December Deals & Steals

Like for most people, December is a jam-packed month of buying. And, I must admit, I'm not the best holiday deal hunter. I hate black Friday and you won't see me bum rushing a store on the day after Christmas either. Normally, I don't leave myself enough time to buy gifts and mass purchase things on Amazon instead. This post also won't be as robust as it could be since I don't want to give away what I spent on everyone's gifts. So, here it goes....

1. Wii Sports Resort, $29. Original price, $50. The deals website we frequent posted about a random decrease in price for this game on Amazon. It was down to $40. As a past incentive for pre-ordering a different game, Joe also had a $10 code for any Wii game. End result, a $20 savings. Pretty good for a video game. Free shipping, of course.

2. Spider-Man 3 (Blu-ray), Wedding Crashers (Blu-ray), The Gladiator (Blu-ray), and Knocked Up. 4 DVDs, 3 of them blu-rays, $36. This was an Amazon black friday deal. I just went back on the website to add up with the same dvds cost today - $71. That's a savings of $35.

3. Wrap dress from Banana Republic, $37 thanks to a sale price, $10 off reward certificate and $15 off birthday certificate.

4. Two large jar Yankee Candles at $10 each thanks to Bed, Bath & Beyond 50% off sale plus a coupon for an additional 20% off our entire order. That's a savings of $30.

5. $34 of Christmas decorations for $17. This includes 3 boxes of glass ornaments and 2 mini Christmas trees. This is what happens when you end up in Target on the day after Christmas.

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas!

The Blizzard of 2009

On Saturday, December 19th I awoke to a foot of snow already on the ground. By the time I went to sleep that night it had snowed almost another foot. On the 20th I measured about 21 inches of snow. Crazy! It has been a really long time since I've seen so much white stuff.


If you haven't figured it out by now, I love snow. Joe and I were watching the news the other night - the big story, of course, being how much snow we were getting - and they were interviewing people in the area. Well, one interviewee appeared on the screen with the caption under her name being "snow enthusiast" as she expressed her joy for the current weather situation. Joe immediately said, "That's what you are. A snow enthusiast!" Well, I completely agree.

We've played in the snow, dug Joe's car out using dustpans (you see, we thought there was no need to own a shovel because we pay our homeowners associations to take care of that kind of stuff...well all normalcy went out the window when 2 feet of snow fell from the sky), and just enjoyed watching everyone outside, slipping and sliding around on foot and in their cars. Today (Monday) we even got off work! How can you not love snow?

Tequila...I love it!

We recently returned from a little vacation in Mexico. Last weekend we were in bathing suits by the pool and this weekend we are waiting for the predicted 10-20 inch snowfall. Crazy! We traveled Thursday through Monday so we spent about three and a half days in Mexico. We stayed at the Iberostar Tucan in Playa del Carmen which is about an hour south of Cancun. Our favorite travel buddies, Jill and Adam, were along for the ride as well. It was a vacation all about sun, relaxing, and drinking and eating until we burst. I believe those are essential parts of a great getaway!

The pool was our favorite place to be. Especially with a drink in hand....


At night, we enjoyed having dinner together and catching the show at the resort.

We really had a great time. The weather was beautiful and overall it was just a much needed break. You can view all of my pictures here.

Which brings me to our travel year in review (2009):

January - Nevada & Arizona to visit Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon
February - Deep Creek Lake in Western Maryland for skiing
April - Italy. We visited Venice, Florence, and Rome.
July - Williamsburg, VA for a little Water Country USA action
September - Kill Devil Hills, NC. Our anniversary at the OBX
October - Elon, NC for homecoming
December - Playa del Carmen, Mexico for some fun in the sun

Not too shabby! Here's to more of the same in 2010!

Happy Birthday to Me

Since my last post, I've turned 26 and gone to Mexico. It has been a nice couple weeks. I haven't been able to blog so now I'm playing a little catch up.

For the big 2-6, I celebrated with my wbffs at the Melting Pot in Annapolis. We indulged in tons of yummy fondue (spinach/artichoke cheese and smores chocolate are still my favs!). This was the Saturday before my bday. A highlight of the evening was that my friend Jill requested a 3 burner table so we were able to get a lot more pots to dip in. The restaurant was not very crowded because it was a snowy day and people were staying indoors.


My actual birthday day was just another day at work but Joe and I went out to Public House at the National Harbor afterward. It was a very lovely evening. Joey showered me with wonderful gifts.

Also worth noting is the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert we attended the day after my birthday. Joe and I are both fans of their Christmas music so when I saw they were coming to D.C. around my birthday, I snagged some tickets. Overall, we enjoyed ourselves. It was a 3 hour concert but the middle hour we could have done without. Instead of the excitement of all their usual instruments, much of this hour was solo singers and low energy music. I was tuckering out, especially since the concert started 30 minutes late, but the third hour redeemed them as they switched back to what we came to hear.

What is the Trans-Siberian orchestra? You've probably heard them.....

Dinner at Our House - Chicken and Basil Calzones

We actually had this meal last week but I still wanted to share. It is good for you but it felt like we were indulging in something bad - a true sign of a good recipe! We definitely plan to make this again. It is from Cooking Light. And speaking of Cooking Light, I recently scored a year's subscription to their magazine for $5.

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 pound ground chicken breast
• 3/4 cup prepared pizza sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1 (13.8-ounce) can refrigerated pizza crust dough
• 1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 425°.

2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add garlic and chicken to pan; sauté 5 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink, stirring to crumble. Stir in pizza sauce and pepper. Reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in basil. Let stand 10 minutes.

3. Unroll dough onto a baking sheet coated with cooking spray; cut dough into quarters. Pat each portion into an 8 x 6–inch rectangle. Divide chicken mixture evenly among rectangles; top each serving with 2 tablespoons cheese. Working with one rectangle at a time, fold dough in half over filling, pinching edges to seal. Repeat procedure with remaining rectangles. Bake at 425° for 12 minutes or until golden.

The recipe makes 4 calzones so it was 2 meals for us.

Credit: Cooking Light

Thumbs up for Thanksgiving

Just a quick update on this weekend's holiday festivities. On Thanksgiving day, we went to the Guido's house for a traditional Thanksgiving feast. And on Friday, we headed to Delaware to do it all over again. We had tons of turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, dumplings, sweet potatoes, rolls, etc. Not to mention, the yummy desserts. We also found time to decorate our house AND my mom's house for Christmas. Phew!

We are getting in the holiday spirit around here...



And in other news, we were happy to learn that my brother will be home from Afghanistan very soon. That is something to be thankful for!

Ode to Cranberry Sauce

Oh cranberry sauce, how I love thee. Your color, so rich. Your ridges, so smooth. Your taste, so divine. How did I make it all year without you?

Countdown to the canned goodness: T-minus 18 hours. And to all you can-cranberry-haters out there, I hate you! Haha, ok, just kidding, but keep your comments to yourself.

Happy Thanksgiving!

November Deals & Steals

The month of November was good to us. We scored some really good buys.

1. Barstools! Originally $260 + $60 shipping + $18 tax ($338 total). After holding out for months for free shipping, plus an additional 25% off, I scored 2 for $200 total. I danced around the house with joy. They are so perfect! Target.com.

2. Jacket! I have a lot of love for Old Navy this season. I got this $69.50 coat for $25.78. How? I ordered it during Old Navy's 50% off outwear sale while they were also running an extra 30% off card holder's event.

3. The Sims 3! Originally $50, but we got it for $30.


4. Clothes, clothes, clothes. Our favorite company and my former employer, Gap, Inc., had a fabulous Give & Get weekend this month where they offered an extra 30% off (plus a 5% throwback to the charity of your choice). Joe and I took our coupon to the outlets where it stretched the furthest. Excuse my extreme dorkiness, but I actually snapped pictures of what we bought. When it was all said and done, we averaged about $11 an item, spending only about $165 for everything you see below.

Laura's finds above, Joe's finds below.

Dinner at our House - Tuna Cakes

We just got done dinner tonight and I had to jump on the blog to share. This is a cheap, quick, healthy meal that is sure to please many. This recipe is from Kraft (thus all the Kraft ingredients).

2 cans (6 oz. each) light tuna in water, drained, flaked

1 pkg. (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Chicken

1 cup KRAFT Shredded Mild Cheddar Cheese

3/4 cup water

1 carrot, shredded

1/3 cup KRAFT Real Mayo Mayonnaise

2 Tbsp. CLAUSSEN Sweet Pickle Relish

MIX all ingredients. Refrigerate 10 min.
HEAT large nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium heat. Use ice cream scoop to add 1/3-cup portions of tuna mixture, in batches, to skillet.
FLATTEN into patties with back of spatula. Cook 6 min. or until golden brown on both sides, carefully turning patties over after 3 min.

Our tips - We used non-fat cheese and reduced fat mayo to cut down on the fat and calories. I hate relish, so we didn't add that in. I used my hands, not an ice cream scoop, to make sure they wouldn't crumble apart in the pan. We also halfed the recipe which resulted in about 3 1/2 cakes. It's no crab cake, but it was pretty yummy.

credit: kraftfoods.com

An early birthday present

So it may have taken us the better part of a day, but we are proud to say that we have successfully installed a new pendant chandelier over our dining room table. Yay! With no handy man experience, we have little knowledge to draw upon with attempting these minor home improvement fetes. As a result, project days at the Guido household are not very pleasant times - there's a little cussing and a little fussing, but eventually we tackle the challenges.

We haven't been in love with some of the builder grade features that came with our condo. Exhibit A: blah, silver, (dusty), apartmenty chandelier.

As with a lot of what's in our house, it takes me a while to find things I like at the right price. I recently came across a lovely pendant light on overstock.com (one of my fav online places to shop). You cannot beat their quality and shipping prices. See Ventura Large Round Chandelier.

And viola...
You love it, right? So far, nothing has caught on fire so we are still pleased. Keep your fingers crossed - it is the first time we have attempted any electrical work.

Organic never looked so good

Joe and I watched this movie last night - wow! "You'll never look at dinner the same way" is an understatement. While the key players in the food industry work on creating their monopoly, the quality of the food we eat is drastically plummeting and most people have no idea. This movie is designed to scare the crap out of you. It worked on me. I highly recommend you check it out - inform yourself - know what you are putting in your mouth.

October Deals & Steals

Happy Halloween! Tonight we are giving out candy to the trick-or-treaters but otherwise, we don't have anything special planned. Anyway, I thought I'd share some of the "deals & steals" I got this month. I must be one of those people that get a high off saving money. I'd say that's probably a good trait as long as I can keep it to things we need. Joe humors this part of my personality and I love him for that. I think I might have even rubbed off a little on him.

1. Yankee Candle BOGO. As I mentioned in a previous post, I stocked up on my fall favorites but at half the cost. I got 2 large jar candles (Pumpkin Spice and Autumn Wreath) for $25. This would have normally cost me $50, had they not been on sale. Sure, you can get no name candles for cheaper than $25 but we all know Yankee has some of the best. Autumn Wreath smells so good!
2. Boot frenzy. I have been feeling the boot trend this season but had been waiting for the right price. So far, I've added 2 pairs to my collection. First, a shorter black slouchy boot from shoebuy.com. They were listed for $36.99 but I got them for $26.63 plus free shipping. There was a one day promotion on the website plus I registered for the first time (well, the first time under this particular email address, haha) scoring an extra 10% off. I have since found the same brand on target.com for $29.99 but you have to spend $50 to get free shipping (they aren't in stores). So, overall I think I did very good!
I also got a taller pair of gray suede boots from oldnavy.com during a 30% off promo. They were originally $34.50 but I got them for $24.15 +tax with free shipping. In the same purchase I also picked up a sweater, scarf, and dress. All four items came out to a total of $68 - not too shabby! Sure, Old Navy is by no means high end but the beauty is, most of you never notice I'm wearing a $25 boot. The jokes on you. And why not when things go in and out of style so fast?
3. I got a pair of skinny crop jeans (perfect for tucking into boots) at the Gap for $5. Yup, $5. I have a Banana Republic credit card and I get rewards for the money I spend. So, I happened to have a $20 off reward with me and found the jeans on the sale rack for $25. They look very similar to the picture below, although these aren't the exact pair. Who can pull off that length? Yuck. I bought them for boots.

4. Restaurant.com is my new best friend. On 9/9/2009 restaurant.com had a 90% off sale. I purchased two $25 gift certificates to two different restaurants for $1 each (it would typically cost $10 each). Last night we used one for the first time and it worked like a charm. We ate dinner at the Chesapeake Grille and Deli (I love me some non-chain food) for $20 + $1 for the gift certificate. Joe got a ribeye steak and I got a crabcake platter. Our bill would have been $45. The beauty of this place is that you don't have to tip because you order when you come in and they only bring you your food. You refill your drinks yourself.
5. Diet Pepsi. The Guidos do not buy soda unless it's on sale. We know a good soda deal when we see one and we will go without before buying it at full price. So, needless to say, when I spotted 12 packs for $2 at Walmart this month, I was in soda buying heaven. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but that's about as good as it gets. Walmart typically sells them for $4.98 each. We usually buy them when the grocery stores offer 4 for $10 deals but most of the time you must buy all 4 to get the $2.50 price. What a steal!

Yeah, so I might be a little nerdy but I just can't help myself. Finding the best price takes some time and patience but it is worth it in the end. Have you gotten any good deals lately?

Elon Homecoming 2009

As many of you know, this past weekend Joe and I attended Elon's homecoming. Knowing that we didn't have much planned for October, we had scheduled the trip months in advance to motivate us for the drive. Of course, it is always great to be back at our beloved alma mater.


We caught up with some friends, did some exploring, and attended the rainy football game. Although the weather didn't want to cooperate with us, we were determined to enjoy ourselves anyway. I'm very excited at how good Elon is at football this year! The surrounding town and campus have changed so much since 4 years ago. Some parts of Burlington, in particular, are almost unrecognizable. But, the overall charm still remains and we find it hard to leave every time. Will somebody please open a Steak n Shake in Maryland? I will drive many miles to eat there!

Oh, and let's not forget that Elon president Leo Lambert was spotted at the bar. He is so super and looking very fit and trim lately I must say.

But, you can't have a current Leo picture without remembering the good ol' days at his house for Christmas. I had to include this for your viewing pleasure:

Christmas at the Lambert's, 2001.

Unfortunately, I can't go without mentioning the biggest disappointment of our trip, aside from the rain. We decided to try out a Bed and Breakfast that was recommended on Elon's website. I wasn't familiar with it but since the rates were equivalent to the surrounding hotels I thought hey, why not? Needless to say, next time we are sticking with the hotels. You expect a certain amount of noise in a 100 year old house with neighboring guest rooms. Well, lucky for us, a whole group of 40-50 (year old) somethings had rented out all the rooms in the house except for the one we were staying in. Their lack of maturity kept us awake into the wee hours of the morning as they ran up and down the stairs, talked in their outside voices, drank, hoot n hollered, you name it. At 1:00 a.m. the women decided to throw a PAJAMA PARTY! and announce it in the loudest way possible. Well, we complained and ended up checking out a day early because I was not going to stand that for another night. I was very bummed! Not the kind of atmosphere you expect when you go to a B&B. What is the moral of this story? Ask the B&B if there is a group staying with you? I'm just not sure.

Anyway, all I can say is.....

LONG LIVE ELON!

Weekend Update, Columbus Style

On Friday, we headed up to Glen Burnie to celebrate Liz's (my sister-n-law/Joe's sister) 22nd birthday. Her boyfriend Matt had arranged a surprise party bus outing with friends masked by a handful of us pretending to be there for a family dinner. Long story short, we had dinner at P.F. Changs (this was a first for Joe & I) and were entertained in the party bus the rest of the night.


Saturday I went shopping for house things while Joe attended an Oktoberfest with a bunch of guys from work in Alexandria. I found a mirror to replace the builder grade one in our half bath and we have since put that up - a cheap, easy, upgrade! Joe enjoyed some German brat and pumpkin beer and was quite content not shopping. It was a lovely Saturday.


Sunday was a typical Sunday full of errands and housework (Redskins for Joe) but, since it was a long weekend we were able to fit in an evening outing with the Grundys. We went to Annapolis for some California Pizza Kitchen and to see the movie Couples Retreat. It was quite enjoyable!

And lucky for us, we are off today for Columbus Day. This was quite an eventful weekend for us so I'm in the process of catching up on the laundry and mentally preparing for another "week" at work. I wish the weekends would last forever!

PS - This week Joe's flag football team is in the playoffs and he is pumped.

Dinner at our House - Crispy Breaded Pork Cutlets

This past week we tried a new dinner. It was an easy way to spice up plain pork chops while still keeping it healthy.

Crispy Breaded Pork Cutlets

1 1/2 cups panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 boneless pork loin chops (6 to 8 ounces each)
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
Coarse salt and ground pepper

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss panko with oil. Bake, tossing once, until golden brown, 7 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl. Reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees.

2. Meanwhile, one at a time, place chops between two large pieces of plastic wrap. Using a meat mallet or the bottom of a small heavy pan, pound to make 1/4-inch-thick cutlets.

3. Dividing evenly, coat pork with mustard; season with salt and pepper. One at a time, dip cutlets into panko, pressing firmly to adhere.

4. Place a rack on a rimmed baking sheet; place pork on rack, and bake, without turning, until opaque throughout, 10 to 15 minutes.


Yum yum!

And speaking of all things pumpkin....

Did you know you can make a yummy fall treat with just a box of cake mix and a can of pumpkin puree? Well, it's true! I used a box of yellow cake mix, pumpkin, and a couple eggs and viola - deliciousness. Apparently, you can forgo the eggs/oil/etc. to make it healthier but I was a little skeptical and added the eggs for good measure.

We've been eating them as muffins - no frosting needed. Next time, I want to try using spice cake mix instead of yellow. I bet a little cool whip on top would also be good. So, if you're in the mood for a simple little fall treat, you can make these little babies in no time.

Top 5s for Fall

In light of it being the second day of October, we wanted to share our most anticipated fall favorites with you . And well, Joe and I don't really agree on why fall is awesome.

Laura's Top 5 Fall Favorites

1. Pumpkin candles. I can't get enough of those spicy fall smells. And thanks to a nice little sale going on at Yankee Candle right now, I will have a few burning in my house ASAP.

2. Cool temps. Who doesn't love saving on the electric bill and keeping the windows open? Bye bye sweaty summer.


3. New clothes. I'm on mission stock up on cool weather must haves: cardigans (check), plaid (check), boots (still looking), cute under cardi tops (check), purple tights (no, I'm not nuts), skinny jeans (one day I'll find a pair I like), etc. etc.

Old Navy, Gap

4. Pumpkin bread, spice cake, pumpkin bars, pumpkin muffins, etc. If you are sadly still in the dark and haven't heard, Paula Deen's pumpkin bars are out of this world yummy. There is no denying that the funny looking orange pumpkin is oh so delicious in so many baked goods. But, *gasp* I've heard there's a shortage of canned pumpkin this year and I'm not very happy about it.


5. TV is back. The Biggest Loser, Project Runway, Glee, Grey's Anatomy, Tyra, Oprah. Amen.

Joe's Top 5 Fall Favorites

1. Football.

2. Flag-football.

3. Basketball.
4. Halloween candy.

5. Cheaper golf.


Did you expect any different?