Monday, January 28, 2013

2nd Giveaway For Budget Savvy Diva's New Book....

Yes! Yes, I am!! I decided to be a sweet heart and give another book away (hey if it's not the winner buying it it's me, it's a win win situation, right? :D). So many people would like to have her book, and I know some people struggle, so I think this is a good idea on my part to do this!! To help another person out :)

So yeah! You know the drill, put your entry in below and GOOD LUCK!! :)

This giveaway will run from 01/28/2013 at 8:15pm to 02/03/2013 at 6:00pm. The winner will be announced on my blog on 02/03/2013 at 8:00pm. 


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Winner For My Giveaway Of BSD's New Book....

Hi all....

Again thank you ALL for participating in this exciting giveaway!!

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNER!!

Below is the winner (click the blue dot :D).... The winner has 48 hours to message me to claim their prize!! Please contact me via my Facebook page : South African Girl in America :)

http://www.randompicker.com/protocol/21756x88810

Now because this was pretty popular, and there are so many people that really want Budget Savvy Diva's book, I'm going to hold another giveaway for a chance for a second winner!! *The winner of this giveaway (one I just had) cannot enter again* This just allows a fair chance for others :)

I have made a new post for the second giveaway. (This will be the last giveaway for BSD's AMAZINGLY POPULAR book, lol)



**Just wanted to add that for both these giveaways - it was MY idea and NOT BSD's.... This is alllll me :D

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Pencil Cases for School....

I am SO use to using a Space Case or Pencil Bags for my stationery for school, that when it came time to finding one I really liked here I could NOT for the life of me find one!! It was so frustrating. I had decided I wanted a Material Pencil Bag, I spent a week looking for the perfect one. One that was long enough to fit a 30cm ruler and all my other things I needed.

I eventually found a ton on Etsy.com, they were all small though, too short for a 30cm ruler. I went through MANY different peoples stores on there, and didn't find a material or look I really liked!! UNTIL I came across a few Pencil Cases made with the "Mini Owl" material - so freaking cute!! I instantly loved the look of the bags she made and she had an interesting selection of materials to choose from. I ended up messaging her to ask if she would be able to make two Pencil Cases that would fit a 30cm ruler in it, and she replied SO quickly saying she absolutely could. I was so excited, and chose two materials I really liked and she got the order done and out VERY quickly!! I was so SO happy with the service from her and how quickly she did the custom request for me, because I was starting so quickly, I really wanted to get it as soon as I could :)

When I received them I was SO impressed with the quality, and how they were made! I'm sure they are going to last me a LONG time to come :)

Go ahead and have a look at her store : teniamariecreations she has some really cute things!!

Thanks so much again Bernadette!! 




Cute right??



* I was NOT paid for this. This is my personal opinion about this product....

Tear Stains on Dogs -- How To Get Rid of Them....

Have you got light furry balls of fun fluff? Have you battled to keep your wonderful light furry balls FREE of Tear Stains?

Well I answered YES to both of those questions months ago.... I was told briefly about Angels Eyes but never really paid attention to it, until the look of my little Max's VERY tear stained face kind of "shook me" - you know when a person takes their hands, puts them on your shoulders and shakes you? LOL...



I then remembered the Angels Eyes name and started to do some research on it. To my shock it was SO expensive!! For a 2.12 oz bottle of the powder it costs $25. You can order from their site directly, but with doing my homework, it was A LOT cheaper to order it through Walmart.com and choose the "free ship to store" option. You can click here to go directly to the Walmart.com page for the Angels Eyes just to make it easier for you :) Only thing is that on Walmart.com they only have the Beef Flavor. But on the Angels Eyes site they have all of their flavors : Beef Flavor, Chicken Flavor and Sweet Potato Flavor.

I can safely say that I noticed a big difference when using it within the first 2 weeks! Use it as recommended on the bottle and you will not go wrong!! I use it twice a week now and it still works great!

Have a look at the difference in Max's face.... The pic will probably be too small on the screen now, so try clicking on it so you can see it good :)




* I was NOT paid for this. This is my personal opinion about Angel Eyes....

Monday, January 21, 2013

Budget Savvy Diva's New Book - GIVEAWAY!!!!....

So here it is....

I am giving away ONE copy of Budget Savvy Diva's new Book "Budget Savvy Diva's Guide to Slashing Your Grocery BIll by 50% or More. Sara Lundberg."

This is an awesome book, and I know anyone that wins this will enjoy it as much as I have already and I have only had it for 2 days!! Here is my review for I wrote for her on Amazon I wrote hours after I received the package and started going through it : 

"I got this earlier today - and yes I already have a review!! It is such an easy and informative read for ANYONE!! She has some great fun tips on how to save money, I love that part, but also love the tips on doing a meal plan, she makes it so EASY the way she does it!! LOL.... I love how a budget tip book also has recipes to go with the budget, I have personally made some of her recipes she has posted to her website ([...]) and they are SO easy, cheap to make, and every one of them has been delicious and FULL of flavour!!

You will NOT regret buying this book! It's the perfect size to not get overwhelmed with a MASSIVE amount of looooong drawn out tips, they are straight to the point, easy to understand and easy and fun to read - which makes it easier to remember :) Congrats BSD on your new book!! Can't wait for the next one! LOL"

I will need to contact you via your email address if you are the winner so please leave it in the comments. Otherwise make sure to keep an eye out for the winner, and if it is you you can contact me :)


Good luck!! 

Sunday, January 20, 2013

First Week Of Being A Student Again After 8 Years & Two South African Connections....

WOW!! What a week!

So as many of you know I started my first week of studying at Washtenaw Community College this week. It has been quite an adjustment going back to school after 8 years, especially it being evening classes, so it has made for really long days for me (3 in a row), I'm hoping I can get through this first semester with good grades, and actually survive the sleep loss, LOL....



Some will probably say my schedule isn't that bad, but for someone going back into studying after so long I think it is semi-brutal, with it having to be evening classes!! Okay maybe I'm over exaggerating a bit, but still, LOL

I thought I would just run through my first week of my new adventure being a student again in a USA College, for friends and family back home (or anywhere) that are interested in hearing about it :)

So on Monday I went for a mandatory Orientation at the Writing Center at WCC, it is Mandatory for all who sign up for specific English Classes. It was an hour long and they basically told us what to use the Writing Center for, and to give us a list of Assignments that we have to do on our own, which then count towards 25% of our English Grade at the end of the Semester. There are 12 Assignments to do, and starting January 31st they are due every Thursday! Wow!! LOL.... So I started on them so I could be finished with them early and have them behind me, so I can just concentrate on class work.... We had to write a paragraph of what we remembered the lady telling us about the Writing Center, and then take it to one of the Tutors that are always there during the week, to read it and sign it off and file it away. I randomly picked one lady and she ended up being born in South Africa!! How weird is THAT!! Her Mother lives in West Bloomfield (even weirder, coz that's where I Au Paired in 2006 - 2008), lol.... She was super sweet and offered help in all aspects of my life, which I thought was amazing :)

Tuesday evening I had ACS (Academic Skills Seminar), this helps us with how to study etc etc. Have a nice lecturer, she is the International Student Counselor, which is pretty nice if I may say so myself!

I also have a Math class on Tuesday evening, so I end classes at 10pm :( boo! LOL.... 

Anyways, I was pretty nervous about this class, having not done Math for YEARS!! I just didn't know what to expect! He is retired already and now only lectures a few classes.... Anyways it turned out that my lecturer had lived in Swaziland for 2 years with his wife and kids! His son went to a small school with the other missionary kids that were around there with their families and two of his daughters ended up having gone to school in PIETERMARITZBURG - where I come from, now seriously, how weird is that?? LOL.... I must say I was pretty shocked! I couldn't understand how I of all people ended up with a lecturer that had been to SOUTH AFRICA, lived there AND his daughters went to school in PMB, he had been to Durban often and also Johannesburg where friends of theirs they met lived. Funny thing was, that the family they knew in JHB, their son was engaged to one of the ex Miss Michigans while they were there!! LOL

It's just all so shocking to me still, two South African connections in two days and at the same College that I'm going too. Pretty strange but AWESOME at the same time!! :)

On Wednesday I had English, well what can I say about English? It's my first language, but I hate "learning" English, it must be the most boring subject ever, however, I will not complain TOO much about it, as I have to do it and I am enjoying College so far. I will be honest and say I will probably battle a bit with that class, not because I don't know the work and language, but for other reasons, I won't go into detail online for the world to see, and me get into trouble, LOL... One good thing about the class already, is that we all voted to not take a 25 min break in the middle, but to take off 25 min at the end and leave early!! So instead of 9pm ending, it is now 8.30pm :D

Thursdays are a repeat of Tuesday evenings :)

What I like so far is that all of my classes are all in the same building this semester. Which is nice because I can get use to this block and later on know exactly where to go if I have more classes next semester in the same building.




Student Center Building, I love this pic for some reason (I think it's the colour of the trees :) )


This is to the left of the building I have my classes in. I couldn't find a day picture of the side I go into...


This is the side of the building I go into every time. I took this pic on Thursday eve to send to my Mom :)

I am aiming for at LEAST a 2.0 GPA which is a C, I would LOVE to get a 3.0 which is a B, but we will see. This is my first Semester here, first time back at school after a very long time and so I don't want to PUSH my expectations too tooooo hard :) But I will have an update of my end of Semester Grade at the end for sure!!

HERE'S TO A GREAT FIRST WEEK OF THE REST OF MY LIFE AND A DREAM OF MINE!! ELEMENTARY TEACHING DEGREE HERE I COME!!

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Budget Savvy Diva's First Book.... Also a surprise :)

Wow!! I have not been this excited about a package delivery and a post in a while....

Today a VERY exciting package made it's way to my door! It contained TWO amazing books that I have been waiting patiently (well trying to, lol) to be shipped (I pre-ordered them on Amazon a few weeks ago) and be delivered.

I have mentioned before in previous posts (food posts) how I follow Budget Savvy Diva on Facebook and get the recipes I have made from her. I have also got a page on my Blog dedicated to her and her AMAZING Frugal Recipes, with their links to her website.

WELL she now has a BOOK!! I am so freaking excited to have now received that book and can't wait to start trying out her amazing Frugal Recipes and slashing my grocery bill by 50% or more.... You can order her book on Amazon here. You seriously won't regret buying it! The recipes are also so EASY!! She also has a ton of awesome tips on how to save money in many areas of shopping!




Now I have something even more exciting (the surprise :)).... I decided to get TWO of these amazing books because I thought it would be fun (and nice) to give one away (I'm keeping one obviously, duh! haha).... Soooo I will be having another giveaway soon :) In the next 2 days or so, so watch out for my giveaway post so you can enter and who knows maybe you'll be the lucky winner!! :)

Have a great weekend friends!!

 

Friday, January 11, 2013

Just Have To Say.... And Teachers Blogs I Love...

I just got to say this.... I can't wait until I can start a Teachers Blog! I just wish I knew how to make all those cutesy things the other Teachers Blogs I'm finding are making, LOL...

They are so awesome (the Teachers that do the blogging), they are most definitely going to be giving me some awesome ideas - so glad I found them, and look forward to finding more and more awesome blogs....

Have a look and see some of the Teachers Blogs I have found and LOVE so far...


Welcome to 2nd Grade Pad

Heather's heart


 Miss V’s Busy Bees


Growing Firsties






LeParcel.... This Is For The Ladies....

Hey!

This is for the ladies :)

So I was online the other day having a look at random things and look what I came across.... It is called LeParcel I thought it was a BRILLIANT idea for us ladies.... Pretty cute too :) I decided to try it out, so I'm still waiting for it to arrive... It arrives on the same day you choose it to every month :)

Thought it was a pretty fun idea :)

Have a look at the video to understand it a little more : 



Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Happy New Year - 2013....

Today begins a NEW DAY and a NEW YEAR....

Although this feels like a normal day to me, and does not feel like a New Year like every other year (Christmas didn't feel like Christmas for me either), it is a New Year, and I intend to make 2013 an AMAZING one for myself!!

So far all I can say is that one of my dreams will be coming true - I AM STARTING MY BACHELORS DEGREE for Elementary Teaching!! I can not tell you how excited I am about this, but I'm also pretty nervous, not too sure if I am going to be able to do it while being busy all day then going to classes in the evenings (only two evenings a week for now), making for very long days for me, then waking up early on a Saturday and going for one class and maybe working at Kohls still on a Saturday and Sunday.... 

One decision I will need to make pretty soon, is about working at Kohls. It's a sad decision to make, but will probably be a good decision to decide on sooner than later! I really don't want to stop working at Kohls (that is my social life right now, lol), I also like the Associate Discount, lol, but it's still a different environment to be in - a GREAT environment to be in....

So right now school is the only exciting thing happening THIS year :)

Hope you all have a wonderful 2013 and that all YOUR Hopes and Dreams come true for you!! Let it be filled with LOVE!!

P.S. What are your New Year Resolutions? :)