{Christmas Card Swap}

Go HERE to Join!

I found this and really wanted to join in! I think it will be a blast! I would LOVE for you to join in with me...just like above :)

If you are sad at the thought of holiday e-cards and not part of a big community of holiday card senders and want a card sent to you then this is the thing for you.

Even if you do send and receive a bunch of holiday cards and want one more this is perfect for you too.

All you have to do is send an email with your address to

cooking4him (at) gmail (dot) com

and you'll get an email from me back with my address in case you want to spread the love and send a card back.

I think the holidays are a great time to reach out and get to know people better and make some real connections even if it's just through a thoughtful holiday card.

XOXO

Christmas Blog Challengehi: Fav Christmas Gift!

Day 3:Most meaningful gift/best gift you've received.

This is so easy...and this gift has been with me for 3 years now!

Yes...My Canon Rebel XS! This is my pal..we go EVERYWERE together! This poor guy has several dents and chips on him now..and may even still have sand deep inside from the beach trip this past summer...but he still is up and running!

What was your favorite Christmas gift??

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IN OTHER NEWS:

So I dont make several post a day, I am just going to add on other things at the end of these post!

Family did a last min family outing last night and we went to the Grand Opening of the Festival of Lights in Chickasha! It was awsome! Ill have pictures up soon! :)

Going to be busy doing allot of baking here soon! Making some apple Pies for Thanksgiving tomorrow!

Im also way excited to have gotten my swap partners for both the Ornament Swap and the Warm Winter Swap! I am heading into town here shortly to get there gifts!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

XOXO

Blog Challenge Day 2 {Black Friday Shopping}

Day 2: Black Friday/General Shopping Tips & Tricks

I LOVE Black Friday shopping! I have never been to these stores so early that you have to wait in line outside, never camped outside the store, and never Black Friday shopped in a big city ( was going to OKC this year but plans have changed) and I maybe not buy a ton..but still!

I love the rush of Black Friday Shopping and the mass amount of people! Ive always shopped in smaller towns but its still been crazy!

This year were heading into Chicasha (OK) and hitting up Atwoods, Staples, Cato's, and Bath and Body Works ( maybe Wal-Mart..not sure yet!) I am way excited about Bath and Body Works cause there having some MASSIVE sales and im gonna get my Christmas shopping done!

Here are a few tips I have found to be helpfull when I Black Friday shop!

I look at all the sales from the stores I want to go to FIRST! Then I know what I want..go right for it..and get it before its sold out. Plus it helps the budget!

Shop with more then just yourself...you then have more body mass to push through the crowds!

Who else is going Black Friday Shopping???

UPDATE:

Dont forget about this awsome Mitten Mixer going on! It ends Tue ( a week from today) and you dont want to miss out! Im doing it! Click below for more info!

New..and Christmas Blog Challenge!

To start out with...I GOT A BLOG MAKEOVER!! I LOVE it! What do y'all think? I was in great need of something new and so went to the great Jenn over at Munchkin Land Designs! I have used her before and still love her work! If your looking for a new design you really should go check her stuff out!

So Its the first day of this cool 12 Days of Christmas Blog Challenge! So...here we go!
Day 1: Christmas/Holiday traditionsI'll go with Christmas since im so excited for it to be here!We always set are tree and stockings and all that good stuff up close to Thanksgiving! Its actually all going up as I type :)!On Christmas Eve we allways do a fun dinner as a family..Sparkling Grape Juice, and fun fingers foods and such! We then whats The Christmas Box and we each open one present!My sister and I sleep in the same room that night..listing to Josh Groben. drinking tea and eating cinnamin toast and leaving the tree lights on!Christmas day we all get up whenever and we read the Christmas story from the Bible and all sing Happy Birthday to Jesus!We then go from youngest to oldest and each open one present at a time!
XOXO!

{Christmas Cards!}

I almost forgot about this offer..and just found it in my inbox..Im a way excited :)

How can you not love these cards! I am a BIG christmas card person an

d when I saw Shutterflys offers and the things they make I must say my mouth fell open! I was very happy! I am big into photography and love what they have come up with!

This one is very cute...would work even for somone who is not just married!

And this is great for a family one! Simple yet cute!

And last but not least..This is my favorit! I do belive that this will be my card for this year! I love how it has one simple picture and then all the amazing colors around it!

I would highly recogmend Shutterfly to all my readers! Y'all will love there stuff..and they have great prices as well :)

Giveaway help...Plus more!

Lets start with...I AM SO SLEEPY THIS

MORNING!

I slept so sound last night..and when my dad came in and woke me up..it was harder to get up then what it is when I dont sleep well! Sigh...I may just fall asleep at work today..and that is NOT good!

Its only 36 DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS!!

36 days till I can bake these (well..ill start earlyer!)

I am so excited!

And on the Christmas note...I need your help!

I am going to do a 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway and I need to know..What would you like to win? For real ladies...I am going to do one ( or maybe 2) things a day for 12 days, and I need to have some ideas!

An Early Christmas Present for my Bloggy Friends!

I am very excited to be able to write this post for y'all! For one reason..its the first time ive ever been able to do this..and second..y'all are

gonna love there stuff!

So...I got an email from Overstock.com to do a link up for them..and in return they would give me and all my readers a 10% coupon code! YA!!!

So..I went to Overstock.com and checked it out! WERE HAS THIS SITE BEEN HIDING ALL MY LIFE?? I had to run and make sure my credit card was locked up! wow...they have some awsome cool stuff!

Before I hand out the coupon...here are a few things I just love that they sell!

LOVE this....they have some great Digital Cameras!

Yes please...you have to look at all there Engagement Rings!

And you really MUST check out there Black Friday Sales!

Ok...Now for the code...listen...here is what your getting!

The discount code is: 121728 , good for 10% off all Overstock.com products.

AND THERE IS MORE....

202234 ** - free shipping promo code for electronics

Ahem.....

All the ideas and opinions expressed are my own. No monetary compensation was received for doing this post, however, I was provided with a discount code.

Sending out an SOS..Please Read!

BLOGGY FRIENDS I NEED YOUR HELP!!

I am going to do a fundraiser and I am in need of some help! First things first..let me tell you about my fundraiser! ( Just a small bit so I dont give it away too much!)

My Friend Dayna in Washington State rescued "Secret" 2 weeks ago..this is her below!

She was in a small pen maybe 30 by 50 with a quarter pony mix. They where standing in 3 plus feet of mud and manure. The fencing was the wire square stuff they could have very easily gotten hung up in. There was old pieces of metal and trees in the pen. She was wearing a rain sheet that was dripping wet. was very lame on front right and has some proud flesh going on on the back right aswell. Dayna got her to the barn She is boarding her at and took her 3 and a half house to wash all the matted mud and manure from her legs and under side.
She has had her almost 2 and a half weeks and in that time her front right seems to have gotten worse. had the vet out and he took X-rays and she has a tendon infection. she's on a high dose of antibiotics and bute twice a day.

As you can guess...vet bills are crazy high on larger animals and the care Secret is needing right now just makes it higher!

I am going to call this fundraiser "Secrets Christmas Gift" I want to see how much I can raise to help with her vet bills!

Here is what I need from my bloggy friends!

1. I am not really sure how to do a fundraiser on my blog...any help would be AMAZING! I need to know how to do one, and things like that..cause I really have NO CLUE!

2. I have e-mailed a few of you already but...I need people to donate stuff to this! I have asked a few bloggy friends that are donating stuff from there etsy shops! ANYTHING works!

3. Advertise! Once I get things going I need your help to push this! I want to make it big if I can!

If you have any info for me..you can leave me a comment..or you can email me at cooking4him [@] gmail [dot] com

Ill be emailing a few more of you as well..but if i dont email you...and you would like to donate..please let me know!

Thank you all so much <3

Christmas Shopping???

I know that allot of us (me included) start some Christmas Shopping now! And one way I love to shop is through the catologe and home shows that people put on! Maybe thats why I do so well being a Pampered Chef Consultant!

So..I have a friend who just started her Thirty One Buisness. So I wanted to help her some..and I love the cute stuff they have! So im doing a catologe show! And I thought I would give all my awsome bloggy friends a chance to see some stuff..and order if they want!

Here are just a few of the cute things they have!

If your interested in getting some cool stuff, helping my friend out, or helping me out..stop on over to her site HERE click on My events under her photo and click shop on the line with my name ( Joanna Sterrett )

Love y'all bunches even if ya dont! Just thought I would throw this out there! Oh...something from here MAY be part of my 12 days of Christmas giveaway! :)

XOXO

{fix-my photo fridays}

For the first week ever is time for Fix my photo Friday over at Trendy Treehouse!

I wanted to join in on the fun! So here we go!

BEFORE

AFTER

Ok..So what I did was this:

I opend this photo in Photoshop Elemnts 5.0 ( I use Picasa 3.1 allot but liked this for the photo better this time!)

First I adjusted the shadows and highlights.

Then I went and adjusted the Hue and Saturation of the picture. It pulled out the colors a little more and gave it a fall feel ( I love adjusting the Hue and Saturation..always brings out more color in the photos)

I then took my round tool and feathered the photo at 45

Cut it...added a blank page behind

and paint bucketed over the brown. I tryed to match the color up to blend in well and give more fall feel!

Im sure there are many once out there in this link up MUCH better then mine..and I cant wait to see them all and learn more fun tricks :)

YA!!! I finally made my own blog button! Come see!

I have wanted a blog button for some time now but have not had the money to get one done and I have always been way freaked out over HTML. Well, turns out making one was not that big of a deal and I know wish I would have done it sooner!

I was looking through blogs that I read and came across this tutorial by the Pastor Girls Ponderings! It was very helpfull!

So..Below is my button! Its my first one so not the best. Plus, know that I see how easy they are..I may just make some more..and I may change them up allot! LOL!

So..here we go..what do you think?

<a href="http://www.danceanddream4ever.blogspot.com"><img src="http://imgur.com/FETvY.jpg" /></a>

If you would like to be so sweet go ahead and grab it! Its here on this post and on my sidebar!

Also..if you want to make your own..go look at the tutorial! Its super easy!

XOXO

Some new things in my life!

Since I have been so bad at blogging..I relized that I

need to catch my bloggy friends up on some things!

Lets start with: IM A STUDENT AGAIN!

Yep....About a month ago I became a student! Im taking a course that I do from home! And what am I doing you ask? Becoming an Event/Wedding Pla

nner!

I am taking my course through the QC School of Event and Wedding Planning!

There are 6 Units lettered A-F and about 7 Assignments per Unit! I read my chapters, watch the lessions on DVD and do all the assigments for the unit, then send them in to be graded and start on the next!

I am just on Unit A right now and am currently getting ready to start my 4th assignment! This one I have been hired by a business to plan a one day retreat for them and I have to find 2 places in my area that would be good for it,come up with 2 group building actives,and evaluate how the event went! Its gonna be fun yet challenging!

In other news..As most you know im adopted and have meant my birth mother and my siblings. My little sister Kelsey txt me Sunday and told me Heather ( my birth mother ) was in the hospital with Appendicitis! She is home now and healing up..but it sure can freak you out!

The chilly air is setting in here in Oklahoma! My sweaters are coming out and my coffie is being flavored with Pumpkin Pie Spice Creamer! Some of my favorites for cold weather!

Whats one of your cold weather favorites!

XOXO