Labels: Cash Back
Labels: Shopping
Labels: Orlando, Random Mess
You ever wonder what to get someone and you are fresh out of ideas? I know, corporate wise, gift baskets are the choice du jour - a little something for everyone, but sometimes you just need to find someone who does them differently.
I send gift baskets for many different reasons - whether it's at the holidays, as a thank you for a job well done, to an artist after a big gig or interview, etc. So, when PayPerPost asked us to check out this gift basket site, I was pleasantly surprised. They have many different varieties and aren't the standard "blah blah blah" gift basket. These guys go the extra mile. Everything from Thanksgiving baskets to New Baby baskets to Thanks for the Hard Work basket. You name it - they might have it.
Remember the episode of Sex & the City where they were going to the Baby Shower and Charlotte went all wonky over *that perfect gift* Check this one out:
They also had something very unusual - the Rishi Tea Ceremony Gift Basket - Talk about unique. It even comes with its own bamboo TABLE. Now tell me this, who would ever forget that gift.
This basket, above everything, is my absolute favorite…
Delightful Deliveries even handles Fresh Flowers and cookie bouquest. This is one stop gift shopping at its best. So, with the holidays fast approaching, you might want to drop by and check them out. And, if you feel like hookin' yo' gal up, one of those wine baskets looks soooo delish! ;) I'm just sayin…
America's #1 Gift Basket Website
**This Post has been brought to you by PayPerPost. My opinions, and basket choices, are entirely my own**
You want to know what my definition of torture was today?
Being "trapped" in a 3 hour mandatory computer training session sitting in the front of the conference room near the windows - outside said window, lots of little people with red cups in hand from their excursion to Starbucks. I, however, am operating on NO Starbucks today and, throughout the computer training, kept drifting off to happy coffee land trying to plot a "mission impossible" of sorts just to get my iced pumpkin spice latte.
It's not pretty, people - not pretty at all.
One more day until I get my two new lovely kitchen additions. PayPerPost & CouponChief asked if I got any good coupon deals and the main one that comes to mind is the one I used at Overstock.com to purchase my new blender & mixer. CouponChief had a 10% off coupon for Overstock which came in very handy when it was combined with my cash back rebates and I was able to cross two big things off my "Want, Need & Have to Have list". Now, if only I can find that toaster. You know I'll be going to CouponChief when I finally find my toaster to see if they can help me cross one more thing off my list. They have coupons for everything there so, if you feel like saving a bit more money - CouponChief is the hotspot!
**This post has been brought to you by PayPerPost. My opinions, as always, are my own**
Labels: SATC
The Fates, most likely annoyed with my ever growing "I Can Cook Ego" have dealt me a swift blow.
See, a few weeks ago, my boss recommended that I add this espresso maker to my cooking arsenal. In my quest to reorganize my kitchen over the weekend, I decided that I needed to break this out of the box and try it out yesterday morning as I made breakfast. My boss suggested to put milk in the upper section and I'd have my own version of a latte with a little pumpkin spice creamer… Well, 2 pots into it and I was hooked, crowing about how I saved myself $12.00 or so by doing this at home.
This morning, coffee was a necessity as I had to work today. Well, in going to the kitchen, I assembled the pot for the makings of my version of a Pumpkin Spice Latte and noticed that the top was leaking a bit on the burner. I wrapped a bit of paper towel around the leak and went back to slicing a piece of homemade pumpkin bread (hey - I got adventurous yesterday!) and noticed that the latte was ready. Noticing that the handle was hot, instead of grabbing a pot holder or mitt, I did the stupidest thing - I grabbed a paper towel, and not a small piece of paper towel either. Next thing I know, I feel heat and a bright light as the paper towel CAUGHT on fire as I'm moving the pot over to the plate rest. What do I do - try to salvage the damn coffee before realizing my HAND IS ON FIRE! Ugh!
Thank god there was a BIG bowl of water in the sink where the paper towel inferno fell into and, the coffee was *sigh* far from salvageable. My right hand though, per WebMD, was hit with a case of second degree burns on two fingers and the side of the hand. To compound matters further, I could hear my grandmother going "put butter on the burn" so I did - not understanding why it still hurt after rinsing and putting butter on it.
Per WebMD:
Put on an antibiotic ointment. Ointments such as Bacitracin, Polysporin, or Silvadene can be used. Do not put sprays or butter on burns, because this traps the heat inside the burn.
Labels: SATC
I won't say names to protect the guilty, but we gotta talk. When you see that a water cooler is empty (more than likely because you drained the water bottle to the very last drop), be a gem and change the bottle. Don't just stare at it like it's going to change itself or, better yet, act like it still has a couple drops left when that bottle is dryer than the Sahara Desert…
Today, I found myself playing the role of Rosie the Riveter because one *ahem* man decided that water was not needed in our office. This seems to happen often. The men will act like "la di dah" and not change the damn bottle. Even though I have that shoulder from hell, I decided enough was enough and hoisted that heavy as hell bottle and changed the machine and what did he do, kept reading his paper - not even a "Hey - Lys, need some help". I did pretty good, if I can say so myself, only soaking part of my jacket and watch in the process. I just wonder - Where the hell is chivalry anymore??
So, men - wanna keep a girl happy - change the damn water bottle. If not, we might drop it and you might not like where.
PHoto courtesy of here.
Did y'all SEE these shoes on Oprah? I mean - seriously - are these not hot??? While they were waxing poetic on the beauty and function of Cole Haan shoes, I had a slight panic attack at the price and wonder if these shoes might jump up in price due to their PR exposure.
I'm not sure if I can invest $275 in a pair of shoes. $90 as it is now at NineWest is still hitting me over the head sometimes. But, if form = function and it means less painful footsies, maybe after I get the new apartment, I'll make the investment.
Now what to do with the other 2 bizillion pairs of painful shoes in my closet…
Now - I mean that in a joking manner - please don't get all huffy.
I'm a northerner at heart - Philly girl with an attitude and sass to match. So, being down here in Florida for 5 years, I've noticed that I've adopted a few southern "charms/idiosyncrasies" i.e. "Y'all", takin' my sweet time to get to something and starting to enjoy the warm weather. But, as my friends know, I always joke that Polk County is led by Boss Hogg & Crew and they are beyond redneck. I don't consider Florida "south" really - technically, it's a bunch of transplants, rednecks and "Floridian" peeps whose ancestors/family were from the north or south. It's glorified touristville. Plus, Orlando is the home of Larry the Cable Guy - need I say more???
Last night, I went to the Le Creuset sale at the store, Tuesday Morning. If you haven't checked out this store, you really should. I called ahead and talked to a very nice lady, Shirley who asked me what the "La Crewt" stuff was. I said "Le Creu-set". Again she responded "Le Crewt?" so I said "Stockpots - really expensive stock pots" and she told that they were selling out like mad. So last night, I called Reese and asked her "Am I hittin' redneck - how the HELL is Le Creuset pronounced?". Reese giggled, did some research and said that it sounds like "La Cruz-ay". (Or, as I will forever remember - the damn Tom Cruise pots). Yeah - I really sounded like a dumbass in Williams Sonoma last week - no wonder they looked at me like I was mad.
For the record - I indulged a bit more. I got this saucepan and this stockpot. And, this store even had my blender & mixer (20 bux more than what I paid for it but still - fabulous bargains).
If you have a Tuesday Morning, I highly recommend checkin' it out - if you are looking for Le Creuset - just ask for the really expensive pots & pans. They can't pronounce it either.
Labels: Cash Back
A group of friends & coworkers asked me out to lunch today - being that it's my "non-Birthday" (it's really tomorrow) I said "SURE". When asked for restaurant suggestions, I said "Hey - what about Sam Sneads? They are really good". The previous times I had been there, I was really impressed. Their wait staff - impeccable. Their food - fabulous. The drinks.. Well you get the drift.
Keep in mind we had a limited time to go to lunch - it was Friday - we all have to get back to the daily grind and one of the guys made a reservation - figured we'd be out of there by 1/1:15 tops. When an additional person was going, I called and got this guy who said "Oh - you have a reservation under what name". I give the name and I hear "Oh - yeah if you have a reservation that's fine". You would think I would have gotten a "Hmmm.. Something's not right" but I figured the guy was a tad inexperienced. (Later I found out through the voice recognition that it was Mark - the operations manager - someone quick - buy him a clue).
We sit down at 12:05, order our food at 12:15. When did we get our order - 1:12 p.m. ALMOST AN HOUR. 45 minutes into this waiting game, not one time did the server, Katie H., EVER come by to tell us "oh the kitchen's a bit backed up" or "I'm sorry it's running a little late". I'll give her this - she kept filling up our iced tea glasses, but she did give one of the girls a bit of a "ten heads" look when she asked for water. At 1:05 (I looked at the watch), I had to talk to another server and ask him to check on our order and find out what's up. During this whole episode, our server was playing with a baby, yippin' and no show of "follow through". Now, I try to take it easy on servers - I used to be one and I remember bitchy customers. I also was a restaurant manager in college and, I also remember bitchy customers. But this was beyond unacceptable.
Not more than 2 minutes after talking to the other server (who was a doll by the way), Katie comes over to our table with some bread going "I heard there were complaints. I want you to know for a 7 top (there were 7 at the table) it takes a bit longer but it should be right out". What. The. OH NO SHE DIDN'T! If she thinks she is going to swagger to our table with a little attitude, she don't know any of us. That immediately set the tone for the rest of the meal. At 1:12, there should have been a processional because out comes Katie H. with Mr. Doll Server with the food. The orders were - 2 hamburgers, 2 chicken sandwiches, 1 tuna sandwich (2-3 minutes to grill a piece of ahi tuna - HELLO), one quesadilla and a salad with filet tips.
As she's going around with her little defensive mechanism shield up, she hands one of my friends her salad with steak filet. My friend had requested that the Cesar salad be substituted in place of the spinach salad. A Cesar salad is lettuce, a bit of parmesan, some croutons and Cesar dressing. Not rocket science - hell my cat can make that. It should have been super simple. Well, P. got lettuce & croutons tossed with a bit of the fruity vinaigrette for the SPINACH salad. She brought the fact up to Katie who promptly tried to argue with her and tell her what she ordered. Rather than swapping out a new Cesar salad made correctly (which would take 4 minutes - tops) she told her she could redo it but it might "take a bit". And, on a totally different not, but still disturbing - Katie took it upon herself to address P. with the term "Babe". Ummm.. Hello?!?!?! She also reiterated the point that it took, and I quote - "28 minutes for a 7 top", as was evidenced by her timestamp on the order. So - tell me this Ms. Katie - where was the order from 12:15 - 12:42? Ahhh.. Now - even Sherlock would deduce that it was with HER doing nothing. Granted they were a tad busy, but NOT slammed. She had about 4 tables. Her other server in her section had more than that and not one of his customers seemed to be cranky. As a matter of fact, he had a rather large party about double our size and he didn't even crack a sweat.
We finished our lunch but blood pressure was up. When Katie decided to come around to "see if everything was okay", it took every ounce of restraint I had to not rip her a new one. Then, Katie made a big mistake - she decided to "apologize" to us about our "friend's salad not being right" WHEN P. WAS NOT AT THE TABLE. P and another friend had already gone to get their parking validated (and to talk to the manager). That set it off. I cut that wench off with "That is between YOU and HER and we don't need to hear it!" Katie's damn lucky I was not at that particular end of the table because I would have caused a scene. Don't EVER treat my friends with such disrespect. My gal, M. told me that my expression was far from nice and, I'm sure it was because I was calm. I'm sure I'm still red about the issue. Katie: you might want to learn some sincerity when apologizing.
It gets better - I promise. While waiting for P. to finish with the manager, Katie addressed another couple with the phrase "Lets start with what we DO know" with the same bitchy tone that she tried to address us with after she heard our complaint. The couple was an older woman and a man. No need for attitude.
Shortly thereafter, Mark, the manager came over with a whole bunch of "I'm sorry" blah blah blah. I was later informed that he did comp. out P.'s meal, however he did not discount the remainder of the bill as he had promised. A number of us were former servers and all of us tip generously. This time, I felt that Katie did not deserve anything for her attitude, tone, and trying to start an argument with a CUSTOMER. When I was a manager, if one of my staff ever did that, they'd get a stern talking to - if I heard that phrase after that, they would be out the door so quick their apron would hit them in the nose. Same goes for me - if I EVER treated ANY customer like that, I'd be out of a job - so where does she get off thinking she can feed us a line of excuses?
AGAIN - there's more to this rant… after we left, being that I deal well with fellow publicists, I decided to find out who did their PR. Don't you know Mark answered and told me that I could call Candy after 9:00 on Monday. Great. She's on my call list - Don't worry about that. Still angry about the issue, I figured I'd deal with Mr. Mark directly - I called back and got Andrew who, with a beyond bitchy tone told me "Can you call back in 30 minutes?". "No Andrew", I promptly told him "Here's what YOU are going to do - you are going to take a message, get a pen and paper". I was beyond pissed and seeing red. After fighting with him over his question of "Well who ARE YOU?" and "Does Mark KNOW you" and "What is this REGARDING?" Yeah, little one - Andrew you are beyond on my list - you and Katie - so not welcome. I told him that Mark could call me in 30 minutes. Well, that was at 1:45. It's 3:50 and STILL No call. So, here's what I'm going to do:
1) Mark and I are going to have a "Come to Jesus" meeting. We're going to talk this out. Not hug it out - I'm not Ari from Entourage, but we'll have a "meeting of the minds" whereby he will apologize with some sincerity - comp my friends (all 6 of them) or reverse their charges;
2) Candy and I are going to have a talk about future events to be scheduled at Sam Sneads as I have a few clients who do, indeed, work with them. Should they EVER have my clients treated the way I was, it's on;
3) I'm going to notify Patrick Casey at the Pike Corporation who is the owner of Sam Sneads of the behavior of Katie H. (Server), Andrew (Phone Guard) and Mark - Operations Manager and give him the friendly suggestion that he might want to have someone "drop by" for their section around 12:00;
4) I'm going to encourage every person who I know that goes there in Orlando to really "think twice". If we had 2 servers and one manager who can't control them, that scares me about the rest of the people that go there;
5) I'm going to make sure that my review is posted in a few outlets because seriously - this was ridiculous, uncalled for and disappointing. As I really enjoyed going there before - the fact they were so horrid today (and at my birthday lunch no less), we've definitely got a big problem.
As my friend Amy said so eloquently - Always be nice to others, especially those you don't know, because you never know who you might be dealing with!
On another note - Mark: There's nothing wrong with working for Applebees - I just hope your behavior there was MUCH better when you were a manager then when you were here. You just have to embrace it and stop denying the fact that you worked there - see above statement.
PayPerPost is having a little promo - Refer a Friend and get $$.
As I've said before, I'm pretty cool with PayPerPost. I don’t have any arguments. They've worked with me on a few things and their customer service is pretty quick, fast and you've got lots of topics to talk about. You can pick and choose and you are in control. A few of my friends who normally read my blog have been bit by the PPP monster and they are enjoying it. I mean, c'mon a couple bucks to talk about a service you might actually use and enjoy? There is so much diversity on this internet that new opportunities cross my path daily.
So - if you are interested, give it a shot. And, if you use me as a referral, I'll shoot a little somethin' your way. Just tell them that JustAnothaGal [at] gmail.com referred ya!!
**This post has been brought to you by PayPerPost. My opinions, as always, are my own**
Three days ago, I got this dress that I ordered from Kiyonna. I tried it on last night and it's absolute heaven. It fits where it should, accentuates the positive and glides over all those parts I don't want revealed to the world. I ain't LiLo ya know. And, it has this jersey-type fabric in such a deep chocolate that, paired with my Burgundy Non Kelly Ripa/Christian Louboutin 9West Pumps, be warned…
Should I wear it tomorrow is my new question - there is Happy Hour and various celebrations due to my impending 35. Why the hell not.
In today's day and age, every little bit helps. I participate in a few things on the 'net that earn me a few bucks here and there i.e. Instant Profitz, Cash Back for Shopping through Mr. Rebates, Ebates & Fat Wallet, My Points, Pinecone Research (thanks Single Ma!) and, of course, PayPerPost.
PayPerPost is surrounded by whispering from the blogging community - honestly, I don't care. I don’t blog about opportunities I don't think look interesting, I don't blog about opportunities that the companies looking for the PR ask to "cloak and not disclose it's a paid post" and PayPerPost is totally cool with that. They've been fabulous through their customer service, are there for their advertisers and bloggers and it's been a fun ride. I haven't made a mint (well, over the past six months or so, about the price of a pair of Nine West shoes (and not the designer ones)) but I enjoy it. I love the freedom they give me, the opportunities they present and am learning about a lot of sites I might not normally come across but are spectacular (hello - martini glasses, a Shoe blog AND an Online Safe Deposit Box) They let me express my opinion and it's beyond simple. And, for the record, I'm starting to work on my emergency/new apartment fund with whatever I make and that's been going straight to my ING account.
So thanks PayPerPost - you got one happy blogger on this end!
**This post is brought to you by PayPerPost. My opinions, as always, are my own**
Labels: Cash Back
Mr. Rebates has seen Fat Wallet's holiday promotion and raised THEIR percentages… They want us all to have a Cash Back Christmas.. Now that's a promotion I fully support…
With that being said - Hey Ebates - consider yourself challenged. As How I Met Your Mother/Doogie Houser's Neil Patrick Harris would say - "Man Up!"
Labels: Cash Back
