Penny For My Thoughts

Join Godiva Rewards and get a free piece of GODIVA chocolate every month!
Here’s a coupon for a free Deluxe Sample of TooFaced Lash Injection mascara at Sephora inside JC Penney.

The eternally awesome Tricia is giving away some Betty Crocker goodies and there’s a donation to Make A Wish in it as well! Tricia’s parent company, Meyer Tech LLC sponsors this blog, but did not in any way affect the content in this post.

Finally, the awesome Kim featured as the Referral Link of the Week on her blog, so show her some love, please!

So, about 18 months ago I ordered some Prescription sunglasses from Zenni Optical. They were around $20, and while not as thin as my usual lenses, they were pretty good. My prescription is high enough that I cannot go with most cheapo eyeglasses-had I bought the glasses that are included in my medical plan in August 2009, the lenses would have touched my cheeks.
Anyway, my mom got two pairs of glasses at a major prescription chain last week, including a pair of prescription sunglasses. She wore them on Saturday for the first time…and a lens popped out.
That’s all I’m saying.

Thisv week’s belated Sunday Stealing.

1. Are you currently in a serious relationship? No

2. What was your dream growing up? First female President of the United States.

3. What talent do you wish you had?No clue.

4. If I bought you a drink, what would it be? Something girly.

5. What was the last book you read? You Know You Love Me

6. What zodiac sign are you? Aquarius

7. Any tattoos and/or piercings? Explain where. Aquarius symbol on left hip, three lobe holes a piece.

8. Worst habit? Bluntness.

9. What is your favorite sport? Baseball.

10. Do you have a pessimistic or optimistic attitude? I prefer to call it realistic.

11. Worst thing to ever happen to you? no idea.

12. Tell me one weird fact about you. I had hernia surgery at 3 months-I still have a scar from the supported “dissolving” stitch.

13. Do you think clowns are cute or scary? Cute.

14. If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be? Remove excess facial hair.

15. Would you be my crime partner or my conscience? Conscience, and an utter goody-goody at that.

16. Ever been arrested? No

17. If you won $10,000 today, what would you do with it? Max out my IRA’s.

18. What’s your favorite place to hang out at? No clue.

19. Do you believe in ghosts? Yes

20. Favorite thing to do in your spare time? Blog

21. Do you swear a lot? yes

22. Biggest pet peeve? People who touch me.

23. In one word, how would you describe yourself? Unique

24. Do you believe/appreciate romance? Sometimes.

25. Do you believe in God? Yes

I went to the AAA Travel Marketplace today, as I have for the past two years.   While I had a good time and got lots of free goodies, I did notice a decline in some of the booths; offerings-namely, there was no chocolate fountain in the Western MA area, nor was the Essex giving away a trip.  There were a few giveaways; however, as well as free pens, bags and paperclips; and Busch Gardens had a baby wallaby again (I later ride with it in the elevator.  I consider any day you ride in an elevator with a zoo animal a good day).

However, the real disappointment of my trek there was when I, just for the fun of it, decided to request the travel agent price a Universal trip for me this summer (they were offering a bonus if you booked at the show, as well as an AAA discount).  Now given that they were wearing Harry Potter shirts, and had huge signs, the fact that the sentence “How do I book the Harry Potter package?” left my agent’s mouth is a sign.  In short, I did not book my trip then, and I am underwhelmed by the caliber of agents which are at the expo.

That said, I had a good time there, they are having some nice discounts at some Patriots Place restaurants this weekend if you show your AAA card, and I will go back next year.

The AAA Travel Marketplace runs through Sunday, March 6 at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA.

Sign up at Focusgroup.com!  I’ve done oodles of easy focus groups (beer testing-seriously) with them.

It looks like no matter what style jean wearer you are, be it Paige Denim or Gap jeans, you can get a little something for swapping your jeans this weekend.
If you’re located in the greater Boston area, and your tastes trend towards higher-end jeans such as Citizens of Humanity or Joe Jeans, the National Jean Company is Newton and Wellesley is having their annual Jean Swap from Thursday, March 4, through Sunday, March 7. Bring in a pair of your old jeans-one pair gets you 15% off a pair of jeans, donating two or more pairs of jeans and you can buy two or more pairs of jeans at 25% off. Your old jeans will be given to Rosie’s Place.

If Gap jeans are more your speed, starting tomorrow, March 5, you can bring a pair of your old jeans into any Gap store, and get 30% off a pair of new jeans. The discount is increased to 35% if you use your Gap card. This promotion runs through March 15, and the jeans will be used by Cotton from Blue to Green.
Jeans picture courtesy of Wikimedia Images

Happy hump day!  Here are some freebies for you.  In honor of my going to the AAA travel show on Friday, I picked a couple travel-themed ones:

Try a free sample of Purex 3 in 1 sheets

Pick your free sample of Emergen-C

Also, Wellheeled is giving away $300 CASH on her blog, courtesy of Prosper.com.  I’ve never tried Prosper, but I entered the contest anyway as it’s not a requirement.

In this day and age, it isn’t terribly surprising to get an e-mail from one’s higher-ups entitled “Bad news about health insurance.”  My plan year for my insurance and other benefits run on a year with an April 1 start, so my open enrollment started yesterday.  As my CEO’s e-mail foretold, my premium is going up, and my deductible is going up as well.  However, as I spent two years in benefits outsourcing for some of the largest corporations in the country and seeing their lovely tactics, there’s pretty much nothiung that could faze me.

So I’m taking it on the chin, but owing to the increase in deductible, I’m looking at my FSA.  I’m thinking about making it $1000 (I have a $1500 deductible, but co-pays are thankfully not subject to it).  However, my concerns are the following:  I have an amount of claims which are out of network-if I use FSA money for that, how will it work?  Can my FSA money still be used for vision and dental expenses (I need to guesstimate the cost of contacts).  I guess I’ll be making some calls to HR.

For both my travel side and my personal finance side, my inbox brought me some good news.  My all-time favorite travel savings site, Yapta, is now powered by my favorite travel search site, Kayak.  I exaggerate not when I say that in the three years I have been using Yapta, it has saved me more money than anything else I use for travel savings.  To be fair, I think part of it is that while many sites (including Kayak) help you research costs of hotels, flights and cars BEFORE you book, Yapta is unique in that it tracks your savings AFTER you book (which is great if you’re flying JetBlue).  By tracking my flights through Yapta, I have saved hundreds of dollars by getting JetBlue credits which I can apply to my next trip.  Yapta is ridiculously easy to use, so easy in fact that they were featured in AARP magazine.

And Kayak?  In my book, you should Kayak your flights, hotels, rental cars the way you Google if you need information.  They are  great resource for that, so I am very excited to have them powering Yapta.

I don’t think this week’s Sunday Stealing could be any more up my alley.
1. Which non-Disney Princess Disney Film is your favorite? I’m including Pixar and saying Cars

2. Which Disney film makes you cry the most? Up

3. Which Disney film makes you the happiest? Enchanted

4. Which Disney film has the best music? Beauty and the Beast

5. Which Disney film has the best love story? The Lion King

6. Who is your favorite Disney Princess? Belle

7. Who is your favorite Disney Prince? Prince Naveen. I met “him” in October, I feel like he’s the only Disney Prince who isn’t all “Oh hai! I R charming prince!:”

8. Who is your favorite Disney animal sidekick? Figaro.

9. Who is your favorite Disney main character animal? Simba.

10. Who is your favorite villain? Captain Hook

11. What is your favorite Disney song? “Beauty and the Beast”

12. What is your favorite Disney villian song? “Be prepared”

13. What is your favorite Disney animal song? “Happy Working Song”

14. What is your favorite Disney Princess song? “Belle”

15. What is your favorite Disney Prince song?” If I can’t love her”

16. What is your favorite Disney Prince/Princess duet song? “True Love’s Kiss”

17. What is your favorite Disney love song? “Can you feel the love tonight”