2011 has come to an end - on to the next one

As the end of 2011 approaches, I find myself remembering so many good and wonderful things that happened this year. It was truly the best year yet, and I have so much to be thankful for. I try not to be one of those cheesy people who goes on relentlessly about how blessed they are, but I feel that 2011 deserves a little thanksgiving and attention.

To begin with, we have finally made a steady and great life here in Austin, TX after a random move from Corpus Christi. It was a bit of a "whim" decision. But it couldn't have been a better one. Lupe found a great job earlier this year and we are so thankful for it.

our pups were so cute during the move. Can't believe August of this year made it a year! 

We got to enjoy SNOW in Texas! I think this was January or February? Hopefully we will see it again this year!

We both got new cars ( we needed them!) I got a Nissan Cube and Lupe got a Lexus IS300. We were overdue, and it felt so good to be at a place in our lives where we could upgrade and buy a nice car for ourselves. 

Bella is going strong even through her kidney problems. The doctor checked up on her in October and said her levels were actually going down (which is good, since they are mostly elevated.) She's a trooper!

We got ENGAGED! It only took us 3 years ;) I couldn't be happier. It's a rare feeling to be able to say you've found the one you want to be with for all eternity. And I think we are lucky to say that we have.

We got to visit New Orleans! (free trip courtesy of our local radio station.) This was our first real travel experience together, which is crazy becuase we have been dating for such a long time. It was a lot of fun and something we definitely plan to do more of.

We got to see some beautiful friends get married, Abby & RJ. They have a beautiful love and their wedding was one of the most fun and exciting I've been to!

Sarah and Chase also had a beautiful and fun wedding in Houston. She was an amazingly gorgeous bride and the wedding was a BLAST!

I got a PROMOTION with Kaplan this year (woo hoo) and love my job. I also go to visit Chicago for a work conference and fell in love with it. Here is Pam and I downtown at their Harbour, we were convinced we wanted to move there! It was beautiful.

We went to some fun festivals including this one, Eeyore's birthday, an Austin staple. We truly live in the best city and we don't take advantage of it enough!

I made an AMAZING friend who is practically my soulmate. I swear this girl & I were destined to be friends. One of the kindest, most genuine people I know. Not to mention she's a Gamma Phi :)

Took lots of pics with our great camera. Resolution for next year: More pics, and actually print some!

Lupe particpated in an art show at a bar called Spiderhouse here in Austin. He was among amazing talent and it was a great publicity opportunity for him. Hopefully more art shows to come in 2012.

I got to start planning our wonderful wedding :) My sweet Lupe even went to a bridal fair with me. Good sport.

It was a year of craziness with work, but my planner and blackberry held steady. I love having a planner, I go to it for everything. Can't wait to pick up a 2012 one! "Man may plan his course but the Lord determines his steps."

Got to help my BEST FRIEND pick out her wedding dress for her May wedding, and meet her wonderful friend Holly. Bunch of dolls!

Also got to celebrate my bestie's birthday! And Domani,Mary, and myself are all planning our big days for 2012. So much fun! (This is seriously the year of weddings for GPB's!)

My sweet friend Tracy came to visit Austin twice! Love getting to see her.

New years Resolution: Spend more time with Morgan. She's only 45 mins away from me!

Spent a lot of time realizing how lucky I am. And how happy I am.

Lucky enough to spend the holidays with our loved ones. I've also turned out to be quite the good cook, now I just need to spend 2012 working on my baking. Although these pumpkin cheesecake muffins turned out great!

Had a FANTASTIC Christmas. Our families truly went all out for us, and we are so so lucky.

Oh, and we had a cute little JOP wedding with our closest family and friends. We are still planning for a big ceremony in October, but we were more than ready to be married already. :)

So we end 2011 on a fantastic note, and I don't know what to expect from 2012. I don't know how we could top it, except with a fantastic wedding. Hopefully everything keeps going well for us and the pups. We are heading down to CC for New Years eve to spend it with our closest friends, and I'm super excited about it! We leave you with pinscher love.

New Years Resolutions include:

taking more pictures with our SLR

going to more free events in Austin (we are so lazy!)

spending less time on the computer and more time outside

puppies deserve more walks!

working out (for me.. and half of America)

reading more books (some good trilogies should do the trick)

Getting back into creating things. Work took over and we have really slacked.

And lastly, for anyone that may read this, I'm switching to tumblr. It's sad, but blogspot has nothing to make mobile blogging easy, and tumblr is fantastic to use from your smart phone.

Our wedding website: lupeandashleyvaladez.tumblr.com

my hobby website: luckylightning.tumblr.com

xoxo

The Valadez Clan

Old Navy's new workout gear - fantastic!

So I'm not one to like working out, to be honest. I just don't usually enjoy it, and it's much harder when you are going at it alone. I barely made it through what my hometown calls "beach to bay", where I ran 4.5 miles. Here is me afterwards (not a pretty site..) Pretty amusing, right?

But honestly I'm at the point in my life where I need to step it up and start working out. I won't look like I'm 25 forever, unfortunately. So here and there I've been running, weight training,etc. I also just recently started advocare (more on that later..) But the point of this article is that I was fortunate enough to sample some fantastic workout wear from Old Navy's new workout line, and it's great!

Their "Go Dry" and "Compression" line are made out of this fantastic material. It fits to your body so well, especially with the pants, that it almost feels like you are wearing nothing (in a good way.) I know doing things like yoga and pilates can be difficult if you're wearing clothes that have extra fabric hanging, which can also be true for running and strength training. But these pants from Old Navy are just the opposite. In this picture I'm wearing a set of long compression pants (they also come in capri), and I love them. Not to mention Old Navy made them just girly enough for me to enjoy. I'm also wearing one of the matching zip up hoodies which is fantastic. (A girl can NEVER have too many hoodies.)

Here I am ready to brave our 50 degree weather we just got in Austin (woohoo!) I love it, you can see what I mean how the pants are fitted all the way through until the bottom. Love it! And the jacket is great because it's got lots of great zippers and pockets. You could easily tuck your keys away in one and take off for a run with no worries. love that. But my favorite part of the hoodie is listed in the below picture..

I LOVE the thumb holes. I don't know what it is about thumb holes in hoodies, but I love it. In my early soccer days I can remember wearing a hole in my hoodie right where the thumb went, so Old Navy hit the nail on the head. This secures the hoodies right on top of your hands, taking the place of hand warmers and keeping the hoodie in place. Love it!

A friend of mine was also able to sample these and she loved it as well. We almost always show up to work out together in one piece or another of the Old Navy gear. I was so impressed with it that I went in and got a set of black capri's and a black zipper hoodie as well. I LOVE the capri's also, they are fitted to your leg which is perfect for yoga!

Next time you're cruising Old Navy or searching for work out gear, make sure you pick some of this up! It's really reasonably priced, ($10-$25 a piece or so). When I went everything was on sale fairly cheap. They've got everything from sports bra's to fleece all the way to these lovely items. 

Hopefully having all this great workout gear will help get me off the couch and out in the trail more! Happy shopping! 

XoXo

Ashley 

Bzzagent.com & The Domino Project from Seth Godin

So I've told you about Bzz Agent, where you can test products or ideas & then you spread the word about them. Well one of the recent campaigns they launched is called "The Domino Project". It's a project where new books are released to the kindle (or kindle app) and you receive the selected books for free, in exchange for your honest feedback.

Well the first book I read in this campaign is called "Do the Work", by Steven Pressfield. This book is phenomenal. I'm a sucker for funny, smart, motivational books, and that sums up this book to me.

The book is all about pushing through that "stuck" stage you may be in. Say you're writing a book, or a play, or trying to lose 50 lbs, or trying to get a new fantastic career - this book tells you how to cut out resistance in your life and push through to the end. It's fantastic. I personally have always wanted to write a book, and "Do the Work" not only inspired me, but it set the ball rolling for me. It's a must read.

Here's what Seth Godin has written about it:

"Steven Pressfield is the author of the most important book you've never read: The War of Art. It will help you understand why you're stuck, it will kick you in the pants, and it will get you moving. You should, no, you must buy a copy as soon as you finish reading this.

In this manifesto, Steve gets practical, direct, and personal. Read it fast; then read it again and take notes. Then buy a copy for everyone else who's stuck and push them to get to work as well.

—From the Foreword to Do The Work by Seth Godin

A picture from "Do the Work". 

So you should really get your hands on this book if you are trying to get out of a rut, need some motivation, or are just looking for a good read. Amidst the reading of the book I even blogged an excerpt here. You can get a sense of his writing style and how the book is written from this short excerpt, and it's pretty ingenius. I bookmarked a lot of the pages, just because I want to go back and write them down or print them out or paint them on a wall! Sometimes, you just need motivation to slap you in the face. And this book is the answer!

Pressfield has a new book coming out called "The Profession", and oddly enough it arrives on my birthday. I'll be picking it up, for sure!

XoXo

Ashley Rion 

Upcycling Vintage: my customer's creative ideas

So when Lupe & I started Lucky Lightning , we were really trying our hand out at different creative projects. We especially have fallen in love with our suitcase dog beds , made out of vintage suitcases. We love to create these and pooches around the world have fallen in love with them!

Check out Odie, from IL, in a red suitcase pet bed. 

Now, though, our store has more of a Vintage vibe to it, and it's starting to become a collection of lovely vintage treasures we find here & there. It's so much fun, the thrill of a great vintage find! And thank heavens for Etsy, where we have an outlet to share our obsession.

Often we find neat items that we have a few uses in mind for, but our customers often turn out to be way smarter & more creative when it comes to upcycling! I wanted to give you an insight to their ideas.

We found these great vintage, wooden, 70's - esque cups that I thought were fantastic. One of our customers turned them into the perfect game companion. 

His exact words were, "exactly what I was looking for." I do love hearing that! 

We found this vintage case that was actually a holder for a vintage travel coffee set. It was great, it had a coffee maker, cups, filters, & more. But we stripped it of that, and one of our customers used it as a costume piece for a comic con she was attending. Very different! (and later down the line, we ended up finding an identical one of these, very random!)

I nearly died when I found this pink luggage set. It's very hard to find hot pink luggage in the vintage luggage realm. I was even luckier to have a super sweet customer from Canada snag these, and she was really excited to have them. I love when customers are stoked about what they're purchasing! She used them to hold her sketchbooks & supplies, and she mentioned that she actually already has a hot pink train case she's using for a supply holder! Lucky gal. 

We have recently become hoarders of Vintage brass figures. We seriously are starting to get a zoo in our apartment, but I find them so unique and different. I advertised these little mice as decoration or as jewelry holders. I think they make adorable ring holders, myself. 

I loved this set of nesting suitcases, they zip open on the top-which is very different from most normal suitcases. I was lucky to have a super sweet, Austin based seller purchase these. You can find her unique shop Pressedufour on Etsy. She sells beautiful paper products, and uses these nifty suitcases to tote them around. I think that's such a unique idea, and a very pretty element to add to your business. 

We sold this triple set of vintage blue luggage to a customer who intends to make two end tables and a cat bed out of them. End tables will be neat made from these! I can't wait to see pics of their finished product. 

And I'm always talking about our dog beds, but I think it's great when kittens around the globe get to use them as well! Here's some happy pets & pet owners

Both of these kitty cat momma's were so sweet and wonderful to work with. The blue one was a custom order, and she made it so much fun to make. I swear, we get lucky with great customers.

One of our customers is a photographer, you can find her business, La La Clicks, here. She asked if we could do a custom bed for her to use as a prop in her photography! I thought that was such a unique idea, and of course obliged! 

Overall, we've been so lucky to have sweet, friendly, & creative customers! I can't wait to see what our future customers have in mind for our products. I do love that about recycling/upcycling, there is hope for items that get tossed to the way side! We personally use suitcases to hold our shoes, magazines, and more. We are constantly scooping up things and using them for new, innovative purposes. Keep the creativity going, all :)

We have lots of new goodies to add to the store, so hopefully they will be shipped off to new, and better uses. 

<3 Ashley 

What's really in your dog's food?

So with the recent issues with my little Yorkie getting sick, I've been doing my research on natural & holistic medicines and practices. Somehow I stumbled upon what is really in dry dog food. I've watched documentaries before on how mass produced dry dog food is really no good for your dogs, but I didn't know details. First off, did you know that a regular bag of big name dog food will normally sit an a warehouse for A YEAR before it is shipped to a big name store, to sit on their shelves? Not exactly fresh. But that is not even the worst part.

Most big name chain dog food contains "animal by products", which, ok maybe doesn't sound TERRIBLE. But that basically means it's the part of the horse, chicken, cow, etc. that is unfit for human's to eat (ok, obviously not of horse meat.) But you get the gist, it's the crap that's left over. Not to mention it's usually chock full of corn, soy, and other grains that are not natural to dog's digestion and development. Have you ever seen Food Inc. ? It's a fantastic documentary on the US Agriculture industry, and what really happens to our meat and veggies before they go into our mouths. (Pretty disturbing.) In this documentary, you see one very small, local farmer who discusses the fact that pigs, chickens, and cows are fed corn and other products that they normally wouldn't eat. These things are not NATURAL, so of course the animal's digestive tracts and bodies don't do well on these substances. Same thing with dogs, they weren't intended to eat things like this. Read more here: http://www.aplus-flint-river-ranch.com/define-animal-byproducts.php

The worst thing I've found that dog food can contain so far, EUTHANIZED DOGS. That's right, there's a plant in L.A. that takes hundreds of euthanized dogs from a shelter and grinds them up into Puppy chow. UM, GROSS. and not anywhere near natural. And you would never know, because it's labeled "animal byproduct", and we have no clue what that means.

Here's a few great articles to read about what dog food really contains:

http://www.bornfreeusa.org/facts.php?more=1&p=359

http://www.dogs-4life.com/does-your-dog-food-include-euthanized-dog-.html

http://www.crpf.org.uk/index.php?section=537

And there's a ton more. Just search google for "what is really in dog food." You may be shocked. I switched both my dogs upon reading this, because it just makes sense. The crap that is in this dog food is a huge factor in why dogs get kidney disease, liver disease, heart problems, joint issues, etc. It's not natural.

Sure paying $30 for a bag of dog food versus the original $11 is a big jump, but if it will keep my pooches alive it's worth it to me.

What to look for: Steer clear of dog foods containing:
-soy
-animal byproduct
-corn
-grains: these are tricky. some grains are good for dogs, some are not. A lot of grain/oat diets are given to dogs with special allergies. Ask a vet. Or ask the people at your local dog food store.

You want to know what meats are in your dog's food, and it should say it on the label. Some will say "chicken Meal", here's an article you can read more about "meal versus meat". http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=meat-meal

Cheers-to happy, healthy pups

Bella tackles the vet again, pt. 2

So today my darling, chubby yorkie hit the vet's office again to get a checkup on her little kidneys. She is just so adorable, even the vet said that Bella has no idea that she is sick or that anything is wrong. I think I love that. It's so heartbreaking.. Ugh but I'm trying to stay positive and not be a downer about the whole thing. Basically, her kidneys are "stable", not better but not worse. Basically, not failing. They are suggesting putting her on very low dose aspirin (which according to the vet is ok for dogs) and then some medicine to keep her blood pressure down. I just have been doing a lot of research on Holistic vet practices and the ideas of these drugs in her little body really worries me. 

 

here we are on Mother's day weekend. She's quite the fluffy daughter ;) 

So according to plenty of websites, veterinary ones included, aspirin should not be prescribed for dogs with kidney failure or disease. Thus, I don't quite understand why the vet is prescribing it to her. And so far I haven't found anything bad on the internet about this blood pressure medicine, but I'm still skeptical. I asked the vet about holistic practices, and they highly recommended getting her acupuncture and using Chinese Herbs. As soon as I have a couple hundred bucks handy I'm going to take her in for that. I planned to do that tomorrow, but now I'm not sure, because I am spending quite a lot on regular vet practices. But money is another story.. 

Basically, I think Holistic practices are going to be the winner. I have read so much about how it helps and how there are more positive results using herbs, enzymes, and natural supplements and practices. So I plan to try it, especially acupuncture, which is supposed to help with overall health and inflammation. Not sure if I'll do this whole drug thing for her. Another odd thing, regular vet practices suggest low protein diets, where Holistic practices suggest the complete opposite, and are opposed to using low protein diets in dogs with Kidney disease.

The saddest part is that the vet said that if I'm lucky, Bella will get 2 more years. But I am skeptical of that. She is so happy and has no clue that anything is wrong, and I won't and can't let that change. I can't let her get worse. I'll do whatever it takes. 

The vet said that it has happened before, but very rarely, that the protein levels just turn themselves around and even out. But in her 15 years she hasn't seen it happen. But, you're saying it's possible. And that's all I need is a glimmer of hope. Finally. And the vet even highly praised the holistic medicines and said they were known to help with overall health. 

So through all the sadness and sickness there has to be a light somewhere, I refuse to let there not be one. And I think natural, holistic medicine is going to be it. It's going to help, it's going to lengthen her life, and it's going to make a big difference. It HAS to. I have to keep the faith and cherish every single moment with her, which is what I'm definitely doing. But I can't let it appear to be a downhill battle.. because that's when I get depressed. It has to be positive and there has to be a glimmer of hope. Even if I'm grasping at straws and unusual circumstances, I have to find a way. Pray that I do. 

 "Dog's aren't our whole lives, but they make our lives whole." 

Well, mine is my whole life. I intend to keep it that way for a long time. 

xoxo

Kidney Disease in Dogs- Bella's battle

Anyone that knows me personally, knows I'm madly in love with my little Yorkie, Bella. She is my absolute best friend, going on 6 years. She makes my heart want to burst (in a good way), and I literally wake up and fall asleep to her every night. I think all dog lovers can relate to being smitten with their animals.

Bell and I have been through it all. And recently, she was diagnosed with kidney disease. On 4/22, to be exact. She's had kidney problems before. Last may, we took her to the beach in Corpus, and she got into something, salt water or something else, and her body just couldn't handle it. Her kidneys started to fail, she was vomiting and couldn't hold anything down. After 5 days in the vet, her being hooked up to an IV, and multiple medications, she survived. I'll never forget how the doctors spoke in "what if" terminology, things like "well IF we can turn this around, " and "IF her kidneys take to the medication.." It was horrifying. Heartwrenching, and I didn't know if I could personally make it through it. Thank God she survived that, and that was almost exactly a year ago. 

So you can imagine my distress when they diagnose her with kidney disease. And I feel the need to write about it, because it turns out this is something she could have had for a long time. I take her to the wonderful people at Banfield (In your local Petsmart), who I HIGHLY, HIGHLY, recommend. They are fantastic. And we went to get a routine heartworm test, which they draw blood for. They found in that blood sample that her kidney levels were elevated, so they had us wait a week and bring her back in. Well we brought her back, on 4/22, and they said it was Kidney disease, or at least that was the underlying thing. They said they don't know how long she's had it, she could've been born with it or it could've developed over time. They see it usually when a dog gets into something toxic, like over the counter medicine, or toxic plants. Things like that can fry their kidneys. They said her event last May more than likely wasn't the cause of the kidney disease, it was just a crisis in reaction to it. And now we are taking steps to avoid any further crisis'. 

So where we go from here:

 1) Change in diet. She is on special diet, kidney/renal disease diet, and she has to be eating and drinking a lot daily. Her body can't break down the protein, and it's getting stuck in her kidneys. So she is now on a less-protein diet. 

2) Making her comfortable. The doctor's keep using this term. After her body adjusts to the food it's all about keeping her comfortable. Keeping her hydrated and making sure she eats regularly. Dogs with Kidney disease can become lethargic. 

3) Making sure it doesn't get worse. On a scale of 1 - 4, she is a 3. Not good, at all. 

4) Bacteria infection. Today, they called and said they found traces of ecoli in her urine, basically a bacterial infection in her kidneys or bladder. From here, we go to antibiotics. This should hopefully clear up this bacterial infection, which has been agitating the kidney disease. They also found high levels of protein in her kidneys, which is not good. But the doctor said this could be skewed due to the bacteria.

5) Once the bacteria is gone, we retest her urine. They said that hopefully the bacteria being gone will allow her urine tests to come back normal. If so, we just keep maintaining her diet and keep things up as they are now. However, if they come back with high protein levels again, we have to switch her onto enzyme educed medication. Her kidneys can't bind the phosphorus in the protein properly, so she will get binding enzymes to help with that process. 

6) Possibilities: If things start looking bad, she may have to have a fluid "flush", or another stint in the hospital where she has to be hooked up to a drip for a few days. Also, I could possibly have to administer fluids to her at home. As of now, this doesn't look like it's going to be necessary. 

7) A Sonogram. I'm planning on getting her one of these as soon as I can come up with the $. This will allow the doctor's to see if one kidney is swollen, if there's kidney stones, or of a kidney needs to be removed. The doctor's said this isn't an immediate need, but will help us to diagnose the direct problem easier. 

Lots & Lots of water. And food for this little lady. 

Overall, her temperament is good. She's still loud and happy and running around. So that gives me hope. I'm really scared, and really emotional about the whole thing. 

The reason I'm writing this whole blog is to tell you, if you have a dog, to get some preliminary bloodwork done. The doctor's asked me when the last time she had "good" bloodwork, and I didn't know. I've had her on heartworm medicine for years, but apparently my old doctor's office in Corpus didn't look at her bloodwork closely for any kidney level issues. And luckily, Banfield did. This could have been treatable a long time ago, if only I had known. And now that's guilt that I have to live with. They said that it's unusual for Yorkie's to have this kidney disease, they usually have liver issues. And any article you read on the internet will say that kidney disease is usually discovered only when it's already in the worse stages. 

So:

1. Get your dog some bloodwork tests. It's expensive, but trust me when I tell you it's worth it. Ask your doctor to specifically look at kidney levels. 

2. Get your dog on a wellness plan at Banfield. I pay $33 a month, and i have unlimited doctor's visits, all her shots are included in that price as well as some routine examinations. worth it, trust me. especially when you end up in a crisis, like I am now. 

3. Look for signs. Frequent urination and drinking of water, lack of appetite, lethargy. There are tons of articles on the internet that discuss kidney disease in great lengths. Kidney disease takes years off of the dog's life span. 

Kidney disease is not curable, but it is treatable. I'm trying to view it as being one of those parents who has a child with a livable disease, something that takes maintenance and caution. If you're reading this, pray for us. My little Yorkie is a trooper, but she could use all the help she can get. We are going to get through this. 

XoXo 

Stay Primitive - the creativity process

Another shout out to BzzAgent, one of the campaigns I'm a part of now is a Kindle campaign. I downloaded the app on my Iphone, and we get a free copy of author Steven Pressfield's new book, "Do the Work", three weeks before it's released to the public. I wasn't sure what to expect, but so far I'm THRILLED. It's a motivational book, that walks you through FINISHING whatever it is you're trying to accomplish. Writing a book, dieting, changing your life, mending a relationship, learning a trade, whatever it is. and I love it.

This is an excerpt from page 217, talking about keeping things simple in the beginning of the creativity process:

"1. Stay Primitive
The creative act is primitive. Its principles are of birth and genesis. Babies are born in blood and chaos; stars and galaxies come into being amid the release of massive primordial cataclysms. Conception occurs at the primal level. I'm not being facetious when I stress, throughout this book, that it is better to be primitive than to be sophisticated, and better to be stupid than to be smart. The most highly cultured mother gives birth sweating and dislocated and cursing like a sailor. That's the place we inhabit as artists and innovators. It's the place we must be comfortable with. The hospital room may be spotless and sterile, but birth itself will always take place amid chaos, pain, and blood."  - Steven Pressfield

This book is all about resistance, how to fight of resistance, and how to accomplish what you're goals are. Find more info here.

I know it seems weird, amidst all my entries about couponing, thrifting, & what not, but it speaks volumes. Whatever it is you're doing, dieting, budgeting, writing a novel, making a movie, keep going! And stay primitive, when starting out, do the most basic, simple, outline of whatever it is you're doing. The details will all fall into place!

-Ash

More great sites for deals, samples, & cash back!

I'm a member of about a bazillion websites, deal sites, etc., and it seems to all run together sometimes, but in general I think it's totally worth it. Here's a few more that I may not have mentioned in the past:

Kraft first taste is Kraft's website that is dedicated to letting consumers try before they buy, and rate products. I signed up here and had offers in my inbox almost immediately, for their new cooking cream cheese (which I'm excited to try) and a new shredded cheese that is made with cream cheese. I know others also had offers in their inbox's for Breakstone's cottage cheese, but I personally didn't receive that one. (They mail you the coupons, so it takes a little while for them to come in.)

Vocal Point is great, too. They have free samples and stuff all the time. I'm awaiting samples/coupons for Frosted Mini Wheats-Touch of Fruit, and Breve coffee creamer. They do a lot of giveaways, as well :)

Ebates , which I posted about previously, is one I'm super excited about. You do your online shopping like you normally would, and you get a % cash back into your account. I signed up and the offer was a free $10 gift card to a store of your choice, and I chose Target. So once you make your first purchase through Ebates to any store that qualifies, (any listed through their site) they send you the gift card. I'm especially excited because I can shop for Mark products THROUGH ebates, and get the gift card as well as the cash back. Can't beat it!

Other sites that are great for just sign up credit and things:

No More Rack. I absolutely love this site, they post great deals, daily at 11AM Central time. Also, you get $10 for FREE just for signing up! Shipping is always a $2 flat rate, too. I ordered from them before and was very happy.

Rue La La . Similar to No More Rack, they always have different deals going on with clothing, shoes, accessories, and even housewares. They were/are doing a $20 credit just for signing up!

Beyond the Rack Similar to stated above sites, $10 credit just for signing up!

Gaggle of Chicks this site is geared towards mom's, I've mentioned it before, but I've ordered multiple times and I'm really happy with all the products I've ordered.

Some Facebook coupon-istas to follow: 


Hip 2 Save coupons, freebies, & giveaways on her blog.
Daily Goodie Bag
Cuckoo for Coupon Deals
Frugals, Freebies, & more

and of course my all time, swear by, Sweeties Freebies

Hope this helps in your frugal adventures!

xoxo

Earth Day - creative uses for reusable items

With Earth day just around the corner, (tomorrow, for those of you who are naughty and didn't know..) The internet is teeming with Earth day promos, freebies, and "go green" content. I stumbled upon this great article,  The Art of Reuse on www.etsy.com.

The article discusses a contest Etsy did about reusing products, and sustainability. I thought it to be only fitting that a discussion be opened up on creative ways to upcycle.

I especially loved this idea from shearmoresheep 's Etsy store, a card wallet made from crocheting plastic bags. I am determined to try it, because let's face it, we are all guilty of wasting plastic bags. I try my best to reuse them, taking my lunch in them, using them for trash, etc. But they are a significant part of our trash problem in America, and if we can reuse them, well then why not!

So this led me to search for creative ideas for plastic bags, and I found... well, nothing really. Simple things like "use as trash can liners," or "put dirty laundry in them". All great ideas, but basic, and not so creative. I'm looking for something like the above etsy seller had in mind, making something new out of something old, you know, Upcycling. So, naturally, I turned to Etsy. :)

This crafter at FFFlowers made these adorable daisies from plastic bags. Genius!

This etsy crafter, Arny , made these adorable bracelets by knitting plastic bags together! I will definitely be trying this, with my newfound knitting capabilities ;)

Over at Acleverspark, there's reusable (zippers installed!) bags made from plastic bags that would have otherwise ended up in the trash.

And Saribellum made a wallet from recycled bags, pretty nifty!

Leave it to Etsy to make me feel better about the world, that there are those of us out there who are truly intent on upcycling and reducing our waste. I know it's hard, it's definitely nowhere near easy, and I'm not great at it myself. But there are some adorable crafty items out there with a great cause!

On that note, seeing as though tomorrow is Earth Day, here are a few freebies going on in celebration:

Starbucks is giving away a free brewed coffee or tea when you take in a reusable mug tomorrow only, April 22. (You may want to make sure your local store is participating. ) 

Lowes hardware stores are giving away a million tree seedlings on Saturday, April 23rd starting at 7a.m. I hope I can get in on this deal! 

Free entry into national parks all over the country until April 24th!

Not too bad, free stuff to celebrate mother earth. There has to be more out there, what have you found? I know I'll definitely be taking part in the starbucks & the Lowe's one (if I can get up that early)  ;) 

XoXo, and happy Earth Day a day early!

-Ash