Giveaway Winner and Link Love

Happy Friday everyone!

Well, my first giveaway has come to an end.  Thank you much to everyone who entered and commented, I hope you'll stick around and join the blog family!

But Sara B.at yesteachercrafts.com (comment number 11) is our winner!
I will be in touch shortly with your gift code!  Congrats!
This weekend, Sean and I are heading up to Long Island for the wedding of my lovely friend, Marisol...remember the AWESOME bachelorette party?!  I will definitely be posting some pics next week!

I think I MUST make this YUMTASTIC looking lasagna posted over at A Cup of Jo.  With lemons, chard, and sausage all available at the farmstand this week, it's pretty much a no brainer!

Loving vintage lately...this springy DRESS makes me smile.
And speaking of vintage Freckled Laundry's NEWEST SPONSOR seriously has the cutest vintage things in her shop.  love love love.


Hope you all have a terrific weekend!  Is it warm where you are?

St. Patty's Day Recap

TODAY IS THE LAST DAY TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY!!
I will be using random.org to choose the winner and posting it tonight!


So although I mostly identify as being Italian, I do have some Irish in me as evidenced by my freckles upon freckles that show up in the summer time.  Plus, any holiday where the whole deal is to wear kitschy green outfits and drink a bunch can't be all bad right?  So this year my St. Patrick's Day included my first EVER Shamrock Shake...apparently I just haven't lived until now.

And they do taste like Mylanta if you don't drink them right away...yum?

St. Patty's Day was also Resident Assistant Selection Day (which is one of the LOOOONNGEST and most tedious days of the year) and so in order to dull the pain a little and motivate my colleagues to keep plugging I made a Guinness Chocolate Cake using the recipe from THIS POST. 

I made some icing using Bailey's instead of milk (Start with about half a cup of powdered sugar and add the Bailey's/Milk/Cream SLOOOOWLY stirring constantly until the icing is runny enough to pour onto your cake, but sticky enough to stay on the cake).

Rave reviews from my co-workers so I vote a yumtastic success.  The gold sprinkles on top were a nice touch too if I do say so myself.  *Pats self on back*

We also went out for some Irish Car Bombs (the drink, don't worry).  And so it was a good night had by all.  Sean has been corning his own beef....no, seriously you can actually do that....yeah, I didn't know either.  And that turned out delicious!

But do you know what the best part of St. Patrick's Day is?  The fact that St. JOSEPH'S DAY is right around the corner, so wear some red and pass me a zeppole!  Yum!

Tickling My Fancy

Only 4 more days to enter the GIVEAWAY!

Today I'm linking up with Sara.

Here's what's tickling my fancy this week...



Normally flowers are not my thing but this necklace is lovely! (The price tag not so much)


Alexis Bittar Flora Gold "Love Me Not" Necklace
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 This gorgeous fireplace!  Someday...



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Clearly I'm in a decorating mood...another print that would look fabulous in my kitchen

Etsy Shop MichelleChristina

Happy Tuesday!

Philadelphia Flower Show

Although I've lived in the Philly area for almost four years, this was the first year I made it to the flower show.  I love plants and flowers but I definitely have a black thumb.  I've killed air plants, people.  It's a serious problem.  But that doesn't stop me from trying...much to Sean's chagrin.

So when my friend Morgan asked if I wanted to meet her and her mom at the show I was all for it!  This year's theme was Springtime in Paris and it was really just lovely.  I was amazed by the detailed displays and variety of plants.  Since pictures speak louder than words, here are my shots from the show.  Sadly, my camera battery was dead upon arrival at the flower show, so these are my cell shots.


Orchids are my fave



I love tulips! And these were babies--no bigger than my hand



If this doesn't scream spring I don't know what does



Beautiful tree wound with lights



Leavin' on a jet plane...



Recycled materials (in this case cans...get it?!) were used to project the image onto the screen.  I was amazed at the creativity.



A singing mouth purse made of plant material...I'd never be able to find matching shoes!



A wire sculpture of The Thinker by Rodin--right in front of the bathrooms



The Thinker in greens...Philly has an amazing Rodin Museum-perfect for the theme



One of many miniatures--the cardinal was no bigger than my pinkie nail!  Incredible attention to detail


It was a great outing, although after walking so much we were definitely hurting.  They aren't kidding with that "largest indoor flower show in the world" thing.  But it was definitely the perfect way to jump into spring.  Now if only the weather would cooperate!



Don't forget--only a few more days to enter the GIVEAWAY!

Weekend Link Love

Here are a few things to keep you occupied this weekend.  I'll be around, but being on call means I'm getting very little sleep...apparently the students are celebrating Mardi Gras this weekend...fun for them, not so much for me. 

Team Boo has started a series on Motherhood.  As many of my friends are starting to have kids, and Sean and I begin to think about that next phase in our lives (not for a while...a serious while), I think this is a fun, and thought provoking series.

I would love to have this cardinal print for my apartment.  Lots of other great prints in that shop too!

From Etsy Shop Strawberry Luna



With all this Charlie Sheen drama I can't help but chuckle Live the Sheen Dream.  Bi-Winning.

And of course don't forget to enter the GIVEAWAY if you haven't already!

GIVEAWAY TIME!

I'm so excited to host my very first giveaway!  This is something everyone can use!

Whether you are shopping for home goods, decor, baby supplies, fitness equipment, or basically anything else you can possibly think of...you can shop online at any of the CSN Stores.  Just some of the fun things I found:

Beanbag chairs!

Diaper bags

Awesome clock

Servingware

Not surprisingly, Sean was into the LCD TV Stands---that man loves his media technology, and pines for the day when we have a house and room to have our own furniture to house all that technology.

But luckily, you can use this giveaway at any of the CSN stores to buy whatever you want!  CSN offered me a gift card for either myself or one of my readers, and being the selfless blogger that I am I am giving it up to one of you!

The winner will receive $25 to spend on anything the CSN stores offer which is pretty much anything you could possibly think of.  See...good as cash!

How to Enter:

1. Go check out the CSN stores and then comment on THIS post letting me know what you would use the money to buy.
2. Extra entry if you are a follower (leave a comment telling me so!)
3. Extra entry if you link back to this post on your own blog (leave me another comment!)

The winner will be chosen randomly and announced on Friday, March 18th as well as contacted by email, so make sure to leave me a way to get in touch.

Good luck!

Thursday Confessions

Once again I'm linking up with Katy over HERE for her Thursday Confessions.

1.) I am addicted to facebook.  I don't tend to update my own profile all that frequently but I do stalk the profiles of other people and love when juicy stuff pops up. 


2.) I have always wanted to get my nose pierced, but never did because I have such bad allergies.  I just know that I would blow my nose one day and have kleenex hanging off the stud and no one would tell me.  I am envious of girls who have those cute little nose studs...


Miley Cyrus-- crazy but cute

 3.) I'm having a giveaway tomorrow!  Ok, that's not really a confession, but still very exciting!  Check back tomorrow and enter to win!