Better late than never!

First off, I MUST apologize that it's been over two weeks since I last blogged! Isn't it crazy how time seems to get away from us? I can hardly believe that it's nearly October. In the two weeks since I last blogged, however, Mr. C and I have accomplished a lot as far as our move is concerned. In addition to getting the move paperwork done (fingers and toes crossed that it all goes smoothly when December arrives!) we also took a brief trip out to San Antonio to see the city and to find a place to live. Neither of us had ever been to Texas before, let alone San Antonio, so we were both really excited to see if it lived up to the hype. We both really loved the city, and are now even more ecstatic to move in December! We decided on a townhouse that is walking distance (on a nice day, if you feel like some exercise!) to a new shopping center with restaurants, a movie theater and shops! The area feels really safe and friendly, and we can't wait to make it our new home! It seems like everything with the move is coming together quite nicely, so now we just wait until we're a little bit closer to December so I can start packing things up! Mr. C has also started school, which means I will have a lot more free time on my hands to blog and take on a few projects that I've been wanting to do. I'm sure yall will get to hear all about my latest endeavor of making all of our Christmas cards by hand! There are sure to be some good stories that come out of that, since I'm not the most crafty person in the world. Thankfully a dear friend here in Pensacola is a Stampin' Up demonstrator and will serve as my fearless mentor and ensure that I don't burn the house down as I try to emboss for the first time!

Anyway, I know that in my last post I said I would introduce you to the fabulous world of couponing! I promise I'll get to that tomorrow (yes, it really WILL be tomorrow... not three weeks from now!) but today I want to blog about something else, so bear with me. How many times are you in a store, at a festival or perusing online and you see advertisements to enter a sweepstakes or drawing to win some sort of fabulous prize? How often do you think to yourself, "nobody ever wins those... all that's going to happen is that I'm going to get a ton of junk mail and solicitors!" Well, I'm here to tell you that's not entirely the truth.

You see, I've never considered myself a super lucky person. I would occasionally enter sweepstakes but never won anything and pretty much thought there was no point in entering. Well, enter Pensacola and me having lots of free time on my hands to peruse the internet and all of its vast knowledge. I found a website all about people who earn their livings by entering sweepstakes! Who knew? After a fleeting moment of envisioning myself sailing around the world in my yacht, with my private butler and fabulous wardrobe that I had all won by filling out some online forms, I crashed back to reality. However, I was intrigued. If people are out there winning cars and boats and thousands of dollars, why not give it a shot? So I did. I'll share with you what I've learned and how you may be able to go sailing around the world in your yacht, or at least get some free groceries!

First, I learned that some contests are way more "winnable" than others. For example, if it's a highly advertised contest that's open to the entire country with one grand prize and nothing else... you're probably not going to win. However, if it's a contest only open to residents of a few states or only open to people attending a certain festival, and there are lots of prizes to be won, then you have a pretty good shot! The key is to focusing on these contests, and entering as often as you're allowed to. For example, Publix (our local grocery store chain for you non-Floridians) constantly has online contests going on that you can enter daily. They often give out hundreds of Publix gift cards, with the grand prize often being thousands of dollars in free groceries. Well, I started entering these daily (or at least whenever I happened to remember!) a couple of months ago, and I've already won a $50 Publix gift card and yesterday I checked my mail to find a $100 Publix gift card! That's like $150 in free money, since goodness knows Mr. C and I spend a lot of money already at Publix! The blog "I Heart Publix" has a listing of various Publix sweepstakes going on that you can find here.

The second thing I learned is that it's a good idea to create a separate e-mail address just for entering contests. I'll be honest, I very rarely receive any spam in my "sweepstakes" e-mail address, since most sweepstakes you enter will give you the option of not receiving any e-mails from the company. Regardless, it does help give me peace of mind about giving out my e-mail knowing that I'm keeping my personal e-mail address safe. You do usually have to give out your address and phone number so you can be notified if you win, so it's important to make sure you're entering a legitimate sweepstakes. I make sure to only enter contests from companies that I know are legitimate and that are hosted on the company's main web page. Just use common sense, and if it seems fishy or too good to be true, it probably is! The website Sweeties Sweeps is run by a woman who enters sweepstakes as a hobby and has won everything from trips to cars to cash and everything in between. She posts a list, called Sweeties Picks, of sweepstakes that she deems to be most "winnable" based on the number of prizes, etc. It's a great place to start if you're feeling lucky and want to try your hand at this whole thing!

Now, I know this may sound like I've gone a little bit crazy, however I wouldn't be telling you about all of this for no reason. Just in the past six months, I've won $150 in groceries, various other gift cards, coupons for free products, a lot of random other things, and what really inspired me to write this post is that this morning I woke up to a phone call telling me that I had won a $200 gas card that I entered to win at the Pensacola Seafood Festival this weekend! Who doesn't love free stuff, especially if it's free money?! Trust me, after all of this, I'll be making sure I enter every local contest and sweepstakes I find, and even give some bigger ones a shot too! Who knows, maybe my dream of sailing around the world will become a reality!!!

Have any of you won anything great in a contest or drawing?

Couponing... not just for little old ladies!

I know that when I mention coupons, it may conjure up images of cute little old ladies pushing their carts through the grocery store at a snail's pace. However, couponing is definitely not just for little old ladies! What if I told you that I got everything pictured above (10 SoBe Lifewaters, Dove for Men Body Wash, Dove Shampoo and Conditioner, two Degree deodorants, two packs of Trident Layers, and a sample of Skintimate shaving cream) for a whopping 50 cents? Well it's true, and it was really easy to do! Since I started couponing earlier this year, we have not paid for any toothpaste, body wash, mouthwash, deodorant, razors or shaving cream, yet the area under our sinks are overflowing with extras of each product! These are all things that you can easily get for free with coupons, and each week I get lots of other fun things for free or next to nothing as well.

Now, you may be thinking, "Eh... coupons... not really worth my time and effort!" but let me put it into perspective for you. Let's look at the things I mentioned above that you can stop paying for if you put a little time and effort into couponing:

Toothpaste (bought 6x a year at $3.50 per tube) - $21

Body Wash (bought 6x a year at $5 a bottle) - $30

Mouthwash (bought 12x a year at $4 a bottle) - $48

Deodorant (bought 6x a year at $3 a stick) - $18

Razors (bought 12x a year at $7 a razor/cartridge) - $84

Shaving Cream (bought 6x a year at $4 a can) - $24

Grand Total: $225

That's a Lilly dress, or a lot of consignment shopping ;) Those are conservative estimates, too, and are for only one person. If you're married, you could double that and save $450 a year just by couponing and getting those items for free. Other things that I rarely, if ever, pay for include detergent, paper towels, tissues, lip gloss, and lots more! If I were to factor all of those things in and add them up, I would say that you could easily save well over $1000 a year, and there are some couponers who save way more than that. No matter where you are in life or what your income is, who couldn't use an extra grand? 

I know that when I first got into couponing, I was really worried about switching the brands that I loved. I was always a Crest girl, for example, and didn't ever branch out when going down the toothpaste aisle. With coupons, you get the opportunity to try different brands if you want, and if you don't like them you really have nothing to lose since they were free in the first place. Also, most brands put out great coupons, so we currently have a stockpile of every type of Crest and Colgate toothpaste you could think of! I'm still a Crest fan, but I'll admit that Colgate isn't too bad either! I also have more scents of body wash than you could ever imagine :) 

So are you convinced and ready to get started? Over the next couple of days, I'll give you a crash course in couponing so you can start saving. Before tomorrow's post, make sure you buy a copy of your Sunday newspaper, since that's still the best place to get coupons.

Let me leave you with this question... what would you spend an extra $1000 on?

Michael Aram and Moving Mayhem!

When I last blogged (which I admit was too long ago!) I let you in on my secret of taking shortcuts when cooking but using great serving pieces! I shared some Arthur Court pieces with you that I loved, and also mentioned one of my other favorite designers - Michael Aram. I think that Michael Aram is less well-known than Arthur Court, however his designs are similarly priced and, in my opinion, just as cool! I discovered Michael Aram as we were registering at Bloomingdale's for the wedding and absolutely fell in love with his Lemonwood collection. Here are some pieces from that collection...

We have this cutting board, and I just love it. It looks even prettier in person!

Couldn't you just see yourself on a beautiful wrap-around front porch pouring friends sweet tea from this fabulous pitcher into...

...these glasses?!

I've also fallen in love with many more of his pieces including the ones below...

Love this cheese board! We registered for it and were blessed enough to receive it, and I use it all the time! When it's not in use, I have it proudly displayed on our shelf... it's too pretty to stick in a cabinet somewhere!

How neat is this wine bottle rest? What a statement piece to put on your counter or wine bar!

How stinkin' cute is this cat bowl? Note that the feet of the bowl are little mice. There is a matching cheese board that's also adorable!

We also have this platter, but you will never believe how much I paid for it! The grand total (including shipping!) was a whopping $7! How did I get such a good deal, you ask?! Gilt Groupe! Read on to find out about this gem of a website!

Much like RueLaLa, the other sample sale site I posted about last post, Gilt Groupe is a site that offers great designer goods at discounted prices. Upcoming sales include Oliver Peoples, Swarovski Jewelry and Marc Jacobs. They also feature Michael Aram from time to time, which is the perfect time to start your own collection! So what are you waiting for? Sign up now by clicking here!

One of my favorite perks to these sample sale sites is that you get credits to spend whenever you share the site with a friend. I would definitely share these great sites regardless of any free credits, but it is nice to get some free money to put towards your purchases. That's how I got that fabulous platter for $7! Gilt Groupe gives you $25 to spend each time one of your friends makes their first purchase. I had one friend buy something, and then found that platter for $32 (originally almost $80... so already a great buy!) It happened to be on a day that Gilt was giving free shipping (which they do from time to time!) so all I had to pay was $7! That's over 90% off!

On a completely different note, Mr. C and I have begun to try and figure out our move with the Navy. While we're not moving for another two and a half months, we're trying to get a head start since Mr. C has his orders already. We've only been at it about two days, and it's already been a huge pain in the butt! The Navy, in true government fashion, has tried to automate things by making everything streamlined through one website. The issue? The website only works on Windows computers, and we are a Mac family! What's a girl to do?! A lot of independent research, that's what! Did you know that there is an entire government memo with how to handle plastic Rubbermaid totes during a move? Yes, there's a plastic tote protocol! Also, you get an extra 500 pounds of weight for professional equipment, including, but not limited to, your astronaut spacesuits. Yes, that is one of the examples that is given. You can't, however, have the movers ship your fish, birds or reptiles, in case you somehow thought that was a good idea! Oh, the joys of the military.

[All images courtesy of MichalAram.com!]

Serving pieces can make all the difference...

I have a little confession to make... I'm not the best cook. I get by ok in the kitchen and most of my meals are edible, however I am by no means a gourmet chef. However, I firmly believe that no matter what you're cooking, if you serve it on a nice platter or in a beautiful bowl, it makes the dish ten times more enjoyable! Presentation is everything, so even if you buy something ready made at the store, you can dress it up and serve it on one of your own platters, and everybody will believe you spent hours slaving over a hot stove to make it! I won't tell ;)

Two of my favorite serving piece designers are Arthur Court and Michael Aram. Both make pieces that are absolutely to die for, and are reasonably enough priced that you can buy lots of pieces to mix and match your table! What's even better is that both are featured frequently on online sample sale sites, making the deal even sweeter!

Arthur Court is on RueLaLa, one such site today! Check out some of the pieces I'm loving below...

This would be perfect for a tailgate at the Swamp! On RueLaLa right now, it's only $29!

In case you're a Noles fan, like Mr. C, you can pick up this napkin holder for tailgating at Doak!

How stinkin' cute are these little salt and pepper shakers for Halloween, which will be here before we know it?! 

This looks like such a useful piece, since the casserole dish comes out for baking. This is one of those pieces you can bake and serve in, making it super easy to have a beautiful presentation! It's only $49, too... I feel like you would definitely get your money's worth with this piece!

I could definitely keep going, since those are just a few of my favorites! If you're not already signed up for RueLaLa, you can click here to sign up! Every day they feature great designers at even better prices. In the past, I've bought Lilly dresses for $50 and our 10 piece Calphalon pots and pans set (retail of about $900!) for $200. 

Game Day Dresses!

We are one week away from one of the best times of year... college football season! I love college football, although UVA, my alma mater, is not exactly what you would call a football powerhouse. Let's put it this way - going into the 2010 season, we're ranked second.... worst team in the country! However, what us 'Hoos lack in football prowess we make up for in game day fashion. While this will sadly be my first football season away from Charlottesville, I am currently living in the middle of SEC territory so almost every shop I go in has dresses in school colors. Lucky for me, Auburn is not too far from us and they have the same colors as UVA (fun fact - the professor who started Auburn's football team was a Wahoo, which is why he suggested navy and orange for Auburn's colors!) so I have seen more than my fair share of adorable game day dresses perfect for tailgating on The Lawn. Most of these have been by a local company called Judith March. Below are some Judith March dresses I'm loving right now!

I love the orange seersucker bow on this navy blue dress!

While not school colors, this dress looks like the perfect weight for a crisp fall day!

We get a lot of Bama fans around here too, and I think this crimson dress is adorable. 

Check out the Judith March blog to check out more pictures of their great dresses! 

(Images courtesy of Judith March and the Sassy Britches Boutique Online Store!)

Redbox... for designer purses?

As most of you know, we're making the move to San Antonio at the end of the year. Being the type-A person that I am, I spend most of my free time researching anything and everything I can find about San Antonio and all it has to offer. In doing my research, I stumbled upon this new concept that will be making its way to San Antonio and other cities around the country soon.

Allow me to introduce the Chirp vending machine. Brought to you by the makers of Redbox, my favorite rental DVD vending machine company, it is a vending machine that will be placed at grocery stores to vend "affordable luxury goods at up to 75% off retail." Examples listed on the website include brands like Steve Madden and even Gucci! You literally stop with your chicken breasts and milk in hand, scroll through the items on the screen, select the luxury good of your choice, and voila... out it comes! I remember when I was younger, I always wanted to stop and play with the claw machines outside of stores in order to try and win that stuffed animal I absolutely had to have. I guess now I'll have to fight off the urge to stop and buy the latest designer bag?

I'm really not sure how I feel about a Gucci vending machine. What are your thoughts on it? Do you think it will catch on around the country or totally flop?

Loving Lilly (Online!) For Less

I love online shopping. There's just something fun about having anything you could ever possibly want to buy at your finger tips. One of the best parts of online shopping is that you can get practically anything you want in your size, and at the best price possible. I have a few tips that I always use whenever I buy anything online!

1. Always check for a coupon code!
If you're anything like me, you get a million e-mails a day from Victoria's Secret, J.Crew and just about every other store you've ever set foot in. I must admit that I hardly ever read these, but they can contain some great savings. Oftentimes, stores will put out coupon codes for great promotions like an additional percentage off or free shipping. What's even better is that there are websites like RetailMeNot and Coupon Cabin which compile all coupon codes available and put them in one easy to search place. Just search the store you're looking for, and you'll see if there's anything available!

2. Ebates!
I've already professed my love of mail, but what I love even more is getting checks in the mail! If you sign up for this neat website called Ebates.com, you can get a certain percentage of your online purchases back via check. Anytime you want to shop somewhere, like Nordstrom.com, Priceline.com or even Ebay, you go to Ebates first, log in and then search for the site you want and click through to that site. You then shop as normal, and you'll get a certain percentage back. It's usually around 2-3%, but sometimes it's much higher. It also adds up if you're doing something like booking a hotel or buying textbooks online. I've received almost $50 back simply buying things I would already buy. Ebates is safe and secure, and has been featured by a lot of different media outlets. So what are you waiting for? Sign up by clicking here and you'll get $5 right off the bat just for signing up!

3. Shop online clearance!
We've all been there. You're at a store that's having a great clearance sale and you find the most adorable skirt. It's calling your name as you peruse the racks, and you realize that you need it. Then, you check the size... surely you can squeeze into it even if it's three sizes smaller than what you would normally wear, right? You grunt, you jump, you do some quick squats in the fitting room to get yourself down to a size zero, but finally you give up, feeling defeated and leaving your skirt hanging on the rack. How can you avoid this heartbreak? Shop online! There's usually a lot better selection online and the discount is often the same (or better if you're using coupon codes and Ebates!) and most stores will allow you to return things bought online to the brick and mortar retail store. What you can do is buy several items that look cute online and are your size, try them on and return what you don't want. You can save a lot of money and heartbreak going about clearance shopping this way!

Do you all have any great online shopping tips you want to share? I'd love to hear them!