...and NOW a word from our sponsors

So, I got an e-mail asking me to do a review on my blog of the coupon website CouponChief.com. I frequently check out couponmom.com, so I already had a standard to go by. I figured Coupon Chief was the same thing. Boy was I wrong! Honestly if it wasn't impressive, I just wasn't going to do a review.

So, coupon chief is different than couponmom.com & coupons.com because it focuses on individual stores. So if you're shopping online or about to go to a store, I'd check this place out. There is a search engine to search for a particular store & there is also an A-Z index of every store they work with. I was surprised that they had many exclusively online stores like anthropologie.com and modcloth.com. And I was super impressed when I saw that they feature Airlines coupons as well. Their A-Z index is LONG and full of almost anything you can think of. It has my favorite sites and stores. So now I'm going to make a list of stores they feature BEYOND target and wal-mart.

furniture stores

airlines

online stores

home improvement stores

restaurants

academic & business distributing

computers

Disney!

hotels

car rental

movies

flowers

feet/shoes

cameras

fitness

Like I said, I'm impressed. Check it out. I'm totally psyched about this new-found treasure!

"Happy bEARTHday!" ~Liz

Yesterday was my BIRTHDAY! And it was a fun one. I exercised in the morning. The weather is nice, so I have more energy and a stronger desire to lose a little of that flub that has congregated around my tummy over the past year or so.

I went to lunch with Leigh-Ann... Craigo's lunch buffet. Soo good. Soo much food. We didn't indulge too much, so I don't feel like the exercising was in vain. At the last minute we decided to head to Idaho Falls, and I bought a really cute raincoat. Now Leigh-Ann and I both have cute Spring coats that us want to strut around with puckered lips- constantly photo ready!

Derek took me to see Disney's Oceans...AWESOME! Now I want to watch Earth (didn't get a chance to) The movie wasn't playing in Rexburg, so we had to go to Idaho Falls.

That only meant that we had fast food for dinner instead of somewhere nice-ish. We stuffed Taco Time burritos in my purse and enjoyed dinner while we enjoyed the show. I'm glad the lights were out because at times I was staring at the screen with my mouth gaped open and my burrito two inches from it. Attractive, I know.

To end the night we went to the Cocoa Bean for some yummy drinks and a fat, flavorful cupcake. Ooo boy! I didn't realize what I was missing.

I got a package from MOM. Those are always exciting. Inside were cute shirts/blouses from Kohl's, a cute wall hanging, and a picture of Reina at Easter holding a bunny. I can't show you, though. It's copyrighted. How awesome it is to have my family!

So that was my awesome birthday. I would like to thank Senator Gaylord Nelson for founding Earth Day so that I could celebrate it every year on the day of my birth. I always wanted to be a hippie, and that just makes me one step closer. Although yesterday was my 23rd birthday, it was Earth Day's 40th anniversary. Cool!

Oh and I would like to thank my best friend Leigh-Ann for finding the color button and adding color to her blogs. I'm a copy cat!

Tomorrow is EARTH DAY

I'm thinking I'll never update the world with the important events of the past few months because It'll take too long to type. Maybe one day I'll at least post pictures.

For my birthday that is THIS Thursday (tomorrow), my best friend Leigh-Annie Fanny gave me the collection of Jane Austen's novels all bound in one FAT book. I started Sense and Sensibility and have decided after 10 chapters (short chapters compared to chapters these days) that Jane Austen is a better writer than most other women. That may be why she has her own section is bookstores and is considered one of the Greats next to Charles D. and Edgar A. P.

What's hard is imagining new characters because I saw the movie. So now Hugh Grant, Kate Winslet, and Professor Snape (don't care to look up his real name) are dressed in time-appropriate clothing and feeling but not expressing their thoughts...except for Marianne (Kate), of course.

The world has long decided that movies made after books are not as good as the books, and yet when a movie of a book I've read or heard of comes out, I have a strong desire to watch it and ruin the world I imagined for these people. My Harry Potter world was destroyed before I even read them...because I saw movies 1-4, read books 1-6, watched movie 5, and read books 6-7...in that order. How sad, but funny to imagine our movie star Hermione Granger with horribly frizzy hair. Only the first movie gives her hair justice. Why does everyone have to be so pretty?

So, let me tell you something exciting! Derek got me a birthday present, and (wait for it) I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS!!! He's pretty bad at sneaking and surprising. Last year for my b-day he had it easy, Disneyland. Christmas, he ordered the Michael Buble Christmas CD while I was sitting right next to him, then got it in the mail and left it on our bed so that when I walked in I wondered why he got me a gift for Thanksgiving. I could go on, but I won't. It's fun to know that he tries hard to do cool stuff for me. :) I really do appreciate it. What's awesome is that he's improving, hence the lack of knowing what he got me for my birthday. He ordered it. I tried to think of anything I thought of wanting and decided that I have no idea. How exciting!

Anyway, sorry for the boring post. I'll try to think of something interesting to mention next time.

jane austen and vampires

I know I have a few things that I need to write about, namely Derek's birthday and my recital with all surrounding events included, but right now I want to give an update of today. Just today. I started and finished a novel written by the not-very-well-known author Beth Pattillo called Jane Austen ruined my life. Patillo is a fan of Jane Austen, to say the least, and I am one who has never read a Jane Austen book although I have seen a few movies (Sense & Sensibility, Emma, and parts of Pride and Prejudice).

I'm pretty sure I recommend the book, especially if you like Jane Austen novels. References to them lace the pages of the heroine's thoughts. The book begins kind of broad and vague, but I've noticed that all books by female authors are like that. Every time I start a book by a female author, I begin to tell myself to never read a book by a female again. How very betraying of me! Of course I neglect that thought after a few chapters in and can't put the book down.

Reading this book made me want to read all of Jane Austen's novels, and since I'm married, I won't have to worry about the loneliness of finishing the book and realizing my lack of a Mr. Knightley. I wonder, though, if Jane Austen's novels start so disappointedly as others I've read. I've heard they are long and cover a long period of time, as opposed to the 2-week journey I went through today. I guess I'll have to start reading to find out. How very girlish of me! I never thought I'd want to get caught up in books like this. Next thing you know I'll be drawing hearts around "Edward" when Derek isn't looking.

As I was looking for a picture of the acclaimed vampire, I noticed some similarities of the two Edwards. A different, more vampirical picture was chosen, but it scared me a bit, and I don't want it donning my blog page for the next few weeks. Maybe you don't see the similarities. It used to be that a pale face, textured skin, and sunken eyes weren't very hot. If so I'd be famous!