Month: April 2024

HBD to me!

It’s my birthday! So I’m taking a day off from the job hunt and doing what has become a bit of a tradition for me. I sign up for loyalty groups all over the place – it’s a professional hazard when you were used to managing loyalty offers at work. I always liked to see what other companies offered and how they messaged their customers. Nothing like personal research right? So my email box is FULL of birthday offers! I’ll be out today to see how many I can collect. Bear in mind, some offers have spend conditions to get them, but here are the offers I have on my list for today:

  • Starbucks (of course!) – free drink or bakery item. Has to be used today though – anybody else remember when they gave you more time? Like the whole month?
  • Nothing Bundt Cakes – free Bundtlet. They have a Lemon Blueberry cake I’m dying to try!
  • Chili’s – free dessert with the purchase of an entree.
  • Portillo’s – free slice of their AMAZING chocolate cake! (Don’t tell anyone but somehow they sent me 2 codes so you know I’m going back for both slices!)
  • Menchie’s – $5 put in my loyalty account for free frozen yogurt.
  • Anyway’s (local restaurant) – BOGO dinner entree.
  • Olive Garden – free dessert with purchase of an entree.
  • Cheesecake Factory – free slice of cheesecake.
  • Red Robin – free burger.
  • Athleta (clothing) – 20% off purchase.
  • DSW – $5 off purchase.
  • Banana Republic – 30% off purchase.
  • Elements Massage – $10 off any service.
  • J.Jill – $20 off $80 purchase.
  • Aveda – free composition oil.
  • Container Store – 15% off purchase.
  • Hallmark – 20% off purchase.
  • Crumbl – free cookie.
  • Chipotle – free guac (I may have already redeemed this last night with my birthday eve dinner….)
  • Panda Express – free small entree/appetizer or medium side.
  • Lion Brand Yarn – free shipping on my next order (yawn…)
  • Cafe Zupa – free dessert with $5 purchase.
  • Garrett Popcorn – $10 off $50 order or free bag upgrade (instore only)
  • Vera Bradley – 25% off purchase.
  • Culvers – free scoop of frozen custard. (mmmmm……)

Whew! Although quite frankly – I’m disappointed that there aren’t offers from JoAnn or Michael’s on yarn on my list. But it’s still early? LOL! Gotta run – I have a lot of places to go!!!

Tax Day!

It’s April 15th – have you filed your taxes? Or are you one of those last minute filers waiting until to night to get your return submitted?

I sent my taxes in early last month and my refund is already in my checking account. I’ve done the last minute filing thing because of missing information in the past – and hated the panic filing at the last minute. So now I’m firmly in the camp of having taxes finished as soon as I can.

But given the date today, I started wondering why April 15th is tax day. I suppose it makes sense since W2s are required to be issued by the end of January so you have approximately 3 months to get your taxes filed. But here’s a great link with the history of it: https://money.howstuffworks.com/personal-finance/personal-income-taxes/april-15-tax-day.htm#:~:text=Tax%20Day%20was%20moved%20to,refunds%20%5Bsource%3A%20Sung%5D.

New topic (I’m allowed since I’m the writer!)

Did you all have a great time at the eclipse last week? Assuming it was visible wherever you are? I was in the path of totality and for nearly 4 minutes I stood in awe of the 360 degree sunrise/sunset and the visible prominences. I made a real effort to try not to play with my camera and just be present in the moment but did capture these two shots. Please Google better pictures! I had a great week with my family – it was just what I needed to get my head back into the job search.

Spring break!

I’m actually driving to Ohio for my own personal spring break as this is published. I’m going to be spending a week in my hometown area – the timing being driven mostly by the eclipse but I’ll be seeing a lot of friends and family so for my throwback today, I’m planning to do a lot of reminiscing.

If I don’t post a lot over the next week – sorry! Have a great week and I’ll see you back here soon!

Control of your own health

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in 2024, it’s important to take control of your own health. I lost my employer health insurance and declined COBRA because of cost but did get coverage on the healthcare.gov exchanges. It’s very basic coverage – but I tend to be healthy so I’m sure it will be fine until I land my next corporate gig.

Having the flu also made me take stock of what I’m doing to control my own health. I’ve been working on my weight, I exercise regularly and while cookies remain my nemesis, I have been trying to cook/eat healthier.

I recently came across an article (linked below) from consultants McKinsey & Company – it’s a really good read. It points out how much we can take control of our own health – from at home diagnostic testing that we all got used to with Covid to more emphasis on women’s heath to healthy aging, we all have so many resources at our fingertips these days. What are YOU doing to control your own health? Tell me in the comments!

Article link: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/the-trends-defining-the-1-point-8-trillion-dollar-global-wellness-market-in-2024

It’s a cold and rainy day…

LOL – my title today makes me think of Snoopy on top of his doghouse with his typewriter. It’s a cold and rainy day here in the Chicago suburbs – and I would like nothing more than to curl up in a chair and spend the day lost in a book. But there are jobs to hunt (and maybe an interview to prep for) so here I am at my desk.

But if it weren’t a work day and I didn’t have a mile long to-do list, here are a few things I might be indulging in on a cold rainy day:

I’d like to do any of the above – but I’m heading back to work. I’m taking an online class learning SQL coding – learning something new is always a good idea no matter what the weather is!

A week from now…

A week from today is the big solar eclipse! Where I live in the Chicago suburbs, there isn’t much excitement but my hometown in Ohio is a whole other matter.

I grew up in Wapakoneta, Ohio famous pretty much only for being the hometown of Neil Armstrong. Wapak (as we natives call it) has a population of about 9,800 people and is a lovely little small town that has worked hard to have a quaint downtown area full of fun stores and restaurants. And it’s also home to the Neil Armstrong Air & Space Museum. There’s a Moon Festival every summer to celebrate the first walk on the moon — and you can get any number of souvenirs saying First on the Moon in the area.

Wapak is pretty much on the line for 100% totality for this eclipse. Needless to say with the fondness for the Moon in town, it’s going to be a big event there. Need a schedule? Check out the website here: https://www.wapaksolareclipse.com/

So with all the excitement, I’m heading home to see the eclipse. I’ve never seen one so I’m pretty excited myself! For the last solar eclipse in North America in 2017, Chicago only saw a partial eclipse. I went to an event at the Chicago Botanical Gardens – but sadly, at eclipse time clouds rolled in and by the time I made it to the car, it was raining. So I’m hoping for clear skies this year and the chance to use any of my 6 pairs of eclipse glasses to see totality!

One of the really interesting things about totality is all the other things that become visible for the 4-5 minutes the moon blocks out the sun – check out these links for info. If you have the chance, I’m told totality is amazing. If you miss this year, you only have to wait until 2044 for a line of totality in North America again!