First, the Twitter winners… 1. @RUaDSarah 2. @saucygurl915 And now, the blog comment winner… 3. D’Rae  If you are one of these three, please email me at laurenfromtexas (at) gmail (dot) com and I will help you claim your prize. Thanks to everyone who participated. I really wish I could give all of you a free pair of glasses; the comments and tweets were so great! Stay tuned for more giveaways in the future…I have some exciting things in the works. xoxo

My first encounter with Coastal.com was about a year ago, when they were doing the “free pair of glasses” codes that exploded on Facebook and Twitter. I got a pair of glasses that ended up being too small, but they exchanged them for me. Then, the new pair of glasses got a scratch on the lens within the first week or so, and they replaced them for me. What I’m trying to say is, they did a lot for someone who didn’t even pay for a pair of glasses. I was extremely impressed with their customer service and the speed and ease with which I could make returns and exchanges. I was recently contacted by another online glasses + contacts [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

I used random.org, so no one can accuse me of cheating! Also, because there is no way in heck I was writing out 54 names on 54 scraps of paper (a la my first giveaway). I’ve evolved, y’all. 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 [...]

I love a lot of things in life. My dogs, freshly baked cookies, blog friends, & Veronica Mars, to name a few. I also love creative minds, handmade things, & sisters. So here’s something that encompasses all three! 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 [...]

Monday really snuck up on me. This weekend was spent tackling my to-do list (I crossed off all but 1 item! Next up: CONQUERING THE WORLD), & before I knew it I was all, “Hello Monday. So nice to see you again. NOT.” Because Monday morning Lauren is totally a Jr. Higher who needs an attitude adjustment. 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 [...]

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. Thanks to everyone for entering. Winner TBA soon! 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 [...]

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 [...]