My Black Friday Scores

I didn’t do so great this year, but I did get a couple things that I thought I’d share.

Happy Thanksgiving and Black Friday Notes!

I am a terrible blogger!  I have these ideas, but I’ve just been exhausted between work at lab and work at home.  Forgive me, please, as I will try to dedicate a little time to the several musings in my head, including my Top Black Friday Buys!

Happy Thanksgiving, all!  I hope everyone had a fun-filled adventure today.  It was relatively low-key in my home, as both my husband and I needed to recharge.  We treated my wonderful poochie to the dog park, where there were a bunch of beautiful hounds she got to play with.  My most frustrating moment of the day occurred when my dear, sweet Evee decided to literally sit in a huge puddle of mud and roll around in it.  Gahh!  On a separate note, I’m afraid I may be catching something, as my body wanted to sleep all day.  I’ll soon be accommodating it, as I do want to rectify my lack of exercise and also go shopping tomorrow, the infamous Black Friday.

Athletic Wishlist

As I sit in bed, regretting the half of a large pizza I inhaled earlier, I feel that I finally have the “calm” in my mind to write this post.  With the holidays coming up, I’ve been getting excited over sales and new products.  Frankly, it’s hard to say which I am first: a hottiescientist or a hottieshopper.  I have a lot of wish lists in my head, and I thought it might be fun and ::cough:: more productive to focus on gifts that actually get me moving off my butt and to a healthier me (as opposed to talking about the swarm of new video games being released this season).  My birthday is right around Xmas, so I get completely hosed every year when it comes to presents.  I have learned, though, how to prioritize what I want in light of this unfortunate timing.

Thank you, James!

Remember when I said that Orvis was trying to make things right for me?  Well, they did it the other day.  I came home to find a UPS package at my door.  Always excited to see presents, I was surprised to see it was from Orvis.  A package?  Just for a gift card?  I open it curiously, to discover a great exhibition of presentation — here is my gift card, in its full glory:

 

Orvis Gift Card Box

Inside the Box

$200 Gift Card!

Totally wasn’t expecting that!  I had to resist the urge to buy what I really wanted to get for my dog.  My husband convinced me to buy multiple items from Orvis so I can review more than just one gorgeous thing.  Party pooper! 😉  Right now, I’m looking at the no slip paw pads, antlerz dog chews, and the wrought-iron mission-style feeder.  I’ll admit, I’m also curious about the anti-fatigue mat for my own use in the kitchen.

A day later, we also received a rooster for Evee — awfully pretty for a dog toy! — but he was pretty soon decapitated.  (My husband says it reminds him of a chicken named Diablo, whatever that means.)

Thanks again for your customer service, Orvis and James!

In the week to come…

I’ve been working a lot lately, and it’s not going to let up in the next two weeks.  Hopefully, I can ease up right around T-day.  I have a couple posts in the mind including the introduction of my never ending quest genre, and update from Orvis, my exercise X-mas wishlist, and a couple recipes.  I’d like to get all those up this week so keep checking in my loyal following!

Dicks Sporting Goods, my new fav sports store

Maybe I’m in a small minority of people who can’t help but giggle that Dick’s Sporting Goods replaced Chick’s Sporting Goods.  But I’m sure I’m not the only one who is VERY happy with the change.  I only knew of Chick’s Sporting Goods because I’d seen it around when I first came to Pasadena years ago.  Chick’s seemed like a fine sporting goods store, but there turned out to be a big problem with it– shortly after I actually got “into” exercise, the store announced it was closing!  That wouldn’t be so bad, but the clearance/closing selection was paltry!

Anyway, Dicks Sporting Goods acquired Chicks earlier this year, and they’ve led a semi-aggressive coupon campaign where I live.  We joined their Score Card Reward program, and it’s done wonders for us, especially when combined with their awesome coupons.  Fact is, we don’t have a ton of dough to dump on anything — who does, these days?  — especially since we bought our first home earlier this year.  But those bonus 100 or 200 Score Points that come in the mail or local flyers have helped us rack up a couple of $10 certificates.  $10 in credit plus $10 off of $25 or $50 has made it way more affordable to buy quality fitness clothing.

…and I do love to look cute as I work out. 😉

Review: Kong is King

In light of my experience with Orvis, I felt I should jot down a couple notes on the companies and products that have done wonderfully by my tenacious Evee.  In this post, I’d like to focus on the Kong company and a couple of the products they make that have made it into the Pet Toy Hall of Fame in this house.

Who is Kong? Kong is a company founded in 1976 with the purpose of providing strong rubber toys for pets.  They look funny at first, but these toys are the best for even the toughest of chewers.  The company has the slogan, “Your dog will love you for it,” and they aren’t kidding.  The Kong product line has grown from dogs to cats to other animals, including horses.  This review will focus on Evee’s three favorite toys: classic Kongs, tennis toys, and their new donut.