A early Christmas present~ Disney On Ice!

Guess what!  It's after Thanksgiving! 

That means its time to win some tickets to see Disney On Ice celebrates 100 Years of Magic!!!

Who's excited? 
 

Disney characters and artwork ©Disney, Disney/Pixar characters ©Disney/Pixar

Me! Me! Me!

Why am I excited?  

Well besides being in love with Disney in general, there is going to be quite the ensamble coming to The Huntington Center in December.

The list of characters include: the one and only Mickey Mouse, the irresistible Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Donald Duck, Jiminy Cricket, Pinocchio and many Disney Princesses and more!  There will be more than 60 characters in all!!  You can also expect to be thrilled by exciting moments from The Lion King; Mulan; and Disney/Pixar's Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and Toy Story films; in a skating spectacular filled with magical Disney moments!

Disney characters and artwork ©Disney, Disney/Pixar characters ©Disney/Pixar

 If you want to go, you have 2 options.

1) Buy your tickets through TicketMaster and save $4 on the $15 or $19 tickets for any show except opening night with the promo code BLOG4.  Show runs December 20-24 {Thurs and Fri: 7pm, Sat and Sun: 1&5 pm, Mon: 1pm} at The Huntington Center in downtown Toledo, where my beloved Walleye play.

No double discounts. Additional fees may apply. Offer does not apply to Front Row, Rinkside or VIP seating. Offer subject to ticket availability.

2) Enter below to win 4 FREE tickets to see the show opening night!  Must be 18 to enter. Contest ends 12/3, enter now!!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disney and Feld Entertainment are not the sponsors, endorsers or administrators of this promotion.

*Hint Hint* Use this as a family Christmas present!  Make it the beginning of a Magical Christmas family tradition! You won't be sorry!

The cons of online dating...

Going through my many magazines, I stumbled upon an article in the October 2012 edition of Glamour by Liz Brody that sheds some light on the cons of online dating.

Thankfully, I haven't had any of these issues, but I wanted to spread the word so you don't fall into one of the traps. 

1) Giant red flag if he/she asks for money...even if it sounds like a legit reason.  There is no reason a person you have been talking to should ask for money.  You aren't married, your money is not their money.  An even bigger red flag is if they try to lay on the guilt.  "Don't you love me?" or "I would loan the money to you." babble is just that...babble.

2) Be cautious if "I love you" is said early on in the relationship.  In some cases it was said within a few weeks!  Hmmm.

3) If you are having a live chat (IM or Skype) with the person, be aware if they are "getting interrupted a lot" or "sidetracked" when you ask easy questions...that they need to look up some answers to.

4) Pet names are cute, but if he/she constantly uses them instead of your name, it could be because they are chatting it up with more than one person and hey, it's hard to keep them all straight.

The article described many more scenarios, and I would recommend reading it if you get the chance.  (I tried to find it on Glamour's website, but no luck.)  

So what can you do to protect yourself?

Thankfully they gave several suggestions:

• Do a Google Image search of the pictures they have posted. Click on the little camera icon next to the search bar and you can upload a picture.  The search will show you were it appears online.  So nifty!
• There are sites that help with this sort of thing: romancescams.org, romancescam.com, scamsurvivors.com or militarygear.com/asp.  Please report a con if you are unfortunate to find one.  Save someone else from being conned.  Romancescams.org has some quizzes you can take to see if you are being conned, twists on the scams, and a photo album of pictures men and women have used.  Makes me sick.
• You can check for a foreign IP address.  Got to love technology!  The romancescams.org can help you find that information.

Now don't get the impression that I'm telling you they are all bad people out there or that I'm against online dating.  Most online dating companies have people on the lookout for these con artists and are pretty good about fielding applicants.  There are a lot of legit people out there looking to meet people and have a relationship, but it doesn't pay to be naive or uninformed.

Don't be too ashamed to tell others or to report the incident.  The article says that "women are being scammed out of million of dollars a year!"  So you aren't the only one!  You can report these con artists to ic3.gov. 

Who knows, your help and evidence could help bring justice to these criminals!

What a wild week!

My goodness!  This past week has been one grand adventure!  
One that I wasn't expecting. at. all.

Last Tuesday as I was coming home from hanging with some of the girls my car started acting really weird.

Sputtering, not speeding up very fast, and being very very loud (and it was already loud).

Not good.

"I think it's time to get a new car", says my dad.  "I've driven some pretty bad cars in my time, and I don't even want it.  That's saying something."

So car shopping I went.  And boy was I blessed with an awesome find!

A 2004 Chrysler Crossfire! I always thought these cars were super slick, never thought I would have one.

 
I feel like I need to be in a James Bond movie. 

I might have downloaded the Skyfall theme for my entrance music.

I've always wanted entrance music.

Anyway so that was one big thing this week.

Number 2 was signing on an apartment!  Ahhhhhh!!!!!

I'm moving in with Hannah {you know the NYC and DC adventure accomplice} possibly by next month.

So I'm looking through all my random stuff and thinking... hmmm... I need some things, I guess I have to go to IKEA.  

Man, that is tough. 

*Grin*

I guess, I also know what I want for Christmas this year. 

The apartment is a cute little duplex near uptown Maumee, a few blocks from that cute "little theater".  There are also some cute shops within walking distance.  

This could be trouble.

And fun.

One Magical word...Disney

Friends, let me share a little secret with you.

I LOVE Disney. 

Like a lot.

Like working there sounds like the perfect job.
{Of course I would have to be Aurora Belle Rapunzel a princess.}

Evidence #1

Totally enjoyed dressing up as a princess, and being in full character for my friend's daughters' birthday party.

One of the moms may have told me I should work at Disney.

And I might have asked her to be a reference.


Evidence #2

Favorite cartoon movie: Disney's Robin Hood.


Evidence #3

I may have jumped up and down and squealed a little when I saw this was coming to town....




Total awesomeness right!!!

Coming to the Huntington Center in Toledo December 20-24 is Disney On Ice celebrates100 Years of Magic, tickets range between $15-$50 (including fees).  Now, there is a rumor there will be a code you can enter to get a discount for the tickets, but I have yet to confirm that rumor....Rumor Confirmed!

Go to the Ticketmaster website and enter the code BLOG4 and you will get $4 off the $15 Club or $19 Arena seats!* Valid on all performances except opening night.

*No double discounts. Additional fees may apply. Offer does not apply to Front Row, Rinkside or VIP seating. Offer subject to ticket availability*


But wait there's more!

After Thanksgiving I will be holding a giveaway so you can win your tickets instead of having to purchase them!  Merry Christmas! {The giveaway will be for Thursday night's performance}

That's right enjoy this holiday tradition for free!!! 
Use it as an early Christmas present, and cross some presents off your list now!

{Instead of being a total procrastinator like some people *cough*}


Check out Disney On Ice on Facebook and Twitter or for more details go to their website.

Love lessons from Meet Me in St. Louis...

Ahhhh....Meet Me in St. Louis. A fantastic musical about a family living in St. Louis in the early 1900's.

One word.

Classic.

What love lessons can we learn from this movie?

Boys don't want to kiss girls before they are engaged because they are afraid they'll rub the rouge off.
Who knew?

To get a boy's attention, you invite him to a party at your house and after everyone has left you ask him to help you turn off the lights. Oh don't forget to break into song.
That is a must.

It's perfectly normal to be grumpy because you think the boy isn't coming, and then when he comes... ignore him.

All men need to own a tux, and not forget it at the tailor's the night of the big Christmas dance.
Christmas can be magical.
And world fairs.

Act normal when a guy bursts into your house on Christmas Eve and tells you that things can't go on this way and you are going to be married. No arguments!...and then storms out.
Ok.
Who wants to open presents?

There you have it. If you haven't seen this classic movie it really is a must see.

There's an App for that! 10 Apps I love!

I made the switch to a smart phone because I figured it would be good to have before I headed off to the semi-distant lands of Washington D.C and New York this summer. 

{totally practical reasons}

I'm officially spoiled and even thinking of going back to a "dumb" phone has me cringing.

Now, I am slowly *cough* catching the app fever.  

Must haves:

{Besides the obvious Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, and Pinterest.}

IMDB- I am now able to answer the age-old question, "Where have I seen that actor before?" Oh and let's not forget being able to watch the latest Hobbit or Iron Man 3 preview at a moment's notice. Free.

Netflix-No more pretending you are doing something fun on your phone while waiting for pizza.  No!  Now you can re-watch Glee or Doctor Who! Free app with subscription to Netflix.

Soundboards- This probably should be in the "Extra Lovin'" section below, but what is a phone without a fun ringtone?  Yep, definitely a must have I have soundboards for Star Wars, Hunger Games, and the 9th, 10th and 11th Doctors from Doctor Who.  Yes, I'm a nerd.  My current notification ringtone is a R2D2 whistle and my incoming call ringtone is the 10th Doctor's theme music.  Free.

Smarty Pig- I can look up and manage my saving goals. I can see that this last quarter I got $.89 on my "Cruise" goal and $1.74 on my "Rainy Day" goal.  I don't get that kind of interest from the bank!  It is completely secure and safe.  I love Smarty Pig! Free.

Swagbucks- Earn Swagbucks when you need to do an Online search.  You then cash in your Swagbucks for gift cards or prizes.  Free.

Coupons- This app shows you the cheapest gas, and the area stores and restaurants that are offering coupons. Free.

Extra lovin':

Geocaching-  Geocaching is a fun outdoor activity alone or with a small group.  I seem to have some troubles getting accurate reads on cloudy days, but all in all a great app. $9.99, but worth every penny. 


Babbel- Learn or brush up on a foreign language.  There are lessons they offer for free, if you want more challenging lessons you have to pay for them.  They have this cool feature that helps you learn the correct  pronunciation, too!  You speak and it rates how well you say the word.

Bon'App- Allows you to quickly look up how many calories you are about to scarf down.  I say "McDonald's Chicken Sandwich" and it lists all 13 different chicken sandwiches they offer.  Super easy to use.  Free.

Knitting Row Counter- My latest app-dition...it is a simple counter to help keep track of your rows. (No I'm not 80! It's on my bucket list!) You can have multiple counters at one time.  Free.

What apps are you in love with?