A few changes...

About a month ago I wrote a post about how I needed you to "Pardon my Dust" while I made some great changes around the site? Well fortunately you haven't had to see much dust at all yet, but starting today until tomorrow when the changes are complete you may actually see a little dust flying. So, grab a face mask and and a broom, because when its about to get crazy around here. In the meantime, here are a few "sneak previews" of what you're in for! You can't see much, but, um, that's the idea. :) Enjoy!

Jetting Blues with JetBlue

You've probably noticed that I've been neglecting you. I didn't mean to, honest. It's just that I had no idea that Disney World would be so exhausting. I mean, seriously. We would go to sleep around 1 am, and wake up around 10 or 11 with barely enough time to get out of the room before breakfast. Even then, we managed to get to the park only once before 12:30. I needed a vacation from vacation. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that they lost my luggage on a direct flight from New Orleans to Orlando. Joy.

But then, to push the neglect a bit further, I left my family and flew to NYC for the Hot Blogger Calendar Shoot! It was the first time in almost 2 years that I had been on a plane without my daughter. I didn't know what to do with myself. Ok, who am I kidding? Yes I did. I watched Baby Mama.

When I got to NYC I realized that it was a bit chilly for my flip flops and short sleeves, so I was eager to see my luggage and change shoes for the evening into a nice, closed toe little number. Alas, I had no such luck. I stood, staring at the luggage belt, watching the other families returning from Disney World joyously reclaim their luggage as I continued to wait. Maybe I missed it? Oh no, no way. My bag is Zebra print. Easily identifiable.

The belt stops moving. Two pieces of luggage are left. Neither of them mine.

Twice in one week? Man, I have sucky luggage karma.

I drag myself to JetBlue Baggage Claim, but it's closed. Like, with a gate pulled down over it. Ironically, the sign posted on the outside of the gate says they're open 24 hours. Someone from another airline spots me and walkie-talkies the JetBlue guy to tell him he has a victim customer. I fill out the report that I'm given while he tries to figure out where my luggage is. Ok, it's in Boston. Or maybe White Plains. Hmm...nope, neither one. Honestly, we don't know where it is.

At this point I am pretty much freaking out. I have the Hot Blogger Calendar photoshoot tomorrow and nothing to wear for it. I tell the guy this, he calls his supervisor. Tells her I have a photoshoot tomorrow. I'm thinking that finally someone will understand the gravity of this situation. That currently I will have to take my photos with Space Mountain hair because I have no shampoo to wash it with. That all of my clothing options are in my bag for the shoot. That I, at the very least, need to purchase a tshirt and shorts to sleep in tonight.

He hangs up the phone, looks at me, and says "I called my supervisor to ask her to approve a small amount for you to get some items for tonight and she said no." I blink. Then I smile. I get it, he's joking (I mean, he was being kinda flirty). So I say, "You're being sarcastic, right?"

"No ma'am. Trust me, I wish I was. She won't approve any amount for reimbursement."

You have got to be kidding me.

So I ask to speak to the supervisor. I wait almost an hour for her to arrive, with excuses like "she's getting a flight off and then she'll be down." She finally shows up. She tells me, in an accent that I can barely understand, that "She can only go to point A, but she can't go all the way to point B." Huh? I look at her like she has antenna growing out of her head. Then I tell her (still looking at her like she is indeed sprouting antenna) that she hasn't gone to point A at ALL! There has been no help at all. She tells me to call the 800 number and leaves.

The nice guy behind the desk basically tells me she is lying, and that she does have the power to approve it, she just won't. I call the 800 number, and after some time on hold, they tell me the same thing.

I get on twitter and send out a tweet that says "@jetblue lost my luggage. I have nothing and they refuse to give me ANYTHING. I have the hot blogger calendar shoot tomorrow and nothing!" Well, let me tell you, the twitter world went nuts! With some help from some of my dear twitter friends retweeting my plight (thank you Katja Presnal!), I get a DM from JetBlue telling me I will get help soon.

I leave the airport, figuring I should just head into the city. I end up at a McDonalds in Times Square, waiting for my sister in law to get off of work. I still haven't heard from JetBlue, though they are telling me help is imminent. After about an hour and several tearful conversations with my hubby, I decide to call LaGuardia Baggage Claim, just in case.

"Yes ma'am, we found your luggage. It's at JFK."

"Great, so when will it get to me?"

"Well, we are so busy that we can't promise that you'll even get it tomorrow."

"Do NOT send it out, I'm coming to get it."

So I hop back in a cab, and ride to JFK, almost getting killed in the process. On the way there, my phone rings. It's the JetBlue people, saying they heard my luggage was lost. I wanted to laugh. I tell her that I'm in a cab, on my way to JFK to pick it up so that I will be sure to have it for tomorrow. She offers her cell number for me to call her back next week with receipts to reimburse me for my cab ride, which is nice.

The short of it, I got my luggage, but missed dinner with all of the Hot Bloggers, which I heard was fantastic! I'll save the experience of meeting all of the HBC folks for another post, but I'll tell you that my weekend was indeed awesome.

After a long 2 days, I'm in a cab on my way to the airport to go home, and my cell phone rings. It's someone from JetBlue -- they heard I was missing some luggage and wanted to see how they could help? I'm sure they could see me rolling my eyes all the way in Salt Lake City.

Photo of me by Katja Presnal.

Pardon my dust...

Howdy friends! As Chic Shopper Chick has continued to grow, I've decided to make a few changes around here. Don't worry, it'll be for the best. I will continue to bring you all of the greatest products and finds, but there will be new things too.

I don't want to ruin the surprise, but if it's a little dusty around here for a few days, well, I'm doing my best to hurry up. Hopefully when you come back you'll see a bigger and better Chic Shopper Chick that will make you love it here (if it's possible) even more!

So, grab your hard hats and c'mon over. It'll be worth it when the dust settles!

To blog, or not to blog?

Wow, how many times has that line been overused? I could have followed it up with "That is the question!" and then it would have been REALLY bad, but I didn't do that. Aren't ya glad? I thought so.

As the title says, I've been tossing around the idea of creating a personal blog for a while now. Sometimes there are things that I want to share on here about my life, but it doesn't really fit with the idea of a shopping blog. I love this blog and it would certainly remain my priority, but I think it might be kind of fun to write about some of the things that I happen to find interesting in my little life. (Like the fact that hubby and I can't manage to get the water in our hot tub balanced correctly. Seriously, we are two educated people who can't use simple test strips to figure out what to fix.)

But then, the questions. Would you read it? Would ANYONE read it? How do I know that people are going to enjoy reading what I have to say? Is it odd of me to want to share these details with the world?

What do you think? If I wrote a personal blog, would you read it? Or are you here for the cool products only? Weigh in in the comments if you feel so inclined!

(Oh, and then what in the WORLD do I name it?)

Hurricane Gustav Update

Thanks everyone so much for your thoughts and prayers. We did choose to evacuate our home and area to get away from Hurricane Gustav. Here is a run-down:

We left on Saturday at 2 pm. After running errands (and returning back home to grab my wedding dress) we finally got on the road around 4 pm.

We didn't hit any traffic -- we took back roads and made it to my dad's house around 10:30 pm Saturday night with 3 cats, 2 dogs, and a very impatient and exhausted 18 month old. :)

We have been sitting here, watching the news, trying to stay optimistic. As long as a tree didn't fall on our house, we should be fine. Apart from having to clean out our refrigerator and deal with disgusting melted ice cream and chicken juice, that is. Yech.

The power company is saying that we are scheduled to get power back on September 6th. SEPTEMBER 6th? I guess it's better than the 3 weeks we were out of power after Katrina. We shall see, hopefully it will be done before then.

So, sorry the updates have been sparse, but hopefully it will pick up soon. I know I need to announce some winners, and I have a bunch of contests I will be running soon, so please come back.

In other news:

GOSSIP GIRL RESUMES TONIGHT! Can you tell I'm excited? I have been waiting for this all month! Whoop! Don't call me at 8 pm -- I'll be in front of the TV, watching Chuck and Blaire duke it out -- and seeing if Serena and Dan get back together. I. CAN'T. WAIT.

Thank you for all of your votes, I made it into the Hot Blogger Calendar for 2009. Thank you to everyone who has visited my site, and to all who voted. I am so excited to have the opportunity to go to NYC! Now, if anyone out there wants to sponsor my trip, I've got 2 weeks to make it happen, lol.

Hurricanes...

Hi everyone. So sorry that I haven't posted much this week, but we are busy making preparations for the potential landfall of then Hurricane Gustav here where we live. We are waiting on word about evacuations and whether or not "contraflow" (when both lanes of the interstate open in one direction only -- AWAY from the storm's predicted path) will be put into effect.

With that, we are cleaning up around our house, cutting our lawn, and getting supplies. I'll try my best to keep you updated, but should Gustav continue on this path, it may be a bit before I'm back here posting.
Thanks for understanding. Please send your good thoughts to the people of New Orleans today and until Gustav has passed - today, August 29th, is also the 3 year anniversary of the day that Hurricane Katrina made landfall here.

Gossip Girl

I love celebrity gossip -- I read all of the tabloid mags as well as all of the gossip I can get my hands on online. If you like Celeb Gossip too -- head over to MomDot today and read the post I did there - The Gossip Roundup. I will be doing this weekly on Tuesdays, so you will always be able to get your gossip fix over there. Please come back and let me know what you think -- it's the first time I've tried my hand at celeb gossip!

Blog the Recession!

In case you haven't already heard, Kristen over at Motherhood Uncensored (warning, it's a rockin' blog but it is what it says it is -- uncensored. If there are little eyes around, don't click, mkay?) has started something called "Blog the Recession". It's premise is simple -- every bit of traffic and page views helps us bloggers out -- especially the ones who are still newbies like me -- so the idea is that you click through to the actual website from your feed readers (I'm talking to you BioGirl - but I'm only pickin' on you because I know you read CSC in a reader) so that the blogs that you read can get some much-needed traffic.

Why do we need traffic, you ask? Well -- I guess with summer time everyone traffic is down because people are on vay-cay and just aren't reading their dear ole blogs like they usually do. I myself went on a two week vacation to Europe where I was required to PAY to access my precious internet. Of course, I slacked off in my reading during that time, frankly because I couldn't afford to continue to pay for internet just to read all of the latest posts on the web.

Honestly, every little page view helps -- so if you are a frequent reader of a blog, then go on, click through your reader and onto the actual website itself to help the blogger out. And of course, while I appreciate all of you subscribers who read this daily though email or a reader, I also appreciate it when you click on over to my site and hit me up with some much needed traffic.

Traffic = more cool stuff that I can bring you on a regular basis. And who doesn't like cool stuff?

Exactly.

So go ahead, help us Blog this Recession. Click around, leave a few comments if you are so inclined. Your blogger friends all thank you.

Bloggy Giveaways Quarterly Carnival

Ahhh the smell of cotton candy and popcorn, the bright lights, and the sound of kids screaming from the scary rides that probably weren't assembled properly and will eventually be reported on Ride Accident's Wesbite... Don't you just love a carnival?

Wait? What do you mean it's not THAT kind of carnival?

Well nevermind then -- THIS Carnival is apparently one where you don't have to spend a fortune trying to knock over that stack of bottles that is quite obviously hot glued together because you've hit it dead-on at least 3 times and it hasn't budged virtually impossible to do. All of this for a shriveled looking stuffed animal!

Oh no, this carnival is better. Muuuuuuccccchhhhhh better!

It's the Bloggy Giveaways Quarterly Carnival, and yours truly was up way early this morning so that I could participate! Talk about crazy -- the Carnival only opened up 1 hour and 3 minutes ago, and it already has 257 contests listed -- how awesome is that?! So, after you finish entering my two amazing contests that we have going on here (For Custom Stationery from Paperlicious and a set of French English Flashcards for Kids) be sure to head on over to the Bloggy Carnival to get your entry on!

Oh, and if you win stuff, be sure to come back here and let us know what you won!

Are you hosting a Giveaway in conjunction with the Bloggy Carnival? Sign Mr. Linky below so I can be sure to check it out! Thanks!

Prizes, Beaches, and a few random musings

I am currently on a retreat with some of the leaders from the youth group that I volunteer with and we are staying in a gorgeous condo right across from the beach in Gulfport, Mississippi. Perhaps the reason that it's so beautiful is because this whole area was completely wiped out in Hurricane Katrina and so any building along the coast here is a new building. It's hard to believe this is only an hour from where I live -- it's so quiet and peaceful here -- as I type I can see the waves gently rolling in before crashing on the beach.

I really should come here more often. It's so hard to be a tourist in your own town (or urm, area -- since I don't exactly LIVE here), isn't it?

In other news...

In case you didn't already know, I am one of the new co-hosts over at Prizeatron -- and I posted my very first contest round up today -- so you really should head on over and check it out. Prizeatron was started and is run by Angela -- who also writes a great blog called Seven Dogs and a Baby -- and currently features Drea from Simple and myself as the new co-hosts, with some other great women hopping on board soon too. You'll be able to find me there every Friday from here on out!

I have so many great reviews and giveaways coming up that my head is swimming, so be sure to subscribe to Chic Shopper Chick (if you don't already) so that you can keep up with all of the great happenings around here.

Have a great weekend!

A Wicked Good Time in London

Hello all of you from London! I am here having a fabulous time and I am (of course) shopping my heart out! Little AG and I went with some friends to have a Cream Tea at Fortnum and Mason this afternoon, and it was a blast (not to mention yummy. Apart from the snooty service, the tea and scones were fantastic. Have you ever had clotted cream on a scone? Let me just say, it's AH-MAY-ZING! No seriously -- it was. Everything else has been going very well -- well as much as it can when you are with a ginormous tour group, anyway.

Tonight we popped into a show in the West End (how do you like my use of British slang, there?) and saw "Wicked" the musical. It was fantastic! Seriously, I had chills for most of the time. It's very funny and the actress who played Elphaba was very talented. The actress who played Glinda (the Good Witch!) had great comedic timing. If you haven't seen "Wicked" or aren't familiar with it, it is the "prequel" to the "Wizard of Oz". It is funny and actually quite touching -- it explains how the Wicked Witch came to be Wicked in the first place. I highly recommend seeing it if you ever have the chance!

Anyway, here it's 2 AM so I'm going to go to sleep for a couple of hours before I'm up again for another full day. Look for a guest post tomorrow from one of my favorite bloggers. :) Oh, and feel free to comment with any suggestions that you have for me in London -- I'm have a free day here tomorrow to see what I want and I am certainly open to suggestions!

A small change at CSC, and you can help!

I have now officially been posting on Chic Shopper Chick regularly since April, and I am constantly amazed at how much it has grown. I am thrilled, and I truly appreciate each of you who clicks through the website on a regular basis. I've discovered that this website works in a constant circle...the more that you participate and visit my blog, the more things are marketed to me, hence the more things I have to giveaway to you! That is the reason I offer extra entries into contests for those of you who are subscribers -- you keep this website on it's feet!

I have recently come to a point where I am spending 20-30 hours a week working on this website -- through posting, writing emails, returning emails, scheduling giveaways, mailing off products to winners, and scouring the web for the latest and greatest things to talk about here with you. While I love doing it, it does get to the point sometimes where I am making a choice between this site and other things that I need to be doing. In order to justify spending the time on this site that I do, I have made the decision to allow advertisers to market their products on this site. It will be a minor change, but it will help me to pay the bills and, like I said, justify the time I am spending on this site.

With that in mind, I am asking you, my readers and friends, to help me out! Advertisers stay happy when they see that my readers click through to their websites and spend a few minutes browsing around. So, with that, I ask that when you see my "sponsors" in the sidebar, that you click through from my site and look around to see what they have to offer. I will never allow advertising here that I don't feel like is pertinent to you so you will never have to worry about being taken to a site that I wouldn't normally recommend anyway. It is a small thing that you can do to help support this site, and it only takes a few minutes of your time when you visit CSC.

Thanks so much for reading CSC. I read each and every one of your comments and truly appreciate you visiting each day. Please keep coming back and keep on clicking!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all of you amazing dads out there! I have been so touched reading the comments about why a man in your life deserves to win the Casio watch, and it made me realize how lucky we are to truly have so many wonderful men who support us in our lives, no matter if it is a husband, father, son-in-law, brother, etc. they all contribute so much to who we are and have become.

That being said, I am going to take today off to spend some time with my husband who is an amazing father to our daughter and the best husband a girl could ask for. I am also blessed to have an wonderful father and and loving grandfather to pay tribute to. I love you all, Happy Father's Day!

I'mmm baaaaccckkk!

Hello Chic Shopper Chick readers! I wanted to apologize for my crazy week and my less than punctual posting! I am a volunteer for a really awesome non-profit organization here in town, and every year for the past 5 years I have helped to organize a big banquet celebration for the end of the year. Last night was that banquet, so the past week has been consumed by preparation for that and my head has been abuzz with words like "centerpieces", "pipe and drape" and "catering" INSTEAD of my usual words of "blog", "twitter", and "product reviews". I haven't forgotten about you all, however, and now that things have calmed down, I am back in full swing, ready to bring you all kinds of fabulous finds!

On a similar note, we have some amazing giveaways and reviews coming up -- so keep checking back often to see what is in store! Enjoy!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of you fabulous women out there! I am taking the day off to spend time with my beautiful daughter and amazing family, I hope you are doing the same! On that note, don't forget that today is the last day to enter the Freckle Face New Baby Prize Package Giveway! It would be an awesome gift for any new momma (or momma-again!) in your life, so don't forget to visit the contest and email in your entry! This fab giveaway closes tonight at midnight, and I will announce the winner tomorrow! Good luck!

Chic Shopper Chick on Alltop!

Today Chic Shopper Chick had the honor of being added to Alltop.com -- the place for all of the top stories! My feed will run live over there 24/7 in the Shopping section, which is very exciting! If you've never been to Alltop, it's a very cool place and you should check it out. I have been enjoying the France.Alltop.com section to keep up with my French as well as French news, and I've also been loving on the Green.Alltop.com section! There is Mom.Alltop.com too which proves very useful!

Would you like to go and visit Chic Shopper Chick over at Alltop? I knew you did! Here are some screen shots to help you find me! First, click on over to http://www.alltop.com! Once there, you'll see this:You can't really tell because the screenshot is rather tiny, but you need to click on the "Shopping" section. I've circled it for you here, to make it easier on your eyes!
Once you click on the Shopping Section, scroll all the way down to the bottom, and there I am!
How exciting! Go check it out if you get a chance -- it's a way cool place! Enjoy!