Going Organic

This post brought to you by Whitney Farms. All opinions are 100% mine.

It's a beautiful spring day today so I'm sitting outside enjoying the sunshine. I'm also plotting...garden plotting, that is. I'm not an expert gardener or anything but I really enjoy experimenting and seeing what I can grow.

I always keep a small herb garden with basil, oregano, rosemary, and various other herbs. And I absolutely love tomatoes so those are always a summer garden staple for me. Right now I'm deciding what else I want to plant. I've also decided that I want to make the leap this year and go organic in my garden, so I've been researching organic soil and organic plant food and I think I'm going to go with Whitney Farms®. Their products are high quality, with low dust, no odor, and all of the nutrients that your plants need to survive and thrive. They've also been in business for more than 25 years so I feel like I can trust that even though I don't always know exactly what I'm doing in my garden, they definitely know their stuff.

My goal is to keep learning and experimenting until I can produce a garden full of yumminess like this:

I can't wait to see what Whitney Farms® products can do for my garden this year! There's a $3 coupon available now, so if you're a fellow gardener you should definitely try it out for yourself and see what you think. I'd also love some feedback if anyone has tried Whitney Farms products, or if you just have some gardening tips for me. What are you favorite things to plant in your gardens? How do you keep your garden healthy and happy? Is it important to you that you eat (and grow) organic produce whenever you can?

In the meantime, I'll be here in my yard starting my tomato countdown. Happy spring!

 

Important Info on Walgreens and Prescriptions

This post brought to you by Walgreens. All opinions are 100% mine.

Today I want to give everyone a heads up about something that may affect you or someone you know if you use Express Scripts and get your prescriptions at Walgreens (or Duane Reade). The contract between Walgreens and Express Scripts expired at the end of last year and they've been unable to negotiate a new one, so now Walgreens isn't part of their pharmacy provider network anymore. This means that a lot of people are going to have to switch pharmacies even if they don't want to, and because Walgreens is the pharmacy benefit manager for Tricare, this includes many members of the military and their families. (Walgreens tried to work with Express Scripts to find a way to deal with Tricare separately so that military families wouldn't be affected, but they were unsuccessful in their efforts.)

Many people are understandably upset about this situation, since the change will be an inconvenience for many and is unlikely to save them money or have any other benefits. According to a press release from Walgreens, more than 250,000 people have signed a petition demanding continued access to Walgreens pharmacies through Tricare. (You can check it out for yourself here: Walgreens and Express Scripts.) Walgreens is also taking action - they're working to make the transition as easy as possible for those customers who will have to make the switch, and they're also running a special January promotion for their own Prescription Savings Club at Walgreens. Right now you can get a family membership for just $10 or an individual one for $5. The regular prices are $35 and $20 so it's a big savings, and being in the program means you can save on all generic drugs and more than 8000 brand name drugs. If you're affected by this issue it's definitely a great option to consider.

Please pass on this information to anyone that you know who may be affected by this situation, and be sure to follow Walgreens on Facebook and Walgreens on Twitter to stay updated.

A new fall clutch for my birthday

Guest post written by Chandra Harper

I'm not really that crazy about celebrating my birthday, but I've always enjoyed getting presents. So this year I decided to buy myself a birthday present. I've been thinking about getting an oversized clutch for months now and finally have a reason to buy an expensive bag for myself. At first I was worried about how foolish that would be to do that, but I've decided that I'm turning 30 and it's a big birthday. So I deserve it.

I went online with my Mobile broadband 4g to find all kinds of choices for my big birthday purchase. Well I found lots of bags, but some were out of even the generous price range that I gave myself.

After quite a bit of online shopping around, I came across this great fall clutch that's made of distressed brown leather and has a really nice turn lock clasp. It looks very vintage and I think that's what appealed to me about it. There's nothing like a cute new bag to show off to give you a little more pep in your step.

My very first Fashion's Night Out

Guest post written by Tina Haverford

When I first heard that they were doing a Fashion's Night Out event in New York City two years ago I was a little confused about what exactly this event was but then once I realized what it really was, I thought it sounded fantastic and decided that I wish I could go to it. Well, I unfortunately haven't really been able to enjoy it until this year because they're doing so many events around the country for the third annual one.

I've been using my Clear Las Vegas to look up all kinds of events and appearances that are going to be a part of the event. As soon as they released all of the info for it, I started planning out a schedule with my friends of what we should go and see.

My sister lives in Washington, D.C. so she went to a few of the Fashion's Night Out DC. Although, I kind of envy the people in New York who are able to get around to all of the stuff a lot easier.

Hurricane Prep With Premium Rum

This post brought to you by Diageo. All opinions are 100% mine.

Hurricane Irene is getting ready to hit the East Coast this weekend, so everyone has gone into full hurricane prep mode.  I had to laugh at how many comments I saw from people that went something like "I went out and bought a bottle of _____ at the liquor store, so I'm good to go".  Not the worst plan of action, I say.

Personally, I'm a rum girl, and luckily I've got a bottle of Zacapa premium rum ready to go. This rum is special because the part of Guatemala where it's made basically has the perfect conditions for cultivating sugar cane.  It's even grown in volcanic soil, which just sounds cool.  It's also unique because they use only the concentrated first press of sugar cane as a base for their rum, while most other rums use molasses as a base.  And did a I mention the special aging process that has been used for 500 years?  Yeah, this stuff is just really cool.

So I've got my premium dark rum and my flashlight and I'm ready to survive Irene.  If you want to learn more about Zacapa rum, just click on http://bit.ly/pvKdC9 to join the Zacapa Society.  You'll be very glad you did.

Straight Talk All the Way

This post brought to you by Straight Talk. All opinions are 100% mine.

Awhile ago I mentioned that my cell phone contract was about to expire, so I was looking at new options.  After doing a bunch of research I've decided to go with Straight Talk.  There's no contract required, and with all of the research that I did I started to feel like the whole contract thing is on its way out.  Why be tied down by one when you can get everything you need without it?

Of course, price is a major deciding factor.  I could get unlimited service (with calls, texting, everything I need) for just $45 a month or $499 a year, with none of those pesky activation or termination fees.  The also have an affordable plan for international long distance, so I can call a friend anytime no matter where they are. (In fact, it was actually a friend's mother who first mentioned Straight Talk to me because she likes her plan so much. Guess it's true that mom knows best.)

Even though Straight Talk is really affordable (I'm spending my future cell phone bill savings in my head already), that doesn't mean that they only offer cheap or outdated phones. They've got a great selection of phones to choose from with all of the features that you could ever want.  If I want to I can get the same LG phone I'm using now, and great coverage too.  Really, the only downside is that I didn't switch to Straight Talk sooner.

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Military Friendly Education With The Martinsburg Institute

This post brought to you by Martinsburg Institute. All opinions are 100% mine.

I was talking to a friend of mine last night about taking classes online.  It was kind of funny, because he's in the military and I'm a bohemian writer type, but online learning fits really well into our totally different lives. 

He was telling me about this really cool thing called the Martinsburg Institute. They have a bunch of different programs specifically intended for military personnel.  They can all be done online from wherever in the world you happen to be, even if you don't always have internet access.  It's all designed to provide the support and flexibility that members of the military and their families need to be successful.  (If you've ever been in the military or you know someone who has, you can imagine how challenging it can be to work on your education at the same time.)

My friend is still thinking about which program to go with, but he's leaning towards a degree or certificate in something business-related because he thinks that will be the most helpful as far as his post-military career.  I'm happy to have a friend to compare online learning notes with, and I'm really happy that he's got a program like the Martinsburg Institute that fits his unique situation so well so that he can continue his education.  Now, I need to get back to work because if he ends up getting better grades than me I'm going to look like a slacker.