New York, New York!!!

Two months ago, I was in New York City with my dear friend Camille.
We went for the BlogHer conference that was held in Manhattan.
As you know from reading my blog, I am no devout blogger and really had no place with an entire hotel full of die-hard, devout, multi-weekly bloggers.
I did learn a lot and walked away wishing I had the motivation to blog more.
Our days were jam packed with blog related workshops, panels, food, and parties. You might ask why I went... well, my heart has a firm devotion and love to Broadway. As busy as we were, we found time to sneak out, stand in line, and buy tickets to at least one show.

After a very confusing confrontation with the ticket booth lady, Camille and I walked a block back to the hotel with our tickets in hand.

Our sneaking, waiting, and confrontationing, was well worth it because we got student rush tickets to Promises, Promises. This is a very new show and only few have seen it. We were privileged to not only see it, but see it in New York with it's original cast.
WHAT A STEAL!!!


Bazinga! That is not the real steal we walked away with... After the show, Camille and I waited along with hundreds of others to see Kristin Chenoweth and Sean Hayes in person.

There, in the blue shirt is Sean Hayes himself.
and....
yes, this is her in the flesh!
She signed my Playbill and said "you're welcome" in response to my feeble "thank you".

This in an experience of a life time and it only cost me 30 bucks!!!

1/4 of 100 years old

This morning I was thinking what to write in a Birthday card to my dear friend Camille. And it reminded me that after high School, we went to Disneyland together. It was the best time I ever had at Disneyland. No lines, eating pp&j while under the protective roof of Pirates of the Caribbean, eating Rosa's tomatillo salsa in the car, pulling over for imagined flat tires, finding random dentures, eating free oranges, and splurging to eat at the Blue Bayou.

We said that we wanted to make a tradition of coming when we were 25 and then every 5 years after.

I am turning 25 this year.

That sudden reminder brought a waft of melancholy over me today.

I remember the imagined 25 self and to see the actual 25 year old self is a little...

It's a love hate relationship...

I remember the day my life changed, like it was yesterday. (Now envision that the remainder of this post is in a hazy dull colored memory cloud)

My best friend was down from good ol' Alberta for the summer (ironic, I know) and we were doing a little shopping. We were at Ross looking for some steals and my phone rang. It was my brother, Adam. He said he was getting an iphone and wanted me to go in on a family plan with him.

Just the thought of having my very own iphone made me forget that I am up to my eyeballs in debt, have a job that pays me way less than I had hoped, have never paid my own cell phone bill, am no longer receiving student loans and will need to start paying those back come January. So I said yes without hesitation (actually, there was a little hesitation but not quite enough).

Now, I am a proud owner of an iphone 4.
I made this purchase on a whim, knowing that my house is a black whole for cell phone coverage. We had to cancel many contracts because we couldn't handle all the missed calls.
I just prayed that we would get coverage with At&t. . . that was to no avail, because I have lost just about every call I have ever taken inside my house. This is no fault of the cell phone (I know it has a bad rep on the consumer report) and all to do with At&t. I haven't lost calls anywhere else but inside my house. Let me tell you, this is FRUSTRATING.

Frustrating enough to give back my iphone?
NO
Frustrating enough to collect my FREE case knowing it won't help my situation?
YES!

To make up a little for their bad rep, my pal Steve announced that he'd give everyone a free case:

If you purchased an iPhone 4 before September 30, 2010, follow these steps to receive an iPhone 4 Bumper or a select third-party case from Apple at no charge.

1. Download the iPhone 4 Case Program app from the App Store.
2. Launch the app on your iPhone 4 and sign in using your iTunes Store account or Apple ID.
3. Select your Bumper or case.

For iPhone 4 purchases made before July 23, 2010, you must apply no later than August 22, 2010; otherwise, you must apply within 30 days of your iPhone 4 purchase. To qualify for this program, you must purchase your iPhone 4 by September 30, 2010.

I followed these instructions.

This was the easiest free thing that I have ever acquired! No driving all around town with coupons, no early morning garage saleing, no "with a little paint...", just one itsy bitsy tap of the finger and POOF! A free case.

The hardest part was deciding which to get. You see, I believe it is a tragedy to cover any part of the iphone 4. It is beautiful! Have you seen it? It is sleek, smooth, shiny... WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD COVER IT UP???

I wanted a clear bumper case. But there wasn't one, so I decided to go with the clear wrap around case. How could I go wrong, it's free?!

The official price tag at goincase.com is $34.95. Or in other words 41 Diet Dr. Peppers from QT.

*** This post is in correlation with Camille over at Archive of Our Lives.

The end of an era...

Awesome Steal of the WEEK!!!

After reading I Heart Monster's steel of some books a or so ago, I was reminded that I needed to pre-order my Mocking Jay book!

Promptly I ordered it.
Got it on sale for $8.50
AND got free shipping just for pre-ordering!

As if that wasn't a good enough deal as it is, It was the best deal to come home on a bad day, having totally forgotten about ordering it and have it sitting there ready to cheer me up! .