Merry Christmas To Me!

I know what you are thinking... Merry Christmas To Me..., Christmas is over! Well although that may be true this was a post I wasn't going to let slide by. In October last year I joined a group of bloggers in becoming a Secret Santa. Georgie from Decisionally Challenged put together a great Christmas exchange and kept all the names secret from each other. Our deadline was to send out our Secret Santa gifts by December 10th and once we received our items from our Secret Santa we were to blog about it. Hence this post. Now don't get me wrong, I didn't just receive my gift. No, the late post is all on me! I could try and blame it on my recent move into a house, or my motherly duties or heck even the fact I had family come in town over the holidays and stay with me... but the truth is there is no excuse for me to wait this long.

So without further adieu






As you see my Secret Santa wrapped my wonderful gifts in a Snowman box, which I LOVE snowmen. I also can't believe everything I got! I just love all my goodies... The cute little Christmas/Santa magnets were a lot of fun for the kids to play with on the fridge and perfect to hold Christmas cards up, the photo frame is just adorable with all the buttons {it is holding our family Christmas picture on my desk}, I just LOVE LOVE LOVE the D initial ornament and to top it off with some fabulous Christmas towels. But wait... that's not all {not shown in photo} she also sent me a $5 Starbucks GC! I was surely blessed by my Secret Santa.

Georgie has since revealed the names of our Secret Santas so I am thanking mine publicly and apologizing for my post being so late. Thank you Jill from Charming & Delightful, I just love all my wonderful gifts! I am also excited to be introduced to another blog that I had not yet found online. It is always great to meet new bloggers and I look forward to reading more of Jill's posts.

I hope this post was better late, than never. Blogging more is important to me this year, so here's to a New Year and New Me!

{Going to SHINE in 2009}

Holiday Shopping Guide Giveaway

In celebration of Cyber Monday and the Holiday Gift Guide Virtual Party going on I am hosting a giveaway on my blog.

I am excited to giveaway a copy of the new book The Problem With Women is Men by Charles Orlando.

I can't wait to get my own personal copy of this book to read. I just love the title in itself and know it will be a great read!

This book would be a wonderful gift for any woman on your holiday gift lists along with all the curious men wanting to know what it's all about.


Don't want to wait to win a free copy? Get yours on Amazon today!

Contest starts right away and ends on Sunday, December 7, 2008. In plenty of time to receive the book for Christmas giving.
Entry details:

1 entry} Leave a comment telling me who you would like the book for (yourself or gift).

1 entry} tweet about this giveaway along with link to blog post and come back to leave second comment with link to your tweet

1 entry} blog about giveaway or link within blog post to this original blog post and come back to comment with link to your post

Don't forget to follow my blog to stay tuned for up coming giveaways and reviews!

Random.org will be used to determine the winner Monday morning!

Good luck readers and Happy Holidays!

CONGRATULATIONS TO BRANDI! Random.org pulled the number Brandi's tweet stood for making her the winner of the Problem with Women is Men.

For more gift fest giveaways enter here.

Holiday Shopping Guide Part 1

This is the first post for the beginning of my Holiday Shopping Guide. In this post I have included a few recommended shopping sites along with descriptions of what kinds of products they offer. Happy Holidays Everyone!

Still haven't sent out your holiday cards? Here are a few great sites to look over. Amy Adele has the cutest stationary and cards you can find. I also love the fact that they are eco-friendly!

Although Clinique is not a store that sales holiday cards they do have a wonderful offer going on right now which includes FREE holiday cards from Big Brothers Big Sisters. I have done quite a bit of volunteer work with this wonderful organization and love to promote any company that helps them out! So why not purchase a Christmas gift and receive your holiday cards for FREE?!

Vista Print is a great company that I use for a lot of my business printing needs. They offer many of their items either FREE or at a very large discount. Always worth checking out their deals.

Shutterfly is a great site to create online photo sites to share your memories throughout the year which is great for the holiday season. You can also create your holiday gift cards with a personal touch of a family photo.



Here are a few web stores that offer gifts for anyone on your list.

I absolutely LOVE the Personal Creations site! You can literally shop for everyone hard to buy for on your list. A personalized gift is priceless. I am personally purchasing our Christmas ornaments for this year through this store!

I had to throw in the Label Daddy store. This store is great during the holidays. Purchasing labels for all your new items, especially for the children is almost a necessity. Not only their coats they take to school but all the toys the might travel with over the holiday breaks. Label Daddy is also a great way to help keep yourself organized so this year don't forget to label the Christmas decor before putting it back in the attic.

Napster is perfect for the music lover in your life. For the teen you might not know what to get a subscription to Napster would do the trick.

Vans is a great store for children, teens and adults. They don't only have shoes but boots and clothing as well.

Sirius Satellite Radio is not only for music lovers but sports and new addicts as well. Anyone with or without a vehicle would love to have a XM-on-Sirius Radio this holiday season.

Who doesn't love Flowers? When I don't know what to send my grandmother or out of town Aunt for the holidays, flowers always do the trick! What about for co-workers or other non-personal relationships? I believe plants, wine and gift baskets are all great gift giving items to say Happy Holidays.

iTunes is a great place to purchase gift cards, download music or even movies and television series. Most everyone nowadays has an iPod or some sort of MP3 player. This is another great site for gifts.

The Buckle store is another well known store for not only their clothing but accessories as well. Great for anyone on your list.


This concludes Part 1 of my Holiday Shopping Guide. Within the next couple of posts you will hear all about the giveaway taking place on my blog along with Part 2 of the Shopping Guide which will include shopping sites for Women, Men and of course Children!