An "Opportunity With CSN Stores".....

I'm sure you've seen it before...a CSN Gift Card Giveaway. Well, I received an email back on September 23rd from Caitlin E. on behalf of CSNPromoTeam offering up a $35 gift card or an opportunity for me to do a review of their products. She goes on to flatter me by writing that they are "seeking out high quality websites and blogs"...who me? "We love the look and feel of your blog"...oh..must be a form letter. ;-)
Anywho, I was in one of those "It's all about me moods" so I've decided to "review" a couple of the items that can be purchased from their 200+ online stores. Seriously, it has taken me forever to look through the bazillion things that you can purchase from them. They've got everything from coffee tables to Cherry Flip Flops. Yes, you read it right! They have coffee tables!

 So I'll be putting in my order for a couple of their items soon and then I'll let you know what I think after they arrive.

But just so you don't think it's always "all about me" I'm offering up a little Giveaway, too. Did you see the "fancy intense pink" 24.78 carat Pink Diamond that is being sold by an unidentified private collector at Sotheby's next month? They're expecting it to fetch up to $38 million dollars.

Well, that's not what I'm giving away. I was just wondering if you saw how beautiful it is. I've already forwarded the Yahoo! story to the BF. Hint..Hint.
But what I am giving away is this cute little trio of Mary Engelbeit matching items.Ta-Da! Friends are the Flowers in the Garden of Life

All you need to do to enter the Giveaway is leave me a comment on this post and tell me if you seriously thought I was giving away a 24.78 carat Pink Diamond. As if...lol!
I will do a random drawing in the evening on Monday, Oct. 11th, and announce the winner then.

Rednesday from Lake George with Cherry Chick

Once again, it's Rednesday over at Sue's blog, "It's a Very Cherry World" stop over and see all the wonderful RED being shared by everyone.

I'm a little behind already this week and I was not prepared for my Rednesday post. I've taken a quick look through the photographs that the BF and I took a few weeks ago when we were up in the Adirondacks at Lake George, NY enjoying a fabulous long weekend.

I know, not exactly what you were expecting. We stayed in this wonderful Marriott hotel in NJ on our drive up that was being remodeled. We were exhausted at 3 a.m. when we finally reached the hotel for the night but in the morning when we checked out I noticed how fabulous the carpet was in the area by the elevators. Major RED, so out came the camera from my bag.

On Saturday, we strolled along the shore of Lake George near the "tourist area" enjoying the sounds of a Jazz Festival that they were having that weekend. The weathers was fabulous and the sites were very tranquil for this city guy and girl. We happened upon these trees in a common garden. I have no clue as to what they are but we all know what it reminded me of...lol. This was my photo.

This is the shot that the BF took with his fancy Canon EOS Digital Rebel that just took forever to upload because it is the size of a "movie screen". I like his better. Holy Macro!

I'm hoping to get some time soon to put together a Smilebox something (scrapbook or slideshow) of all of the beautiful pictures from our wonderful weekend getaway.

Thanks for sharing in my impromptu Red this week.

Check Your "Boo-bies" Bracelet

I'm joining up with Rachelle and all of the other wonderful bloggers today for "Feature Yourself Friday" please click over and see what everyone else has to share on her wonderful blog. Also, sharing with the ladies over at While He Was Napping Blog who are having an October Spectacular Halloween Link Party. Please join us and share your Halloween related post.

As most people know, October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I purchased this cute lampwork beads set from my friend, Heather over at Dragonfly Lampworks, who donated the proceed to the Breast Cancer Prevention Fund, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

Using this charming set of 5 kiln-annealed beads I have created a whimsical bracelet by adding assorted Swarovski Crystal beads and silver findings.

The adorable ghost features a mini pink heart on her bootie. There is a "pink ribbon" on the clear/orange bead. This "Boo-bie" bracelet measures 8" in length. The lampwork beads are pretty chunky and take up space when you wrap the bracelet around your wrist.

Lampwork Bead Sizes: Ghost Focal (20mm x 24mm), Tab Pumpkins (14mmx17mm), Disc Accents (5mmx12mm)

I have placed this bracelet in my Artfire.com Shop.

It's ME Monday according to my Calendar(s)

Welcome, again, to Mary Engelbreit Monday. Please join us and post the link to your blog with the related Mary Engelbreit pictures to share with everyone. It can be a ME licensed product or something that was "inspired" by Mary Engelbreit's artwork. It "should" be a photo that you took of something that you own. We're flexible here....let's have fun above all else.

Once you've posted your picture come back and add your link in Mr. Linky below. Please share the link back to my blog so that everyone can take part in sharing their post and picture.

This is my "collection" of ME Calendars. I have wall calendars from 1989 through 2003. You might be asking yourself..."why does she save them?" Well, for me they are a wealth of artwork that I can "upcycle" into something, someday. I'm actually going to be participating in a Christmas box exchange with fellow bloggers soon. For that I will need something to decorate my ME inspired Christmas box with. Voila! I have the month of December from all those calendars that I can cut from. See...I'm not just a "hoarder" of calendars.

I stopped buying the wall calendars when they downsized them to a smaller format. They became too small for my ME calendar holder. You remember that...I featured it a few weeks back.

I have ME desk calendars from 1997-2008 but I'm not sure why I stopped getting those. For years 2005 & 2007 I even have two for each of those years. One for home and one when for the office when I had a "desk job." Again, more great pictures to cut up and use.

In 2004 there was a scrapbook calendar that I bought. From 2007-2009 I downsized to pocket calendars to write appointments in. I am sad to say that this year I bought no Mary Engelbreit calendar. I can't even tell you why I didn't. Chances are I just didn't see one in my day to day travels to buy it. I'm carry around this ugly brown plastic pocket calendar to keep appts. in. It was only $1.00. Perhaps, this all says something about the state of our economy in the last few years. Hum???

How to avoid work......

So I've been poking around the web today doing everything but what I "should" be doing. I like to search words and then look at the images for the words. Does anybody else ever do that? Unfortunately, I can get lost for hours doing this and piddle away my time...sigh.

Initially, I was looking for a ME Autumn or Fall picture to post but I came I across this website with the Cutest ever cake stands. How darling is this Halloween stand? The two hundred smackeroos that they are asking for it puts it out of my price range but I can sure "appreciate" the heck out of it.

Here's another cute one. Not as cute as the first one but still very creative. It's only $145 big ones...such a deal.

Then I saw this one and said "Oh My!" out loud. For some reason "Who-ville" came to my mind when I first saw it. It's called the "Glitterville Stacking Holiday Cake Plates" and you guessed it..$200 big ones for this one, too.

And for your finally viewing pleasures...here's a darling teapot cookie that someone has so expertly decorated. They sell the cookie cutter over there, too. This I could afford at $4.50.

The website is FancyFlours.com....Where Bakers Bloom is their motto. They probably have tons of more cute stuff but I finally had to get out of my trance and come back to reality.

Thanks for joining me on my tour of the web today. Now get back to work!