YouTube Tuesday!!

Have I ever mentioned that I am obsessed with YouTube??? Well Im sure most of you have figured it out if you are a frequent reader of my blog. Seriously I could spend hours on that site!!! So this weeks pick is yet again from my YouTube fave, Tyler Ward! I subscribe to his channel so I was thrilled when I saw that he just added this cover. This week's pick is "Set Fire To the Rain" by Adele, performed by Tyler Ward. Enjoy!!!

Bad Reality TV

The Author of this post is Kory Dotson

I love to watch TV, and I am a huge fan of my direct tv package. I get everything I want for a price I can afford, which is awesome. Who cares if I like bad reality TV? Lately I have become obsessed with the new season of the Real World. I think I like it so much because the cast is so awesomely bad. I remember when I was younger I thought that the casts of The Real World seasons were so cool. A lot has changed in 15 years! Is it me, or have they gone from choosing young people with purpose and ambition, to choosing drunk college dropouts whose only interests are hooking up and looking hot? Whatever the case is, they’re a lot of fun to watch. One of my favorite things is watching them get drunk and fight. Who does that kind of stuff? I admit that I am glad I don’t have my early 20’s on tape, but I don’t think I was anywhere near their level of ineptitude. Hopefully when I have kids they won’t grow up to be like these idiots!

New obsession...Sneakpeeq!!

Well I just discovered a new site that will help me waste time online...Sneakpeeq!!!! For those of you who haven't heard of the site, its a cool little shopping site that features a bit of everything! I recently signed up for it, and discovered some cute jewelry, purses, and Puma clothes and shoes. Oh and did I mention that you can get it for up to 70% off retail price?!!?

I absolutely LOVE this Puma jacket!!! The retail price is $80, but the Sneakpeeq price is only $48!!! Oh and I forgot to mention that just for signing up you get a $10 credit, making the above jacket only $38!!! Love it!!

With sneakpeeq, you click on the products you like and they will show you the retail price. You then click on the "peeq for your price" button and it will tell you what you will end up paying (plus 5.95 shipping). You are allowed 20 "peeqs" per day, and they seem to add different shops quite frequently. It seriously is kind of addicting :).

So, if you are like me and LOVE shopping, I highly recommend checking them out today. All you need to do is click on the banner located towards the top of my blog and it will take you there. I should let you know that in order to become a member you need a Facebook page with the new "timeline" format. If you haven't already changed to timeline, you might as well do it because as of Feb. 2, they will all be automatically changed anyways.

Check it out and let me know what you think!!!

YouTube Tuesday!!

This week's video is from a young girl who I actually first discovered on the HTC commercials a while back. She was singing the song "Wavin' Flag" in the commerical and I thought she was GREAT! After finding out who it was singing in the commercial, I discovered she did a cover of  "Born This Way" that has over 47 MILLION views! Insane!!! She has a great voice though, especially for being as young as she is. This week's pick is Maria Aragon singing "Born this Way". Enjoy!! If you do like the video below, I highly recommend checking out her version of "Wavin' Flag" too!!

Weekly Song Wednesday!!!

I actually discovered this week's song after hearing it in McDonalds and using the SoundHound App on my phone to find out what it was. Oh and let me just say, that is a great app. If you don't have it I highly recommend it. It allows you to find out the name of the song, artist, and even lyrics just by hearing a few seconds of the song. I hate when I hear a song and don't have a clue what it is. Love this app!!! Oh and its free so check it out! Anyways this week's pick is "Car Crash" by Matt Nathanson.Turns out this song is from around 2007, but  I'm pretty sure I only heard this song recently and I fell in love with it!! Give it a listen and let me know what you think!

YouTube Tuesday!!

So I think from now on, "YouTube Tuesday" will mainly be covers of various songs from different singers. You never know, one of the millions of people on YouTube could be the next American Idol, X Factor, Voice, etc. winner. Then you can remember seeing them on "Its All Random" first. Highly unlikely, but you never know right :). So this week's video is a song I LOVE, "Colder Weather" by Zac Brown Band. The featured artist of the week is Mitch Rossell. Enjoy!!!

My 5 Monday

Well I almost didn't do a "My 5 Monday" for this week, but while watching the Golden Globes, I was able to think of a topic. This weeks "My 5 Monday" is "Movies I Really Need/Want to Watch". Now before I go any further, don't worry, most of these movies are not "Golden Globe" worthy (apparently). While watching these awards, I decided that the Hollywood Foreign Press and I have completely different opinions on what movies are "good" . With the exception of a very few, I have no desire to see many of the nominated films. Actually, I generally never agree with the Oscar or Golden Globe best picture nominees. For some reason they are obsessed with movies that take place hundreds of years ago. Not exactly my cup of tea! Before I get started with my list, let me just say this weekend I watched this movie

and absolutely loved it. I actually preferred this one over "No Strings Attached" which is the same plot, but I guess I prefer JT to Ashton. I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it yet. Now on to this weeks list:

1. Bridesmaids

Uber popular movie of the summer and I hear its actually LOL hilarious. Really need to see this one soon. I actually don't own this one yet, so looks like I will need to Redbox it.

2. Water for Elephants

My friends seem to think this is the best movie ever, so I guess I will have to finally watch it. Didn't seem to appealing to me when I first saw the previews, but I have heard nothing but good things about it. Also, I picked it up on Black Friday for a great price, so I might as well actually watch it right?

3. 50/50

This movie actually is nominated for a Golden Globe, so maybe I won't like it after all. Seems pretty good though and the fact that its in the COMEDY category leads me to believe he doesn't die in the end. I have a feeling I am wrong about that theory though.

4. Remember Me

I bought this movie shortly after it came out on DVD and was so excited to watch it. Somehow I still haven't watched it though. I recently heard my co-workers talking about this one though and they were saying good things so thats a plus. I think this will be the next movie I actually sit down to watch.

5. Country Strong

Picked this movie up on Black Friday also. Got a good deal on this one too, so at least if I don't end up liking it, I'm not out too much money.

Have you seen any of the movies mentioned above??? Are there any that aren't at all worth watching?? Let me know!!!

Taco Casserole Recipe :)

Well if you read my post on my goals for 2012, you will remember that one of them was to try a new recipe every couple weeks (also to coupon more which I will get to later :)). So today I decided to try a recipe, which I found in a Campbell's cookbook. The recipe was for a taco casserole and it seemed pretty easy and didn't require a lot of ingredients, so sounded like a good one to me. Here it is:

1 lb ground beef or ground turkey

1 can (10 3/4 oz) tomato soup

1 cup salsa

1/2 cup UNCOOKED white rice

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup slightly crushed tortilla chips

1/2 cup cheddar cheese

1. Cook meat in 10 inch skillet, until well-browned. Drain off any excess fat after cooking.

2. Mix soup, rice, milk, and salsa in skillet with cooked meat. Stir together.

3. Pour or spoon mixture into 1.5 quart cassrole dish and cover (I acutally used a 2 quart dish, no biggie)

4. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. Stir

5. Line edges with crushed tortilla chips and top with cheese (I honestly didnt measure my cheese out, just used enough to my preference).

Makes 4 servings

The final product:

The cheese only took a couple minutes to melt. I also added a little sour cream to my serving, which was pretty good. Turned out pretty good, and didn't take long to prepare at all. Good for a quick weeknight meal!

Oh and as I mentioned above, one of my other resolutions was to start couponing again. Check out what I was able to get today from Kroger:

Tide: Reg price 7.99- On sale for 5.99 with Kroger card

Duracell: Reg. price 4.49- On sale for 3.99 with Kroger card

Crest: Reg. price 3.52- On sale for 2.69 with Kroger card

Herbal Essences shampoo: Reg. price 2.99

So here we go, I had a $2 off coupon for the Tide and a $1off coupon for the batteries, shampoo and toothpaste. My Kroger doubles up to $1 so that took off an extra $2.69 (my store doesn't do overages), making my total saved with coupons $7.69. They also had a P&G event sale going on, meaning if you bought 4 P&G products you got an automatic $4 off your total. So subtract the $7.68 from coupons and then the $4 from the event sale and I saved a whopping $11.68!!! Bringing my final total for all the above NAME BRAND products to $3.98 (plus tax)!! Not too shabby at all seeing as how the Tide is normally twice that much alone! So glad I'm back to couponing!!

Weekly Song Wednesday!!

It's the return of "Weekly Song Wednesday"!!!! Aren't you all so excited?!? Well this week's songs is actually a few months old, but since I haven't done one of these in a while, I don't care :). This week's song is "It Will Rain" by Bruno Mars. I basically love anything Bruno Mars puts out and this is no exception. Give it a listen!!

YouTube Tuesday!!

Well since I'm back into blogging reguarly, I figured I would continue with the "YouTube Tuesdays". I have featured the artist seen below a few times before, but I seriously think he is AMAZING!!! This week's YouTube video is from Tyler Ward & Boyce Avenue, singing Coldplay's "Fix You". Thought this was a great song before I heard it by them, but now I love it even more! Check it out!!!

My 5 Monday!!! Favorite American Idol Performances

It's the return of "My 5 Monday"!!!! Yay!!!! I am doing pretty well with my "blog more" resolution if I do say so myself! So I had a hard time coming up with a topic for this weeks "My 5", so I decided with American Idol getting ready to start soon, I would do MY 5 Favorite American Idol performances. Now I am going to be honest and say I wasn't too excited with anyone these past couple of seasons so none of my picks are from the last couple years. While recalling all my favorite contestants, I found it was very hard to narrow it down to just 5. A lot of my faves were good every week, but I just picked one from each of them. Oh and I tried not to pick the most common ones that all the critics rave about either. So here we go, MY 5 Favorite AI Performances:

1. Kris Allen- To Make You Feel My Love

When Kris Allen was first seen by America, he was basically an unknown. We saw about 1.5 secs of him in his audition and then a couple mins of him in Hollywood week.  When he first performed for votes with "Man in the Mirror", I LOVED it and thought he was absolutely adorable, but didn't have much hope of him getting through since they were only advancing three people from that night. Well obviously everyone else loved him too, and as we all know he went on to win the entire season. Now many people will say their fave performances from him were "Heartless" or "Ain't No Sunshine". I loved these ones too, but my most favorite by Kris was "To Make You Feel My Love". LOVED IT!!!! I tried to insert the actual performance video, but the embedding was disabled, so I had to go with the studio version. If you forgot, how great the actual performance was, I recommend you YouTube it now :). Oh and Kris has to be the most adorable contestant in the show's history.

2. Chris Daughtry- What a Wonderful World

Well we all know Chris should've won his season, but clearly losing didn't hurt him at all. Of course I loved all of Chris' performances, but I think my faves were when he left his comfort zone. "What a Wonderful World" really showed a different side to him, and I thought it was great! In a close second, was his peformance of "Suspicious Minds".

3. Elliot Yamin- If I Can Dream

Well after Chris got voted off, Elliot was the only hope for saving Season 5, but of course he got voted off right after Chris and Taylor Hicks won (WTF?!). Elliot definetly had my votes, but clearly Taylor seemed to have the vote support. I basically loved everything this guy did, but I guess this would have to be my favorite from him. Too many good ones of his to choose from though!

4. David Archuleta- And So It Goes

Little David had a lot of memorable performances on the show, "Imagine" was probably the most talked about, which is why I didn't pick it. I loved his verson of "Angels" too, but I actually loved when he did this song, especially the acapella part at the beginning. I had forgotten that Paula had picked this song for him until watching the clip, so kudos to her for once.

5. Jason Castro- Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Well I just LOVED his performance of this song. I got it on my ipod and I still listen to it pretty frequently. Oh and I also found a version similar to this one by Kris Allen so I loved that one too. Great version of this song, perfection by Jason!!! Also loved "Hallelujah" when he did it. Nice, smooth voice he has!

Honorable Mentions

Lakisha Jones- "And I'm Telling You"

Can't forget the hometown girl LaKisha!! I remember when I first saw this performance, they showed her interview before and I saw she was from Flint, MI. After I saw that, all I was thinking was "please don't suck"!! Well clearly she didn't, she just blew everyone away with this performance. Great way to start off!! Also loved her version of Bon Jovi's "This Ain't A Love Song". (Youtube that too!!)

Matt Giraud- Who's Loving You

I'd have to say, I am glad that Matt didn't make it through initally and got brought back for the Wild Card show. Not only did he open up a spot for my guy Kris Allen to get through, but he also got to do this performance. Absolutely love it!!! Oh and he is also from Michigan so that makes it even better!!

So there you have it! My favorite performances from Idol history. Like I said, the last few seasons haven't really blown me away, so hopefully this season has some people that make my all time fave list!

Anyone Know of Some Good Etsy Shops??

I need your help! I moved last summer and I still don't have many things on my bedrooms walls. I know there are tons of great etsy shops out there, but it takes an eternity to search through all of them! Do any of you know of anyone that has one with wall decor??

Week One of 2012 and I am Sticking to My Resolutions :)

So I know it is only week 1 of the new year, but so far I have met one of my monthly goals of donating to a charity by renewing my membership in the World Wildlife Fund. I made my donation for the month of January today for $17. Its not a lot, but it will sure help with something I bet! Oh and look at the cute bags they are sending me as a thank you:

How cute are those!!!

The shopping thing is a little bit harder. I did buy some throw pillows for the couch today at Target, but I got 2 for $12.99 so that's a pretty good deal right? Oh and WBshop.com had my new obsession, The Big Bang Theory, on sale for only $14, so I had to buy seasons 1-3 of that. I am calling it good for now though! No more buying anything for me except groceries until next paycheck. We will see how well that works out :).

The blogging more goal is going strong since this is, I believe, my fourth post of the new year.

I also plan on using coupons at the grocery store and buying the ingredients to try out a new recipe for this week, so we will count those as good too :).

Finally, my last resolution was to get more organized and with nothing on the agenda for tomorrow, I plan on getting some cleaning and organization done then.

One week down, only 51 more to go!!

Love Wine?? Check this out!!

Brought To By Wine.com, Purveyors of Fine Wine and Champagne

If you are a wine drinker I found this great web site where you can find many wine options among numerous other things! Right now they even have a year end clearance going on so you can get up to 50% off select wines! Oh and your first order shipping is only a penny!!! You pretty much can't beat that! So head to Wine.com now and check it out!!

Welcome 2012!!! Time for some new goals!!

As I posted yesterday, I made a lot of goals last year and if you read my post, you know many of them didn't quite pan out. So of course since I was so successful last year, I figured I would make another list of goals for this year! So here they are, things I want to accomplish in 2012 (oh and I will spare you the traditional lose weight, eat better, etc. type :) ):

1. BLOG MORE!!!!

I have fallen so far behind with my blogging its ridiculous. Although it is only January 2 and I am two for two for the year so far, so that's an improvement right? I plan on posting reviews on various items including products, books, movies, and TV shows. Although I've decided that I think I will take this season off from "Idol Live with Nicole". Its just too time consuming and I seem to be losing interest in the show. I will be posting various ramblings, recipes, and other sorts of randomness so stay tuned and please, please leave me some comments so I know that I still have readers!!! I LOVE when you all leave me comments!!! I also plan on getting back into keeping up with the blogs I follow also. Love those giveaways you all have!!

2.  Become More Organized!

OK so I know this is one of those traditional ones that many people make, but I really need to do it! Last summer I moved from a one bedroom to a two bedroom apartment, so I have more storage space now so this is a goal that I should be able to meet. In the next few months I plan on going through all my clothes and donating a ton of them. I have way too many and if I haven't worn it in over a year, chances are I won't miss it right?

3. Shop Less!!!!

I absolutely LOVE shopping. There are of course things I buy that I actually need, but I also buy things just because I want them. Now I know we all do this, but I need to cut back on the "want" things. I've decided that I am going to make a "wish list" of the things that I want to buy and then buy one or two items, depending on cost, with each paycheck. This way I won't splurge, but will still get the things I want. This Christmas I don't think I used credit cards at all so I have been basically broke the last few weeks so I haven't done a lot of personal shopping. This being said, my goal should be easy to meet! Oh and I will not be buying any "want" items unless they are on sale!!

4. Try Out A New Recipe Every Two Weeks

I would say I would try a new recipe every week, but that won't happen with me. So every two weeks is more realistic. I live alone so cooking for one seems like a waste of time sometimes, but leftovers always make good, cheap lunch options! I have tons of cookbooks too so I might as well use them right? I will post some of the ones that turn out good for you all to try out also :)

5. Start Couponing Again

I went through a phase where I was couponing pretty regularly, but then stopped for some reason. So starting with this weeks grocery trip, I will be back to using coupons. I absolutely love it when I can get my toiletries and some of my food items for free to close to it. I did hear that Kroger will be done with their doubling up to a $1 though sometime soon, so that bums me out :(. Saving some money is better than none though!

6. Donate to Charity Monthly

This was one of my goals from last year and like I mentioned I did somewhat well with it, but then got behind the second part of the year. I am ready to get back to it starting with this weeks check though! I have received so many free gifts from various charities lately so I guess its time I pay them back :).

So there are a few goals I have for this year. They all seem reasonable so there really is no reason why I can't make them happen!!

What are some of your goals for this year?? Please share below, I would love to hear them!!!

Let's See How I Did on Last Year's Resolutions.... :)

Happy New Year everyone!! Hope you all had a happy and safe New Year's Eve. I personally hung out at home, but that was fine with me :). So tomorrow I will be posting my resolutions for 2012, but before I do that I thought I would see how I did on last years goals. I went back through my blog to refresh my memory on what they were, so here we go:

1. Lose some weight/get more in shape:

 

Negative....although I don't think I gained any so I guess that's something right :)

 

 

2. Try to be more optimistic:

 

Hmmm yea this may have happened at the beginning of the year, but can't say I made it all 365 days with a postive outlook :(

3. Go to a Detroit Tigers game!!!

 

YES!!!! I did make it to a game this season. The Sunday of opening weekend to be exact :). They lost, but always a good time! Oh and they made it to the playoffs so maybe I need to go to opening weekend every season!

 

 

4. Go on vacation somewhere!

 

Negative!! Although I spent a good chunk of money moving and buying new furniture so I guess that's something. That by the way, was not one of my goals last year.

 

 

5. Make it "up north" again this summer:

 

Didn't make it up to Higgins Lake this summer, but thats partly because my BFF was prego throughout the summer and had an absolutely ADORABLE baby girl Taylor :).

6. Blog more!!!!

 

Hmm well I think I started out the year pretty well with the updates. My "Child of the 90's" posts were and still are pretty successful. Really got behind on the blogging towards the second half of the year though. I am determined to get back to it though! Stick with me my lovely readers!!

7. So for my last resolution I decided this year I am going to donate to a different charity every month.

 

Well I did this for about the first six months of the year. Then I moved and fell really behind on it. I do have an automatic donation taken from my account once a month to the Childrens Miracle Network so at least I was still somewhat chartiable! Gonna try this one again too this year!!

 

 

So looks like I wasn't too successful this past year. Hopefully 2012, I stick to the resolutions!!! I guess the fact that some goals were met is better than none though right??

 

How about you?? DId you stick to your resolutions from 2011?? Leave me a comment and let me know!!!

 

Stay tuned for this years goals/ resolutions!!!