Stacie's Place

 Since the Christmas card template I picked has photos that go by month, that might be the best way to recap our year in words here with more details. Enjoy!

  I take my birthday deals seriously and this year I again updated my spreadsheet so I could keep track of what I wanted to redeem, when freebies expired, etc. It was super helpful and I just use Google Sheets to set it up. So! Here's what I worked on this year with all the birthday emails I received.  Adidas - 15% off birthday coupon to use on their website. I did not use this. I had 8 days to use it. Aerie - 10% off a purchase online. It was good for 30 days. I did not use this. AE & Aerie- $5 to spend. I did not use it this year Albertsons - 2x the points in the month of July. I don't think I went to get groceries here at all so that was a missed opportunity.  AMC - free large popcorn. I did not make it to a theater to watch any movies in July. Archibald's - a yummy restaurant in Utah. They did not send me anything this year but they did send me a free meal (b1g1) in 2023 and 2024. Not sure what happened this year. Azteca - a restaurant in WA. The deal was fo...

  **This post contains affiliate links** Lately I have been feeling extremely dissatisfied by the water bottle options available in stores and online. There are so many brands ~ Yeti, Zulu, Simple Modern, Hydro Flask, Ninja, ThermoFlask, Starbucks and on and on. There are so many lid styles ~ flip, twist, slide button and more. Handle or no handle. So many different colors, designs and sizes. It's enough to make your head spin, am I right?

  (This post contains affiliate links) Do you have a best friend or a bunch of best friends? I feel like I've made special relationships with friends throughout the years depending on where I have lived and worked. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a best friend as, "a person's closest and dearest friend." Aw! 😌 Today I wanted to share some ways to celebrate your best friend(s) for National Best Friends Day which is coming up - June 8th! But before I share those ways, I wanted to talk a little about best friends I have had in my life. I'd say my first best friend in life was and still is my sister Laura. I'm the oldest of 8 kids and she is the 2nd oldest which meant we did of lot of activities together when we were kids, teens and young adults. Even to this day, she's someone I talk to every day and I try to visit her as often as I can. Other best friends have not stayed best friends for my entire life like Laura has but I still consider them the bes...