For the love of jewelry…

We have a winner! And the Agape Gems bracelet goes to….

drum roll, please….

Number 10 -  Drewmark19, or better known as Andrea from Happy Chaos, whose favorite pieces were the Paris Paisley necklace and the Necee Necklace!! Wahoo Andrea!! Use the “Contact Me” form at the top of the page to send me your mailing address.

Thanks to everyone for entering and thanks to Random.org for choosing our winner. And a big huge thank you to Courtney of Agape Gems, for creating such a stunning giveaway!

**Photos courtesy of Agape Gems.

GEMiny, it’s another giveaway!!

One of the things I love most about Facebook is getting to reconnect with friends from the past and seeing what they have been up to since I last saw them.

One of my friends from high school, Courtney Harleston, has started her own jewelry line. She is so talented and her jewelry is exquisite. You can tell she puts a lot of time and love into each piece. Courtney’s company, Agape Gems is an Atlanta-based jewelry enterprise featuring beautifully handcrafted jewelry that blends precious and semiprecious stones, precious metals, pearls, and exotic finds that are carefully appointed by Courtney herself.If you venture over to her site you can also read about what each stone means and represents. I love that Courtney takes all of that into consideration when making her jewelry.

Courtney is such a doll, she is not only giving away the following bracelet to one of my readers, but she in fact made it just for one of my readers! It is one-of-a-kind and oh-so-beautiful!  (I’m a little jealous I can’t win it – I definitely think it needs a name…any ideas?)It is an Agape Gems bracelet that is lovingly assembled with Smokey Quartz, Aqua Quartz, Chalcedony, Jade, Peruvian Opal, and Adventurine stones hand-wrapped on sterling silver wire with a pewter toggle clasp. A small hand-stamped, sterling silver, Agape Gems charm ensures it's authenticity!  It measures 7.5 inches and will fit small-medium wrist.

If you would like a chance at winning it (see, “it” just doesn’t do the bracelet justice… “it” definitely needs a name), visit one or both of Courtney’s sites:

http://www.agapegems.com or
http://www.agapegems.etsy.com

and come back here and leave me a message about which piece is your favorite. This entry is a must! But for extra entries, you can Tweet about this giveaway, Facebook about this giveaway, blog about this giveaway, and/or become a fan of  Agape Gems Handcrafted Jewelry on Facebook. Just leave a comment for each seperate thing you do with a link where it can be verified.  Just so you know, that is a total of 5 possible entries for this gorgeous one-of-a-kind bracelet.

I will leave this contest open until Monday evening. I will announce the winner a week from today. Good luck everyone!!

 

**Photos courtesy of Agape Gems

It’s Showtime!!

Thanks everyone for entering my Blogoversary giveaway! It was fun looking through your answers as to what your favorite movie is. Many of you said P.S.- I love You was your favorite movie, which I have yet to see but it is now on my “To Watch” list. So thanks for that : )

As for the winner….

Congrats to Commenter Number 6 (thanks to Random.Org)….

Kristin at Sogkonnite Living whose favorite movies are Shakespeare in Love and Chicago (which I totally love!!).

Kristin, just use the “Contact Me” form at the top of my page, and send me your mailing address so that I can send you your copy of Pride and Prejudice. You are going to fall head-over-heels in love with Matthew Macfadyen as Mr. Darcy. He may be just as yummy as our dear Mr. Cullen …maybe : )

And everyone else, stay tuned, because I have a few more giveaways coming up.

**Pride and Prejudice photo from Photobucket.

**New Moon poster from my hilarious blogging friend Julia at My Life…In Sweat Pants.

Just a little gift to say “Thank You”

I can’t believe I missed my blogoversary…actually I can – it was Saturday, the day after my son got trampled by a sheep and the same day my family was trying to blow themselves up. 

I started this blog as a way for my family to keep up with what was going on in our lives. I never expected it to take on a life of its own; but here it is a year later with followers from around the globe.

I can’t tell you what a thrill it has been making new friends both in the virtual world and in the real world.

As a way of me saying thank you for sharing in our good times, our bad times,  our funny moments,

and all those extra occasions; I want to bestow upon you a small gift, a token of my appreciation. It’s not much but it’s all I could come up with since the little one is sick today.

Because when I’m sick, I like to pop in my favorite movie of all time – Pride and Prejudice. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched this movie. I’m pretty sure I can recite every line by heart.

So, that is what I am giving away to one lucky reader – a widescreen version DVD of the most romantic movie ever.

To enter, just leave me a comment telling me your favorite movie.

You have until Friday evening to enter. I will announce the winner on Saturday morning.  Good luck and again, thank you so much for following along!!

**Pride and Prejudice photo from AllMoviePhoto.com

I won!!

I hardly ever win anything. That's just the way my luck works. So you can only imagine my surprise when I won this oh-so-cute and oh-so-me headband from my friend Dawn's blog, Dawn's Diversions. (Thank you soooo much, Dawn!!!)



I absolutely love it!! Of course, I couldn't post of pic of me wearing it yesterday after I received it in the mail because, well, I was in frump-a-shlump mode (aka: greasy hair, sweats, no makeup). Today, however, I have somewhere to be, so I decided to take a shower and put on a little makeup . Believe me, you would thank me for not posting a picture yesterday had you seen me. : )

Anyway, if you want one like it or in a different color, check out the Feather By Feather Etsy shop. Be sure to tell her Melinda and Dawn sent you.

We have some winners...

Wow! That was quick. We have some winners of "Pay It Forward":

Beth at This Crazy Thing Called Motherhood
Heidi at The Hernandez Family
Lolli at Life is Sweet

Congrats girls! Now if you will just contact me using the "Contact Me" button at the top of the page. Leave me your full name and address and I will get those gifts in the mail to you.

Overdue gifting

This post is long, and I do mean long, overdue; but as I always say, "Better late than never," because in this case "never" would have made me a liar...and I'm not so fond of liars : )

A few months ago, my friend Devin at It's A Wonderful Life did a "Pay It Forward" post. Since I was one of the first three to comment, she sent me this wonderful CD.

Needless to say, I wore it out over the holidays. Matt Belsante proved to be a cross between Harry Conick, Jr. and Michael Buble...two men whom I LOVE!

Now it is my turn to pay it forward.

THE RULES: The focus of this is to do an act of kindness without expecting anything in return other than that the recipient will, in their turn, pass the kindness along and "pay it forward."I will send a small, fun gift to the first 3 bloggers who post a comment on this entry. In turn, those three will post this information and pick 3 people they want to send something to and then the game will continue!! The little something you send can be something you made, bought, were given or found, anything you want!! Just a gift that will make the person's day!!If you are interested in participating, be one of the first 3 bloggers to leave a comment!!You have to promise that you will then post about this on your blog, link back to me, and then send something to the first three people who sign up to play along through your blog.

Who wouldn't want to receive something in the mail now that the holidays are over and the presents have all been handed out? So, if you want to join in, leave a comment...that goes for those of you who read and never comment too...now it's your chance to say hello.

And the winner is...

Wow - what a turnout for our Cookie Swap! And the recipes you all posted...just reading them added five pounds on to my thighs. They all looked delicious!

As for the winner of the beautiful Southern Living Incredible Cookies cookbook

Drum roll please...

Congrats Christy Monfort from The Monfort 3! Be sure to contact me via e-mail at melinda scales at yahoo dot com (minus all the spacings - trying to avoid spam - not that it will work) and leave your mailing address so that I can send you your prize

Everyone else, make sure you check out Christy's blog to see her delicious recipe - a tribute to her favorite Mrs. Fields Cookies: Chocolate Chip Cookies with Nuts.

Thanks everyone for participating! It was fun. Maybe we'll have to do something like this again real soon...I was thinking maybe a virtual open house to show off our Christmas decor?! Okay, I may just be going too far now : )

Just passing it along

For those of you who enjoy contests and free things these are some great tips from some of my friends. Please read it all so you don't miss out on some great information...

First of all, my friend Amy is always entering these "Blog Giveaways." I kind of thought they were a hoax just to get people to their site; turns out she actually won one so I thought I would give it a shot. You can see the prize (a gorgeous necklace) and enter for the contest too over at The Pink Potpourri . Good luck to everyone!

Secondly, my friend Katie is a woman on a mission...she loves free stuff and she is very successful in finding it! One of my favorite tips she has selflessly passed along is about Smithsonian Day, which takes place on September 27. If you click HERE, you too can print out free tickets to museums in your area. For us, it is pretty limited to just seven museums (and a few of them are a little too far to drive to) but for my friends and family up in New York and D.C. and in Georgia, your possibilities are endless.

I would love to hear from those who take or plan to take advantage of these great tips and thanks girls, for passing along your useful knowledge!