Made in America...us and the gifts we give.

Every time you turn on the news you hear about the economy, how it's difficult for everyone and how many are without jobs. It's true, it's horrible, and I believe that it is getting better, slowly. So, now how could we possibly help out our fellow Americans? Unless you're willing to join the military, THANKS NATE!, then...maybe, just maybe you could try to buy American made goods! I was made here, shouldn't the things in my life be made here as well?!

 

Now that Christmas is over I can let you in our our little secret. Sophie Jean's adopted Dad and I made a vow to only give gifts Made in America! GO USA! And I'm VERY happy to report that we did extremely well!

 

Here are some of the items we gave to our loved ones this year -

 

Turvis Tumblers 

 

These bad boys are made in North Venice, Flordia and have been since the 1950's. They really do keep your cold drinks, cold, and your hot drinks, hot. AMAZING. If you're a sports fan they probably have your favorite team logo, or a pretty design that will strike your fancy. They are sold online and at your nearest Bed, Bath, and Beyond store. Affordable and long lasting product!!

 

Photo Albums

 

Since we got married just a bit shy of two months ago, we wanted to give our parents and grandparents some photo prints of the big day. I searched and searched in the stores and could not fine ONE photo album that wasn't made in China. Shame, shame, shame. So, off to my trusty computer I went and located a number of companies that make their picture keepers here in the good ole US of A! I have to say the ones that we purchased were okay, but I wasn't super impressed with the quality. Still, we kept with our theme and I think they will hold up well. I will explore more options for my photo storage needs in the future.

 

Pens

(Forgot to get pictures of all six, but they are all awesome!)

 

One of Kenny's coworkers makes his own pens! Fantastic!!! They are very nice and extremely classy to boot. We were able to buy 6 pens in different styles for a very reasonable price. It's a gift not often given these days as we tend to type more than we write, ex: this blog. But, I enjoy a nice card or letter from time to time, there is something rather exciting about opening the mail box to a little treat that doesn't ask for money in return. Steve Bacho does his best to only use American products in his pens as well. They are crafted by hand in Montague, NJ and you can buy refills for them at your local office supply.

 

Yankee Candles

 

They smell yummy and you can buy them almost anywhere!  We were able to find some good deals on them in their special holiday scents for some lucky people!

 

 

Gift Cards

This one might be pushing it, but hey at least we're asking people to keep their locals busy! We purchased a few for various people to food joints, movie theaters and clothing stores.

 

Booze

 

It's the holidays and you need to keep warm, right?! We found a lot of liquor, beer, and wine made here in the United States to give to many people. It's a cute and practical gift to give those that enjoy a stiff drink or a nice glass after a long day at the office.

Burt's Bees

I'm a huge fan of the Burt's Bees myself, always have at least one tube of chapstick in my purse!  It works, it's natural, and it's made here in the USA.  No big deal.  It's a little more expensive than some of the other brands out there, but I totally think that it is worth the extra bones.

The Lazy Dog Cookie Co.

I was actually quite surprised to find a few options for our little Sophie Jean.  She was disappointed that we didn't find any toys made in the USA, but we did find these yummy treats that are made in New York!  Also, she got a treat mix from Target, we will make those very soon!! 

Cards

Did you know that a lot of greeting cards are made in America?! I had no clue! I was able to make a lunch time trip to the Dollar Tree just down the road from work and picked up all the holiday cards we could possibly need...at the low low price of well under $10! The Dollar Tree has a wide selection of cards for $1 each, or 2 for $1...made this lady very happy at the checkout! Next time you buy a card, quickly flip it over to make sure it's Made in the USA!

 

Homemade Treats

 

This was probably the most difficult thing on our list. We had to search around to find the ingredients that were MITUSA (sweet acronym, huh?). It was difficult for me, but we had to spend a little extra to get the good stuff. It was all for our Red, White, and Blue ONLY Christmas so I could live with the choices we had to make. I was able to give out some jars of Peppermint Cocoa Mix and Homemade Marshmallows!

 

 

Thanks to Stephanie and her blog for the easy to follow recipe!!

 

Happy 2012 to everyone!! Here is to a great year!!!

Post Christmas Shopping

I'm not sure that anyone will even want to read about this, but I'm so stinkin excited I have to tell someone!! 

The somewhat newly minted husband and I hit the post Christmas sales on December 26th.  We were both in need of some winter clothing.  I was not even close to prepared for winter living on the east coast, lucky for me the weather has been very mild so I've been able to keep warm.

On to the shopping trips... 

We started at Kohl's and their 'door buster' sale, you simply had to be there before 1:00pm and you received an extra 10% off many of the items in the store.  Then if you brought in the circular and spent more than $100 you got an extra 20% off.  Here is the breakdown...

Mens Sweater ... Originally $65.00, on sale for $19.50, an extra 10% off of that = $17.55
Mens Fleece ... Originally $50.00, on sale for $24.99, an extra 10% off of that = $22.49 (x 2)
Mens Knit Hat ... Originally $12.00, on sale for $4.80 = $4.80
Mens Peacoat ... Originally $225.00, on sale for $90.00 = $90.00

Total = $157.33
20% Discount = $31.47
GRAND TOTAL = $125.86 
Total Savings = $276.14

Next was JCPenney, again I walked away with nothing, but my other half did quite well.

Mens Cords ... Originally $50.00, on clearance for $14.99 (x2)

Total = $29.98
$10 off a purchase of $25 or more
GRAND TOTAL = $19.98
Total Savings = $80.02

I hit up New York & Company and their doorbuster event that gave you an extra 20% off everything in the store.  I also had a return so it made the money out of my pocket even less!!

Belt ... Originally $22.95, on sale for $6.88 (x2)
Belt ... Originally $19.95, on sale for $5.98
Cardigan ... Originally $49.95, on sale for $19.98 (x2)

Total = $59.70
20% Discount = $47.76
Return amount = ($23.47)
GRAND TOTAL = $24.29
Total Savings = $117.99

Our last stop was Old Navy and we made out with some fantastic deals!!

Mens Three Pack of Socks ... Originally $10.00, 75% off = $2.50
Mens Fleece Sweat Pants ... Originally $24.94, 75% off = $6.23 (x3)
Womens Hooded pull over ... Originally $22.94, 40% off = $13.76 (x2)
Womens Jeans ... Originally $29.50, on sale = $15.00
Mens Vest ... Originally $49.94, 75% off = $12.48
Womens Pleated Top ... Original price unknown, on clearance = $5.99 (x2)
Womens Faux Fur Lined Jacket ... Originally $39.94, 75% off = $9.98

Total = $98.15
Groupon Savings (did two transactions to get max savings!) = ($40.00)
GRAND TOTAL = $58.15 (actually, it's $78.15 since we spent $20 on the groupons to get the $40 off)
Total Savings = approx. $195.00


Total Money Spent = $248.28 (most of which was paid with gift cards and Christmas money!)
Total Money Saved = $669.15

My new favorite thing about New Jersey, NO SALES TAX ON CLOTHING!!  Shut the front door!  It's toally crazy to me, but it's the truth.  Also, since we live in an 'urban' area our tax is a low 3.5% on most items. 

I was able to find a few more good deals online.  The job that I had in Oklahoma didn't have much of a dress code...okay there wasn't a dress code and I regularly wore yoga pants. So, one of my battles since moving has been to find clothes to wear to work.  I'm slowly building a decent closet with clothes that I can wear in different combinations.  It's actually been kind of nice to wear decent clothes to work everyday!!  I'm still looking for a few sweaters, layer tops, and ballet flats or other comfortable dress shoes.

But I'm not Italian...I think I'm Scottish.

I was going to do a post containing some of the wedding photos, but I decided against it for two reasons.  The first being that we still don't have all of them / the ones we do have are downloaded on my work laptop. And the second reason is that we would like for our families to be first to see them!  So...that will happen soon.  Stay tuned.

We've been super busy preparing for Christmas.  It's going to be a little sad for me...it will be the first away from my family, um, EVER.  For anyone that is counting that's about 30 years.  I have been focusing on work, cooking, and wrapping presents to keep my mind off of it. 

So, I'm sure y'all are shocked by the title of this post.  What?! She's not Italian?! Who would have thunk it?! BUT I got my guido on and made us some 'pie'.

Pepperoni, Olive, and Onion Pizza

I was rather proud of myself, the closest thing to homemade pizza I had done before has been that DiGiorno stuff.  I must admit that this was actually my second go at pizza making (um...in a less than one week period)...I screwed up the first go around and made some yummy Calzones, also known as...Kendra screwed up and tried to make something that looked semi-acceptable.

I'll now leave you with a photo of one of the best girls in the whole entire world.  She's loving, loyal, and playful! 

Miss Sophie Jean Marrs Emmich

I believe that she is adjusting to life in New Jersey quite well, however we haven't gotten any snow yet so this may all change very soon.  She is usually confused by the snow and looks at you like you personally removed the grass to spite her.  It's similar to the look that I get on a daily basis due to the lack of carpet in our apartment.  She can barely get enough traction to jump up on the bed and about once a week she doesn't quite make it and falls down in a very cartoon like fashion.  She just happens to be laying next to me sleeping...it's a hard knocked life.

See y'all later!! 





I'm cheap, but I'm a lady.

I'm taking a quick break from wedding blogging, mostly waiting on the pro pictures to arrive so I can overwhelm everyone with them.

 

I have a confession.  I'm a coupon-aholic, deal loving, won't buy it if it isn't not on sale, crazy lady.  I don't think I'll be on extreme couponing anytime soon, I'm not THAT good yet, but it might be my secret dream. 

 

I posted this on facebook, but I was able to visit Target last Sunday and save a ton of money!  We stocked up on paper towels, toilet paper, and tissues, bought some trimmings for our Christmas Tree...Have you met Carl?? 

 

Carl the Christmas Tree - He is bomb and has aquired more bling since this photo was taken.

 

Back to the subject at hand...by using coupons and in store specials I was able to get $97.52 (this includes the in store sale prices) worth of merchandise for only $66.07!!!  Plus we recieved $10 in gift cards to use on a future visit!

 

I'm consistantly saving around 30% when I visit the grocery store, ShopRite in Jersey City.  I must also point out that these are not just items that I have coupons for and buy for that reason only, but they are items that we actually use.  I did make my husband switch razors because of a deal, but I don't think he is too picky. 

 

 

My Methods to save money at the grocery store...

 

Newspapers - We currently subscribe to the Jersey Journal.  It's a small local paper, but with my subscription we recieve the Star-Ledger on Sundays.  The perk of this combo is that for only $11.50 per month ($2.88 per week) we are getting DOUBLE the coupons!  The Jersey Journal has them in their Saturday paper and Star-Ledger has them on Sunday! 

 

Online - I belong to MyPoints.  You can earn points in multiple ways, but I use it mostly for the coupons.  You can print from three differen sources...Coupons.com, Smartsource.com, and Coupon Network.  Just select the coupons you want and click print!  It takes some time, but you'll get points credited to your account and then you can redeem those points for gift cards!  It's really easy and the few emails you get a day aren't a pain at all.

 

 

ShopRite also has an awesome loyalty program, I get coupons printed at the register everytime I check out.  Most of these are $1.00 off a future purchase or money off a specific item I just purchased, since I'm likely to purchase that item again.  They also double coupons that are 50 cents or less

 

Another method of saving $$ I use is Ebates.com!!! If you EVER shop online you should be using this very easy tool.  Simply log into Ebates, search for the store you're going to be buying from, click and purchase!  You'll get between 1% and 25% cash back on your purchase!  They often have a coupon code for a dollar amount, percentage off, and/or free shipping.  They issue a paper check to you 4 times per year, it works...I've cashed 5 so far.  They do send you ONE daily email to let you know the double point site of the day.  For example, today it's The Gap and you get 16% cash back on your order! AND you get a free $10 gift card after you make your first purchase through their website!!!

 

I love love love saving money! It's extra that I can put in savings. HECK YES! 

 

Let me know your methods friends!! 

Welcome to Tulsa...Y'all!

Pre-Wedding activities really began on Tuesday November 8th ... My little brother, Nathan, arrived back on Oklahoma soil for his R&R. He as been deployed to Kuwait with the Oklahoma National Guard. It was good to see his face in person, not just on a computer screen!!

On Wednesday November 9th...I worked my last 4 hours at my job in Tulsa!!! I had worked there for just over 5 years and I was ready to get out. It was a decent job, don't get me wrong, but I was in a rut there and hadn't been happy for quite some time.

I headed over to the truck rental place with my Dad to get the Penske truck that would haul all of my belongings half way across the country to New Jersey. We arrived at my little condo on Boston Avenue to begin loading, with some wonderful and much needed help from Nathan and his best friend/my adopted brother, Eric. As we neared the end of the loading process I got a bit of a surprise! One of my besties...Adrienne, who had recently returned from Morocco, showed up ready to help in any way needed...seriously! Over the next few days she was such a huge help!! Priceless!!!

Once the loading was completed Adrienne and I headed to the salon...this pale girl needed some color on her skin! The Skin Boutique in South Tulsa did a wonderful job, thanks Bonnie!! We made our way out to Verdigris to drop off our stuff and spend some time with my parents. Later that evening we drove out to the Tulsa airport for the arrival of Kenny (the groom), Matt (a groomsmen), and Kenny's parents. It was late, so we dropped them off at the Hyatt in Downtown Tulsa for the night

Thursday was a big day ... we got our marriage license!! It only took a few quarters in the meter and $5...which we had to borrow from Matt. I wonder if we ever paid him back...hmm...I should probably check on that. Anyway, it was officially almost offical after that!

Next, the boys headed off to Jos. A Bank to pick up their suits for the wedding. I have never in my life had such a miserable experience in all my life. This is my offical reccomendation to anyone looking to rent a suit or tux from them...DO NOT DO IT!!! I swear...it was like they didn't even take measurements on these guys. The only positive that I can say is that they did get all the colors correct. Way to go.

 

 

The rest of the day was spend running errands, then we all gathered at my parents house in Verdigris for some dinner and time together. It was a big group of family and friends...and overall awesome time with some good homecooked food!!! My grandparents, aunt Kim, and cousin Layna arrived that day and Kenny's cousin's Kyle and Megan got into town as well. I was excited to greet everyone, especially Megan because we had only spoken on the phone! The boys headed out to have some fun and the girls stuck around to help me out with the favors! I can't even begin to thank them enough! Megan, Adrienne, and I hit the town for a drink or two at McNellies in downtown Tulsa, a place that I will miss!!

Next time - we practice getting married!

December / Bridal Showers

As I sit here looking at the rain, that will soon become snow according to the weather people, I find it kind of difficult to remember all the details of the sunnier showers of this past August and September.  I wanted to do a quick review and picture post about this subject...pardon me if the particulars are a bit hazy.

I had the wonderful pleasure of two bridal showers over the summer months. The first was held in New Jersey and actually took place on my 30th birthday. crap. I'm old. Anyway, it was nice to meet members of Kenny's family, his family friends, and see a few people again. It was held at a great restaurant, Frank Anthony's, in Verona, NJ. Edie, Erica, and Susan planned a really great shower! Yummy food, good wine, and lots of presents!

A group of us before things got started

(L to R - Erica (Kenny's sister), ME!, Kenny, Kenny Sr., Edie (Kenny's Mom), Joe (long time family friend), Uncle Bob (Edie's Brother))

Opening gifts - who doesn't love a George Foreman grill?!

The second shower was in Oklahoma.  It was coordinated by my cousin Layna, all the way from Florida!, and my Aunt Kim. Others helped with the execution of the event and everything went off without a hitch! We took over the Pink House in Claremore, Oklahoma for a British style tea. Hundreds of flavors were available in warm or cold options, scones, and other yummy treats too!

Overlooking the party - some lovely ladies at this table!

(L to R - Natalie, Abby, Katie, and Chandra - all long time friends and sorority sisters ... Lauren is in the back taking care of Emme, who was just a few days old!!)

Opening some gifts with Mom and Debbie in the background

CAKE BALLS!

After the shower in Claremore a few of my friends and I hit the streets of downtown Tulsa for my official bachelorette party. If you know me very well you know that my wild a crazy days aren't totally over, but this lady is getting far too old for somethings. Wouldn't want to break a hip! The night was basically perfect, minus a few lovely ladies that couldn't attend.  We tried our best to be 21 for a few hours and I think we pulled it off quite nicely! I have to thank my two besties and bridesmaids for their planning efforts! The newly married Abby Pettifer and the wonderful Chandra Overton really went all out!!

I'm obviously fairly excited about my hat, sash, and awesome ring!

All of the gifts that we recieved have been put to good use, without a doubt!  All our bathroom gear fit nicely into our new place...that has two showers, kind of strange...I know.  The rest of the goodies were mostly for the kitchen, which I'm still getting the hang of using.  I often cooked for myself in Oklahoma, but cooking for two people is a horse of a different color.  The Slower Cooker is my best friend!  I'm sure there will be many post about food on here once I get through the backlog of information! 

Only four more boxes of stuff haven't been unpacked...I'm off to make that number a little closer to ZERO!

Welcome to the Circus (no clowns allowed)

Let's get this party started kiddos!

Just a little intro post to get the ball rolling in the right direction. My original plan was to start this on the day I arrived in New Jersey. I've been here for just over three weeks now. FAIL! I have some really good excuses for the delay...flight, moving, unpacking, cruise, honeymoon, shopping, new job. See...I've been busy!

I have formulated a relativity sane plan of attack to cover everything. I'll be doing a series of posts to recap the wedding and moving madness, of course these will be done in chronological order and should include some photos since no one likes a Chatty Cathy!

Until that happens, here is a brief overview of the last month...

NOVEMBER
8th - Nathan (Brother) is back on US soil
9th - Last day of work / Packed the moving truck / Kenny arrives in Tulsa for the Wedding
10th - Picked up the tuxes / Spent some quality time with family and friends
11th - Bridal Luncheon / Nails / Rehearsal / Rehearsal Dinner
12th - Reception set up / Hair / Make Up / WEDDING!!!!
13th - Gift Opening Lunch / Dad and Jerry (cousin) left OK for NJ with the moving truck
14th - Bittersweet flight to New Jersey
15th - 17th - Unpacking / NYC visit with Dad and Jerry
18th - 19th - Unpacking / Packing for Honeymoon
20th - 27th - HONEYMOON (Cruise to the Bahamas)
28th - First day at my new job!
30th - Mom and Dad arrive for a visit!

DECEMBER - holy crap...it's December?!
2nd - New Jersey Reception
3rd - Day with Mom and Dad / Sad goodbye
4th - Found a Wal-Mart / Vowed to never go to Wal-Mart again / Almost killed Kenny with mystery meat
5th - Work / We went digital! TV, Internet and Phone! fancy!
6th - I became a blogger. eep!

Hopefully, you are...or someone is looking forward to reading about all of this stuff!