Freddy's Fab-U Friday Finds

It just makes me happy to write my posts on Fridays because I know in a few hours, with wine glass in hand, I will welcome the weekend!
Tonight we are going to attempt to go into Virginia to support Towson University Swimming and Diving at their Championship meet. The hubs and I both swam at Towson as undergrads (that's how we met). Some people kindly refer to that as swimcest. Where someone on the women's team dates someone on the men's team. And our swimcest turned into marriage- and here we live happily ever after!!!

Go Tigers!

Our group of Alumni are so much fun, we try to get to as many events as possible to support the team.
If we by chance feel extra lazy and don't make it to VA my plan is to go to Blockbuster Express and rent a DVD for the evening with rental code MRC37H for a free DVD rental (tonight only!)

Other things to check out this weekend are:
$5 off $25 at Sears today and tomorrow only.

Busy One Get One Free At Chipotle for watching a 90 second facebook video.

Free Bath an Body Works travel size item with any purchase thru 3/9/11

I hope you have a Fab-U Friday!!!!

WW and Girl Scout Cookie Season



Def. YUMMY



I'm still on the fence about the new points plus program WW has set up. I really liked the old program the one time I tried it. I'm not too keen on the sloooowwww weight loss. I'm so impatient with this stuff!

AND- it's girl scout cookie season. Did I mention I have no will power what-so-ever??? My weakness for samoas is killing me they are 2 points per cookie on the new program.... I pass the girl scout ice cream in the grocery store eyeing it up and then there's the girl scouts actually selling the cookies outside of the grocery -oh- and there's always a sign up sheet to order the darn cookies at work! It's like they follow me- I swear! It's a good thing I found this article on what to do if you crave girl scout cookies!!!

The artice mentions to substitute the YUMMY Samosa with a yummy? Luna Bar???? Well the Luna Bar  is 5 Point Plus Points- Is that even possible?? No Luna Bar for me....one person commented that she thinks the Kellog Caramel Coconut Fudge Fiber Bars taste just like Samoas. The bars are only 3 points. I'm going with the bars next time we food shop.

Anyone else having issues with the new points plus program?? I'm missing the old WW and the lbs falling off!!!





Freddy's Fab-U Friday Finds

TGIF!
For some of you, you probably have a 3-day weekend! Good for you!
We are enjoying weather in the 70's today-makes me that much more excited for summer time!!!
I am so excited for Date Night tonight at The Glass Grill!

Some shopping is in order for this weekend in my house and I plan on taking full advantage of this week's freebies and deals:

One free week at curves gym

Anyone in the Baltimore/DC area can visit Mt.Vernon Estates and Gardens FREE on Monday for President's Day!

Score major points with the Hubs!

Free subscription to Maxim Magazine.  I signed up and have already recieved about 4 months worth of mags.

$5 off 2 entrees at Chili's

Jamba Juice is offering 2 for $5 Sweetheart 16oz Smoothies!

I hope you have a Fab-U Friday!!!!!!

JERSDAY

Can not wait for Jersey Shore tonight- hopefully I make it up that late!!!

During the show they'll be premiering Britney's new music video to "Hold it Against Me"
I love this song and have seen her live 3 times in my life AND I'm not afraid to admit it!!

Happy JERSDAY!!!!

Kitchen Adventure's

V-Day Flowers

My Valentine's Day actually started on Sunday. I had to work the entire day and the Hubs came in and brought me these flowers.... What a guy!!!!

Then yesterday was our official V-Day "celebration." I came home from work to bake cookies. I'm not a chef, I don't like to cook, and I have never baked anything before.

I googled a ww friendly chocolate chip cookie recipe. I set all of my ingredients out to make sure I had everything and could not, for the life of me, find the flour. Its always in the cabinet next to the stove. I found wheat flour, but not the regular flour you would use for baking. I pulled the whole kitchen apart before calling the hubs to find out where he moved it to. I had to be sneaky and play a game so to not give away the surprise of me actually baking cookies- he knew this was a game- I told him to play nice.

So I asked him 3 questions (yeah- that's pretty tricky of me!)

1. Do you have a red tie and where is it?

2. Do we have flour in the house and where is it?

3. Do we have a screwdriver in the garage because I can't seem to find it!

He answered all of them and then said- DUH- I know you're looking for my red tie!
PERFECT- he fell right into my sneaky trap!!!

I proceeded to get the flour from off the top of the fridge- why did we put it there???? And then, began to attempt to bake. No one warns you how messy the kitchen can actually become when you're trying to do something nice for someone else! So I followed the directions and even tweaked a few things... check out the recipe below:

 Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 2 cups  all-purpose flour
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• 12 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup granulated sugar ***I substituted 3/4 cup of Splenda
• 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven 325°. Line 1 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Whisk dry ingredients together in a medium bowl; set aside. With electric mixer, or by hand, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly combined. Beat in egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add dry ingredients and beat at low-speed just until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
3. Roll dough out with floured rolling pin to the same size as the cookie sheet
4. Bake until cookie cake is light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy (approximately 11-14 minutes). Do not overbake.
5. Use cookie cutter to cut out fun shapes- I used hearts!!!!

I cleaned the kitchen while the cookies baked for 15 minutes. And this is what it looked like before I cut out the heart shapes with the cookie cutter. Success!

They were YUMMY!

The hubs and I loved the cookies. I think I impressed him with my cooking abilities and he asked if this adventure will lead me to try more cooking?? I said no to be on the safe side, but maybe it will. It was actually kind of fun!

*Note-These cookies happen to taste really good with an entire bottle of red wine.

I really did not want to give any gifts so this Friday we are doing "date night" at McFadden's Art Glass.
It's a glass blowing studio where you can make your own art and there's a restaurant next door where you can get food/drinks and make it a date night at the Glass Grill.

I'll let you know how it goes!

I was also suprised to get this watch as a gift (eventhough we said no gifts)... I LOVE IT!

Freddy's Fab-U Friday Finds

Happy FRIDAY!!!!

This was such a busy week at the Freddie House. It was the hubs 29th Birthday and I got him a great long sleeve shirt from REI that has SPF 50 in it ..... so he can wear it on our trip to ARUBA!!!! We try to go on at least one nice vacation a year and we got a great deal on this trip. Airfare on AirTran and we bought a timeshare at the Marriott Surf Club from someone who was selling it at a really inexpensive rate. I found the timeshare on my new favorite website http://www.vrbo.com/. Stands for vacation rental by owner AND you can bargain prices down if you feel they are too high!!!! If you've ever been to Aruba please comment and give me the inside scoop....

It's the weekend before Valentine's Day so start thinking about getting something special for your Valentine or maybe for yourself!!!
We got a package in the mail from Rue La La delivered to the house this week and I quickly asked the hubs "what did YOU order from Rue La La snob??"
I got a quick, witty answer from him, "YOUR valentine's day present!!!"
OK- that definitely shut me up.
I always seem to put myself in those types of situations- better known as foot in mouth syndrome.

Check out some V-Day Weekend sales and freebies:

Gap BoGo Sale. Buy one item at the GAP and get the second item FREE!!!!

Redbox-Send a Valentine and 1 night free DVD rental to a friend on facebook

Free cookie at Subway on Valentine's Day- no coupon necessary!!! They have a new Raspberry Cheesecake cookie-YUM!

Baskin Robbins buy any one cone and get one free on facebook. You need to click "play the game" on their facebook wall to get the coupon.

Free T-Mobile Phone this weekend. Free includes a mail in rebate and two year plan with T-Mobile. But the phone is technically free.

Free Pedometer App for your IPhone. Helps to work off  all the V-Day cals.

Didn't get a gift for your sweetie?? Don't worry. Give them a DIY crafty card made by you. The site has templates to download the card and there's even one you can stick a candybar onto- click candy butterfly papercraft... super cute idea! It will get you outta the doghouse quick if you haven't gotten a gift or don't have the money to spend!! Love this!

Free Bowling at any Bruswick Bowling. Just click and print. While you're at it, throw it into the free card from above and you're all set. You can thank me later!!!!

Happy V-Day!

I hope you have a Fab-U Friday!!!!

Learning A Little More About The Web

Happy Hump Day!!! This week has flown by so far!! I've been busy hitting up the dollar store for V-Day cards and celebrating the hubs birthday! My next post will reveal the amazing gift he got from me for his 29th birthday!!!

Below is a post that I found and couldn't help but notice the similarities in our New Year's Resolutions!!!!
Jim sounds like he's a bit older but I think its great that so many people (young and old) are willing to embrace technology!



Guest post written by Jim Seger


If there's one thing I lament about growing up when I did, it's that it wasn't in the age of the internet. My kids are just now getting to be college-aged, and I'm seeing how absolutely crucial the web (and their laptop machines) are to their studies. It's unreal! I think back to those days of typing up essays on the type-writer--my kids would just laugh at that, now!
I've made a new goal for 2011: to become a little more Web savvy. Sure, I can navigate around it pretty well by now, popping in and out of my favorite web sites...but I'd really like to master it, if you know what I mean. I've been doing a little research into domain Name Registration and I think that I'd like to start up my own Web site. What better way to learn than just grabbing it by the horns? Not sure what I'll do the site on...maybe I'll just make it a blog about my life, kind of like this one. I feel like I'll be able to get a better taste of what it's all about by just jumping in head-first.

Beginner's Luck

How our vacation turned into a vacation...

The hubs and I have been married 2 1/2 years. For our first wedding anniversary my parents decided to take us to Vegas.
My second time and the hubs first. Like I said, it was a gift so we traveled with the gift givers-my parents and my younger brother.

This is how a vacation became a vacation.... let me explain....

When we got to Vegas the hubs really wanted to play craps... well, I don't know the first thing about craps. So, we watched. We played games we knew like blackjack because we can manage to count to 21.
But we stood by the craps table watching all the people gathered around screaming everytime the dice rolled. We really wanted to be part of the fun but how the heck were we supposed to learn how to play?!?!

Our first strike with lady luck was when some guy at the craps table "sponsored" us with a $10 chip to start playing and said it was "on him." Since it was "on that guy" we decided to go for it.We managed to parlay that into walking away with $100 in about 5 minutes!! Perfect, a game that we could play and win!!!

That night, which happened to be our last night in Vegas, we just went for it. We stayed up gambling at the craps table until 5am. Did I mention I'm lucky if I make it past midnight??We high-fived, chest bumped and screamed with strangers for about 6 hours at the table. And, you could say we had beginners luck but that $100 turned into a BIG money night for us!!!

So at 5am, with celebratory beer in hand, we forced ourselves back to the hotel room to pack and nap. At 7am we woke up the rest of the family and told them about our beginners luck- we all celebrated together!
We're so lucky that was our last night in Vegas because I could see how craps can become slightly addicting.

We took our winnings and put it aside for a ten day trip to Italy a few months later. We went to europeandestinations.com and planned our whole trip via their website. The site is great for anyone looking to travel abroad- but that is another whole post.... The winnings covered almost our whole trip- airfare, 3 nights in Rome, 3 in Florence and 4 in Venice. Seriously, that is just GOOD luck!

And that is how our vacation turned into a vacation.

We're planning to go on vacation in a few weeks. Not back to Vegas, but another location where they have gambling... this time I'm learning new games BEFORE we leave.

I recently found this site called Online Casino Edition. The site is an online casino guide and helps you understand how and where to place bets online. To be honest, I'm not an online gambler although I know many people that are and win lots. I like the site for a totally different reason. The site is great- you can learn about all the games. They have the history of the game, the rules, different strategies, and inside tips and tricks to learn.
I'm currently reading up on Roulette Odds. I love that they explain how to increase your chance of winning.
I'm planning to visit the craps table one more time. I might take my chances again... I've always wanted to go to Australia:)

It's a roll of the dice.......

Freddy's Fab-U Friday Deals

Happy Friday!
So after my long groundhog working day, I am rewarded with being able to write this post in my pj's from home!!! Today I'm off and it felt amazing to sleep in!!!
With Superbowl Sunday coming up, I'm planning to get a good workout in this morning in my spare time.
Other things on the to-do list, which btw is never-ending, include laundry, dishes, and birthday shopping for the hubs!!

I found some great stuff you should def. check out today and the rest of the weekend:

A great Washington DC Groupon deal toay for Barnes and Noble... buy a $20 gift card for just $10

If you want to go out and celebrate by taking in 1billion ww points you can go to Chili's for a FREE BROWNIE SUNDAY- today only

Don't miss CoffeMate giving away 100,000 coupons for a FREE bottle of CoffeeMate on Free Flavor Friday. Just go to facebook at 9am Pacific (which is noon eastern time) time to score this deal!

Free Flavor Grove Almonds also on facebook this Sunday at 6pm.

Free Staple's Stickies notes. Valid2/4 and 2/5. Click to print and bring it to Staple's for a 12 pack.
Limit 2 per houehold.

American Eagle offering an additional 30% off of clearance items through Sunday.

Not into the Superbowl this year? Maybe take the family bowling Sunday... for $10 all you can bowl at AMF Bowling.


So many great freebies this weekend!!! Enjoy!
I hope you have a Fab-U Friday!

"Well, it's Groundhog Day... again"

I have my very own Goundhog day today. A 17 hour work day! I feel like the movie where the day never ends and keeps repeating itself....Well at least I only have 15 hours left.
Yes, the day will be LONG, but since I work a double today, I get to be cozied up and sleeping in on my day off this Friday!!!!

In other news .....SPRING IS NEAR! Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow... so this horrible winter is close to being O-V-E-R.
Bring on the spring!!!

I love Punxsutawney Phil and this holiday! I actually think I like it better then Valentine's Day (debatable).
Every February I get excited on Groundhog Day! I just like the idea of a silly little rat-like animal predicting the weather... so ha, take that Sam Champion!!
I think Punxsutawney Phil should come out more then once a year. (Like maybe to go tanning in the summer).
I love his chubby cheeks and giant teeth... Seriously, can you get enough??? I remember how much my kindergarten teacher used to build up holidays (really, what else is there to do in kindergaten?!) and we would get all excited and color pictures of the groundhog, make treats in the shape of groundhogs with the class mom and celebrate. I guess it stayed with me all these years. I love, love, love all holidays!!! So, here's to you Punxsutawney Phil and another great prediction. I personally invite you to Long Island for Memorial Day to bask in the sun with me and the girls on Long Beach!


Today is the 125th Groundhog's Day!

Happy Groundhog Day!!!