Sierra Adventure Gear

The search for equipment for the Australia trip is on. The only thing I've bought (well BF bought) is my expedition backpack. There's still so much to buy!

Today I was able to check out the website for Sierra Adventure Gear. I like the set up of the site. You can search for things by type of gear or by brand which is great for me. I feel when it comes to this type of purchasing its always good to go with brands you know and trust. I think of outdoor equipment as an investment and like to buy items I feel confident about.

I love that there is free shipping for any orders over $75. BF and I have purchased from online sites before and had to pay shipping fees which really sucked. It would definitely make me purchase from Sierra just to avoid the extra fees.

I am currently looking for a headlamp, sleeping bag, and other random goodies for the trip. All of which Sierra carries. I can't wait for BF to get home so we can check out the site more together.

I am getting so excited for the trip but there are still so many details and so much planning left to do. The shopping is fun though! ;)

Downey Body Shop - Collision Repair Experts

These days everything needs to be convenient and at the tip of our fingers. Downey Body shop is now online so you can find a quality local body shop near you without scanning the phone book calling a million places. Their site even has maps available to make their nearest to you location easy to find.
The part that I like the best is that you can read reviews and ratings of the shop closest to you so you know that they are a reliable shop. I always like to get some feedback from previous customers before trying out a new service.
If you don't have time to stop by you can always try going online to get estimates. While you're on the computer you can even book your appointment without any hassle or phone call. Pretty convenient!

2008 Great American Seafood Cookoff

Chef Brian Landry
Louisiana

Today I visited the the site for the Great American Seafood Cook off. I checked out the top five recipes and boy do they ever look delicious. I voted for Chef Brian, from Louisiana, Landrys' Shrimp and Andouille Cassoulet. It was a hard choice but it was the one that made me drool the most so I decided to give him my vote. I think it would be so fun to take part in a cook off like this!

I thought it was the best recipe because it really appealed to my taste buds and the recipe seemed easier for me to try at home myself. I like recipes that are straight forward without a ton of separate recipes going on. I like one simple to follow recipe that tastes great. If I was to change anything it would just be to leave out the sweet onions because I have a small intolerance to them. Besides that I think this recipe is a winner!

I also love the fact that this contest is promoting the use of local domestic seafood. I think its really important to support your locals. Besides, you know its fresh when you see it coming right off the boat from that days catch. I buy my crab off a local boat here in town down on the water. You see the tiny boats bringing them in and the woman selling them has been there as long as I can remember. It was a great thing as a child going down there to buy crab. I've brought a lot of visitors down there when they are in town. Everyone enjoys and it helps keep that dear woman in business. You can't beat the price either!


So if you have some extra time today check out the site and all the delicious recipes. I bet you'll find something that will make your taste buds go crazy too! If you decided to vote remember that you will also get the chance to win a trip to New Orleans with a whole prize package. :D

Smead Organomics is Getting you Organized

Want to save yourself time and money? Smead Organomics will help you do both! They have this nifty little program where you can enter your own personal organization problems and Presto! The solution designer will give you 3 different options to pick from to help you get organized. Who doesn't need a little professional organizing advice?

They also have a huge variety of articles written to help motivate you and give you tips on how to become more organized. If that isn't enough to get you interested, how about saving some money too? They have a calculator that will help you estimate just how much being disorganized is costing you!

If you're interested you can also sign up to get emails and organization tips sent right to your email. Check them out and save yourself some grief later on. A little time spent getting yourself organized now will definitely be worth it down the road!

Zenni Optical was on FOX News!!

Recently I told you guys all about the great deals online at Zenni Optical. Well the cat is totally out of the bag now because they recently were featured on Fox News. So if you were skeptical before I hope this puts your mind at ease.

Remember there is no middle man so you can really save a lot of dough purchasing through them. Since I do wear glasses I'm going to check them out again and see what I can find for myself. I'm always looking for an extra pair to keep around for emergencies since I'm blind as a bat without them and at these prices, why not?!

Getting Prepared

When we make our trek to Australia we'll be packing our lives for one year in a backpack each. I've started to think about clothing options that would be suitable for working outdoors all the time and that would survive well while living out of a van.

LA Police Gear has tactical pants on sale right now. There is even free shipping on some of the pants. That sounds good to me. Its really important to have some really durable, weather protecting clothing for this trip. It's going to be against the great outback and I want to have some added barrier between me and the elements.

Steal of a Deal on Prescription Glasses

I recently had an opportunity to check out some prescription glasses online at ZenniOptical.com. They have a huge variety of glasses at a great price because they cut out the middle man, the retailer, and sell directly to the customer.

I liked that there is a base shipping fee of $4.95 for shipping no matter how many pairs you buy. They also have frames starting at just $8.00. They even include anti scratch coating and UV protection for free.

This site is great for somebody like me who knows exactly what style of frame I like and hate going store to store trying to find the exact ones. With the price of gas being so high its nice to shop online and have things delivered for you. I recently purchased new glasses and it was a pain shopping around and being pressured everywhere I went to buy glasses that didn't even look good on me.

So if you're shopping for new glasses check em out, the site is very user friendly!

Show Your Style with Network Solutions

Have you ever felt a little limited by the your blog host? Sometimes I do. I am a pretty creative person and sometimes I wish I had the know how when it comes to blog designs. I would love to show more of my own style. I think it would give another insight to me as a blog writer and would probably attract more readers. It can be so boring seeing the same templates over and over again. When ever I notice a lot of bloggers using the same template as me I try to switch it up but its still not ME.

With Network Solutions you can let your funkiness shine through in two ways.

1)Do It Yourself Web Sites

2)Professional Web Design Services

Myself I would probably go with the Do it Yourself option as I want to be all hands on with my blog. With Network Solutions you don't have to be a professional website designer because the tools are all built to help you every step of the way. Rates start at $4.95 and include all sorts of goodies like a free domain name.

If you prefer to leave it to somebody else thats okay too. They have trained professionals ready to make your ideas into reality.

Free Pizza for a Year?? Yes Please!

How many of you have ever tried a Ristorante Pizza by Dr.Oetker? I have, and they are pretty much magically delicious! Well they have finally launched a website featuring their yummy pizza's and are holding a contest to win pizza for year to celebrate!

I checked out the site and it has this adorable monthly feature "12 Minutes to Romance" which features a different pizza each month paired with ideas on how to turn it into a romantic night for two. Aww! Thats my sort of date night. I like this idea because it shows you don't have to pay outrageous fancy restaurant prices to have a sexy evening at home. If you want to suggest this to your guy sign him up for the monthly romantic email as a quick reminder. Oh, and check out the Ristorante Contest.

If you haven't had a chance to try one of their pizza's yet there is a spot on the sight where you can look up locations they are supplied at. For the ingredient watchers they have all their nutritional facts online as well. :)

So check it out and sign yourself up for the contest. I did! Good luck everyone!

Sorry, Canadians only this time guys!

Wising up to Phone Card Savings

A few years back I used to work in a call center that had a high priority on selling the customer more than they needed. We used to get points for getting customers to sign up for things such as long distance plans and services that were not really not all that great. The customer would call in about something different and the goal was to get them focused on other products to "improve" their service. Long distance plans were a big one, which gave us a lot of points which lead to more cash in our pockets.

The long distance plans were horrible. The rates were high and the calling cards didn't offer services that were useful. There was also a dial around number that had very high fees which I would constantly get calls about, only to tell the customer to read the small print. It was a very degrading process and I didn't work there very long.

I think people should do their own research when it comes to long distance calling. There is a great site out there called Phone Card Avenue where you can get amazing rates calling all over the globe. They even have a cash back system so that you can earn money as your calling to fund future calls.

There are a lot of benefits to using a phone card. For one you don't have to pay a monthly fee to just have the service available to you like a regular phone company does. Two, you don't have to worry about weird charges showing up on your phone bill because its all prepaid and can be done easily online.

I am definitely going to look into these cards the next time I travel too! The last time I visited the United States I had a really hard time finding a calling card with good rates to Canada. Some of the cashiers even asked me where Canada was and wanted to know why I wanted a card for it. Ugh. I'd rather bypass the slow guy at the counter and jump online and get it done in two seconds flat and be on my merry way. :)

The bottom line is don't just eat what your long distance carriers feed you. Check out this site and the deals on phone cards so you can really see what the competition offers. It will be worth you while and save you some $.

Detail Obsessed Bridezilla's Now Get Even More Control!!

I always thought the term Bridezilla was pretty funny when I would watch reality TV, but now I've learned that its definitely no laughing matter!

My friend and her long term BF decided this year that they were going to get married. Since then its been a fiesta of confirmation emails, facebook groups and even her own site dedicated to her wedding. She wants everything every tiny detail scrutinized personally by her before it is approved to be at her wedding. Eek!

The wedding is in August but her demand for perfection is putting her behind on some major factors. Even though we are all aware of the event to come, she still hasn't sent out invites. The problem being she doesn't like any of the ones she's seen locally and she didn't trust to order them online because you can never tell what they're really going to look like.... or can you?

1st Class Wedding Invitations has the first ever zoom feature on their site so detail obsessed brides can check out every tiny detail on any invite on the site! I started to look through different invites but there were just too many! There was definitely something for everybody. I think I even found one the bride would like as it matches her wedding colors!

I am so relieved to find this site and can't wait to pass this one on to my "bridezilla" friend. Hopefully it puts me in her good graces! It's always safe practice to be on the good side of the bride. ;-)

Silk - The perfect solution

As allergy season comes into full swing here I start to remember how much I hate itchy eyes and plugged sinuses. I love being outdoors and gardening but it kills me! Sometimes my allergies are so bad that I have to lie down with a cold cloth on my eyes for a source of relief. I know a girl who is so allergic to flowers she can't even have them in her house. Can you imagine having no plants or flowers in your home ever?

Luckily for her there are silk plants that look amazing real. Gone are the days of the tacky plastic shiny plants. These ones will have people second guessing you when you tell them they are silk. At Artificialplantsandtrees.com you can choose from an amazing assortment of lifelike flowers, trees and plants.

I know a lot of moms who would love these plants. My friend has a child who always wants to dig around in the soil of her potted plants. Even worse is when the plant gets knocked over and dumped out. Its hard to keep plants happy with kids poking and pulling them every which way. Plus, they always get pushed low on the priority list and so not having to remember to water them is always a plus! :)

I'm really impressed with the quality and likeness that these silk plants have. For somebody that needs low maintenance like a traveler they would be perfect. Check them out and see for yourself!

More Thoughts on BDU Pants

Last week I wrote about how I was in Sea Cadets for fun as a teenager. One thing I can remember is all the boys owing these BDU Pants. They could fit just about everything they could ever need in those pants which was great during our survival weekends! They had pockets galore!
Seeing a picture of them online brought back some good memories!

Pay Per Post

Some of you may have noticed a little advertisement for Pay Per Post on my blog now. While checking out some other blogs I noticed people advertising how much they loved Pay Per Post. I used a referral link from a fellow blogger and signed myself up.

Signing up was really easy! Any problems I had were easily resolved with a quick email to their customer support. Today I got my first peek at available topics to post on. So far things look pretty good.

The reason for me signing up was that I am always looking for alternative ways to generate income. I have a lot of finance goals and I need every cent I can get. I plan to use the money I earn to add snowflakes to my debt.

I hope me adding this won’t discourage any of my current readers from regularly stopping by. I will only be “complimenting” my blog with these posts. All paid posts will be marked so that you will know the inspiration behind the topic. I will only choose topics I find interesting and wouldn’t mind sharing.

I don’t see any harm in adding this to my blog after disclosing my intentions to my readers. I’m hoping it will bring new stuff to my attention and keep me up to date on all the new things happening out there.

With all this said, if any of you are interested let me know and I’ll hook you up, lol.

Thanks for your support as always,

Dolly Iris