I was a winner!

I recently came across a really marvelous company called Baby Be Blessed. They are a doll ministry- each doll comes with a scripture on its tummy. Their mission and deepest desire is for each child to come to know, understand and live for Jesus Christ.

Each doll can be personalized to your liking; it can be a boy or a girl, pick the hair color, you can pick its dress, pick a scripture verse and they also have animals, like lambs and bunnies!

They have a blog where they do a giveaway each Friday.

Well, a few Fridays, I won this little lovie!

This little pink lambie has 1 Corinthians 13:8 on her tummy-

love never fails

So true, and such a good reminder to children everywhere.

I was so pleased to win, and I've decided that I will send her to one of my World Vision babies, either Boikokobetso in South Africa or Majlinda in Albania- I just can't decide who to send her to! I suppose this means that I should buy a second, right? :)

Many thanks to Valerie for introducing me to this lovely company, and also, for alerting me to my big win that day! She saw the blog post before I did, and sent me an email!

Have you won any great giveaways lately? Should I host another giveaway sometime soon?

too much tea?

I've created a little tea corner on my desk at work...so now whenever I need a spot of tea, it's just right there!

Love!

Oh, and that calendar? It is from 2006, but I love the photos of the English countryside, so I still use it!

win!

I won two giveaways last week! So, so exciting :)

First, was from Sherri over at A Quilting Life, where I won the most adorable little bag and matching pin cushion!


Aren't they adorable!?! I saw them, and loved them, but never ever thought I'd win...she had more than 400 entries! I think that the bag will be perfect to keep some sewing supplies in and now I want to learn to make the pin cushions myself. I think my mother would love one! Sherri also has an etsy shop, where she sells these adorable pin cushions! Sherri is really talented, go have a look at her blog and some of the things that she's made!

Then I found out that I won Anamarie's giveaway and won a $15 gift certificate to Red Envelope! I think I am going to use it for my sister's Christmas present. I am debating between this and this. Which do you vote for? She doesn't read (or know about!) my blog, so this isn't spoiling anything :)

So, many thanks to you both for these fabulous giveaways! I am so lucky!

Maybe once the new year comes, I will host another giveaway. I always find them to be so much fun. Or, maybe I should organize a swap? A Valentine swap? Or, a swap in honor of my 30th birthday (how did that happen?!)?

What do you vote for? Giveaway or swap?

a big winner

I've seen many gratitude posts in the last few weeks, and I intended to play along, but clearly, that hasn't happened, so I thought I'd do them all in one today, since Thanksgiving is a mere two days away. I do try to be thankful year-round, but like most others, I get a bit wrapped up in life and sometimes don't remember how blessed I am.

I came home today and found a Thanksgiving card from my grandmother in my mailbox. Years and years ago, she and my Grandfather began what has become a silly and beloved family tradition of sending five scratch-off lottery tickets to each of us for holidays. Usually, one of us (the five grandchildren) will maybe win a dollar or two. Occasionally I win $2, and it is an exciting moment. Tonight, I scratched off ticket one, and came up empty. Ticket two brought me $2, followed by another $2 on ticket three. Ticket four was another loser, but I was pretty thrilled with my big $4 win, until I got to ticket five.

$25!!!!

That means $29 total. So, so exciting.

So, in addition to being thankful for the NH lottery, some of the many thing that I am thankful for include cupcakes and Albanian babies, the DC public library and my sewing machine.

Of course, I am so thankful for my amazing family, friends and boyfriend, but really, I think that goes without saying.

I'm heading to Iowa this afternoon to spend the holiday with Steve's family. I haven't actually been out there in more than a year. We'll go to the Festival of the Trees and visit the Amana Colonies, both of which I adore.

I'm excited.

How will you spend your holiday? What are you thankful for this year?

she's an ex for a reason

I survived Friday night and meeting the ex.

(note that I didn't write MHE)

Yup, that's right. I didn't totally hate her.

I don't think that we are going to be holding hands and singing kumbayah anytime soon, but she wasn't completely awful and I was my usual sweet-as-pie self.

She hugged me and told me how nice it was to finally meet me. Hmmmm.

Since this is the first time in five years that I've met her, and in that time, Steve has only seen her a handful of times, I suppose I can be a big girl and be nice, right?

It may have also helped that she brought funfetti cupcakes with pink frosting.

I win!!!

I won another giveaway! Hooray! Kate recently had a giveaway, which I entered, blogged and tweeted about. My hard work paid off, and I was the winner!

Are you familiar with Andrea's Beau? She has really lovely things, and I've won a headband! As always, I will post pictures when it arrives :) Meanwhile, go have a look at her site.

Since I am feeling so generous, I will extend the deadline of my own giveaway until THIS FRIDAY, June 5. Enter now, enter again, tell your friends!