It's a GIVEAWAY!

Giveaway now closed :)

So, do you remember when we got to review a set of caphalon pans from CSN Stores? Well, Ashley has contacted me again and has offered to giveaway a $40 gift certificate to one of my readers! Maybe you can use it towards the purchase of one of these fabulous platform beds or find something else among their family of 200+ online stores.

I am so thrilled about CSN Stores hosting my very first giveaway! Working with them previously was quick, efficient, and easy. They also deliver fantastic, high quality products at a bargain! You can be sure that the meals John makes out of our caphalon pans are delicious and since he read and follows the "clean up instructions" these pans will last FOREVER!

So here's how you enter... each one of these that you do will get you an entry, just be sure to leave a separate comment for each of them, with your e-mail!

• Look around CSN Stores and tell me what you would use your $40 gift card towards
• Follow me and CSN Stores on twitter
• Tweet about the giveaway, you can do this once per day.
• Be a blog follower, subscribe to my blog, or add me to your blogroll.

Giveaway contest starts now and will end July 1st at midnight so I can announce the winner on my birthday, July 2nd :) That will be a great birthday present!

(p.s. I sure hope this is as easy as it seems! If you've done giveaways before and have pointers e-mail them to me would ya? lol)

Update...

If you read my rant a few days ago, I'm working on changing my attitude... It is the biggest setback to me wanting to teach here at all next year. Seeing as I've heard nothing from anywhere else and my contract has to be signed by Friday... I need to get over it.

It's going to be really hard. I don't want to believe that she can do it. I don't want to help her. I want her to fail miserably.

Unfortunately I also know myself too well. I've worked too hard on my attitude and my "don't be hypocritical you hate when others are that way" to throw it out the window.

SO starting today... I'm on her side (begrudgingly for now).

I will put on my happy face and help where I can, without doing her job for her.

Here's to moving forward...

ugh this is hard to write right now. I really don't want to do this but I know I'll be better for it if I do!

ICLW June Edition

I just entered my information on Mel's form. I can't believe I hadn't added myself already. So if I don't make it on the list this month oh well. I'll still read and comment and pretend! lol

Here's a little about me/plans for the future.

• I'm almost 27 (next week! ahhh!)
• I have PCOS and Endo.
• I have horrible allergies all summer long thanks to the continuous blooming season and dry air here in the desert! (I'm contemplating buying stock in Kleenex!)
• I've been married for 7 years! (yes i was just a baby myself when we got married...but I wouldn't have it any other way now!)
• I'm currently in the middle of a job search, this is the last week before I have to sign my contract where I've worked for the last 6 years.
• I've been complaining a lot about my place of employment. SORRY! I promise I'll try not to anymore!
• If we move to someplace with IF insurance coverage, we'll proceed with treatments (aka start all over, it has been 5 years)
• If we stay here we will head to the OBGYN here locally and see how far into this process they take us. If that doesn't work, we'll do the 'foster to adopt' route (most likely of an older 4-7 yr old child is what we're thinking).

Life is kinda on hold, at least for this week. We have all kinds of plans we're supposed to have made for travel in July, but everything is still hanging by the "maybe we'll get a job somewhere else" thread. So next weekend we'll be cementing the rest of our summer plans. It will be nice to start making some concrete decisions!

So welcome, stick around awhile, later on this week I'll be hosting my first giveaway ;)

LA, LA Baby!

OK, I know it's a Jonas Brothers song, however, we heard it all the time in LA so I thought it was appropriate :) (Have I told you Radio Disney is one of my favorite stations to listen to? All the top hits and clean, albeit annoying, radio hosts... those are hard to find on satellite radio!)



We headed to Los Angels for some rest and relaxation. My Aunt and Uncle are currently (well til the end of the month) Mission Presidents of the California Los Angels LDS Mission. They have had quite the 3 years serving. We wanted to be sure to visit one more time before they were done at the end of the month.



We headed down on a Friday and went straight to the beach since it was sunset and the roads were clear. It was COLD! I had to go buy myself a jacket!

Santa Monica Pier

Palm Trees at Sunset

Saturday we walked the 500 yards to the LDS Los Angeles Temple. It is HUGE inside! One could definitely get lost in there.

After the temple we drove out to Philippe's for "the original french dip" sandwich. Every time we've been to LA in the last 3 years John's talked about going and had maps and directions how to get there. Finally, we got to go try it out. My tip/review... great sandwich, the spicy mustard is what sets it apart! Don't wait til your sandwich is almost gone to try it like we did!

Then on the way back to the mission home, we drove down all the famous roads and saw all the famous hotels, theaters, shopping areas, and signs. I'm still shocked at how squished everything is together! Rodeo Drive was fun, and so was seeing El Capitan where they premier a lot of Disney movies. It's also like Halloween with people dressed up as ALL kinds of characters! It was pretty amusing!

Monday we went out near the coast to check out locations for a luncheon my Aunt and Uncle were hosting the following weekend. We saw this old lighthouse, the Friendship Bell from Korea (I think) and got to watch the sunlight dance over the ocean. It was awesome!

New Infertility Non Profit

My sister got this extremely cool internship opportunity this summer to work for a newly founded nonprofit organization in Indiana. Please read the following from her and follow up if you're interested!



I am excited to share with you a newly founded nonprofit organization that I have become involved with, the Indiana Collaboration of Families with Infertility (ICFI). This organization is near and dear to my heart.


I am personally affected by a condition called Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), which is now the leading cause of infertility in women across the country. My sister is also affected by PCOS, as well as endometriosis. I have watched her and her husband not only endure the private pain of not being able to have a family of their own for the last seven years, but also not having the social support they need because infertility is socially misunderstood.


ICFI is dedicated to raising awareness about infertility, supporting families emotionally and financially who are dealing with infertility, and providing a valuable online resource for support and reference. It was organized in April, and now officially has an EIN, with the paperwork for the 501c3 ready to be sent in this month. Our website is http://www.myicfi.org/ and we hope to have it up and running by the end of next week. Our first small fundraiser will be a dine and donate at Max and Erma's in Carmel; this will hopefully take place the last week in June but may happen in July based off of their availability. More information will be posted as soon as we have it - please plan to come out and support ICFI! We are currently very small, run entirely by 7 volunteers who are also passionately involved in the cause of infertility; however, we have big dreams for our budding organization and would love for you to get involved! If you would like to volunteer with us or make a tax-deductible donation of any general office supplies or money, we would definitely appreciate your help. Feel free to contact me for more information at dblackburn@myicfi.org.


Sincerely,
Dana Blackburn




I just LOVE my sister!


oh... and Happy 7 year Anniversary John!