Shop and Tell

Smiths Mega Sale

2 Gallons of Milk- $2.39

5lb bag Gala Apples- $3.99

4 Pack of Dish Sponges $2.00

Below are items from the MEGA SALE

Purchase 10 participating items and receive an automatic $5.00 off

6 Colgate Toothpastes- Free

2 Colgate Toothbrushes- Free

3 Campbells Cream of Chicken- Free

5 Swanson Chicken Broth- $.39

3 Annies Organic Mac and Cheese- $.49

1 Hot Pockets Sideshots- $.49

not a bad day in the grocery store

check out http://grocerysmarts.com

passport: g89cls

peace, love, and savings

Happy Engagement

Our good friends, Katie and Luke recently got ENGAGED while in Ireland. We are so happy for the two of them to finally have a normal life together after being long distance while they were both in school. Katie has written about their engagement story on her blog where you can see how much love between the two of them http://jozsa.blogspot.com/2010/11/moment.html

Can't wait to see you walk down the isle, you will be an absolute beautiful bride.

love you kates!

Bachelorette Party

The last night out on the town as Christina Sachetti.

Her maid of honor, Danielle planned a fabulous night on the town to celebrate our bride to be. Erin and I helped gather fun adult decoration and games to help Danielle in the planning. We had a fabulous suite at the Signature at MGM where we got a smoking room rate. The wedding party arrived to the room early so that we could get ready together and grasp the entire experience.
We had so many laughs in those couple hours that will last a lifetime.

On the front drive of Signature ready for our car to take us to Firefly for dinner.

We had a lovely meal at the wonderful Tapas restaurant. Five pitchers of Sangria later we were ready to get the night started.

Erin, Lacie, and Nicole

(and baby Gums)

We went to the Hofbrauhaus, a German Pub during Oktoberfest which filled the entire building with singing and slamming their beer steins on the hard wooden tables. We had a great time, played a game and made the bride some extra cash, and they embarrassed her on stage which was priceless.

From Hofbrauhaus, we took a limo to the Mirage where we had table and some comp bottles at Jet Nightclub. Pretty proud that some of our girls got some guy kicked out of the club. We all had shot necklaces with fun sayings on them to go along with our awesome GLOWSTICKS!

This is our no more shots face!

We then ended up at a little place called Olympic Gardens...there will be no such photos there =)

An hour or so later we took a cab where only the bride and her maids were left to have some good old food a the one and only peppermill. It's so over the top cheesey and typical diner we couldn't help but laugh at everything. Our conversation and actions at that table were so interesting, I really couldn't tell you where to being. I will treasure our super late night snack!

It seemed like we waited forever and ever for a cab to come and get us since we had five passengers. this is our can you please hurry up face =)

Since I have been 21, I still had not had a night where I stay out/up until the sun came up. Danielle, Erin, Amber, Christina and I arrived back to the room around 5am. Just Christina and I were wide awake, while the other girls passed out. We decided to grab some waters, white chocolate covered pretzels and a blanket and sat on the balcony of our room and watched the sun come up as our hang over set in. We recapped the night and laughed hysterically at the photos from my camera.

After 13 hours of fun, here is what 7am looks like.

Thank you, my Ivory, for letting me be apart of your special day. You have no idea how much it truely means to me for the girlfriend/fiances/wives club to bring the youngster in. I have loved every laugh, every whine, every dinner date, every late night holding my hair back cause I don't know how to drink, and because of you these past two years have been unforgettable!

life as we know it

It has been some time since I have been on this thing, but for good reasons...spending time with amazing friends and family, 4th of July, trip to San Diego, getting ENGAGED, bridal shows, picking out our location, a trip to Arizona to visit my future in-laws, the start of my senior year of college, dad's 50th birthday celebration, Christina's bridal shower, UNLV tailgates, and the list goes on and on... life takes over and the next thing you know its already October!

Recap over the past three months

July

We celebrated 4th of July on Sunday at our friend Mark's house were we ate, drank and had a great time ligthing off the illegal fireworks. Justin and I were finally able to celebrate a holiday together which made us very happy campers.

Vacation

A couple days later we were off to San Diego for a nice 3 day weekend. Justin had been working 6 days a weeks and his boss gave him a three day weekend. I switched my schedule around with some of my awesome coworkers and we were off. Justin told me to choose which hotel we were going to stay at, which I found a smoking deal (of course) in a suite. The Hyatt Regency Mission Bay was calling our names.

It was beautiful.

The night we got in, we just relaxed. We went to the pool, ate dinner at the hotel and had a nice night on the property. Since we are always go, go, go, and it was the first time we had absolutely nothing to do we passed out around 9pm. It was amazing!

the day i said yes

The next morning is a day that I will now NEVER forget. July 10, 2010. Justin asked me to become his wife. Looking back, I now know what he had up his sleeve. We woke up pretty early since we went to bed the same time as a 5 year old. It was really cloudy and around 60 degrees so we decided to just go to Mission Beach and walk along the beach and in the shops and such. We were getting ready when Justin told me he had to go to the truck to get some stuff. I wanted to go with him, but he had every excuse why I shouldn't. Thankfully his excuses worked! I'm not going to lie, I was peaking off the balcony to try to see what he was up to, but it was too far away. =P He came back to the room and we went to Einstein Bagels, he got his morning coffee and my chai tea and we were off. Just like any other vacation we walked into small shops just enjoying each others company. We walked down the board walk to the pier then back on the beach heading towards the surfer hotel. As soon as we were in front of it, I told him that this exact place is where my brother Josh proposed to Heather. At this point the sand was hurting my feet cause it was so soft and I really just wanted to go back to the truck. this is me ruining his plan but He suggested that we kept walking but closer to the water since the sand is a lot harder. About 200 feet later he just stopped walking and I really didn't know what our plan was but he said he just wanted to stay here and sit in the sand. So we sat and talked about how nice it has been to just relax and then he said that he had a surprise for me and I need to close my eyes. i was hoping, and wishing and dreaming it was a ring As soon as I opened my eyes it was a WATCH...silver watch... I don't ever wear a watch... but I cheeeerfully thanked him and told him I love it and that it would be perfect for work. He then was playing with the time and pulled out the knob to stop the time. He then said that he had another surprise for me so I closed my eyes this time i was really hoping, and wishing and dreaming and when I opened them, the love of my life was on one knee with the rings in the box and asked me to be his wife. I was so excited. I said YES and gave him a big smooch and he then began to pull out all three rings. I reminded him that I only get the ring and the bands are for the wedding. (this is coming from a guy who swore he would never get married) He quickly closed the box, but not before I snatched a picture of them. It was the best day thus far and I am ecstatic to be Mrs. Toranzo!

That night we celebrated at Justin's favorite place, the Shout House, a dueling piano bar in downtown San Diego.

While we were there we found out that I had the following Monday- Wednesday off and Justin had Monday and Tuesday as well so we extended our stay another night and went to Dave a Busters...my favorite place =)

Once we returned home, my parents had decorated our house with wedding magazines, balloons, confetti congratulating us. It was a wonderful surprise.

I was determined to set a location and date before school started. We decided on Griffin Mansion is Las Vegas in October of 2011.

August

visiting my future in-laws

We traveled to Arizona to visit Justin's family and celebrate our engagement. We decided to go tubing down the Salt Lake River on Saturday, it was blast but didn't realize it would take 5 hours from start to finish. Without sunscreen, Justin and I were roasty toasty. Let's just say the rest of that night was not very enjoyable. ha! The next day we traveled down to Tucson where it was the first time meeting his mom's side of the family. We enjoyed a lovely brunch at Sweet Tomatoes, then headed out to shoot some guns! =)

The end of August was the beginning of my senior year at UNLV! Im stoked that I am finally graduating in May. It has flown by and I have loved every minute of it. Even those stressful, crying nights will be all worth it in the spring. Thank you babe for being there for me when all I needed to do was vent. Thank you for being on my butt telling me to finish my paper instead of checking Facebook. Thank you for all your love and support.

September

dad's house

I traveled to Ohio for my Dad's 50th birthday. It had been almost 7 years since I had been to his house in Oak Hill, surprisingly not a thing had changed. It was such a great change to be surrounded by green, perfect weather rather than the scorching hot Vegas sun. Josh and Lily drove down Friday night to visit and we threw a huge b-day bash on Saturday. I have never seen so many bikers in one place then at dad's that night. I felt like we were apart of Hells Angels. I had a fabulous time visiting family and some old friends!

My Lily Monster!

herbs and rye

My capstone event class is hosting a Halloween Party for Shade Tree Shelter at the end of October. We had a fundraiser at Herbs and Rye, where whatever we made off of the $5 cover charge went directly to our cause. I just wanted to thank James and Johnny for coming out and supporting our event, only finding out about it hours before. We really appreciate every little bit, and we had a fabulous time as well. Three glasses of wine for Elexyz and I was enough for the entire night. We danced the night away and laughed at the photos the next morning.

Christina's Bridal Shower

I am so thankful for all the wonderful friends in my life. We celebrated our beautiful bride at our community Club house. The flip flop invitations were perfect for our beach themed shower. We ate delicious appetizers, played games, and watched her open her fabulous gifts. She will wed her love Chris on October 23, 2010. Our wedding anniversary will only be a couple days apart.

Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Dowler <3

I can't believe that it has 4 months since I have actually posted something. All the time I think, "yay, I can blog this" but it might help if I were to catch up first. I am really going to try to keep up, I really want to be able to look back and reflect on all the amazing family, friends, and events that I am so blessed with.

thank you walgreens

lets start with this... I LOVE GROCERY SHOPPING! It's like a game to me, the more I save the more I get to spend it on other things I love to do, like being crafty! woohoo

Before I left the house, I prepared my lists and realized that if you sign up with Walgreens photos you will receive 25 free prints. Since I have a ton of empty frames from Christmas that I have to fill this would be perfect. After uploading my photos on their website, I sent them in to all be printed in black and white. Also, after moving into our house they had sent me a "welcome to the neighborhood" card with 2 checks in it. All I had to do was transfer a percription to their store and then I get $25 bucks, and the other one was for $5 just because! Yeah baby, $30 buckeroos for FREE!

Grocery lists, coupons, free checks, club cards, water bottle, and a few snack in hand, I was out the door ready to do some damage!

Double Coupon Days!

Most of you know, I am a little bargain shopper and have introduced you to the fabulous grocery smarts! In our house we have allotted $225 a month for groceries between Justin, Kallie, and I. In that $225, I purchase everything from laundry detergent to toilet paper to hand soap and of course groceries. This week Smiths is having 2 promotions. The first one is any coupon amount you have up to $1.00 they are matching. So if you have a coupon for .10, .25, .50, .75 then they automatically make it $1.00! wooohooo! The second promotion is to buy 10 items in the Daytona 500 Promo and you will instantly receive $3.00 off of your order. Those are what I call some good deals! Here is a little example of how its done...

23 Bags of Shredded Cheese: $.95

5 Bags of Frigo String Cheese $ 1.97

2 Gallons Skim Milk $ 2.29

2 Cantaloupe $ 1.50

1 Banquet Brown and Serve Sausage $ .69

2 Breyers Ice Creams $ 1.97

4 Boxes of Totinos Pizza Rolls $ .50

1 Bag of Carrotts $ .99

2 Dial Hand Soaps FREE

1 Panty Hose (for work) $4.99

1 Chocolate Milk $.79

Total: $52.33

Total Savings: $86.15

Total % Savings: 62%

and ladys and gents, that's how grocery shopping is done!

arts and crafty kind of day

With school nonstop and working more than 4o hours a week, I never seem to have a day completely to myself. Either running errands, cleaning my house, grocery shopping, reading my dreaded marketing and cost control analysis books, or staring at the screen of WebCampus all day...I can never do what I truly want to do. Today was different. We woke up this morning, I had breakfast with my love then picked out his suit for work and a half hour later he was out the door. I had about 12 hours to do whatever I wanted. For the first time in I don't know how long I whipped out my handy dandy sewing machine and was the happiest girl in the world. Last week, I redid an old woodendesk that Justin's dad gave to us for a new arts and craft desk to go along with all of my craft shelfs which are still at moms house. I think mom and T will be happy when I finally move those to my house so they can havetheir office back. Anyways, after 5 cans of spray paint the desk is complete. Today I linedall of the drawers with fabric and added alittle detail to the drawers. As soon as I get new handles for the drawers I'll show you how it all came out, here is a sneak peek=)

A couple weeks ago, I found a couple projects online that I fell in love with. This one in particular was really simple which involved blank canvas's, spray paint, painters tape, and some old newspaper. Within 2 hours, we made a master piece...

and tada, instant art work for less!

Breakdown: Canvas's 50% off at Joanns (for both) $20

Spray Paint 50% of coupons, each can $3.99

Painters Tape (thank you Nicole) FREE

Newspaper (in my recycling bin) FREE

GRAND TOTAL: $31.97

total savings: $31.97

(that's what I call a deal =P)