If you LOVE your dog, enter this contest!!!

There's only a few more weeks to join the I HEART MY DOG CONTEST , everybody! Take a look at the entries that I've gotten so far. Such, beautiful, adorable faces! Please remember that this contest is open to my blog followers only. If you wish to enter, please make sure that you follow my blog.

Toby

Teddy

Keely

anonymous

Fergus

Buddy

Bocephus

Ben

Atlas

The lucky winner for the comment entry will win this:

Organic Blueberry Dog Treats from Grandma Lucy's

(this is my dog Wendy favorite treat!)

And the lucky, lucky winner for the photo entry will win this - a needle felted sculpture in the image of YOUR LUCKY DOG. From the super talented Etsy seller BenMcFuzzyLugs.

This contest will run until October 1, 2009. The winners will be picked and announced sometime on that day. For more details regarding the contest, click here.

Sunday Dinner - week 8

Better late than never! Labor Day weekend was tough! Several BBQ's and one power outage later, my poor Sunday Dinner feature fell to the bottom of my long list of to do's. But here it is. The best burger patty you will ever create. I changed it slightly from the original recipe because of my love for goat cheese.

Goat Cheese Infused Burger Patty

3 pounds ground beef chuck

3 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 egg

Coarse salt and coarse ground pepper

1 package of crumbled goat cheese

8 rolls or buns (I use Martin's potato rolls)

1 package baby spinach

2 beefsteak tomatoes sliced into 8 slices

1. Heat grill to medium high. In a large bowl, gently mix together the ground beef, worcestershire sauce, egg, 1 tbsp. salt and 1 tsp. pepper and egg. Mix well. Form into 8 equal size mounds.

2. Make a small well in the center of the beef patty. Place a small amount of goat cheese in the well. Wrap the beef around the cheese and pinch to seal.

4. Cook on grill on one side until grill marks are visible. Turn and cook the other side until grill marks show and the meat is slightly pink in the middle.

5. Serve on the roll or bun with the spinach and tomatoes.

Enjoy your Sunday Dinner!

The Nooshka Giveaway! (ENDED)

Casey Raymond with her Nature Dolls

This is Casey. Casey is the creative mind behind Nooshka on Etsy.

"Self taught textile artist born and raised in New Zealand. Mother of one and fiancee to my darling and supportive husband to be Alexie. Lover of pink, has a creative block when it comes to the color purple. Can't read a book without falling asleep, drinks far to much coffee and tea but can't stand the taste of alcohol. Has nightmares about spiders in the bed but loves mice. Will try anything once. Lover of the outdoors, nature and camping. Has a dream of someday studying fashion and design and of course having my very own studio....with coffee machine".

If you have never seen her shop - you are in for a surprise! She has the LOVELIEST things I have ever seen! She is so creative, it really shows in her one of a kind pieces. Just look at these pretties:

Meg, a Meadow Owl

nooshkaville pillow set

Milan

Sebastian

Look around,

And you will find.

A friend for you,

That's one of a kind.

- Casey Raymond "Nooshka shop on Etsy"

If you have fallen in love with her shop and her unique creations, this is the chance for you to own one! Casey is giving away Lilly the Nature Doll! Lilly is a 17 inch tall doll made out of linen, wool and wool felt. Her face is hand stitched and her outfit handmade by Casey. If you want to see the complete description for Lilly, click here. Just look at what a beautiful doll she is:

... and with her pretty outfit:

Do you want her to be yours?

Here is how you can enter (please leave a different comment for each entry):

1. Visit Nooshka on Etsy and choose and pick a favorite

2. Follow Casey's blog, Mynooshka

3. Become a follower of my blog (if you already are, please state that in a comment)

4. Grab my pretty button for your blog

5. And for extra credit, who would you give Lilly to and why

(and it's okay if you want her for yourself!)

*if you don't have your email in your blog profile, please include it in one of your comments.

Good luck everybody! The winner will be picked through random.org on

Sunday, September 13, 2009.

This giveaway is now closed. Thank you for all the entries!

Happy Labor Day!

Happy

Labor

Day

Everybody!!!

WINNER! WINNER! WINNER!

Congratulations to #6 Swaddle Babies for winning the

Lily Poppet Giveaway!

Enjoy your lovely winnings!

and

Surprise!!! Another winner!

Mr. Bean said, "How about a mango-pineapple scent?"

Well Mr. Bean, Angela saw your suggestion and decided to create this new scent for her shop.

You will be receiving this new scented oil in the mail!

Congrats to the winners!!!

And if you didn't win, there is another giveaway coming on Monday.

It is going to be cute, cuddlly, and irresistable!

This made me cry...

When my youngest brother Kevin was four, I left home for college. We are sixteen years apart. We might as well be a world apart. He lives in California with my parents and I live in Connecticut. He is 18 years old now and off to college in two weeks. An adult. He just sent me this picture of him at 4 years old:

Before I knew it, tears were gushing down my face. What have I missed? Everything. I missed his first day of kindergarten. All the school plays. All his sports events. The day that he won state finals in track. His high school graduation. Where has the time gone? Here is Kevin today at 18 years old:

In the blink of an eye, my baby brother became an adult. Without a big sister. His memories growing up doesn't include me in them. The pictures in his photo album doesn't include mine. THIS MADE ME SO SAD REALIZING THIS. But I am still his sister and this will never change. What can change is the time that we can spend together. Create new memories and make more pictures.

My son, his nephew is almost four. The same age he was when I left home. The resemblance is amazing. The personality even more so. Deacon reminds me of his uncle at that age. So bittersweet.

Deacon 9/2/09

Deacon and little sister Peyton 9/2/09

So thankful.

(image courtesy of thevintagethread)

I am really thankful for all the wonderful people who have featured me recently.

Kendra from StrandedDesigns who included me in her Treasury. Lindy from The Craft Indie Blog who was so sweet to feature me yesterday. Kate from Kate Williams Designs who purchased one of my Baby Happy Flower Headbands and turned it into a prize for her giveaway. Heather from Cookie Sundays, Ice Cream Mondays who included a beautiful picture of her girls wearing my posies in one of her posts. Dana from Plum Tree Studio who bought one of my Happy Flower Headbands and wrote a sweet post about it on her blog. Courtney from One Bored Mommy for her wonderful giveaways where I won this beauty for Skylar.

And to everyone who started following my blog - I read each and every sweet comment that you write.

Thank you for supporting me and Skylar's Candy Clips. I appreciate it with all my heart.