Bronchitis, a Basement and a Birthday

So, I realize it is a little late but my "twin" and I celebrated our birthday last Saturday. And by twin, I mean husband, and by celebrated, I mean stayed home and lounged on the couch because I had a major illness. I think my body was having a definite physical reaction to turning 26. I mean come on, who gets lucky enough to get a sinus infection AND bronchitis at the same time over your birthday week?
I feel really bad, because it is Brett's birthday too, and he had to spend it doing nothing but watching me use up all of our tissues.
So for those that don't know, Brett and I do indeed have the same birthday. I like to think it was because we were holding hands in heaven and just wouldn't let go so we could be beamed down at the same time. (Gagging yet, anyone?)
Anyway, Brett was a super sweetheart and actually managed to surprise me, but I attribute that to my keen sense of "something's up" being dulled by all the medication I was on. So the story begins at 6:30 on a Saturday morning that was also our birthday when Brett got a call from his parents saying their basement flooded and they needed help (Quick!) to clean things off the floor to prevent as much damage as possible. Brett knew I was sick and let me sleep while he went to help. He came back about 3 hours later just in time to help Todd & Lindsey move.
Meanwhile, we need to get tickets to the Lion King musical since it is coming to Utah and I am a sucker for going out to plays and things on dates. The tickets went on sale at 10:00am, and I knew a lot of the tickets were already sold in the pre-sale (which I missed by ONE day!) and I wanted to get decent seats before it sold out. Brett remembered to call at 10:30 (only half an hour too late!) and we were kindly informed by the ticket agent that they were already sold out. Disappointing, no?
Later that night, Brett rented a movie for me and ordered a bunch of junk food and gave me my birthday present, which was a game called "Loaded Questions" that I've wanted for awhile. We need to have some people over to play, it is a riot. And I thought that was it.
Then like 15 minutes later, Brett says that he forgot, but I have another present in the desk drawer. I open the drawer and inside, is a beanie. See exhibit one:

Then he says, oh that will look great with the matching tattoo I got for you. Exhibit 2:

Which he then says I can wear on the night we go see the Lion King. (What?? Aren't they sold out?) My shock and surprise, exhibit 3:

Turns out, Brett's parents' basement did not flood, and he did not call the ticket agent (it was his Dad!) and he woke up at 6:30 in the morning to go stand in line at Capitol Theater to get tickets for me! What a sweetheart! And his whole family led me to believe that they had a flooded basement. It is not often that I get taken completely by surprise, but Brett managed it this time. I can only attribute it to my senses being dulled by my illness.

Happy Birthday Brett, I Love You!!

Spending Spree

I'm really starting to get into spending all these gift cards. I was able to get a much needed facial courtesy of the Shirodhara Day Spa gift certificate that I had. One hour of someone mushing your face around with goop feels like heaven. Can't wait to use up my free massages.
I got my coat courtesy of Macys and it fits perfectly. And I love it. I will likely be wearing it into late spring/early summer so I can get good use out of it before it has to go into storage. And I still have a little over $12 left for Macys, so I guess I will just have to go shopping again. Darn.
We went and saw "Twi-lite" at the Desert Star Theater, and even were able to get dinner with another set of gift certificates. Dinner was only so-so, but the play was pretty funny. I recommend it to anyone who is familiar with the whole "Twilight" craze. The basic plot is that a geeky guy is trying to get the hot cheerleader to go out on a date with him, so he pretends to be a vampire so that she will fall in love with him, because she thinks Edward is the perfect guy (who doesn't, these days?).  It's pretty clever.
So this week, I want to finally get to the Vienna Bistro for a romantic date, and possibly a massage this weekend? It's our birthday week so we may be going out of town...but it is also the last week in February and I have only spent a few of the gift cards. This may have to be dragged out into March. We'll see.

The Magic of Macys

So, in my quest to spend my gift cards, I did a little online shopping and found this beauty (and by beauty I mean the coat, not the girl).

I love coats. I probably have too many already, but I couldn't resist this one. Gray? So hot right now (thanks Mugatu). Checking out proved to be quite the challenge though. Although I have to say it was wonderful that Macys lets you add multiple gift cards. But here is my problem with shopping online. You can't try whatever you are buying on. Can't wait until I can upload my bad digital self (a la Cher on Clueless) and try things on, but until then...What if it doesn't fit? What if it's fugly? This will be my first online clothing purchase and I'm a bit nervous. Wouldn't be counterproductive to getting rid of my gift cards by returning an item? Of course they would have to put it back on the gift card.

So here is a little tidbit that some of you may find interesting. Two of my gift cards were expired, one since last September. I called the number on the back of the gift card and it goes to this automated thing that tells you the balance and when it expired and then says, "If your gift card is expired, press 1.". So I did, and guess what? It reactivated my gift cards and I was able to use them without even losing any value! yay! Although I have learned my lesson. And let me tell you, this month has been really fun! Tonight Brett and I are going to celebrate Valentine's Day at the Vienna Bistro, which we also have a gift card for. Slowly, but surely, I'm whittling down the pile!

Oh and P.S. ---I googled "Free Shipping Macys" and was able to find a promo code that gave me free shipping so I didn't even have to pay for that!! Gift card or no gift card! Take that smart shoppers!

So You Think You Can Figure Skate

I love love love watching Figure Skating. I always watched the figure skating competitions when I was younger. I was completely wrapped up in the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan scandal. Speaking of, anyone seen Tonya Harding now? She has gained like 50 pounds and is a boxer now. Quite the career change.

So now with the Olympics on, I'm trying to catch as much as I can. Remember the Salt Lake Olympic scandal in 2002? I just made Brett watch the video on YouTube. That was the most amazing program I ever remember seeing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRWHwt91oj0

Anyway, I think that all of the Olympic athletes are so amazingly talented. It takes some serious dedication to become so technically proficient at those sports. Another thought....how do people get into things like Curling and Luging? Who begs their mom to take Curling lessons?

Someday, I will live my Blades of Glory dreams vicariously through my daughters. Until then, I watch. Good look USA!

Happy Birthday Bob!

 

Love you mommy! Happy 29th!!

Foiled already!

So, I planned to use my Sephora gift cards today. (For those of you not in the know, Sephora is a european retail beauty chain and they have EVERYTHING that makes you pretty). There is not a Sephora in Utah, so I am relegated to online shopping. So finally, after finding some products I need (which amounted to $49) and then trying to find something else really cheap for $1 so I could get the free shipping (nothing is $1), I finally was ready to check out. So I put in the first gift card number and go to put in the second....and there is a limit of one gift card per order online!! How unfair is that? This means that I would have to buy two orders of $50 (in order to get the free shipping) and be able to use both gift cards. That is twice as much as I wanted to spend. This is why I have such a hard time. I hate rules governing the use of gift cards. Money is money, right?

Anyway, to make a long story longer, I found the sole Sephora location in Utah. It is up near Ogden, which means it will be a day trip, but at least I'll get my money's worth!! (Minus gas & lunch of course!) Geez, all this shopping and I think I need a massage....oh wait, I have a gift card for that!

Gift Cards Galore

 

Okay, so I am a complete embarrassment to my sex. I am a terrible shopper. I don't really love shopping, and when I do shop, I like to go in, get what I want and come right back out. I'm not a browser. Therefore, I guiltily have several unused gift cards. And by several, I mean about $850 worth. *Yikes*

Some of them go as far back as our wedding. I'm so ashamed.

I always talk myself out of spending the money on gift cards. I always think I can get a better deal and I want to wait for the sales or I know exactly what I want to buy so I have to wait until it comes to that specific store, etc. I'm very good at talking myself out of spending free money. Go figure. 

Anyway, I have decided that February is going to be THE month to get rid of these things. I intend to spend every single one. I'll let you know how it goes.