From the Judges - March 2009

I have been on pins and needles for the past week since the contest closed last Wednesday and the judges took the reins. Rumor has it that there were several sleepless nights as they wrestled with the decision.

Note to Reader: This could be because Ashley is less than a month away from tying the knot and Anna is mother to a two year old beauty and has been sick for about a week, but that’s beside the point.

Needless to say, after hours of deliberation, review, debate, crying, cat fighting, hair pulling, arm wrestling, drawing straws, a knock down drag out game of “1, 2, 3, 4, I declare a thumb war, and finally, an 11-hour winner takes all Wii tennis battle, the judges finally came back with a verdict.

Note From the Judges:
We want to thank everyone for submitting their entries to the Wandering Lili Blogaversary Contest. We wanted to thank everyone for the bribes, especially the sweet tea dispenser for our cubicle and the Rolling Rock gift basket. However, we need to assure you that the gifts had no effect on our decision whatsoever because, first off, we are both very ethical individuals and second, we were given the entries without the names of who submitted them.

In all seriousness, this was a hard decision, because we can tell by the thought you all put into your entries that you love Wandering Lili’s blog. As with all contests, there has to be a winner, and we have painstakingly selected one.

The entry we selected was so very original and creative. It really stood out to us and we realized that this person really put a lot of thought into their entry. At first glance we actually thought that they were real!

So without further ado, the winner of the 2009 Wandering Lili Blogaversary Contest is… Drum roll please….
Entry # 9: Mano Rennt!!!

The character name will be announced in the next couple of weeks along with an often requested back of the book novel teaser, so STAY TUNED!!! Thanks so much to everyone for participating and most of all for reading my blog and supporting me.

Till next time,

Bon Voyage!

The Contest is Over and Real Life Begins – March 2009

The Contest is Over:
All the entries are in and the judges will be receiving the entries later today to begin their review process and make a decision on the winner. I am so excited about the turn out and really appreciate each of you. Thank you so much for reading. You’ll never fully understand how much it means to me. In the words of my co workers, “Stand By” for the results.

Real Life Begins:
Today at noon the Hub and I will go and open a letter that will change the course of our lives. My heart is racing and my head is pounding with anticipation. The Hub is still sleeping soundly and I have relocated along with Kitty Sticks, Malchik, and my laptop to the living room couch. For today, my desk is a little too formal and truly might send me into overload and my heart could quite possibly explode.

Five months ago my incredible Hub began interviewing for residency positions all around the country and about a month ago we ranked 9 of those programs in eight different states across the country. Today is the day that is referred to as Match Day. It’s the day that the counter on the right side of my blog has been counting down to since over 300 days and now it’s showing that less than 10 hours remain.

The hardest part of this is that several of my closest friends and their leading men are also participating in this process. They will also be opening a letter that changes the course of their lives. At the end of the day we will know for a fact that we will be scattered to the ends of the earth like leaves in the wind. Not to mention our friends and family that we will most likely leave behind here. I am thrilled at the possibilities of a new place and the opportunities that it will most definitely bring our little family, but my heart is breaking at the realization that our time together is drawing to a close.

So for now I think I’ll sit in the warmth of my living room and watch old baseball movies and quietly rejoice in the fact that today really is the first day of the rest of our lives.

Till next time,

Bon Voyage!

Here Comes the Judge! – March 2009

Note to Reader: Only a day and a half left to get your entry in! Click here for Blogaversary Contest details.

So, with the contest heating up and so little time left, I thought you might want to meet the judges. Oh in case you were wondering, I don't intentionally surround myself with beautiful people on purpose, it just happens! =)

Judge # 1

Name: Anna H.
Favorite Blog / website: My guilty pleasure: perezhilton.com (I'm also slightly addicted to Facebook...)
Favorite Book: A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines
Favorite Color: Turquoise
Favorite Drink: Rolling Rock
Dream Job: Interior Designer
If you found a long lost $20 in your winter coat pocket and had to spend it right away, what would you spend it on? Is it sad if I say bills??

Judge # 2

Name: Ashley H.
Favorite Blog / website: Um...I really don't know...yahoo.com - it's a great place to start.
Favorite Book: Bag of Bones, Stephen King
Favorite Color: Red! It is my signature color
Favorite Drink: Sweet tea
Dream Job: Author - being the female Stephen King. 2nd - book editor or book reviewer
If you found a long lost $20 in your winter coat pocket and had to spend it right away, what would you spend it on? Probably some sort of sweet food, i.e., cookies, a cake, etc.

Till next time,
Bon Voyage!

Ants in My Plants and the Contest is Heating Up!!! – March 2009

So I returned home late from work on Wednesday after a long action packed day, to find the Hub flooding my beloved Peace Lilly, conveniently named “Lilly”.

Note to Reader: Before I was married, I was able to successfully keep plants alive, however, since we’ve been married, the hub has become master of the plants and pretty much everything I attempt to grow ends up being in the plant ICU on life support and attached to all sorts of plant type monitors.

Upon seeing the hub with the giant watering can I’d actually thought that the stress of his career choice had finally gotten to him and he’d out right lost his mind. He looked up from what I thought was a massacre and said with a laugh, “Hey Babe! I got Ants in my plants!”

With a little more explanation I learned that during our brief week of warm weather Lilly spent two days and a night out on the patio. What a wild child! When the temperature started to drop, all the neighborhood ants that mistakenly thought it was spring found refuge in the warmth of my peace lilly’s pot. What a floozy! Talk about unwanted house guests!

So, being the great plant daddy he is, the Hub read on the Internet that aside from re potting, one of the only ways to get rid of the ants in your plants was to flood them out because…. Random of all facts…. Ants can’t swim! Who knew!?

CONTEST UPDATE!

Today’s the day!!! HAPPY BLOGAVERSARY!!!!

I can’t believe it’s only been a year. So there are 73 posts to choose from and only 5 days left to pick your favorite! We’ve gotten a few really good entries. I don’t envy the judges job at all! Oh and speaking of judges, I’ll be introducing you to them soon. Two of my Favorite people!

So keep the entries coming! Click HERE for more details

Till next time,
Bon Voyage!

Blogaversary Contest Starts TODAY!!!! - March 2009

Friday, March 13, 2009, is my official 1 year blogaversary, so I thought it only prudent to celebrate the occasion with a contest.

I started blogging as a way to get back into the habit of writing, and learned very quickly that writing is like riding a bike, even though you never really forget how to do it, when you haven’t done it in a while, it’s a little awkward and scary. As many of you know I am very close to completing my first novel which has been under construction for about eight months. I really feel like a lot of my progress and hopefully one day success is really due to the encouragement of my readers, even the ones that don’t leave comments. =) This brings me to the contest!

I thought it only appropriate to let one of you be a part of the creative process. I’ve intentionally left one of my main characters without a name. The winner of this contest will not only get to name this character, he or she will be acknowledged in the forward of the book, and will receive one of the first printed copies.

RULES
Deadline: The contest will begin today Wednesday, March 11, 2009 and run for one week, ending Wednesday, March 18, 2009.
Entries: Leave your answers in the comments of this post oh and one entry per person.
Judges: There will be two impartial judges

THE CONTEST
Over the last year I’ve posted 73 times. I want to know, which of those 73 posts was your favorite and why?

The Tie Breaker
Aside from my closing, what do you think is the most repeated phrase on my blog?

Can’t wait to see what you guys come up with!

Till next time,
Bon Voyage!

Stir Crazy!

Note to Reader: I promise I will be blogging about fun travel stories again soon.

Note to New Readers: This used to be a blog dedicated to funny travel stories with the spices of my life thrown in here and there.

As of late, I’ve been sort of bouncing off the walls, with no travel since the begining of December. Because of the condition of the economy (which is pretty much what everyone is blaming everything on… but that’s a post for another day), I have been travel free! Being able to spend four months straight with the Hub has been pretty awesome. But as with most good things my travel hiatus is coming to an end.

After much anticipation, four of the next 6 trips have been set. To kick it all off, later this month I’m headed to Las Vegas.
My last trip to Las Vegas left a lot to be desired. It was pretty much a blink. I was there for exactly 25 hours. About 18 of those hours were spent inside the four walls of the company I work for and two were spent in the airport. You should know me well enough by now to know that there was a bit of good eating that took place, but for the most part it was work work work.

I imagine this trip will be pretty much the same as far as the amount of work and sleep, but this trip will be longer, so maybe I’ll get a chance to experience a little more of the city.

Stay tuned for tails from the City that Never Sleeps! Oh and thanks to a reader tip, I will be doing a product demo for the XShot and if it’s all it’s cracked up to be, I’ll be giving one away in April, Stay tuned.

Till next time,
Bon Voyage!

Little Earthquakes: Passing It On – March 2009

Today I gave away one of my favorite books on earth…

Note to Reader: Books are one of my all time favorite things on Earth. I cherish the ones I buy and I covet the ones on bookstore shelves when I’m out of spending money.

I say “gave away” because I learned in college that when you loan a book to someone, you must loan it with the expectation of never getting it back. Then, if that person skips town and you never see it again you aren’t heart broken. You’re left to wonder if they never got around to reading it even after they asked you over and over and over to barrow it.

If you are assuming positive intent, then you might be able to assume that they loved the book so much that they either passed it along to one of their friends or that they couldn’t bare to part with it.

However, it’s even worse if they do return it with coffee stains throughout, dog eared pages, writing in the margins, highlighting over the best lines, there's a bow so deep in the cover that it will never sit on the book shelf quite right again, and the bottom half of the book looks as though it has been dropped in water, which leaves your mind to imagine that they were reading in the bath tub when your book slipped through their slick wet hands into the tub, where they were, heaven help us, naked… Oh my goodness!!!

So the book I passed along was the first Jennifer Weiner book I ever read, Little Earthquakes, and I have since read everything she’s published. Her books have touched my heart and funny bone in ways that no other author has been able to before. The genuineness of her characters’ flaws and their journey through them makes them real. From the very beginning they are people you would be friends with. They’re your neighbors, your ex-lovers, your best friends, and they’re you, at your most raw and truthful moments. Her characters finish your thoughts, and her description completes the picture.

Note To Author: I doubt she would ever read this, and it's even less likely she'd actually comment, but Jen, if you ever do stumble upon this blog, I'd just like to say thanks for writing and I can't wait for your next novel! Oh and I'd love to host a Jennifer Weiner Novel Give Away! Have your people call My people, and we'll make it happen! =)

As of last Friday, I’ve read this particular Jennifer Weiner novel 6 times. And as with each time before, I found something new this time through. Because of where I am in my journey through life, I was able to find maturity and wisdom in how Becky grows in her relationship with her mother-in-law. I can also find strength in how Lia bravely regains control of her life. I find that Kelly could be me, or either of my sisters desperate to prove we can overcome the struggles of our childhoods. We could all learn from Ayinde and what she endures to make her family work. All of this being said I find myself in all four of these women and also see bits of them in my friends and sisters.

So today I passed my beloved paper back on and didn’t even write my name on the inside cover with a marker. I said a sad goodbye to these four women, friends, in hopes that through Jennifer Weiner’s story, they will quietly begin working in the heart and life of another.

Till next time,
Bon Voyage!

Over Dose! - March 2009

This was too funny to not post. Enjoy!!!

Till next time,
Bon Voyage!

Snow Day!!! - February 2009

The last day of February brought with it about 6 inches of white fluffy snow, the likes of which I haven't seen since ... well... I can't remember. Some areas of our town had 9 inches! It was CRAZY!!!

I attended a baby shower in the morning, where I delivered the train blanket and made it home just before the sky opened up. The Hub was watching soccer and I was working on another blanket and before we knew it all you could see was pretty white powder.

Night fell and the snow was so white from our living room window, I felt like it was calling us. I could tell the Hub was getting restless being cooped up all day, so I said what do you wanna do?"

"I don't know", he replied. Then his eyes brightened. "Wanna have a snow ball fight?"

"Sure!!" I said in a voice that was so excited it even surprised me.

So, we proceeded to dress in our warmest and most water proof gear, which wasn't too hard for either of us because I used to snow board three times a week and the Hub has water proof hunting stuff.

We had a total BLAST!!! Before the fight began I got to make a snow Angel. Then it was on! The Hub nailed me square in the face with a huge snow ball, and I poured snow over his head like a team would pour Gatorade over the head of their coach. We even built what we intended to be a snow man, but what turned into a small snow alien... =) Isn’t he cute!

We're still not so good with the taking pictures of ourselves thing, so any tips would be greatly appreciated. Otherwise, I think I'm going to have to either hire a live in photographer or apply to be on a reality show.

Till Next Time,
Bon Voyage!