Where Have I Been?

Wow guys!!! It has been a hot minute since I posted or even read blogs.

I had a little holiday melt down and needed a break. 

I had every intention to blog each day of the cruise I took in mid-December but that ended up being a hot mess!!! I hated every second of it! UGH! That will be a whole post but I am sure you would not have liked to hear me griping and crying every day! It was that awful!!! UGH again!

Then I got home and Christmas hit like a ton of bricks. I was driving all over and trying to get things in order and then same issue for New Years. 

After New Years, I got sick...yes, I got that horrible hacking cough for the next two weeks! It was the sickest I have felt in a LONG time!!!!

So here we are...back to work to finish out a few months before my site closes and I have to look for a new job. Fingers crossed that goes well when the time comes...

Also, I have started back to exercise! I re-joined barre classes near work and I am AGAIN obsessed!!!

So, today let me tell you how important I think it is to have supportive and motivational people around me.... 

I was attending barre at a studio about 6 years ago and I LOVED it!! I could not wait to go everyday!! Everyone was super supportive of each other and it was a bunch of women encouraging each other daily! Then the studio was purchased by two young women that turned it into a catty, awful place. I can not explain everything but the whole dynamic of the studio changed. If you were not part of their group then you were just money coming in the door and you were not treated like the "friends". I hit my 250 classes and no one even remembered. They are supposed to make a big deal out of it and they did not AT ALL. But, when their "friends" hit 250 you woudl have thought the Pope was attending class! HA HA! Anyway. I was paying WAY too much money to feel like I was second best.

So, fast forward to this year! A new studio was opening in Robinson Township near my work so I re-joined! I LOVE it again! YAY!!!! I am attending two classes each day if I can. This morning I did the 5:30AM Empower and then the 6:30 Classic. Then to Starbucks for my free January coffee and to work.

If you all have never heard of this cup I will let you in on the secret! 

Every year for Christmas my sister gets me this mug from Starbucks. 

In December, Starbucks sells their January Refill mug for $40. You can use it yourself of gift it. The owner gets an awesome metal travel mug and one free brewed coffee or tea refill everyday!!!! EVERYDAY FREE!!! It is amazing if you drink plain coffee or tea! I love mine and get my free cup everyday! SCORE! My sister rocks!!!!

Also, just an update for those that follow my blog...

The dog owners still habe their dog!!! We (the Condo Board) have sent two fines (each for 4500) and they are not abiding by the rules and getting rid of the dog so we are now waiting to hear from the lawyers. UGH UGH UGH!!!!! Hopefully they wil give us direction on what to do next.

Okay, well, I apologize for the quick disappearing act but I promise I am back. Now, I am off to find out what all of you have been up to. I have missed you ALL!!!!

HUGS!!

Public Service Announcement...Check ALL accounts for theft!

In this digital age; I am very conscious of identity theft!
I religiously check all my credit card accounts online constantly for unauthorized charged, etc. and I shred everything that has my address on it (also friends and family addresses on return address labels, etc.). I have links on my phone for all of my credit card companies, etc. so it makes it very easy to check them all quickly!

However, I have a Starbucks app that I load gift card money to all the time! Everyone that knows me gives me Starbucks money - LOL! I just had a birthday and I knew I had a lot of money in my Starbucks account (I do not link it to my bank account to reload but I had just added a few gift cards all at once).

Long story short; I was playing on my phone over the weekend and happened to pop open the Starbucks app because I was getting star points and was not making purchases!!! I opened my account and saw my account balance was only around $50 which was way low since I just added those new gift cards! Since I am working in Pittsburgh now (no traveling for a while) I am trying to save money and take my coffee from home to work so I knew I had not gotten any Starbucks recently to spend all that money.

So, I checked the app under the Purchase History tab and this is what I saw....

Needless to say; someone had gotten my account number and made many, many purchases from my account in California! I live in PA and the purchases were California! The only ones that are mine are the highlighted purchases.  I only get tea or coffee so my purchases are always under $3! All those other charges was someone using my account loaded onto a fake card!! Thank goodness I checked as I am sure they would have kept spending until it was gone!

 

I called Starbucks customer service and they were awesome! They closed that card account and transferred my monies to a new card and they credited all the fraudulent purchases back my account and said they are going to check footage to see if they can catch the people that used the fake card! They said this happens all the time and a lot of the time people don't notice; they assume they spent it themselves!

 

Hopefully they will get them!! I HATE thieves and identify theft! So...if you don't use gift card accounts frequently - make sure you still check those balances too as Starbucks was able to credit me back since I caught it fairly quickly! 

 

Hopefully I can help someone else avoid having their account ripped off too!!! UGH!

Free Pastry Day at Starbucks March 23rd

Just an FYI - I Love Love Love Starbucks

and

just so you all know

Tomorrow

March 23rd

Tuesday

is FREE pastry day at Starbucks.

It goes until 10:30AM here in PA

With any beverage purchased you pick any pastry FREE!!!

If you love Starbucks - check it out!!!!

I saw this on my Starbucks Facebook Fan Page!!!!