Tuesday, November 24, 2009 
And the winner is #96, Heather!
Here's her comment:
***Jackie, you are absolutely right! If this doesn't prove that I am utterly asleep in the morning hours than nothing does!***
The second winner is #43, Cara!
Here's what she wrote:
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 
I have begun to hit the cookbooks, looking for fun and interesting variations to our family Thanksgiving favorites. First stop? Always and forever - something from my collection of Cooks Illustrated paraphernalia. I have magazines, I have cookbooks. I even try to catch their show whenever I can. I love me some Cooks Illustrated.
Why? You may ask. They spell it out. Nothing is worse then being told to blanch something and all that comes to mind is Streetcar Named Desire. I need the play by play. Definitions, descriptions, lots of drawings showing me exactly what I need to know, exactly when I need to know it.
For the past several years The New Best Recipe has been my most beloved cookbook. I highly recommend getting it into the hands of any graduate or newlywed you might happen upon. Definitely my best basic cookbook. And just out is the new More Best Recipes. This cookbook takes things a little further. It houses many beloved recipes but these ones are a bit more interesting then everybody's favorites in it's predecessor.
Do you know how these particular recipes end up in these particular cookbooks? Let me tell you. They pick a common favorite recipes. Then choose about 50 of the most popular variations of that recipe. And then all of the Test Kitchen Chefs go to town...they cook up every one of these recipes, several times, making subtle variations: ingredient choices, temperature, tool. After extensive testing the chefs decide upon the ultimate recipe keeping in mind ease, cost and number of ingredients. I have yet to have one of their recipes fail me. No lie.
So, I have a couple of extra copies of More Best Recipes. Want one? Just share your favorite Thanksgiving dish and you are entered to win. I'll announce two winners next Tuesday.
Monday, November 16, 2009 
And the winner is #60 - Jeanette Mc!
here's what she wrote:
Jeanette - can't wait to hear how you think it compares with Geranium (my second favorite scent, by the way!)
Monday, November 9, 2009 
Our dear friend Jeremy was in town for the weekend and when he came downstairs this morning before his departure he asked what he was smelling. I thought that he was referring to the coffee that I had just made, but no, it turns out it was clean counters that were drawing him downstairs. He claims my counter cleaner is "the best thing that he has ever smelled". I have to agree. I have been meaning to post on this for sometime, and his glowing praise this morning was just the reminder that I needed. So here goes.
I don't like to clean. It's not my thing. Yet I must. When I clean I like to use natural cleaners both because I think that they are healthier in general but also because my kids are still at the age that they think cleaning is really fun and love to help out. I can't imagine letting them spritz chemicals all about themselves. I have been using Method for the past couple years and also liked Mrs. Meyers products when I tried them but for some reason only the Lemon Verbena and Lavender scents were readily available in my area. A couple of months ago I got my hands on her Basil Scent and I fell fast and fell hard. Have you tried it before? Are you as in love as I am? It makes cleaning...dare I say it? Pleasurable. The scent is sweet and intoxicating and I am hooked.
If you haven't tried it yet, and definitely if you have, leave a comment below. I'm giving away a Basil dish soap, hand soap and counter top spray just so you can get the full feel for how fantastic this scent is. Let me know your favorite cleaning tip or product in your comment and I'll choose a winner next Monday.
Allright, I'm off to clean my stove.
Friday, November 6, 2009 
And the winner is... Melissa!
here was her comment:
Oh my .... could there be a more perfect book for moi? Love this!
Hmmm....Halloween? For some reason, I have never liked it and maybe it is because just the thought of a ghost or ghoul jumping out to scare me leaves me with nightmares for weeks! And yes, I am a grown adult!
Friday, October 30, 2009 
It's a little difficult to admit this in the presence of all of my festive online peers, but I've never been so keen on Halloween. A holiday dedicated to the gory, grotesque and fearsome? In my world, holidays are meant to be a respite from such things. If it were just fun costumes and candy I'd be all in. It's just that if I see that "scream mask" one more year, I'll... you know, scream.
But to avoid looking like a total dud, I've decided to do my own little version of trick or treat. I just so happen to have a second copy of the new Pictorial Webster's. It is called a Visual Dictionary of Curiosities and the name is very apt. Filled with 1,500 historical engravings from the Webster's dictionaries of the 1900's - this volume includes everything from the simple to the strange. It is a beautiful, alphabetical journey with maybe just a touch of a spooky element. It seems like the perfect treat for this All Hallows Eve.
If you would like the chance to win just leave a comment below with your favorite or least favorite thing about this holiday. I'll choose a winner next Friday.
{And yes, my kids are getting dressed up and going trick-or-treating. Only this year the honor of escorting them will fall upon my husband's mother and sister. Sean and I are sneaking out of town...remember?}
Tuesday, October 27, 2009 
And the winner is...#13, Diana. Your Twitter miraculously got you the win!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 
I am loving the fall collection by jewelry designer Summer Ellis. Her delicate pieces are a mix of vintage, glam and earthy elements. And her bridal collection...oh, to be getting married again. I would definitely be wearing the gold on gold Opera Pearl Necklace. Gorgeous.
Summer is generously offering all of my readers a 10% off discount with the code special10. She is also donating the adorable blossom earrings above for giveaway. {These would make such a great little Christmas gift or stocking stuffer at only $22.50 with the discount code.}
Just visit her shop and let me know your favorite item and you are entered to win these earrings. Twitter or blog about the giveaway, come back and let me know in a comment, and you entered for a second time. I'll announce a winner next Tuesday. Good luck!
Here are some more of my favorites:
Check back tomorrow for Summer's list of 10 things that make her happy. Thanks Summer!
Monday, October 12, 2009 
"If you watched a movie about a guy who wanted a Volvo and worked for years to get it, you wouldn't cry at the end when he drove off the lot, testing the windshield wipers. You wouldn't tell your friends you saw a beautiful movie or go home and put a record on to think about the story you'd seen. The truth is, you wouldn't remember that movie a week later, except you'd feel robbed and want your money back. Nobody cries at the end of a movie about a guy who wants a Volvo.
But we spend years actually living those stories, and expect our lives to feel meaningful. The truth is, if what we choose to do with our lives won't make a story meaningful, it won't make a life meaningful either."
These are the words from the first page of a book I started late Thursday and finished late Friday. It's called "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years" by Donald Miller. It's hard for me to love most books or films or television shows because I have some seriously high expectations for each. I want to leave said experience, changed. For me to really love any of these forms of entertainment, it has to alter me. I know, I wish it weren't so, but it is. I'm such a bore like that.
So, after having said all that - I love this book. Though it may have covered ground I've come across somewhere in the past, the perspective was so fresh that the ideas startled me. It's a book about living our best story. And without over stating the point, it has left me inspired to do just that.
I wish I had oodles of copies of this one to pass about, but Sean is reading my copy and I have but one to offer you. If you'd like a chance to win leave a comment below. Tell me what your favorite film is and why. If you don't win, be sure to add this book to your wish list - you won't be sorry.
I'll choose a winner next Monday.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009 In honor of Eva's room being featured today on Apartment Therapy's ohdeedoh, I'm giving away a copy of Apartment Therapy's decor book.
Let me tell you about this book. I think that it is my very favorite decorating book in my possession. For the same reasons that made Apartment Therapy a cult favorite, this book has the same chops. These people know how to pick 'em. Real homes, real people. These aren't professionally decorated abodes - though maybe their owners should go pro. These are some clever geniuses. It is truly idea and inspiration overload. Each home featured shows a floor plan, a survey which includes advice, the story behind the home and a resource list. This makes for some seriously good reading. Not just pretty pictures, I tell you - real meat!
If you would like a chance to win - leave a comment below telling us your favorite detail of your home. I'll announce a winner next Wednesday -
Monday, September 28, 2009 "I read. And as I opened Little House in the Big Woods, I no longer felt lonely or bored or unfortunate to live in the country. I felt blessed. In the pages of the Little house series, I found a friend and a heroine Laura Ingalls Wilder. Her simple life, work ethic, and innocent pleasures transported me from my ranch house to her homestead. I was caught up in all the activities of the Ingallses' everyday life: Ma making pie, Pa working a harvest, Laura studying for her teaching certificate, everyone drinking lemonade and watching the buggy races on independence day."
If you were to go waaay back to the start of this blog, I mention part of my initial inspiration in starting it was as a way of sort of channeling Caroline Ingalls. I grew up in an upper class town and learned next to nothing about traditional homemaking skills. I really have no idea why these things appeal to me so but I know that I want to learn them and I want to teach them to my daughters. I picked a man with a similar sense and he wants to teach our sons the things that he never learned growing up.
I have found someone kindred in Jennifer Worick through the pages of the Prairie Girl's Guide to Life. She too sees how fleeting the joy is of our super consumer society. How no matter how much you buy you are always left wanting more. There is something rich and deep in the simple pleasures of making things from scratch and even just making do. You needn't have a prairie to be a prairie girl, it's a mindset more than anything else. I'm not there and perhaps never will be but life has sure gotten richer with each step I've taken in this direction.
This book is jammed packed with great insight and practical skills that are no longer considered basic knowledge. If you would like a chance to win a copy of this book just leave a comment after this post: maybe a homemaking skill that you would like to learn or one you already have. Or perhaps something about the Ingalls family that resonates with you as well.
I'll choose a winner next Monday - good luck!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009 
And the winner of "Master Your Metabolism" and the Omron pedometer is...Grace! (#11) Congratulations Grace on winning and on how far you have already come. (In her comment Grace shared that she has lost 60 pounds since January - So inspiring!)
Monday, September 21, 2009 
And the 2 winners of the signed copies are...
Sarah, #6
and
Emily, #18
Congratulations!
You still have time to enter this giveaway!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009 
I know, I know. I already have another giveaway going on. I realize this. The thing is that I just discovered that the Biggest Loser Season Premier is tonight. I love me some Biggest Loser and I already had a giveaway planned in honor of it's fantasticness.
In case you are not a fan I would like to take a moment here to speak on behalf of the show. There are plenty of things that drive me crazy about the show - primarily the painful product placements and how they love to d r a w the whole thing out. It's brutal. But I love it far more than I hate it and here's why:
1. Bob & Jillian. I love these guys. They are excellent at their jobs and not bad to look at, either.
2. I love how there is not one winner to this game. Everyone wins. Every contestant leaves that place far better than when they arrived. Families are transformed and a nation is inspired. I know that sounds pretty hokey, but if you are a fan, you may agree.
3. Lots of health & fitness tips and huge doses of inspiration. You look at what these people are accomplishing and think - what's my problem? It's awesome.
4. America needs some serious help in the weight department and I believe this show has made a dent. That's no small thing.
So...in honor of the season premiere I am offering a little giveaway to add to your personal motivation arsenal. This is a two-parter. First the winner will get a copy of Jillian's latest book: Master Your Metabolism. This goes far beyond Jillian's typical grueling workout regiment and also hits upon some of the hormonal reasons why woman can have trouble staying slim. I have read this and thought it was super helpful and informative.
I am also throwing in an Omron pedometer, one of the greatest purchases of my life. I love this thing. It is a great, super reliable pedometer that can even track your steps when tossed in your purse (so long as you carry that purse when you're walking about!) This has been one of the most effective "steps" in my own journey to health and fitness. I feel like I am playing a game - attempting to reach 10,000+ steps each day. It makes the whole thing fun for me and I choose to take several trips up and down the stairs to distribute laundry rather than trying to fit everything into the laundry basket for one trip. Really, I love this thing.
To win both the book and the pedometer, simply leave a comment with something that has helped you or inspired you on your own health and fitness journey. I'll choose a winner next Tuesday.
Monday, September 14, 2009 
The sentiment on the last envelope of my anniversary gift to Sean was inspired by Shauna Niequist's wedding vows which she wrote about in her first book, cold tangerines. I have been gulping this book down as quickly as my heart can stand it because, you see, this is one of those books. The kind that feels like it was written specifically for me, in this instant in time, to grind me to dust and then put me back together again far better than when I began. This book is about the discipline of celebration. It has the capacity to change the way I live. I hope I let it.
Here's the part where Shauna is talking about her wedding vows and about becoming a family with her new husband:
"When I said to him on our wedding day that when I was with him, I was home, I did not mean, "Let's move to Michigan and see if I'm right, okay?" I meant, "I love you so much, let's stay in Chicago where my parents and my friends are, how about that?" But I said, before God and seven bridesmaids, that Aaron is my home, my partner, my number one, and so now I live in Michigan. The moral of the story, I suppose, is that, if at all possible, you should make your wedding vows very noncommittal and easy to keep. Things like, "If you have an idea, I'll consider it, most of the time," or "If it doesn't interfere with my own plans, I'd be happy to hear your request." I, however, was quite naive and promised to live, no matter what, with and for and deeply connected to this other person. Thank God.
September 11, 2001, was a Tuesday. Aaron and I had been married for two weeks and had arrived home two days before from our honeymoon to Sydney and the Great Barrier Reef. And I'm using the word home loosely. Aaron was moving into my little house, and I had not made any space for him or his things before the wedding. The floor of the loft was covered with wedding presents and ribbons and torn wrapping paper, and every available surface was littered with one or another wedding related item - leftover programs, clothing for the honeymoon that didn't make it into the bag and needed to be returned, favor ideas gone awry. All of his earthly belongings were piled into the basement and the garage, and I remember secretly thinking that that wasn't a bad place for them, given the limited space in the house. The bathroom and the closet were of special concern, and he lived for a few days like a college student in a dorm, with his toothbrush and razor packed into his shaving kit, toting it in and out of the bathroom.
Immediately before the wedding, I had acted on an ill-conceived idea to use the tiny dining area as a sort of Roman, reclining-and-dining area, with two enormous but extremely uncomfortable wicker-ish throne-like chairs, each with an ottoman. I guess that I thought that rather than a little table for four wedged in between the kitchen and living room, this would be a more interesting and less conventional use of space, and I liked the idea of us curled up on these palatial chairs, watching the news and talking about our days. They were so big that we had to turn sideways to get to the kitchen , and so uncomfortable that Aaron boycotted them almost immediately. The only reason that I remember them, I think, is that on September 11, we sat on them and watched the news for hours. Later that week, the chairs went back to the store at Aaron's insistence.
I remember coming home from work that day and having the clear sense that that night, the evening of September 11, was one to be spent with family. At that time, and at our age then, we didn't totally understand the implications of what had happened. No one did, of course, but perhaps least of all us, who had grown up in an age of so little violence and war, at least to our awareness. We knew, though, instinctively, that that was a night to spend with family, and we realized with a jolt that that's hwat we were. We were family.
It's hard to imagine now, now that we have been married for five years years, now that we live in another state, in our home, one with space for me and space for him. Now we are, certainly, family. Aaron is my first thought and last thought, the companion with whom I walk through every part of life.
But he wasn't yet, at that point. A wedding didn't make him my family, or a honeymoon, or grudgingly giving him one half of the storage space in the bathroom (let's be honest - one quarter). What did make him my family, though, was the decision to stay home with him on that Tuesday night, to sit in those horribly uncomfortable chairs, holding hands across their massive, prickly arms, watching the news for hours. Our first impulse was to go home, to my parents' house and to his, and we stared at each other for a moment in the living room, wondering what to do. We stayed in a house that didn't feel particularly like home for either one of us at that point, and I think it became a little bit more of a home that night.
That's how family gets made. Not by ceremonies or by certificates, and not by parties or celebrations. Family gets made when you decide to hold hands and sit shoulder to shoulder when it seems like the sky is falling. Family gets made when the world becomes strange and disorienting, and the only face you recognize is his. Family gets made when the future obscures itself like a solar eclipse, and in the intervening darkness, you decide that no matter what happens in the night, you'll face it as one."
I have two signed copies of cold tangerines to give away. Trust me, you want one of them.
Just leave a comment and i'll choose two winners next Monday. Thanks Shauna. Really, thank you.
Thursday, September 10, 2009 
Congratulations to #24 - Mindy!
