and I'm back...

Ok everyone. I know it's been months since I blogged and I never finished telling the story of our latest journey. I am really sorry. It has been an overwhelming three months and it was all I could do to keep up.

My job was becoming too hectic and stressful so I turned in my notice towards the end of July. I have been working part time only at my church and the Orchard. I know it sounds like I should have more time, right? It's the exact opposite.I took a week of downtime to clear my head and rest. (I honestly didn't really even know how to rest, but I did it.) Then I threw myself completely into my couponing to ensure that our family would be ok without my full time income. After that was taken care of, I began cooking like a mad person and stocking up our brand new freezer. Then it was time to face the insane amount of mess and clutter throughout the house. (I'm still working on that.) I have started going through all of our strorage to sell or donate items that we no longer need. We have accumulated a lot over the years and most of it there is no point in having. Also, we are looking for a new (smaller) place to rent when our lease comes up in January so that I can continue to only work part time.

I know some people might say I just don't want to work, but that is not the case at all. I have been working. More hours than my husband actually. I work for around 5 hours a day at the house and then I work approximately 34-36 hours between my two jobs. Some weeks I work more than that if I pickup additional shifts. So honestly, I'm still really working full time, but it's condensed into 2 hours on Weds, 5 on Thurs and Fri and 12 on Sat and Sun. This works best for my family. I see my husband every night, even if only for a few hours. I am able to do more with my daughter by being home during the day. She is at her dad's on the weekends, so it makes the most sense for me to work those days.

Anyway, back to the original point. I do sincerely apologize for taking a hiatus, but it was certainly needed. In the next few days I will finish the story of our last vacation and begin telling you a little more of what my life has been up to these past few months.

Traveling day has arrived

It's finally here! The day we leave for our trip! YAY!

Of course, I didn't get everything done like I had wanted to Sat night, which meant I would have to really be on top of my game.

Sunday morning came early, as usual, and I did my best to get ready without waking Shane up. I grabbed my papers as I was leaving for church and my coupon binder so I could take care of that while I was there. I knew there wouldn't be as many kids because of Father's Day so it was easy enough to go through them and clip the coupons.

I did see a couple of things I wanted to grab at CVS on my way home, so I ran in and got those then hurried home. Our beach towels still weren't washed because there wasn't a full load, so I threw them in right away and started gathering things.

I try my best to not be a last minute packer, but it always seems like I am taking care of everything else and I end up packing right before we leave. This wouldn't be such an issue if I wasn't so indecisive. I guess the positive is that I know I'm indecisive and so does Shane, so he forgives me when he sees that I now have my rolling suitcase, weekender bag and a garment bag now packed along with a large utility tote holding shoes and toiletries. Shane, being the wonderful husband that he is, just smiles and says, "Tell me what is ready to go out to the car" God, I love that man.

I did my best to pack the car. I seem to have a better reasoning for how things fit than Shane, so this is always my task: How to fit what seemingly shouldn't fit into one trunk. Thank goodness we were taking my car. There was no way in the world that we could fit everything into Shane's.

We left our house around 3:30 pm. Our itinerary said we should leave at 3, so Shane was a bit concerned until I explained that I put it that way to make sure I was loading the car at 3, which we were. We drove to pick Caylie up from her Dad at his dad's house. When we had almost arrived there, we realized there was a knocking noise coming from the rear passenger side wheel area when we turned left. We checked everything we could possibly check and had to make a quick decision. Do we keep going and make sure to take it easy or do we go back home, unload and have the car checked the next day? Shane thought we may need to check it out, but I told him there was no way we could afford to lose 2 days of our trip. There was just too much planned. So, we got Caylie in the car and headed on our way.

We hadn't even made it to the interstate when she fell asleep. I owe a huge thanks to her dad and grandparents for letting her swim and play all day and not giving her a nap! We were able to make it to the opposite side of Knoxville before I had to take a potty break. I think I could have made it to our first scheduled stop if it hadn't been so hot! It was 100 degrees when we were loading the car, so I was drinking a lot of fluids.

Of course, when we stopped Caylie woke up. This was a little over 2 hours after we left, so that was a good nap.  We got back on the road and drove approximately another hour or so to get to our first refuel stop. My mom was gracious enough to let us use her gas card and pay her back when we returned so that our funds wouldn't be tied up in fuel. So, we had checked ahead on some gas applications where there would be  BP gas stations with the best pricing. The place we decided to stop first was Fort Chiswell, VA. The BP station there had gas at $3.30, which was by far the best price we could find for the entire trip at a BP. We filled up and made some sandwiches and then got back on the road. Shane took over driving at this point and sometime around Roanoke I fell asleep and so did Caylie.

The weather was not in our favor so much as it started a serious downpour while Shane was driving. I think he said it lasted for around 2 hours. The next mapped stop was around Winchester, VA, but unfortunately the BP there was closed as it was around 1 am. So, I started checking the map apps to find another BP station. We were able to locate one just inside of NJ that was within our gas range.

Shane decided he'd had enough when we got to Frysville, PA. So, I got out and walked around for a few minutes to make sure I was awake and took over driving to the BP in Phillipsburg, NJ. Shane of course, fell right asleep.

Back when we were looking at having a destination wedding there was a beautiful mansion in Bethlehem, PA we considered. Since this was on our route (only 5 mins off  the highway) I decided I would drive by it since we never actually saw it in person. It was definitely beautiful, but I'm glad we didn't decided to have the wedding there. I just don't think it would've been quite the same.

So, we made it to Phillipsburg and the best thing about crossing into New Jersey is....you don't pump your own gas! As a matter of fact, it's not legal for you to pump it. You pull up, hand the guy your card/money and he takes care of it all. It's so nice to get this pampering. Then we continued on our way (with Shane awake) to our first real stop, the Bagel Chateau in Westfield. We arrived there around 6:00 am and thus began Day 2.

Preparations

If you know me, you know I lead a very busy life. Never a dull moment, but that also means rarely a free moment. So it's all about be prepared. This week we have done a lot to get prepared for this week long trip. Shane, being the great husband that he is, has been taking care of all of the laundry and cleaning around the house. I have been taking care of multiple things, but mainly focusing on the itinerary and Caylie.

It's all the little things that can cause your trip money to increase. Not bringing snacks can have a huge impact on the amount you spend. You will stop at gas stations to get sodas or chips...they cost insanely high prices. Also, not bringing medicines or things like sunblock can increase your spending.

I go grocery shopping twice a month. Knowing that this trip was coming up, I made sure to stock up on items that we would need. I have also learned that it is best to take trial size items or disposable items with you on trips because the likelihood that you will leave something behind is always there. Plus, they take up less space in your luggage than full size items do. This will leave you with more space to take other things. I like to take the airline approach to packing these items. Put them in plastic baggies so if something leaks it won't do any damage. Also, it helps to keep things organized.

I am also all about free samples. Who doesn't like free? Are you kidding me? When they come in the mail I stash them in a tote so they stay together. I don't necessarily want to use them for everyday things. I get them for emergencies or trips. So Thursday night after my MK meeting I dumped out all of the samples we had accumulated over the past 6 or so months. Removed all of the excess packaging and sorted them into categories.  Then I started bagging them up. Soon we had all of the toiletries that would be needed and a few snacks to take with us as well.

I also had put together a tote full of food items that we would be taking with us on the trip. Tuesday night Shane was kind enough to get them all into the snack baggies and put back into the tote. It is so much better to have this done ahead of time for several reasons. The main one is that once they are in baggies they don't make as much mess. You can grab several different items and throw it into a bag to take with you wherever you are going each day.  The other is they take up much less room that if they were in the original packaging. So many dry goods come in large boxes and are only filled halfway, why would you want to waste that space?

Last Sunday Shane cleaned out my car. God bless him, he is an amazing husband. Monday I got the oil changed and a tire rotation. Man, is my car running better! It technically wasn't going to be due for another change until we got back, but I wanted to make sure we would be ok. I also purchased a deal for this through Living Social and got a vehicle inspection as well. Wednesday, I went to the car wash with Caylie. She loves to ride through and see the car "take a bath". They have free vacuuming which is definitely nice.

So, now we had at least a portion of our preparations taken care of before the weekend!! YAY!

Today is Saturday and we leave tomorrow around 3. I actually have to work a half day today and tomorrow morning at church, so I am unavailable for a portion or the time. This just means that we have to maximize the rest of our time.

The itinerary is finished and mostly printed. I only have to input a few more directions and print them out. Last night I matched up each stop with it's directions.

Shane is getting all of his things ready to be packed. He is also setting out Caylie's basic clothes and things to play with. When I get home from work I will start getting everything into luggage. I am trying a somewhat new method that I learned from another blogger where you actually bag up each day's clothes. I think this will keep us more organized. I won't do this with everything, but at least with Caylie's clothes and our small items.

I will actually cook dinner tonight. There is food that will go bad before we get back. Plus it only makes sense to have something that we can eat tonight for dinner and lunch tomorrow. I'll get home from church around noon and that will be just enough time to heat up food and eat before we have to start loading up.

The plan is for me to get to bed early and Shane to stay up later. I have to leave for church at 8:30 am, so I definitely need to get to sleep. Shane is going to sleep in later so he can be awake longer. I'll drive the first leg because I usually do the best on that part. We'll switch out somewhere around Roanoke, VA, then again around Harrisburg, PA. We should get to our first stop in NJ around 6 am depending on how many stops we make and how long each takes.

Wish us luck!

Ch-Ch-Changes...

I am so very excited that I was able to get the deal yesterday for the restaurant that we love so much. However, the stipulations state that it is for dinner only which meant I had to do a little more rearranging. Luckily it didn't cause major changes, just a little bit of shuffling.

At this point, we are getting so close that it worries me a little to do many changes, but I know they are necessary. You have to be prepared for the chance that something good can come along last minute like that did. We are planning on making several stops with our deals. After making those purchases yesterday, we are sitting at 17 for this trip and 2 for our December trip (1 is the additional deal for the restaurant and 1 for a stop that we eliminated from this trip due to time constraints).  

That being said, the Old Navy deal went live again today and I just can't turn down a good deal for shopping. I love Old Navy and the best thing about shopping in NJ is there is no sales tax on clothing!!! I'm not sure if that's state wide or by county, but where we will be there isn't any tax. So, of course I picked up 2 more of those, one with my account and one with Shane's.

So, as of right this moment, we have 19 deals for this trip and 2 for the Decemer trip. AMAZING! I really think that I can hit 20 deals...I'd like to have that goal, but I just don't know if it will happen or not. Hmmm...we'll just have to keep watching.

Good things come to those who wait...

Tuesday night Shane and I were going over the itinerary, basically covering everything another time to make sure that we both had an idea of what was going on. There were a couple of stops on the trip that he was a bit concerned about. He was sure if we would be able to afford everything I had planned.

Now, he knows how much of a bargain shopper I am, so he knew that I had purchased several Groupons for the trip. The ones that were sending up the red flags to him were the stops that we did not have a Groupon for. These were places we went to on our last trip and I wanted to revisit them. They are also places that I had a Groupon for on the last trip. I assured him that everything was budgeted and we would be fine.

The first place was a wine and liquor store that I really liked the owner. He even found my youtube page and commented on the video of us talking about his store. That to me, guarantees return business...plus, I really liked the wine I bought and I can't remember what it was...

The second place was to go ice skating. Now, we looked at several rinks all over Northern Jersey and NYC. The place I have planned to go is the all around cheapest, plus we know we like the rink and they have walkers available and a small area set aside for little kids. This is very important to me if we are going ice skating because it will be Caylie's first time and my second time. I want to make sure she'll be ok and that I don't fall. :)

And since we are going to this particular place to ice skate, the third place was a no brainer for me! There was one restaurant that we went to on our last trip that was just AMAZING. We are still talking about it and were practically dying to get back. The thing is, it's not the cheapest place. I mean, there certainly is NOT a dollar menu. Shane was the most concerned about this, but I told him we would go for lunch instead of dinner and that would help out with the cost. We were slightly disappointed because some of our favorite items were not available on the lunch menu, but we were still going to go regardless and pay full price.

I am a bargain shopper by nature. I do love coupons. I love thrift stores. The main reason I do this though, is so when it comes time to do something that we want to do and we DON'T have access to a discount, we are able to. There are certain things that I don't sacrifice on and others that I do. This restaurant, I would spend practically any price to eat there.

So, yesterday, I was talking to the ladies I work with about how great this place is and how much we are looking forward to eating there again. About 20 minutes later, I looked at my facebook feed and saw that the restaurant's fan page had posted there was a DEAL AVAILABLE!!! What's that you say? Did my eyes get wide and mouth drop open? Did I do the dance of joy? YOU BET I DID! One of the local online deal sites had a HALF OFF deal for dinner only and it didn't expire until 12/31/11! Even better, YOU COULD BUY MORE THAN ONE!!! Did I die and go to heaven? So, of course, I bought 2! One for this trip and one for our trip back at Christmas. YAYAYAYAYAY!  SOOOO excited! This is proof that good things really do come to those who wait, and pay attention.

Yesterday, the greatest thing happened.

Creative Vacation Financing

Ok, if you're like me, you don't have an endless supply of money coming in that you can just throw away on a vacation. So I decided after the success of our last big vacation that I would continue with what I like to call, "Creative Vacation Financing".

I talked about using Groupons for vacation. There are many great reasons why you should do this.

#1: Know what you're doing!
How many times have you gone somewhere on vacation or even a weekend trip with no plan in mind? What usually ends up happening? You get there, unload the car and then what?
"What do you want to do?" "I don't know, what do you want to do?" "Well, I don't know what there is to do here or what place there are to eat!"
You want to AVOID this AT ALL COSTS!!! This can lead to arguments and potentially ruin your trip! By having a plan and pre-purchasing deals for activities and meals, this can eliminate these problems from arising.

#2: Try new places!
I don't know about you, but I LOVE to try new places. You go on vacation to get away from your everyday life....why would you want to end up at those same places you go to all the time? Getting this online deals can open you up to a whole new world of places! Skip the big chains and check out some Mom & Pops!

#3 You can do more!
If you have a budget for what you can spend on your vacation, this is the thing for you! Most deals are a 50% discount, some are even more than that! This means with the same budget, you are able to do twice as many things as you would if you waited til you got to your destination and paid full price.


#4 It's already paid for!
THIS IS MY FAVORITE ONE!
When you pre-purchase those deals, you pay for them then. This allows you to have a portion of your vacation aready paid for before you even leave your driveway. This is my Creative Vacation Financing. Most people have a hard time saving up money for vacation. You have a very small amount of money left over from each paycheck and you put it in your savings, but then something comes along and you have to spend it. Then what do you do?
Most people will waste $25 a week by eating out or buying snacks or items they really don't need simply because the money is available right then. What I propose you do instead of "banking" the money, is go ahead and buy those deals for things you will want to do on your vacation!
Look at this as a different form of "banking". You are pre-paying for things and then setting them aside just like you would a savings account. OH, and by the way, did I mention that you DOUBLE your investment? With the deals being a 50% discount, you are going to DOUBLE what you put in! If I purchase a deal for $10 on a meal, but I receive a $20 voucher, I just DOUBLED my money that I "banked" for this trip. I don't know of any savings account that will double your money.

Now, there are things that you need to keep in mind if you are going to try this method of vacationing.

#1: Are your dates set in stone?
If you do not know exactly when you are going on vacation, I would not suggest this for you. Each individual deal has it's own expiration date and terms and conditions. If you don't know for certain when you are going, you could lose money on deals expiring before you can use them.

#2: Is your location set in stone?
Again, this is pretty much the same concept as #1. If you don't know for certain where you are traveling to, you can't possibly purchase deals for that area.

#3: Are you flexible?
Are you the type of person that falls apart when you have set backs, or do you bounce back? When you purchase these deals, you need to know that you may have to rearrange things based on traffic, weather or other outside influences.

#4: Are you organized?
I'm not gonna lie to you and say this is the easiest thing in the world to do. Yes, it can be easy if it's a short trip or you only purchase a handful of deals. However, if you are going to maximize your dollar and time and purchase several deals for a long trip, you need to be at least a little organized.

#5: Are you decent at using a Map?
Now, when I say map...I'm talking digital age map... Mapquest, bing, googlemaps, etc. You need to be able to look up each deal on a map and determine if it will fit within your driving radius. Is the town near another town that I will be in? You don't want to make things harder on yourself just to get a "great deal".

#6: Do you have some form of GPS?
You can print out your directions ahead of time by using one of the map softwares listed above, but what happens when you get lost or take a wrong turn? What if there is a detour due to road contruction or weather? This is when it comes in handy to have that nice GPS. When you are in an unfamiliar area, you need to prepare to get lost. We do not have a standalone one, only the googlemaps app on our phones.

More deals!! YAY!

Now, you didn't think I'd stop looking for deals did you? Just because we are less than a week out from the trip and the intinerary is complete does not mean that we can fit more things in or fill in holes.

Today there were 2 nice deals available. 1 for breakfast and 1 for lunch. The best thing about the breakfast one is that it's in a town that we are already going to early in the morning. YAY! 1 more meal taken care of!

The lunch is not in a town that we are already going to, but it's not "out of the way" either. I LOVE LOVE LOVE having meals planned and taken care of before the trip. There is nothing better than going out of town on vacation and KNOWING where you will eat the entire time. OH, and you don't have to spend a dime out of pocket either!!! I like to call it "Creative Vacation Financing".

Revisions...Revisions...and wait, what? More Revisions?

So, I had my basic outline of our trip planned out. Since I felt pretty good about it, I started entering everything into my tripit account. I LOVE tripit.com. I have used this site for 3 trips now, and it is so helpful and amazing. You can input every possible thing you would need all onto 1 itinerary. SO GREAT!! It also keeps a record of how many miles and what cities you have been too. Best of all, it is FREE to use! They do have a version that you can upgrade to for $50 per year, but honestly, it doesn't have anything that I need on it to make it worthwhile. I'd rather stay with the basic version. Another neat thing about tripit is that you can add travelers to your trip and they can access the information. You can also share your trip with non-travelers. This is a great feature because I am able to have everything all together and sent to anyone that would need to know where we are. On this trip, I sent it to my mom, Shane's mom and Caylie's dad. Anytime we travel over 300 miles we are required to provide an itinerary to the other parent so that they know how to contact us in case of an emergency. This is so much better than having to type it all out in an email.

After I got all of the stops entered in on the appropriate days, I began adding our driving directions. It wasn't long after I started that I realized there was another deal that I wanted to purchase. This would cause some major changes. I looked at the whole trip overall and started moving things around to accommodate it. Then, as I was going over all of the changes, I realized that one of the deals I purchased could only be used on certain days...so that caused even more changes.

Finally, I got frustrated and said to myself that I needed a break. I would come back to it the next day. The next day rolled around and I started printing out all of my deals. That's when I realized that the first deal that caused all of the trouble, wasn't even going to be available until AFTER our trip. Luckily, instead of it being a "1-day" deal, it was a "3-day" deal and I was still able to cancel my order and get my money back.

I cannot stress enough to make sure you read every single word in the deal restrictions. I was almost out of $15 because I didn't realize there was a redemption window on it. I saw the expiration date, but not the "you cannot use this before" date.

So, here I was again..back to square one. Trying desperately not to lose my mind. I began shuffling things around again.

Honestly, I'm kind of glad in a way that I wasn't able to use that deal. While I know Caylie would have really enjoyed it, it really was going to cause us to be on a tighter schedule than I liked and a bit more driving that we really wanted to do.

So finally, I felt confident that my itinerary was not going to have any more drastic changes and I sent out the email links to everyone that needed it.

Things are coming along...

Last night I was determined to get at least an outline of the trip planned. After I ate dinner and took a moment to relax, I began compiling all of my information. Luckily, I previously had printed all of my Groupons that I will be using on the trip as well as my pre/post trip Groupons. Shane took Caylie to the pool to swim for a bit and I seized the oppurtunity for quiet and rational thought.

With all of my information there beside me, I began making my two outline lists. The first list had each Groupon with what city it was in. I tried to group them together by location. The second list was a day by day breakdown of the plans. Basically, I wrote down each day that we would be on vacation and left a few spaces in between to write in the plans. This works well for me because the first thing I do on that list is place the definites. Those items that are at a specific date and time that cannot be moved.

This is what it looked like with the bare minimum of information:

Sunday:

Leave, driving at 3 pm

Monday:

Shane: Dr appt 4 pm

Tuesday:

Brooke: Graduation 5 pm

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Melissa: Graduation 5 pm

Friday:

Shane and Danny: Village Pourhouse

Saturday:

Me and Sandy: Manhattan by Sail

Sunday:

Leave, driving at 6 am


Once I had my minor outline, I was able to see which towns we would be in on what days and start "filling in" the activities and meals. I also could clearly see which days I had more freedom and less time restrictions. Being able to place this sheet side-by-side with the first listing of all the Groupons really helps bring everything together. This way you don't have to keep flipping through papers and get frustrated.

Unfortunately, (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) it was around this time that Shane and Caylie got back. After he got Caylie settled, he came downstairs and offered to help me. (He didn't realize I was this far behind on the planning!) Now, you can look at this as a half empty/half full scenario. While I love the fact that my husband was willing to help me, it felt like I couldn't think! I couldn't keep everything straight in my mind while I was sorting it out. I felt so helpless, my ADD had kicked in and my brain was going a thousand different directions.

Finally, after much discussion about each deal, the location and what we would be doing...we were able to get almost all of the items placed on the daily list.

I felt accomplished. My trip now had an outline. I no longer had this feeling of dread and fear of getting lost. So, I took my winnings and left it at that.

Time to finish planning...

Ok, I've waited long enough. It's been touch and go the last couple of weeks with our trip planning. Not knowing when certain events would be and also not knowing how much money would be available to spend.

We are within two weeks of departing for our adventure and I haven't mapped or planned out a single stop. I think after admitting that, my brain is actually going to explode!

So, here I am, 12 days til we leave, finally getting the plans together. I have my Groupons already printed and in the travel folder. I have started the packing lists. I've set up someone to grab our newspapers ( I will be very ill if someone steals my coupons!). And appointments are set to get everything in order.

I am still debating on if we will need to stop at a hotel on the way. I'm really not sure how well Caylie can handle driving 13 hours straight and it would be nice to have a break to rest. However, doing the calculations, it will cost us anywhere from $38-$44 to stay 1 night in a hotel. That will include breakfast, but still. That's a lot of money to spend on a hotel when we could just drive straight through and spend $10 on breakfast. I know what my options are and where the hotels are located, but I may wait to make a reservation until closer to time. I had hoped that maybe 1 other person would come with us on the trip so it would take some of the pressures of driving off of myself and Shane. So far, I haven't had any takers...you'd think people would jump at the oppurtunity.

So, now, here I sit...with a general outline of the places we are supposed to be and things we intend to do. Somehow, I will make sense of it all...

Destin...

Ok, so I'm slacking, I know...It's been over a week since we took our trip to Destin and I haven't even said a word about it.

Well...things got a bit hectic after I made the decision to go. My father was in town for the FLW fishing tournament (he fishes on the co-angler side) and I met up with him on Weds after work. Then I had church with Caylie and we were still stuffing eggs for the easter egg hunt. Thursday after work, I got the oil changed and a headlight replaced in my car. (Man was both of those things needed!) Then I had a meeting to go to.

So, Friday rolls around and we are running around like chickens with our heads cut off. Both of us ended up staying late at work. I wasn't packed AT ALL. Shane at least had most of his things together. I got home first and began gathering snacks and heating up some dinner to eat while I packed. I decided to go ahead and bake a box of muffins. (Might as well since I still had to pack everything I needed).

We finally got on the road about an hour behind schedule. In a way this was ok because we had horrible tornado like storms coming across MS and AL and, of course, we had to drive across AL to get to Destin. The majority of the drive was ok, but there were serious scattered showers...and when I say showers,....I mean monsoon like downpours! There were times that I couldn't see in front of me. It was absolutely horrible. Then, right after we got off the interstate in Montgomery, the national weather service issues a warning to get indoors and off the roads near the exits that I had just gotten off of 15-20 mins prior. Needless to say, I was a nervous wreck after that. I had to wake Shane up and keep him looking around until we got into Destin and away from the storms. The last leg of the drive (after Montgomery) is all back roads 2-4 lane highways. Kinda nice, but frustrating at times. Since we were having so much trouble with the weather, it took the full 7 hours to get there.

On Saturday morning, we got up and had breakfast at the hotel. Then we went out to explore the shopping. Since we just moved a couple of months ago and things are still being unpacked, I could only have 1 half of my bathing suit, which was not a good thing. So, we went by the outlet mall to get me a new one. Then we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the beach. Shane found out that he needed a new swim trunks, so we went back to the outlet to get him some sandals and then to a beach store for swim trunks a  towel and sunblock.

When we got out onto the beach, we noticed that the "red" flag was out meaning that we needed to use caution because of the currents. We found out right away why. The wind was blowing so hard that sand was kicking up on us and if you got mid-calf into the water, you were being pulled out or sideways. We stayed out for probably an hour or so, then decided to head back to the hotel to clean up.

We watched a movie on tv and rested up eating popcorn. I had a bit of sunburn on my left arm from driving around mainly. Shane was sunburned on his shoulders and right arm. After a while we got motivated and went to Wine World to check out their cheese store. It turns out the cheese store was already closed, but they have a really cool machine that you can purchase a card for and sample different wines there in the store. So much fun! We got a $10 card and sampled several reds and a couple of whites. Shane still preferred the zinfandel to everything else, so we grabbed a bottle of Sin Zin.

 For dinner we decided to check out Poppy's Dancing Iguana. There were a few of reasons why I chose this place to eat.
1: There was a buy 1 get 1 free entree coupon in a magazine that we got at the hotel.
2: I love mexican food
3: It was near the little boardwalk area, and I wanted to check it out.

It was a great decision! The food was amazing! Fresh chunky guacamole and salsa. What made it even better was it was on the gulf! We were basically sitting on a patio right beside the harbor docks. We were able to see the sunset and enjoy a great meal...could not have asked for better.

Then we walked around and looked at the shops before deciding to return to the hotel.

Sunday morning we woke up got ready and had breakfast at the hotel. We went back to the room to pack, got the car loaded and then went out for coffee. Right along the beach was a coffee shop that we had to check out just for the name...The Bad Ass Coffee Co....man was it good! I got a decaf monkey mocha and Shane had a lava java mocha. Super yummy! Then we went next door to the Emerald Coast Wine Cellar. They have a winery nearby where they grow muscadines for wine. They had so many different options! They offer a free wine tasting so Shane and I tried a few more. We settled on a bottle of Noble (red) and Wildhoney Flower (white). We also purchased a really neat cork holder. It's wrought iron in the shape of a globe and says corks of the world. So cool! It spins!

Then we went back to the outlet mall to have a hot dog...wait, not a hot dog...a SABRETT!!! YUMMO!! Love it! We talked with the owner for a few minutes about when my sister owned her own hot dog stand in Nashville. Then we went over to the Van Huesen store to shop a little more. I found a few things on major sale and Shane got a shirt and belt.

Then we said goodbye to Destin...

Surprise!

So, I found out from my mother-in-law yesterday that we may be able to see my youngest sister-in-law graduate from middle school while we are in NJ as well. YAY! When we made our original plans, we were only going to be there for 4 days and would miss Brooke's graduation. Now, since we are staying for a whole week, we will be able to see both Brooke and Melissa graduate!

Also, my ex reminded me the other day that I had concert tickets for this coming Sunday in Birmingham. I had completely forgotten and so had Shane. It's times like these that I'm glad I send him all the dates he needs to keep Caylie, otherwise, we likely would've missed the concert.

After being reminded and thinking about our upcoming trip to NJ, I really have been wanting to do a weekend getaway for a while now. I checked for a hotel in Birmingham, but nothing is available at my rates....so I looked a bit further down. I was amazed at the rate I found at a hotel in Destin, FL. So, after much discussion, I finally won! We will be driving to Destin Friday after work, spend the day there Saturday. Then we'll go back upstate to Montgomery to stay Saturday night. Sunday, we'll drive into Birmingham to spend the day there and go to the concert at 6. YAY! Mini-vaca!

Change of plans..

So, we got the approval yesterday to change our vacation plans. Instead of going for just 4 days, we are actually able to take the entire week off.

This is major for us because Shane and I have never had a whole week off together, unless you count the wedding, which I say doesn't count because we were so busy and stressed. In addition to that, since we are taking a full week, we will be able to take Caylie with us. This is the biggest thing because we haven't really been able to take Caylie on vacation before either. Sure, we've done the quick weekend trips to the lake or visit family, but this is a REAL vacation!

I'm not really certain how well Caylie will do on this trip since it is so far to drive. The plans as of now are to leave Sunday night when we get her back from her dad and drive halfway. We'll find somewhere along the route to stay the night (hopefully at my super cheap employee rate) and drive the rest of the way on Monday. I think that splitting up the trip this way will really help Caylie plus it will allow us to rest some. It's not extremely hard for us to drive it straight, but it would be nice to enjoy the time we have there on Monday too.

As I mentioned before, we are staying at my mother-in-law's lake house, so no worries about hotel fare while we are in NJ. It will be nice to relax there on the lake. I also think we will plan a day to go down to the shore. Caylie has never been to the beach and I would really like to take her to see the ocean. The shore is so nice up there (at least the parts that I've been to).

So, now to plan a 1600+mile round trip with a 4 year old. Figure out what we want to do while we are there and is it copacetic with her being there....should be interesting.

Begin the travel plans...

So, today is Tuesday, April 5th. Our next "big" trip is coming up at the end of June. It is still a couple of months out, but that means it's time to get started planning!

We will be making a 1600+ mile round trip to see my sister-in-law graduate from high school. This is huge because as of this past week, she has received a FULL scholarship to the school she wanted to go to. We are so proud of her and definitely want to be there as she closes the door on one chapter of her life and prepares for the next.

Being that we are so far away (13 hours aint no joke) it is not a last minute planning trip. A lot of time, effort and thought has to be put in it.
The good news is, we will be staying at my in-law's lake house, so we don't have to worry about hotel cost, not that it would be a major amount, but it still helps to save that money. Also, my amazing mother-in-law has offered to pay for a portion of our gas money, so we are looking pretty good.

Now, it's just a matter of what do we want to do and where do we want to go. We will only have 3 full days there, so, we are extremely limited. So, now it's off to watch the deal sites...

CVS!!!

The biggest thing to note this week was my shopping trip to CVS. I was able to spend $36.32 OOP, for a value of $137.01 in products. That's a savings of $100.69 or 73%.

Here's what I got:

2 boxes of Fiber One cereal
1 Dawn ultra concentrate dish soap
2 Pantene Mouse hair styler
2 Pantene Hair spray
2 Pantene Conditioner
1 CVS Shampoo
4 Dove Shampoo
1 Dove Men+Care Face/Body wash
2 Nice 'N Easy hair color
2 Nice 'N Easy hair foam color
2 Oral B Cross Action powered toothbrushes
1 Softsoap Body wash

That's a total of 22 items which works out to $1.65 each and I used 21 coupons.

I did 6 deals, got $27 in ECB, with $5 left to use on my next purchase.

For my own benefit

Ok, just so everyone can see the total numbers on one page and also because I need to know myself exactly how much I spent/saved...here it is.

Total Spent:

Base costs: $250.00
Metro Card: $50.00
Meals: $100.00
Shopping: $285.27
Groupons: $136.00

Grand Total: $821.27

Total Saved:

Hotel discounts: $550.00
Shopping Sales: $467.50
Groupon: $273.00
Splitting base costs: $250.00

Grand Total: $1,540.50

47% savings.

Holy cow! I knew it was a lot, but I wasn't prepared for it to all come together that way. Even looking at each individual catagory adding up, it just didn't seem like it was that much money overall.

I hope that you all have enjoyed reading about my trip and the savings. I know that this will always be a trip to remember for me.

Now to plan the next one!

The long awaited Groupon post

Ok, so as I have mentioned in my previous posts, I decided that I would embrace the concept of the Groupawn (see liveoffgroupon.com) and try my best to incorporate as many Groupons as possible on our trip. This particular posts focuses only on the amount spent and saved on the Groupon itself. This does not include additional spent or saved outside of the Groupon.

For approximately 2 months prior to our trip, I began watching the deal sites and trying to find deals that were on our route or close enough that it made sense. I was able to purchase 1 deal from Living Social and 10 deals from Groupon.

This is how the reality of those deals breaks down:

Living Social:
Purchased 1 deal for Mama Mexico in Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Total upfront cost: $25
Total Value: $50
Total Saved: $25

During the holiday months, ShopDiscover was having additional cashback bonuses on certain merchants. Groupon usually gives 15% cash back, but for my trip purchases, I received 20% cash back.

In chronological order of use again:

Groupon #1 Beanwood Coffee
Upfront cost: $9
Total Value: $18
20% Rebate: $1.80
Total Saved: $10.80

Groupon #2 Maratene's Fine Wine and Spirits
Upfront cost: $10
Total Value: $20
Used $1 Credit on Groupon Account
20% Rebate: 1.80
Total Saved: 10.80

Groupon #3 Floyd Hall Arena-Ice Skating Package
Upfront Cost: $29
Total Value: $58
20% Rebate: 5.80
Total Saved: $34.80

Groupon #4 Gencarelli's Cucina
Upfront Cost $20
Total Value: $40
20% Rebate: $4.00
Total Saved: $24.00

Groupon #5 The Body Shop
Upfront Cost: $20
Total Value: $40
20% Rebate: $4.00
Total Saved: $24.00

Groupon #6 Velocity 17
Upfront Cost: $48
Total Value: $100
20% Rebate: $9.60
Total Saved: $61.60

Groupon #7 The Bagel Store
Upfront Cost: $10
Total Value: $20
20% Rebate: $2.00
Total Saved: $12.00

Groupon #8 Via Dei Mille
Upfront Cost: $10
Total Value: $20
20% Rebate: $2.00
Total Saved: $12.00

Groupon #9 La Petite Coquette
Upfront Cost: $35
Total Value: $75
20% Rebate: $7.00
Total Saved: $47.00

Groupon #10 ZPizza
Upfront Cost: $10
Total Value: $20
20% Rebate: $2.00
Total Saved: $12.00

This brings our Groupon grand total to:

Upfront Cost: $200
Total Value: $409
20% Rebate: $40
Total Saved: $249

the shopping...

I don't know if you guys get as excited as I do about shopping, but man, do I! I mean, I'm sorry, but who doesn't like shopping? (my sister ;) )

To clarify, when I say out of pocket, that does not include the amount spent on the Groupon.

In chronological order:

12/30
When we arrived in NJ, I had to pick up 1 last Christmas gift for one of my sister-in-laws. I found out that she really likes Hollister, so in I went.

Hollister was having a sale 40% off everything in the store. I purchased a hoodie for her (reg $39.99) and 2 tanks tops for myself that were already on clearance (reg 19.99, marked down to 12.95).
After 40% off:
Hoodie $23.70
Tanks: $7.74 each
Total: $39.18 with NO TAX!!!

I was able to purchase 3 things for less than the price of one! YAY!

My daughter loves Disney. I decided since I was already in the mall, I'd check to see what they had on sale. Her favorite princess right now is Ariel and my in-laws had themed her whole Christmas around Ariel. They had an ornament (Reg $9.50) with a mark down tag for $4.50. Already this was a good deal. I took it to the counter and when the clerk rang it up, it was actually only $2.99!!! Wow! After adding the 7% tax of $.21, I paid $3.20 for an Ariel ornament that was orginally $9.50!

Deciding that I would explore the mall some more, I ventured into the Sock Drawer. Aerin and I had just been saying we needed to buy socks and they had some decent deals, so why not?

I got 2 pairs of leggings: $25
2) 3packs of socks $10
Total: $35 with NO TAX!

12/31

We went to Maratene's Fine Wine and Spirits to get some libations for the NYE celebration.

I purchased 2 bottles of wine and 1 bottle of Shane's favorite beer and 1) 4 pack of mini champagnes.

The wine was on sale: regular $20 and $15.
I paid $20 for both.
$ 8 for the beer
and $15 champagne
Total: $43
Groupon -$20
Total due $23

Towards the end of the night we realized that my 1 memory card for my camera just wasn't going to cut it. Even though we were downloading the pictures onto Aerin's laptop each chance we got. So we stopped by Wal-Mart on our way to John and Crystal's to get another one.

I purchased an 8 GB SD card.
$19.88
Tax$1.66
Total $21.54 - Paid with gift card I received for Christmas.

1/1

This is one of the deals that I am the most proud of. We went to the Body Shop to use the Groupon I had purchased. I love the Body Shop because they have a large line of products that do not contain artificial dyes. I am allergic to the most common, Red # 33-40. We happened to get there just at the right timing because they had 1 XL Complete Body gift set left. I asked how much it cost and was told $100, but everything was on sale being after the holidays, so they would check the price. It indeed was on sale for 50% off. That made it $50! I used my Love Your Body discount card which took another 10% or $5 off, making the new total $45.

Original Price: $100
Sale -50%
New total: $50
Discount Card-10%
New total: $45
Groupon -$40
Subtotal: $5
Tax $3.77 (8.375% NY sales tax)
Total out of pocket $8.77

To sweeten this deal even further, I looked up all of the products online. The total value of everything I received in the gift set, if purchased individually, $160.

I had another gift to buy and stopped by the calendar kiosk in the middle of the mall. Everything was 50% off. I purchased a calander and a gift envelope for my aunt.
Calendar: 13.99(reg) 6.99 sale
Envelope: 1.00 (reg) .50 sale
Total: 7.49
Tax .63
Total due: $8.12

Forever21. How I love this store! Even more so that the one in Times Sqare is FOUR FLOORS!!! OMG. Now, I didn't get any insanely good deals in here, but what I bought wasn't expensive either.

I got 2 knit coverups for work. They were $6.80 each (cheap for work clothes!).
Subtotal: 13.60
Tax: .60 (4.375 % NY clothing tax)
Total: $14.20
The good news about this is even though it's not the best deal, I can write it off on my taxes at year end.

1/2

Probably my biggest accomplishment of the entire trip was my purchases at La Petite Coquette. In French, it means "the little flirt". It's a ladies lingerie store.

I purchased 2 pairs of panties, 3 bras and a nightie.

Regular Prices:
$20
$25
$30
$79
$24
$85
Subtotal: $263
tax would have been: $11.50
totalling: 274.50

Sale Prices:
$10
$10
$10
$10
$20
$20
Subtotal: $80
Groupon -$75
New Total: $5
Tax: $3.50
Total due: $8.50

WOW!

We stopped to get tea at Argo Tea.

I purchased a travel infuser mug and a fall tea gift set.
Mug: $19.95
Tea: $9.95
Subtotal: 29.90
Tax:$2.50
Total:$32.40

Later that evening, we went back to Times Sqare to shop some more.

The Disney Store in TS in AMAZING. We purchased a Belle jacket for Caylie. It's a size too big, but I did that so she would be able to wear it this winter and next.
Regular Price: $39.99
Sale Price: $19.99
Tax: .87
Total: $20.86

We also stopped in to Toys-R-Us on a mission to find a yo-yo for Caylie. She has started to like them and I have a good friend that is on Team Duncan USA. He is also the National Sales and Marketing Coordinator for Duncan Toys. So, of course, I was looking for a Duncan. I found a blue Duncan Butterfly.

Price: $5.99
Tax: $.53
Total: $6.52

Next we went to Aeropostale. Shane found a shirt and I got a hoodie that said NY or Times Square.

Shane's Polo Regular Price $34.50
Sale Price: $12.99

My Hoodie Regular Price $44.50
Sale Price: $24.99

Subtotal: $37.98
Tax: $1.66
Total: $39.64

American Eagle had a LOT of good sales going on, but at this point we had spent a good bit of money. So, I limited myself to a small purchase.

Their Aerie Department (which is undergarments and pj's) had the best deal. $15 for 5 pairs of Aerie favorite panties.

So, regular priced at $7.50 each, that would make a savings of $4.50 each or $22.50 total, making them $3 a piece. I grabbed 5 of those.

They also had socks on sale, Regular $8.50 each, Marked down to $4.16 each.

So, 5 pairs of panties at $15
2 pairs of socks $8.32
Subtotal: 23.32
Tax: $1.02
Total: $24.34

Also, you got an additional pair of panties for FREE! So, that brings the total down to $2.50 each, saving $30 just on them alone!

Ok, so to recap on our shopping.

We spent out of pocket: $285.27

Breaking that down:
$31.82 was Christmas gifts
$14.20 Business Expense
$30.58 gifts for Caylie
$21.54 was spent on a gift card I received for Christmas
$187.13 was spent on myself and Shane


Total Savings from Sales:
$467.50 plus the respective sales taxes. (this does not include the Groupon Value)

The meals...

OK, so in my day by day blog, I told you about the meals we had.

Here I will break down the cost.

Dinner at Sonic 12/29: Shane's meal, approx $7, mine was covered by Aerin since she owed me for a previous meal.

Breakfast at hotel 12/30: included in hotel cost

Beanwood Coffee: We had a Groupon for $18. We got 3 mochas and 1 hot chocolate. Also 4 chocolate chip cookies. After the Groupon, I paid under $2.

Lunch at Mr. Pizza Slice: Aerin also paid as a portion of her trip costs. (Our portion was $10)

Dinner at Mama Mexico: Our Living Social deal was for $50, our meal did go over this amount, but my mother-in-law, was kind enough to pay for the remainder of our tab. :)

Breakfast at hotel 12/31: Included in hotel cost

Lunch/dinner at Gencarelli's Cucina: Our Groupon was for $40.
We had an appetizer: Nonna's Arrancini (Rice Balls) $11
House Salad (to split between Shane and myself): $10
Pollo Rustica (me) $20.95
Cavatelli Ricotta (shane) 17.95
Our total: $59.90

Aerin had Gnocchi Bolognese $17.95
Justin had Calamari Verdura $13.00
Their total: $30.95

Combined total: $90.85
Groupon          -$40.00
Tax:                   $2.31
New total due:   $53.16

Late night dinner from Frank's Pizza: $15.63+ $2 tip for 4 slices and 1 pizza dough.

Breakfast 1/1: Included in hotel cost

We decided to skip lunch.

Dinner at my in-laws: Yum-O!

Breakfast: 1/2 Picked up Bagels and Cream Cheese from The Bagel Store. Used Groupon.

Brunch: Via Dei Mille. Had a Groupon for $20.
Shane and I each got a sandwhich and coffee. We shared a tiramisu for dessert. Our total was around $40, I believe, but again, my wonderful mother-in-law, Sandy, was amazing and paid for the remainder of our bill.

We weren't eating dinner until late, so I did get a Sabrett hot dog and soda. $10

Dinner at ZPizza:
We got 1 small California Pizza (me) $9.95
a Napoli Pizza (Shane) $9.95
Also, a California Salad $8.50
and 2 sodas. $1.65 each
Total: $31.70
Groupon: -$20.00
Tax: $1.04
New Total due: $12.74


Breakfast: 1/3  bagels

Lunch at Wendy's somewhere in VA. $15 for Shane and myself.

Total spent out of pocket on trip: $94.37. I will round this up to an even $100 because of snacks or various food things we may have gotten that weren't involved with a meal.

The funds...

Starting out planning this trip, I immediately came up with a budget.

Knowing how much gas usually costs on our visits, it was easy enough to figure out how much additional to add for taking my car and the extra driving. When we take Shane's car (2008 Ford Focus) We get a little bit better gas mileage because his car is smaller and has a 4 cyl engine. My car, (2005 Chevy Malibu LS) would cost more because it is a midsize sedan with a V6 engine.

We would also be taking a different route than usual because of the stops we were wanting to make and taking into account the trips to all of our Groupons, would add a few miles as well.

Once we had determined that there would be 4 people going on the trip, I quickly added up the hotel costs, estimation for gas and tolls and figured out our base cost per person.

My beginning estimations were as follows:

Gas: $250
Tolls: $10
Hotel: $150

Total: $410

Knowing this was the absolute minimum we would be paying, I decided to add some cushion to the budget. I would rather be overprepared and not need it (extra spending money!) than get there and not have enough for basics.

I quickly decided to have the cost per person be $125. This would give us a total of $500.

There are always bumps in the road and unexpected costs along the way. Since we decided to add another hotel stay, tolls were a bit different on our new route, and some unexpected parking expenses got added, it was a good thing I made those adjustments.

We had to get gas 7 times. The total amount spent on the trip was $237.06.

Parking came to a total of $35.00.

Hotel for all stays was $201.47

Tolls $25

This brings our grand total to: $498.53, which was $1.47 under our budget of $500.

I don't know if I could've been that spot on without seriously planning.

Now, you have to remember, this was only for the basic costs, in addition to that were all of the fun things.

Between Shane and myself we spent $50 on MetroCard for the subway while in NY. We did have a couple of mess ups that caused us to lose a bit of our fares, and we also have some left on the card for our next visit.

Day 5...we say goodbye

So, it had arrived. Too soon, of course. The dreaded day we had to return home and back to reality.

I had just drifted off to sleep when the alarm began buzzing to get up. 3 am...dang you.

So, back to yesterday. Aerin and Justin went off on thier own way to meet up with Aerin's friend Ann who lives in NYC. They spent the whole day out on thier own...you have to let them fly sometime... :)

So, I sent Aerin several text messages about what time we would be leaving so that I knew she'd be back in time. 3:09 am, she and Justin walk into the hotel room. Gotta love 'em.

We made it out by 4 am, which was only 30 mins later than I wanted to. There wasn't a whole lot of traffic out at that time of the day, so we made good time getting out of the city and through NJ. I took over around the time we were getting to DE. One of my best friends had just moved that weekend to Glen Burnie, MD and we were going to stop to see her and tour Washington, DC on our way back.

We picked up Jennefer around 8 am and drove into DC. DC is a funny place. We decided to just drive around instead of parking and getting out and about. Apparently, you can't drive within a couple of blocks of the white house. I did not know this until that day, then again, I've never been to DC before. So, we drove in circles, partly because of my lack of knowledge on where we were going and also due to a lack of sleep.

Around 11 we dropped Jennefer back off and said our goodbyes. (I do miss her a lot!) and then it was back on the road to get home.

We made a stop as we got into VA to get some food and gas. Aerin took over driving. She made it all the way to Roanoke where we stopped again for gas and a stretch. She decided that she wanted to continue driving and we were able to make it all the way home by 9 pm.

It was a lot to do in such a short trip, but I don't think I would've had it any other way. We had great friends with us, did some amazing things, and all-in-all, the trip was a huge success!

Day 4

Shane and I woke early on our last full day of vacation. We had a few things to do that morning and were on a tight schedule.

Since we didn't get into the city until later on Saturday, we had to move one stop to Sunday morning. So, Shane and I headed out to the subway to catch a train to Brooklyn. We missed the first train by seconds, and had to walk to another stop. This took us right by Ground Zero. I wish I had taken the time to snap a couple pictures, but we were in a hurry to catch the next train.

We finally made it across to Brooklyn to go to The Bagel Store. Groupon #7, come on down! We got a dozen bagels and a pound of cream cheese. OH MY GOODNESS!!! Real, hand rolled bagels! Nothing better!

We then headed back to the hotel, to get ready for brunch. We met up with Shane's family and made our way to Via Dei Mille in SoHo for an awesome brunch. Groupon #8 did not fail us. By this time, everyone was having a good laugh about my groupons and all the places we were going...but by the end of the meal, I made a believer out of my mother-in-law. She said when they come to visit us next, she will be purchasing Groupons to use! Ha!

After having our fill, we walked to Greenwich Village to go to La Petite Coquette. This Groupon was probably the best overall money saver out of all of them. It was so nice to be able to shop here. Without Groupon #9, I probably wouldn't have been able to afford even a fraction of what I purchased....stay tuned to see the numbers in the Groupon post!

Since the girls had school the next day, we left the city to get them back home and then drove my car back. Shane and I did a quick change of clothes and then it was back out to Times Sqare for more shopping! We went in so many stores, didn't get to purchase something in all of them, but we did catch some really good sales. I got Caylie a jacket from the Disney Store and a yo-yo from Toys-R-Us. Shane got a shirt from Aeropostale and I got a jacket from there. I also got a few small things from American Eagle.

I was able to do something I had always heard so much about, but was a bit leary of...I ate a hod dog from street vendor. Not just any hot dog. A Sabrett! Such yummy goodness! Probably the BEST hot dog I've ever eaten. Just a forewarning though, for a foot long and a 20 oz soda, it cost $10. Well worth it!

Shane and walked for a long time after that, just taking in the city. We finally jumped onto the subway after walking close to 30 blocks. We then arrived back in the Village to have dinner at ZPizza. Groupon #10 did not let us down. It's all organic food and so fresh! We each got a small pizza and a salad to split. Of course, we couldn't finish it and had to take some back to the hotel.

When we arrived back at the hotel, it was time to start packing. Shane and I made sure to take care of as much as possible that night because we would be leaving around 3:30 am. I ended up finishing the salad and some more pizza before I finally fell asleep around 2:30 am.

Day 3

It's a New Year, a New Day! Our third day came too soon. No one wanted to wake up. Finally, we did and Justin and I went to eat breakfast at the hotel. We were checking out of this hotel that morning and all had to shower and pack up. I think we actually walked out of the door right at 11 am.

We drove over to Shane's mom's in Closter, NJ. We gave them thier presents and made plans to have dinner there. We then left to finish out our NJ plans.

First stop, back to Maywood, NJ to Velocity 17. We had purchased 4 Groupons, 1 for each of us, for the high powered go-carts. WOW. These things are not a joke. It's hard to steer and goes really fast. It was a lot of fun for us. However, just a thought, if you have people who clearly have not been there before, it might be nice if you let them go on their own instead of letting Joe Schmo who is there every weekend get on the track with them. The main reason that this is annoying is because one of the rules of this track is that when you get lapped by someone, when they come around again, you have to pull over and stop to let them pass. This causes you to not be able to build up a flow and groove, if you will. So, it was a little frustrating. Groupon # 5 was done!

We then drove up to Nyack, NY to go to the Palisades Mall. This mall, is insanely huge. It's not the largest mall in the world or anything, but still. WOW. Four floors, full sized stores, a ice skating rink, bowling alley, theater with IMAX screens, ferris wheel and tons of other stuff all inside one giant mall. I was blown away.

The whole reason for going to the mall, other than to witness it's awesomeness, was to go shopping in the Body Shop. I had purchased Groupon #6 for there. I was able to get an amazing deal which I will detail later in my Groupon blog.

We did a little other shopping and headed back to Shane's Mom's. She made us an amazing dinner! It was so nice to be able to sit and have dinner with our family.

After dinner, we all loaded up into their SUV and drove into NYC. We checked into our hotel which was in the financial district, the downtown area of NY. We could see the Statue of Liberty from our hotel room! Oh my goodness! What a view! Aerin and Justin decided they wanted to stay in, so we headed out with My mother-in-law and Shane's sisters to explore Rockafeller Center. We took the subway up there. My first time on a subway...it's really not that bad.

We got to Rockafeller Center and got to see the Christmas tree and all the lights! It was amazing. Sandy bought us tickets to go up to Top of the Rock observation deck. So amazing. If you ever go to NYC, you should definitely do this. We went up 70 stories and out onto the deck. You could see all of Central Park, the Empire State Building, and most of the city. Of course we were there at night, so you could see everything lit up.

We then did a little bit of shopping in Times Square. The stores stay open til 11-12 at night! Whoa! We went into the Forever21 store and it has 4 levels!

After that we headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep!

Day 2

We woke fairly early. Around 8 am. Everyone began getting ready, we had breakfast at the hotel before we departed.

It was New Years Eve, so in preparation of the evenings festvities, we headed to Waldwick, NJ to Maratene's Fine Wine and Spirits. We were supposed to go there on Day 1, but our delays caused this to be moved. We had purchased a Groupon for wine and would be using it to buy our supplies for the night. We were able to purchase 2 bottles of wine with Groupon #2. I also grabbed a 4 pack of mini champagnes for our celebration. Shane found a beer that he loves and is hard to find where we live and Aerin got a bottle of gin.

We then ventured to go ice skating in Little Falls, NJ at the Floyd Hall Arena. There we used Groupon #3. Admission, skate rental, popcorn and soda for 4 people. Shane, being from NJ, has been ice skating numerous times in his life. Aerin had been a few times. Justin and I, however, had NEVER ice skated before this day. We did ok, no one fell down and it was fun. I used muscles I didn't know I had, and my calves hurt the next day, but overall it was a success!

By the time we finished ice skating, we were starving. So we drove to Montclair, NJ to eat at a quaint Italian restaurant by the name of Gencarelli's Cucina. I had emailed the owner, Debbie prior to our arrival to make reservations. She met us at the door with open arms. Never before have I been greeted with such a welcome from a stranger. The food was absolutely amazing. They had hundred year old recipes from Italy. It truely is a treasure. A war was almost started between Aerin and Justin over the rice balls, they were just that good. It is here that we used Groupon #4. And man, was it worth it. We are all STILL talking about that meal and how we can go back on our next trip.

We headed back towards Maywood, NJ to go on our next adventure, but we arrived too late, which caused another change in plans.

We decided that was enough excitement for the day and went back to our hotel room to get ready for the New Years Eve celebration at our friend's house. On the way we stopped at Frank's pizza to pick up a few slices and dough so that Crystal could make zeppolis.

We rang in the New Year with great friends at the home of John and Crystal. Unfortunately for Justin and I, we were worn out. So, not long after the ball dropped, we fell asleep on the sofa curled up with Raina, one John and Crystal's dogs. At some point in the night, Shane and Aerin woke us up and we went back to the hotel.

Day 1

After we checked in to the room Aerin called dibs on the shower, so the rest of us napped. At this point it was 5:45am We slept til the breakfast opened at 6:30. After we all refueled and showered it was back on the road.

Shane took over as our chauffer while in NJ. At around 7:30 am we were loaded and moving. The nap had put us little behind, but definitely worth it.

Our next stop would be in Bordentown, NJ at Beanwood Coffee.

This would be where we used...wait for it...Groupon #1!

So, we stopped to get coffee. They are said to have amazing Latin food, but since we were so early getting there, espresso it was! 3 mochas, a hot chocolate and 4 cookies later, we had used our first Groupon of the trip! HUZZAH!

Onward to Ocean Grove. I love Ocean Grove. It's a beautiful seaside town that is practically untouched by modern society. I don't know why I'm so drawn to it, but I am. Shane thought I was crazy for wanting to go there since they had gotten so much snow, but I insisted. If you've never seen snow on the beach, I highly recommend it. What a sight!

We spent an hour walking and taking photos. Then we began driving toward our next destination, Red Bank, NJ, home of Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash.

What should have taken 15-20 minutes at most, turned into 2 hours. The snow was not completely cleared and that caused major backups. It also caused major schedule changes. As we were riding at a snail's pace, I'm was reviewing tripit plans and figuring out what could be moved. After changing 2 plans, we were looking good.

Once  we arrived in Red Bank, we had to conquer another great feat. Finding parking. Wow. There was so much snow that most of the parking spaces were being used as places to pile the HUGE piles of snow. We finally did find a spot and headed into the Stash. Aerin wandered around taking pictures while Shane and I shopped. I decided to purchased an signed BluRay copy of Zack and Miri by Kevin Smith.

We then ventured aroudn the corner to Mr. Pizza Slice. We ordered a pizza and a couple of sodas. And then got back in the car to drive to Leonardo, NJ. The roads were a bit cleaner, so it didn't take as long to get there.

We were goign to the Quik Stop where the first Clerks movie was filmed. This is where the horrible 2 hour delay worked out nicely for us. While we're standing there, out walks one of the people who appeared in the movie.

We left Leonardo and drove to our hotel. After checking in, I ran across to the mall to pick up a last minute gift and I found out there is NO sales tax on clothing in NJ. AWESOME!

I returned to the hotel and we all prepared to leave for dinner. After being rerouted due to ice on the road, we made it to the restaurant. We were having dinner at Mama Mexico in Englewood Cliffs. I had purchased a deal from Living Social for this meal.

The food was great and they prepare the guacamole fresh beside your table! WOW! Yum-o! After we ate, we returned to the hotel and crashed. I don't think any of us could have done any more that first day.

Night 1

After leaving, we drove approximately 30 miles to Cleveland, TN, where we stopped at Sonic to pick up dinner. Since there were four of us, we had some separate orders. I'm driving at the point, so I'm really watching the time. I am usually a very patient person, especially with people that work in the food service industry. I've been there before and I understand what it's like. However, when you have 3 separate orders, something is bound to be wrong.

For whatever reason, it's always Shane's food that gets messed up. I knew as soon as I had to repeat his order 3 times, that there would be a problem. When they did bring the food out, everyone's orders were right, except for his sandwich. So, then I had to call them back out and have them make a new one which took another 10 minutes.

At this point, I'm just trying to let it go. Repeating in my head that it will be fine...Now we are 1 hour and 15 minutes behind schedule. We leave Cleveland and I drove to Roanoke, VA where we stopped for gas, to stretch and use the bathroom. We didn't run into any traffic problems so by the time Aerin got behind the wheel, we were back on schedule.

Aerin drove fro Roanoke to Newark, DE where we checked in for the shortest hotel stay I've ever had.

Getting Ready

Traveling during the holidays is always hectic. There are so many places to be and poeple to see. Having a 3 year old, Christmas is a major deal. So, Christmas was full of things to do. The problem with that is, right after Christmas it was right back to work.

Thanks to my husband, all of the laundry was done and ready for me to do last minute packing as soon as I could get around to it. He also was great enough to clean all the junk and car seat out of my car. I got the oil changed, new tire, new windshield wipers, everything was going according to plan and on time. This should be a good sign, right?

At 12:45 am on Wednesday, December 29th (the day we are leaving for the trip) I received a text message from my sister. She and her boyfriend had just broken up and he was not going on the trip. At this point she wasn't sure if she wanted to go either. This was scramble time. I REFUSED to panic. I called for Shane, told him what happened and we began to brainstorm. There was no way we could keep to the travel schedule after this kink was thrown into the plans. We both had to work that day and I still hadn't packed.

I began looking online at the maps. We determined that we could make it the 6 hours to Roanoke, VA and would need to stop there at a hotel to rest for approximately 3 hours. I booked it. Right after, my sister said they would still pay for their potion of the trip, which lifted a huge weight off my shoulders. She wasn't sure if she would still like to go. I told her she would have until noon to decide.

After arriving to work that day, I attempted to contact other friends and family members to see if anyone would go with us, just so we could have help with the drive and so we could stay on schedule. Unfortunately, no one was able to make the trip on that short of a notice. Now I WAS begining to panic.

Luckily, before the noon deadline, I spoke with my sister who did, in fact, decide to go on the trip. She asked if she could bring a friend, Justin. I knew Justin, and was comfortable with him, so I said sure.

Now, back to changing the plans. I cancelled the hotel room in Roanoke since we wouldn't need to stay. Instead, I looked at the trip maps again and found a spot that we would hit just before our first scheduled stop. I made a reservation with the plans to get the room for the sole purposes of showering, a short nap and breakfast. At thr rate, it was an amazing idea.

I got home after work at approximately 5:45. My sister, Aerin and Justin were waiting for me. I ran in and got packed, loaded the car and we left my house around 7 pm. Only 1 hour behind schedule.

Our vacation...

So, the whole reason I really decided to start this blog was to spread the word about our amazing savings on our vacation to NJ/NY.

I am a planner. You could even say I'm OCD. Seriously, I made a tripit travel plan with down to the minute directions and stops. Now, that's not to say that I'm one of those people who freak out when things don't go according to plan. Nope, not I. I just say, ok, now how to I modify my current plans to fit everything? I feel like if I don't already have a plan, it would just be too overwhelming to make adjustments.

We decided that we would take this trip around the holidays to visit Shane's family and do a little bit of sightseeing. My daughter would be spending a week with her Dad so it was the perfect timing. It started as a small trip, just 5 days, 5 nights...but oh, did it grow. Just like others out there, our finances are tight. Especially during the holiday season. We have so many to buy for and that meant we had to find ways to make this trip the most cost effective possible.

So, the first step, how to take the trip and use as little vacation pay from work. We decided that it would be best to go over the New Year's Holiday. It's too hard to travel the week of Christmas. If we went during a holiday week, that meant an extra day that we would get paid for without using Paid Time Off.

Step two, how to maximize the time. It is a long drive from our home in Tennessee to Northern New Jersey where my in-laws live. Something to the tune of 13-14 hours. This would take up a whole day! I hate spending my valuable "fun" time driving. The solution? We leave after work and drive through the night. Obviously, on the return trip, we would have to drive through the day because it would be nearly impossible to go back to work without rest. Shane and I have made this drive before and we have it worked out fairly well so that neither of us get overextended, but we wanted to make sure we could rest and also afford to have a good time.

Step three, find someone who would like to tag along. Now, I know some of you are shaking your heads and saying, "Why in the world would you want to take other people along with you on your vacation?" Well, it's simple, extra drivers and splitting the trip costs. A trip like this could potentially cost a rather large amount. If there is someone that you are comfortable enough to sleep in the same room with and drive your car while you sleep, why not? After asking a few friends and family members, it was decided that my sister and her boyfriend would go with us. What does that mean for the trip? Driving resposibilities and total trip costs are split between four people. AMAZING!

Step four, find lodging. I work for a hotel. For the purposes of this blog I will not disclose that information or my rates. I'm sorry, but I value my job WAY too much to risk losing it. So, I started researching what hotels were in the area that are owned by my company or the brand that I work for. We would be staying four nights in a hotel. We decided to spend two nights in New Jersey and two nights in New York City. I was able to go to my company's hotel in New Jersey and a branded hotel in New York. Let me just tell you when I told my husband and mother-in-law the rates that I would be getting, I thought they were going to pass out. Now, add to that fact that we would be splitting the cost with two other people, it got even better.

Step five, what do we do while we're there? I don't know about you, but I hate sitting around on vacation doing nothing. Seriously, if I wanted to do that I'd go to my family's lake house that is only 1 hour away. The prospect of getting there and not having a plan was out of the question, but again, how do we afford to have a fun-filled vacation? My answer to this: Groupon. Shortly after the above steps were completed, I began to research the daily deal sites to see what I could get/use while we were on our trip. Let me just tell you, it was the best decision I made in this whole process. For two months, I scoured the sites looking for deals across New Jersey and New York City.

Just a litte info about me...

Before I get too much into my story, I wanted to give you a little bit of background, I am a southern girl at heart, raised in South Carolina for the younger years, now I reside in Tennessee with my husband and daughter. My husband, Shane, is from New Jersey, and we are polar opposites on most every category there is in life. I have a beautiful, amazing 3 year old daughter from my first marriage. Her name is Caylie Taryn. She is my salvation. I also have a guardian angel, Olivia Grace, whom I delivered when I was 4 months pregnant on 11/4/2005.

We all struggle.

So, to start off my blog, I just want to say, this is my way of doing things, it may not work for you. We all struggle in our own ways. For some, it's financial, others emotional, etc. This is how I cope with my struggles. I would like to share that with you.