A big Goodwill opened in a nearby town we sometimes go shopping in. Goodwills around here have become SO expensive I barely shop there anymore - especially when I can buy brand new clothes at Old Navy or wherever for $5, why pay even more for used clothes? But the one good thing about them around here is that they get cast-offs from Target and other stores! It seems that overstock or clearance items that don't sell get sent to Goodwills, so there are tons of brand new things hanging around!
Today I saw tons of Christmas decorations, pajamas, shoes, comforters/bedding, and other stuff fresh from Target. Ironically, some of the Goodwill prices were higher than the clearance prices they didn't sell for at Target!
My find was this awesome pink leopard Mulberry for Target bag! It was originally $29.99 (and I'd eyed it in Target multiple times) but at the Goodwill for $10. Brand new with tags, of course! I also then stopped at Target and found another one - the teeny black one - for only $3.47 on clearance (normally $14.99)!
You all know I've had great experiences so far with CSN Stores. I did my first review of one of their products back in November, on this Knomo ID card wallet that I love and use every day.
Well, I was just informed by CSN Stores about a great new website for private designer sales (along the likes of Hautelook, Gilt, etc.) called Joss & Main. Joss & Main runs sales on various home furnishings, so while it's not beauty-related, it's still a great place to check out for designer-quality items at a fraction of the price. The exciting part for me (and hopefully for all of you!) is that this week they are featuring two sales by Knomo- the brand that makes the ID card wallet I reviewed last year. Knomo makes really chic and modern briefcases and bags from what I've seen. I can speak for the quality and functionality of the wallet I have, so if the rest of their products are just as good, I'll be excited to check out what Joss & Main has for sale this week.
Here's the line-up for the Knomo sales at Joss & Main this week:
Tuesday, 2/1- Knomo Men's messengers and briefcases
Thursday, 2/3- Knomo Women's messengers and briefcases
To sign up: You have to become a member in order to partake in the sales on Joss & Main, which is completely free like most private sale sites. My personal invitation link is HERE, so click through that link if you're interested in signing up through me!
I'd love to hear if you see anything you like!
Just because you are not a size 4 does NOT mean you can't look beautiful and feel sexy! There are many great places to shop! Gap is a great place to shop for nice work or weekend clothes because they go up to a size XXL which would be the equivalant of a size 22. And if you are particularly tall or petite (which means short, not small!!) Then you can buy tall and petite as well! Here is just an outfit option for you girls!
This is a full listing of my January favorites. Click here to see more details on why I like each one!
I'm a one that actively seeks out low entry giveaways. Almost daily. It seems that there a many different perceptions of what is considered "low entry".
I seek out low entry giveaways for several reasons:
1. Good chance of winning
2. Helps out fellow bloggers to get more entries into their giveaway
3. A lot of them are grocery or beauty type items I would normally buy anyway. This has helped take a bite out of our grocery bill which is fantastic.
So my question to you is, What do you consider "low entry"?
My personal definition is a giveaway with less than 100 entries and ending within a week. There are exceptions if there are several winners. I usually multiply that by the number of winners for the giveaway. So if there are 2 winners, less than 200 entrants still fit in my definition and so on. One exception to my rule would be if it's a really big prize with less than 200. For example, something like a Dyson vacuum with only 200 entries and a week left would be low for that prize, in my opinion.
I don't like it when I see 200+ entries with 1 winner and it's being promoted as low entry. I also hate to see when there is still 2 weeks left on the giveaway and it's being promoted as low entry. That's just my opinion though. I know there are many views out there.
That being said, I found a giveaway with low entries today I thought I'd share as an example:
Barefoot in Portland has a giveaway for a GLEE make your own candy kit. With my entries included there are only 13 entries so far and end 2/4 (less than a week away). So stop over and enter. 
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The Valentine Handmade with Love Gift Hop will be happening Feb. 2-6. Many blogs will be participating. All giveaway items are handmade items. I'm so excited to be sharing my wonderful sponsors with you. The next wonderful sponsor I have is: South Texas Naturals
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It was two weeks of, "Mom when are we going snow tubing with the boy scouts". I was looking forward to it myself. Neither my boys or myself had ever been snow tubing. I had been to Hidden Valley Resort in Hidden Valley, PA for a wedding about 10 yrs ago, but that was about it. The boy scouts in our area do this trip each year. This is the first year we were actually able to go. I lined up a baby sitter for my toddler. I was a little nervous. I didn't know what to expect. I'm not a fan of being out in the cold for very long. If I had only known that the cold would be the least of my concerns.
We arrive at Hidden Valley Resort. The snow tubing sign was prominent at the entrance of the resort. It wasn't hard to find at all. We quickly found our boyscout pack, signed our release paper, gave our money to our pack leader who got us the group rate ($14 a piece for 2 hrs), and before long we were headed to the snow tubing slopes.
Our group time was scheduled 12-2 pm. Two Hidden Valley Resort employees gave us all a quick run down on the rules for safety. There was a visible conveyer belt (they called the magic carpet) that would take us with our tubes to the top of the hills.
It started off well enough. Then it started to get busy, yea, pretty busy. The Hidden Valley Resort employees were starting to become noticeably frazzled and at times, down right rude.
There were 2-3 employees at the top of the hill that were supposed to be helping to push people down the hills, as well as let us know when it was ok to go. They did neither. Several times I had to leave my inner tube to mark my place in line to step away and push my children down the hill as the employees stood there complaining about the people and socialized.
There were 2 employees at the bottom of the hills thatI had assumed were there to direct people. Only a few times did I hear them yell at small children to hurry up and get off the slopes. At one point I witnessed a child that looked to be about 5 or 6 yrs old literally get run down buy a full grown man in an inner tube. (Thanks employees at the top for being so vigil). The father was panicked and ran over to pick up his son. The employees just stood there. In the panic the father ran his son off the slopes leaving the tube behind. The kind and caring worker ::that's sarcasm:: picked up the tube and threw it to the side while shaking his head and rolling his eyes. Seriously people, I witnessed this.
As it grew busy they opened another "lift" to the top. The conveyor belt was still running but they opened up one that had the hooks that hooked onto the tube handles and gave you a ride up on your tube. My boys were in front of me. The employee hooking people up to this list was visibly annoyed. He was yelling at my 7 yr old "Hurry up, Hurry up, let's go". It wasn't just my child though, I observed him speaking similarly to other people and children going through.
After an hour we decided to go inside where there was an over-priced concession stand. No one was manning the station. There were two employees directly behind us that were handling the tickets. They stood there and socialized as a line formed at the unmanned concession stand. The man behind me became impatient and asked the ticket employees if someone was working behind the concession stand. She said "oh let me see if I can find someone". After about 5 more minutes a girl comes down to take our order who says "I don't normally work down here so, I'm not familiar with the menu." Great... We did finally get our food. We sat at a bar style counter and ate. I noticed a younger man sitting behind me eating. I thought he was another snow tuber. He cracked some jokes at a guy coming through the door. At least 3 of them gathered around. It turned out they were employees. As I nibbled on my soft pretzel I got to enjoy their rantings about how busy it was. One employee even said "These people...dude you sit on the tube, you grab the handles, and you go down the hill, how hard is that?!" I was shocked that these Hidden Valley Resort employees were allowed to sit there and bash the clients that were sitting right behind them.
It could have been a great experience at Hidden Valley Resort in Hidden Valley, PA for my children, the boys scouts, and I. Instead the customer service made us seem like we were more of a pest than paying customers.
***This review was not solicited by Hidden Valley Resort, in PA or any other company or person. Occasionally have a very positive or negative experience with a company and feel the need to write about my observations. All opinions expressed are my own personal opinions based on my experience. This post does not represent those of any other person or party but myself*** Free Stuff, Fun Sites, Contests, and More
Luckily for me, the CVS beauty clearance sale is still going on! There aren't any CVS's where my parents live, so while I was staying with them over break I couldn't take advantage of the first days of the sale. But that's OK, because when I got back to school- and CVS country- I was able to stop in. One of the (two) things I purchased was the Revlon Age Defying concealer in the shade light, which contains an SPF of 15. I've heard nothing but rave reviews about this stuff so I was excited to see it 75% off!
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