Daily Deals, Segway Tours, and Birthday Celebrations!

I love deals. In fact, I am somewhat obsessed with trying to never pay full price for anything that we do. It makes whatever I am buying seem so much cooler if I have gotten it for a fraction of the price that it normally sells for. I have been known to become giddy about it. Really. I will admit, however, that I am often tempted to buy something if it's a "really good deal" that I shouldn't be spending money on, just because it is so hard to pass up the opportunity to "save" so much money. Fortunately, I have learned to be very self-controlled.

Sometimes though, this obsession of mine really does pay off - as it did this weekend with my plans for Jay's birthday. Let me back up...I get daily coupons sent to me via e-mail from various sources (if you are not signed up to receive the daily deals from Groupon, Living Social, or Screamin Daily Deals, you should really think about doing so!). Regardless of the fact that I think I have only actually bought two of these deals, I still look forward to seeing what they are each day. There have been several that have taken some serious willpower to resist. Recently though, a deal came up for a segway tour in Huntington Beach. If you don't know what segways are, think Paul Blart: Mall Cop. I didn't even know that these tours existed, and I had been trying to think of something fun and different that I could do for Jay for his birthday. So when I saw this (for a fraction of what it usually costs, of course!), I decided that it might be fun to try...and it was! Jay had no idea where I was taking him, and if he thought that it was totally lame, he didn't let on. He's good to me that way. If you can get past the fact that you look like a bit of an idiot riding around on the thing, which I have no problem getting past, it's great! We were the only two people on our tour, which made it even better. I was a bit nervous on it at first, but the way those things work is really amazing and it didn't take long to get the hang of it. Jay, of course, knew what he was doing the second he stepped on it because that's the way he is with everything...good at it. It turned out to be a really fun afternoon.

Later that night, we went out to dinner...which brings me to my next deal - http://www.restaurant.com/. You can go to that website and enter a zip code and it will list various restaurants in the area that you can purchase gift certificates for at discounted prices. The prices listed are only okay. DON'T BUY THEM FOR THE LISTED PRICES. The amazing deal comes when you enter a promo code...and there is ALWAYS a promo code available. You can find one if you just google it. So, for $4, I bought a $50 gift certificate to the restaurant I wanted to take Jay to! There are some requirements depending on the certificate you buy, so you have to be sure to read the fine print. Some are only good Monday-Friday, there are minimum purchase requirements, etc. Make sure you know what you are buying. This was the second time we have bought a gift certificate through them (the first time we bought a $100 gift certificate for $8).

In between our segway tour and dinner, we stopped at my parents to get ready. Their house is sort of two-in-one, and the front part of the house was our "hotel" for the night. The kids were staying with my parents in the back and never even knew we were there. My mom had set out a bottle of wine and a fancy cheese platter for us, and made everything perfect...because that's what she does. She's always thinking of the details.

So, all in all, we had a great day, as well as a great night out, the kids LOVED getting a sleepover with my parents, and we spent only a fraction of what it should have cost us. In my mind, that equals perfection! Hopefully, Jay thought so as well...since, afterall, it was supposed to be for him!



Isn't he cute??