Computer says, cough, cough

Guys, it has not been a good week for my blog. Mostly, because I have ignored her for things like school and teaching and housework. And THEN my laptop caught a very bad virus because I didn’t listen to my dad and un-installed my anti-virus program for like three days because my firewall was causing problems. This has taught me three important things: 1) My dad is pretty much always right. 2) The people who invent internet viruses are you-know-what’s and they can you-know-what where the you-know-what don’t shine. 3) My computer will always freak out the second I really need it like…oh, I don’t know…two months before the biggest exams of my academic career. BAH.

So in honor of computer viruses, I am extending the deadline for the giveaway through until next Monday night at midnight which means you should totally enter to win one of the hand-painted pieces from Katie for Thought! It’s easy and you’ll make me feel better about my laptop…cough, cough.

love, elizabeth

Super awesome magical giveaway of greatness

Here it is. I’ve been talking about it all week…and here it is.

I am so excited to tell you that Katie from Katie for Thought is offering one of YOU a one-of-a-kind painting of your choice from her shop!

Here are a few of my personal favorites…

 

Want to win one of these or another one from Katie’s shop? Here’s how…

1. Be a GFC Follower of Love is the Adventure. Leave a comment telling me so. (only mandatory entry)

Extra entries:

2. Visit Katie’s shop. Leave a comment telling me which painting is your favorite.

3. Like Katie for Thought on Facebook.  Leave a comment letting me know that you did.

4. Tweet about the giveaway. Leave a comment with a link to your tweet.

With entries so easy, we’re practically GIVING a painting away! Oh, wait…

*Because of shipping costs, this giveaway is unfortunately only open to U.S. residents.

The giveaway will be open until Thursday at midnight and I will announce the winner on Friday morning. Stay tuned…

love, elizabeth

Big, exciting, awesome news!

Ooops, no. I’m not pregnant. But thank you for asking, Mom.
I have been hinting that something really cool is about to happen over here at Love is the Adventure and now I am going to tell you about it. A week from today, I will be partnering with someone special for a really unique giveaway! Let the countdown to giveaway day commence!

Here’s a little clue…




Yup.

In other blog-type news, I recently had the chance to do a little mini blog makeover for Ashley over at A Recipe for Sanity and I thought you all might like to see it! I’m certainly not a professional but I had fun and she was nice enough to let me get creative. I’m always happy to help you in your space, too, as part of your sponsorship package.

Lastly, I am doing my darnedest to get around the internet and visit as many of you on your blogs as I can! Help me out and leave a comment sharing your blog address and something fun you’ve been writing/taking pictures of lately. I’d LOVE to stop by your space and check it out!

Just SEVEN WHOLE DAYS until giveaway magic! Get excited.

love, elizabeth

May Day Blog Party and Giveaway

Kick off May with a huge blog party:

JOANNA: BrockPaperScissors, LISH: Imprintalish, 

ELIZABETH: Love is the Adventure & COURTNEY: Baxtron{Life}

ARE JOINING TOGETHER TO HOST A PARTY!!!

Here is a great opportunity to grow your blog!

We are bringing our reader audiences together!!

OVER 3000 FOLLOWERS

HOW DOES IT WORK?

You will link up on any ONE hostess’ sites above. 

Our links will be interlinked, meaning: 
your post will be displayed on ALL 4 of our sites!

Go to the links on any of the host pages beginning Tuesday May 1st! 

Link up any post you want to showcase your blog!

Make new friends!!  Increase YOUR readers!!!

GRAB THE BUTTON AND TELL ABOUT THE PARTY!!!!!

We can't wait!!!!!

XO,

<center><a href="http://www.baxtronlife.com/search/label/mayday" target="new""><img src="http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h446/baxtronlife/mayday200x200.png" /></a></center>

Help us promote the event and you could win a $20 Starbucks Giftcard! Come back daily to tweet about the giveaway for extra entries from now until the event!!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Me and My Juice Box: A Valentine’s Day Giveaway

If you’re like me, you mostly think being a grownup is awesome. But then there are those days when you think, ‘The only thing I want to be responsible for is me and my juice box.’ Remember all that stuff that made being a kid so great?

So just in time for Valentine’s Day, I am giving away a box of sweet, sweet nostalgia. I’ve put together a whole bunch of kid things and I’m sending my favorites to one of you…

Included:

- 24 Crayola Crayons, fresh in the box. I read a study that said sniffing Crayola’s regularly lowers your blood pressure. I can’t disagree.

- Absolutely legit and authentic Barnum’s Animal Crackers.

- Brand new 7-foot jump rope.

- A scrunchie ball.

- Pixy. Stix. You heard me.

- Lip Smackers. Surprise flavor.

- A handmade Valentine to keep or give.

- And… (are you sitting down?) a make-up bag from every seven year old’s favorite designer, the queen of posh and purple kittens, Lisa Frank.

Like a freakin’ time machine.

 

So how do you win this little box of happiness?

Four possible entries (leave a separate comment for each):

Be a follower of Love is the Adventure using Google Friend Connect (only mandatory entry).

Tweet about the giveaway and include a link to this post.

Mention this giveaway in a blog post and include a link.

Like Love is the Adventure on Facebook.

 

The giveaway will close on Friday night (2/3/12) at midnight and I will announce the winner on Saturday morning!

What do YOU most miss about being a kid? What thing makes you really nostalgic for that time of your life?

love, elizabeth

Listlessly

I’m having a disjointed, unorganized Friday and obviously, the blog is going to reflect that. And honestly, I have been feeling funky, blog-wise. And what do I do when I’m feeling disjointed and unorganized?

I make a list.

This is going to be lame. You have been warned.

List of Things coming up on Love is the Adventure

(Don’ t look at me like that. I warned you.)

1. A post on St. Augustine – I read something from Confessions this last week and it just cut me to the quick, you know? Say what you will about S.A. of H. but the man had a way of just completely opening his heart on paper. Or papyrus. 

2. Valentine’s Day giveaway. Um, I am so excited about this. I kind of wish I had the magical ability of giving this away to EVERYONE but since I don’t…I hope you’ll come back and enter.

3. DIY project for the sweetheart in your life. I’m sensing a theme this month…

4. Sun-lamps. This is a thing and we’re gonna talk about it.

5. Movie review of One for the Money. I’m going to see it tomorrow and so help me, if they have screwed this up, I am going to be mad as heck. Heck, I tell ya. If you too decide to indulge in le cinema weekend, be sure and tell me what you see!

6. Re-vamping my About Me page. It’s lacking.

Oh, yeah, AND I’m wondering if anyone is interested in guest-posting over here. I am going to be at a conference the third week of February and I need someone to babysit LITA! If you have an idea for a post, email me.

What kinds of blog plans do you have?

love, elizabeth

Button-Swapping and Giveaways: Sponsor Without Spending a Dime

I love blogging. I am always humbled to know that people take the time to read anything I write and to care a little about what’s going on in my life and I am so delighted to get to know all of you through your own blogs!

 

Source: toostinkincute.blogspot.com via Elizabeth on Pinterest

Many of my best blog friends are sponsor-friendly places and many are striving to be successful blogging and etsy businesses. That’s never really been the purpose of this blog and that’s okay. But sometimes I wish I could sponsor a few of the blogs I really, really love. Because, like many of you, I’m on a teeny-weeny budget, I can’t really afford to sponsor anyone.

And since I’ve decided not to sell ad space here, I’d like to offer a couple non-monetary ways to sponsor Love is the Adventure so that if you, too, are looking for cost-effective ways to gain readership or business, you have the opportunity to do that.

Ways to Sponsor:

Button Swap for December and January

If you’re interested in this option, just drop me an email and let me know! I’ll need the html code for your button and I’ll be happy to keep it in the sidebar through January 31st.

Sponsor a Giveaway

Do you have an Etsy site or business that you’d like to promote? I’m happy to advertise it if you’d like to give something away to readers! I’m happy to advertise your blog, your business, and/or your Twitter/Facebook feeds in a post and with a button.

If you’re interested, send me an email at loveisadventure@gmail.com and let’s chat about it! If you have another creative idea for blog exchange, I’d love to hear it.

Regardless, I love all of you. Thanks for sharing yourselves with me every day.

love, elizabeth

Vintage Giveaway

So excited to share this one with all of you!

This month I’m giving away a set of vintage Fisba Stoffels handkerchiefs, new and still in their original packaging. Fisba Stoffels was a well-known Swiss scarf and handkerchief manufacturer and their pieces are now sold in vintage stores. I don’t have a date for these but I can estimate they are at least forty years old.

I think they would be fun to display in a bathroom or on a dressing table but they would also make a lovely Christmas gift!

So here are four ways you can enter to win…(leave a separate comment for each)

Be a follower of Love is the Adventure through Google Friend Connect (only mandatory entry)

Tweet about the giveaway and include a link to this post

Mention this giveaway in a blog post

Like Love is the Adventure on Facebook

 

The winner will be announced next Wednesday!

Let me know…anything awesome in blog world that I should really be checking out?

love, elizabeth

A Weekend With You

It has been a stressful couple of months trying to balance our work and grad school schedules so when this weekend rolled around, Kyle and I tried to spend it as quietly as possible. I made French toast before church this morning…

And Kyle sang this song to me a lot…

How was YOUR weekend?

Stay tuned...vintage giveaway WEDNESDAY!

love, elizabeth

First of Fall Giveaway

Oh, my goodness, I have been WAITING for this day to come forever! I am so excited to announce this giveaway because whoever wins it will receive…

This gorgeous hand-knit scarf, made with organic cotton in a buttery rich pumpkin color, complete with gold vintage button detailing. It is so, so soft and pretty…I almost canceled the giveaway because I wanted to keep it for myself.

 

This gift is a really special one for me because it was made especially for this blog by my mother who is an extremely gifted knitter. I’ve been telling her for a long time that she needs to open her own Etsy shop but she says she gets more enjoyment making things for people she loves. So…count yourself among the loved! And be sure to follow her blog here for other craft projects she’s working on…

Also, in this package, a little emerald tin of imported jasmine tea.

So what, you may ask, can you do to win this cozy fall gift?

Five possible entries: (leave a comment for EACH)

- Be an official follower via Google Friend Connect (only mandatory entry)

- Mention this giveaway in a blog post and include a link

- Tweet about the giveaway and include a link

- Like Love is the Adventure on Facebook

- Follow me on Twitter here

This giveaway will close on September 30 at midnight and I will announce the winner October 1.

 

Happy first day of fall! Go jump in a pile of leaves for me!

love, elizabeth

The Blog Fairy Has Spoken: Giveaway Winner and a Guest Post

Well, first of all, I am guest-posting over here at New Life as a Housewife! Chloe's on vacation and I told her I'd watch the blog today. Bwhahahahaha...She's going to be sooooooo sorry she let me do this...

I'm talking about staying cool in the heat (and if my advice is a little bit silly - it probably is-you will still appreciate the adorable Pinterest photos that accompany it).

Seriously, though, if you haven't been reading about Chloe's fabulous life in SPAIN, you should really get over there and say hello! She makes me happy every time she posts and I think you're going to love her.




And...because the blog fairies really, really love Chloe...she is also...

Our Don't Worry, Be Happy Giveaway WINNER!

True Random Number Generator

Min:    

Max:   

  Result: 2            

Powered by RANDOM.ORG  

See? I didn't even plan it!

Chloe's comment:

Chloe said...

And tweeted about it!
@Chloes_New_Life

July 27, 2011 7:43 AM

 

Congratulations, Chloe! Just send me an email with your mailing address and I'll send this little package flying off to Spain...

Thank you so much to everyone who entered the giveaway! Hope you stay posted because I'm already plotting my next giveaway in honor of the first day of fall! It's going to be extra autumnal and you're not going to want to miss it...

Hope everyone is having a great Monday morning!

love, elizabeth

GIVEAWAY: 100th Post!

In honor of our ONE HUNDREDTH BLOG POST, I’d like to announce our next giveaway! Each item was chosen especially for this occasion and I’ve been itching to finally tell you all about it.

I’ve been talking this one up for about a week now. I hope it’s been worth the wait! I am giving away to one very special, very lucky person…

The Don’t Worry, Be Happy Giveaway!

A white floppy sun hat and a pair of cherry red sunglasses (H&M) and a brand new copy of one of my favorite books, The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun. It’s a pretty awesome book. To read a review, CLICK HERE.

 

Okay, so if you want to win this summery little gift, here’s what you have to do to enter…

Mandatory entry: Be an official follower of this blog with Google Connect. Leave me a comment telling me that you are.

Extra entries: (leave a comment for each extra thing you do)

Tweet about the giveaway and include a link.

Like “Love is the adventure” on Facebook.

Grab our button and put it on your blog sidebar.

That means you can enter to win up to four times! The giveaway will close on Sunday night at midnight. The winner will be chosen via random.org and announced on Monday.

Hope you’re having a great Wednesday!

love, elizabeth

PS: I wish you all could have seen the looks on my neighbors’ faces as I traipsed around the apartment complex with the giveaway items and a camera on a huge flippin’ tripod trying to find the best light. I think I’ve finally cemented myself as the weirdo in apartment c.

The Teeny-Tiny Spa GIVEAWAY Winner!

Source: google.com via lily on Pinterest

True Random Number Generator

Min:

Max:

Result:13

Powered by RANDOM.ORG

And after calculating number of entries (including Twitter), the winner is...

Karm from a karmalicious love life! Make sure to stop by her wonderful blog and say hi!

Karm said...

I am excited!! This is a cute giveaway and I FOLLOW your blog... thru google connect (:

June 27, 2011 12:38 PM

Karm, I hope that this little package is a small help in being kind to yourself this summer. Email me your mailing address and I will send this off this weekend!

Thanks to everyone who entered! Stay tuned - I will hopefully be holding another giveaway in a few weeks.

love, elizabeth

Be Kind to Yourself: The Weight of It All

via Pinterest

You know the saying, 'I'm rubber and you're glue. Whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you'? Yeah. I hate that saying.


This is actually kind of a hard post to write. But I think it's important because I was inspired by a guy at the pool yesterday who I overheard telling his friends how fat he thought I was. Of course, I immediately felt embarassed and hurt. My first reaction was to think, I should leave. I don't belong here. I want to go home.


Maybe it's a sign of my own personal growth that I didn't completely fall apart or shut down. I'm kind of surprised that it didn't hurt more. Maybe it's because I know that I am beautiful. Maybe it's because I'm positive that stranger's comments had a lot more to do with something going on inside of him than they had to do with me.


Lately, I have been so inspired by some interviews with one of my favorite singers, Grammy Award winner, Adele Adkins. Not surprisingly for the entertainment industry, Adele is constantly receiving questions and criticism about her weight. "My aim in life is never to be skinny," she said once. And later, in Rolling Stone, "[T]hat's not what my music is about. I don't make music for eyes. I make music for ears." I find her confidence and obvious joy in who she is so refreshing. It gives me hope for my own self-image.


But I am learning that part of being kind to myself is letting the worst things, the unkind things, pass through me, not letting them stay inside of me, festering, putting down roots. It's silly for us to think that we can deflect the hurtful things people say about us. The human heart feels pain. And that's okay. I am giving myself permission to feel pain but to let the poison in those words fall away.


This post really isn't about fat or skinny. It's about caring for yourself. Because our worth cannot be tied up in how we look or what we wear or own. Worth is inherent in you and in me. Worth is in the soul. I hope today you will find a minute to be kind to your soul. Like Adele says, "I don't have a hole in my soul!"

ADELE

Source: aheartisaspade.com via Lynn on Pinterest

PS: I have jumped on the Bloglovin' bandwagon. So if you are a Bloglovin' person, feel free to follow Love is the Adventure there. You can click the link above or the widget on the sidebar.


Also, today is the LAST day to enter the Teeny-Tiny Spa Giveaway! It's easy to enter - just be an official follower of this blog and comment telling me that you are. You can earn a second chance to win if you follow me on Twitter and then tweet to let me know. I will be announcing the winner tomorrow morning so be sure to stop by!


MY FIRST GIVEAWAY: The Teeny-Tiny Spa

In keeping with my new focus on being kind to yourself, here's a gift to help you be kind to yourself! This is my very, very FIRST giveaway!

The prize…

The Teeny-Tiny Spa

Wait, that should actually be The Teeny-Tiny Spa.

In this box, you’ll find an assortment of hand-picked things, chosen with great care and hope that they make someone feel a little extra special, including some items from one of my favorite stores, Bath & Body Works.

The Teeny-Tiny Spa includes:

- Two mini-candles (Passion Flower and Pineapple Orchid from B&BW)

-Rose bath crystals

-Cherry Blossom shower gel (B&BW)

-Striped terry facecloth

-Pumice stone heart

-Rubber ducky

And my personal favorite…

-The Bathtub Reader: an amusing miscellany for the discerning mademoiselle

This book is full of interesting anecdotes, quotes, and factoids perfect for the bathtub! For instance, did you know that the Oreo was invented in 1912? Neither did I.

How to enter: Just be a follower of this blog (or become one!) and leave a comment on this post letting me know that you are!

Bonus Entry: Follow me on twitter and tweet to let me know!

To follow this blog, click on the “Follow” button on the right side bar and then sign in so that you can officially be listed as a “follower.” You can sign in using Gmail/Google, Twitter, Yahoo!, AIM, Netlog, or OpenID.

The contest will close Thursday, June 30 at midnight and the winner will be chosen at random and announced Friday, July 1.