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Spend some holiday family time on Avenue of the Arts in Philadelphia

December 21, 2012 by Lisa · 1 Comment

I am just loving all the cool stuff happening in Philadelphia lately. Last weekend, hubby and I went to the Capital Grille on south Broad for dinner. Afterwards we saw The Nutcracker at the Academy of Music. The city was just absolutely bustling with activity; it was wonderful to walk around. There were many people having fun in Santa hats, a lone clarinet player on a corner was playing Christmas carols, the buildings on Broad Street are lit up in these cool blue and purple lights. Overall a great atmosphere and a great time to go there. With many people off of school and work for the next week or so, why not head into Center City and see a show?

At the Forrest Theater, you can see Jekyll & Hyde. I’m not going to see this, but it looks awesome. This production has Constantine Maroulis in it. He was on American Idol and was on it the last season that I watched it (I think). If I recall correctly, that was the one when Carrie Underwood won, but I digress. He is still an awesome singer and it’s great that his career is still doing well. It will be there at various times from December 26 to 30, so don’t delay in making a decision!

At the Merriam during that same time frame is Cirque Eloize iD.

This is the one that I’m going to go see. I can’t wait! My 3 year old watched the video with me and he said he really wants to go. This should be interesting (taking a 3 yr old to the theater!) but I think he can handle it.

From Cirque de Eloize

A few quick tips–

My favorite place to park is in the Bellevue, but it’s often full during peak theater times–especially since it’s so close to all the theaters. The Kimmel Center has it’s own parking garage, and there’s also this really cool space-agey one over on Sampson, kinda next to the Wanamaker building. My little guy likes that one. There are tons of food options, from the pretty pricey McCormick and Schmidt’s to Capital Grille, to check out the Bellevue and if they are open, they have a food court (like at a mall) in the bottom level. And in that general area there is everything in between.

Those are just two of the shows–the Nutcracker is still running through the end of the month and so are many other options. Stay close to home and love the arts in Philadelphia.

This is a sponsored post, all opinions are my own.

Filed Under: Kids & Families, Sponsored Tagged With: arts in philadelphia, jekyll and hyde with constantine, merriam theater

{review & giveaway} Win $50 gift card to Tiny Prints, ends November 11

October 31, 2012 by Lisa · 27 Comments

Click to see more special offers.

See those two handsome boys over there—>
They’re mine!

That is the holiday card we sent out last year, courtesy of Tiny Prints. Gorgeous, isn’t it? What I love about their stuff is that there’s no doubt it’s a holiday card, but it’s not obnoxiously bright red and green either. Tiny Prints has so many options for holiday photo cards, and you don’t even realize that I didn’t use a holiday photo. Gone are the days of tacky holiday photos in Christmas sweaters made into equally obnoxious and tacky cards! Tiny Prints has such an awesome collection of everything you need for the holidays-they offer religious options for several religions, pet themed cards and more.

Don’t just take my word for it, see for yourself. Visit their site by the link I gave you or click on my holiday card to see all of what they have to offer.

And, to make it even better, one lucky reader is going to win a $50 gift card to Tiny Prints. From now through November 11, you can use the various entry options in Rafflecopter and I’ll pick one lucky winner and announce it on Monday the 12th. Code not valid on shipping and handling or with any other codes. One entry option worth 5 points is to watch this video, so here you go:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**Please note, this is in no way meant to be disrespectful or callous in light of recent national events. I know that many Americans are suffering and have suffered losses this week. This is only meant to be fun and a nice distraction to view pretty things instead of destruction.

Filed Under: Contests & Giveaways, Sponsored Tagged With: Tiny Prints

War Horse~Opens at the Kimmel Center on November 20

October 24, 2012 by Lisa · Leave a Comment

Click for more information or to purchase tickets.

Are you a fan of seeing live shows in the theater? I am! I got hooked in the 90s, when Broadway was having a real boom. I’ve seen Phantom of the Opera a bunch of times, Les Miserables, Miss Saigon, Beauty and the Beast, Cats and so many more. Back then, my parents would take us quite often. We’d drive into NYC, and rain or shine, heat or freezing, we’d stand in line at TKTS. And this was the old one–when it was just a little shack. Today it’s a bit more sophisticated and I think the line moves quicker!

Now, you don’t have to go to NYC to see these popular shows. They are coming right here to Philadelphia and will be at the Kimmel Center, The Academy of Music and the Merriam. War Horse will be in town at the Academy of Music from November 20 to December 2. The show itself is getting great reviews and it won 5 Tony Awards!

Here is the synopsis of the story:

Hailed by The New York Times as “theatrical magic,” WAR HORSE is the powerful story of young Albert’s beloved horse, Joey, who has been enlisted to fight for the English in World War I. In a tale the New York Daily News calls “spellbinding, by turns epic and intimate,” Joey is caught in enemy crossfire and ends up serving both sides of the war before landing in no man’s land. Albert, not old enough to enlist, embarks on a treacherous mission to find his horse and bring him home. What follows is a remarkable tale of courage, loyalty and friendship, filled with stirring music and songs and told with the some of the most innovative stagecraft of our time.

Tickets for War Horse start at just $25! This is an amazing opportunity for your family to see a Broadway-caliber show, right here in Philadelphia. I have gone to the “traveling, non-Broadway” versions of both Phantom and Les Mis, and they are equal to what you see in NYC, really! In fact, at those shows, I had much better seats than what we had for Miss Saigon.

Make sure you subscribe to the Kimmel Center’s email so that you are alerted to all the shows. Some upcoming shows include Les Mis (can never see that too many times!), Catch Me If You Can and many great others. I am so excited to see that list, it’s going to be hard to limit myself to just a few shows.

Here is a video montage from War Horse:

Filed Under: Sponsored Tagged With: kimmel center, war horse

Earn cash while you shop with #Jingit

October 8, 2012 by Lisa · 1 Comment

In recent months, I’ve gotten several Facebook and email invitations to join Jingit. And, I hate to say it, but I ignored them. When you’re involved in the whole couponing thing, chances are you’ve tried other sites that sort of go hand-in-hand with couponing, like surveys. I’ve done several posts about the various survey sites out there and how to maximize your earning power with them. In fact, in the past I used to earn a bit of mad money each month doing surveys. Then I got really turned off to them. It felt like I would answer 10-12 questions at the beginning of each survey, then I’d be told I don’t qualify. It felt really sneaky to me-like they were trying to get some information from me for free and not paying me for the survey. So I stopped doing them. But to be honest, while I didn’t miss doing them, I did miss the extra money in my Paypal account each month.

Then, Collective Bias invited me to try out Jingit. So I did.

Jingit pays you!

Jingit is a website and app that pays you to connect with brands. And, what makes them better than a survey site is that you qualify for all of it.

Connect with brands you already know and love.

You watch videos and answer a few questions about it afterwards, that’s it. The money may not appear to be as much as a survey site pays, but it is. You actually spend much less time doing Jingit than you do a survey. And like I said, it’s a sure thing. You don’t start it and then not qualify, thus having wasted your time.

Get paid for checking in.

And do you do the apps and things that share when you check into a place? Well, Jingit has that too. But what’s even better, you actually get paid for checking in to a place or for viewing an item. The check-in may just involve saying that you’re at a retailer or it may involve scanning a product at the retailer. Still, how cool is it to just get paid for being a store?

You can increase your earning potential by getting your friends and acquaintances to join. It’s easy, just share on Facebook or Twitter and when they join, you earn! I earned almost $1 just while I was writing this post. I open up Jingit in one window and whatever I’m doing in the other, and do them at the same time. (I don’t believe the experts who say multi-tasking doesn’t exist!) I watch the video while I’m working, then do the survey, then another video. I also did a few with the app while we were watching tv last night. I have it on our tablet and during commercials, I checked out Jingit. There were commercials on my tv anyway, might as well get paid for watching some.

If you are looking for a way to get a bit of extra money each month, definitely check out Jingit.

You can find them on Facebook and Twitter.

I am a member of the Collective Bias Social Fabric Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Jingit #CBias #SocialFabric. All opinions are my own.

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