{CLOSED} 13th Blogiversary Giveaway

Thirteen years ago I was sitting in my cubicle in a Norwalk, CT office. (Next to the Chick in the Kitchen, actually!) I’d just grabbed a coffee on the way in to work and decided that this was the day I was going to purchase a domain. It was a big deal back in those days! I had an online journal, but was curious about this thing called “Blogger” and wanted my own space on the web. 

I tossed a few ideas around in my head and then I looked down on my desk and saw something that resembled this:

And that was the beginning of a crazy journey through this world of blogging. I started out using Blogger, moved over to pMachine (which is still my favorite blogging platform of all the applications I’ve used), and made my way to WordPress somewhere around 2006. I’ve “met” more creative, wonderful people than I can count. Many of these online friendships developed into honest-to-God real friendships and I can’t imagine my life without them.

My blog has seen me through my wedding, the birth of three children, the purchase of our current home, the purchase and sale of a wine shop, taking up scrapbooking (oh, remember the recipe swaps?) and eventually giving it up because there just wasn’t the time anymore, learning to knit, learning to sew, learning to crochet, and many other crafty pursuits. I’ve blogged about sleepless nights, my kids’ milestones, what I’m making for dinner, what I wish I was making for dinner, and many boring stories about “a day in the life.” 

I “quit” once. Went on hiatus several times. Changed the name once. (Anyone remember “Parapluie”?) Went private for a while. Deleted and started with a clean slate a few times (but oh, to have all those archives… if I’d only known).

Somehow I can’t imagine not having a blog, especially after all this time. It’s nuts, I know. And I’ll bet that the people I know in real life who know about this blog probably think it’s totally weird. But that’s OK! The people who know me in real life already know that I’m weird in general 😉

Anyway, it’s hard to imagine that if my blog was a person, she’d have her period and be thinking about boys in between writing bad poetry and painting her toenails. Especially since I wasn’t sure I’d even make it through the year when I first hit that “submit” button.

To celebrate this occasion, I’m hosting a giveaway right here, right now!

Rules:

• Open to U.S. residents 18 and over only.
• Giveaway will close at 3 PM Eastern Time on Friday, Sept. 20, 2013.
• Winner will be chosen by Random.org and posted on the blog by 5 PM the same day. To enter, just leave a comment on this post (the link is at the top, right under the title) — simple as that!

Please make sure that you use a valid e-mail address when filling out the comment form. If I can’t get in touch with you, I can’t send you the goodies! So. I bet you want to know what I’ve put together, right? Well, it’s a little bit of this and a little bit of that. I chose items that sort of encompass bits of my personality. Kinda like Oprah’s Favorite Things. Only I’m not Oprah and… well, this is on a much smaller scale 😉 Anyway, on to the giveaway!

• 25 yards (total) of baker’s twine — 5 yards each of red, blue, yellow, green, pink
• 6 yards (total) of fold-over elastic — 3 yards each of red and turquoise (this stuff is great for making hair ties!)
• 3 spools of washi tape
• 1 set of embroidery patterns from Sublime Stitching (“Gothic Grandeur” — since Halloween is around the corner I thought this was perfect)
• 1 vintage crochet pattern booklet
• 2 crocheted dishcloths (made by me!)
• a few fun paperclips
• a sampling of my favorite tea (Harney’s Hot Cinnamon Spice)
• a small box of chocolate truffles

 Good luck and thanks so much for reading!