Giveaway Winner!

Happy Wednesday!

I feel Wednesdays are good days to get good news because it helps your week go by faster.

Thank you to everyone who entered. I loved reading all of your stories, and as soon as I am done with my mountain of homework, I will try to respond to everyone. You guys are great and I love it!

But, the random number generator was in charge this time, so….drum roll please…

The winner of these fun goodies:

Is Ashley from The Accidental Olympian Alaskan!! Congratulations!! E-mail me your address and I will get that into the mail this week!

 

And I DO want to blog about everything going on, but it has been crazy busy, or by the time I have free time, my brain is fried and all I would do is ramble, and no one wants that. So maybe later tonight after I finish grading sample essays, but definitely by the end of the week. There are some hilarious stories.

 

Congratulations to Ashley, again, and I hope to have another giveaway in the near future!!

Back to School Goodies

When I was a kid, one of my favorite days was when I received my teacher assignment in the mail. Now only did I learn who I would be spending my days with, we also received our school supply lists. It was like Christmas in July.

Visions of new notebooks and pens and folders would dance through my head.

It was like a whole event for me. My mom would always start the trip saying that we would get what the list said, but we shouldn’t just buy frivolous things or the most expensive things. (I realize now how freaking expensive it can be to buy ALL those supplies. And some things on the list are ridiculous.)

I would wander the aisles, meticulously picking out notebook colors and coordinating folders. Searching to make sure I didn’t repeat colors, because how else would I tell the difference between my social studies and my math notebooks?!

The lists always said no mechanical pencils, but my mom usually gave in, or we compromised. One pack of regulars and a couple mechanicals. Pretty sure the regular ones ended up smashed and broken in the bottom of my backpack.

And then there were the crayons.

You could tell who was cool in grad school simply based on the crayons, colored pencils, and markers. Crayola folks. Crayola all the way. Those crappy Roseart ones were too waxy and never colored properly and their colored pencils were a strange color. Luckily, even my money conscious mother understood the importance of Crayolas. Even better? The package with the built in sharpener. How else can you precisely darken your outline and shade in the interior?!? Life in grad school sure was hard…

And this love affair with new school supplies has not decreased as I’ve gotten older. If anything, it’s gotten worse. I can now not only just go to Walmart with mom to get everything, I can go to Target, Office Depot, Staples, Barnes and Noble AND search the internet. The options are endless.

I mean, when Barnes and Noble and Target didn’t have any of the Molekines that I wanted, hulloo internet! (And side note- cheaper from moleskine’s website usually than the store.) Our living room is full of shopping bags from various stores filled with binders and planners and pens and highlighters and other silly things that I probably don’t really need, but man they sure sound important right now! I mean, colors and patterns and 1 inch or 2 inch binders and how on earth will I decide which pens I want to mercilessly butcher grade with?

My moleskines arrived on my doorstep today and I was like a little kid ripping open the box and looking at my pretty new notebooks. Thinking about the notes I would take in them about Beloved and Turn of the Screw. Yes, I am a complete nerd and I’m good with it.

But I figured I wasn’t alone in my obsession. I mean, how could anyone not like getting new things before the start of a new school year?

So, here I am with a Back to School Giveaway!!

Yep. Just for you wonderful readers.

I truly love giving gifts and just wish I had a never-ending checking account so I could send things to ALL of you. I really do. Unfortunately, until I win the lottery, I can only give one prize package away. (But don’t worry. The holidays are coming. I will come up with something!)

So here is what you can win:

I found some fun things that I thought would be great as the new school year starts. Even if you aren’t a student or a teacher, I think these things are usable and might just put a smile on your face.

Yes, that IS a Berenstein Bears coloring book in the back! Who doesn’t love to color? It’s a nice little stress reliever and I loved those books when I was a kid. So of course there are some Crayola crayons. (And hey, nice to have around in case any nieces or nephews or friends’ kids come over. )

I’ve been talking about these notebooks so much, that i just figured it wasn’t right to share. And I picked black because never know which color the lucky winner would like. Black goes with everything.

There are some pens and a pack of Sharpie pens. They are ultra fine and just great for notes and such.

And whether you’re headed back to school or not, a calming candle is great. This was a unique color combination, but it smells amazing. Might be nice after a long day, accompanied by a glass of wine.

This is a fun dry erase weekly calendar. Would be perfect for an office or a refrigerator. And black pens are boring, so i threw in some fun colored dry erase markers as well!

 

These were some fun Post-its. The blue says, “I’d rather be shopping” and the purple has some shoes.

And this was so fun that I bought one for myself. It’s a girl statue that holds two pens in her hands. She’s fairly sturdy, so shouldn’t tip over, even with the fanciest of pens.

So there it is!!

Now, for the rules:

To enter the giveaway, you must post a comment with one of your favorite school memories. Anything at all. Naptime, recess, school shopping, lunch, art class. Anything! Just tell me a fun story and you are entered!

For a second entry, leave a comment with your blog address and your Twitter name! (if you don’t have either, just leave me your email address!)

This contest runs through 11:59pm on Tuesday, August 9th.

I will use a number generator and announce the winner on Wednesday, and hopefully get it in the mail Wednesday as well!

**None of the companies that make these products paid me or paid for the products. These were just things I found and liked, so I bought them myself.

Good luck and have a great school year to all the students and teachers! And just have a great rest of the year for all you non-school people!

Birthday Present to You

March is my favorite month. Weather starts to get warmer. It’s the anniversary of Mr. A and I dating. Even more so, it’s my birthday!

I love birthdays. Love them. I always joke that I will be 90 years old, in a nursing home, and still excited about my birthday. I love the fun and the cake and the presents. Yes, presents. I KNOW it’s not about that, but it’s fun to get gifts that my loved ones thought about and put effort into.

But, this year, I’m not as excited. I don’t really know why.

It’s not a big deal number. We get to go home, and while I’m excited for that, there isn’t the level of anticipation that usually hits me on March 1st. Also, my actual birthday is a Sunday, so no real fun on the actual day.

So I thought I would do something different.

I’m giving one of YOU a birthday gift.

Yes, you wonderful readers have a chance to enter in for a giveaway from me.

So, what is in this fun little birthday basket?

First, you will get to choose between 3 different cookbooks. All focus on healthy eating, but I know people look for different things, so no point in me forcing one on you!

A. Bethenney Frankel’s The Skinnygirl Dish

(source)

or

B) Hungry Girl 300 under 300

(Source)

or

C) Cooking Light Complete Cookbook

(source)

All of these look great and I’m trying to share my new ways of trying to eat healthier. (Just ignore my tweet about the DQ tonight. I AM a girl after all…)

But a birthday package of just a healthy cookbook is lame. And I don’t want to be lame.

So, to add, I will throw in a $20 gift card to:

WHOLE FOODS!!!

You can use it for food for your new recipes in your new cookbook. Or if you use it on their awesome wine and dessert selection, I won’t blame you. Just tell me what you bought so I can make sure to get it next time.

If you win and aren’t close to one, we will chat and work something else out.

And because not everything should be about food, I shall throw in a…

(source)

$15 iTunes gift card!! Who doesn’t love new music? Or a movie? Or some apps for your fancy schmancy phone?

And knowing me, I might just throw in some other small treats just because…

I think it looks like a pretty awesome birthday basket. I hope you do too!

By now you are wondering how to enter this little deal. And I will make it simple for you.

All you have to do is leave me a comment telling me about your favorite birthday present/event/occasion/tradition.

You can get a bonus entry if you write a second comment with a link to your blog or Twitter account, even if I already follow you and read your blog. And if you’re new, it’s a good way for me to meet you! If you don’t have either, tell me one fun fact about yourself and we will call it even.

So you have TWO chances, but please put them as separate comments and please include an e-mail address in each so I can easily reach you!

I will use the random number generator to pick.

You have until 11:59pm Thursday March 24th to enter. No late entries will be allowed. And then, if all goes to plan, I will mail the package on Friday so the lucky winner will have their “birthday” present early next week!

 

Good luck!!

Coming to a Home Near You

So, there’s this website called Shutterfly. Have you heard of it? No? Well let’s fix that.

They are a great website that can meet all sorts of picture wants and needs. Christmas cards, photobooks, invitations, calendars, precious and personalized gift tags, and much more. Who doesn’t like cards personalized with pictures? Even better? They have some of the best prices I have come across. And, you can load pictures and they store them for you without deleting them. You can also get your regular prints from them.

Don’t celebrate Christmas? They have holiday cards or Hanukah cards. They also have Feliz Navidad cards. Want religious cards? They have those as well. Basically, anything and everything you could want. And the fun part? When you get your order they come in a super fun and super bright orange package. Much more fun than the daily bills and coupons normally clogging up the mailbox.

And their invitations? So adorable.

This “Shake It Up Christmas” invitation alone makes me want to throw a holiday cocktail party. Too bad our apartment is tiny.

Along with dreams of my wedding dress and the location and marrying the man of my dreams, along with being a newlywed, I have always wanted to send out holiday cards to family and friends. I mean, no one cares when you’re single and just have pictures of yourself with solo cups at the fraternity house your college friends. But once you cross over into the world of adulthood and the married life, now you’re interesting enough to send people cards.

Also, for us, it’s a great way to share some of our favorite wedding pictures with people who may otherwise not get to see them. Next year I’ll be stuck on pictures, but for now, I have hundreds to choose from.

SO which ones am I drooling over? Well, tons. But I’m also very indecisive, but picky at the same time. It’s a conundrum.

I think this card, called “Giggles and Grins Christmas” is so adorable. I love the cards that aren’t as traditional or have something unique or different about them.

The fun “Retro Wheel” design is fun and adds a touch of style that not a lot of traditional cards have. Also, the girls are precious. Can they pose for our card? haha

But really, I think I’m in love with the following:

“With Love” is probably going to win out. Since my main goal is to send this as a newly-married couple and share some pictures, I love all the picture space. (Okay, fine. I also like that it will have my new last name monogrammed on it. Yes, I’m a girl and I love my new last name. Leave me alone.) Also, because it’s a folded card, there is more space on the inside to write a quick little message and I think we’re going to put another picture on the inside top. I think it looks sharp and classes and a perfect way to say “this is our new little family”.

And don’t doubt that I won’t be getting these:

Matching “With Love” address labels. Also, I don’t think they look too Christmas-y, so I can possibly use any leftovers for little cards and special notes later on.

So, what about you? Have you gotten your cards yet? If not, check out their site. Already have yours? Look at their calendars. They would make great gifts, especially for grandparents or parents.

I’m definitely ready for the holidays now. If only someone would do the shopping for me, and use their money.

 

 

**I love the Shutterfly collections, but I also wrote this post in order to get 50 free cards.

A Little Thank-You

***The winner was #5, Legally Married! These were her favorite sports memories: My favorite sports memories (yes, I’m doing two): #1: Beating a top five team in the nation in overtime last season – the first time we had beat this in a ridiculous number of years. I literally had bruises on my hands from so much clapping and yelling. Going to the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight games this year and seeing the trememdous amounts of fans that turned out. It was hands-down the best event I have ever been to and I screamed myself hoarse amongst that crowd of 40,000 fellow fans. Oh – how – I – love – basketball!

Thank you all, and we’ll see if I can come up with a good giveaway for Christmas time!!

You guys are amazing.

I never thought when I started this blog that I would “meet” so many wonderful people. Funny, witty, smart, brave, strong, snarky, sincere, sarcastic, wonderful. These are just some of the adjectives to describe you all.

And after this very rough week, I am even more grateful for you.

And to show my gratitude, I am going to do my first giveaway!

I’m pretty excited. I’ve wanted to do one, but couldn’t come up with something anyone would want (that wouldn’t cost me a fortune) until yesterday. And, it will fit in perfectly with the current sporting season.

Because………

I am giving away a sports team tumbler!!!

A wonderful Etsy designer, initiallysmitten, makes these super adorable glasses. She makes all sorts of cute stuff, but I thought the team tumblers would be perfect for football season, college and NFL.

If you win, you get to give me your team colors and what name you would like on the tumbler. As you can see, this Alabama fan wanted Roll Tide, but you could put your school’s name, mascot, professional team, or even YOUR name and colors.

I think these are adorable and I’m excited to give them away to a lucky winner. If I had it my way, I would give ALL of you one, but until I win the lottery, that won’t happen.

I love these and I’m probably going to get a couple as Christmas gifts.

So, all you have to do is leave a comment on this here blog and answer the following question:

What is your favorite sporting even memory?

This could be going to your first professional game, any sports you played in high school or college, or a family tradition of watching games together. Whatever it is, tell me about it!!

You have until Sunday October 10, 2010, at 6pm to enter. I will pick a random number and announce the winner on Monday!!

(Initiallysmitten is not sponsoring this giveaway. I have used images from her shop with her permission.)