Winter Bundling and a GIVEAWAY!

Update: The winner for this contest is Megan Bowen! Congratulations! You'll be contacted with instructions about how to claim your prize. Thanks to everyone who entered, and don't forget you can still use the coupon Merry15 to get a 15% discount at the Little Sproutie shop! 

Note: I was having a little too much fun writing this post, and it may have gotten away from me. If you don't want to see this many pictures, skip down to the bottom for the giveaway and I won't be mad. I received the hat from Little Sproutie in return for hosting the giveaway and offering my opinion. The opinions, pictures and little girl are my own. 

My little girl loves to be outside. Summer was a completely magical time where we were constantly outside playing in the sprinklers and reveling in her utter delight. In the fall, we tried to keep going for lots of walks, heading to the park to take advantage of the cooler weather, and teaching her the joys of crunchy leaves.

Summer is the best.

Fall is pretty good too.

Then winter hit.

The snow is pretty, and she really loves pointing out snowmen everywhere we go ("'NO-MEHN!!!") but for the last couple of weeks it has just been SO DANG COLD. We've taught CB to go, "Brrr!" and give a little shiver whenever we talk about the outside, and it makes me a little sad. A couple of weeks ago, we went to a nearby city's Christmas light parade, bundled her up in a hand-me-down snowsuit she'd never worn, put her down to walk around for a minute, and watched her promptly fall flat on her face.

For a small moment, she was so very happy. And pink.

But here's the good news! The best, best part about winter is that babies clearly look adorable in winter gear. That ridiculous snowsuit that made her fall down? Adorable. This snuggly coat and bunny hat we took to Bryce Canyon?

So adorable.

But I am so excited today, because I get to share with you the most adorable baby hats ever, and I get to GIVE ONE AWAY to ONE OF YOU! 

Little Sproutie is an absolutely darling Etsy shop that features sweet children's aprons and really unbelievably cute hats featuring fruits and veggies (and footballs! The football hats!). 

We chose the strawberry, because it's probably CB's favorite fruit (although grapes are neck-in-neck) and she looks killer in red. See? (Also, hooray for Crazy 8 having the sweater dress I loved last year on the clearance rack this year - in her size and her size only! It's a very small Christmas miracle.) 

This looks delicious. What is this?

She realized moments later that walking in this stuff was very frustrating.

She liked knocking over mini snowmen. 

These hats are made from beautiful snuggly yarn that is cozy on baby ears. It's stretchy enough that it will fit for longer than a day, but it won't come off unless it gets a pretty good tug from a chubby little baby hand. Best of all, it's ridiculously cute. I took my little girl to the store in it the day it came in the mail and people were stopping me right and left to tell me how cute she was in it. (Is it vanity to love getting compliments about my child? Probably. Whoops.) CB immediately recognized what it was when we pulled it out of the package and got a huge smile on her face (although the resemblance to a strawberry is probably not the reason she keeps trying to chew on that stem when she pulls it off in the car. I blame the impending molars.)

And guess what? Enter our Rafflecopter giveaway below and you can win an item of your choice in the size of your choice. It will be perfect for your little sproutie, or it would make a great gift. (By some magical twist of fate, at least three of the Lovely Blog contributors are currently pregnant - I'm sure you could send one to one of them!) Giveaway ends New Year's Day at midnight! 

And if you don't win, you can still use the coupon MERRY15 to get 15% off your order. Put that Christmas money from Grandma to good use!

Don't cry. There's a coupon!

Bundle those little ones up and try not to let them fall on their faces. We'll get through winter together.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

GIVEAWAY: The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

“It's about living in the moment and appreciating the smallest things. Surrounding yourself with the things that inspire you and letting go of the obsessions that want to take over your mind. It is a daily struggle sometimes and hard work but happiness begins with your own attitude and how you look at the world.” --Gretchen Rubin

The Happiness Project is a memoir of a year in Gretchen Rubin’s life. Gretchen lives with her husband and two daughters in New York City. She loves her family, her job, her life, but she isn’t quite as happy as she should be. She decides to change her attitude by taking steps to help her appreciate life more.

When I finished The Happiness Project I had to resist the urge to buy a plane ticket to New York, locate Gretchen Rubin, and beg her to be my friend. This book changed my life.

It’s not that her book suggests anything earth shattering, but she presents her ideas in such a way that shifted my perspective. I found myself highlighting whole paragraphs, sharing quotes on facebook, calling friends and family to get their take on a philosophy, and giving my own perspective a makeover.  She does insane amounts of research on happiness philosophies, outlines a plan, and sets worthy, reasonable goals that are (mostly) small steps in achieving happiness now.

Along her journey, she discovers her Secrets of Adulthood, many of which I found to be very true, and I try to remember them in my day to day interactions. Here are some that resonated with me:

·         The days are long, but the years are short.

·         It’s okay to ask for help.

·         You can choose what you do; you can’t choose what you LIKE to do.

·         Happiness doesn’t always make you feel happy.

·         What you do EVERY DAY matters more than what you do ONCE IN A WHILE.

·         You don’t have to be good at everything.

·         It’s important to be nice to EVERYONE.

·         You know as much as most people.

·         Eat better, eat less, exercise more.

·         What’s fun for other people may not be fun for you — and vice versa.

·         If you’re not failing, you’re not trying hard enough.

·         No deposit, no return.

Gretchen is very intelligent, yet so down to earth. She keeps the narrative interesting and is an excellent writer. She is honest about her failures and missteps, yet she never gives up saying, “Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I fail, but every day is a clean slate and a fresh opportunity.” 

I felt happier reading this book. I appreciated my family more and I was happy to serve them. I took some things more seriously, and some things less seriously. I played more. I worked more. 

The theme of this book is basically being happy no matter what your circumstance is in the moment. It’s about accepting yourself, flaws and all, finding the good within your life, and changing your perspective if you fail to do those things. I loved it so much, I want to give YOU a free copy. Enter the giveaway below and start your own happiness project! What made you happy today?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

We Are Women Giveaway Winner

Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway! We loved all of your comments. Being a woman is awesome because of dresses and nail polish and pretty shoes AND because we get to be mothers and wives and sisters. We get to nurture, create, empathize and share. We can be emotional and silly and loving and all sorts of other wonderful things. It's nice to think of all those good things. So, thank you for the lovely reminders.

And now for a winner. Our randomly chosen winner is.....Krissie! Here's what she said:

I like being a woman because I believe that women have a better sense of "self" and spend their thoughts and heart songs thinking about what more they can do to be truer to that idea, whatever it may be. I like being a woman because the possibilities for individuality, each lovely, are endless, powerful, and perfect. I like being a woman because of the tenderness we are known for throughout time and the beauty of creativity and love we embody. I like being a woman because of the pure image it gives to those who truly know and understand the worth of a great woman and what they can accomplish if they have one on their team. The image that promotes happy families, compassionate service, and empathetic voices. Never underestimate the power of a woman who knows who she is and what she is capable of accomplishing.

Email us with contact information (an email address) and Allison will get in touch with you shortly with a link to the ebook.

For those of you near Provo/Orem, go to the book release party tonight at The Chocolate (6-8pm, 212 South State St., Orem).

A Link and a Smile

I wrote a guest post about parenting on a friend's blog this week. Click the link and check it out.

And don't forget to comment on the giveaway! It's a super cool book and your only chance to get it for FREE!

We Are Women Giveaway!

Remember Allison? She recently submitted an essay for the contest and has been mentioned before on this blog.


Well, the We Are Women book is nearing release. Miri and I submitted photos that are featured in the book (I'm looking unintentionally fierce in a photo from Miri's wedding) and the essays are wonderful. Not only is it a great book, but the proceeds go to the Campaign to End Fistula.

The release of the ebook is set for September 27th (check out details below about the release party at The Chocolate in Orem, Utah), but Allison was awesome enough to let us do a giveaway for you Lovely Readers.


So leave a comment below telling us why you love being a woman. It can be detailed or simple, whatever the answer, it will enter you into the giveaway. You can enter multiple times if you share this post via Facebook, your blog or Twitter and then leave another comment with a link. It's basically all about spreading the word and helping out a good cause!

The giveaway will close on Friday, September 24th. Happy commenting!

Winners!

Thanks to all you Lovely Readers for participating! We loved all of your happy comments. Now for the winners!

Giveaway #1 goes to Lis
Giveaway #2 goes to Christian
Giveaway #3 goes to Sam

All winners were randomly chosen. Shoot us an email (beinglovelyblog at gmail dot com) with your contact information and we'll send your winnings out as soon as possible.

Giveaway #3

Great comments, Lovely Readers! Keep 'em coming!

For the final giveaway, I'm going with a mom/baby-centric item, since I know a lot of you are moms.

Burp rags!



Fancy schmancy, soft and cozy burp rags. They are made with minky and either flannel or a home decor fabric. We used these with my youngest nephew and they were so convenient and not ugly, which is always a plus. You get your choice of girl or boy colors or coordinating girl and boy colors.

Giveaway #2

Today's giveaway might be my personal favorite. I made these hankies for my brother-in-law for his birthday. He almost always has two hankies with him - one for him to use and one for other people (I usually need one in church on Sundays when my eyes go berserk and start getting so watery that I look like I'm having an emotional breakdown). His were looking a little less than crisp, so I embroidered some new ones:


With this giveaway, you have a chance to personalize the colors. I will stitch them up and get them right out to you! So when you comment, make sure to include the three colors you would like to be used.

Giveaway #1

It's the start of a new year, so we are branching out and trying our first giveaway!

Everyone loves a giveaway. I have been making all sorts of things for Christmas gifts and such and decided to make a few extra little goodies for you Lovely Readers.

Here's how this one will go. There will be three afternoon posts this week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) with a different little something we're giving away. Comment on which ever one you would like to win (or all three!) telling us something lovely. It could be about a little Christmas miracle or it could be about how much you love the new pair of shoes you just got...as long as it's happy. Comments must be made before midnight on Saturday, January 9th. We will pick random winners and announce them on January 11th.

Our first little something is this:

(Please forgive the crappy photo lighting and placement...I worked with what I had.)

A close up of the fabric.

It's a reusable grocery bag, slightly larger than your average plastic shopping bag. It holds a lot of stuff and still folds up small enough to stay tucked away inside your purse.

Now let the commenting begin!