Deal

My fam came down this last weekend to get one last hoo-rah in before the boy leaves us. Although we just had Saturday together, it was good quality time. Emerson, you will be missed.

Ok, so I'm hear to share a deal with you all. If you have not taken part in restaurants.com, you really should take advantage. I didn't think the website was real, but let me assure you that all deals are legit. So basically, you can buy a gift card to a restaurant in your area for cheap. Like a $25 gift card for $10, so you're saving $15. Not bad. But the website constantly has promotions like the one we picked up on - a $25 gift card for $2. Yes, $2! We bought 5 gift cards for the value of $125 for $10! That's a steal. And we've already used 3 coupons here, here and here! On Friday we hit up Bread and Porridge, and it was a fantastic meal, where i carried out leftovers and our $43 bill came to $18 [including tip!]. So seriously, check it out. If you type in the promo code FALL right now, you will receive the $25 for $2 deal. Try it!

Culturated

I love culture. I love feeling cultured. Especially when I get culturated for FREE! If you haven't figured it out already, I am 1) awesome, 2) an aesthetician [not to be confused with beautician] and 3) a tight-wad. So you will understand my excitement when I found out that I could see Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" in Griffith Park, on a blanket with a picnic, for FREE! Yes, yes, we threw that shindig down last Saturday with our lovely friends, the Webbs. We brought blankets and picnic [ahem... panda express], laid under a tree and laughed our jolly selves away at the play. I had heard of "Much Ado About Nothing" but from the title I inferred that it had much to do about nothing, so it never intrigued me. However, it was one of the most entertaining plays I had been to besides "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," which seriously had me roaring. It was the perfect summer evening, with perfect company and the 3 hours of acting were superb. Our only regret is that we didn't go in July when they performed "Othello."





I don't think I ever reported that Jared and I took the GRE 2 weeks ago. We did. I came out of that test knowing 250 words that I previously did not. You would think my vocabulary would have expanded as a result and my dialect would be more astounding, but quite frankly I get intimidated by big words and using them incorrectly. So until I have mastered their context and part of speech, my jargon shall stay the same.

Preparing for the GRE + Great Find

How am I supposed to remember how to do that, seeing that the only math I’ve had since 11th grade was one semester of on-line Stats? Any highschoolers want to help out? This test is going to slaughter me on the arithmetic portion. Let’s just forget that when my boss orders food delivery and the guy needs change for $100 that I have to whip out my calculator, and let’s move on to happier, more promising areas of acceleration for me like… cooking!

I think I have found my new favorite past-time. I love when the weekend comes around and it’s time for grocery shopping so I can pull out a new recipe and give it a whirl. We had some pretty good ones last week, and this week is looking on the upside as well. I can see how addicting it must have been for Julie to imitate Julia. I find myself imitating Martha Stewart, and not just with her cooking. You should check out her tutorials on how to spice up your curtains.

Also, take a look at this GREAT FIND. How many times have you walked by a bowling alley and wished you could afford just one game? Just wished that you could put on those long-toed, putrid colored shoes that someone else’s smelly feet have been in and just slide around in them for an hour or two? And what about picking out your personal shiny greasy neon ball that will be solely yours for the next 60 + minutes, along with the stuffy smell and 80’s music blaring? Well, my friends, you can have all that and more by signing up on amf.com for their e-club. When you register on-line as a member of AMF bowling club, they email you a coupon for 10 FREE GAMES! Si, 10 free games. The catch: You have to use within 30 days and all games have to be used on the same game. Therefore, make a league out of it and get 10 friends together, and each week/month have a different person sign up for the club and tada – bottomless games at AMF for 10 friends! [you still have to pay for shoes though] If you don’t have any friends, you can just go by yourself or with your one-and-only, like JO and I did! Except we are lucky and we do have 1 set of friends that came along with us. Nevermind the other 4 couples we invited – they were busy with prior engagements or didn’t like bowling, not dislike us, right JO? We’ll keep you posted on next month’s tournament. 

$29.99

Swimsuit season is coming up. I usually just look at jcrew swimsuits and wish that I could justify spending $100 on material that I'm just going to get 80% sweaty in and 20% wet in. But luckily enough target pulled through for me this year. Take a look at this beauty for the lovely price of $29.99

There comes a time when...

a woman must become a housewife – when your most prized possession is your front lawn, Costco is your favorite store, nine-inch zippers are found on all pairs of pants, the discovery of a Martha Stewart recipe is your greatest joy so to impress everyone with your domesticity at the next ward function, when looking good for the husband only matters in the company of others and when you dream of freshly painted walls and new furniture. Although I have not ceded myself to a majority of these ghastly housewife stereo-types, I will admit that I do dream of olive green walls, burnt orange curtains and fluffy pillows. SO I bought this yesterday to ease my aching desire to become more domesticated.

The results are going to be Spectacular!

A Sunburn and Great Finds #3

Well, well we have had quite the weekend! Friday night Jared got off work at 7 so we had two options for the evening out - 1) go to Home Depot and buy some stain to fix up our dresser or 2) go to Hollywood. We opted for the latter, although I was slightly disappointed that my home decor project was going to have to be put on the back burner. Needless to say, my spirits were lifted after walking around the glorious Hollywood. Grauman's was a must, of course. We walked around the Kodak theatre and indulged ourselves in a Johnny Rocket's malt.

Jared posed next to Jimmy Stewart. Classic. JO does the best impression!
I too went classy - Natalie Wood.

Saturday morning we went to the LA temple and on the way home we stopped by a thrift store and found these lovely items to add to our home decor! Seriously, check craigslist or freecycle - there are ALWAYS people giving away good stuff! Or the local thrift store - LA is just swarming with bargains if you look for them. We then rushed off to the beach while the sun was blazing and laid out for a good 2 hours. And yes, my skin has received its first sunburn of the 2009 summer season folks. It's glorious! JO had work all evening so I just finished up my primary lesson and worked on our apartment decor. I'm loving this marriage deal.

Series #1 of "Great Finds.."

The Mr and I have decided that we are going to create a series of blogs about "Great Finds." I think everyone enjoys those every once and a while and we decided "What's better than sharing this greatness we discover?" This first "Great Find".... NO PUDGE.

If there is one thing that I love more than JO it is dessert. As previously mentioned, Mr Oakden has limited me on my sugar intake to twice a week. Awesome. I've been coping but I don't think anyone but my family could ever understand the deprivation I am under. I grew up in a family where we had dessert every night. And I'm not talking about dessert as in a twinkie or a big cookie -those were just after-school snacks. Dessert in my family looked something like this....

Every night...

So when I was put on restrictions by my dear husband I felt a little something like this:

"Can I have your number?
Can I have it?"

But all of that longing has been cured people! A brilliant woman, Lindsay Frucci, has mastered a recipe for chocolate brownies that are NON-FAT. For real. The name - NO PUDGE BROWNIES. I can not claim this find for myself but attribute all glory to JO's brother's roommate who introduced this delightful treat ot our tummies. No Pudge has been purchased by the elated Oakden Family and now enjoys its short lifespan in our pantry. Besides that fact that it's fat free, No Pudge also has the capability of being prepared in 1 minute. If you just want a little taste of brownie and don't want to bake a whole pan, you just take 2 tbsp of brownie mix + 1 tbsp non-fat vanilla yogurt, mix together and microwave for a minute and huzzah - you have a warm, gooey brownie. No Pudge is featured in our banner pic - yep that's what we're holding - no pudge in small crouets. Where to retrieve this find? None other than Trader Joe's. However, if you live in Utah or some other non-organic non-go-green-fanatical state then you will have to order on-line at www.nopudge.com.

In going along with the theme of great finds, we would like to share with you our second discovery - We would like to introduced everyone to the 99cent store. I've always had this desire to be the ultimate wife-mother-cook-decorator-baker all-in-one. Since I have been married I have found myself consumed in hours of collecting healthy recipes (I know, that seems contradictory to my passion for dessert but I like my meals to be healthy) to bring the taste of satisfaction to JO's palate. But there's a downfall to this "be an awesome wife and cook ridiculously amazing meals that should be in Southern Living" kick. It sucks up a ton of mula. Organic food is not cheap and so many recipes call for an array of ingredients. But no fear - the 99 cent store is near! We shop there. And love it. Judging from the outside appearance you would believe it to be grimy and meager in quality. Nothing could be more untrue. They carry namebrand products like Philadelphia reduced fat cream cheese, kraft fat-free dressing, eggs, soymilk - all can be found for a dollar. Their selection of produce is unreal. Great find # 2 on the Oakden list goes to 99 cent.