Deal Technology and FREE Jeans

I am not one to get excited about new technology, but when it involves easy access to deals then consider me a step closer to geekyness. I had never been so satisfied with my smartphone purchase as when I was introduced to Foursquare and learned that I could access coupons simply by "checking in." Now Facebook is offering a similar feature. To learn more, click here. This page also has a list of participating national businesses (scroll about halfway down the page).

Gap is aboard the Facebook Deals train by offering a chance to get FREE pair of jeans this Friday, Nov. 5 (up to $59.50 value). To take advantage of this deal, be one of the first at your choice of Gap store to check in on Facebook on Friday. Show a store employee that you've checked in and you'll get your FREE pair.

Stores only have limited quantities, so if you're too late you'll get a pretty good consolation prize: 40% OFF a regularly priced item.

For more information about Gap's Free Jeans promotion, click here.

FREE Coffee Fridays

I am often irked when a man just takes me out to coffee on a first date. Although I don't think I'd reconsider my opinion if he took advantage of this particular promotion, I'd appreciate his deal awareness. Burger King will give out FREE coffee during breakfast hours on Fridays in November.

Offer is valid for a 12-oz. cup of Seattle's Best Coffee. Flavor shots or whipped topping is not included.

No purchase is necessary, but if you're taking a date during the promotion, purchase is most definitely necessary for a chance of a second date.

For more information, click here to go to BK's home page, then click on the "Coffee's on at BK" button to view a list of participating restaurants.

6 Flavors for Price of 1

No, this isn't a Double D Alert, but it's my favorite way of getting a variety of flavors at Pinkberry, the Southern California-based frozen yogurt chain, which has quickly grown to nearly 100 stores nationwide.

Here's the secret: Ask for multiple flavors. But here's a secret to the secret: The two flavors that sit in each machine can be swirled together (for example, original and chocolate come from the same machine, ask to have them swirled together and you've got a chocolate-original swirl). I think Pinkberry has up to six flavors in each store, which means you can enjoy up to 6 flavors for the price of one (Pinkberry is kind enough to not charge extra for this, and, for the price of one topping, you can get as many toppings that will fit in your cup).

The next time you go to Pinkberry be sure to try its new whipped cream. It doesn't come from a store-bought can, but rather Pinkberry's own concoction. It's best described as tangy frozen yogurt in whipped cream form, without the heavy cream taste. There's an additional charge (it's not included in the regular topping price) but it's worth the extra few cents.

FREE Ice Cream at Cold Stone

Double D Alert: When ice cream and charity come into play, I like to get involved. And when the ice cream is FREE, then I really like to participate. Cold Stone Creamery will host its 9th annual "World's Largest Ice Cream Social" from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 30.

The FREE ice cream only applies to a Like It size (aka, small) called Kate's Creation: caramel apple ice cream mixed with chocolate shavings, graham cracker pie crust and apple pie filling. The creation was invented by a girl named Kate, a participant in the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Although the ice cream is free, bring some cash to donate to Make-A-Wish.

For more information, click here.

FREE Museum Day

Smithsonian magazine is offering FREE museum passes for visits on Saturday, Sept. 25. Passes are good for only one museum and two people per household.

Passes are available for more than 1,000 museums nationwide, including the California Academy of Sciences (adult admission regularly $29.95) and Walt Disney Family Museum (adult admission regularly $20) in San Francisco.

Click here for a list of participating museums and to register for tickets. Passes will be e-mailed after registering online.

FREE Dessert Day

Double D Alert: What's the best way to promote a dessert TV show? Offer FREE desserts, of course! In honor of the season premiere of "Top Chef: Just Desserts" on the Bravo network, OpenTable.com will offer users a FREE dessert on Wednesday, Sept. 15, to coincide with the show's premiere.

To take advantage of the promotion:

• Click here to view the list of participating restaurants.
  
• Make a Sept. 15 reservation for at least 2 people for lunch or dinner (not all restaurants offer lunch for this deal) through the page with the list of restaurants. You'll get a free dessert for every 2 guests in your party.
  
• Each diner must order a meal. Sorry, no splitting a meal just because you're going to order a calorie-laden dessert!

Here's my tip for men: Find a restaurant on the list, then tell the special lady in your life that you heard about this great restaurant and you want to take her there on Wednesday. Tell her you'll make a reservation, which will sound impressive. When you get to the restaurant and she goes to order a salad tell her that she looks so thin that she should really go with a regular meal. Then as your girl rejects dessert because she's being modest -- you know she really wants it -- tell her that you've already made arrangements for dessert, then have the server come out with the most-expensive dessert on the menu!

Chocolate Festival and a Discount

One of my favorite events is set for this weekend: The 15th annual Ghirardelli Square Chocolate Festival will take place from 12-5 p.m. Sept. 11 and 12. Tickets include 15 tastings from dozens of vendors. Last year, attendees also were able receive freebies such as wine openers from Cost Plus World Market.

My fellow chocolate aficionado and I like to bring a big purse or extra bag to the festival and collect chocolates to bring home on the chance that we get full by the end of the day.

Some of my favorite items from last year were the chocolate martini tastings (I had 2), Ghirardelli hot fudge sundaes and chocolate tea. Some non-chocolate items were available; only a cup of mango ice cream was able to lure me away from all the chocolate.

Cooking demonstrations, tea pairings (extra charge) and, my favorite, ice cream eating contests are scheduled for this year's festival.

Double D Alert: Tickets cost $20, but today I was able to book my ticket using the goodytwos discount code for 10% OFF ($2 discount).

Tips for receiving deeper discounts for next year's tickets:

• Join LivingSocial.com's mailing list. It's like Groupon where users receive daily deals on gift certificates for area services, restaurants, etc. A few days ago, it had a deal for 50% OFF tickets.
  
• Follow Ghirardelli Square on Twitter (user name: GhirardelliSQ). For a few days last month, it offered $5 discounts to mark the one-month countdown to the festival.

For more information about the festival, including a list of vendors, click here.

Mad About Mitchell's

I recently had the joy of visiting one of my favorite dessert places in San Francisco: Mitchell's Ice Cream. This ice cream absolutely is worth the 20-minute-plus wait you're sure to encounter when visiting this San Francisco staple.

Mitchell's has a nice variety of decadent flavors -- White Pistachio, Mexican Chocolate, Kahlua Mocha Cream, Lemon Chiffon -- and tropical -- avocado, halo halo, buko, mango. It also has sorbets and a bigger selection of Pepperidge Farm cookies than I've seen at any supermarket.

One of the flavors I got on my recent trip is a flavor that I always get when going to Mitchell's: ube (top picture, bottom scoop). Ube is a purple yam that is a popular ingredient for desserts in the Philippines. The closest food it tastes like is probably coconut but without the gritty texture. Ube ice cream at Mitchell's is incredibly creamy, like eating a French vanilla ice cream with a twist. Plus the vibrant purple is pleasing to the eye.

The second flavor I got was Grasshopper Pie (top picture, top scoop). Fans of mint chocolate chip will likely love this flavor -- mint ice cream swirled with fudge and Oreo cookies.

My ice cream companion, Alnette (bottom picture), loves Mitchell's ice cream so much that she decided to buy a half gallon of lucuma -- a Peruvian fruit -- and a box of waffle cones and eat it on a bench outside the store. Although we looked crazy by hugging the tub in order to soften the ice cream so she could scoop it into her cone, I liked her excuse that she actually saves money by getting the tub instead of going back to the store to get a scoop or two every time!

For Mitchell's website, click here.

$25 for $50 at Gap

I was browsing some deals online and through my coupon phone apps and was amazed at this deal from Groupon: Buy a $25 Groupon for $50 worth of merchandise at Gap stores. The math is so easy, I don't need a calculator to tell you that it's a 50% savings!

A few catches:

• The Groupon is only good at stores (not outlets or online).


• You have to use your Groupon in one visit.


• You must spend a minimum of $50.

The Groupon expires Nov. 19, just in time to buy some fall/winter clothes or get a head start on Christmas shopping.

To become a member of Groupon for free, click here. For more information or to purchase the Groupon, click here.

Note: The above link will direct you to the deal, which is featured in New York, however you don't have live there to get the Groupon (or to spend it). You may start receiving daily e-mails for Groupon deals in Dallas. To stop these e-mails, just click on the "Unsubscribe" link on the top right of one of the e-mails.

Thrifty Thursday

If you usually get an energy boost when ordering a smoothie at Jamba Juice, then you should take advantage of the cheap, pick-me-up offering this Thursday, Aug. 19. Jamba Juice will have a sale on its coffee and tea smoothies (16 ounces) for just $1! Flavors are green tea, coffee, chai and mocha -- which has chocolate, so you know which flavor I'll be trying! For more information, click here.

If you're in Sunnyvale the same day, you might as well get wired on a coffee smoothie then run over to the grand opening of Rubio's, the Mexican eatery famous for its yummy fish tacos. The first 100 customers who present its flier from its e-mail club or Facebook event posting via printout or smart phone will receive a FREE entrée: any Rubio’s burrito, two-taco plate, salad or "Wrapsalada." Sale starts at 10 a.m., so get there super early to ensure your free meal. Rubio's is at 108 E. El Camino Real.

Smoothie War Weekend

If you'll be near a Boston Market on Aug. 14, stop in and take advantage of its Free Smoothie Saturday campaign. The eatery will offer orange and raspberry smoothies to help promote its latest product. California and 12 other states will participate. To see a full list, click here.

If Jamba Juice is your smoothie preference, then you'll appreciate its targeted nemesis in the smoothie market: McDonald's. Through Sunday, Aug. 15, Jamba Juice will accept any McDonald's smoothie coupon even if it's for a free drink.

For a list of areas that Jamba Juice will accept coupons at, or to get a $1 OFF coupon, click here.

FREE Entertainment This Weekend

As I scrolled through Travelzoo's Top 20 newsletter today, I came across a price point that I have never seen before: FREE. Of course I had to click through to find a list of FREE events in San Francisco this weekend.

One deal in particular caught my eye: a FREE bowling coupon, good to use this Saturday, Aug. 7. The goal is to set a world record of bowling participants on that day. Even better, you don't have to live in San Francisco to take advantage of this coupon. Now only if Haagen-Dazs would declare a day where it would want to set a world record for ice cream eating!

For Travelzoo's tips for FREE events this weekend, and to get the bowling coupon, click here.

Hi-Life, Low Price

Meat lovers should take advantage of this rare opportunity on Aug. 10 and 11: In honor of its 50th anniversary, Henry's Hi-Life, the "world-famous" San Jose eatery, will offer 1960s pricing on menu items that were offered in that decade. I'd say that's well done.

The Hi-Life was featured on the Travel Channel's "Man vs. Food" for its popular ribs.

For more information about the event, check out the Mercury News' story by clicking here. To learn more about the restaurant, including hours and address, click here.

Cheesecake Celebration

There's not much better in life than a "holiday" dedicated to a dessert and a restaurant that offers a deep discount on that particular dessert. That's why July 30 -- aka, National Cheesecake Day -- is now one of my favorite dates to visit The Cheesecake Factory (actually, any date is fine to visit the eatery).

A friend and I went there on Friday to pay homage to those who have sacrificed their lives for the sake of cheescake. Simply by dining at the restaurant that day, we received half off the price of our slices of cheesecake. No coupon, secret saying or special favors required.

I encouraged my friend to get the Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake (top image). As I sampled her slice, one bite caused me to sit back, roll my eyes to the back of my head and breathe a decadent sigh of ecstasy. The cheesecake is like one huge chocolate truffle with -- surprise -- a chocolate crust. It's served with the restaurant's typical huge dollops of whipped cream and -- in case you didn't get enough chocolate -- a Godiva chocolate square.

Meanwhile, I tried the newest offering: Reese’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake Cheesecake (bottom image), which also was quite good, although it didn't evoke the same reaction as the Godiva dessert. Layers of chocolate cake, peanut butter and peanuts sandwich a layer of cheesecake and is topped with a chocolate mousse and a dollop of peanut butter whipped cream plus regular whipped cream on the side. Chocolate shavings supported the back of the slice. I don't recall any peanut butter cups in the slice, so if the candies are what you're craving then you should go with Adam's Peanut Butter Cup Fudge Ripple Cheesecake.

Both slices cost $3.87 each, which included the 50% discount.

Cost of Water Trickles Down

OK, I understand that a sale on water won't be my most exciting posting, however I was quite impressed when I went to Safeway today and saw that a gallon of Crystal Geyser spring water was only 88 cents when paying with a Safeway club card. The regular price with a club card is $1.09 for Crystal Geyser.

This is the cheapest price I've seen for a gallon of spring water (note that purified water always is cheaper not as pure). The lowest I've seen is 99 cents (for the store brand at Whole Foods and for Crystal Geyser at 99 Ranch/Ranch 99 ... however you choose to say it).

The sale ends Aug. 3. Just remember: Every cent counts!

Cheap Camis

If you're like me and appreciate a good layering cami to mask your mid-section and big butt, then here's a deal for you. Old Navy is having a secret $2 sale on this essential from July 29 to 31. Regular price is $8.50, more than a 75% discount!

You can print the coupon from the below link. But if you want to feel like you're super special you can tell the cashier "Cami for me" and you'll get the same deal. I suggest gesturing with your finger for the cashier to come close to you, whisper the saying in her ear, back away, then wink at her.

For more information and to print the coupon, go to http://oldnavy.gap.com/Asset_Archive/ONWeb/content/0002/028/860/$2camis_coupon.jpg.

Half OFF Cheesecake!

I'm kicking off my fabulous new blog with an awesome discount on a dessert (a DOUBLE D, if you will). I love holidays dedicated to desserts, so my calendar is marked for July 30: National Cheesecake Day. To celebrate, The Cheesecake Factory is offering slices of its cheesecakes at half OFF!

I suggest going with my favorite: the Godiva chocolate cheesecake. Some may consider it rich but true chocoholics should love it. This "holiday" is a great time to try this flavor since it's one of the priciest slices.

For more information, go to http://www.thecheesecakefactory.com/shareit/shareit.