Doggy Trench... Worth $125?

First off, like I posted about before, Dillard's is having an additional 40% off their clearance this weekend. I convinced (read: duped) Mr. C into going to the nicer Dillard's in San Antonio that sells Lilly, and it did not disappoint. While I didn't find any clothing deals I had to have, I did luck out and find the Lilly "Checking In" Water Bottle for $5 (originally $20) and adorable Lilly PJ pants for only $10 (originally $60!) It is definitely worth taking the time to make a quick trip to Dillard's and stock up on gifts or pick up a few things for yourself!

Also, I think I have blogged before about how I belong to a couple of different online survey companies. I'm the type of person who loves giving my opinion, especially my opinion on new products to help companies shape the items they're making and selling, so I love doing these types of surveys. My favorite survey company, Pinecone Research, is looking for new members to join the panel by invitation only. Pinecone is great because they pay in cash (via a check in the mail or PayPal) for each survey you fill out, and their surveys generally only take about 10-15 minutes to complete. Each survey pays $3, which isn't a whole lot, but most of them also offer product trials if you qualify. That means that they'll mail you a new product to try out and then keep, and you'll get paid some additional money. The product trials I've seen have all been from reputable manufacturers and for things that you would already be using anyway, like laundry care products, food, and paper goods. Also, it's pretty neat to try out products that aren't on the market yet and get a sneak peek at new things that will be coming out! If you're interested in filling out their initial survey to see if you meet the criteria to join (they like to keep a diverse group of panelists, so you may not qualify right away!) leave me comment with your e-mail address and I'll send you the link!

Finally, how adorable is this belted doggy trench coat by Ralph Lauren?

Scout does need a new coat.........

[Picture courtesy of the Ralph Lauren website]

Puppies, Pillows and Burritos... Oh My!

Ok... I know I've said it before, but I PROMISE I will be blogging more now! My excuse for not blogging much (ok... at all!) for the past month or two is this:

Mr. C and I adopted a puppy! Meet Scout, our new Mini-Jack (Miniature Pinscher/Jack Russell Terrier) puppy! He is so much fun, even though he is definitely a handful at times. Scout is way too smart for his own good a lot of times, and is in the "terrible twos" stage where he's gotten a little 'tude with us. Just yesterday, he jumped up on the couch and when I told him "off" he proceeded to dramatically flop down, look at me and bark. All in all though, we're having a great time with him, and he's totally spoiled!

I do have two great deals to share with you today!

First, if you live near a Dillard's, try to stop in ASAP! They just marked all of their clearance an additional 40% off, and there are great deals to be had. Our Dillard's here had tons of cute shoes and boots (originally $100-200) for less than $20. While I love shopping their clothes and shoes when they have great sales, my favorite department to shop for bargains is the home department. I've bought all sorts of great gifts, decor items, bedding, etc. for a fraction of the cost. I've been wanted to get some new throw pillows and freshen up our living room for awhile, but with the new puppy I did not want to spend $80+ a pillow in case they fell victim to a teething pup. Well today at Dillard's I found three fabulous Michael Kors pillows (each originally $70+) for only $12! I also found the softest black zebra throw for $15, and this adorable crown spreader for $4! I'm thinking about heading to the other Dillard's near us this evening with Mr. C "so he can get some new dress shirts..." and so I can see what the other Dillard's has in their home department! ;)

Mr. C is OBSESSED with Chipotle. When we lived in Pensacola (where the closest Chipotle was six hours away...) he had major withdrawals and would literally go to Chipotle first stop whenever we went home to visit family. If he could, we would have Chipotle for dinner probably every night, and lunch most days as well. I was so excited to learn that you can score a coupon for buy one, get one free Chipotle (burritos, tacos, salads and bowls) by going to the fan page for the new show America's Next Great Restaurant, liking it, watching the quick promo video and then printing your coupon! Looks like Mr. C and I may be going to Chipotle for dinner tonight!

(Images from here and here)

Slow Cooker Love!

So sorry for the total lack of posts in the past month and a half or so. You all know how crazy the holidays can be, and then when you add in the stress (and fun!) of moving to a new place, it's quite an adventure. Mr. C and I are slowly but surely getting settled into San Antonio, and we've both fallen in love with the city already! It's such a neat place with lots of culture to it, and the food is absolutely to die for. I'm a huge fan of Tex-Mex (especially since it's so corn based and usually pretty gluten-free!) and San Antonio is the Tex-Mex capital of the world. Now, I just need to find some good Pilates classes to make sure all of this great food doesn't go straight to my butt!

Speaking of food, one of my resolutions this year is to use my slow cooker more often. I love the fact that you can plop everything in there, turn it on and forget about it while you go about your day. There is nothing more satisfying than coming home after a long day out and about to dinner already cooked and waiting for you! Even better, I've been using the Reynold's Crock-Pot Liners, so when we're done I can just pitch the liner and not even have to clean the pot. Really, the main reason I hadn't used my crock-pot more than a handful of times in the first year of marriage was simply because I thought all crock-pot recipes involved boring old chicken in some bland sauce. Totally not the case!

I found the most amazing blog called "A Year of Slow Cooking" where Stephanie, the blogger, made a resolution to use her slow cooker everyday in 2008. The result is this wonderful blog filled with outside the box recipes for everything from main courses to drinks and desserts, all made with the crock-pot! I've already made quite a few of her recipes, and have the Margarita Chicken cooking as I write. I think my favorite so far has been the Thai Beef. This took literally five minutes to put together and was as simple as opening the can of coconut milk, opening the bottle of peanut satay sauce, pouring both onto the beef and making sure it was good and saucy, and finally dumping in a bag of baby carrots. Then I hit "cook" and walked away for eight hours. Like magic, that evening I had a delicious and healthy meal. When we were done eating, I pitched the liner, put the crock-pot away and my kitchen was still completely clean. That was the moment I fell in love with my crock-pot.

Do yall have any good slow cooker recipes? I'm always on the hunt!

Great Deals on Magazines!

Sorry that my posts have been brief lately... between getting settled in the new city and the holidays, I haven't had too much time to blog! I'll keep trying to post great deals I find, though, and after the first of the year, you can expect a more lengthy blog post! Until then...

DiscountMags.com is offering some great deals on a few magazines that make great gifts. Hurry though, there are only limited quantities of these deals and the absolute latest they'll be available is 12/20 (today!) at 11:59 PST. 

ESPN Magazine is only $2.99 per year when you enter code 1143 at checkout! Perfect gift for a husband, dad or brother... what guy doesn't love ESPN?

Golf Digest is only $3.99 per year with code 1804 at checkout! I ordered this for Mr. C since he is a golf junkie! I'm sure you all know one of those :)

Glamour is also only $3.99 per year when you use code 7497. A great treat for yourself or any other females on your list.

The next two would make great gifts for any mom-to-be or new mom. What a great gift that keeps giving for a baby shower!

Parenting: The Early Years is only $4.99 total for a two year subscription when you use code 9902.

Parents Magazine is only $5.99 for a three year subscription when you use the code 7735.

If you're scrambling for a last minute gift for Christmas, you could always subscribe somebody to one of these magazines and go to the store, buy the current issue and wrap it up with a note that more are on the way!

Also, note that these DO NOT auto-renew so you don't have worry about your credit card being charged again after a year if you don't cancel. I HATE it when companies do that, don't you?!

Free Yogurt!

Since I'm following a gluten free diet, breakfast tends to be a struggle for me. I can't have any yummy pastries or baked goods and a lot of cereals and granola bars are not gluten free either. One thing I eat in the mornings a lot is yogurt, either by itself or blended into smoothies. Yoplait is giving out a FREE cup of Yoplait Original Yogurt if you go here and sign up! Enjoy :)

Great deal on movie tickets and cereal!

I just wanted to make a quick post to let you in on a great deal that I found! General Mills is running a promotion where you buy two specially marked boxes of certain cereals (Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charms, Reese's Puffs, Trix and Honey Nut Cheerios,) enter the codes from these boxes here, and then get a printable voucher for a free movie ticket! To see the list of participating theaters, you can visit this website. There are quite a few theaters that accept the "movie cash" that you get, and you're sure to find one close to you. We have almost 20 theaters that will honor the free movie ticket within 30 miles of our zip code!

If you're anything like Mr. C and I, you love going to movies but hate how outrageously expensive the prices seem to be recently! Well, even if you buy two boxes full price at about $3 a box, that's only $6 for a movie ticket... way cheaper than any theater's prices around here, and you get two boxes of cereal to either eat or donate to a food pantry! To make it an even sweeter deal, you can use coupons or sales that stores have going on. There is a $1/2 coupon from 11/14 General Mills insert to save you some money. Also, keep an eye out for special sales going on. Publix often has these cereals buy one get one free, which combined with the coupon would make an amazing deal.

In case any of you are military wives, here's the deal I found at the commissary that inspired this post (the deal is only good through tomorrow though, so hurry!)
Cinnamon Toast Crunch (Mr. C's favorite... he's such a kid at heart!) was on special for $2.25
The commissary had coupons on the shelf for $0.75 off one box, bringing the price down to $1.50 a box.
I forgot to check if the $0.75 qs were store or manufacturer, but if they were store coupons, you could also use the $1/2 manufacturers coupon to bring the price down to two boxes for $2! If you can't combine the two, it still makes the deal $3 for two boxes of cereal and a movie ticket!

Make sure you look for the boxes that are clearly marked across the front of the box "FREE Movie Ticket!" Also, once you enter the code on the website, you have sixty days to use the ticket. You can enter the codes up until August 2011, so if you're not planning on using them for awhile, you can hang onto them and enter them when you're ready!

Finally... a post!

So sorry for the lengthy delay between posts! Between Thanksgiving and our move out to Texas, I haven't had much free time lately! We made it out here safely last week, and thankfully all of our personal belongings arrived on Monday. So far the move has been relatively uneventful, and for that I am VERY thankful! I've already fallen in love with San Antonio and am really looking forward to exploring all that the city has to offer. We've already checked out the outlet mall in San Marcos, and I had the chance to shop at a Pottery Barn/Williams-Sonoma/West Elm outlet. I thought that I had died and gone to heaven! If you've never had the opportunity to go to one, just picture a building slightly smaller than your average Target but completely filled with fabulous kitchen and home supplies, accessories and decor and all at discount prices. I really need to find a job, because I can already tell that it's going to be a DANGEROUS store!

On an unrelated note, today marks the 111th Army-Navy game! I had the opportunity to attend two Army-Navy games during Mr. C's time at the Naval Academy, and it is one of the most spectacular things I've ever seen. It's always a game filled with so much tradition and patriotism, not to mention fun! If you have the chance, tune in today at 2:30 EST on CBS and check it out. It's an awesome sight to see these young men duke it out on the football field while knowing that off the field they'll all be working together to keep our country safe. It will make you very proud to be an American!

With that said...

Go Navy! Beat Army!
(Image found here)