Blogaversary Giveaway

 

Hello my Dear Beautiful Blogland Besties!

First of all, thank you so much for being here. I treasure this blogging fun and the wonderful friendships I've made here. I like blogging for many reasons - including a place to keep memories...but the main reason is YOU! Connecting with you friends and sharing our worlds means so much to me. 

Even though my true blogaversary was late last Fall (when it gets so busy for the holidays) - I like to at least do a little something, even late, to acknowledge how much I treasure you being here. It is my 11th year blogging now. I can't believe that's real, as it's gone so fast! 

I thought I'd do a giveaway based on some of my favorite things lately, and that fact that we're whizzing through January with lightening speed and Valentines Day is right around the corner. I finally got Christmas down and kept up some greenery, snowmen, deer (all things we'll be seeing in the northwoods for months to come yet). But I also added some Valentines touches everywhere:

Okay onto the real fun: for this giveaway I'll be giving away 2 separate packages of goodies. For the first name drawn I will be sending you this:

A pop-up floral bouquet. 

I love the pretty vase with it and that roses just say Valentines Day (or maybe I should say Galentines Day😉 💗) It comes with a sweet little card too.

The first person chosen also get this blind date with a book. If I remember correctly it's in the thriller genre. I have been so much more into reading this past year...than I have been in years! So to honor that I thought this would be fun. 

Again, connected to Valentines Day I thought some sweet heart shaped earrings.  I found these crochet ones (& I've just started to get into crochet as a hobby). 

I bought these earrings (& the 2nd pair for the 2nd person drawn) from this small business on Etsy. I love that she included the Jesus stickers with her box. :) 

I forgot to take an individual pic of these - but these are also something bookish + coffee (another of my favorite things!). They are tiny adorable magnets. I thought they might be cute if you had a fridge where magnets work. Or maybe a little magnet recipe holder in your kitchen where you stick a recipe card to follow. Wherever you may find a spot they sure are cute and very detailed! They were also bought from a small business. ❤️

Now on to the 2nd name drawn...that person will receive this:

also a pop-up bouquet, cute book & coffee magnets and a pair of crochet earrings

Aren't these earrings SO cute too? And again, some hearts in honor of Valentines Day coming up. 

*Not seen is that I will also be including my other favorite hobby lately - watercolor painting. I will be hand painting cards for each of the winners plus maybe a few tiny extras thrown in to be a surprise. 

Oh, and I will do the drawing by Sunday and post the winners on Monday. All I will need is an email to reach you and get your address if you win. Thanks dear Friends. See how to enter below:

All you need to do to enter is leave any kind comment below about blogging, or Valentines Day, or your favorite hobby. I will ship internationally as well. And you don't need to be a blogger to enter either. Again, I appreciate you being here as well as your love, support, and friendship all of these years! 

🙏🏻💗

And I need to mention this little Valentine of mine as our sweet Ruby turned 14! Yay!! She is our other baby and we treasure her sweet little soul. Happy Birthday Ruby! 🎉🎂

💗💗💗

10 Year Blogaversary Giveaway Winners!

 

Midweek hello and blessings wished to you my Friends! 

It's a pretty and snowy one here in the northwoods. Looks like we're getting a few more inches of the fluffy stuff today and it makes inside feel extra snuggly. And it's not nearly so cold today - which is so nice!!

Well last night I gathered up the names. Put them in a dish and my handsome helper Hubby (say that 5 times fast 😂) drew our winners! I just want to thank you all again for all the love and support during these years of my blogging. Many of you have become true friends and I cannot say enough how grateful my heart is for that. And for this wonderful space that I've not only found a sisterhood of support & friendship, but also a space of true artistic expression as a homemaker and a mother. I love it here so much and I hope to have many years of blogging ahead🙏🏻💗

Thank you also for the lovely and kind wishes you expressed to enter the drawing too! They all went to my heart. 😍 Ok, now the moment you really want to know....who are the winners of the 3 prizes??

Here are all of the names and the bowl of them all ready to go:

And here is my adorable helper - all ready to lend a hand. Or at least I told him this had to get done before dinner. 😉

And this is for winner number 1 that will receive these prizes:

The little bookstore kit, the peony bouquet and the starbucks gift card

Here he goes....

And the winner is:

Next up is winner number 2 that will receive these prizes:

the planner calendar, 2025 metal bookmark and a starbucks gift card

He reaches in and grabs our 2nd place winner which is.....

And our final draw which is for these prizes:

the peony bouquet and a starbucks gift card

And that final winner is....

Congratulations to Julia, Jules & Debbie!! 🎉😁

I hope you will love your prizes! Now I just need you to send me an email at: cbeargroup15@gmail.com so I can get your address information to send your goodies!! 

Thanks again for all who entered, and for all of your sweet wishes. I'm so grateful for you all! I hope you have a wonderfully cozy day✨

xoxo

Northern Lights and more Northwoods Autumn

 

Happy Friday to you Friends! 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend planned ahead. :) 

I thought I would share some shots I caught the past 24 hours. Last night the northern lights were spectacular from our back deck. So Annie, Matt & I went out to admire them and catch some pictures. It was so fun to watch them dance and the colors were so amazing this time! And I definitely saw Angels in them. Can you spot them? 

I think the first 2 are obvious to see. And then the 3rd one I pointed at what I see as her head/face, and then she has a flowing red dress and her green wings spread behind her. Can you see them too?

And then I got to get out and enjoy more beautiful colors in our Fall leaves today. A gf picked me up for an early birthday treat. She took me out to brunch and then we came back and went on a long beautiful walk. It was wonderful and so nice to catch up! I'm so blessed to have such amazing family and friends (and I count you amongst them my Blogland Besties!)

I'm wishing you a weekend filled with clear blue skies, sunshine that feels just right, leaves crunching beneath your feet and a gorgeous palette of leaves and trees all around. 

Blessings to you always. 

xoxo

Wordless (mostly) Wednesday

 

Cozy babies ❤️

*(also, if you haven't checked out yesterday's post about the blogaversary giveaway...please do that! Two chances to win! I really want to thank you wonderful friends for your readership) 

Ramen Chicken Soup Hack & an Update

 

Hello Friends and happy Thursday to you! 

It's a gray and dark one here today. It's been kind of a gray week this week. Haven't seen much sunshine, which doesn't help with pep and energy. Lol But I've been getting my workouts in and they do help my brain wake up :) It looks like a more mild, and potentially sunny, forecast going into the weekend - thank goodness! ☀️ 

However, the nice thing about cool gray weather is that it equals yummy soup time! And we had a tasty one yesterday. I had a ramen soup pack needing to be used up (I have them around sometimes for my son). And a rotisserie chicken to use up. So I thought the best way to use them both was to make a sort of semi-homemade chicken soup with them. I had veggies and a carton of chicken broth too, so it came together pretty easily. 

I didn't get a pic of the process, but I did get a pic of some of the items I had on hand to add to the flavoring. 

Have you ever had Pho soup? I love it and I love it's rich warm spicy asian broth. So I kind of channeled that a little. 

I satueed some chopped onion, celery and carrot in a little olive oil and butter. I added salt, pepper and some chinese 5 spice (for that sweet spicy taste). I cooked the veggies until they were soft. I then added a carton of chicken broth and some water so it equaled about 6 cups total. I brought that up to a boil. I then added the ramen noodles from the packet and cooked for 3 minutes (until they were done). I took the pan off the heat and added in some chopped rotisserie chicken, about a tbsp of soy sauce, a tsp or 2 of rice wine vinegar, and a tsp of sesame oil. I put back on low heat until all was heated through and served it up. Aaron was over and he and Matt both gave it 2 thumbs up! It was pretty tasty. I found it a quick and easy way to make a different kind of chicken noodle soup. It's fun to shake it up once in a while, right? 😋 

**Also, I wanted to share an update as far as the privacy thing related to my blog. I was really hoping there was a way to have it be private and yet that I could provide a link where you friends could request access. I found out there are some people reading my blog that I would prefer not know my business. I did make sure I didn't have any links in social media anymore. And I took off the ability for search engines to find it. When I did make it private for a few days, as I worked on it, I received the sweetest messages from many of you on the blog here (& in private messages) saying you enjoy my blog and were sad if you couldn't access it. It went right to my heart and I would rather keep it available to all. So I'll hope that the others will grow bored and fade away from it. If not, so be it.  

I absolutely love the connections and friends I have made in this blogland community and I would miss it if we couldn't connect. So I'm not planning to go anywhere. 😊 💕 

Thanks again for the kindness and support I've always felt in this space of fellow momma's and like-minded homemakers. I treasure my friendships with all of you!! I hope there to be many years ahead sharing with you all! Blessings always. xo

Blogaversary Giveaway Winners!

 

Hello and happy TGIF Friends! 

I'm popping in to share the winners of the blogaversary drawing. Thank you again so much for taking the time to visit me in this space. For the wonderful friendship we share here. And for taking the time to enter this drawing. I'm so very grateful for this special blogland place, and for all of you! 💝 

I got the names all written down:

Put them all in a dish:

Annie helped out but didn't want to be on camera. Lol And the first name drawn and winner of this:

Is.....

Congrats Tamy! 🎉 

And the 2nd person drawn and winner of this:

Is....

Congrats Mari! 🎉 

I believe I have both of your emails, so I will be contacting you to get your addresses to send these goodies your way soon! 

Thank you again to all for entering and I wish you all a very blessed weekend ahead. xoxo