Random Ramblings

I picked up a new night stand light. My kids won't stop playing with it. My 4 y/o started the microphone game with the light, from sharing her thoughts on church (ie baring her testimony) to reciting scenes from Toy Story "does anyone have a moving buddy?". It cracks me up. (Even though I keep telling her to stop pulling on my stinkin light.)
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Today I finished my 6th book for the month of January. I'm hoping to get through 50 by the end of the year and so far I think I'm on a good track.
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Had to stop off at the social security office this morning. I was there 10 minutes before the place opened and people were already lining up at the door. I counted 11 people in front of me and a handful behind me. Once we go inside the first guy up to the window starts explaining his stuff. The worker comments. He says the same thing again. The worker comments. He responds with, "Isn't there someone here I can talk to?" She points to herself, "You are talking to someone!" He reluctantly continued. Made me smile.

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The winner of the hair lovely is Also known as Shell. Congrats girl!!! I tried to find your email but couldn't track it down. Will you send me an email and we'll get this prize out to ya!

Wordless Wednesday: Hold Tight

(Photo taken by me in October 2008 in Virginia)

Freebie Friday: Hair Lovely

My adorable friend Susan from Sustaining Susan has started creating some super beautiful hair lovelies! I even saw her wear one in person and it was SO stinkin' adorable I yelled across the room to tell her how cute it was. :)

If you're interested, she is selling them and you can contact her through her blog or her new site Lola's Lovelies if you'd like more information or to purchase one. Each one is one-of-a-kind

She has graciously offered to give away a beautiful lovely purple flower to one of my readers!

You could win this!

To enter: Leave a comment.

Extra entries:
~Visit Sustaining Susan and leave a comment on any post.
~Follow her blog.
~Share the love on any site (aka tell your friends on fb, twitter, email, etc)

Contest will close Thursday Jan 28th. Winner will be notified by email so please make sure yours is available in your profile. Thanks!

10 Million Strong

Before I left for elementary school in the morning, my mom would give me one of those chewable Flintstones and I'd pop it in my mouth and move it to the side of my cheek. I'd walk out the front door and dislodge it with with my finger and toss it behind the large bushes adjacent to the sidewalk that led from the doorway to the driveway. I was careful about where I threw it because I didn't want my mom to go walking by and see it in the dirt. I don't think I ever told her I disliked them, I guess I just figured it was easier to take it and get rid of it later. I just couldn't bring myself to chew it up though and to me this was the next best idea.

My kids have it way easier!

I'm not trying to be a commercial, I just listened to this song and it made me nostalgic so I thought I'd share...


Any childhood memories of trying to get away with things like me?

Wordless Wednesday: If it's not yours, it's...

(Photo taken by me in Nov 2009 in California, at Disneyland)

Tell Me: Hired Out

If you could hire an assistant what would you hire? (maid, cook, chauffeur, etc)

Yesterday I asked it of my facebook friends and of the more than 30 responses here are some results:

Maid=16
Cook=11
Personal Trainer =2
Chauffeur=2
Nanny=1
Wife=1
Hair/Makeup=1

I enjoyed hearing the responses because some of them were super darn funny and others, well they made a lot of sense.

I'm pretty sure I'd pick a cook. I do so much better when I dont have to think about that area. Three times a day for five (who dont always eat the same thing or at the same time) sometimes gets a bit crazy. Plus if you've been following this blog for a while you may know that I'm not the biggest fan of vegetables. I have the cookbook "Deceptively Delicious" but no matter how hard I try I can't bring myself to eat those meals yet. I'M the one that needs to be deceived here, and how can that happen when I know what's happening in the kitchen, haha!

What do you think? If you hired someone what would you have them doing? Feel free to throw your own idea in there. Gardner? Launderer? (And no you can't have them take over all your responsibility, haha.)

Your Very Own Book

I'm heading over to another

The Dark Divine
signing today to get a book signed for.....

Jill!

Congratulations to the winner!


Thanks everyone for entering. I was so excited to see how many people wanted to get their hands on such a fun new book! Oh I just wish I could give you all books. You're all so fabulous. Thanks for all the fantastic ideas of what to read next. I'm making lists and can't wait to get started!

Question 13: My Winners Circle

Asked by Heids (who is my rockin' cool sister and is crazy smart with a Masters degree in Computer Science...I always have someone to ask my html questions to.)

What is your favorite freebie thing that you've won?
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Ooo I've won some fun things last year. I dont think it's necessarily that I'm extra lucky. It's just that for a few months I went searching for and entered every stinkin' contest I could find. Seriously. Perspective wise, I probably entered 10 or 20 for every one thing I won. I got burned out though so I haven't entered many things since Thanksgiving, but here a few things I've won.

Lots of books!: The 13th Reality, 1 & 2 signed by James Dashner, The Dark Divine ARC signed by Bree Despain, My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters signed by Sydney Salter, Jungle Crossing signed by Sydney Salter, Lemon Tart signed by Josi Kilpack, Katie Brown Celebrates (cookbook), Deceptively Delicious (cookbook by Jessica Seinfeld), Food Storage Binder (by Food Storage Made Easy)

A few other fun things: Handmade Bag, duffle bag, $25 Gas gift card, Cricut Expressions, 250 business cards, 2000 business cards, Usborne Halloween books, scented candle block, Hannah Montanna dvd, Jonas Brothers dvd, Tigger Dvd, tickets to Moms Who Make It conference, kid scarfs, sitting and digital rights photography, free pearls.


Soooo to answer your question I think I'd have to go with the tickets to the Moms Who Make It conference (from Created by Mom Chic Boutique, createdbymom.com). It was the first conference I'd been to and it was fun to be a part of it! I had such a blast getting to attend the classes, meet new people, learn more about empowering myself, tips on blogging and being in the virtual world. There were so many other cool things. SWAG, booths, healthy eating, make up tips, how to get your business out there (if I had one, haha). I really really hope they do another one!

Question 12: To get paid or not

Asked by Christie (who is an amazing mom, very thoughtful of her friends, and who is louder than me -lets just say my mom used to call me 'lungs'.)

I would like to know: Now that you are an official college grad, do you plan to use your degree in the work force or keep doing the harder job of being a stay at home mom?

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You know it's funny because when this question was originally asked I had my answer all ready, I would have hands down said I'm still choosing to stay at home. I figured it'd be several years until I needed/chose to work.

Just over the Christmas holiday my hubby got a job offer (that we thought was the answer to lots of prayers). We further researched it, talked about it, prayed about it, and decided that even though thats what we thought we wanted all along it wasn't going to cut the mustard.

We made a hard family decision. He's decided to go back to school and finish his last year to get his Bachelors in Animation while I go back to work for a bit to help out the family. So for now, it's back into the workforce for me. (By the way, anyone out there know anyone hiring? I can type super fast!) I'm actually still pretty excited at this point. It's been a couple of weeks I've been looking and even though trying to muddle through the legit placed ads has been no fun, I'm still hopeful and postive.

**Want to play along? Do you have any questions for me? Go ahead and ask me here!

Wordless Wednesday: Summer Lights

(Photo taken by me in June 2009)

Eight is Great. Now for more!

1-10-02

Eight years ago today, I was getting married to my best friend, the sexy devil in the picture with me. The snow had just melted and it was icy cold but I couldn't tell at all, even in my short sleeves. My hubby however was shivering the whole time we were out taking pictures. In our family shots on the steps of the beautiful temple, everyone is even bundled up in winter parkas.

A little while ago I mentioned how we met if you're interested.

Here's one of my favorite pictures from the day. With just a few weeks to plan the details of the wedding day, going to school full time, and working I decided that in order to stay sane, I would pick a few things I cared a lot about, and let the other stuff just happen. There were two things I wanted. A rockin' dress and an awesome photographer/pictures. Everything else was just fabulousness that happened because my family was great to help out with the other details.

Like the cake. Honestly it just wasn't a big deal to me. I mean I wanted to have one there but I really didnt care about spending hundreds of dollars on it. So my sweet mom asked my adroable neighbor to make one. And it turned out beautfiul! And then to top it off, literally actually, under that beautiful temple on top was hidden a Wendy's hamburger (don't worry, a nice friend ran out just a few minutes before we cut the cake to grab a fresh burger, it hadn't been sitting there all evening). You see, well most likely you do, because of the title of my blog, but I really really like Wendy's (seriously ask me sometime), and luckily for me, so does my hubby. So it was a fun little surprise for us, from my fam, that I really thought was cute.

Oh and for what it's worth, I'm completely convinced this is why I seriously had a perfect wedding day. The things that mattered happened (both of us made it to the wedding, we were married, we were surrounded by family), the things I wanted to have happened happened, (my dress was awesome, I got lovely pictures), and honestly if anything didn't go as planned, I never knew because I was having the time of my life!

Freebie Friday: The Dark Divine, signed with YOUR name!

I'm going to another book signing next weekend and would LOVE to get a book signed for YOU! Thats right, right here you can win a copy of Bree Despain's The Dark Divine. I LOVED how my friend Olivia described the book: "Not a romance, but action, mystery, and love story." Yes! So good. You gotta read it. (PS Her contest for the same book ends tonight, if you want to double your chances of winning....)

How to enter:
~Comment (Please tell me what name you'd like in the book if you win, it doesn't have to be yours.)

Extra entries:
~I am starting another 50 book challenge this year. Please tell me a good book (or a dozen) that I should read.
~I kinda want to make new friends this year. I figure I have this fabulous little facebook profile that is perfect for that. Would you suggest a friend to me through fb, Debbie Cranberryfries. Thanks.

Contest closes Friday January 15th at midnight. Winner will be emailed so please make sure your email is linked through your profile or that I can access it someway. Thanks!

Wordless Wednesday

(Photo taken by me in summer of 2008 at Rialto Beach.)

Released The Dark Divine

Last Saturday I had the chance to go to the launch party of Bree Despains The Dark Divine over at The Kings English bookstore. Anyone remember what happened last time I attempted to get over there? Well this time, on the way I got a flat tire. Awesome. No. Ugh, what is the deal?

Luckily I was meeting up with Olivia just a few miles away so I had her back track a bit to come get me somewhere else. We made it! But the place was crazy packed with loyal fans and it was super fun to be a part of it! We met some super cute ladies while we were waiting (the room was so packed we waited in the adjacent room and then filed in later to get to her Bree read a passage). It's funny to me the sort of insta-friend stuff that happens when there is a common bond. Such a fun day! This is one hot book. I heard it sold out of tons of bookstores the first day.

Stay tuned later this week for a related giveaway.