Comment number 48 belongs to Brittany!

Brittany, I’ll put you in touch with the Unique Closet so you can claim your prize. Congratulations!

Thanks to everyone who played along!

Two weeks in a row that I’ve needed to tell you some things! Look at me go!

1. As of yesterday, MY HUSBAND IS DONE WITH FINALS! No more late nights studying, no more writing papers. I get my husband back! Until the spring semester starts, that is. Oh well, I’ll take it! My last day of work in 2010 is December 22nd, which means there will be a blissful week-and-a-half-ish that we’ll both be off. I’m so looking forward to that time.

2. Michael & I had the “Will we/won’t we” conversation the other day regarding telling our kids about Santa. I grew up knowing right away that Santa wasn’t real, but a fun “game” I could play if I wanted. Michael thought Santa was real until he was about 6 or so. (Side note: I had a friend who was 12 who still believed in Santa! How does that happen?!) We haven’t reached any conclusions, but I think we still have awhile to worry about that one. However, Kayleigh sent me an email yesterday that had a link to the Wikipedia page about Krampus. DO Y’ALL KNOW ABOUT KRAMPUS? Look, while I might not tell my kids about Santa, it seems in my best interest to tell them about Krampus. “If you don’t do your homework, Krampus is going to come up in here with some rusty chains!” I mean, seriously. Wouldn’t you be well-behaved too?!

3. I love discovering good music in random places, and musicians who aren’t as well-known, because who doesn’t love saying “I LIKED THEM BEFORE THEY WERE FAMOUS!”? Well, the other day I found Hannah on 20SB. I am now obsessed with her covers of the following songs:

Hotel Song (Regina Spektor)
Tik Tok (Ke$ha) – this will be the only time you see me admit to liking a Ke$ha song
I Will Follow You into the Dark (Death Cab for Cutie)
The Luckiest (Ben Folds) – this one blew me away (!)
Let Go (Frou Frou)

You’re welcome.

4. Speaking of music, I realized the other night that I might be the only one at the university gym rocking out to Pat Benatar & ‘N Sync while busting my butt on the elliptical. And I’m okay with that. As long as I keep myself in check & don’t start belting out “Love is a Battlefield,” I think I’ll be alright. It’s sort of a strange thing to be back in a college gym after I’ve been graduated for 3 years. Everyone assumes I’m in college (thank goodness), so sometimes I get asked “What’s your major?” Listen, kid, I major in LIFE, okay? You’ll know what I’m talking about soon enough. The other day I said something about “my husband” and one of the girls in my spin class was all “YOU’RE MARRIED? HOW OLD ARE YOU?” Um, 24? “Wow. You look so young.” I guess that means 24 isn’t young anymore, y’all. Bad news bears.

5. Have you entered my awesome giveaway with the Unique Closet? Enter to win a free top of your choice (no, it doesn’t have to be one of three in the pictures I posted; I just liked those 3). Giveaway closes Sunday at noon (CST), so get on it girlfriends!

Happy Friday! What are your plans for the weekend?

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Husband and wife duo, Alvin and Mallary Brown, launched The Unique Closet earlier this year, because they believe in fashionable, unique, & affordable clothing for the everyday woman. They wanted to bring the feeling of boutique clothing to an online store, extending beyond a local offline community. “A great frustration in shopping is not being able to find trendy clothing, having to settle for non budget-friendly clothing ensembles, and having to buy mainstream clothing not matching my personality and lifestyle,” says Mallary. (For more about the couple & their vision, click here.)

What I appreciate about the Unique Closet is the attention to detail on many of the pieces. There are so many items that would be perfect for a special occasion. And not only is there a beautiful selection to choose from, they also offer some gorgeous plus size options, which isn’t always the case for boutique-type stores. The clothes are a mix of vintage-inspired, classic, & a little bit funky.

Y’all, I’m really excited about this giveaway. One lucky winner will receive the top of her choice (depending on availability). Are you interested? Here’s how to enter (there are 4 ways!):

You MUST leave a separate comment for each entry.

Entry 1. Leave a comment below letting me know which top you would choose.
Entry 2. Create a free account with The Unique Closet (click here) & leave a comment. BONUS: Signing up for a free account means receiving 100 Closet Points automatically! (about Closet Points)
Entry 3. Follow @theuniquecloset, tweet this giveaway, & leave a comment with a link to your tweet.
Entry 4. Blog about this giveaway & leave a comment with a link to your post.

That’s it! Contest will close Sunday, December 19th, at 12pm CST. Good luck!

First up, the winner of the planner…

Comment #22! If you don’t want to count through my comments (because they’re not numbered, so apparently I haven’t evolved that much), I just counted. Three times. The winner, unless I’m a horrible counter, is Kate from Suburban Sweetheart!

So many exclamation points! Can you tell giveaways excite me? Okay, next up, the winner of the notebook…

Comment #38? Sarah from Simply Sarah!

Congratulations to our winners & thanks everyone for playing. Winners, I will be in touch with you via email so you can claim your prizes.

Rosey Cheeks is a brand-new Etsy store from a really amazing girl named Lindsay. You might know Lindsay from Chelsea’s blog; she’s her sister (& Jansen’s aunt!). She did some fantastic art for Jansen’s nursery (click on the link to check it out). Wouldn’t you love some custom art for your baby? Or a baby you know? Or a baby you don’t know? Okay, that’s just creepy. Don’t buy custom art for babies you don’t know.

Or, if the artwork isn’t your thing, Lindsay also offers some adorable handmade planners & journals. And because today is a day full of love, we’re giving away one of each here at LfT!

Adorable, right? Look at that detail! This would make a great Christmas gift.

Handmade journals make me a little light-headed. I’m sort of a journal hoarder, but I don’t think I have anything as lovely as this one. Look at that binding! Be still my heart.

Everything from Rosey Cheeks is handmade with great attention to detail. Lindsay can customize anything in her shop to fit your heart’s desire.

Here’s how to enter:

Each person can enter up to three times. You MUST leave a separate comment for each entry, otherwise it won’t count. There will be two winners: one for the planner, one for the journal.

Entry #1: Leave a comment & tell me your favorite thing in Lindsay’s shop, or how you would choose to customize one of her journals or planners just for you (or a friend, if you’re generous like that).
Entry #2: Tweet about this giveaway, including a link back to my blog, & leave a comment with the link to your tweet.
Entry #3: Blog about this giveaway, including a link back to my blog, & leave a comment with the link to your blog.

That’s it! Good luck to everyone. Don’t you just LOVE giveaways?

{This giveaway will close this Friday, October 15th, at midnight.}

Exciting things are happening over here, & I’m happy to share a few of them with you. Last week (aside from the blogiversary/giveaway goodness) was pretty stressful & I had a bit of a meltdown on Saturday, but I’m better now & have much higher hopes for the week/month ahead. Don’t cross me, May. Anyway, here are the high points (in bullet point form, of course):

• We have a contract on our house! As of April 28th, which means it took exactly one month from listing it on March 28th to get the contract. We didn’t expect this to be so quick! We’re set to close on May 28th (honestly, is 28 my new lucky number?), fingers crossed & lots of prayers that everything goes through.
• I got my KitchenAid mixer! I went over to Stephanie’s house yesterday & picked it up, and WOW is it beautiful. Love at first sight, I tell you. Here I am happily clutching my new toy. Isn’t Stephanie the prettiest? Hot mama! Thanks for the mixer Stephanie, I’ll be bringing some baked goods over to your house in the near future.

I’m already planning my next kitchen scheme around this lipstick red color.

• New blog design coming soon! Kapachino‘s brother David has been working to build the perfect little home for LFT. Shouldn’t be too much longer; stay tuned!
• We have some winners! I was happy to announce Katherine (not to be confused with my sister) as the winner for my first giveaway, and here are the other two winners:

For the Thirteenwinks print:

# 50 = rachelheather!

For the Hugs & Kisses Designs custom silhouette:

# 30 = Andee Nero!

Congratulations! I’ll be emailing y’all shortly to set you up with your loot.

Big thanks to everyone who entered & sent blogiversary wishes/comments/tweets. If you didn’t see me singing happy birthday to my blog whilst lighting a Cookie Monster cupcake on fire, you can watch it here.

Also, thanks again to the amazing crafty ladies who sponsored the giveaways:

Taryn @ Cinnaberry

Carla @ Thirteenwinks (Note: She just added new prints to her shop. SWOON!)

Rebecca @ Hugs & Kisses Designs

I never really jumped on the whole “squee” bandwagon. Something about it is faintly reminiscent of the Woo Girls from How I Met Your Mother, and that just doesn’t sit well with me at all. However, if I were a Squee Girl, this would totally push my Squee Button:

Go ahead. Try. TRY TO TELL ME YOU DIDN’T SQUEE.

When Rebecca from Hugs & Kisses Designs contacted me about sponsoring a giveaway by donating a custom silhouette, I was thinking Cute, but I don’t have any kids! Would it be creepy to do one of my husband? And just as I was trying to picture where to hang an outline of my husband’s face, she said “I can do children, adults, and possibly pets.” OH REBECCA. You just said the MAGIC WORDS. So I sent her pictures of Pancho & Leia, and she managed to create these adorable pieces of artwork that I can’t wait to hang in our new place!

Perhaps if you’re not the crazy dog lady into dogs as much as I am, you’ll enjoy some of her other silhouettes:

How cute is Lexie?!

Or how about polka dot Lexie? Precious!

And for you crazy feline people… how sweet is Xedo? I want to snuggle him.

Rebecca has offered one lucky winner a custom silhouette of their choice. If you win, you send her a picture of your kid, your cat, or your great-aunt Matilda, & she turns it into art. ART, Y’ALL. Here are the rules, so play nice:

Leave ONE COMMENT FOR EACH ENTRY. An entry can only count if you leave a separate comment for it!

-Leave a comment telling me who you would choose to be the subject of your custom Hugs & Kisses Designs silhouette. For funsies, tell me which colors you’d choose. I love those color combos!

-Tweet this giveaway (and leave a link to your tweet in the comment). Here’s the URL to link back to: http://wp.me/pvDxV-Ml

-Blog this giveaway (and leave a link to your post in the comment). Here’s the URL to link back to: http://wp.me/pvDxV-Ml

This contest starts today & ends Sunday night at midnight, so enter to win now!

Also: Tonight at midnight the entries for my second giveaway of the week will close. Be sure to enter!

]]> http://laurenfromtexas.com/2010/04/30/prepare-to-aww/feed/ 50 http://laurenfromtexas.com/2010/04/29/blogiversary-cookie-monster/ http://laurenfromtexas.com/2010/04/29/blogiversary-cookie-monster/#comments Fri, 30 Apr 2010 04:32:52 +0000 admin http://laurenfromtexas.com/?p=2994 Here’s a vlog I made tonight for your viewing pleasure. Try not to judge me too much; it’s been a long week. PS: Remind me to COMB MY HAIR next time I place a video ON THE INTERNET FOR ALL THE WORLD TO SEE.

In other news, my first giveaway of the week has ended. I plugged the number of comments into the True Random Number Generator (I had to eliminate any comments received after midnight Wednesday, sorry y’all)… and the winner is…

#10 = Katherine (but not my sister)!

Katherine, I’ll be emailing you shortly to get you in touch with Taryn so you can claim your prize. Congratulations! And for the rest of you: thanks so much for playing, stay tuned for more goodies.

Today’s a big day. One year ago exactly, I started this blog. I wrote about a late period, goals for my 24th year, and Journey. Like, the band. Perhaps not my most shining moment, but it was a piece of the puzzle that brought me here. God blessed the broken road, y’all.

This last year, I’ve made HUGE progress. Through therapy, support from a few close loved ones, grace, & a ton of work on my part, I’ve moved forward leaps & bounds. The other day, when I posted about running (or maybe not), I was surprised at how joyful I felt. Not just at peace. Not just “under control.” Joyful. Strong. Victorious.

I owe much of this progress to this blog & my beautiful readers. Through the outlet I’ve found & the support I’ve been shown, I’ve felt myself being restored a little more each day. I went through a time of serious depression, but now that I’ve found all of you, even though you can’t be in my living room with me, I can feel your support through the computer screen. I don’t feel so alone anymore. And with the hurdle of moving to a new place (where I don’t know anyone) looming in front of me, I am no longer afraid of that overwhelming feeling of solitary taking over my life again. I know that at any given moment, I can reach out through here or here or any of the other outlets provided, and one or twenty of you will reach right back.

Anyway, thanks for reading & tweeting & just being there. It means more to me than ice cream & ruffled underwear on babies.

Now let’s giveaway!

We all have those corners of our home where we like to put things that add character & warmth. Things that exhibit our personality. I have a few of those corners, and when Carla from Thirteen Winks contacted me about sponsoring a giveaway, I was excited. I mean, the woman makes adorable prints of mustaches! I knew she was a match for LFT. Then she offered me 2 prints – one to keep & one to giveaway. So I set about making one of life’s most complicated decisions.

Should I choose “Luck in a Jar”?

How about the sweet “Poppy Love”?

Or the whimsical “Four fun mustaches”?

I ended up choosing the “Love Birds” print, which goes perfectly on the bookcase in our bedroom showcasing all the “lovey dovey” things we own. I adore the combination of birds, black & white, and a red heart – 3 of my favorite things! And see how cute it looks!

The packaging was precious & Carla has the loveliest handwriting… it’s so fun to get something pretty in the mail.

One lucky winner will win (1) print of their choice from Thirteen Winks, and here are the 3 ways to enter:

Leave ONE COMMENT FOR EACH ENTRY. An entry can only count if you leave a separate comment for it!

-Leave a comment telling me your favorite Thirteen Winks item. I know, it’s hard to choose!

-Tweet this giveaway (and leave a link to your tweet in the comment). Here’s the URL to link back to: http://wp.me/pvDxV-LZ

-Blog this giveaway (and leave a link to your post in the comment). Here’s the URL to link back to: http://wp.me/pvDxV-LZ

This contest starts today & ends Friday night at midnight, so enter to win now!

Also: Tonight at midnight the entries for my first giveaway of the week will close. Be sure to enter!

This weekend was a whirlwind. Friday I got a call from the realtor saying that our house was going to be shown… in 25 minutes. Oh, & I was in the midst of a cleaning frenzy & up to my elbows in Clorox wipes and dust bunnies. Oh, & I couldn’t get ahold of my husband. Oh, & I was unshowered & unpacked & we were leaving at 6 for the weekend & I had to find a place to take my dogs. Talk about a panic attack. Somehow I managed to talk the realtor into giving me an hour, my husband rushed to my rescue & ran the vacuum cleaner while I threw on a baseball cap, & we took the dogs for a long walk. My heart just slowed to its normal speed, thank you.

After they left, we got our stuff together & departed a little later than planned. We met up with Stephen & Chelsea in Brenham, had a fun dinner, and drove the rest of the way to Austin together. Saturday was spent meeting new friends (my new favorite Lyndsey – but don’t you dare call her “Lynds”), hanging out with my Blog Friend Forever (whose baby bump is SORT OF RIDICULOUS), going to a UT baseball game & eating too much kettle corn, & basically absorbing all the awesomeness (is that a word?) that Austin has to offer, including chocolate snow cones. So many laughs were had and a few new inside jokes were born (Well…). We headed back bright & (too) early this morning to get ready for an open house this afternoon. The verdict is in and we had some lookers, one of whom was the same woman who saw it on Friday. Apparently she loves the house & wants to make an offer tomorrow! I’m nervous & excited & all butterflies-and-bulldozers-in-my-tummy, but trying to remember that whatever will be, will be (probably only my sister will enjoy that link).

On another, blog-related note: Wednesday marks the ONE YEAR BLOGIVERSARY of Lauren From Texas! ::confetti:: So I’m celebrating with a week of giveaways! ::more confetti:: Y’all are going to want to check in this week, there are only good things ahead.

Our first giveaway starts today & ends Wednesday night at midnight, & is brought to you by the fabulous Taryn Peine of A Peine For Your Thoughts. I’ve met this lovely lady in real life and may I say, not only is she pretty AND funny, she’s also a talented crafter/seamstress. She has generously offered a $25 gift card to her Etsy store Cinnaberry to one lucky winner. You’d better hope it’s you!

I spent the weekend with someone who is growing a human inside of her, so the subject of baby clothes came up more than once. We all agree that nothing is cuter than a tiny sweater vest. Unless it’s a little girl cardigan. Or underwear with ruffles on the butt (BE STILL MY HEART). Or, or… this!

{Twirl Wrap Skirt – Bees and Blossoms}

Or this!

{Good Grief onesie}

Or maybe even these!

{Old Glory Seersucker Traveling Trousers}

Taryn’s work speaks for itself – adorable, practical, homemade, original. Whether you’re a mom, a soon-to-be pseudo-aunt, or you just want something for your “baby hope chest” (What? I’m the only one stashing away onesies?), this giveaway is for you.

Here’s how you enter:

Leave ONE COMMENT FOR EACH ENTRY. An entry can only count if you leave a separate comment for it!

-Leave a comment telling me your favorite Cinnaberry item. Or your top 5 favorites.

-Tweet this giveaway (and leave a link to your tweet in the comment).

-Blog this giveaway (and leave a link to your post in the comment).

Good luck! Can’t wait to show y’all what else I have up my sleeve. Stay tuned!