Wordless Wednesday - Good and Evil

Good and Evil
(I do have to add some words to make a disclaimer that Jinxy is NOT the evil cat in the picture!)

American Le Mans Series at Elkhart Lake, WI - August 2009

We had a great time this weekend! We drove to Elkhart Lake, WI for the American Le Mans series. My husband's friend works for the BMW Racing Club and was nice enough to get us tickets. I have never been to any type of auto race before and wasn't sure how I would like it. I liked it a lot. One of the reasons I probably liked it was that we didn't just sit and watch cars driving by for hours. The track itself was not what I expected. It is a long, 4-mile track, that meanders through a park-like setting. I couldn't believe how huge the place was! There was also a "carnival-like" atmosphere. All of the different car manufacturers and other race team sponsors had tents with displays and promotional events (meaning we got some free stuff like t-shirts too!) There were a lot of different types of races with different types of cars, which really kept things interesting.

I have to say that my very favorite part was the food provided by BMW hospitality. We had fantastic meals with a variety of entrees, pasta dishes and fantastic salads. Saturday evening was barbecue night with brats, BBQ ribs and lots of great sides like corn on the cob and unique potato salad. I will be bummed out going back to my own cooking starting today.

Overall I had a GREAT time and am hoping we can go again next year!

"Off Season" by Anne Rivers Siddons

Be sure to visit Thrifty Jinxy to check out "Off Season" by Anne Rivers Siddons. I haven't yet finished the whole book to do a full review, but I love what I have read so far and will be back to fill you in once I'm finished! While you're at Thrifty Jinxy, you can also enter to win one of five copies to be given away courtesy of Hachette Book Group.

Thanks to Daisy Gray Design for the Background!

I want to give a thank you to Daisy Gray Design for this super cute Blogger background. She has a wide variety of backgrounds that are all FREE. She also has instructions to add the designs onto your blog. Have fun browsing!

T.G.I. Friday's Give Me More Stripes Program

T.G.I. Friday's has a strong customer loyalty program called "Give Me More Stripes". For each $1 you spend, you earn one stripe. One you earn 100 stripes, you receive a $8 food coupon. This is all good, but it's not my favorite part of the program. My favorite part of the program is all the coupons they send via e-mail. This summer it seems that every other week or so they send a coupon to buy 1 entree, get 1 free. I think that's a great deal! And you still earn stripes on the entree you pay for too.

You can find out more about "Give Me More Stripes" and register here. Just for signing up you will get a FREE appetizer!

Extra Entries for Reader Giveaways

For all reader giveaways at Beauty by Jinxy, you can gain extra entries by doing any or all of the following:

1) Blog about the giveaway on your blog with a link directly to the giveaway page. Then, fill out the giveaway form a second time putting the URL for your post in the "extra entry" field.

2) Subscribe to the Thrifty Jinxy Reviews newsletter (see the upper right hand corner). Then fill out the giveaway form again time. If you subscribe via e-mail, put your subscriber e-mail address in the "extra entry" field. If you subscribe via an RSS reader, put your user name in the "extra entry" field.

3) Follow Thrifty Jinxy Reviews in Blogger/Google Friend Connect - see right side bar. Then, fill out the giveaway form again with your username in the "extra entry" field.

4) Stumble the giveaway post & then fill out giveaway form with your StumbleUpon name.

5) Tweet about this giveaway on Twitter and fill out the giveaway form again with a link to your tweet.

6) Click on the buttons on the right side bar to follow in Twitter or on Facebook (or both) and then fill out the form again with your username for Twitter/Facebook.

Pillsbury New "Simply" Cookies - Review & Coupon

Pillsbury has introduced the new "Simply" line of cookies. They are ready-to-bake cookies made with simple, wholesome ingredients like flour, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla. They have 0g trans fat, no high fructose corn syrup, no artificial colors or flavors and no preservatives.

I was sent a free coupon to try out Simply and was happy to find them in my store. (They are very new and our store doesn't always have the latest things!) I'm usually not a huge fan of ready-to-bake cookies, but I really wanted a dessert the other night and did not feel like baking from scratch. I baked half of the package of twelve. They turned out so yummy! I find that most ready-to-bake cookies usually end up fairly thick and not that appealing. These spread out nicely making a thin cookie that is crispy on the edges and moist and chewy in the middle. They really remind of of the cookies I used to have at my best friend LeAnn's house back in elementary school. I always thought her mom made the best cookies! The other thing they remind me of (and trust me this really IS a compliment) are the cookies we used to get at McDonald's when we lived on the East Coast. They had the "fresh-baked" cookies that were always warm and gooey with the crispy edges. That's one of the many items on my husband's list of complaints about me dragging him to live in Minnesota - - he really misses those cookies.

Anyway, if you would like to try these cookies for yourself, you can print a $1.25 coupon through this link. If you have already tried them or give them a try, let me know what you think!