Showing posts with label Deals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Deals. Show all posts

4/13/15

AWESOME DEAL: Get 10% Off Sparkly Soul & Give Back to the MS Society

I've raved about my favorite nonslip, workout headbands from Sparkly Soul on this website before, but I'm going to do it again. These are the most amazing headbands for all sorts of workouts--from running to boxing, spinning to yoga, and rowing to Crossfit. They come in a wide array of colors and I have never had one slip off during class. It's like they're magic or something.


Well Sparkly Soul just one-upped themselves in support of my campaign to raise money for the National MS Society. Use the code WALKMS by 4/19 and get 10% off your entire purchase from www.sparklysoul.com. Addtionally, my team will receive 10% of your entire purchase as well. So you get awesome headbands and the MS Society receives vital funds to help support research and programming for people affected by this debilitating disease.

These headbands would make perfect Mother's Day, graduation or just because gifts! I wouldn't fault you for picking up a few of your own (I've got a collection of 6!). Now all that's left to decide is what colors you are going to buy!

2/3/15

AWESOME DEAL: 6 Months FREE Membership to Warehouse Shopping Site Jet

We just came across a killer shopping deal and wanted to let you know right away! Jet, a new Costco-esque online shopping portal is launching soon and wants you to sign up so badly, they are offering free membership for 3 months. However, if you sign up by February 6 at 11:59 am ET, you'll get an additional 3 free months (6 months total!) and the benefits continue if you refer any of your friends.

But why should you sign up? Jet was founded by the same guy (Marc Lore) as diapers.com, soap.com, and wag.com--all sites dedicated to providing specific products at low prices to a specific market in the most efficient manner. The company's Hoboken warehouse will be stocked with the goods you need and shipped to you at a moment's notice without the hassle of buying in bulk. Think of it as Amazon meets Costco meets Delivery.com.


From the founder's blog:
"At Jet we will make use of the latest advancements in technology to create a new shopping experience that will empower customers like never before. Jet will bring unprecedented transparency and efficiencies to the overall e-commerce market, and as a result, will transform the customer experience in a way that, until now, has not been possible."
After your trial period is up, members will be asked to pay $49.99 per year for membership (still cheaper than that Costco card, and for most New Yorkers, much more accessible). Check out this Bloomberg article for more.

Thanks to Laura from 89th and Broke for sharing this tip! Also, full disclosure, the URL above is my own referral link.

12/19/13

Awesome Cooks!

It's no secret on the blog how much I love cooking. So when Cook & Go in Meatpacking invited my friend Laura and me for a blogger cooking class, I got very excited.

The "classroom" with windows to the street
My set-up

Originally a French company, Cook & Go opened their first outpost in the US on West 16th Street about 1 year ago. They offer various cooking classes, which rotate monthly, designed to incorporate several "cooks" (ie, cut into julienne, make meringue, fold a papillote, etc.) and ultimately prepare a single serving of a multi-course meal. In the summer, they offer a Highline picnic class, designed to be taken up to the park after class. In the winter, they replace it with their TV Tray class, designed to be eaten, you guessed it, at home in front of your TV. All classes after 5:30 are served wine. They also host a wide array of parties!

For our class, we started with 2 appetizers: purses filled with pears, brie, and raspberries and Tuscan white bean crostini. I liked that one was cooked and one was not (meaning we could eat it right away, I was hungry!!).

'Purse' prep

Folded purses
Cooked purses
Crostini prep
Finished crostini
For the main course, we made apricot chicken. I will DEFINITELY be making this at home as it was so easy and so full of flavor. Here's the recipe in case you're interested:


Apricot Chicken (serves 6):

1 1/2 pounds apricots (we used dried), roughly chopped, pits removed and discarded
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp cider vinegar
2 pounds skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 to 2-inch pieces
Salt
1 Tbsp unsalted butter (can sub olive oil)
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 chopped onion
2 cups chicken stock or broth (use gluten-free stock if you are cooking gluten-free)
1 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons Tabasco or other hot sauce (you can add more if you like)
Black pepper

Place the chopped apricots in a large bowl. Stir in the sugar and the vinegar. Let sit while you brown the chicken in the next step. In a large sauté pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat. Working in batches, place chicken pieces in the pan, without crowding the pan, and brown them on each side. As the chicken cooks, sprinkle salt over it. Once the chicken is browned, remove the pieces from the pan to a bowl and set aside. Add the remaining oil to the pan and sauté the onion until it begins to brown. As the onion cooks and releases moisture, use a flat edged spatula or wooden spoon to scrape off the browned bits from the chicken (called fond) from the bottom of the pan. Once the onions have browned a bit, add the chicken stock and lower the heat to medium. Put about 2/3 of the apricots, along with any juice they have given up, into a blender and blend into a purée. (If using dried apricots, there isn't really a need to do this step, just chop very finely). Pour the purée into the pan with the chicken stock and onions. Add the cinnamon, rosemary and Tabasco and taste. You may need to add some salt. Bring to a simmer, then lower the heat and gently simmer for 10-20 minutes. When you are ready to serve, put the chicken and the remaining apricot pieces into the pan and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Serve hot with rice.

For dessert, we made date filled cakes and s'mores shots. The s'mores shots were my favorite, although I admit we didn't really cook them, our teacher Christina did, but I did put mine together in the coolest looking way possible! The date filled cakes were more like cookies to me, but were really delicious, especially when they were hot out of the oven.

Me with my date filled cakes
Finished date filled cakes
Chef Christina making meringue
Laura and me with our s'mores shots
Finished s'mores shot
All classes run from $39-$59 and are 90 minutes long. Extra portions/people range between an extra $15-$25. But wait!...if you use the code BPIBLOG you can get 15% off any class! But wait again!...Living Social is currently offering vouchers to Cook & Go! For only $34 you can get admission to any two classes of your choosing, that's 56% off!! The deal is only good for 3 more days so get on it!

One thing I will note, however, is that the classes are meant for people who have little to no cooking skills. If you cook a lot and know how to follow a medium hard recipe by yourself, you may get a little frustrated in the classes, especially because they only allow you to use a paring knife because chef's knives are liabilities apparently. Nonetheless, it's still a fun time and you go home with a yummy meal and a fun experience. For those of you who use your ovens for shoe storage, I highly highly recommend you sign up at Cook & Go!

5/30/13

AWESOME ALERT: Free Outdoor Adventures From Zozi and Bear Grylls

Ever fancied yourself an outdoors enthusiast? What about someone who at least likes trees? Either way, you're in luck because the deals site Zozi is giving away free outdoor adventures in NYC and around the country as part of a new promotion with Bear Grylls. I got the Outdoor Photography Class (regularly $97) and after referring 3 more people, I picked up the day pass to Brooklyn Boulders (regularly $32).


To sign up, click here and select your free adventure! Comment below on what you picked.

5/15/13

AWESOME DEAL: $45 for Up to 600 Fitness Classes in NYC

Since moving to Astoria in December and training for the Brooklyn Half Marathon (eeeeek! This Saturday!), I have yet to commit to a gym membership. I used to be a tried and true member of Crunch on East 34th Street and I honestly really loved it there, but the distance is too much for me now. I've been racking my head as to where I'd like to join after the race and then I discovered a fabulous deal.


Lifebooker, as you may know and love, is a website where you can not only book all your beauty appointments at a discount, but they also sell Lifebooker Loot--essentially daily deals related to fitness, beauty, and health. Starting today, they are partnering with the American Health and Fitness Alliance to offer a deal that almost seems to good to be true. For $45 you can get free 7-month access to over 165 of the best health and fitness clubs in New York (and throughout Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, Manhattan, Staten Island, and more). Each pass is good for a minimum of TWO free visits per club, with some passes good for an ENTIRE MONTH - for a total of over 600 complimentary visits in all. The full list of clubs is available here, but some examples are:

  • 2 visits to Crunch Fitness
  • 2 visits to David Barton Gym
  • 2 visits to Manhattan Plaza Health Club (rock climbing wall!)
  • 2 visits to the 92nd Street Y
  • 3 visits to Pablo Fitness (spinning and yoga!)
  • 4 visits to Club Fitness (great for Astoria residents like me)
  • 4 visits to Pure Power Boot Camp
So you can see that even if you only go to 3 or 4 classes over the course of 7 months, you'll definitely get your money's worth. BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE!

Lifebooker is also offering a yoga pass and a Pilates pass each for $45 and also each good for 7 months. To supplement my fitness pass, I'm planning on purchasing the yoga pass, and here's some examples of what that includes:
  • 2 classes at Atmananda Yoga (recently featured on Gilt Group)
  • 2 classes at Dance New Amsterdam
  • 2 classes at Exhale Spa (hello, these regularly go for like $30 a pop!)
  • 2 classes at Om Factory (one of my favorite yoga studios in the city, try Forrest and Aerial yoga here)
  • 2 classes at Pure Yoga
  • 2 classes at Yoga Works
  • 2 classes at Sheila Kelley's S Factor (not exactly yoga, but you know you'll have a good time)
If you're into Pilates  the Pilates pass comes with a lot of private sessions, which you know can be very expensive if purchased individually.

To purchase one, two or all three passes, go to Lifebooker, create an account if you haven't already done so, and search for the $45 Fitness Pass in the Loot section. If you have friends in Chicago, Houston or LA, be sure to pass this onto them because there are options available in those cities as well. Happy working out!

2/5/13

AWESOME DEAL: 40% Off the Entire Peanut Butter & Co. Online Store

There are some deals in life that are just too good to pass up. For example, amazing peanut butter and accompaniments for 40% off...


Yes, you heard me right loyal readers. Today ONLY, the world-famous (well at least NYC-famous) Peanut Butter & Co. is offering 40% off their entire store. That means you can get your fill of White Chocolate Wonderful, The Bee's Knees, and Mighty Maple (my 3 faves) for $3.60 a jar compared with the normal $6 price tag.



You can also stock up on gifts for your peanut butter loving friends like this PB for My Sweetie gift set just in time for Valentine's Day ($19.20 down from $32).


Or if you want to make someone REALLY happy, you can get the Total Nut Case gift set which comes with spicy peanut brittle ($76.80 down from $128)!


Anyway you order, you're sure to be satisfied. Just make sure you use the coupon code TASTEAMAZING at the online store and place your order before midnight EST tonight 2/5.

12/16/11

Free Groceries!

Whenever I leave NY, I love visiting those super huge "super"markets. I oogle at all of the varieties of everything, the spacious aisles and the rows and rows of convenient items - brands I've never heard of before! Alas, I come back home and can get a similar, albeit crowded and expensive, experience at Whole Foods, but in my neighborhood, I've settled for Morton Williams as my grocery store of choice.


Their selection is pretty good, they offer a fairly wide selection of produce, and the people at the check out line at least say hello to me in a pleasant matter (and that's saying a lot compared to the likes of some Gristedes I've shopped in). So when I opened my email this morning to find an offer for a $30 voucher to Morton Williams for only $15, I jumped on it. The best part, you can buy 2 per person! But hurry, there were only 600 or so vouchers left when I last checked and I'm sure those puppies are going to sell out soon.

3/23/11

AWESOME GIVEAWAY: $20 to Allmenus.com

Hello awesome readers! Sorry I took a bit of a hiatus these past few weeks, but I'm back, and with a bang.

You've heard me go on and on about Signpost (formerly known as Postabon) and all the great stuff I won from them over the course of the last year (exhibit aexhibit b, and exhibit c, not to mention my iPad). Well not only has Signpost grown into a lovely website and community for deal sharers, it now offers some of its own merchant deals including $60 for $120 Worth of Clothing at Heartbeat Style (Hoboken) and $15 for 2 Comedy Show Tickets + Half-Off Drink Minimum. You can still earn Karma Points by posting deals you see around town and by interacting with other users, but you can then go and spend those points like money on Signpost's merchant deals. The company also hosts monthly happy hours, often with free drinks (the next one is Wed. 4/6 at SideBar with a one hour open bar). So really it's a win, win, win, win, win.

One of Signpost's current merchant deals is $10 for $20 to spend at Allmenus.com, an online food delivery website serving NYC. I bought the voucher and tried out the service, and I was very pleased with the user-friendly website and assortment of restaurants available to choose from. Plus what's better than half off Pad Thai or Pepperoni Pizza delivered fresh to your door?

Well, how about a free voucher?

That's right, I'm giving away one $20 voucher to Allmenus.com courtesty of the awesome folks at Signpost. There are 4 easy ways to win and each comment counts as an entry. So to maximize your entries you should leave multiple comments. Please include your email in any comments so I know how to contact you if you are the winner.


1) REQUIRED - Follow this blog by clicking on the button on the right panel and leave a comment below letting me know you did so.


2) REQUIRED - Sign up for Signpost and leave a comment with your username. If you are already a member, that's ok. Just leave a comment with your username telling me so.


3) Follow me on Twitter @yaelleah and leave a comment below letting me know you did so.


4) Tweet or blog about this contest an let me know you did so with a link to your tweet or blog in a comment below.


One winner will be chosen using Random.org on Friday 3/25. You have until Friday 3/25 at 2 p.m. EST to enter the contest. Good luck!



A winner has been chosen! Congratulations to Christine! She was the 13th commenter and wins $20 to AllMenus.com! Enjoy Christine! And thanks to all who entered. Have a great weekend!

1/19/11

Tenka Very Much

With the latest of online deal sites switching from free discount codes to charging fees (cough...Blackboard Eats...cough), it's nice to find new companies launching and, well, offering free food. I like free food.



I discovered Tenka last week and on a whim, decided to give it a try. Basically, you sign up and you get a pocket where you can store up to three deals including a free espresso at Fika Espresso Bar in FiDi, a free burrito at Burrito Joint in Murray Hill and a free glass of sangria at Cinema Cafe also in Murray Hill. Using your smart phone you can log into their site and download a code to present to the cashier. If you're like me and still don't have a smart phone, you can easily redeem the deals by texting. You have to act relatively quick though. Each deal can only be redeemed a certain number of times (one per person) and when that limit is reached, the deal is over. After you redeem your first deal your "pocket" increases to hold four deals and you gain "fame" and points (which can be redeemed for cash) for using and sharing deals.

Last week, they wheeled out a bunch of deals near my office in FiDi, and while not all the deals are for completely free things, I'm happy to say that I've been able to safely not spend any money on lunch four days out of the last seven. If you use the site, come back and share your experiences!

8/22/10

Squeals of Deals

You've heard of a love-hate relationship. Well, I have a love-love relationship with a website called Postabon. I've written about the fanciful prizes both my boyfriend and I have won by being active members (Met's tickets, iPad, Peter Luger's gift certificate, helicopter tour...) and people often ask me a one word question - HOW?!

First let me give you a little background. Postabon started as a final project for a couple of Harvard Business School students and turned into a full-fledged company after obtaining financial backing in 2009. The idea behind the site is sort of a community for deal sharers, Foursquare meets Retailmenot meets Google Maps. Users earn "Karma Points" for posting, sharing and commenting on deals around the city. I caught on to this genius back in May when they were offering Met's tickets to the first 20 users who earned 500 Karma Points. Simple enough.

Next time I logged in and the steaks were raised. An iPad was up for grabs for the user who earned the most Karma Points in a week. That's when I went a little gung-ho and ended up winning the contest, much to the surprise of pretty much everyone I knew. When I actually whip-out my new favorite toy is when I get all the queries of how they can get in on the action as well.

Another great thing about the site is that it's easy to use and provides great benefits for little effort. If you want to casually share some deals you find walking down the street, great. If you want to use the site and it's iPhone app (soon to be newly designed and available at the app store) to find deals in your neighborhood, cool. Or you can also get super into the site, apply to become a Guru (involves sending an email and getting a super-cool icon next to your name) and go for the contest wins, I'd welcome the competition. There are options for everyone.

Postabon also holds awesome events for Gurus. I recently attended a happy hour at West 3rd Common and a dinner at Brasserie Les Halles where I got to meet other Postabon-ers and swap deal tips. They also keep a pretty cool blog which features deals members post.

The majority of activity is currently in NYC, but they are expanding into other major cities like Chicago, San Francisco and Boston so all you have to do is sign up and start posting. Trust me, it's worth it :)

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