Archive for the ‘Random’ Category

Etsy Monday: Fleur de Pamplemousse

by Megan on January 23rd, 2012

Ok, I am totally in love with this week’s Etsy shop for two reasons. One, pamplemousse, meaning grapefruit, is my most favorite French word ever. I just love how it sounds! Two, the shop is in Maryland, where I hail. Oh, and did I mention that she makes fabulous things? Check it out!

Fleur de PamplemousseFrench love pillow cover 

How adorable is this pillow cover?! I love the combination of the stone colored linen and the black print and lace. Ooo la la.

Fleur de Pamplemousse Gold love frame

Grey and yellow are my favorite colors. So I totally need this frame. Stat.

And I know Christmas is over, but how darling is this stocking!?

Fleur de PamplemousseLinen stocking

My husband and I just have stockings I got from the Dollar Store. These would totally make the perfect addition, as I love the rustic feel. Plus the natural linen color totally goes with any decor. LOVE.

 I hope you all love this shop as much as I do. I’m totally on a home decor kick. Plus I think these would make fab gifts for new homeowners! Happy shopping!

Merry Christmas!

by Lisa on December 25th, 2011

Whatever you’re doing today, I hope you’re doing it happily and in the company of loved ones. Merry Christmas to all of you celebrating, and Happy 1st Day of the NBA season to everyone! :)

While this is obviously not a recipe blog and I cook only a few times each year, I thought I’d share my very favorite dessert recipe. It tastes like something you’d get at The Cheesecake Factory, but even I can make it. Enjoy! (And enjoy it now before those New Year’s Resolutions begin!)

I saved this recipe from a blog that is now defunct.

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

1 roll of refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3 packages cream cheese (at room temperature)
3/4 cup sugar
1-2 cups chocolate chips

Press cookie dough on bottom of springform pan. When I use homemade cookie dough, I just spread enough to thoroughly cover the bottom of the pan with a layer as thick as a cookie. Thoroughly mix following four ingredients together. If the cream cheese is not softened to room temperature it will cause the cheesecake to be lumpy. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour mixture over cookie dough and bake at 350 degrees until done. The original recipe said the cheesecake should be done in about one hour but I keep checking it every 5 minutes after it has been cooking for 45 minutes. Usually it takes my cheesecake about an hour and a half to bake.

Happy Hanukkah!

by Lisa on December 20th, 2011

Jonathan Adler Menorah

Wishing all of you who begin celebrating tonight a Very Happy Hanukkah!

Incredible Dachschund Menorah from Jonathan Adler • $120

Cheap Sally Update: I’m a Finalist!

by Lisa on December 2nd, 2011

Thanks to all of you I am officially a finalist in the Cheap Sally Bring Home the Bacon Contest!

I would write out a million thank-you’s if that would be prudent, but I think eventually you’d all just get annoyed at how long this post would be.

Instead, I will just, say once, thank you from the very bottom of my heart for taking the time to vote and putting up with my posts about voting. I was annoying myself at the end, so I think all of you for sticking with me.

Now we’re on to Round 3 and it’s a little surreal that I’m one of only 58 people competing for a chance to win a one-year blogging gig with a $100k salary. Even if I don’t win, that’s possibly the closest I’ll ever come to $100k. To that end, I do think I have a good shot! Each day Cheap Sally will send us one product and tell us that we have to find the absolute lowest price on it using only the retailers and coupons available on the Cheap Sally website. Yesterday was just practice and we had to find a 12′ trampoline.  I think I did OK thanks to that handy $10 off $100 Amazon coupon I wrote about yesterday, but they haven’t announced the results yet.

The competition runs through December 21, and I’ll keep you updated along the way. If I hear anything, that is.

One more time – thanks for being awesome. Your support means the world to me!

Chicago Blogger Shopping Crawl … And How YOU Can Win Gift Cards!

by Lisa on November 17th, 2011

This Saturday I’m doing something super fun: I’m heading on a suburban shopping adventure with a few of my favorite blogging friends here in Chicago. We’re going to be hitting up a couple of TJ Maxx and Marshalls, and bringing you some of our favorite picks for this holiday shopping season.

First, you might be asking why on earth we are heading out to the suburbs when Chicago itself is chock-full of TJ Maxx and Marshalls locations. The reason is simple – there are a million or so people that live in Chicago and we want to get out to the stores that are a little less picked over … and the ones we can’t necessarily go to any old day of the week.

Second, you might be asking who’s joining me!  The cast of bloggers includes:

Third, you might be asking why I’m letting you know now about our shopping adventure. It is, of course, because you all will have the opportunity to win prizes, too!
TJ Maxx, Marshalls and Nikia decided it would be even more fun to allow all y’all to track our stops (a total of 3) and join in on the par-tay!  So, we’re hosting a virtual giveaway at each location.
Here’s how it will work:
1. We, said bloggers mentioned above, will tweet out a photo at each store and provide our followers with the retail or “compare at” price.
2. The first one of our followers to guess the correct TJ Maxx/Marshalls price (or comes the closest) will win a $50 TJ Maxx/Marshalls gift card!
That’s THREE chances to win a gift card. I’m warning you though – you’re going to have to be really on the ball to beat out the followers of all of those other gals to win. ;)
In addition to the giveaways, we will be live tweeting our finds using the official hashtag #CHIBloggerCrawl. So, be sure to stalk our Twitter timelines Saturday from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. to be a part of the fun!
If you’re not a twitter-ite, I’ll be sure to share my finds next week.  And, of course, there will be giveaways galore around these parts with the launch of Thanks-Giveaway on Monday.  :)

How to Fix Your Facebook Page

by Lisa on September 23rd, 2011

facebook

You’re not going to see me complaining about the new Facebook.  I always kind of like the changes once I figure them out.  I’ve seen a preview of what’s to come when all of the latest changes are implemented, and let’s just say that some people are going to be freaking out.  Mashable has a great run-down of the Facebook changes.  Soon, Facebook really won’t look like it’s current incarnation at all – including the changes they just implemented.

While I don’t care about the visual changes, I CAN’T STAND when Facebook decides what I want to see on my newsfeed.  The point of Facebook is that you don’t have to interact with everyone, right?  So why should they decide what I want to see based on the 3 people with whom I regularly interact? For the past couple of days I’ve been wondering why only those three people have been showing up in my newsfeed, and then I remembered that Facebook thinks they know best.

If they’ve done the same to you, here’s how to get everything appearing back in your feed again – including updates from us!

I’ve seen a couple of ways to make your feed the way it used to be, but this is the one that made the most sense.  If you know of an easier way, please share!

 

Make an ‘Everyone’ list.

Go to your Facebook page and click on HOME in the upper right hand corner.

Then, on the left hand side locate LISTS. Click next to LISTS where it says MORE and click Create List.

Name your list.

Next, ‘Add Friends’ to your new list.  Add all the friends you want to follow.

Then, to find Pages, click where it says Friends on the top left and then click Pages. Click on the pages that you want to follow regularly.

Now, when you click on your new list, everyone should be there.

You MAY need to click on your new list in the left sidebar every time you sign into Facebook to see everyone and not just the people Facebook recommends.  Annoying!

 

Good Luck, everyone!

 

Thanks to MojoSavings for the tip!

Fantabulously Frugal is TWO Today!

by Lisa on March 8th, 2011

Bangerang Cupcake

Happy Birthday to Us!  Happy Birthday to Us!  Happy Birthday Dear FantabulouslyFrugal.com, Happy Birthday to Us!  {And Many More…}

That’s right folks, Fantabulously Frugal is two years old today.  Can you believe it?  I know I can’t.

What started off as a weekend project to combat boredom as I neared the end of grad school has become the full-time love of my life.  {Just don’t tell my boyfriend I said that, OK?}

Every single day I am in awe at the kindness of all of you that continue to stop by.  I am flattered when you leave comments, or take the time to email with suggestions or kind words for the site.  I am flattered every time I receive an email from a company or brand requesting coverage – I mean, how freaking cool is that?!

This past year has been a pretty big one! First of all I got the phone call from American Express that they wanted to work with me {and a team of other bloggers} on the launch of their new ZYNC Card.  While seeing the day-to-day operations of one of the largest credit companies in the world was awesome, what I really took from the opportunity was the knowledge that FantabulouslyFrugal.com was worth all of the time I’d invested in the site, and that it was perhaps more than just a passing hobby.  This new-found confidence lead to some notable changes: The launch of Fantabulously Frugal in Chicago, the addition of a few truly great writers, and most recently the launch of Fantabulously Frugal in NYC.

I can never thank all of you enough for reading – and sharing this site with your friends – but here it goes: With everything I have, thank you!  Without you all stopping by, my days wouldn’t be nearly as much fun.

So, how about a few giveaways to liven up this Tuesday afternoon?

See that lovely cupcake at the top of this post?  Two people will win their choice of cupcake from one of my favorite bakeries, Bangerang Bake Shop, home of the original cupcake in a jar!

This giveaway will only be open through the end of the day today, and to enter all you have to do is say “Happy Birthday” in the comments!