Cottonwood should go back where it came from?

I had the chance to have a CNO (Couple's Night Out) last night. I had been telling my husband what he was doing wrong all day, so I thought it would be a nice treat to go out and sort of apologize. Well, I was excited to try this new restaurant called Cottonwood Restaurant and Cafe located in Royal Palm Plaza in Boca Raton. I had a girlfriend tell me about it. She said it was delicious and the restaurant is a chain from Boston. So when I got my Clipper coupon Magazine in the mail, I saw the Cottonwood ad with a coupon for dinner. (By the way, I am a coupon whore now that I am a stay-at-home mom) So the ad stated "reservations required". I was really nervous we might not get a table, so I made a 7:30 reservation for two.
We pulled up to the restaurant and noticed the outside seating. Nice, but no customers. We walked inside. I looked up at the vaulted ceilings and as my head lowered I noticed 1 couple in the restaurant. Yes, 1. There must be 25 tables on the first floor and upstairs were another 25. The hostess bounced over with delight and asked, "how many?". I told her somewhat laughing that we had a reservation. She actually started to check the computer. Hello! It doesn't really matter at this point now does it. She seated us at our table and the couple behind us gets up and leaves. Now we are the only patrons in this restaurant. It was so bright, the music was cheesy and the only people to people watch were us. So we made the best of it. The menu was interesting. It was a southwestern/tex mex/shrimp/not really sure type of restaurant. We ordered 2 Dos Equis and the chips and dips. The dips tasted like they were from a jar: green salsa, red salsa, cheese dip and guac. Andy ordered the Chicken Diablo. It was chicken tenders mixed with beans and it was too spicey. I had a taste and my throat was on fire. I had the Steak Enchiladas. It had a strange flavor. Maybe it was cooked in wine, I'm not sure. It was wrapped in a soggy red tortilla. The beans and rice had a strange flavor too. They smelled like nutmeg or cinnamon Let's put it this way, for $73 bucks, I think I should have loved it. I mean how can you screw up an enchilada?

My favorite boutique in Boca!

In this economy, I am all about supporting the small businesses. They are the back bone of this nation. One small business in particular is an adorable boutique located in Boca Raton called Vintage June. This boutique has unique and interesting items for women and children. The store carries the most amazing handbags from oversized quilted patent bags to woven baskets trimmed with ribbon. She has a beautiful assortment of unique jewelry and candles. For children, the owner features a collection of different books about manners for ages 3 and old. Start them young moms. She also has dolls, puzzles and games. The other great thing about this boutique is I can walk to it from my house.

Well, Vintage June has been open for a year and they are throwing a first anniversary party this week serving cocktails, hors d'oeurvres and shopping. It's Thursday, November 13th from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. To RSVP or for more information call 561.338.7735.

Read your bills!

You go to your mail box and get the mail. One of the many tasks we do as women. You throw it on the counter and scan through it hoping to find the latest J. Crew catalog or some Baby's R Us coupons. Instead you find nothing but bills. Doesn't it seem like you just paid that one and that one. So you put them aside and tell yourself, you'll go through them tomorrow.

So tomorrow is here. You break out a calculator, maybe and your check book. Some of us are ahead of the times and pay by computer. Do you take the time to read your bill before you write the check? Well, you should. Look at it and ask questions. Read the paragraphs they add in between sections of your bill. You could probably save yourself some money.

For example, Bellsouth, which is the new At&T, is such a monopoly and in my opinion very greedy. It started with my long distance. I had a flat rate plan. So I could make as many calls as I wanted a month. I started noticing how many minutes I was using. It was next to nothing. It would be cheaper for me to switch to $.10 a minute or whatever it was. Did I do anything about? No, I let it go.

Next month, get my bill. I start reading between the lines. I notice that they are going to start charging me in advance for my long distance. So that means I would be getting charge $27 plus another $27. HELLO! What the hell do they need to do that for? I am good for the money.

So that really ticked me off. I found out that my dad got rid of his long distance and now has Big Red Wire for Florida they charge $.6 in state and $.02 out of state. You give them a credit card and they charge it monthly. If you can get someone else to join that's long distance. They give you $5.00 worth of long distance.

So then I started thinking, maybe that would work for me. And then how could I lower my bill even more? I went on the AT&T website and looked through their plans and bundles and all that crap. I noticed the plan I had gives about 15 features, but only 9 showed on my bill.

Now I am pumped. So I call my lovely AT&T rep, who was helpful, and asked him about my plan and my features. I told him it looks like I should have 15 and I only have 9. He says "Oh yeah, some of those are just not activated". WHAT!!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING?!! Needless to say, we worked that out. I added some features left a few stupid ones off. We then moved on to the long distance. Basically I cancelled it. Done!

Well, just got my bill today and you would not believe what they did. They charge me $10 for making changes to my service. They charged me $2.00 for canceling my long distance. Whatever! So I picked up the phone and called my lovely At&t rep , who was still nice by the way. And inquired about the $10 charge. Wellllll, would you know it. That should have been waived. Thank my lucky stars I called because that could have been a deluxe box of Pampers wipees with a coupon or 12 jars of baby food.

It's ridiculous. So all I can say is read your bills and ask questions. That's what customer service is there for.