This and That....

Travel Sites

How about lookin' at some cool travel sites tonight?

First up -

http://top20.travelzoo.com/JoinSB2.aspx?source=daycantxt1

Sign up to receive their weely email and get the top 20 deals of the week.  Great site with some great deals - you never know when the *travel bug* will hit you and you want to go some where new, but not spend a lot of money!

Next -

 

This site is awesome.  I use it all the time to research hotels.  Travelers post their reviews and opinions regarding hotels and restaurants.  There are also pictures that you can look at that are posted from both the hotel and travelers.  Next time you travel, put in the city you are going to and read reviews first!

Orbitz, Travelocity, Hotels.com -

I like to compare prices (yes, I am a bargain shopper!) and by looking at all three of these sites, you will see that for the most part, all the internet providers have basically the same rates.  HOWEVER, don't book until you look at the actual Hotel's site, or even call the hotel directly.  You will be surprised that sometimes they will offer an even better rate. 

Same goes for airline tickets.  Check the above sites out, but don't book until you go directly to the airlines site.  I can't tell you how many times I've gone directly to United and saved over $50, sometimes even up to $100. 

Make sure you sign up for all the airlines frequent flyer programs.  And car rental frequent driver programs, and oh, don't forget hotel clubs too!  In many cases, you can have your car rental points go to your airline for points - the same goes for hotels too.  I recently stayed at Hilton, but had the points go to United towards air miles as I don't always frequent the same hotel chain.

Priceline.com - I haven't actually used them, but know several people that have and gotten some incredible deals.  Emily, our secretary at work who just moved to Florida, got an incredible deal on a rental car.  Her first price was turned down, but her next one, $12/day was picked up by Hertz!  Also had a friend who put in $99 for a hotel room in San Diego and ended up with the Omni.  You just have to be prepared - if they accept your bid, they charge you right then and there, so do your homework first! 

Also, if you park at LAX, the Parking Spot (yellow buses with big black polka dots) is a great place.  They have a frequent parking program as well and you can earn free parking. 

The great thing about traveling for work is that they allow you to sign up for these programs, but you get to keep all the miles, parking, etc, etc. 

Not even going to go into the whole American Express, Visa and Mastercard programs.  But, I'll leave you with this - sign up!  You will earn, earn, earn and be amazed at what you can get for free!!

now, go book a trip somewhere!

Crafty Things

I promised a night or two ago to post pictures of what crafts I have been up to lately:

A cute little recipe book.  Adorable "girly girl" paper with some awesome recipes that I have been making lately.

A cute little photo album made out of paper lunch bags! 

Another photo album that I made in a class I took on Father's Day.  Made with 7Gypsie's envelope book and cool paper by Anna Griffin. 

Knitted Cable Purse.  I knitted and then lined the purse with paisley fabic in a really pretty light pink and green.  The handles are bamboo. 

Coming up with some really cool idea's for Christmas presents. 

Also  - I am very, very close to launching my MemoriesbyJill website.  Putting the final touches on it along with getting pricing down.  Should be within the week that I am ready to attach the link :)

Looking for more recipes - lowfat, South Beach, vegetarian - good for you foods - please send along!!

TTFN

Shopgirl

The story follows Mirabelle, a disenchanted salesgirl and aspiring artist who sells gloves and accessories at a department store. She has two men in her life: wealthy divorcee Ray Porter (Steve Martin) and struggling musician Jeremy. Mirabelle falls in love with the glamorous Ray, and her life takes a magical turn, but eventually she realizes that she must empower herself and make a choice between them.                                                 

It's an ok movie - definitely a Chick Flick.  There is some nudity, so guys might like it for that :)

Great thing about Netflix - you can try movies that you really aren't sure of and if they aren't that good, it wasn't a huge waste of money. 

Nice, short little movie for a Saturday night when you're not feeling so hot.  Somehow I've picked up a little bit of a cold.  I'm not a headachy person, so I know when it's something sinus related cause I get a dozzy of a headache and today that has been me.  Hopefully staying home and getting some rest will clear it right up.

Going to post some pictures tomorrow of some of the "crafty" things I have been up to lately - so come on back to check them out (will have pictures of the photo album I made at last weeks class as well - I know I promised pictures a couple days ago and just haven't done it yet.)

Night Night :)    

So Close, but so Far Away

I have been diligently working on my website, which I hope will be finished soon.  Over the past year, I have been very involved in learning the art of photography and have ventured out and taken several families pictures as well.  This site will be the launching point of "memoriesbyjill".  keep your eyes open as I will put the link on my blog so that you can all go out and drum up some work for me!  This isn't going to replace my day job by any way, shape or form.  It's just a little "side venture" :)

Thank goodness it's Friday!  Of course we had a 5'o'clock "firedrill" happen today - but I quickly put out the flames by telling the girl on the phone that it was 5:39 on a Friday night and did she really think that I could get all the folks together to "put out the flames"??  I convinced her that they would still be burning on Monday morning and I would get a "hook and ladder truck" to help me out then.  Thank goodness the location is closed this weekend and doesn't open until Monday morning!!  We'll see what Monday brings...but I have a feeling that it will be big'ol flames by then!!!

Cheers to you!

Nail Salon

OK  - this has been passed to me on several emails now and it couldn't be more true.  If you have ever gone to a nail salon to get your nails done, you will totally relate to this video. 

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8126430922330991484&q=genre%3Acomed

I heard this today quote today and just had to share as well:

*I carry your heart in my heart*

There are so many *hearts* that I carry in my heart.  The other night a VERY special friend remembered something about me that absolutely touched my heart to the very core.  It's not often that this particular friend comes out with something like that and it made me cry.  Ok - I'm an emotinal person,  I know, I know, but still :) 

I encourage each and every one of you to tell the people in your life that you think about them and that you love them.  Everyone needs to hear that every once in awhile.

So, to all my friends and family - i carry a piece of your heart in my heart.  you are all VERY important to me and my life would not be the same without you all in it. 

Blessings... 

Not Whine...WINE!

No whining :)  Today's post is about wine!!  Yummy stuff.  I don't pretend to be a wine expert, I just love drinking the stuff.  today isn't about what you should drink, what are my favorite vintages, who is my favorite winery....nope, instead it's about a couple cool websites that you should check out and places to go buy wine:

http://domaine547.com/

This is a cute little site that tells you all there is to know about wine...it's a journey to learn about wine with the people who are writing on the site.  The thing I like about it are all the funny little sayings and how they don't "pretend" to know what it is they are talking about!  They tell you that there is no snobbery or attitude allowed - I like it!

www.wine.woot.com

This site features a new wine weekly.  they offer one-time-only offers on wines from one winery and sell them until they are sold out.  not sure if you have heard of some of the other "woot" sites, but this one works the same way.  go check it out...it's pretty slick (gotta thank Joe for this one...he sent it to me eon's ago).

Wine Warehouse in Santa Ana - if you haven't been here, it's one of those places that on the outside looks like a *dive*, but on the inside you've found the *gold* at the end of the rainbow!!  It's located off the 55 freeway at McFadden, right near REI,  behind the Cheveron gas station.  They even have wine tasting in the store where you mosey up to a bar, pour it yourself and write down what you tasted on a piece of paper.  They have excellent prices and you can usually find wines from Paso Robles and the Santa Barbara area here.

BevMo - when they have their 5 cent sale, you can get some great bargains.  Sometimes their prices are more than other places, so just beware. 

Costco - man oh man, if you haven't figured this out yet, they do have some really good wines at great prices here...and you don't have to buy a case, you can buy one bottle!!

Trader Joe's - throw out the 2 buck chuck!  They have so many different wines here...I usually buy the Australian brands here cause they have good prices and the wines are really yummy for an inexpensive bottle.

CostPlus - yep, the World Market has some good wines too. 

Vons - hey, don't forget to go down the wine aisle when you are grocery shopping.  you can get some great deals if you keep your eyes open.

Those are just a few of the places that I go to.  Right now I have a chilled bottle of La Crema Chardonay in the fridge and a bottle of Rosemont Estate Shiraz on the counter.  Red or White...doesn't matter :)

Cheers!!

Confetti

Has anyone eles seen this movie?  My good friend Michael Keeton (no, not Batman!) brought it in for me to watch the other day.  It's a very *dry* British comedy about a trio of wacky couples who vow to win the coveted title of "Most Original Wedding of the Year".  The couples are picked by the magazine - Confetti - and are given the same *gay* wedding planners to plan each of the weddings.

The 3 weddings are hypercompetitive tennis partners, a tuneless couple who want a huge Hollywood musical production and the 3rd are the outragious unihibited nudists ***warning, warning***FULL FRONTAL NUDITY. 

   

If you love The Office, it's that type of humor - or Four Weddings and a Funeral.  Netflix it! 

Red Bull illume

Red Bull illume began in April 2006 - to celebrate and honor men and women behind the lens who brave the planet's harshest terrain in order to capture athletic grit and triumph.  The exhibit is a collection of remarkable photographs illuminated by spirit and energy. 

The exhibit was at the Huntington Beach pier from June 6-17th.  It featured 45 pictures on these huge 8 foot screens illuminated after sunset.  The screens were on the sand and you walked around in a giant circle - the pictures were on both sides of the structure, so you first walked the outside rim, then the inside. 

I asked my good friend Drea to come with me - my parents went last week and told me it was worth seeing....and better yet, it was *free*!!  So, after eating dinner at CPK, Drea and I headed down to downtown HB to check it out.  Well....so did everyone else in the local area :)  Parking was a bitch...hey, I'm just calling it like it was here folks.  We ended up parking a ways away, but that's ok, we needed to walk after dinner anyway. 

Even though there were a lot of people, the line moved fast - I think we only had to wait about 20 minutes.  It was faster than the new Nemo ride line at Disneyland!!  (the line there has been reported to be upwards of 2 hours - it is new and all, but sheesh..that is a long wait to see Nemo!). 

The pictures were spectacular.  You can check out the entire collection at www.redbullillume.com.  Here are a couple of pictures of the pictures:

Thanks again Drea for enduring the wind and cold beach weather to see this awesome show!!  At least we found a Starbucks afterwards to warm our bodies back up - YOU ROCK GIRLFRIEND :)

To all of your father's out there - Happy Father's Day!!  Mom left for Michigan today to visit Jyoti and Kali, so I took Dad out to dinner (Jimmy, Cheryl and Elyssa had breakfast with them).  We went to Lou's Barbeque down in Huntington Beach.  If you haven't tried Lou's out, I'd highly recommend it.  Great food and great prices - a hole in the wall, but absolutely terrific - it get's a BIG thumbs up!!

Check back tomorrow - I'll tell you what I did this morning and will have some pictures of that as well....until then -

Ciao :)

Knocked Up

Has anyone seen this movie?  It was absolutely H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S!!  I saw it last night with my good friend Tim - who has just moved back to Southern California!!  (I have known Tim for, hmmm..can't remember, let's just say lots of years!  He was an intern one summer when I worked in Inventory Accounting and we became fast friends.  He graduated from Notre Dame the following summer, got married and started working in my department permanetly.  Since then he has gone on to have 2 kids, moved to Tampa and now has moved back. )

OK - back to the movie.  I won't give anything away, but the whole story of how Alison, who is played by Katherine Hegel gets pregnant, by Ben, who is played by Seth Rogen, and what happens from there is way too funny.  I will warn you that the F word is used a whole bunch, so if that offends you, don't go.  I laughed so hard that I'm going to have to see it again just to pick up on the parts that I missed.  Ben is a total "pot head" and he and his friends are trying to start up a website that tells you how far into the movie there is nudity or sex.   I tell you, they are a bunch of slackers, but they provide so much laughter, you know whenever they come into a scene you are going to burst out loud laugh!! 

I give it two thumbs up :)

I just got off the phone with a guy who was calling about my Volvo service the other day.  He sounded like he was in high school - no big deal on that - it was the way he asked the questions.  I swear he was reading right off the questionaire and he sounded like a robot.  All his inflictions were wrong and I was cracking up.  I apologized for laughing and told him that I think he should work on his delivery :)  Hey - he wanted feedback on the dealership - it was only right to give him feedback on his performance too, don't'cha think?  hehe

OK - big news coming up - I have been working on a website to launch my memoriesbyjill work.  As many of you know, I have been taking photographs for almost a year now.  I am getting ready to launch my site and would love some feedback.  If you wouldn't mind checking out this site and then either leaving a comment here or just emailing me, I would GREATLY appreciate it.

http://jtphotos.ifp3.com/

To view the pictures, click on the gallery button on the upper left hand side.  On some of the pages, there are 2 pages of pictures, however, when you browse through, it doesn't automatically take you to the second page, so don't forget to click on page 2 :)

Alright - I am on my way to Huntington Beach to go see the Red Bull Ilume.  Check back tomorrow and I will tell you all about it....

*Check Engine*

Since I work from home on Monday's, I usually don't drive anywhere during the day (mainly cause I stay in my pj's all day long!).  this past Monday, I had to run to the grocery store - so about 5PM I head out to my car and when I turn it on, a yellow light comes on *check engine*.    I of course totally freak out!  I have only had my car a year and a half and thought "you've got to be kidding me!". 

Yesterday I called the Volvo dealer and made an appt. to drop my car off first thing this morning.  I made arrangements with Michael to pick me up in the morning to drive into work and Amy to take me back in the late afternoon.  I was so ingrained in the whole making an appt. process that I forgot that I had also made plans to take photo's of a family at 6PM up in Placentia.  No problem....Amy and I can leave work by 4, get to dealership no later than 4:45 and then head up the toll road back to Placentia to get there by 6PM. Plan is set!!

Michael picked me up promptly at 7AM this morning and we were off :)  The dealership called me about 10AM to say that the problem had been found and was covered under warranty!!!  Yippee!!  And WHAT was the problem???  I need....ok, get this:  a SOFTWARE UPGRADE!!!  Totally made me laugh!!  And of all days, my old CBORD team was doing an upgrade of the current software today!!  Talk about fate :)

Soooo....Amy and I head out at 4PM to go get my car and I turn on my cell phone cause I am expecting a call back from my Dr. on some test results.  And guess what?  My phone is dead - completely dead - broken - died a slow death.  Yep, I had to now figure out how I was suppose to go get a new phone, get back up to Placentia by 6PM!!  Luckily I listened to my voice mail and found out that the people I was suppose to take pictures of had to cancel - whew!!  I was totally relieved. 

So...I headed off to the Cingular store, which is now the NEW AT&T.  yep, AT&T cellularwas purchased by Cingular a couple years ago, but now the big Daddy AT&T Corporate bought out Cingular, so they are converting back to AT&T.  Get all that??  Sheesh...anyway, I qualified for a free LG $140 phone and could still qualify for my 19% Corporate discount - yeah!  The bad, and I mean REALLY BAD thing is that the phone is so dead they can't retrieve the phone numbers and port them into the new phone :(  Big Time Bummer!!  thank goodness I had all my numbers in my blackberry as well - but only use blackberry for work cause if I used it for personal as well it would be a total pain to do my expense report (which is difficult in and of itself every month). 

So...end of the day and my car is all fixed and I have a brand new phone....Not too shabby for a Wednesday, huh?

I had mentioned that I was going to upload Boston pictures...check them out at this link:

http://missjill1.shutterfly.com/action/?a=2AauWLFu0bsXjw&notag=1

Let me know what you think :)  you might have to copy the link and paste in your browser....