Sunday, April 17, 2011

Weekend Shopping, Memberships & Brownies That Don't Plague Your Bum

I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend, I know I did! I really can't complain since I was able to catch up with beautiful friends at a baby shower yesterday, got a Mani/Pedi with my bestie, went on a date with my man, got a massage today, and THEN went shopping! It was as great as it sounds like it was.

I have to say, I've avoided getting a pedicure for a while, and now that it's getting warmer, it was definitely needed. Luckily my friend Stephanie felt the urge after her work-day was over yesterday and I jumped at the chance to catch up and be pampered at the same time. I went for the full-on Mani/Pedi, French Tip of course (since I could NEVER do that myself), and I love the way they look. I don't love that my thumb is already missing part of its beautiful bright whiteness which reminded me that I probably didn't need to spend $25 on getting that done, but I still appreciate it anyway because it looks pretty :)


I've had a gift certificate to get a 60 min. massage since Valentine's Day thanks to my love, but I have procrastinated getting it until now, which was silly since my back is a tension playground in my shoulders and neck and I get tension headaches for this reason. The girl at The Integrated Massage Center (by Chico Sports Club) did an awesome job and even gave me 20 extra minutes for free because my left shoulder "needed a lot of extra work". I think I should probably try to make the investment to do this more often because it was wonderful.


Last night my boyfriend and I were going to go out for dinner and some wine, but due to overcrowded-ness at our first dining option, we opted for Burgers and Brew downstairs and ditched the wine idea. I had a delicious turkey burger and a couple of glasses of Stella Artois, which is my favorite beer ever and I can't help but to feel classy drinking it because of this genius ad that I always see in Cosmo:


Burgers & Brew even uses the same glasses, so I thoroughly enjoyed my consumption!

After we got home and had a chance to digest, I was feeling a bit of a sweet tooth and remembered that I had a box of Trader Joe's Guilt Free Brownie Mix! I had yet to try the stuff, but it sounded interesting and I've heard good things. All that you have to do is add non-fat yogurt (2/3 cup) to the mix and spread into a baking dish or pan before baking for about 15 minutes (I baked under the directed time because my oven is a speedy cooker) at 350. I had non-fat vanilla yogurt so I used that. The instructions say to "mix with a spoon" but I find that a bit ridiculous since there is very little wetness to work with, so I used my hand-mixer and it worked really well. The brownies were/are SO good and only 130 calories for 1/12 of the pan, which is actually a pretty large square. I just had one for a snack today and they are still as moist and tasty as they were last night. I will probably have them for snacks for a few days.


As far as great deals this weekend, I started off on Friday by taking advantage of Sephora's 15% discount on all purchases for Beauty Insiders. You can become a Beauty Insider by simply signing up and you get points each time you make a purchase, which provides a ton of perks and free gifts. I stocked up on Bare Minerals Matte for the summer-time when I don't like to wear full-coverage makeup. This sale is good through 4/21, so if you're in need of some makeup, sign up and take the extra percentage off! The code to use at checkout is CHIC.

Another site that provides a lot of great deals for simply signing up is HauteLook (Gilt is also great). You get email notifications daily about sales, and they frequently have designer brands at awesome prices. The sales start at 9am PST, so you want to check in early before things start to sell out (which they always do). I found this adorable Guess dress yesterday:


Today after my massage, I was able to go to Old Navy to check out the sale that they are having. I am SO happy I did! The current deal is that you take 30% off of any already marked down merchandise, and seemingly almost everything was marked down! Here are the items I got for myself:


I purchased:

Skinny Cuffed Jeans - $11.33

Jean Capris - $26.55 (These weren't really on the big sale, I just wanted them)

Fuschia Dress (the one I wanted!) - $18.26

Coral Stone-Detail Tank - $2.83!

Dark Green Shirt Dress - $8.49!

I also found a ton of great stuff for the boy, and I learned that their Men's polos will be going on sale for $6 on 4/23, which is a killer deal if you have a man who needs some summer clothing. I particularly like their heather blend polos:

As if my Old Navy escapade wasn't enough, I headed to Forever 21 and got some more deals because I was just in the mood to dig through sales racks. I found a lot of great sale items including this striped yellow & white tunic (maybe a dress to some people, but not this girl) for $4.99:


I also paid full retail price (only $20.00) for this adorable dress along with a few belts at only $6-$8 each full retail, which is a huge steal.


Well, that's all I've got for today. Make sure to check out some of these deals if you get the chance, and DEFINITELY make sure to try the Guilt Free Brownies because they are live-changing!

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