Deals, Books & Twilight

I love good deals! Who doesn't?

Well, I recently signed up for Borders rewards club. I always thought there was a fee to be part of it, so I never signed up. At my last visit, the sales associate convinced me to sign up, as it was free and that I would also get coupons. She got me, when I heard the word coupons and free!

Unfortunately, she never mentioned that my email box, would consistently be bombarded with emails from them. Thank goodness, I have an extra email account, which I use just for personal emails, as all the junk email would drive me crazy to see it every time I logged on.

Anyways yesterday, when I checked my email, I noticed that I had received a 40% off coupon from Borders. I immediately thought to myself, that I could just go buy Twilight instead of borrowing it. Hmmm, that sounds like a much better idea. So, on my lunch, I headed over to Borders, picked up Twilight and another Jane Austen book, Mansfield Park. My total was $12 and some change for 2 books. Wohoo!

I then headed over to In N Out for lunch and while sitting in the drive thru line, I sat and read Twilight. After work, I then went home and sat and read for awhile longer. Then today, I couldn't wait for my lunch to arrive, so I could read some more. I am already about a 100 pages into the book or about 1/4 of the way through. It's definitely better than the movie, by far! I am a little disappointed though, that I watched the movie first. I am going to make sure I read, New Moon before seeing it in the movie theatre.

I am now looking forward to the weekend being here, so I can read some more. Thank goodness it's only a couple hours away!

Great Weekend

It's little late to do a weekend recap, but oh well. I wrote this post out a couple of days, but never finished it. So here you go.

This past weekend was really good. We did a lot of relaxing and sleeping! But also, was able to include some quality time with friends and family. This is always a hard balance, as it seems it's always one or the other. Too busy or relax and get nothing accomplished.


Highlights of the weekend included going to lunch at with Rachel and Scott on Saturday. We then headed over to Walmart and their gardening department. I picked up some pots and bulbs that were half off! I spent the rest of the afternoon in the garden. Pictures coming soon!


Later that evening we headed over to Angie's for a BBQ. After dinner, us girls all watched Twilight, which I loved! I never saw it in the movie theatre when it came out or read the books. After hearing all the raving from other people, I had planned on reading the books. Life of course got in the way and I never got around to it. Since, watching the movie I definitely want to read the books now! Btw Jenni, I have to borrow them now!

TGIF

I am very excited that it is finally Friday! I am looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow and on Sunday. We don't have big plans for the weekend, but that is all right by me. I need to do some cleaning and catch up on laundry.

 

Other than that, last night we had dinner with the hubby's family. His aunt and uncle are out here from Missouri and we always enjoy spending time with them, when we get the chance. After dinner we headed home and then watched the Office, which our course was hilarious like always.

 

This morning on my drive in to work, the fog was horrible. There were several times where I was thinking, I know there should be a stop light coming up, but I couldn't see a thing. I was so sure I was going to be late to work, as I was driving slower but I actually wasn't. It took me longer while driving on the surface streets but the freeway was pretty wide open.

 

Yep, so that's about it. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Random Thoughts

Here are some random thoughts on my mind today:

• I totally thought it was Wednesday and my co-worker reminded that it was Thursday. I love it when that happens! One day closer to the weekend.
• Last night, you could slightly smell the orange blossoms from the orange groves. I wish we lived closer, so the smell would be stronger, as it is my favorite. Spring is definitely here.
• Since, it has been a lot warmer lately, last night was the first night in a long time where are our bedroom was hot when I went to bed. 78 degrees to be exact, not a big fan of that.
• Ella has been shedding like crazy. It may not be a new thing though. I think I may only be noticing it, as I have to wear business casual to work now, thus a lot of black. UGH, so annoying.
• George Strait's new song, "Rolling on the River" makes me reminisce about the Florida Key's and how I would love to go on a "real" vacation. Relaxing on the beach with a Margarita in hand, now that would be wonderful right now!
  
  

Seriously??

Today, I got my first speeding ticket ever! I can't believe it because, I consider myself a good driver and not one who speeds.

Now, I wasn't always this way. In fact, I used to drive a lot faster, when I was younger. After working as an insurance adjuster for awhile and dealing with car accidents all day long, I really curbed back on my speed and just made a conscious effort to drive safer.

Today though, I seriously did not think I was speeding. I was just on my way home from work, when the cop pulled me over. Supposedly, the street I was on was a 25 mph zone instead of 35, which I thought it was. Since, I thought it was 35, I was going 38, thus why I got a ticket.

I am really bummed though, because now I can't say that I have never had a speeding ticket and who knows how much it is going to cost. What a way to end the day!

Cookies: 401

Samoas or Caramel deLights? What's the difference? Which is the correct name? Now most of you might not care which one you devour, as long as it tastes good right?

Well, I never knew there was a difference, until a couple of years ago. When I moved in with my old roommate Jenni, back in the day, we soon discovered that we both shared a love for Girl Scout cookies. That year we ordered a bunch of them, Somoas and Thin Mints of course. When they arrived though, we were a little disappointed as they just didn't taste as good as we remembered.

Somehow or someway, we.. well maybe it was more like Jenni, came to find out that there are two different bakers for Girl Scout cookies. Thus, the reason for the two different names, Somoas and Caramel deLights. Little Brownie Bakers makes the Somoas and ABC/Interbake Foods makes the Caramel deLights.

In my opinion, the cookies from ABC taste much better than the Little Brownie Bakers, including the Thin Mints! Thanks to living in a highly populated area, we have the choice of buying for either of them and I only buy ABC cookies. Now if I couldn't find Caramel deLights and only had the choice of Somoas or nothing, I would still buy them.

So, there you go. You now know much more than you ever needed to know about Girl Scout Cookies! Oh, and you weren't going crazy because you could have sworn they were called Caramel deLight's.

I'm in Heaven

I am currently sitting here with a box of Thin Mint, Girl Scout cookies, that taste amazing and a tall glass of milk. MMmmmMMMMmmm!

You know someone really loves Girl Scout cookies, when they buy 6 boxes! :)

Which box of Girl Scout cookies is your favorite?

Keeping Warm

I just scored an electric $89.99 electric blanket from JCPenny's for $10.00! I love slickdeals.net! Also, no shipping fee as I selected in store pick up. I have been wanting one of these for a long time now!

Coupon code is: BUDDING

Shop it to Me

I am totally diggin this website and their email alerts! Thanks Kristy for letting me know about it! If you haven't heard about Shop it to Me, you basically tell them which clothing websites you like and your size. They do the work for you by sending you an email with the current sale items and pictures. How awesome is that!

I scored two pairs of shorts from New York & Company for $7.99 each. Here are the ones I got. They arrived today and are super cute!












The first pair on the left are a dark grey and the ones on the right are a dark denim.

You should definitely check it out!

Quick Weekend Recap

Just a quick weekend recap before I go to bed. Since, I have been bad about blogging consistantly lately, I know that if I don't do it now, it won't happen at all.

So, last week the hubby was gone for a couple of days due to work. I missed him terribly and I was really glad when he came home. My work was on his drive back home, so he stopped and we got lunch together on Friday. Henry's has some of the best sandwiches and for a great price!

Saturday, I went to a good friends baby shower. I made Paula Dean's baked french toast. I think it came out pretty darn good, for never trying it before. The rest of the day, we took a nice long nap and I finished up the book "Persuasion", by Jane Austen. Great book by the way!

Today, consisted of church and then some good bbq with Angie and her family. We then visited both the hubby's grandma's. They both live in the same apartment complex, so we spent the afternoon with them. Then, we watched some tv and relaxed. Dinner, we picked up In N Out, yummm! And took it to Angie's, where we spent the rest of the evening.

So overall, it was pretty good weekend. We caught up on our sleep and spent some good quality time with family, that was much needed. I feel recharged and ready to tackle to coming work week. I am not looking forward to getting up and leaving for work while it is still dark though. But, it will be nice to have more daylight, after getting home from work.

Hope you all had good weekends as well!

Lemon Pepper Shrimp Scampi

Picture Source: Cooking Light

This recipe was just awesome! It was quick, fresh and light. Perfect for a Monday night, when you had a long day at work and wishing it was still the weekend. David isn't a big seafood fan and he even liked it.

Lemon Pepper Shrimp Scampi
Source: Cooking Light, March 2009
Servings: 4

Ingredients
1 cup of uncooked orzo
2 tbsp of chopped fresh parsley (I substituted Cilantro)
1/2 tsp of salt, divided
7 tsp of unsalted butter, divided
1 1/2 pounds of peeled and deveined jumbo shrimp, (I used TJ's frozen shrimp)
2 tsp of minced garlic
2 tbsp of fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp of black pepper

Directions:
1. Cook orzo according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain. Place orzo in a medium bowl. Stir in parsley and 1/4 teaspoon salt; cover and keep warm.

2. While orzo cooks, melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle shrimp with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Add half of shrimp to pan; sauté 2 minutes or until almost done. Transfer shrimp to a plate. Melt 1 teaspoon butter in pan. Add remaining shrimp to pan; sauté 2 minutes or until almost done. Transfer to plate.

3. Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter in pan. Add garlic to pan; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Stir in shrimp, juice, and pepper; cook 1 minute or until shrimp are done.

Nutritional Information:
Calories: 403
Fat: 10.4g (sat 4.8g,mono 2.2g,poly 1.4g)
Protein: 40.1g
Carbohydrate: 34.7g
Fiber: 1.7g
Cholesterol: 276mg
Iron: 4.3mg
Sodium: 549mg
Calcium: 97mg