Freebies New Year

I am so freaking excited to write this post. If you only learn one thing about me (But I sure hope you stay to learn more than just that) it's that I am a freebie addict. I love entering contests, signing up for things, taking surveys, and anything else that will get me something at no cost. I have started a page on this blog dedicated to the sites I use to score free stuff or pretty darn close to free. Check out my Thrifty page and get earning free things now!

Okay Now back to the point of this post. August is upon us. Ask any freebie nut and they will tell you August is the month you score big time. This is mostly because Allure magazine hosts a HUGE month long giveaway. Not familiar with Allure or their amazing giveaways? No worries. I am about to explain it all to you. If you follow these tips you are sure to score some great prizes.

First a little summary of what Allure is and what the giveaways are about. Allure is a fashion/beauty magazine. They also have a website where they host giveaways and such every month. On August 1st starting at 12pm eastern time they give away something every hour until 8pm. This goes on for the WHOLE entire month. This year they are giving away 40,057 items. There are 154 different items total and they give away multiples of each. These items range anywhere from fashion to beauty. Last year I won a lot of stuff. I won a curling iron, nail polish, face cleansers, lip balm, and makeup. It really was amazing. The best part is, most of these prizes are really surprises. Most of the stuff you won't be notified of if you win, so it just starts showing up at your door sometime in October. It really is like Christmas came early! If that doesn't make you want to join than I don't know what will!

Step 1: Head on over to Allure.com and sign up.
Step 2: Click on Free Stuff <---- Or click this link.
Step 3: Click on the Free Stuff Calendar  <---- Or again click here

Okay now that you are signed up and have the calendar in front of you, I recommend printing it out. Now a word of wisdom from my own experience, this will print out 154 pages. Make sure to click your properties and print 4 pages to a page back and front to cut down on all the paper. Once you have this printed out go through and circle all of the things you REALLY would like to win. This is important, especially if you do not have time every hour to be on your computer.

The way this works is most hours it is the first so many people who will win the prize. Most of them are 500. This is why it is important to only commit to hours you really want. You need to be quick and you need to press submit on the hour exactly.

This may sound a bit crazy but if you can commit to only what you REALLY want to win, you can win these things. Write everything down you want in a place you will see it as a reminder. Make sure you are signed into Allure prior to the hour so all you have to do it hit submit. Once you hit submit you should see a thank you screen. This means your entry went through. Do this for as many hours as you have time for.

I know this sounds like a lot of work, but if you want something bad enough you will follow these steps and once October rolls around you will see something! Now get yourself all signed up. August 1st is Friday! The fun will begin and continue all month! (They don't do any on the weekends.. This is strictly a Monday-Friday event).

Have fun with it! I hope to hear some of your stories! Have any of you won before? Is this your first time? Share below!


Bucket List cross offs

I normally don't do a wrap up of my weekend, but because I crossed off so many things on my "vacation in my city" bucket list, I needed to talk about them! Friday was also exceptionally wonderful. I also normally do not post on Tuesday's but I really wanted to do this amazing link up yesterday, so I had to move this over to today. Lots of exciting things going on all around!

First things first. Remember when I posted that internal interview post back in early July? (If ya don't click on the link silly!) On Friday I got official word that I GOT THE JOB! Ahhh! This is wonderful news because I needed a raise like nobodies business and I can do my current job in my sleep. I don't have an official start date yet but I am thinking by mid August I should be taking on my new duties. I am so excited! Okay now onto my bucket list cross offs as promised...

The first thing I accomplished on my list was seeing 3 plays. A few weeks back I went and saw Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost. It put me on a kick to see more plays because there are so many wonderful options in my area. I saw that Little Shop of Horrors was playing locally and REALLY wanted to see that. I went out to lunch with my boyfriend on Friday and saw an advertisement for it and realized that Saturday was the last showing! We immediately decided that we wanted to go that night. The theater that was hosting it is a small venue where no seat in the house is a bad seat. We had seats off to the right and had a great view of the stage. The play was more interactive with dancing and singing around the whole  venue. It was fantastic and I am so glad I got to experience such a well done show in my little city!

 
Quick fact:
Little Shop of Horrors first came out as a movie in 1960 and then was adapted into a musical in 1982. The movie was then released again in 1986 which was adapted from the 1982 musical. Lots of fun history here and a big cult following!

On Saturday was the first day of the Route 90 50 miles yard sale. I have never been and it is a yearly local event that happens on the last weekend of July.  This yard sale started back in 1988 and has grown along the scenic byway or Route 90 in central NY.  It now hosts up to 500 sales making it a fun day event where you can score some great deals. You can also come across some interesting things. I wish I took more photos of some of the stuff I saw. Next time! The road was packed with people and cars so you really need to pay attention to where you are going. I was only able to spend about an hour on the route, but I scored some awesome pasta bowls for only $0.75! Can't beat that deal!


After braving the crowds of the yard sales, we went home and relaxed before heading out to play number 3 (Number 2 for the weekend). We decided on the last night of the showing of Hamlet. Another Shakespeare goodie! If you are ever in the Finger Lakes area in the summer look in on the Cornell outdoor plays. They are cheap (Only $10) and are very well done. You bring your own chairs (or make it a picnic and bring blankets), food, and beverages. It is a night of fun, food, and entertainment outside.

Sunday was a sleep-in kind of morning. I rolled out of bed at 9am and got ready to meet some friends for brunch! This ended up being another bucket list cross off because they took us to a lovely cafe/winery that we have never been to. We arrived to find a half hour wait before being seated. This was the best news because if you were there for brunch and had to wait, you get a complimentary wine tasting. We got to taste 6 wines and I fell in love with the haunting flavor of Apparition. This sucker was coming home with me one way or another. We headed on into brunch and the food was also amazing. What more can you ask for on a Sunday? Brunch AND wine? I'll take it! We had such a nice day. Great conversation with great people. Just what I needed. A relaxing day to ready me for another busy week!

All of these event I took part in this weekend have also created some new ideas for blog posts as well. This is why it is so important to live your life. It gives you things to write about. What do you do to keep your ideas flowing? Is the weekend your down time, or a time to cross off those bucket lists?

Make it great Tuesday everyone!




Don't Try So Hard


Happy Monday beautiful people! I am really excited for today's post. I am joining an amazing link-up hosted by Kate over at The "Florkens", Nicole over at Treasure Tromp, and Jackie over at Jade & Oak. These ladies are encouraging everyone to feel beautiful in their own skin by not trying so hard. The point of this link-up is to take off all the makeup, let your hair down, and just feel beautiful with what God gave you. This is such an important thing we all seem to forget. We all get so wrapped up in trying to have the perfect everything these days, we forget to love ourselves and our lives as they are.





Today I am posting a photo of myself with no makeup on and my hair is just so. I look at this photo and instantly see all of my flaws (Of course, this is what society has taught us right?). I also notice how much I love my eyes. They are blue, but will mimic other colors and sometimes look grey. When I play them up with makeup they are a bright blue that shine. They are my favorite feature and they make me feel beautiful.


I hope you will all share a picture and show your beauty! It is so empowering to show off your natural beauty to the world. Make it a great Monday everyone!

Fit-Trish: The sick files

Welcome back to another week of Fit-Trish. A series where I show you how to live a healthy life on a budget! You may have noticed a new little tab on my home page that says "series". This is where you will find all of my posts in this series along with new series I plan to do in the future. I am in the process of getting everything organized. Once that is done you will be able to check out everything in one space.

This has not been a very productive fitness week for me. Work was insane and I came down with a bug. I managed to make it to the gym one day this week and it felt so good. I am still on the mend so I decided to share with you what I did to help my fitness and my health while I was feeling under the weather.



I did not want to totally forget about my goals just because I was feeling sick. I really upped my water intake this week. I added a half a lemon to my bottle to give me that extra boost through out the day. This helped keep unwanted snacking at bay. We all know when we don't feel good we reach for comfort foods. I also drank a lot of peppermint tea to help with any bloating. Whatever bug got me sure added to the bloating of the stomach. Not fun! I also ate lots of fruits and veggies to get all the essential vitamins.

I kept exercising to a minimum but still managed to take small walks whenever I got the chance. It helped get the blood circulating and cleared my head. Even a 10 minute walk is enough to get everything moving and it can be a real mood booster. I did some squats and arm exercises. I kept all reps to a minimum making sure not to over do it and stayed away from ab exercises because my stomach was not feeling well.

When I did brave the gym on Wednesday I mainly did cardio on the treadmill. Again I did not over do it and did just enough to get my heart pumping. Once I started to feel tired I stopped. I felt like I accomplished something even though all I felt like doing was laying on my couch with a blanket. I am starting to feel better and I am hoping I can get back to my regular schedule next week. I am sorry this is short, but I hope it helps you on your journey when sickness strikes.

Have a great Friday!




Vacation in my own city: A Bucket List

I have been thinking a lot lately about places and things I would like to do in my city. A local real estate agent is doing a project 365 on all the things you can do here as a way to show potential customers why this place is so great. I think it is brilliant and has given me so many new places I need to explore. I have lived in my city for just over 2 years and seeing this post on all the places made me realize how behind I am with all the wonderful gems there are here!

I want have to see these things, so I have decided over the next 4 months (Til the end of 2014 folks) I want to cross off as many of these things as possible.  Thankfully there are a mix of things that can be done indoors and outdoors so I can achieve the outdoor ones first while the weather is still good and once winter comes I will have to move it indoors! You should join me! Explore your city.



Just to give you a little taste of that's been included on this list so far, (In case you need some ideas!) here are a few of the categories she has touched on:

  • Visit a plantation/garden/ect
  • Go to a festival
  • Hike at least 3 new locations
  • Visit a zoo
  • Go to at least 3 2 plays (Crossed one off already!)
  • Go to a yard sale
  • Visit a museum
  • Visit 3 new restaurants
  • Wine Tour
  • Visit an antique store
  • Special events unique to your city
  • Research what your city is known for

Now I will probably go back and add to this list as I go because I am sure I am missing some key things. All of these categories can be achieved in my area. I can't wait to share some of my experiences with you all over the next 4 months!

Have you ever "vacationed" in your city? How was it? Share your links or experiences!
     
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