Juls and I used to love watching Shark Tank together. I don't know why, but it was such a cornerstone of our time spent together. We were the two family members who worked from home for years, well before the pandemic. As such, we'd often hang out together on the couch during holidays, working on our laptops, which Mark Cuban or Mr. Wonderful quietly haggled in the background over a company's valuation or lack of sales.
Since her passing, my family's just been mainlining episodes in an attempt to turn our brains off for a little bit. We're catching up on recent seasons and one of the companies from season 12 just so happened to be this free Aura Bora drink. It's currently being offered for free after this easy rebate.
Buy any flavor at any store and save your receipt.
Text us a picture of your receipt.
We'll send you cash back within 24 hours on Venmo or PyaPal.
Aura Bora is a sparkling water with fruit and herb flavors that comes in five flavors: Cactus Rose, Lavender Cucumber, Peppermint Watermelon, Basil Berry, and Lemongrass Coconut. It has non GMO ingredients and are sugar-free, calorie-free, and sodium-free.
They'll let you pick the width and height, which seems to imply they're sending an actual full-sized product instead of just a sample, right? Or am I missing something entirely here?*
Window Covering Safety Council (WCSC) recommends that only cordless window coverings or window coverings with inaccessible cords be used in homes with young children. Parents and parents-to-be have a million things on their minds when it comes to raising their children. But every parent needs to be aware of child safety, and this begins in the home.
They only have a select amount of freebies to give away each day, but they always restock their supply after midnight. A lot of other freebie sites posted this offer last week and it kept expiring quickly, so I held off on posting it for a little while so as many Hiffers as possible could get a freebie.
*spoiler alert – my brain has not been working properly since Juls' death, so I readily admit I might be missing something here.
Topbox Circle has a new offer good for some free Simple Smoothing Facial Scrub.
I'm not certain what demographics Unilever is looking for, so you might get a message saying you don't qualify. If you redeemed their earlier Degree or Dove sample, then you will be unable to redeem this Simple sample. However…if you use a new freebie email address… 😉
Here's a new signup link good for free CeraVe acne foaming cream cleanser. The fine print says 300,000 freebies are available, so I have a good feeling we'll all get one of these.
My amazing, wonderful, gifted, beautiful, and only sister Julianne recently passed away in her sleep. She was my favorite sibling (sorry bros), my guiding light, my moral compass, and my tether to reality.
We vibed on the same wavelength immediately from the first day I held her in the hospital. The bond was instant and permanent throughout everything life tossed at us.
I have no clue how I'll possibly go on without her.
She was my constant travel buddy (we decided when we each got our own travel shows, mine would be called ‘Going Nowhere with Goob' and hers would be ‘Jaunting Everywhere with Juls'), my comedy partner, and my absolute biggest encourager who believed in me like no-one else.
When I got cancer, she was the person who salvaged my spirits. I'm only here today because of her. When she fell on hard times, I picked her up and did my best to remind her of all the beauty in the world.
There's not a single area of my life that she didn't directly impact for the better – from my daily breakfast, to the silly little sayings I'm always muttering, all the way up to my life's grandest hopes and dreams. I'd give a million dollars to anybody who could find a single area in my life without her fingerprints all over it.
She was my best friend for over two decades and I count my blessings for every single second we had together.
There's an old adage not to say something online that you wouldn't want printed on the front page of your local newspaper. That aphorism never worked for me, but what did was thinking about how I'd explain myself to Juls. I never wanted to disappoint or let her down; in any way, shape, or form.
I hope I never did.
Some of you may remember Juls from 14 years ago when we first made our custom cow costumes for the annual Chick-fil-A promo.
That was my Juls. She was always down for spending quality time together doing any and everything – even when it was just making a goofy costume for a few hours & dressing up like a cow for a free meal that she couldn't even eat since she was vegetarian.
We made these in 4 hours for like $10 in parts.The knucklehead got the domain wrong! 🙂
Juls was an amazing drawer and painter. She had the voice of an angel and a heart made of gold. She also had the most unhinged sense of humor that could ALWAYS make me belly laugh like no other. Her sense of humor was only topped by her actual laugh. I miss it already, but can thankfully still hear it so strongly in my head. I once spent 8 hours on a single 10 second prank just to make her laugh and it was worth every second.
She was the most empathetic and kind person I've ever met. She had a passion for animals and the environment too – her vegetarianism eventually evolved into veganism and despite my many years of joking mockery, I could never deny that she was easily the best cook & baker I knew. You should have seen the MASSIVE smile on her face when she revealed that the chocolate chip cookies I proclaimed to be the best I'd ever eaten had just been baked with all vegan ingredients.
She was so excited for me to meet the two cats (Mac and Cheez) she rescued during the pandemic. I hate that I'm meeting them under these terrible circumstances, but they are the nicest, sweetest, chillest cats I've ever met.
She did an amazing job raising them, just like she was amazing at everything else she did in life.
Juls went through college with a research career in mind and then spent a single semester working in an economically disadvantaged public school and immediately pivoted her life's goals. She adored “her kids” and was so excited to begin her career as a 3rd grade elementary school teacher this month.
That was the type of woman Juls had grown to be and I was so damn proud of her.
In lieu of flowers, my family set up a GoFundMe where a large portion will go towards providing much needed in-school and after-school support to her kids. The rest will go towards her local animal shelter where she volunteered and rescued her beloved cats.
I don't want to impose, but if any Hiffers are in a position to donate, my family and I would greatly appreciate it. Every penny raised will go towards making the world a better place, just like Juls would have wanted.
Here are a few of my many, many favorite photos of me and Juls.
She had a dozen different hair colors and looked AMAZING with all of them.
After a 15 hour trip to meet her in Barcelona, she greeted me at the subway stop with a beer and a smile. Best trip of our lives.
She was a speed demon who never found a throttle she didn’t love to floor.
The weekend before my first chemo we drove into DC for a Mariners game.
Don't ask 🙂
We only missed one Christmas together and I’ll never forgive myself for missing that final one together.
Morning Ginjinha in Lisbon.
Somewhere in the Spanish mountains.
Somewhere in the Spanish mountains
It took a million treats for Jasp to sit still here
One of my fondest memories is sitting on this balcony together, watching the sunset, and listening to the hum of the city.
She found THE BEST hole in the wall pizza place in Prague.
Thank God she had that camera because we took a million photos together with it.
Everywhere we went, she would find a vegan restaurant and they were ALWAYS DELICIOUS.
I want to say…Berlin?
Juls with Cheez and Mac
Our first day in Barcelona.
The first time Juls visited me in NYC, we went around pretending to understand art.
She hurt her eye, so I made her wear an eyepatch.
Us goofing off on top of the Eiffel Tower.
Hiking in the Portuguese countryside.
We have roughly 9 million photos at Mexican restaurants over the years
Our last group trip to Europe
Even when she was goofing around, her hair always came out looking great!
Killing time in a garden in Berlin because I booked our hotel at 8pm instead of am 😁
I was behind the camera because I'd just been drenched by a wave
This free Positive Promotions Women's Wellness 2024 calendar that we can sign up for might not be guaranteed to come, so let's cross our fingers and see what happens. This is the 7th year in a row they've offered it, so they have a nice track record at least.
Positive Promotions is an on-demand print company for promotional material, so this type of freebie is right up their alley. Veteran Hiffers might remember Oriental Trading ran a similar calendar promo for close to 10 years!
The form requires a company name and job title. I always say I'm the Caretaker of Goob Inc. My body is a temple, but it's for a religion long since forgotten to history. Luckily UNESCO deemed me a world heritage site in 1921. I'm just the latest guy hired in charge of making sure soil erosion or excessive sugar consumption doesn't destroy my core.
Join Zaxby's free rewards program via their mobile app and you'll get a coupon good for a free Big Zax Snak Meal. This is a full meal that includes chicken fingers, Texas toast, Zax sauce, crinkle fries, and a small soft drink.
If you enter your birthday (and there's no reason not to!), then you'll also trigger their annual Zaxby's free birthday food offer.
You'll have 14 days to redeem your free meal offer, so don't forget!
Hurry and request thisfree Huggies Potty Training Kit while supplies last! I have a feeling these won't last long, especially since the girls kits are already expired.
Walgreens is offering for a limited time a free 5×7 photo magnet with free same-day, in-store pickup via code FREE-MAG. I just used my laptop to make one and it'll be ready to pick up at my local Walgreens in just 30 minutes.
This is a freebie valued at $4.99!
I don't know how much longer this is available for, so sorry to newsletters subscribers if this expires tonight.
This 1-year subscription is valued at $10 and should arrive within 6-8 weeks. Like all other Mercury Mags freebies, your freebie request is complete once you submit your address. All “special offers” after the mailing address page can be ignored.
It's going to be nice to finally read this magazine, especially since they write about HIF all the time without telling me! I'm sure there are at least another dozen issues where I have no clue they mentioned HIF.
