Amanda, aka @akean81, of Food Exercises is the winner of the $10 Restaurant.com gift certificate code. She said:

“I would pick Phillips Seafood because I have never been there before and love seafood. I was looking at the menu and looks like they have some healthier options which is a huge plus for me.”

Congrats, and enjoy your dinner!

I am a total foodie, but in the most equal-opportunity way. I love home-cooked meals, greasy spoon diners, upscale bistros, BBQ joints, fish houses, sushi bars, fancy steakhouses, taco stands, and hole-in-the-wall ethnic spots. I post many of my reviews on my food blog, www.nicoleratesit.com.

Unfortunately, my budget doesn’t keep up with food addiction. I clip coupons, get email alerts from my favorite restaurants, take advantage of Twitter freebies, and sometimes I even talk myself into free meals. But recently, I found out about the site Restaurant.com. It’s a site where you get incredible deals on local restaurants, for just a fraction of the price. In this down economy, every business it trying to drive traffic to their product…so why not Restaurateurs?

The typical deals are $10 for a $25 certificate, or $25 for a $50 certificate. However, when you sign up for their email alerts, they give you a code to buy the certificates for even less…even up to 90% off! One of the ways I’m able to travel so often is through the goodness of my friends, and finding ways to eat cheaply on the road. I’ll pack my suitcase with snacks, get a few groceries when I arrive at my destination, and go to restaurants that I can use a certificate. When I went to Florida in January, I got $75 of food credit for less than $10. The only caveat is the terms and conditions of each certificates. There is always a minimum purchase listed (like $35 minimum purchase with use of $25 certificate), and sometimes it’s only valid at lunch or dinner.

And now for the giveaway!!!

I am giving away a code for a $10 Restaurant.com food certificate! The winner will be emailed a code with a link to redeem your certificate on the website. Unfortunately with this particular offer, you will only be able to use it for $10 (without any additional promo code), but you will be amazed at the offerings all over the country.

TO WIN:

Go to restaurant.com, search your ZIP code, and find a restaurant in your area that you’d like to use the winning code at. Then comment on this blog post, telling me which place you’d like to redeem your certificate at, should you win.

FOR ADDITIONAL ENTRIES:

Become a follower of www.cuteculturechick.com by clicking on the Google Friend Connect widget on my sidebar

Become a follower of www.nicoleratesit.com by clicking on the Followers widget on the sidebar

Retweet this giveaway on Twitter: RT @cuteculturechick Giveaway: $10 restaurant.com certificate! http://bit.ly/dvAuZ4

Please comment for each entry. Contest ends at 12:00 am MST Monday, March 7th. Bon appetit and good luck!

Ever on a plane ride, enjoying your flicks and tunes on your iPod…and it suddenly dies? And you are stuck with reading SkyMall for the rest of your flight? Don’t let this happen to you again!

I am holding a giveaway for a Griffin TuneJuice2 backup battery for iPod. These electrical lifesavers retail for $31.99 at Best Buy, but now you have a chance to score one for free! It juices your iPod with AAA batteries, giving you extra hours of entertainment enjoyment. It is compatible with the iPod Classic, Nano, and Mini via the standard Apple USB connection jack. (The iPhone 2G gives you an “incompatible device” error message but still powers up. Doesn’t work for iPhone 3G). I keep mine in my purse at all times, and it’s gotten me out of a power pinch when my iPhone is almost dead and I don’t have an outlet to charge it at.

I’m feeling the spirit of giving for this holiday season, and want to know what tunes put you in the merry mood. Give me some ideas of what to add to my Christmas playlist.

To enter:
Just comment on this post with your top 5 Christmas songs (title and artist), like this:

I want to win!!
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen – Barenaked Ladies + Sarah McLachlan
Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy – Bing Crosby + David Bowie
Wonderful Christmastime – Paul McCartney
The Christmas Song – Mel Torme
Grown Up Christmas List – Amy Grant

For extra entries:
Click on the sidebar and become a follower of www.cuteculturechick.com
Head over to my review blog Nicole Rates It and become a follower
Follow me on Twitter at @cuteculturechic and tweet about the giveaway

(Gushing compliments will be accepted on a case-by-case basis)

Contest ends Monday, December 7, 2009 at 9:00 am.

Good luck!

Last Saturday, I met up with my cousin Thomas for breakfast in Orange County. He was the winner of my blog giveaway…which gave me a great opportunity to get “caught” up with him. He’s a few years younger than me, and I don’t know him as well as his older sisters Alaina and Jillian. When I lived in Oregon, he lived in Arizona. Then he moved to Oregon, and I moved to Utah. He recently graduated from BYU and moved to California with his wife this summer. His wife’s parents live in Michigan, but we missed them on their trip here a few months ago. So this breakfast was my chance to “catch” the infamous Thomas.

A funny story about Thomas: I was at the SLC Olympics Medals Plaza for the Barenaked Ladies concert in 2002. I went with my sister, and a guy caught my eye…smiled really big….and ran over and gave me a hug. He was obviously very excited to see me. He looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place him. So I played along and chatted for a few minutes, racking my brain with recognition for who I was talking to. Then Mary said, “Aren’t my cousin from Oregon?” and it hit me! It was Thomas! I hadn’t seen him since a trip to Oregon in 1998. In those 4 years, he’d gotten so tall and good looking. I can’t remember if I told him at the time that I didn’t recognize him right off, but the memory makes me laugh.

Can you tell we’ve both got the Watson baby blues?