AND THE WINNER IS...

ERIN!! Yay! Now you just have to give me your address so I can send you your amazing prize. Be excited. Very excited. Today is a good day.

Here is Erin's winning comment: "All of my memories of you make me happy, but one of my favorites is Kelsey force-feeding you whipped cream. ;)"

If you don't know what Erin is referencing, well you've officially failed as a facebook stalker.

I love you dear friend!

Quick!

Quick! This is your last chance to enter the giveaway. I will hopefully be picking a winner tomorrow.

Sayin' Prayers

Don't worry, the giveaway is still open. Make sure you tell all your friends to help decrease your chance of winning!

The real purpose of this post is to give you an idea of Bella: our local baby prayin' machine. Here are a few example prayers.

Bella: I pray for baby Ella.

Dad: Ok, go ahead.

Bella: Dear God, please help baby Ella...wha?

Dad: And help her to obey.

Bella: And obey. Amen

Bella: I pray for dad.

Me: Ok, go ahead.

Bella: Dear God, please help daddy...wha?

Me: And keep him safe.

Bella: And kee im safe. Amen.

Notice a pattern?

100th Post and Giveaway!

So this is officially my 100th post! I think you should all give me presents! Ok, ok, since that ain't gonna happen, I'm going to give one of you a present for the reasons listed below:

...because even though there are about 3 inches of snow outside right now, spring is on the way!

...because it was still light outside when I left work yesterday.

...because I just finished To Kill a Mockingbird and I totally loved it.

...because I got to eat shrimp twice this week.

...because I'm going to a 13 year-old's Mysterious Benedict Society inspired birthday party today.

...because my boyfriend is nice enough to bring me soup and biscuits for lunch on his day off.

...because I no longer have to make everybody Christmas presents.

...because I recently made the cutest apron ever complete with an appliquéd bird.

...because I just spent about 2 hours cleaning out my room.

...because I finally finished updating these two shirts (excuse my super lame picture taking skilz):

So what am I giving away? I am giving away this mini flower garden. Hopefully it will make your winter just a little bit brighter!

What do you do with them? I'm so glad you asked. You can pin them onto your shirt, purse, etc., or you can pin them in your hair, or you can even glue them to a hair clip or headband. If you want to see some pictures of ways that I've used them, please click here.

What do you have to do to enter? Simply leave me one comment with a funny/good memory of me or tell me which of my projects is your favorite. If I'm not facebook friends with you, please leave your email address. Only one entry per person. The giveaway will be open until next Saturday (Jan. 29, 2011) when I will randomly choose a winner and mail it to you!

Year In Review (99)

According to Goodreads, I read 48 books last year. I'm pretty sure I read several that I forgot to record, but still, that is not too terribly shabby. To be honest, several of the books markes as "read" were never fully completed. I used to feel guilty about not finishing a book once I had started it. Now I feel no guilt whatsoever about putting down a book that I deem unworthy of finishing.
Here is the highlight reel:

• Longest Book: The Brothers Karamazov (776 pages)
• Book I'd be most likely to recommend: Why Isn't A Pretty Girl Like You Married? And Other Useful Comments.
• Book I didn't like, but thought I would: Passion and Purity
• Best non-fiction: Notes From a Tilt-A-Whirl. It was just as good the second time around.
• Favorite kid's book: The Mysterious Benedict Society.
• Most Addicting book: The Hunger Games
• Most Surprising: Peace Like a River

I fully expect to read less this year as compared to last year. Mainly because I am no longer in school and forced to read for several hours every day. Right now my goal is set at 30 and I've already finished 3. On my list to read this coming year:

• God's Battalions
• When Helping Hurts
• And I need to finish To Kill A Mockingbird so I can discuss it with Aaron.

P.S. I'm always taking suggestions for good books.

#98

Because I'm cool and I'm getting ready to post for the 100th time, I'd like to do a giveaway on my official 100th post. However, I'm in the post Christmas-gift-giving-time-slump. I just made tons of presents for people. And on top of all that, I also just finished a birthday apron and now I'm starting a top secret crochet project. I simply can't think of anything cool to giveaway.

So here goes nuthin'. I am going to give you guys a chance to suggest things for me to giveaway. You can suggest anything including things you've made before, links to online tutorials, or something that you've always wanted but haven't had time to make for yourself. If you are really content and don't want anything then simply pass right on by and don't leave a comment.

Here is a list of things I will not giveaway:

• A pineapple. Those are reserved for my boyfriend. Sorry.
• A cross stitch project. The last one took me 2-3 months.
• My little sisters. But still feel free to borrow them for a day or even a month.
• Anything that involves knitting. I don't knit. Don't ask.
• My new jewelry box. You can't have it. Plus it is engraved with my name on the bottom and that would just be awkward.
• I reserve the right to add more things to this list.

We are strange little people

I try to keep Aaron off of my blog and facebook as much as possible for his sake. I mean, the guy deserves at least a little privacy, right? However, this story is just too darn funny to withhold. I wouldn't be a nice person if I didn't tell you.

Today, Aaron was not having a very good day. Being the amazing person I am, I decided to go to the store after work and get him a little present. My first thought was chocolate or candy of some type, but since he's been sick, I decided to go with a healthier option: I picked up a pineapple. I threw it in a grocery bag along with a note from his fairy godmother and left it on his doorstep for him to find when he got home.

When he finally got home later that night thanks to lots of tedious errands he had to complete, he was surprised to find the pineapple that he had bought to surprise me on his doorstep in a grocery bag. He couldn't figure out why he would of left it outside his apartment. He totally missed the note that was in the bag. When he walked in to his apartment he was completely surprised to see my pineapple sitting on his table. Slowly it dawned on him that there were in fact two pineapples. We had both tried to surprise each other with pineapples. Has anybody ever read the Gift of the Magi? Yep, I know, so romantic. There you have it. We will eat our pineapples and enjoy them too.