Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner, well, actually Face Cream

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner, well actually, of the Perricone Advanced Facial Firming activator is according to Random dot org (drum roll sound effect here)-


Enter a lower limit: 2
Enter an upper limit: 23
TaDa-
Random Number: 7

Lucky Number 7 is Are You Kidding Me with her comment -
My secrets: I never wear foundation. I usually wear moisturizer/sunscreen. I wash my mostly dry skin once a day (which drives my oily-skinned husband BATTY!) with Dial Soap. I stay out of the sun whenever possible.

Given my genetics, I will soon be wrinkling up like a prune, but anything to help delay that will be appreciated!

Thank you all so much for playing along and Congrats to our prune delaying Winner!

Flashbacks from the Fifties for Pink Saturday

Welcome to Pink Saturday hosted by Beverly at How Sweet The Sound and Thank you for your visit!

The pink I wanted to share today are Flashbacks from the Fifties including some snazzy outfits worn by colleagues at my husband's company's costume bowling party a couple months ago. (Hubby and I are in the matching green bowling shirts, aren't we chic?)


Here's a classic Pink Cadillac outside of Schat's Bakkery in Bishop, California, a local culinary trademark in the Eastern Sierra Nevadas.


For more fun with Pink Saturday, please visit the incredibly talented and inspiring Fifi Flowers! C'est une artiste extraordinaire, tres formidable!

I also invite you to enter to win a bottle of Perricone Advance Facial Firming Activator, to keep your face in the pink too!

Jewerly Giveaway Winner

Hello, I didn't forget my responsiblity of the Country Fair Jewelry Giveaway and our winner today is Wenn with comment#11.

I used a random number generator to be neutral like Switzerland because I really wanted all of you to win!

11

Random numbers generated Oct 12 2009 at 13:27:10 by www.psychicscience.org

Thank you so much for playing along, Martha

Pink Bras for A Cause

Last Sunday, I went to a Soroptimist Bras for a Cause Breast Cancer charity luncheon. A friend and I went to support another dear friend who is active in this organization and a 7 year survivor of the disease. (Disclaimer: This is my one and only annual charity luncheon, I am not a lady who "lunches" but this particular charity is near and dear to my heart. Actually, breasts are near all of our hearts!) This is a fun affair with a delightful silent auction, delicious food, spectacular scenery, and enjoyable company. Plus, it does give me the rare opportunity to dress up which I often think I have forgotten how to do!

The signature silent auction items are the Bras decorated to reflect the Overall theme for the event which this year was "Sisterhood of the Traveling Bra", featuring bras from around the globe.

Here is the Geisha Bra from Japan.
This feather embellished bra represents Venice, Italy.
This bra is Gay Paree, the City of Love.
And here is France herself, complete with The Eiffel Tower on her shoulder.
A much more local entry, let's give a shout out to my favorite park, Placerita Canyon in North Los Angeles.
And to finish our tour of the pink bras at this luncheon, what would be more perfect than a slice of Pink Bra Cake?
Please check your breasts or have your partner do it! You fellas too! (Men can get breast cancer.)

Thank you to the gracious host of Pink Saturday, Beverly who requests that we bloggers mingle and link up to a newly found blogger each week and I would like to introduce the mouth watering inducing blogger, Mimi from Our Family Attic. Her food photographs cause an immediate Pavlovian response, amazing.

As a special thank you to my bloggy friends, I am having a Giveaway of your choice of a handcrafted pair of earrings or bracelet made by yours truly. Please enter if you would like a chance to win.

Thank you so much for your visit, Martha

Country Fair Blog Festival with Jewelry Giveaway

Welcome to A Country Fair hosted by Art's Chili Pepper. In this Bloggy Country Fair, you can share your creativity and talents, whether they be sewing, canning, painting, drawing, photography, baking, scrapbooking, needle arts, etc. I love a Country Fair, so here please are my entries for your perusal.

I enjoy photography and consider my strength to be composition and sheer luck like in this beautiful pink sunset next to the Lombardy pines.

This sillouette of a guard dog in training also was a lucky stroke of the shutter. (No, my dog will not be playing with you today!)


Decoupage is very rewarding and I have been doing it since I was a little girl with my Mom. I bought this adorable small trunk for storage for my powder room. However, it had a hideous Sunflower design on it which I covered and applied vintage postcards, gold leaf, and accented the trim with paint and fleur de lis. Tres facile!


I love to garden and I am so lucky to live in Southern California with its Mediterrean climate in which so much grows so easily! We are in a long term drought and I was happy to exchange my water thirsty strip of grass for this rock and periennial flower garden I designed and installed myself.


Baking is another love of mine and I think it has to do with the fact I LOVE TO EAT The END Results!!! This strawberry whipped cream cake was made for a friend's son's graduation party.

I have recently discovered the joys of jewelry making and here are a couple pieces I made for some dear friends.
I call this a Goddess style necklace and it has the anniversary month and birthstones of my friend, her spouse, and their children.

Here is a birthstone and anniversary month bracelet with a charm that reads, "You Are My Special Angel".

I love embellishing, reusing, and repurposing jewelry including these three single earrings in a bag of beads from the thrift store.

Before:
After:

Chain belts are a personal favorite and I embellished both this silver chain belt from the thrift store and an old pearl belt of mine. I used ribbon and old and new beads and charms for the chain belt and jade beads and a vintage button to dress up the pearl belt.

Before:
After:

I am blessed with a very artistic and musical family, both the one I was raised in and now my own family with my husband and our two sons who both inspire and support my creativity. My sincere thanks to them and to you for stopping by my little booth at The Country Fair. As a special Thank you to all my dear Bloggy friends, I would like to Giveaway Your Choice of Either a bracelet or a Pair of Earrings Custom Made Just For You! To enter, please just leave a comment telling me you would like a chance to win. That's all and please leave an email or link to get in touch with you. This giveaway will end at 12 MN Pacific Time October 12, 2009. Tax, tag, title not included. (Kidding, just wanted to see if you're paying attention.) Thank you again, my best for a wonderful day and week too.

Pay It Forward Craft Giveaway

I am playing along with a Craft Giveaway with dear KimboSue and I invite you to join us. The first 5 people to respond to this post will get something made by me, especially for you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

I make no guarantees that you will like what I make but I hope you will.
What I create will be just for you.
They say I have a year to get it to you. But I promise it will NOT take that long!
You have no clue what it's going to be. It’s a surprise to both of us at this point.

The catch? You must re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog.

Thank you!

Pay It Forward Winner

Thank you all so much for playing along with The Pay It Forward Giveaway.
I feel like I cheated, I was the true winner of this contest, reading all the beautiful and sweet comments. I was incredibly touched, (many people would argue that I'm just touched), by the kindnesses, both big and small described by you all. Please, if you have a moment, read the comments, I was all misty eyed and smiling reading them. I wish I could send all of you a prize, but I hope this moment to reflect on caring was a gift to you too. My cup runneth over, thank you sincerely.

So without further ado, I am so pleased to announce Lucky #39 as the Winner of The Pay It Forward Giveaway with this comment:

#39 Sunny said...
I nominate Michelle at http://tobabyandbeyond.blogspot.com.

As if 8 years of IF weren't bad enough, she recently lost her job while trying to save for IVF. I am sending her good vibes for a fabulous paying gig (with IF coverage, no less!) very soon.

July 6, 2009 7:54 AM

(I couldn't copy and paste the Random.org picture which makes it look so official and objective, sorry, act of faith here for my veracity.)

I am sending dear Sunny her care package along with her nominee, Michelle.

Mazel Tov.

My religion is Kindness. - Dalai Lama

The Pay It Forward Giveaway

(Please double click for a closer view.)

Welcome to The Pay It Forward Giveaway! I'm going on vacation to Oregon for a week so I wanted to give you something to look forward to for when I return. I mean besides my witty posts and comments of course. (Thank you to Chicken Nuggets of Wisdom for this excellent idea btw. I <3 CNOW, she always makes me feel like a Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner! Especially with her fabulous Vacation giveaways.)

I have been so, so fortunate in the giveaways I've entered lately that I definitely have a karmic debt to pay my dear bloggy friends. Either that or I should have hubby take me to Vegas. So without further ado:

The Prize Winner will Receive these goodies:

Nature's Gate Lemongrass and Clary Sage Body Lotion

Beaded women's bracelet with tiger's eye, turquoise and crystal. Bracelet will fit average to large women's wrist.

Tinkerbell Mug

Mickey The Earth Hugger Tote

Flowery paper mouse pad with tear off sheets

A suprise something or two from my hometown and/or my travels.

The Fine Print:

1. Please leave a comment telling me how you nuture yourself. Please make sure to leave a way to get in touch with you.

Additional Entries:

2. A comment about a kindness you performed or was performed for you.

3. A comment acknowledging another blogger or friend and you will win this prize and your nominee will get a special prize too.

4. If you've ever given me an award or tagged me for a Meme. (Especially if I haven't posted it yet, ack, so sorry, mea culpa.)

5. If I have ever entered or won a giveaway hosted by you.

6. Anything else? I call this blogger's choice, just please leave separate comments for each entry. (Or is it seperate? Any English Teachers or Grammarians in the house??) This can be something from if we have ever talked on the phone or exchanged snail mail to whatever you think applies.

The giveaway will conclude at 12 Midnight PST on July 12, 2009.
It is open Worldwide, if you have an address and want to win, then please enter.
The Winner will be chosen by Random.org which uses space noise or solar wind or something really cool to pick random numbers.
Thank you so much.

Sweets Makes the World Go Around

The Grand Prize Winner of the See's Chocolate and Organic Body Lotion 200th Post Giveaway is

Dawn S!

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:

34
Timestamp: 2009-04-21 14:50:24 UTC

Many thanks for playing along and I will do this again soon because it's Fun to play the Fairy Godmother. Plus, See's Chocolate is really popular and well loved!

I had never heard of See's Chocolates until I moved to California sixteen years ago despite being a Hardcare Chocoholic. I have also traveled quite a bit and had the pleasure of discovering yummy treats all over. So today I wanted to share some of my favorites. (Yes, a post devoted to sweets. I am a junkie. Too far gone for any redemption.)

In California, two of my favorite chocolates are from See's Candies and Ghiradelli Chocolates. Fresh, flavorful, fullbodied. (Hmm, sounds like a wine review.) See's Caramels and Buttercream ANYTHING and Ghiradelli's bite sized dark chocolate with mint filling are delicious favorites.

A new inductee into my Chocolate Hall of fame is The Sweet Shop at The Ahwahnee Hotel. The pastry chef makes incredible plum sized truffles and buttercreams fresh every morning. The vanilla buttercream and caramel were incredible and so satisfying without being too rich.

As we move east in the continental U.S., Enstrom's Toffees from Colorado is well worth the calories. The combination of dark chocolate and almond toffee will leave you wanting more.

I have to give Shout Outs to these Sweet Shoppes, for their ice cream and other goodies, clean, fresh flavors and general yumminess.

Hawaii - Lappert's Ice Cream (Also, if I mention the Islands,it's necessary to acknowledge Shave Ice available in every flavor of the Rainbow.)

Now that I mentioned "Shaved Ice", I can't forget Water Ice (pronounced Wood-Er Ice) available in my big sis's beautiful Philadelphia.

Ohio - Graeter's Ice Cream has chocolate chocolate chip ice cream with chips the size of your thumb.

Also in Ohio - United Dairy Farmers - World's Best Malts and Milkshakes in a convenient store, A Convenient Store!!!

New York City, Little Italy - Ferrara Bakery and Cafe - The whole experience, the delicious pastries, attentive service and unique atmosphere is sublime.

How about you? Any wonderful Sweet Shoppes that you can share? Thank you so much.

Weekend Recap

I hope you had a relaxing and restful weekend.

I kind of puttered around not getting much done in between going to the boys' softball games and obsessing over my newest I.touch game, Hidden Mysteries of Buckingham Palace. (It's a hidden object and puzzle game, very addictive and essentially impossible to complete without looking up the solutions on the help forum. Cheater, guilty as charged.) I am not a total slacker, I did do some laundry so the Dh and kids would have clean underwear. I know, what a gal. I also helped my dog groomer with her husband who is recovering from surgery. See, not a slacker, just a putterer.

It was 91 degrees here yesterday, 91 DEGREES Farenheit!! It was 55 degrees just last week. Insane. Despite the hot weather, I made fudge. Why not? I had all the fixings and I wanted some fresh fudge. Yummers.

I have taken a new approach with my garden this year. I used to buy plants and flowers and then transplant them into the garden. This year because of my success with wildflower seeds last year and the return of the perennials (California poppies, lavender verbena, and alyssum), I am forgoing the grown plants and just using seeds in my flowerbeds. My seedlings are very happy and I look forward to showing you all the results of my lack of effort. I am going Way Overboard with the amount of seeds because I just want bunches and bunches of color. Plus I read in my new favorite gardening book, "1000 Gardening Secrets", that when you remove a weed to use that spot to plant a seed which in turn will keep the weeds under control. Brilliant, opportunism at its' best.

Speaking of opportunities, (holy cow, what a lame transition), please enter my 200th post giveaway of See's Chocolate and Organic Lavender Body Lotion Here. I will announce the winner tomorrow and you have until 12 Midnight tonight to enter. Hurry, Incredibly delish chocolate and body lotion are on the line!!

Thank you for clicking over, I send my best for wonderful opportunities for you today and everyday.