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How Target Store Pickup Changed My Life

8 · Oct 21, 2014 ·

Ok, you may think “changed my life” may be a stitch over stated, but Target Store Pickup truly has!

It’s kind of funny, I get approached to write post like this all the time. Some fit into my normal life and I accept the gig, others aren’t something that I would use or participate in naturally, so I turn down the offer. Regardless, when I am challenged to write a post of this nature, I have to go out and in a way, contrive the experience so that I can photograph and document the experience to share with you all.

NOT THIS TIME!!

I naturally fell into this post and it is such a cool story!!

A few weeks ago, an article caught my eye over at the Today Show website, What to Buy For your Home at Target. I am honestly Targets number one fan, so naturally I clicked on over to the article. This photo of some of the most beautiful lamps just jumped off the screen…

Aren’t they just divine?

I knew I needed them! I didn’t even read the article, I needed those lamps!

I jumped on over to Target.com and there it was…

The price was great, but criminy… it was out of stock online. SERIOUS!?! What am I going to do? I had been to my Target just the day before, and they didn’t have any of these beauties. What they heck am I going to do? I needed them! Then I noticed the find in a store button. I was a little deflated knowing that it wasn’t available online, so I almost didn’t bother. I clicked on the button and sure enough. The Target that is just a few more miles away from me and 2 in stock.

Now… Here’s where the story get’s exciting.

I had 2 choices… I could drop everything and run over to Target that second with my crazy hair and in my lovely PJ’s OR I could try out this Target Store Pick-Up option. It was kind of a lazy Saturday morning, but we had a packed day ahead. If I were to drop everything and run over there it would have really messed up my busy schedule for that day. BUT I NEEDED THOSE LAMPS! I remembered the post that I was scheduled to write about Target in-store pick-up. I knew that was something that was available to Target customers, I just hadn’t ever used it before. I decided to give it a go.

I added the lamps to my shopping cart and added a lovely matching gold pillow to the mix and selected the store where I wanted to purchase it from.

I selected the free store pick-up option and completed my purchase.

Check this out… I completed my purchase at 8:22 am

then at 8:55 I received a text from Target…

How COOL is that!!

Now, with this service, I had four days to pick-up my purchase. I didn’t have to stop my busy day and run to Target. I knew that I could run over there when I had some free time, or when I happened to be in that part of town and not worry about this purchase messing up my schedule.

I LOVE THIS!! SERIOUSLY LOVE THIS!

I knew that I had secured those amazing lamps, no one was going to run off with them, and I could get them on my own time.

Monday morning I had some errands in that part of town, so Gage and I headed to that Target location and picked up my loot!

There they were… tucked away safe and sound for the rest of the weekend, just waiting for me to pick them up and bring them home. The cool thing is that they don’t charge for this service, nor do they charge your credit card until you pick it up. If you change your mind, they restock it after four days. No worries!

Now check one of them out…

She gets to live on this aaamazing desk that my friend and business partner created. It’s an old piano that no longer worked that she transformed into a desk and then painted with BB Frösch Chalk Paint Powder!

Doesn’t she look happy!!

Now do you understand why Target Store Pick-Up has changed my life? I will never view shopping at Target the same way ever again. Think about Christmas shopping… Yea! Kind of mind blowing right?

Give it a go… I have a feeling you are going to fall in love as well!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Target. The opinions and text are all mine.

Lunching Awesome with Applegate HALF TIME™ Lunch Kits

0 · Oct 3, 2014 ·

You know, let’s face it. Life is busy. I don’t know why it needs to be this way… it just is. There are times when I feel I’m running around trying to keep things together, when in reality, I’m barely treading water. Now that we are back in school, it’s even worse. You wake up in the morning and hit the floor running. Getting the kiddos ready in the morning whether for school, daycare or just for the day is NOT for the faint of heart. I know in our house we are making sure that homework is finished, backpacks are packed and don’t even get me started on lunches. I know that lunch should be a no brainer, but quite frankly… it’s not. It’s not easy to come up with fresh, fun new ideas everyday that are healthy and still satisfying for the kiddos. I’ve never been a huge fan over overly processed foods so, that excludes most of the prepackaged, quick and easy lunch options. That is until three of our favorite organic heroes joined forces to create the Applegate HALF TIME™ Lunch Kit!

This is the next best option when you need something quick, so you can run out the door in a flash. The nice thing is that the food options with this pack are all-natural and organic. They have three options…

HALF TIME™ Ham & Cheese, HALF TIME™ Bologna & Cheese along with HALF TIME™ Turkey & Cheese. Applegate, the go to source for natural and Organic meats, asked two of their favorite organic friends, Stoneyfield™ Yogurt and Annies® Snacks over for a fun playdate to create a quick, on the go lunch option packed full of products that you know and trust.

Did you know that Applegate is one of the few all-natural, organic meat companies out there. They source their product very carefully, hand picking from some of the top organic meat family farms out there. Each one of their farms has committed to a safe and healthy way to take care of their livestock. Here are the Applegate meat standards…

Pretty cool if you ask me. Both of the other companies involved with this play date are equally committed to all-natural, organic sources for their products as well. We’ve been a huge fan of Stoneyfield Farms™ Yogurt sticks and when Gage opened his Time Out™ lunch kit, that was the first thing he picked…

Here’s the rest of his lunch…

He’s a bit of a picky eater and it’s not always easy to find a healthy on-the-go option. He will actually eat everything in this kit so it’s a sure-fire win in both of our books!

Looking for some more lunch time options? Follow Applegate on Facebook and Instagram for lunch ideas and great coupons! Let’s commit to lunching awesome and healthier this school year with Applegate! Click here for a great coupon to use to stock up on Applegate HALF TIME™ kits for your kiddos!

Want to win an Applegate HALF TIME™ Prize pack? Enter the giveaway below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Applegate via Burst Media. The opinions and text are all mine.

Target Cartwheel

0 · Sep 23, 2014 ·

It’s no secret that I have a long time crush with Target. It started when I was a little girl, I still remember shopping trips with my Mom that just made my heart sing. When I was about 7 or 8 I remember a purple coat that I found at Target that I thought was the coolest coat I had ever seen. My Mom made my dreams come true and bought the coat as a Christmas present. I thought I was the coolest kid on the block. I think that shopping trip was the beginning of my long time crush! It’s crazy to think how the world has changed since then, shopping isn’t just shopping any more. It’s a full interactive experience that has empowered us as consumers to participate even more in the shopping experience at Target. For example, have you used Target’s new Cartwheel app?

I will have to admit that I was a little slow in adopting the new app. I just wanted to go shopping and I didn’t really have time to play around with an app. Boy was I wrong!

My daughter Haley started her first job this summer and it was a no brainer to apply for a job at our favorite store! She had a ball working at Target! She was constantly coming home asking, “have you seen what’s on Cartwheel this week?” “Mom! All of the kids clothes are 30% off on Cartwheel right now!” or, “Mom, did you know that you can just scan an item and the app will tell you if there is a deal or not?” She was constantly telling me all kinds of Target Cartwheel gems. Of course I had to investigate further.

If you aren’t familiar with Cartwheel, it’s an app that is available for iOS or Android users. It’s packed full of fantastic deals on everything from food, household supplies, clothing, toys, electronics… The list goes on an on. These are deals that are only found in Cartwheel and they can be stacked on top of other coupons or store deals. It’s so cool! For example, a few months ago, Target has these super cute folding chairs that were on sale in the Target circular one week. The price was already reduced but… They also had an additional percentage off within the Cartwheel app. Total score!! I ended up getting 4 chairs for a really good price.

The app is so easy to use. You can either scroll through the deals by department or even by what’s trending or you can just scan an item and see if there are any available deals.

Once you find an item that you would like to add to your list, you click on the item and you can add it to your item list.

You can add up to 14 items to your list at one time. You can even earn more spots by sharing your deals on social media.

I decided I wanted to grab some new storage baskets, they are on sale for 15% off.

I grabbed my basket and then headed to checkout. When I am checking out, I show my special bar code to the cashier and magically the savings just stack-up.

It’s as easy as that. Cartwheel even keeps track of your savings. So far I’ve saved $42.20 and quite frankly, every penny counts. I just love cartwheel!! It’s so easy to use and I always feel like they are extra special deals just for me. Have you used Cartwheel? What are your favorite Cartwheel features?

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Target. The opinions and text are all mine.

Filet of Sirloin with Rosemary Butter // Recipe

2 · Aug 28, 2014 · Leave a Comment

Filet of Sirloin with Rosemary Butter Recipe // There are some times in life when there is nothing better than a good steak. Seriously… nothing better!! My love of steak started with my first pregnancy. I couldn’t get enough steak. I wanted it morning, noon and night. I tried all different kinds of recipes and basically every form of steak that you could imagine. You know what I learned… When it comes to a good steak recipe, keep it SIMPLE!

Let the steak shine and take center stage. Recently, I had the opportunity to sample some Certified Angus Beef® brand steaks and boy can those steaks SING!

When you have a good quality steak, you really don’t need anything else other than some salt and pepper and a few simple rules for the grill, maybe a touch of herbs. I found a great recipe on the Certified Angus Beef® brand website for Grilled Ribeye Steak with Classic Steak Butter and put my little spin on it.

First of all, I used a Filet of Sirloin rather than the Ribeye cut and simplified the recipe down to a few basic simple ingredients.

Filet of Sirloin with Rosemary Butter

4 Filet of Sirloin

generous salt and pepper

1/2 stick of unsalted butter at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon of fresh minced rosemary

a pinch of salt

Season the steak generously with salt and pepper. Place on a very hot grill. After 2 minutes, flip the steak over and cook for another 2 minutes. Continue that process until you get to the temperature that you prefer. We like our steak medium rare, so we grilled our steak for a total of 12 minutes, turning it every 2 minutes. Let rest for at least 5 minutes before serving.

For the butter, place the room temperature butter in a small bowl with a pinch of salt and the minced rosemary. Stir until completely combined. Place on a sheet of parchment paper and roll butter into a log. Place in freezer for 20 minutes. Once butter is chilled, cut into medallions and place on hot steak and serve.

This quite honestly is my all-time favorite meal. I paired it with smashed fingerling potatoes and some grilled peaches and it was truly divine. We also applied the same recipe and cooking method with some New York Strip Steaks and paired them with the smashed fingerling potatoes and thick slices of beef steak tomatoes topped with salt, pepper and chives. Seriously, this meal is out of this world!

When you have quality meat like the Certified Angus Beef® brand, you know that you are getting quality steaks and pairing them with simple, yet flavorful sides will take your meal or event to a whole new level. To find where you can purchase Certified Angus Beef® brand products visit their site to find a location in your area!

What is your favorite way to serve steak? Looking for more inspiration? Follow the folks at the Certified Angus Beef® brand on Instagram for all kinds of mouth watering ideas!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Certified Angus Beef via Burst Media. The opinions and text are all mine.

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Filet of Sirloin with Rosemary Butter

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