Local Goodies and Fun Stuff

Last week, I wrote about my beloved iPhone. This week, I tackle another topic near and dear to me… farmer’s markets — well… local food markets in general. My runner gals and I have been seen running with farmer’s market goodies because we have stopped mid-run. (Normally, we go after we finish running, but once in a while we get the logistics mixed up and look like we have stolen some goodies, but I digress.) So today, I was delighted to see a new Living Social Deal for Artizone. This is a new online shop that delivers delicious local goods. Can you see the Gary Poppins and Mama’s Nuts in this picture?? Rare Bird Preserves?? Cheese? Spices from the Spice House??! The deal is $25 for $50 (shipping is $5.95 extra – you still save $19 with this deal). Mama’s nut sampler is to DIE FOR! Trust me. Artizone also has $10 off your purchase if you refer friends and/or are referred by friends.

Yummy Local Stuff!

In other Chicago food deal news, I decided to try the Daily Candy deal for Meez Meals. For me the hardest part about cooking is, well, cooking. The deal is 3 prepped meals for 2 (vegetarian) delivered for $43. They do the prep, deliver it and give you directions for assembling and cooking the meal. Even I can get behind that — and the meals are healthy, so I can whip them up and bring some healthy, affordable lunches to work. Another cool thing is you can pick from a list of recipes in advance. This is like Dream Dinners – see guest blogger Pam Lagger’s post on her Dream Dinners experience HERE (but they bring it to you!) Worth a try – no?

I have been waiting for a half off deal on next weekend’s Bike the Drive (a Chicago event where they close Lake Shore Drive for several hours and allow bikes to ride on it). So far the best I have seen is $5 off off online registration with coupon code METROPLANNERS5. Anyone see a better deal? (she asks hopefully…)

Don’t live in Chicago? Wondering what I have for you? How about some interesting links?
Here are 6 Ways to Sneak Exercise into your Busy Week and another mysterious nutrition acronym explained.

And ANOTHER sweepstakes (because you know we are bound to win someday, right!?) Click the graphic to enter to win a trip to NYC with lots of cool perks.

Ooh, and a deal I spotted on Open Sky (not a member of Open Sky? Click here) ! 50% off on a Mophie Powerstation. What is a Mophie Powerstation? “The mophie Juice Pack Powerstation will give you ultra-fast charging of your iPod, iPhone, iPad, or virtually any USB device in the world.” $40 today only!

I will do better with national deals next time. I have been getting tons of awesome deals on extra discounts and cash back from ebates – but truth be told my closets are overflowing! Create an ebates account to get some great online shopping deals!