Johhny Depp as Sweeney Todd

Mmmm Johnny Depp! Love him. Love his movies. He's not on my "list"...but, still..I wouldn't kick him out! He is such a great actor, and ever since Edward Scissorhands I've been a huge fan if his movies. My favorite has to be Blow..great flick...and he really had a chance to show what kind of actor he was in that movie, and his character was liek a chameleon as he went from young pot smoking hippie, to drug lord, to fugitive, and then an empty man when he lost everything. My favorite scene is when he wins the girl (Penelope Cruz) from the other drug lord at the wedding reception...an outsider, a white American, stealing a Columbian girl from the arm of a Columbian drug ring member....good stuff. I also love how he can change his accent up to fit the film, he had the perfect thick New England accent in that film. Of course, everyone loved him in Pirate's...but my other favorite of his is What's Eating Gilbert Grape...a young man struggling to enter adulthood while caring for his obese Mother and his challenged younger Brother...then love enters in, and complicates the whole deal. Good Stuff. My favorite scene? When he DUMPS the married woman he has been having a fling with, and she goes over the deep end! Classic. But, Blow is my all time favorite Depp film....well, for now. He has a new one out, directed by Tim Burton...and you can go visit the official Sweeney Todd movie site to see the trailers...I did and it looks like another good one! You can also visit Sweeney Tood on MySpace!

DVD

Shout out and thank you to Nephew for stopping by to hook up my Black Friday DVD player ($25!)....what took him 7 minutes would have taken me 2 hours! Your girl is not the gadget guru, that's what I have a Nephew for! Thanks, Boy! Now I can watch movies in the living room again, instead of just the bedroom...not that there's anything wrong with chilling on the bed with a good movie once in a while!

Freebie!!

Here are some freebies, and a reminder that all of these free samples I provide are great little stocking stuffers!

Free sample of Maybelline Superstay Silky Foundation here.

Free sleeve of Loco Golf Balls here.

Free Wildlife return address labels here.

The Biggest Loser

I am a big fan of The Biggest Loser, and am amazed at how much weight the contestants lose thru diet and excerise alone. Some of them have to get surgery after their weight loss, to remove massive amounts of skin leftover. I do know someone who had a version of Lapband Style ventura weight loss surgery..and the change in his body was gradual, like a year...but he did end up losing a LOT of weight, and keeping it off. I guess for some, the diet and excerise just don't work, and so they choose the surgery option to get the weight off.
This is a sponsored post.

My Favorite Store.

Ohhhh...my friends at Victoria's Secret sent me an Angels credit card.....THAT could get me in trouble ; )
What's better than feeling sexy all the way down to your skin.....even if you're the only one that knows?!

Busy Girl

Hmm, been a while since I posted over here. Been busy with work, the contractors are done with the build out, and effectove Monday we are finally all moved into our office, and so there are long days ahead...it's fun and exciting though. Setting up cubicles, hanging pictures, training on the new systems...and getting ready to do business!

Fricken Old Navy.

What is up with this store? It used to be my very favorite place to shop...I could find everyday clothes there, jeans, and most important - business casual! They had nice khackie pants and nice polo's and tops...and I could get everthing I needed for work at one store, at a decent price. No more. I went in there today looking for sleep pants for Niece, which I thought would be a piece of cake. Old Navy is the store that pretty much put sleep pants on the map....and at Christmas, they always had the cool festive designs and colors..you could get flannel, fleece, or plain cotton.
Not this time.
They have the sleep pants, and they were on sale - but the designs? Yeesh. HIDEOUS. Where do they get this stuff from? No cute little reindeers or santas.....just some freaky, I.M.O., ugly designs. I was less than pleased. As a matter of fact, I walked the entire store and bought nothing! There was not a khackie pant, not a blouse, nothing....
Either my taste has evolved, or they need to re-think what they are doing over there.

Art Walk

A few years ago, I spent some time in St Augustine, and I loved it there. We stayed at a "dog friendly" hotel right on the beach, saw the oldest schoolhouse, explored the fort, did the walking ghost tour, climbed up the lighthouse (a must for every city I visit that has one!), and spent time on the beach...I still have my bottle of water from the "Fountain of Youth"..! It's a great place to visit, with a lot of history, and I recommend anyone who lives in Florida, or who is visiting, to try and fit it in. Now I see they are having something called First Friday Weekend Art Walk which is a FREE, self guided tour of the galleries in the city, which include everything from eclectic to historical, paintings to photography. Since it is self guided, you only go to the galleries that interest you, and they have free trolley and parking in St Augustine! This is so up my alley...FREE, and art....throw in a little wine, some good food, and the St. Augustine Artwalk could very well be my perfect weekend!

Black Friday

Or, BF as the seasoned shoppers call it!

How many of you were lined up at 3am to get a cool gift? I was not, I was buried under the covers sleeping soundly! I was looking at some laptops in the ads, and there were some good deals..but I decided it was not worth getting up in the middle of the night and camping outside some big box store for a chance to get one - cause ya know, they always have like THREE of the one that is $499! They'll be on sale again before Christmas, maybe not quite as cheap, but cheap enough.
I am going out shopping today with Sister, just hitting the Target and a few stores to get some things that are on sale and we know will still be there at noon! Hoping to get my shopping for her kids done today.

Happy Thanksgiving

Some pics from our day..



L to R: Big Brother, Big Sister, Mom, and Me.



Mom and her Grandkids (my neices and nephew), L to R Matthew, Katelyn (floor), and Megan.

Don't. Tempt. Me.

I was checking out all the Black Friday ads online, and of course, there are many things you can buy online before the sales start......I am currently lusting after this:


EVERY James Bond movie ever made.
ALL OF THEM.
21 movies.
Seriously, this is like porn to me. I LOVE James Bond - Sean Connery being the Best.Bond.Ever. He was so hot, and slick with the Ladies....! Is it warm in here?
And, Daniel Craig runs a very close second....Casino Royale is such a good flick..I always pause the DVD player on that scene where he is coming out of the water and you see that fine body of his. HAWT.

You can get it at deepdiscount.com for $179.89, and using a coupon code of DDAF you can get 20% off, dropping it to $143.91!!!!!!!!!! That's $6.85 a movie. I have never seen this collection for less than $200, even at Amazon.

I am not being paid to write this, nor do I think anyone is going to spend this much money on me at Christmas.......if I want it, I am going to have to purchase it myself. So, I will have to study on that for a while, and possibly watch my copy of Goldfinger while I do so....See you later....I have a date with 007!

Target Shopping

I went to Target after the gym, they had the Milton Bradley games on sale for $7, Life, Sorry, Clue, Etc..I picked up 5 of them for our Metropolitan Ministries volunteer day, I don't like to show up empty handed. The past 3 years I have worked at the Toy side of the tent, and it seems the shelves for the "over 12" age groups are always sparse and the young kids have an overabundance, so I am adding my small donation to the mix. I'll probably also bring some canned goods for the food side.
Anyway, back to my shopping.....I found these fabulous shoes (in brown), and could not resist buying them for myself for Christmas Eve!

I already got a new satin blouse on sale at JC Penney, and these shoes will go great with the outfit I am putting together!
So, yeah...I got something, the kids at Metropolitan Ministries get something..everyone is happy!

What's New.

It's been a while I see since I have posted here...in my defense, I have been out of town for a few days. I had to head to Orlando for work, and stayed with Mom while I was there and brought her and husband back over to our coast for Thanksgiving, which may be her last...you can read my thougts on that here. I have been very busy with work, setting up our new office and babysitting contractors while they do the build out, it looks great and we'll be ready to rock Monday morning with our full staff! It's kind of exciting being on the ground floor of starting a new office, setting it up and actually being involved and feeling that my opinion matters....I am hoping this is the beginning of a whole new chapter in my career...I am setting high goals and hoping to make a name for myself around the new company, which means I will be putting in some long days for the first few months.

Baby, it's cold outside!

The thermometer on my patio says 40 degrees. Downright CHILLY! For you folks up north, that's nothing new...but in these parts, it's the first cold snap of the season...I had my A/C on up until last week! It's chilly in the house, I'm actually wearing a sweatshirt....! It's such a refreshing change to have the A/C off and the windows open and get some fresh air...not something we can do a lot down here, so we take full advantage when we can! I love a nice cup of Hot Cocoa on a chilly evening....it's the best part of winter!

It's that Time.

Yes, I have already started making my mental Christmas list....trying to gather ideas for the people I am going to buy for. Most in my family are not easy to buy for, and I try to get at least some shopping done during the Black Friday sales. I also do a lot of shopping online, and never do that without searching for the proper coupon code at Coupon Chief! I'm all about trying to save a few dollars when I can! I've been looking for a new pair of running shoes, and these Adidas Coupons may help me with that. There is usually at least one person on my list who wants a new movie, which I usually buy at Target for the best price. And, of course, Santa always brings Snoopy a little something from his favorite store, PetsMart! The biggest challenge is always staying under budget - which is why I make a list that includes how much I am going to spend on each person.

Wine-O

I went to a wine tasting this evening, at a CHOCOLATE shop! We have a Peterbrooke Chocolatier's here locally that recently opened, and they had a holiday sampling event this evening. They do not sell wine, but had a seller there doing a tasting, and they were showing you how to pair wines with chocolate..YUM! There were also chocolate samples all around..from chocolate covered popcorn, chocolate covered Nutter Butters (YUM) to a chocolate truffle torte!! And Gelato! They have Gelato...LOVE the Gelato! Ohh, and the chocolate covered pretzels - my FAVORITE - I love the salty-sweet combo! There stuff is not cheap, but it is very good chocolate, and they had some nice gift ideas. I sampled the popcorn and torte, along with all the wines (LOL) and bought a chocolate covered Peanut Butter & Ritz cracker, and a few malted milk balls to take home. I'm thinking my neices would love that place, they have expensive taste in food for such young girls!

Free!

It's about time we had some free around here..


Free sample of Slim Fast Protein Chews here.

Free Hallmark Holiday card from Wal Mart here.

Free Max Factor Miracle Touch sample here.

Free Huggies baby wipes here.

Free sample of Degree Silver Ice for Men here.

Toes

I think people are looking at my feet when I am out and wondering what my problem is. You see, it's still warm enough here to wear flip flops and open toe shoes - which I do - A LOT. Therefore, I keep my toenails pretty by painting them. But, I am missing a few....so what I have is SEVEN painted nails across 2 feet.....!
Please do not laugh at my toes. I lost some toenails walking for breast cancer.....like battered warriors they fell....
I'd rather lose my toenails from walking 60 miles, than lose my breasts to cancer.
That's all I'm sayin.

Pearl, in Sapphire!

I want this phone so bad, I was drooling over it again at the T Mobile store today..I even learned how to text on it! What I am not ready to do is drop $250 on a cell phone...even if it does do a lot of cool things.
Suppose Santa Claus will bring it if I am a good girl?

Huh?

Am I looking at the right calendar....? Is Thanksgiving NEXT week?? I thought it was on the last Thursday in November..? Did George W change that too, like he changed the daylight savings time deal?? My body clock is all screwed up from turning the clock forward an hour...move Thanksgiving a whole week and I'm going to be a mess until the new year!

Things that make you go Hmmmmm.

The entire weekend went by with nary a post.
Mind has been elsewhere, heart has not been in it....if I had tried to post, it would not have been quality - so I left it be for a few days to try and "get my mind right boss" (bonus points for getting that reference, from one of my all time favorite movies).
Our trip to the new Ikea in Orlando was fun, you can read about that over here.
I may be going back to Orlando later this week on business, and I trying to re-work my schedule to combine a visit to Mom with that trip, seeing as how she is only 30 mins east of there in the Village of Cocoa.

Oprah and the Osmonds

I saw that Oprah was going to have all of the Osmonds on her show, so I decided to DVR it. I was never a huge Osmond Brother fan, they are a little before my day...nor was I a Donny fan, he was a little old for me.....I did, however, watch The Donny & Marie Show faithfully when I was younger! I always enjoyed that show, and I don't quite recall how I got to see it, as it doesn't seem like it would be my Father's kind of show (he was more of an Archie Bunker fan)....not sure, but I remember watching it..and loving it! I always liked when they brought the whole family on.....I envied their family, and wished mine could be like that. Anyhoo...their Father passed away earlier this week, but they did the show anyway.....ALL 150 SOMETHING OF THEM! Yeesh! They chartered and entire Southwest Airplane to get them from Salt Lake to Chicago! They all have a jillion kids, and their kids had kids, etc etc......! It was a nice trip down memory lane, they sang and showed the old clips from their singing days.....oh, and did you know that there are 2 OLDER Osmond Brothers that were not in the group? I did not. Apparently, they had hearing problems (deaf, or partially deaf? not sure) , so they cannot sing....and the group was started to raise money & awareness for hearing aids! I never knew that!

Watch this.

What woman doesn't love to get jewelry as a gift? And, yes, I feel that a watch is jewelry. I've been thinking a new watch is on order for me, my work watch is about 15 years old! I normally have a work watch, a dress watch, and a weekend watch....These philip stein watches are too fancy for everyday wear, but they would be great as a dressy watch! I never heard of Tag Heuer until a few years ago, and now I could spend hours dfrooling over these!
This is a sponsored post.

Dave Ramsey on Fox Business Channel

I had read a few weeks back in the PF Blgosphere that Dave Ramsey was going to have a TV show....I was happy to hear that, as his radio show is on in the middle of my workday, so I never got to listen. Fox Business Channel is 149 around my parts, and he's on at 8pm weekdays, so I set my DVR to record them. Well I caught up on a few of them over the past week when there was nothing on, and I am pleasantly surprised. He fills the hour with good material, not a lot of fluff or commercials, a nice mix of calls, emails, and "on the street" questions...if you have any interest in your own finances, I recommend giving it a try - you may learn something, I already have!

More Holiday$

Nephew had a post linking to a good article in regards to Christmas and giftgiving. While I do not agree with the language used in the article, the author had a good point- we are heading into the time of year where everyone conveniently forgets about paying down debt and saving, and uses the excuse of "Christmas" to run up their debt even deeper! It's insane the way people run around spending like crazy at this time of year, all because it's the holiday and we are supposed to give gifts. And it's okay to charge it. Ya know what, it's NOT okay! I got a letter from my credit card company yesterday, CONGRATULATING me that they are increasing my credit line for the holiday season....by ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS?! Why? Do you think that by doing that I am going to go out and charge it up? Do people spend that much on Christmas? Well, I am going to tell you something right now - if I cannot pay cash for it, you are NOT getting it! I shredded their letter, and apparenlty I need to call them and let them know that their card was shredded MONTHS ago....! I just never cancelled it!
You can have a nice holiday season without going into debt. I do it every year.

I have 3 siblings, 2 of which are married - that's FIVE gifts....we exchange names, Secret Santa Style, every year on Thanksgiving (put a $25 cap on it) so that everyone only has to buy ONE gift, and everyone gets a gift!
I have 4 Nieces and 2 Nephews. They all get gifts, but I consult with the older ones on what they want, and they get a gift card towards the store of their choice or towards the item wanted - I am not purchasing any iPods or Laptops! For the younger ones, I consult with their Mother and get something off of their wish list in a reasonable price range.
I pick up small items on clearance throughout the year for stocking stuffers or office gift exchange. The after Christmas sales are a great time to stock up on ornaments or gifts for the next year....I always have stuff stored away in the closet!
I usually bake cookies, breads, and fudge -I start Thanksgiving weekend, as everything freezes well, and sometimes have the Nieces over to help. I have a list of friends/family who get a special box of Christmas Yummies mailed to them, and I usually gift these to family & friends here as well, these are also handy to have if you get invited to a Christmas party, it's a nice Hostess Gift. It's not that expensive to bake, most people appreciate something homemade, and it shows that you care when you put effort into making something.

The bottom line is if you cannot afford to go out and buy gifts, DON'T go into debt just because everyone else is! Let your family know that you cannot afford to do it, and want to start a Secret Santa, or a cookie or dinner exchange instead...

The Holiday

I recently joined Netflix and am enjoying the many benefits if a new movie in my mailbox each week, sometimes twice a week! I am getting to see a lot of movies that came out this year and I just never got around to seeing them....this weekend I watched The Holiday, which was a pleasant surprise! I really enjoyed seeing Jack Black in a softer role, and that Jude Law is sooo HOT....of course, I am a sucker for a feel good romantic comedy anyway, but this one was a good movie that I would not mind seeing again.

SNAKES!

Niece and Nephew stayed over with me Friday night, and yesterday I took them on an outing to the Brooker Creek Preserve Environmental Education Center, an 8000 acre - 41 sq mile area of protected land, that includes the Brooker Creek Watershed and is home to over 750 species of plants and animals. It is about 3 miles from where I live to get to the actual Education Center, but my condo complex actually borders the preserve on one side. I love that I live so close to a protected piece of land. Anyway, they have all sorts of hiking trails, and exhibits to see, and it's all free and educational, and I love to be outdoors on such a nice day, so we headed over there yesterday morning. When I told them where we were going, my Nephew, age 8, replied "OH....Educational means it's not fun"....well, he certainly changed his tune when we were done and he proclaimed the experience "AWESOME!" We hiked the entire boardwalk, I reminded them to keep their eyes open and their mouths closed to not scare anything - we not only saw numerous banana & crab spiders in their webs, we saw a RINGED WATER SNAKE in a pond sunning himself on some grass! They were very excited about the snake, and kept wanting to go back and see it! We got one of the volunteers to come out and help us identify it, and he not only educated us on snakes (did you know that if a snake has round pupils it is NON venomous, and slanty cat like pupils it IS venomous? - of course, who wants to get that close to a snake?), but also the assorted plants and spiders that we saw there. We went inside to the exhibits, and they got to crawl down into and artificial Gopher Tortiose Burrow - while learning about them, and we saw live frogs, snakes, and anoles that live in the preserve.
Of course, they did not realize they had learned anything until I started quizzing them on the way back to the car! It was then that they realized they actually had fun learning, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much of the information they recalled!
And, on our drive out - there was a dead black snake in the road, of course we had to stop and examine it up close!
Next time, we are going to go back and do the guided hike out into the woods!

South Florida, Alligators, Traffic Issues and the PayPerPost IZEA Blog America Tour.

I had to go to Miami yesterday for a 10am meeting. So, we headed south on I-75 at 5am...very tired. Lots of coffee, 3 potty stops, and 4 1/2 hours later we arrived at our destination. After the meeting (was it long and boring because I had been up since 03:30?) and lunch with our peers, we headed back home about 3pm. I was supposed to meet up with Sister and Nephew for the PayPerPost BlogTour America Gig at the Hard Rock that evening at 7pm. I texted her to let her know we were stil in Miami, and I wasn't sure if we'd get there in time. Took us longer than usual to actually get out of Miami area and onto 75 North....like 30 minutes longer..traffic down there is horrible! We made our way across Alligator Alley, and counted up some gators to pass the time (8 total)....stopped at the first exit in Naples for Gas, and got back on the highway...if we made good time from here (normally a 3 hour trip), I may make it to the gig. About 5 miles up the interstate, all traffic was STOPPED. We CRAWLED at 10-15 MPH for the next 50 miles.
Do you know how aggravating that can be?
Have you ever been in traffic like that on an interstate?
It took us an hour and a half to get from Naples to Ft Meyers...normally a 30 MINUTE RIDE! It was brutal. And, of course, when we got to where the delay was...THERE WERE NO LANES BLOCKED...THERE WERE NO BODIES IN THE ROAD...there were 2 squished cars and a state trooper on the side of the road in the grass. THAT'S ALL!
So, a trip that normally takes anywhere from 4-4 1/2 hours, took us SIX HOURS!
I missed the gig, and from what I saw on the PPP blog, everyone had a good time!
I hate that I was not there.
And, NO, I am not getting paid to tell you this story...it was merely for entertainment purposes, and to vent my frustration!