Frugal Novice

Omni Hotel Bayfront Tower Review

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I’ve never been to Corpus Christi before – despite having lived in Texas my entire life – so I was really excited to get the opportunity to travel there and review the Omni Hotel Bayfront Tower. I did a little reading before we left for our trip and discovered their loyalty program, which I promptly joined. This free program allows you to accumulate points toward free nights’ stays or airline miles, and it provides other immediate benefits, including:

complimentary wi-fi
complimentary morning beverages & newspaper delivered to your guest room
complimentary shoe shine & pressing of two items
evening housekeeping service, including turndown

Upon arriving at the hotel, we discovered there were two options for parking – valet service, or the attached parking garage. We opted for the garage the whole weekend and it worked just fine for us. The hotel is literally right across the street from the bay, stretching up 20 stories.

Menu Plan Monday – August 2

First off, before getting into my menu for the week, I have to share another ice cream recipe we’ve discovered (can you tell we love this machine?) today. I know I gave you two recipes Thursday when I reviewed the ice cream maker, but this one is too good not to share. It’s CINNAMON. Cinnamon ice cream is a totally new thing for me and I never would have thought about using that flavor in something cold, but it is so good! Here’s a link to the recipe on allrecipes.com. I read some reviews before we made it, and one person suggested having this with warm apple crisp. We’re totally going to try that sometime this fall.

Ok, on to our meal plan for the week. It’s going to sound pretty redundant from last week because there are several meals we didn’t end up making. One night some friends brought over Chinese food, so we didn’t end up cooking after all, and another night I ended up making pasta instead when we had company. Soooo, don’t feel like you’re experiencing deja vue when you read some of the meals for the week. :)

Monday: Baked chicken with homemade mashed potatoes & green beans

Tuesday: Kung Pao chicken (that great recipe from Food on the Table!)

Wednesday: Buffalo chicken pizza

Thursday: Homemade tomato basil soup – this is the link to when I posted the recipe for pasta sauce. I mentioned then that we sometimes add cream to make it soup, and that’s what we’re doing this week! I’ll buy a baguette, slice it up and put it under the broiler to make it extra crispy for dipping.

Friday & Saturday: Noooo plans – eating out! Why, you ask? J’s BIRTHDAY PARTY IS SATURDAY!!! And maybe I’m equally as excited as he is. :) I figure Friday night I’ll be busy finishing his cake, and Saturday night we’ll be exhausted from festivities. So we’re planning to be lazy for our meals. Can I just say, as an aside, that I seriously can’t believe he’s about to be three? I’m sure I’ll be posting more about that later this week.

I have several fun posts coming up this week – I have photos to share from our trip down to Corpus Christi and our stay at the Omni Hotel Bayfront Tower… plus, I have three (in honor of J turning three) giveaways! I have to confess I meant to get at least one of these posted last week, but it’ll be fun to get all three started this week. Keep an eye out!

Have an absolutely wonderful week, everyone! And seriously, if you have any good recipes (ice cream or otherwise) please pass them my way! Now that we’re busier I feel like I have less time to find something new to try, so we’re slipping into our food rut. Heeeelp!

Trina Travel Bag Review

When we travel now as a family of four, it’s even more important to me that I have my things organized, because the likelihood of everything staying in order is pretty slim. Since we’re taking more with us, I also have to pack smartly to use space the best way.

Trina cosmetic bags and travel accessories allow you to pack efficiently and travel stylishly. Take this weekender bag, for instance:

Friendly Friday – July 30

Welcome to Friendly Friday!

Remember, YOU can host the link list on your blog too! Just click “Get the code here…” at the bottom of the list. The code is different every week, so be sure to get the new code when hosting Friendly Friday on your blog. Hosting the list is a great way for everyone to get even more traffic to their blog.

Thanks for joining the Friendly Friday celebration hosted by Christi at Frugal Novice, Xenia at Thanks, Mail Carrier and Charla at Healthy Home Blog! We invite you to join us every Friday to make more friends in blogville, get more blog followers and follow other great blogs out there.

To join in the Friendly Friday celebration, include your link in our list, follow the hostesses in the first 3 spots and then start blog hopping! Visit other blogs on the list and comment to give them some blog love. Then take a minute to follow them through Google Friend Connect – this is a good way to keep up with other blogs, but also lets us show support to each other! Please DO NOT list your giveaways here, links must be to either your homepage or your Friday posting with your blog title. All others will be deleted.

When people comment on your blog and let you know they’re a part of Friendly Friday, return the favor and follow them back. This way everyone gets traffic and followers out of participating, and it’s a win-win situation. We would love for you to also grab our Friendly Friday button and post it on your blog and/or in a post – the more bloggers that find out about Friendly Friday and participate, the better! Continue Reading…

CSN Stores – Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker Review

I’ve been to several of the CSN Stores sites before, so I knew what a wide variety of items they had available for purchase. I was especially interested in their store Cookware.com since I love to cook and find new kitchen gadgets. When I got offered the chance to do a review, I knew pretty quickly what I’d choose – the Cuisinart Pure Indulgence Frozen Yogurt, Sorbet, and Ice Cream Maker.

Ice cream makers I’d seen in the past were big and bulky, with the need for rock salt and ice to surround the bucket. That also meant there was a mess to deal with after-the-fact. With the Cuisinart ice cream maker, there’s none of that. This is a compact machine that fits neatly on the counter top, not to mention the stainless steel finish that fits in well with other appliances.

Brugo Mug Winner

Thanks so much to everyone who entered – and if you didn’t win, you can go here to buy your own Brugo mug!

The winner is…..

Angie! Congratulations, Angie!

Menu Plan Monday – July 26-31

Hi everyone! I missed Menu Plan Monday last week, and let me tell you, it threw my entire week off for meals. We ended up eating a lot of pasta since that’s what I had on hand. We went to Corpus Christi last weekend to review the Omni Hotel Bayfront Tower, and got back Sunday evening – the night before I started my new job the next morning. As you can imagine, this week our house has been completely disorganized. It was really nice to have this weekend to get caught up on everything around the house.

This week we’re having a lot of our regulars, because although I’m together enough to meal plan, I didn’t have the time to hunt around for some new recipes to try. Plus, we’ve expended our new-recipe energy trying out our new ice cream maker from CSN Stores! We made a lemon sorbet last week and this weekend we tried mint chocolate chip. I’ll share recipes for both of those when I get my review post for the ice cream maker up – we loved both of them.

On to our meals for the week: Continue Reading…

Friendly Friday July 23

Welcome to Friendly Friday!

Spotlight on Friendly Friday Followers!
We love your participation and want to show it! In addition to gaining followers, each week we’ll select three blogs at random and will feature links and a write-up for those blogs in the content of next week’s Friendly Friday post. There are so many seriously wonderful blogs out there, and this will be a great way to highlight some of those each week. Say hello to the lucky chosen 3 for this week (and feel free to stop by and give them a little extra love):

Jodi at Jodibee Designs likes to have conversations with her readers where she talks about everyday life such as jewelry and things like her search for online bake shop goodies. She found a site where one can order some delicious items online (all four goodies look good!). Jodi also has giveaways on her site and gives info about some great deals.

Kimberly at Oh My Baby tells about J, her son who is soon to be four years old and has finished his first year of preschool. He helps out with her reviews of products that are toy related. Not only does Kimberly have reviews of products but she has several giveaways and also an online “Oh My Baby Store” as well where she offers a wide selection of personalized baby items.

Tanyia at Surviving Motherhood is a stay at home mom of three girls, married to her high school sweetheart. She’s interested in crafts, cooking & baking, music & books, and much more. Tanyia shares many ideas about scrapbook graphics and where to get freebies. She has a recipe section which features photos & recipes such as Chicken Cordon Bleu Burgers and other mouth-watering recipes.

Now that you know about these 3 wonderful blogs, it’s time for you to join in! Add your link below and we’ll see you back here every Friday! And don’t forget, you can grab the code to share the link list on your blog too.

All three hostesses appreciate followers through GFC and Twitter, and we’ll follow you back – be sure to leave a comment with your URL and/or Twitter username. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

CLR Stainless Steel Cleaner – Review & Giveaway

I’ve used CLR before and know from experience how well it has worked, so I was excited when offered the chance to review one of CLR’s newest products, their Stainless Steel Cleaner. We, like many others, have a big stainless steel refrigerator in our kitchen that never seems to be clean. I have to admit I’m a little embarrassed to show you our “before” photo, but here it is:

Fingerprints EVERYWHERE! I’ve tried using some stainless steel wipes before but it took a lot of elbow grease to get any sort of result, and even then the fridge still looked smudged. Well, I tried CLR’s spray, and here’s what our fridge looked like about a minute later:

You can definitely see the difference on the right side where I used the cleaner – and you can see the left side, which hadn’t been cleaned yet, which really shows the contrast of how clean it got.

This was incredibly easy to use – I just sprayed it on the refrigerator from about 6 inches away, then wiped it off with medium pressure. I did follow that with one more wipe-down using a clean cloth, but that was it! I’ll definitely be using this for all stainless steel cleaning – including our big gas grill out on our patio!

FIVE of you will get the chance to try CLR’s Stainless Steel Cleaner for free! This giveaway works a little differently – you have to be quick on the draw. Ready?

The first five people who do the following three things will receive one free Stainless Steel Cleaner:

“Like” CLR’s Facebook page
Comment on CLR’s Facebook wall with this statement “Visiting from the Frugal Novice, where I read about your new Stainless Steel Cleaner!”
Come back here and comment. I will be checking to make sure you’ve done the first two items to validate your win!

Note: CLR provided me with a container of Stainless Steel Cleaner for review, and with five containers for a giveaway. Opinions provided are honest and remain my own. I was not compensated monetarily for this review.

ProFlowers Gift Basket Review

Brian has used ProFlowers many times to send me arrangements for Valentine’s Day and anniversaries, but I didn’t know about their line of gift baskets until recently. They have a wide variety of baskets perfect for any occasion, and most recently unveiled a new line of birthday gift baskets. From fruit to spa kits to chocolate (Ghirardelli!) it’s easy to find something special to send to someone you love.

We got the chance to sample a basket, and I chose the Gourmet Indulgence Basket.

The basket everything was contained in is really nice and I, being a person that loves baskets and trays, will definitely find a use for it around the house. It was filled with a big selection of treats – chocolate covered graham crackers, peanut brittle, cookies, fruit candies, and more. We had some friends over to share the basket with us since there’s no way we could eat all that on our own! It was a lot of fun sampling from all of the different boxes. My personal favorite was the peanut brittle!

There were a few items in the basket I didn’t care for as much, like the Almond Roca, but for the most part I liked everything. This would be a fun basket to send to one person or a group – the wide variety of snacks ensures there will be something for everyone. If you want to send a gift basket to one of your loved ones, go visit the ProFlowers site!

Note: I received a gift basket from ProFlowers for review, but my opinion was not influenced and remains my own. I was not compensated monetarily for my review.

Boon Review & Giveaway

Ever since J was first born I’ve been a big fan of Boon products – they’re items every parent needs, but with a new twist. When we were first trying to teach J how to use a sippy cup we bought their cup Fluid, which gives chubby little fingers an easy shape to grip – J took to it right from the start! It also helps that their products have a clean, modern look that fits right in with what we love.

Boon sent us three products to try – the Snack Ball: