It’s Snowing at CityPlace

I couldn’t resist telling you about this one.  CityPlace is having a nightly snowfall.  Those of you who miss the snowy winters from up north can get a small dose of nostalgia every night from now through December 31.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday

6:30 and 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday

6:30, 7:30 and 8:30 p.m.

While you are there, check out Taverna Opa.  My stylist, Daniel, raves about it.  He said you’ll feel like dancing before you even hit the doors!  I can’t wait to give it a try.  Comment back and tell me what you think.  

You can also check out the following new stores that opened recently.

Bikini Style Ocean Drive

Bobby Chan

EG Square

IceBerry

Italian Oven Cafe

Kona Grill

Momma Che Buonno

Primo Comfort Footwear

Taverna Opa

Black Friday In Jupiter, Florida

By Susanne Quirk

My sister and I would kick off our holiday shopping on Black Friday. It was a tradition that lived on for years until I moved to Florida in 2001. This year we will be reinstating our shopping tradition in Jupiter, Florida. This will be the first year that we celebrate Thanksgiving with my mother, sister and her husband here in sunny Florida.

Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving. The retail industry claims it is the biggest shopping day of the year. It is the day that can bring many retailers out of the red and into the black in terms of revenue. Also, a big indicator of what retailers can expect for the remainder of the holiday shopping season.

So, I wanted to do my homework to be prepared for our big shopping day. I went online to search for the latest information on Black Friday. Whoa! I couldn’t believe what my eyes were seeing. I came across websites established for the sole purpose of providing information for Black Friday.

Here’s what I found…

1. Black Friday 2007 – Claims to be the Official Black Friday 2007 Website. This site is pretty loaded. You can subscribe to their mailing list. Categories include Adscans, Online Deals, Message Boards, Store Hours, create a shopping list and more. Click on the Features category and you will get a list of the Best and Worst Deals and Most Popular Deals.
2. Black Friday@ Gotta Deal.com – Lots of information including the latest news about Black Friday. The Black Friday FAQs are helpful. Most Wanted Items was not available when I checked.
3. BlackFriday.info – Pretty straightforward stuff here.
   • black friday ads
   • shopping list
   • coupons
   • deals
   • contact us
4. BlackFriday.net – Simplified here with ads and codes.

Each site had a long list of stores that provided adscans and coupons/deals. Some sites list more than others so you may need to view a few of them.

Check out the Palm Beach Post. They are providing helpful tips each day in the paper and Thursday’s Accent section will have a complete list of store hours and events. The Palm Beach Gardens Mall will text message deals at the mall. Text 97904 and receive messages about giveaways and deals! Text “Save” to WMart (96278) for Wal-Mart shoppers and “GO” to sams1 (72671) for Sam’s Club.

Happy shopping! Know of another website not listed here? Let us know.

Home Decor Tips

Written by Susanne Quirk

It seems that our readership is hungry for information on home decorating and staging. Some readers just want to update their homes for personal satisfaction and others are on a mission to stage their home to sell. Whatever the reason may be, I always find it helpful to find inspiration through friends, family and the world wide web. Here are a few helpful hints I came up with:

I picked up this beautifully woven storage chest at Target. I absolutely love this addition to our family room because I store our toddler’s toys in it. My living room no longer looks like a playpen. Appearance is everything when selling your home. Show it off as your home where buyers will feel relaxed and comfortable.

My sister has become the home improvement guru in her house. She recently installed a customized closet organizer in her master bedroom. When shopping around, she found that having one professionally installed would cost over $6,000! Yikes. She found a great website (EasyClosets.com), planned the layout, ordered the materials and viola! She now has a beautiful walk-in closet and saved over $4,000 installing it herself! She has a great blog that is great to refer to for home decorating and scrapbooking.

UPDATE: I just spoke with my sister and she said that any Costco member can receive up to 20% of from EasyClosets.com. You will need to make the purchase through Costco to receive the discount. In addition, EasyClosets.com also advertises FREE SHIPPING for orders over $1,000!

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HGTV.com has a great decorating blog called Design Happens Blog. Their website has some great decorating tips for every room in your house. I love their site. In fact, one of our recent postings from HGTV.com has been one of our most popular postings to date. See their home staging suggestions.

Flor.com happens to have one of the best ideas created for the home. They are carpet tiles of all different colors and patterns to use anywhere throughout your home. You can use them as an area rug, runner, or completely carpet your home. The best part about it is you can replace a tile as needed.

If preparing your house to sell is too much for you to think about, have a professional in Home Staging take care of it for you.

We’d like to hear from you. Comment back to us and send us your ideas and suggestions.