Give-a-Way: Real Detroit Pizza from Niki's Greektown!

In a previous blog post I mentioned that my favorite Superbowl commercial was without a doubt Chrysler's "Imported from Detroit".

The message was awesome and the best part is that it told the world how great Detroit is.  I am from Metro-Detroit so you may think I am biased, however, one thing I don't mess around with is food.  Detroit has some good food!  New York has theirs and so does Chicago, but I think we do it best.

That's right I am talking about Detroit Style Pizza.  What is that, you ask?  Only the best pizza ever.  It is its own style -- a square pizza with crispy corners and whole new way of doing the sauce and cheese. The city is a great place to go out and -- I may be preaching to the choir --but you really should try this pizza.  And if you do, I have got a surprise for you (well not really because it is in the headline but still totally cool).  I have three $20 gift certificates for Niki's Greektown Pizza to giveaway so you can experience Detroit pizza at it's finest.

Why Niki's? Well because they have the best pizza, they are in a cool area of Detroit where you can go downtown and have some fun because there is lots to do.  Niki's is only a block from Greektown casino as well.  Their pizza is so good it's gettting recognition on a national level and it was named one of America's top 25 pizzas by GQ Magazine.

Niki's also has more than just pizza they have salads too with a greek dressing that's to die for and one of my personal favorites.

With Tiger's opening day around the corner it is time to head downtown and get some Niki's.

So I know you're sold already.  You want some Niki's and a free gift certificate sounds great.  But what if I don't win?  Or maybe you don't want to wait that long now that I have gotten you all hungry and craving their pizza.  Well scan the photo below with your smart phone and a present awaits you.  After you do that, scroll on down and enter the contest.  After all, we can never have to much of the food, right?

TO ENTER:

- Fill out the information in the form below.

- One entry per person please.

- The contest ends on Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 11:59am EST.

- The winners will be selected by random number generation and announced on April 2nd.

- The winners must live within driving distance of Niki's Greektown Pizza. USA addresses only.

- Niki's gift certificates will be distributed to the winners via U.S. mail.

- Contest Winner will have 5 days to reply with their address or an alternate winner will be selected.

EXTRA GIVEAWAY ENTRIES

- You can get 1 extra contest entry for following Niki's Greektown onFacebook.  Write on their wall "Thanks for giving Detroit 30 years of great pizza".

- You can get 1 extra contest entry for commenting below.

- You can get 1 extra contest entry for Tweeting the following message on Twitter "I entered a contest to win a @nikisgreektown $20 Gift Certificate from @JenniferDu79 http://wp.me/p10vpI-1d"

- You can get 1 extra contest entry for blogging about this giveaway and leave a separate comment with a link to your post. A trackback is fine.

Good Luck!

ENTRY CLOSED

One of those days

So it was one of those days that feels like it's been one of those weeks and it is only Tuesday.  From the time he hit the garage door opener to when my husband finally walked in the door the I was already running bath and fixing myself a drink ready to run off and retreat to my room.  I felt horrible for doing it considering he had just worked a 12 hour day but I knew if I didn't have a mental health moment it wouldn't be good for either of us.  Potty training had gone so well but for some reason today we were on our 4th pair of underwear already when I just gave up and let him run around pantless.  I hadn't had a shower since well I think Monday and my legs were getting furrier than I prefer.  All of this exasperated by the fact that my dad was home all week with me last week and then when he left my mom was here.  I love them but I think it is hard for them not to critic every action I make.  From taking to long of a shower (hence being afraid to take the time to shave) to not showering often enough to not feeding my son right, to my hair being to oily, to me drinking to much (this after my mom saw me make 1 drink the entire time she was here).  Needless to say with the departure of the parents I needed a moment to myself.  To in all essence love myself.  To tell myself that its okay, everyone does things differently and I am not a failure nor a bad person.

Why is it that people can make us feel so insecure about ourselves?  I try to do my very best at all I do and I am sure that others would do things differently.  My house isn't the neatest nor is it as neat as I would like it to be but at the same time I spent about forty-five minutes to an hour cuddling with my little man when he got up from his nap because that's what he wanted / needed at the moment.  I don't want to miss that, nor do I want to cut it short just so I can go empty the dishwasher because I know that one moment soon enough he won't want to cuddle with Mommy anymore.  Or worse yet something could happen and in an instant he could be gone and I know I would give anything just for a moment to hold him again.  I know that may sound odd that I would worry about him not being there and wanting to spend every moment with him to the detriment of everything else but I just feel the need to cherish as many moments as I can.  You see I am all to aware at how fleeting life can be.  I know in the wake of Japan we are all reminded but I don't need that when it comes to my little guy.  You see there was a little angel named Noah who taught me that.  My "big sister" in my sorority had a little baby boy exactly four months to the day after my son was born and he was with us only four short months after that before he passed in his sleep.  No one saw it coming and it was shocking.  It shook me to my core and I slept on the floor in my little guys room for the first couple of nights and was devastated at his funeral.  It was impossible to look at that little casket and not think about what could have been.  I felt robbed that our hopes and dreams of our boys growing up together so close in age and being able to play with each other would never happen.  I also felt guilty because I still had my baby and it is still hard for me to talk about my son or even complain on those off days because I know she doesn't have her little boy.

So I will take the flack that the house still isn't completely unpacked and my room is a disaster and there is laundry to be done.  Or my favorite that I haven't chosen to go back to work full time and using that college degree.  I can't do it.  I don't want to miss a moment and I hate the nights that I work and close the store and miss my good night kiss because I tell you this if I am home I never miss them. I will take my messy house for an hour of cuddle time any day.  So that is what I thought about in the long bath where I washed the stress and frustration of the day off.  Where I cleared my mind of the record of criticism that played in my head.  I have a little baby who spent four months on this earth to thank for that clarity.

Decisions, Decisions, What to Do? Time to work on those goals.

So I have been a little absent of late.  Trying to decide what to do but knowing the reality is I am procrastinating at doing what I need to do.  I have this list of goals and some of them I have talked about here before.

Goal 1: I need to increase our families income.  Somehow this needs to happen.  I believe I have the tools to do so at this point it is up to the sheer determination on my part and deciding how bad I really want it.

Goal 2: Pay off student loans / debt: So we live credit card free but student loans are debt and there are some left over medical bills from when my husband was laid off.  This all needs to go.  I have this great program I just got called Debt Quencher and have started to use it.  Along with it is another program I highly is Moneywell.  Which is a cool take on the envelope budgeting plan and is available on the iPhone and Mac's.  So far happy with it all and I will keep you posted on it.  I have also debated starting a challenge a friend of mine is working on.  She isn't spending any money for a whole month and writing about it in her blog.  Crazy.

Goal 3: Loose weight.  This one is a tough one.  There are so many ways and ideas.  Some work for some people and not for others but the reality I know is calories in calories out.  Sounds simple I get that.  Eat better, Move more.  That is so much easier said than done.  Obviously because there are a lot of overweight people out there.  I have kicked around the idea of starting Weight Watchers but I just don't know if I even have the time for it.  Then there is the whole will power issue.  I guess I know to many people who have lost weight with it but put most if not more back on.  So I am leaning to a more radical approach.  I have decided to Vegan.  I know huge jump.  I just feel as though this one has been speaking to me for a while though.  I have thought about it on my own.  I watched Food Inc and started buying almost everything local when available.  I am a huge fan of Ellen and when she would talk about her Vegan lifestyle we even started having the vegan tacos she showed on the show.  The best part was they were actually good. She had this guy on who talked about his book Breaking the Food Seduction and I really started to think that was the way to go so I bought it.  Then I never read it.  Recently Oprah did a show about her staff going Vegan for 2 weeks and that was really cool.  So I started to thinking about it even more.  The final straw came yesterday when on PBS I saw this guy talking about loosing weight eating a healthy vegan diet.  I kept thinking that guy looked familiar so today I googled the book and it turned out to be Dr. Neal Barnard.  Yep the same guy who wrote that other book I never read.  Okay, big voice in the sky, universe or whatever I call you, I hear you, I am going to go vegan.  I'm going to put a time limit on it, one month, and commit to it for that time period and see how I feel at the end of it.  After the month is up I may not want to go back or I may want to keep some changes and add some animal products back in.   Now I have my husband on board for a 2 week stint but I just have to convince him for the month.  Then there is the whole guilt thing about cleaning out m fridge and throwing things out.  No matter how much I know it needs to be done.  I will donate what I can but throwing stuff away is gonna hurt.  I'm not a hoarder it just feels wasteful.

Goal 4: Run a half marathon.  This one is a tough one because first I need to learn to love running.  I started to.  I found that Couch to 5K program and had started it.  You can find them online and on Facebook and I think they even have an app.  I also think you could subscribe to their channel on iTunes with stuff for your run.  I had started getting into it and actually was looking forward to my runs and then I broke my foot.  The worst part is I didn't even break it doing something cool.  I tripped on one of my son's toys.  Seriously.  So I was on crutches and sedentary for way to long and now I am trying to find the motivation to get back at it.  So I did pick up a new pair of my favorite Nike running shoe the AirMax and a new sensor for my iPhone to track my runs.  When I get going I will post a link so you guys can follow if you wish, yell at me when I don't if you want or get a ll competitive and challenge me.

I know that if I do all of these things I will be a much happier person.  Which will make me a better mom.  I am just a little overwhelmed and don't know how to find the time where to start or if I should try to tackle them all at once or not.  Feeling slightly freaked out here people.  That is why I was so glad when a good friend of mine contacted me about a Life Coach she knows who has a great new eProgram.  Which is great because I am so in need of it.  So I am gonna try it and even if it just helps me with one of those goals that will be great.  So look for updates to that coming soon as well.

Have a great day everyone!

Superbowl Commercial is my own personal "Call to Action"

So the Superbowl was last night.  I watched it of course, it was a good game and the commercials were okay, with one stand out for me.  The Chrysler 200 commercial with Eminem featuring Detroit.  I also was taking by the dedication of the players to be at the top of their game and the comments form the coaches.

I was particularly impressed by the post game interview of the coach from the losing Pittsburgh Steelers, Michael Tomlin.  Particularly the fact that he made no excuses for their loss and gave credit to Green Bay for how well they played.  "We're not in the business of making excuses. We won't do it."  as well as stating there were "No moral victories here".   When he was asked about shaking every mands hand as he walks in to the locker room post game he replied "That's standard procedure...."  I just found him to be a classy guy.

My hubby was at his annual poker game so after the munchkin was asleep I sat and watched the game with my Twitter family.  I got a tweet that was really cool.

"It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up."- Vince Lombardi

So this morning I got to thinking what the takeaway is.  Yes it's just a football game but I truly believe for me there was a lesson in there somewhere.  Someone is sending a message.  The thing is I have been a little frustrated with myself.  I know for a fact that I am siting at a huge crossroads right now and what I do over the next couple of months is going to shape the direction of my life.  We have a huge opportunity in front of us right now and in order to take advantage of it we need to increase our families income by a set amount.  At the same time the company I am apart of has just launched a new skin care.  I have marketed a skin care before and had relative success at it and that was with an inferior product line.  I know people will make life changing money with this the question is will I.

I am completely responsible for my success or failure in the next few months.  I guess the issue is that I know certain things need to be done and yet I am failing at doing them.  It always seems like there isn't enough time in the day or I am super busy with the little guy during the day or the house needs to be cleaned or there is laundry to be done.  Basically everything but what I know needs to happen.  I have all the tools I need, I have been training for this for the last couple years so why am I not just making it happen.  Not sure if it is fear.  Maybe deep down I am scared of failing at this.  Maybe I am not sure if I have it in me again to build another business.  Maybe it's because the people I thought would be working along side me aren't doing anything.  One of my favorite speakers Eric Worre of Network Marketing Pro once said that people get hung up on leaving their friends behind.  But if we were in school and you were moved to the fifth grade and your friend wasn't you wouldn't stay in the fourth grade to hang out with them.

So I come back to the Chrysler commercial and for me it is more about a car, or some music artist or a city.  Here watch it again....

 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKL254Y_jtc&w=640&h=390]

 

"It's the hottest fires that make the hardest steels.  Add hard work, conviction and know-how that runs generations deep in every last one of us.  That's who we are.  That's our story."

So I guess I ask myself what is my story, and I going to quit by doing nothing or am I going to do whatever it takes.  Lets face it I can find the time if I give up TV and the house doesn't have to be spotless all the time.  There will be time to clean later but the opportunity that is in front of me won't be this big six months from now.  I guess during the Superbowl I had my own little call to action.  Now the reality of it is I need to act on it and keep this feeling and remember why it is I am doing this all because if I do maybe just maybe the trajectory of my life could be vastly different than if I do nothing.

Keep it real folks. Thanks for listening and helping to keep me honest, putting it in writing makes it more real because now its out there and you all will know if I let myself down.  Now it's time for me to get to work.

$5 or $5,000 does it matter?

I have been pondering this question the other day.  My manager made a point the other day and I for one feel she is right.  Whenever we have a customer in our store that doesn't want to have to follow our company return policy.  In other words they want to return an item that they purchased months ago with the tags still on that is outside of our 30 day return policy and we apologize and state that we are unable to return the item because it is outside of the time frame; nine times out of ten the customer instantly jumps to the comment "but I spend insert amount (a lot, thousands, etc.) at this store."  The thing is it doesn't matter and I would like to suggest that you shouldn't want it to and it is a good thing that it doesn't.  Here's the thing would you want to be treated poorly simply because you don't spend a lot in the store?  Or would you want excellent customer service and a great shopping experience everytime you enter the store regardless of what you spend or if you buy nothing at all.

The reality of it is, the people that shop at our store frequently and do spend thousands know our return policy they even typically know the month we changed it over the summer.  Not only that but we have signs at all the registers, it is printed on the receipt that they are bringing in, and we frequently tell our customers.  Most of the time I would be willing to bet they know its outside the policy and come in ready for an argument wanting an exception to be made for them.  But beyond that is really the question about it mattering that you spend more than others in the store.

I caught myself in a tweet this weekend when I was leaving Buy Buy Baby upset about the lack of service I received and stated thatI had been going there to spend thousands.  Truth is it shouldn't have mattered if I was going in there to purchase a $20 item or the $1000 bedroom furniture I was going to purchase.  The associate asked me if she could help me and I asked her for a price on the few pieces we were looking at adding to our 2 year old's bedroom.   We already have part of the set and wanted to add more now that he is older and his new room is larger.  The woman walked away to check, after sitting there for 15-20 min and her not returning I got up to check and found her helping someone else.  She said "I was going to come back to you and tell you we were really busy but this couple came up and needed help".  As if that wasn't bad enough the other item we wanted was out of stock on the shelve and then the couple of little items we picked up we went and stood in line and then they started a second line forgot about the line I was in and all these people were cutting in front of us and when I said something the associate said I should go and join the back of the thoer line.  So I handed her my items and walked out of the store.  The worst part of this is I later found out they had a store meeting that very morning about customer service and how they needed to improve.

While I was making a small purchase at the register I had been prepared to make a large purchase and that was thwarted every step of the way.  We plan on buying a new Bob jogging stroller this morning and I have found that I can purchase it at a local Michigan based company called Moosejaw where I have always had excellent customer service and while I may pay a few dollars more for the item it will be worth it to support a company that does it right.  I am also going to be looking for another store to purchase my additional pieces ofMother Hubbard's furniture.

So all customers regardless of what they are spending should be treated the same by all companies.  It is better for the consumer and for the business they need to recognize that you never know where that small purchase will lead.  Fierce loyalty by a consumer, where they will spend more just to shop with you if they need to, only comes from providing excellent experiences for your customers each and every time.  To summon my inner Julia Roberts, to not do this would be a "Big mistake. Big. Huge. I have to go shopping now."

Where did our manners go?

As I was pulling out of a drive through restaurant yesterday, after a brief exchange the older woman leaned out the window and warmly told me to stay warm out there with a smile.  A brief encounter but I felt this woman's kindness and genuine caring coming though.  As I pulled out I began to ponder why had that struck me and why did it frequently happen to my husband and I?  You see we have restaurants we go to where the servers try to get our table, at retail locations I shop the associates come over as soon as I walk in to stop and say "hi" and ask how things are going (I may not have shop there a lot or have bought anything in months).  So why is that I wondered that I can have such a warm experience almost every time I go out.

I think part of it is that we always are polite to the associates we come in contact with.  Even when ordering though a speaker we are always there with our please's and thank you's so that by the time we get up to the window the associate is killed with kindness.  Even on the occasions when they are obviously flustered and maybe having a bad day we are still super polite.  I have noticed in awe that at times they seemed so shocked and surprised that someone is polite to them.  That made me wonder when we all stopped being so polite.    I say this because I have experienced the other side of this.

I recently in the last 6 months decided to take a retail position at one of my favorite stores.  A store by the way where I would frequent, even though I didn't buy most times, but was friendly with the associates to the point that the manager offered me a job with them.  So I took the job, in the hard to get into store, so I would have a chance to get out of the house a couple of times a week and have fun with people.  One of my favorite things to do is shop and now I got to do just that and even more than get paid to do it I now got an amazing discount on my favorite clothing line for my family and I.  I tell you this because I do my job for fun and I look forward to going into work and yet even I can leave feeling frustrated when I get home.

I realized that as I was driving away from the fast food place that I may be one of the people that makes it nice to go into work because lets face it people can be mean.  My favorite customers that come into the store aren't necessarily the ones that spend the most but the ones that are nice and polite.  I think sometimes people think that because that associate is being paid to help them that they should have to ask them with a polite "please" but rather tell them since in essence we work for them.  I frequently find a sense of entitlement amongst the people who come into the store.  No let me give you a bit of background.  It is my goal to give every customer a great experience and leave smiling.  Whether they buy anything or not.  I go to work for fun so I want the customer to have fun.  It's shopping!  I go to frequent trainings and read lots of books in the area of improvement, primarily for my other industry, and one of my favorite is a book called The Collapse of Distinction by Scott McKain.  I picked this up after hearing him speak and I suggest that if you ever have the opportunity to hear him, go!  So while I do believe there are bad associates out there, I am not really sure anyone sets out to not take care of customers and to an extent I think we have a chicken and egg thing here.  I believe that if we are polite and friendly and use the associates name you will indeed end up having more positive experiences as a customer.

I know from my experience the days I come home feeling frustrated are on the days where I have one to many customers who are condescending and rude.  My favorite example of that is when one of the people I went to college with came in and I swear took pleasure in ordering me around and left her fitting room full of clothing wadded up on the floor.  Maybe that is how she always is but she did make a comment about what I was doing working here. I told her because enjoy it and it allows me to be home with one of my favorite people, my son.  But, it doesn't matter if I chose to leave a career and work there or not.  Or that I took the job for fun and don't need it for the money.  Would it make me any less worthy of politeness if that was the job I had to do?

I think thats the part that really struck me.  When we are dealing with people does it matter why that person works there or that they are any less of a person simply because the job pays less an hour than what you make?  Maybe it is also the area I live in that tends to be more affluent but I would be willing to bet this goes on across the country.  My good friend who is a psychologist and I were talking about it one the phone the other day and said "wow they must be really unhappy".  I say that because if you're the one working you have to know it isn't about you, that customer does that because they feel it is the way they will feel better about themselves. In contrast if you are a customer who feels like customer service has just gotten horrible these days and everywhere you go the sales associates are terrible, I would humbly make a suggestion that you take a step back and see if you might be contributing to your experience.  Make an effort to be polite to everyone you come in contact with, if you need something ask politely for it, say thank you, and if possible use their name.  You might be surprised at what you find.

Confessions

So I have a few confessions for you today.

#1 I have not unpacked a single box today.  I just don't know what the deal is but I am so over moving.  I know there is still hope it is only 4 PM but still I feel a little like a slacker.  I just needed some down time, a little me time if you will.  We have been crazy busy and I am struggling with picking out the paint and carpet for my sons room.  My hubby kind of gives a shrug and no opinion so I am sort of on my own with it.  We are going with grey carpeting and yellow walls.  It is a large room so I think with the color combo I can probably get away with a darker shade of grey and hope that it will tone down the yellow.  There are just way to many shades of yellow and  grey and it all feels like such a commitment.  My husband wanted to do blue on the walls but I felt like a soft yellow would be more neutral.  Then if we choose to change the bedding as he grows from his crib (yes still in a crib he hasn't tried to crib out and for now it works but we will probably transition it soon) or his toddler bed, to the full size bed.  And yellow just really sets off the cherry color of the wood.  He is also obsessed with Cars and so for now I have a feeling that will be the theme, that is until I can get him into something different but I will probably let him pick out something from Pottery Barn when we change it to the full size bed.  Any opinions form you guys?

#2  I am feeling like a horrible wife.  The hubby requested pot roast yesterday and with my mom in town for the night I opted for a Zucchini Lasagna that was a healthier and was delish although he said it needed meat.  Men.  I figured I would make pot roast for dinner tonight.  But with the snow and the little one I really didn't even think about it until 3 and even though I have all of the ingredients there was no way it could cook for 4 1/2 hours and have it for dinner as we do normally eat before 8 pm.  So it will have to be tomorrow.  The reason I feel so bad about it is that he had this big job interview this morning for a new job that would be closer to home and would add to our income considerably and then he came and took our son off my hands for the afternoon and all he asked for was pot roast.  I have guilt here people and on top of that I now have no plan for dinner so it may very well be left overs.  See horrible wife.

#3 I have this little obsession.  Well it is more like a crush.  I am head over heals in love with James Blunt.  There I said it.  I listen to his music all the time and it never gets old.  I say this because his new album is on presale on iTunes when you order it you get one of the songs right away.   I did so today and have already listened to it 4, no wait it is playing now so that makes 5, times.  I have seen him in concert every time he has been in Michigan, I did miss one concert but it was him opening for Sheryl Crow and was outdoors and I was 9 months pregnant.  I don't really think that counts.  I am anxiously awaiting the new tour and have told my husband that if he doesn't come stateside we will be going to England to visit my friend Sarah and see him there.  The hubby is really a good sport about the whole thing and has gone to all these concerts with me.  Watching me turn to a blithering idiot and waiting outside in the cold to see him and have him sign a poster and my ticket.  I am planning on getting them all framed and putting them up in my office as artwork.  So what about you do you have a guilty pleasure or obsession?  If so please share below in the comments.

Well it is now after 4 and I have a dinner to think about.  I will try and let you how my evening turns out.  They say confession is good for the soul and I feel better already.  What about you folks, what is on your mind?  Do you have a deep dark secret you would like to share with the group? Come on you know we are dying to know. ;)