When I lived in New Jersey (cue Jersey Shore smartass remarks), I banked with Ocean First, a local institution. I moved to Florida after high school, and switched to Bank Atlantic, yet another local bank. While Brad and I dated long distance, I switched to Bank of America in an effort to consolidate our finances.

Big mistake. HUGE. Bonus points if you can name that movie.

My relationship with BoA lasted until shortly after my arrival in Texas. I was unemployed for quite a bit of time after I moved, so my bank account balance was grim. Couple that with BoA’s infamous “reorder-your-transactions-so-you-have-to-pay-the-maximum-amount-of-overdraft-fees” tactic, and I was more than ready to cut all ties with them.

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After a bit of research, I decided on Capital One. My experience with them has been nothing less than pleasant. I signed up for their Rewards card and have been racking up points ever since.

Today I received the first item I redeemed with said points:

Well how am I supposed to assemble this thing if the corks aren’t included?!

Luckily, I was prepared for such a situation:

Yeah. People in this house like their wine. A lot.

Okay, so I wasn’t completely prepared. I don’t have anything to glue the corks down with. I did, however, figure out the pattern I want to do. Now all I have to do is secure them in place.

The finished product:

I never realized how different each wine cork was until I started fitting them together. The different sizes definitely made arranging them a challenge!

Do you hate Bank of America as much as I do? Does your bank have a rewards program?