WinnerS and Pictures: I Heart Seattle

I'm super excited to announce the winner of my wicked-awesome Seattle prize pack because I really do love this place:
the Space Needle. (Taken from my car while driving in rush hour traffic, not technically legal, but who could resist that cool view?)
Mount Rainier at Sunset
A Forest Road (taken from my car while not driving)
Freight ship entering the Puget Sound
Beachfront at Dash Point State Park

What a great city, huh? The random.org selected winner of the I Heart Seattle Giveaway should have been commenter #21, none other than the funny, sweet and oh-so-generous BlogBaby. But her comment says "No need to enter me for the contest..." and when I contacted her to tell her she was technically the winner, she said that she would be thrilled if I would make someone else's day by selecting them as the recipient for all those fabulous Seattle-made goodies! And that blessed person, also selected by random.org, is:

Shonni of Nations Around Our Table. Congratulations! Please contact me via email before Friday to claim your prize or I'll have to choose another winner.

And speaking of another winner: It was so much fun reading all the things you loved about Seattle that I decided to award prizes for my 5 favorite comments about Seattle!!

I'll be mailing some yummy Seattle goodies to each of the following fabulous FIVE folks. (Dontcha love alliteration? I felt a smidge like MckMama typing that, LOL!)

Runners Up:
Heather at But I Don't Want To Be A Cowboy for her entertaining blog post about her trip to Seattle (read it here!)

DiPaola Momma of Chicken Nuggets of Wisdom for this funny and totally accurate comment:

"Where oh were should I start with the "I love"s? let's see.. I LOVE the new layout! You already know I love Beauty's big flower headband! I love that Beast owns his status. I love how you make me giggle... Now on to Seattle. I love Puget Sound (did I spell that right?). It's so serene. Then I love the fish market. I'm a fresh fish girl and it don't get no fresher than dat! I love the vibe in Seattle, sort of brainy-hippie meets angst and creativity. I don't love the weather 10 months of the year though. So sign me up.. cuz one last thing.. I LOVE THE COFFEE AND I NEED IT!!!!"

Mikki Black of Here's What Let's Do for her heartfelt nostalgia and shameless sweet-talking:

"How awesome are you?! (Aside from the re-design, I mean.) I almost never go to the contests featured on the Sunday Shout-outs, but I couldn't pass yours up. I am soooooooooooo homesick for Seattle. We went to college in Kirkland - right on the other side of Lake Washington - and used to hop the bus over the bridge ALL the time to wander about in the city. I want that basket so bad, I can smell the Sound! (hope I win and thanks for the chance!)"

Margaret of Nanny Goats in Panties because she left a fun comment listing some of my own favorite Seattle places, and well, really, the name of her blog just cracks me up!

"I came over here from SITS because you were the commenter before me and now this????? A contest? OK let's see...the thing I like about Seattle besides Starbucks? Hmmmm. Uhhhh, the weather? Yeah, that's it. The weather. And don't you have a needle in space? That's kinda cool. And there used to be a Ye Olde Curiosity Shop down by the water maybe? I don't really remember, I was a kid. And the Pacific Science Center, that was fun. Did I mention Starbucks already? Do you guys have Starbucks up there? OK, but seriously... I think I missed your previous banner, but I really like your new one! Very cool!"

Christina of Rant-Rave-Roll because her brown-nosing made me chuckle. She left this comment:

"Holy Cow! Is this Extreme Blog Makeover? It looks awesome! And Seattle... One of the things I love and make Seattle great is that you live there... OK.. ok.. I know! Total suck-up momnet. It is green... is that better?"

Winners, please contact me at cari_berry@hotmail.com with your mailing address and I will send off your prizes! Thanks to everyone who entered, especially those of you who follow my blog. This was a really fun contest for me - I wish I could give you all prizes! Fortunately, I am just a few days away from my 100th post and will be having another giveaway to celebrate, so stay tuned for a chance to win a new prize her at Not Quite A Fairytale.... Beauty and the little Beast!

Six-Word Saturday: A Brother's Love

ATTACK OF THE MISCHIEVOUS BIG BROTHER!

OR: dumping water on poor Beauty's head...

Little. Brown. Stick.

In honor of Ree the Pioneer Woman judging over at i Heart Faces this week, I've decided to publish this post inspired by her that I wrote months ago but have been hesitant to share for fear it might offend some readers (how's that for a run-on sentence?!). Please let this serve as both warning and apology to my more sensitive readers: Over the next few days this blog will feature more mature than usual content, not that I won't be my same goofy childish self, just that several of the next few posts will contain adult humor. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this Ree-inspired, never-before-published post from my archives...

This post was inspired by a blogger most of you are probably familiar with: Ree of Pioneer Woman fame. (She was recently named one of Time Magazine's Top 25 Blogs!) I was cruising around her archives and found this hidden little gem. It's an audio recording of her youngest son mispronouncing a request for a juice bag. Hilarious - definitely worth a listen. Go ahead - check it out. I'll wait...

Welcome back. Now, here's the little Beast's version of dirty mispronunciation {Warning for those of you who don't appreciate adult humor - this might strike you as inappropriate, sorry!}

The little Beast is always collecting odd, useless little objects he finds outside, like buttons and rocks and pinecones. The other day at the park, it was a stick, and when he dropped it and couldn't find it again, he became a little bit frantic. Here's a couple short video clips of him whining to me about helping him look for it. See if you can catch what he actually says when he means to say "little brown stick":




What words do your kids hilariously mispronounce?!


Though this isn't a video about emotion, it is technically a vlog, so I'm submitting it over at Fort Thompson as part of their Vlogemotions carnival. I think the concern and disappointment the little Beast is feeling is evident in the clips, even if he can't yet verbalize his emotions!

I Heart {Laughing} Faces

This week's theme at i Heart Faces is Laughter, a great week made even better by the fact that this week's judge is the incomparable Ree Drummond - the Pioneer Woman herself! See her linked over there in my sidebar under "Blogs I Heart"? I do, I really do! She was one of Time Magazine's Top 25 Bloggers of 2009! I've seen some of her posts garner over 18,000 comments. And now there is a chance she might be stopping by my blog! Isn't that intimidating?! If you've never entered a photo at i Heart Faces before, this would be the week to start!

My kids entry is the little Beast preparing to peg me with a snowball on his very first snow day. I love the genuine fun and humor in his adorable little face. That day in the snow is one of my favorite memories because we all laughed so hard. BTW, daddy made that perfect snowball then coached the little Beast to throw it at me...



My adult entry was taken almost exactly a year ago at a rare breakfast out after church. The little Beast was trying to make faces at me and it cracked his daddy up! Maybe you can tell from the picture, maybe not, but my husband has the world's BEST laugh - he puts everything he has into it!



Blogger is cutting off the right-hand edge of each photo for some reason, but you can click on it to view the whole thing in GIGANTIC form if you'd like...
For more fun faces, head over to i Heart Faces!

Six Word Saturday: Daddy's Home!

Reunited and it feels so good.