Challenge Accepted.

Everyone pretty much knows my exercise/weight battle... Well, you all at least know about my exercise battle.  Basically I hate exercising and I love food.  I wouldn't say I'm fat, but I also think I could use to loose a few lbs. 

If I do say so myself, I was HOT in college.  I think it was the fact that I hated the dorm food so I pretty much only ate salads for lunch and dinner.  (The salad bar in my dorm was amazing)  It also helped that I walked EVERYWHERE in college.  I'm sure I walked a minimum of 5 miles a day.  I would frequently come home in between classes and my dorms were always pretty far from my classes.  So yeah... easily 5 miles.  In college I could eat whatever refrain from going to the gym and not gain a lb.

When I graduated college I continued to not go to the gym.  My only exercise consisted of walking to and from work.  For the first 3.5 years after graduation this amounted to 2.5 miles of walking a day.  So I still could refrain from going to the gym, but I quickly learned I couldn't eat what I wanted without seeing the results on my hips.  A little over 1.5 years ago, I moved from the suburbs (where I would take the Metra and walk a mile to and from the office - trust me I know this doesn't add up to 2.5 I did additional walking every day too) to the city, where I got dropped off either via bus or El practically outside my building.  My daily exercise consisted of walking up 2 flights of stairs whenever I took the dog out... Yeah... I know thats awful.  So over the past year, I have gained weight, and not been happy with the way I look. 

So - this morning my good friend DecidelyDisastica asked me if I would do a challenge with her.  She knows I've been trying to figure out motivation to loose weight and she needs motivation too, so we are going to try to help each other out.  The challenge is the first person to loose 10 lbs gets a mani/pedi bought by the other person.  This will happen a total of 3 times (since we would both LOVE to lose 30 lbs)  The next 10 lbs will get a facial.  And the final 10 lbs will be a massage. 

The official weigh in starts tomorrow.  And I have to say, part of me wants to slam an entire gallon of water before my weigh in so I can have a little extra help beating DecidelyDisastica, but the other part of me doesn't want to see that number on the scale with all that water weight.  So, its doubtful that I'll slam the water.

All I have to say is - DecidelyDisastica - you are going down! :)

Wish us luck all!

B&N The Nook Blog - Free ebooks!!

Ok, seriously, how long has this been going on before I found it?!  Did you know B&N has "Free Fridays?" I love my nook, and I also love free, so this is amazing.

Go to the B&N Nook Blog here .

This is what B&N says "Each week, we ask our featured author to recommend a book or author that you may want to check out. Since authors are such passionate readers themselves, we thought you might like to find out what they love to read, too"  

Supposedly, the book they recommend is free for that day only.  So may sure to subscribe to their blog or check it out once a week to get these free books.  I scrolled through the books they have offered in the past, and I haven't heard of most of the books (well, aside from Jane Eyre and The Lord of the Flies) but I figured if an author enjoys reading it, the book can't be half bad. 

I'm going to try to download a free book on Friday and I'll let you know how it goes.

Starting to work out.

Well, its official... I'm determined to start to work out again.  I was doing real well at the beginning of the year when I was going to the gym and lifting with 2 of my friends.  Then the gym closest to work closed down and the next closest was $50 a month!  That is way more than I was previously paying, so I quit and made a promise to myself I would exercise at home.  Well I originally made that promise in March or so, and I don't think I've worked out more than once or twice since. 

A few days ago I discovered "Back On Pointe's" exercise challenges on pinterest.  She (I'm almost positive the blog writer is a she) creates mini workout challenges and posts them online.  You can see them here. I hate to admit it, when I first saw her challenges I had to look up how to do some things; I never knew what a Burpee or a Star Jump was.  But I thought they looked short and easy and would be the perfect thing to get me wanting to work out again.

Today I did the "Cardio Circuit" workout.  And I feel like today's short exercise kinda kicked my butt.  :-/ Maybe it was because these challenges are supposed to be done with no break in between exercises (and not because of how out of shape I am) but I got my heart rate pumping and started to sweat a bit! 

I hope I keep up the workouts.... I figure if I'm so obsessed with the internet or tv where I can't spare 20 minutes I have big problems to worry about. 

Dublin and Skype

C was supposed to leave for a 9 month work assignment a few weeks ago (he was supposed to leave the day before my birthday).  I was pretty upset when we found out because that would mean I would be moving into our new (to us) house all by myself.  Since my laptop was a piece of shit and the webcam didn't work, C and my parents bought me a new laptop for my birthday. :) (I'm getting to the point, I promise) The laptop is super nice and I absolutely love it. :)

So, I've had the laptop for about 10 days, and last night is the first night I got to Skype. :) It was pretty fun being able to see C, but I think the best thing was Dublin.  Dublin would hear C's voice and start searching around the whole room for C.  At first he just looked behind the laptop, then he looked behind the furniture, left the room, ran downstairs... just about everywhere.  Poor Dublin was certain C was in the house and was so confused when he couldn't find him. 

Eventually Dublin went to sleep while C and I were Skyping, but every once in a while Dublin would wake up whining.  Poor Dubby, he misses C.

C's New Blog. :)

I don't know if you noticed, but there is a new link at the top of my blog, for C's (my boyfriends) new blog!  He is in New Jersey (a long way from the midwest) for an undetermined amount of time for work.  Basically work bought him a 1 way flight and said "we will buy the return trip when we know more about when your coming back..."  Sounds great huh.  But then in this economy beggers can't really be choosey so he packed his bags and said "sign me up."

Anyway, while he is on the East Coast (perhaps we can convince him to continue to blog once he returns) he will be updating a blog to share with his family and friends.  So go check it out!  C's Blog

Sams Club non-members Welcome this weekend!

This is an FYI for everyone.  If you are a Sams Club member, get your shopping done Thursday or wait until Monday!  Every year Sams Club lets non-members come into the store to try to hook us into joining the rest of the year.  Fortunately for non-members (like myself), that weekend is this weekend!  (Just in time for back to school season)  Therefore, if I were a Sams Club member, I would avoid this store if at all possible.  I also learned that some states (Illinois is NOT one of them) have a tax free weekend.  More info here.

 :)

Free Kitchen scissors

Do you need kitchen scissors?  If so - head over to facebook here.  Fill out the order form and you should get scissors soon.  The site says it will ship in 5 days!  Not bad. :)

Good luck!  Let me know when your scissors arrive. :)

Free breakfast - Happy Birthday to me! :)

Corner Bakery has a promotion going on right now.  Free oatmeal! :)   

Chilled Berry Almond Swiss Oatmeal, a summertime favorite made fresh to order and loaded with ripe seasonal berries

Go to this site.

It seems like everyone in the entire world is trying to get free breakfast so if the site doesn't work, just continue to press refresh.  It took me about 15 minutes to get it all said and done.  You will know it went through when you get an email.

My birthday happens to be on Monday the 6th, which is one of the days they offer the free breakfast, so .... I get free breakfast on my Birthday! :) Lucky me!

Good luck!

Is this a house or apartment?

We are moving out of the apartment this Friday and moving in with my parents for a few weeks (hopefully).  The house does not have plumbing currently due to the gigantic renovations we are having done.  The house is supposed to be done in 3 weeks, but that is not going to happen.  We have been delayed due to permits.  *sigh*

But anyway, one of the things I'm looking forward to most is being able to say I live in a house, not an apartment. :) 

Whenever I order takeout, the person on the phone always says "Is this an apartment?" And up until now, I have always had to say yes... It has always made me sad.  In fact, instead of putting Apt # XXX on my return address form, I usually put Unit #XXX.  So I honestly, can't wait until I can order takeout and for them to say "is this a house or apartment?" and for me to say "House." :)  Very strange, I know.

Nook books for FREE!

 I love free books.  And I LOVE my nook. :) I bought the nook a while ago, before the kindle came out with free books.  I was all sad when the kindle had free books and the nook didn't.  However, Barnes and Noble right now has 6 books for free!!  HURRY! The deal ends July 26th.

There is a catch (but its worth it).  You have to try Barnes and Noble new browser-based reader.  Go to this site at Barnes and Noble.  Click "Read it now".  Scroll down to sample each title, then click "NOOK Book: $0.00" in the top right corner to purchase.

The books are -   

• The Vow: The True Events that inspired the movie - Kim Carpentar
• Perfect Island Getaways: 1000 places to see before you die - Patricia Schultz 
• Sex and the City - Candice Bushnell 
• Map of Bones (Sigma Force Novel) -James Rollins 
• The Boxcar Children Summer Specials - Gertrude Chandler Warner 
• Brave - Tennant Redbank 

I have no idea if these books are any good, but I'm going to give it a shot!

The other thing I'm not sure about is if these books will transfer to my Nook.  I only have a WiFi Nook, so I have to wait until I have an internet connect to see if they show up on my Nook.   I'll let you know when I know. :)

Express Coupons - Did you know?

So - by now I'm sure all Express clothing/accessory fans know of the coupons they offer.

I don't know what the coupon is called but I call it the tiered coupon.  You know what I mean, where they give you the option of taking $15 off of $50, or $30 off of $100, or $60 off of $200. The below coupon is one the express.com site has offered right now. 

 
However, because I'm addicted to coupons (and I LOVE express jeans) I also subscribe to their mailing list and gave them my personal address to send me coupons.

Well, until now, I didn't realize Express.com will offer a coupon code that may be different from the one they email you!! I got this coupon emailed to me.

If you read that, you have to spend WAAAY less money to get the deals. 

And, to make things even MORE confusing.  At the beginning of this month I got this in the mail -

So, the moral of the story is, pay attention!!! I can get $150 worth of clothes for $90 (or 40% off) instead of a measily 30% off just through their website.  Also - sign up for their emails, you can get good discount codes. :)

I'm back, with a fun Free Drink from Starbucks!

I've been gone for a long time.  Basically since I started house shopping.  Well, since then I found a house and I've been battling contractors for a while trying to update a 50's style kitchen and bathroom.  And let me tell you, there are good 50's styles... and there are bad 50's style.  A pink bathtub with baby blue wall tile is not my idea of a good 50's style bathroom. 

Anyway - The time for the fun stuff. 

July 13, Noon to 3 p.m.

 

Enjoy a free Tall (12 fl. oz.) handcrafted Starbucks Refreshers™ beverage at participating stores. No purchase necessary. Limit 1 per person.   

I will be visiting the local Starbucks after lunch on Friday for sure!  I haven't tried these, and I am ready. :)