just said.

Websites that I note as I read Magazines

Publix Family Style Magazine noted these sites:

Juicy Juice Coupon

Today and tomorrow Juicy Juice is BOGO at Publix. So when you go to Juicy Juice and print this $1/2 coupon (don't forget to hit the back button to get another coupon - max 2 for each email address) you can get 2 bottles for $2.69 total. Time to print out a few from every computer and every email address in the family.

Bonus: Box Tops for your school.

Oriental Trading

I received all the items that I ordered for the kid's classroom Halloween Parties from Oriental Trading and of course inside the package came the Coupon for $10 off any order of $59 or more.

Use the code SEPBB11 before 10/31/2010

Disney Movie Rewards - 5 pts

Go to Disney Movie Rewards and enter T2PW84BG6Y for the October Newsletter for free 5 pts.

Petco

My dogs seem to really enjoy Wellness dog food which is a holistic company that does not include fillers or artificial ingredients. Albeit very healthy, it can also cost an arm and a leg when not purchased with coupons. Being a member of Petco Pals, I receive a $5 Petco reward dollars for every $100 spent, which is every other bag for me. Petco also price matches if you bring in the advertisement or if you give them the name of the lower competitors price, they will call and price match for you. When you combine the price match with a coupon (Wellness emails one monthly and you can score more if you refer customers to them), it ends up being a good deal for quality food.

Coupon for - $5 off of any $25 purchase good 10/16 - 10/17

Coupon for 10% off Select Natural Dog Food Brands expires 11/30

11 Coupons were just emailed to me good until 10/31

-$10 off a purchase of $50 in clothing or shoes

-$5 off of $50 Lego purchase

-$5 off any $30 Schleich purchase

-$5 off any $30 Melissa and Doug purchase

-$5 off any $25 Playskool purchase

-20% off any Bakugan purchase

-20% off any Kung Zhu Battle Hamster set or acessory

-25% off any Annie's Homegrown Food and Snacks

-2 for $15 Johnson and Johnson 256 count refill wipes

-Buy 2 get the 3rd FREE Mustela Items

-25% off ALL Phillips Avent Items

2 Deals:

First 1000 people to use code FIRST1000 gets $20 off a $75 purchase.

Combine this with the additional 50% off their sale prices makes for AWESOME deals. Offer Expires at Midnight Tonight

or

If you happen to miss this deal, you can use the 20% Off Coupon Until November 15th which can be used online or print it out for in-store use.

Band Aid Deals

Yesterday I purchased 6 Boxes of Band Aids (one of every different character for my kids) from Target for $1.92 each. I used 2 of the $3/3 coupon found in 8/1SS (expires 11/30)

I realized after the fact that I should have made them 2 seperate transactions because Band Aid currently has some rebates going on right now and I could have done another rebate and sent it to my parents house.

$6 in Coupons with the purchase of 2 Neosporin, Purell or Band Aid product -
Offer Expires 11/30/2010

and/or

Free first Aid Kit
Offer Expires 11/30/2010

and/or

Free Collectible Toy Story 3 Book
Offer Expires 12/31/10


So the break down looks like this:
$1.92 x 6 = 11.52
- $6 Coupons

Paid $5.52 for 6 boxes of Band Aids and a book, which will be good for a stocking stuffer.

Free Blue Ray Movie from Disney Movie Rewards

Disney Movie Rewards Anniversary Gift to You!

Log into your Disney Movie Rewards account and enter code VTUBSMGJJG2 and you will be eligible to receive your choice of either Chicken Little, Eighty Below, or The Rookie on Blue Ray for free (pay $4.99 for shipping and handling).

Beauty and the Beast Coupon

Don't forget to print out the $10 coupon for the blue ray version of Beauty and the Beast. With this coupon in combination with the firs week of release sales price, you should be able to get it for $14.99 from Walmart or Target.

$5 off $25 Purchase at Toys R Us

Coupon is good until 10/3

Passive Donation to School of Your Choice

After becoming Home Room Mom for Vaughan's Class, I was able to learn about all sorts of differents ways to earn money for the school that I love so much.

If you own a Target Red Card and you take 2 minutes to link your school to the card, up to 1% of your purchases made will be donated back to the school. Oh, and the best part about this is that beginning October 16th, when you use your Target Red Card you will save 5% of your entire purchase.

Toys R Us Hot Toy List Christmas 2010

I love this time of year. Preparing for Christmas Morning when the kids wake up and see all the toys that Santa brought them.

The Toys R Us list has been released today. Time to add some more items to the Christmas purchases I have been accumulating.

Some of My Favorite Interior Designers

My favorite interior designers are:

Nate Berkus and David Bromstad

but since hiring a celebrity interior designer was not easily accessible, we hired
Glen Martin Olsen to decorate our downstairs for us.

Tinker Bell and The Great Fairy Rescue

Tinker Bell and The Great Fairy Rescue is coming out on DVD this Tuesday 9/21/10.

Here is a coupon for $10 Off the Blue Ray Combo Pack.

Once you Purchase the DVD. Open it up and enter the code into Disney Movie Rewards

and you can get the free tinker bell charm bracelet (with $2.95 S/H). Makes a good stocking stuffer.


Walmart will have it priced at $21.96 the first week of release.

The Last Lecture

Something prompted me today to think about a book that I read a few years ago.
The Last Lecture - by Randy Pausch


Some of my favorite quotes from the book:

"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand."

"Have something to bring to the table, because that will make you more welcome."

"When you see yourself doing something badly and nobody’s bothering to tell you anymore, that’s a very bad place to be. Your critics are your ones telling you they still love you and care."

"Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted"

"The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough."

"Be good at something, it makes you valuable."

"Be prepared. Luck is truly where preparation meets opportunity."

"It’s not about how to achieve your dreams. It’s about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you."

And just in case, here is the video of The Last Lecture.

Weight Loss and Fitness Progress

To date I have lost 15.2 lbs since June 30, 2010. I began walking/jogging at a snails pace of 45 minutes to complete 3 miles. Over a several weeks I was able to improve my time but wasn't seeing significant results of weightloss. It was always the same 2.2lbs a week regardless if I ran 15 miles that week or if I ran none at all. At one point, I had so much going on with the house that I was not able to do an ounce of excerise for about 3 weeks and yet still I was able to lose 2.2lbs a week.

Seeing a picture of a dear friend who at 44 with a husband, 3 girls, career, and everything else in between being 45lbs lighter and just completing her first half iron man gave me the motivation to step up the program here. Tonight I decided to go for another 3 mile run. I either had some serious motivation or I was really well rested but in either case I was able to shave more time off my run and I am now down to 35:36.5 minutes.

My goal is to be able to celebrate my 35th birthday hotter than ever. Let's see how I do....

The Art of Racing in the Rain

Just finished reading "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein.

Not only did I finish this book in record time because it really was THAT GOOD, but I loved so many quotes from the book.

"That which we manifest is before us; we are the creators of our own destiny. Be it through intention or ignorance, our successes and our failures have been brought on by none other than ourselves" -

"He died that day because his body had served its purpose. His soul had done what it came to do, learned what it came to learn, and then was free to leave."

"There is no dishonor in losing the race, there is only dishonor in not racing because your are afraid to lose" - page 277

"The race is long - to finish first, first you must finish."

"That which is around me does not affect my mood; my mood affects that which is around me."

"Inside each of us resides the truth, I began, the absolute truth. But sometimes the truth is hidden in a hall of mirrors. Sometimes we believe we are viewing the real thing, when in fact we are viewing a facsimile, a distortion."

"King Karma; I know that karma is a force in this universe, and that people will receive karmic justice for their actions. I know that this justice will come when the universe deems it appropriate and it may not be in this lifetime or the next, or the one after that.... but it will come."

In addition, I am also really looking deeply into this paragraph just for self personal growth: "I wasn't convinced. Of course, I understood that a race car driver must be selfish. Success at any endeavor on an elite level demands selfishness. But for Mark Fein to say Denny should put his own needs above the needs of his family because his concurrent success in both fields was impossible was simply wrong. Many of us have convinced ourselves that compromise is necessary to achieve our goals, that all of our goals are not attainable so we should eliminate the extraneous, prioritize our desires, and accept less than the moon. But Denny refused to yield to that idea. "

Another Coupon Site

I had no idea that this existed until tonight.
Sunday Coupon Preview

How awesome is that???

Now, my next mission is to find out if it is possible to save money while still eating healthy unprocessed foods.... To Be Continued.

$3 Any Disney Movie Coupon

Received an email today for $3 off ANY Disney Movie Coupon
Unfortunately, there aren't any new releases coming this month but I am almost certain that there will be a Disney movie on sale some time this month.

Good until 7/31

Patio Decor

I was so excited today when I stopped by Target to pick up a few things and I saw that the patio furniture was on clearance for 50% off. I have been eyeballing this set for a while now and talked myself out of it until today. In addition to the set above, I also purchased the pillows that are shown and an outdoor area rug. As soon as I have my cabana drapes made and place them on the bamboo 4" thick rods that I have, I will be all set. I will FINALLY have a relaxing place outside to escape.

Traveling with Little Ones

Having just returned 4 days ago from Thailand. TSA Regulations for travelers can be review here. Liquid Rules can been seen here. If you need larger quantities for babies you are allowed to bring reasonable amounts to travel with as long as you declare them before going through security.

I flew 27 hours with absolutely NO problems at all. Surprisingly, both my kids did extremely well.

I took my car seats with the help of the GO GO Baby Travel (make sure to get the one with the single strap rather than the 2 screw one. The older model, 2 screw one is very tedious and cumbersome and frankly more annoying when you are in a hurry to deboard the plane). I was suggested to bring the car seat for my son because he is accustomed to sitting still when placed in a car seat and undoubtably, my friend was correct. He had no problems sitting in his car seat for the 27 hour flight with the occasional get up to stretch. I also, brought my daughter's car seat as well so she didn't feel left out and it would probably be more comfortable for them to take naps since they are designed for their little bodies. Also, during the flight out to Thailand, in addition to the car seats, I also gate checked my strollers rather than curb checking them and used these bags to cover the gate checked strollers. The last thing that you want to do is put your child into a soaking wet stroller because it rained at one of your lay overs when they removed the stroller from the belly of the plane. However, on the flight home, I curb checked the strollers because I knew that I only had 50 minutes to deboard, go through security and reboard another plane in Tokyo, so I knew that I needed to have minimal items in hand.

I also, brought tons of snacks (which I didn't really need because on International flights they continuously feed you every 2 hours or so). I did however, use a bag of instant oatmeal (or you can use instant soup) and request hot water which you can request on the plane. If you have purchased a seat for the child, you can request a kids meal for them (do this as far in advance as possible) on the airlines website. When you arrive, let them know that you have requested a special meal. For take off and landing, I brought empty Take and Toss Cups and asked for milk and juice once I got onto the plane and gave it to the kids as soon as we took off and about to land. Giving it to them too early, will not do you any good because they will suck it down too quickly and/or get bored with it to soon.

As far as activities, I suggest bringing some surprise new items to created a new interest for a duration of time. I bought Color Wonder packages, stickers from the dollar section of Target, Tag Reading Books, and most importantly PORTABLE DVD PLAYER. I brought 3 units and a whole binder of kids DVD's because of the duration of our flight.

Also, I am not sure if you have access to this, but because my husband travels for business often, we have Sky Club Access. I found this to be especially nice because you are removed from the mass herds of travelers and placed in a private area with an open bar, TVs, free WIFI, snacks, some have showers, and cleaner bathroom facilities. This was especially easing to the nerves because when we stopped for layovers I didn't have anxiety attacks that my kids would be scooped up by random people.

As far as medication, I brought Tylenol, Motrin (transferred from the package into travel bottles found at Target, Benedryl (they have individual perfect portions) and I asked my pediatrician for antibiotics in the unmixed powdered form (just mix with sterile water) in case of emergency since I was traveling to a developing country.

And don't forget you normal carry on bag with a change of clothes for a day just in case your bags don't make it to your destination on time.

Happy Travels!!!

Ann Taylor Loft - Sale

Awesome Sale Going on right now.

I happened to be at my second mall of the day on the hunt for clothes for our upcoming trip and happened to run into one of my favorite stores... Ann Taylor Loft.

I purchased a few dresses at $25 (50% off), a few tanks at $10, a tee at $11 and a skirt for $25.

I am loving all of these sales today. They came just in time.

Gap Sale

5/25-5/29 IN STORES

All mens and womens shorts are on sale for $25 and childrens swim suits are on sale for $15

Scholastic Book Fair

Every year I find some absolute GREAT deals at the Scholastic Warehouse Event. They hold them all over the country.

For my Florida friends, here is your information. This would be a great way to read up on your 10 books for the Borders Double Dog Dare Program and the prices are fantastic.

And DONT FORGET to register on the website to get your coupon for $10 or $25 off.

Border's Summer Reading Program

This summer if your child is 12 or under, they can participate in this free event. If they read 10 books (any one they like), they get one free (from the list here)! All you have to do is list the books that they read, fill out this form, have the parent/guardian sign it and submit it to any Borders, Borders Express, opr Waldenbooks store to choose your FREE BOOK!.

Summer Activities to Consider

Well since Ava is not exactly into dance or gymnastics anymore, I am on the search for another activity. She really has shown an interest in swimming so this may appeal to her. But I need to find other families to participate so we can have this so close to home.

Swimming:
USA Swimming - Mighty Tots Swim Team.
It's ONLY $185 (or $166.50 for Ballantrae residents) for 2 months (June 16th - August 12).
As I can see, there is only 1 person signed up for this and there needs to be a min of 6 (max of 8)members in order for this to take place.


otherwise there is:
Berkley Prep Summer Camps - For swimming it would be $60 a week - 5 hours a week (an hour a day) 8-9am, 9-10am, or 10-11am for 4-12 year olds.


Still looking into Golf and maybe a Martial Arts.

Beach Season has arrived

Victoria's Secret Swim Sale is offering 25-40% off original prices on over 200+ styles. Lucky for me I ordered 3 swim suits to start the season. Let's keep our fingers crossed that they look half way decent on me.

For Free Shipping on orders over $100 Use coupon code = SHIPVS10

or the 3 Tiered ($15 off of $100 , $30 off of $150 , or $75 off of $250) Code = SP1021829

Cannot combine codes, so I just figured out which deal was going to work out best for me by putting in the free shipping code and continuing on, then went back a step and put in the other code and continued on to compare final totals and chose the free shipping.

Homeroom Mom Duties Call

Somehow, last year (when I wasn't even classroom mom by the way), I was recruited to make scrapbooks for each of the teachers in Ava's classroom. I dedicated 2 pages to each child in her class and included a picture of the student, a thank you letter from the parent, and a drawing from the student and then included a $100 American Gift Card to each teacher. Fortunately, we were able to have 100% participation (because of my "excellent follow up skills" as described by another mother) and collected $25 from each family, which helped pay for the scrapbooks, gift cards, breakfast and flowers during teacher appreciation week.

Anyhow, for those of you that know me, I am pretty novice when it comes to scrap booking. I don't have a creative bone in my body. I am described as a "left brained" person. If you want to read more go to this Scholastics site. However, somehow it turned out to be a fantastic present which lead me to being nominated this year. Of course, I want to try to make it even better this year and in saying that I keep drawing a blank. So lucky for me a friend turned me onto Studio Calico for inspiration. Who knew that there was a world of such beautiful art.

Poor Allan, loses me to another site to be addicted to.

Getting Started on Couponing

So you asked how I do coupons.

Here's what I do.

Invest in a 2 Extra Large Binders, and a box of clear protective sheets that you can stick into those binders. Both of which you can get very very cheap at Staples or Office Depot.

First, every Sunday get the newspaper, there is always at least 2 coupon inserts, 1 Smart Source, and 1 Red Plum. During the first week of the month there is also and Proctor and Gamble insert as well. The key to this is getting as many inserts as possible. So if you know of people (or your local Starbucks) who would normally just pitch the coupons, grab them. Once you have them, you don't need to cut out anything. What you do is stick the date on the front of them and file in your binder in chronological date order. I like to save at least 3 months of coupons total.

Every week in the Wednesday paper, is the Publix store ad for the sales that will begin on Thursday. Take the time to go through the ad and match the "Buy One Get Ones - BOGO" or the sales to this site: Coupon Mom (I think that you have to sign up, but it is free). Once you have done so, on the left hand side of the site is a button for "Grocery Coupon Database". Once you have opened it, select your state and then "Go". Once you are in the new window, start entering in what is on sale and see if a coupon comes up. For example, I searched for "Cottonelle" and this came up.


04-18 S 05-29 Kleenex Cottonelle Toilet Paper any two 4 pack or one 12 pack or larger $0.50 1


Which is your directory 04-18 S is the date 4/18 insert = Smart Source, 05-29 is the date the coupon expires, then it's the coupons description and then the amount of the coupon and the number 1 is the amount that you have to purchase.

Remember when I said that the key is to have multiples of each insert? It's because if Cottonelle every goes BOGO then you can use 2 coupons, one for the "Buy One" and one for the "Get One" making the deal that much sweeter.

The other key point, is to stockpile on the non perishable, After doing this for a while you will notice a pattern of when things go on sale. For example, Pepsi and Coke alternate weeks of going on sale. Thomas' English Muffins are usually BOGO every 5 or so weeks. So you purchase enough of whatever product you need to get you through the pattern.

So that is the basic system to couponing. Then after a while you get VERY addicting to saving money that it will become a game. Today I save 65% of my grocery bill by combining coupons to BOGO's.

The other sites that I love for saving money are:

Hip to Save (this women is AWESOME, this women makes it idiot proof, she breaks down Target, CVS, Walgreens and several other stores and tells you how to get the deals. She also tells you about EVERY freebie down the road. We get Glamour, Cosmo, Muscle and Fitness (yeah still trying to get the muscles and fitness into my routine), Road and Track, Baseball Digest, Elle, Metroplitan Home, Parents, Parenting, Working Mother, Golfer's Digest, Better Homes and Garden's, Oprah, Real Simple, and a TON of other magazines for FREE!!!!!

The thing that I love about her sight is that every week she breaks down Target's ads for me and so I can stockpile things like deodorant, soap, shampoo, paper towels, and toilet paper on the CHEAP!! The other key thing to her site is to check it often, if you can throughout the day.

IheartPublix.com ( If you don't want to match the ads yourself, she does most of the matching for you. Sometimes, she misses a couple of things so I like to use her site first and then go over the ad again for a review.)

The other thing to do is SAVE all the loose coupons you find in magazines, product boxes, and wherever else you find them and scan through them to see if you have any match up to the sale ads.

My personal next step is to conquer the CVS, Walgreens thing because I have heard that you can save TONS and get lots of free stuff there too.

I know that this seems like a lot of work, but saving $50 dollars or more is worth the amount of time it takes. Think of it this way, you will be making more than $50/hr if you take the time and you will spend less time wondering around the store. You will also, go into the store with a plan and spend less because you won't impulse buy.

Decorating the Patio

Currently, our patio consist of a hodge podge of items that we collected over the past 12 years of being together. Allan, being from Miami, and I love the look and feel of the cabanas of the South Beach 5 star hotels. So I want to see if I can re-create the crisp white linens and clean dark lines over looking crystal blue waters.

The backyard make over is one that will consist of several different stages. Within the next year and a half, we plan to install our pool, a basketball half court, and purchase all new decor. So as I decorate I need to stay focused on what we want the over all look and feel to be.

This is the feel that I am going for. This cabana is located at the Fountain Bleu south beach.

This is located at the Bal Harbor Resort and Spa.

Pottery Barn Catalog

I thought that I was getting lucky when I find out that Bed Bath and Beyond was going to start carrying the outdoor drapes. I thought for sure that they were going to be much less expensive than the ones at Pottery Barn but unfortunately, they are the same price. Well sort of. The price of the 50" x 96" is $59.00 but if I use multiple 20% off coupons at Bed Bath and Beyond they would be $41.20 each (times 7 the panels that I need equals $330.40). This is more than I really wanted to pay seeing that they are white outdoor drapes that will probably get beat up. Although, on the other hand, they are made of the Sunbrella fabric which is really nice fabric that holds up well outdoors. Not to mention the fact that I will need the 4 drapery rods to accompany them at $89.00 each ($358.00). There definitely has to be a cheaper way.

Aha. I can purchase this fabric from Fabric Guru and have them made at $7.95 a yard, needing about 22 yards including 1 extra yard for error. That would equal $174.90 plus $4.99 shipping. Voila.

Dog Beach at Honeymoon Island

Bentley enjoying the beach
the kids... not so much.

After a night out with several of my favorite friends, I was thankful that the kids slept in until 8am. By the time we all woke up, Allan had already completed his morning swim routine consisting of his 3 mile swim (better him than me because I would be sure to drown after the first lap).

After getting them ready for the day, I thought "You know, I want to do something nice for Bentley." Prior to kids, we would always take him to the dog park, long walks and now he makes it 4 houses down the street if he's lucky and I have a few minutes to spare. And if he is super lucky he gets to play in the backyard because normally, I would rather not have surprise land mines for my kids to find. So on a whim, I thought "hey lets pack a quick bag of towels and some beach toys and make it a family field trip".

Have you ever had an idea that worked so perfectly in your head, but once you went through the motions you quickly realized that it actually was one of the worse mistakes ever? Although, it was overcast today, there were gale force winds at the beach causing sand to fly EVERYWHERE.

Tip #1 - Avoid taking young children don't understand that they can't wipe the face with the sand covered hands.

Tip #2 - Bring chairs and not towels because toddlers don't understand that the towel is not a place for them to shovel the sand onto.

Tip #3 (The best one of them all) GO to the dog beach with just the dog and yourself and really enjoy it.

Hind site, there are a few alterations I would have made to my plans but to my surprise, Bentley was FANTASTIC and did really well at the beach.

The Journey Begins Here

The past 5 years have flown by. Dedicating my life to every member of my family, my husband, my daughter, my son and even my awesome but sometimes annoying dog, Bentley. Some where along the line, I feel like I lost a part of who I once was and I am ready to bring it all back in addition to being a fantastic mom.

Let's see.... I want to be, you know, "that" mom. No, not that mom, but "THAT" mom. The mom who has it all, or who appears to have it all. The gorgeous mom with the killer body, completely in fashion, well organized, knowledgeable, well read, who has the time for everyone and everything. Many people say that those moms don't exist, because somewhere along the line, they lack somewhere. Well, I am going to set the bar high and if I happen to fall short, well then at least I gave it everything I had.

Which brings us to why, I am starting this new blog. My plan is to stay organized here. Those that know me, know that I am overly organized, some times OCD. This will allow for me to keep all of my thoughts all collectively in one place.

Here goes nothing.