busygirl

how about a pretty giveaway?

 Do you remember this headband of yore that I made one snowy afternoon while I was supposed to be organizing and purging my fabric stash?

 

Well, I've made a dozen different ones since then, but this color combination is still my favorite.  And so I took some time away from my bad reality TV watching self, to make a duplicate one to give away to one of you!  Yes you.  Because you're all lovely and I have a blog crush on at least twelve of you and counting :)

So, to enter for a chance to win this navy, grey and mustard rosette headband please leave a comment for each item below that you complete (note: must have valid email address to enter!):

1. tell me, if you could pick any three colors for a rosette headband, what would you pick?

2. follow www.busygirlblog.com via a method of your choosing!

3. follow me on twitter, leave your handle in the comment (I'm @busygirlnicole)

4. blog or tweet about this giveaway!

Winner to be picked and announced at 12pm EST on Friday, April 6th!  Hurry and enter :)  Also, while I have you here, check out my blog crush Sarah's travel photography giveaway!

a fashionable venture.

Remember how I was writing for bStylish a little bit ago?  Well, that's long gone because...

Melissa (of bStylish) and Jo-Lynne (of Chic Critque) have merged their sites (and contributors) to become a one-stop shop for all things fashion, beauty, home and more at www.allthingschic.net

 
Check it out, leave some love, comment on my weekly outfit and all my other insights.  And be sure to check out the bazillion giveaways for launch week including Zappos, HauteLook, Studio Jewel, Therapon Skin Care, Miraclebody jeans and so much more!

Oh and don't mind the weird characters dust  here and there.  It's a bit of a work in progress, but it will get there! 

gleeful peacock giveaway!

You all know how much I LOOOOOOVE headbands...and I know you love them too!  Remember this gem I won in a giveaway from Gleeful Peacock?

 

Well, I'm giving away a Gleeful Peacock headband on bStylish this week!

 

The giveaway ends THIS Thursday, the 23rd, so hurry and go enter!  All you have to do is leave a comment!

bold rocks *giveaway*

When Adam proposed about a year and a half ago, my mind went into full wedding planning mode.  I didn't exactly have every detail planned out, but I knew that I wanted my bridesmaids in simple black dresses wearing a three strand pearl bracelet.  Oh and pink shoes.  Cause every wedding needs pink shoes.

Fast forward to two months before the wedding.  I'm curled up on the couch, crouched over my computer, fingers cramping from hours upon hours of scouring the internet for these perfect bracelets [on a budget].  Nothing.  Until I happened upon sweet Lauren's shop on Etsy.

And she practically saved my wedding with that.  Or at least my dream of gifting my bridesmaids with gorgeous three strand pearl bracelets [on a budget]!

Enter, Bold Rocks.  Lauren's pride and joy.  Where she makes the most fabulous jewelry out of cultured freshwater pearls.  Not only did she create these pieces for my wedding:

 
single strand cultured freshwater pearl bracelet for my jr bridesmaid and flower girl, cultured freshwater pearl stud earrings for my bridesmaids and solitary pearl necklaces gifted to my mother and my mother-in-law

BUT she created my dream bracelets  and I loved them SO much that I even wore one too!

[more wedding photos here]

Sigh, enough wedding reminiscing, let's meet Lauren, the inspiring designer of Bold Rocks!

Hi everyone, my name is Lauren, I am 28 years old, recently engaged, and about to complete my J.D. and M.S. in Finance. I started making jewelry when I was a child and have been doing it ever since. Every year around the holidaze I would make jewelry for my family and friends. During my first year of graduate school I decided to open my Etsy store.

I have to know, what's the story behind the store name?

I love big bold jewelry – which is where I got the idea for naming my store Bold Rocks.

What is the inspiration behind Bold Rocks?

I intended the store to be a place where I sold funky chunky stone jewelry. I stumbled into the pearl industry while traveling abroad and decided to add some pearl pieces to my repertoire.  My most recent jewelry creations are made from sterling silver or gold fill components and cultured freshwater pearls.  My pearl pieces were very popular with the bridal community so I decided to switch my focus to affordable pearl jewelry for weddings. I really enjoy working with brides to create timeless jewelry that they and their bridesmaids can wear for years to come.

Thanks Lauren!  Not only does she create gorgeous affordable jewelry for brides and everyday life, but she is offering a 5% discount to bStylish readers through December 25th!  Just enter bStylish in the message box when checking out!

And...YOU can win one of the following:

 
That's right, over at bStylish (the fashion blog I write for), I'm giving away a 3 strand 4 mm purple black peacock twisted elegance necklace AND a One of a Kind - 3 strand golden bronze freshwater rice pearl and teal blue green potato freshwater pearl bracelet...meaning there are TWO winners!! And great odds for you!

How can you enter?  So glad you asked.  Head on over to bStylish to enter - all you have to do is LEAVE A COMMENT, how easy :)

I'm a contributing writer for bStylish - my disclosure for this giveaway can be found on my giveaway post.

betty bead boutique giveaway!

I love vintage.  I love modern.  And I love one-of-a-kind jewelry that's affordable.  So imagine how in love I was when I stumbled across the Betty Bead Boutique  on Etsy one day!   A shop filled with vintage inspired jewelry with a modern twist. 

Such as these gorgeous Boysenberry Filigree Necklaces:

  
Or these stunning moss daisy and ocean filigree rings:

 
Really for me, she had me with these victorian inspired hairpins:

Want to win a set of Seaside Rose hairpins?? Just look at those soft aqua and peach roses adorned with brass filigrees...perfect to add some elegance to any outfit!

Head over to my giveaway on bStylish to enter!!!!

csn stores giveaway winner!

Yes, I am well aware that it is past noon EST...got a bit caught up with work today.  It happens.  TGIF though, right?  I hope everyone has something fabulous planned for the weekend.

But enough putzing around, it's time to draw a winner for the $40 gift card to CSN STORES!!!

And the winner is...

 
WREN from Wren's Rambles!!!  Who teamed up with her hubby to be Thing 1 and Thing 2 in college! I will be sending a little email your way shortly.

For those who didn't win, never fear, we have another giveaway from CSN Stores coming up in two weeks so you can snag those items you've got your eye on :) 

Thanks to all who entered though, I loved your Halloween costume ideas!  I'm still struggling with what to go as this year...better yet, what is Ricki going as this year.  You all know how much he LOVES to wear clothing.  Remember how thrilled he was to rock his devil costume last year?

Chances are slim that we'll actually get him to wear something on his head this year.  This dog is getting too smart for his own good :)

how about a giveaway?

It's a rainy, dreary Tuesday, why not brighten it up with something fantastic and free?

Alrighty then.

I'm sure you all are just getting warmed up in your online shopping endeavors, what with it being practically the holiday season (I kid, but there's already Christmas decorations out in the stores, REALLY?!).  CSN Stores provides one stop shopping with over 250 stores of merchandise and great deals!  I love their wide selection of Le Creuset cookware, especially since they have all those colors that are hard to find in the stores.  Like Caribbean blue...oooh. 

And since it is almost Halloween I've been perusing the pet section for new costumes to dress the dog up in...wouldn't he be cute as an elf?  That hat would only stay on for 2.5 seconds though.  Ricki's awfully particular about what clothes he wears.

In a nutshell, CSN Stores has it all and they want to share it with you!  That's why they're giving one of you a $40 gift card to spend as you please!  How might you win this?  Good question...

But first, some fine print: You MUST have a valid e-mail address to enter and you MUST reside in the United States or Canada.

And now the entry options:

1. MANDATORY ENTRY: Follow my blog!  Via GoogleReader, Feedburner, or whatever other method fits your fancy!  Leave me a comment and let me know.

FOR ADDITIONAL ENTRIES (Leave a comment for each one you complete):

2. Tell me what your favorite Halloween costume was!  I'm thinking that dressing as Belle from Beauty and the Beast was my favorite...although everyone thought I was dressed as an amish person.  I guess it didn't translate.

3. Follow me on Twitter - I'm @busygirlnicole.  Leave your twitter handle in your comment.

4. Tweet about this giveaway!  Please include @busygirlnicole and the tag #giveaway in your tweet or include the link in your comment.

5. Blog about this giveaway!  Leave a link in your comment.

ONE WINNER will be chosen via Random.org and announced here on Friday, October 8th at NOON EST!

Good luck!!

miscellany monday: back to the grind.

1. Welcome to another fabulous Monday!  Don't you wish you could've had just one more day of weekend?  I sure do.

2. Saturday we managed to roll out of bed early enough to venture to Cleveland's west side market.  I haven't been there in years, and my mom has never been, despite the fact that we live a measly 20 miles from it.  The market was even better than I remembered, bustling with activity.  Adam was like a kid in a candy store, looking this way and that.  We picked up quite a few goodies at a great price: white cherries, homemade pierogis, fresh bread and bagels, asparagus and even a dog bone for Ricki!  More on that later tonight, he was hysterical trying to eat it.  Any way, we had a blast and I will definitely be going back at least once a month.  What a great way to spend a morning, not to mention the people-watching was top-notch.

3. I FILLED an entire bin of clothing and items to donate.  I've been motivated to do some end-of-the-summer cleaning, trying to purge our house of unnecessary items.  We're still holding onto stuff from our college days, mismatched forks and glasses.  I think it's about time we sent them on their way to someone who can use them.

(sorry, bb photo)

4. Saturday night we had a few friends and family over as a goodbye for one of our favorite family friend, who is leaving for her first year of college this week.  Kept it simple and ordered pizza.  But Adam just couldn't pass up the chance to give our nephew Tommy his first popsicle as a dessert!  It was an instant hit!

5. A wee bit of car drama ensued as well.  While cleaning my car on Saturday (what a dear husband), Adam discovered that there were little pinpoints of rust all over my car, which is not even 2 years old.  After conferring with a friend who daylights as a mechanic, apparently this is caused by the metal under the paint rusting because the chemical composition of the paint was off in the manufacturing plant that day.  To put this plainly, it was a shoddy paint job.  So I'm rockin in the Nissan today while Adam takes my car back to the dealership to sort this whole mess out.  I'm hoping they replace/repair the damaged panels, I can't imagine how this would affect the resale price of my car.  Hopefully there are some reasonable service guys there today, one's who have already had enough coffee to deal with a problem car on a Monday morning.

6. Exciting giveaway (and review) coming up soon!  I know you all loved the last csn stores giveaway, and I've been selected to review a product and give away another gift card!  If you're not familiar with CSN stores, well, they have everything from a bedroom vanity to the kitchen sink to fabulous throw pillows.  You need it, they've got it.  And if you didn't win last time, keep your eyes posted for this next giveaway!

7. I'm ready for a productive week, as soon as the caffeine kicks in of course.

walmart gift card giveaway WINNER!

***I apologize, I wrote this post and accidently hit 'save' instead of 'publish', so the winner announcement is a wee bit late!***

Who's thanking their lucky stars because they just won a $15 gift card to Walmart?

Why Miss Jaime of course!  Who also shares in my Yankee Candle addiction...congrats Jaime!

i was also provided with a walmart gift card to give away to one of my readers. 

miscellany monday: couch potato.

1.  Adam woke up Friday morning unable to walk due to a serious infection in his foot.  One hospital visit, lots of antibiotics and a whole weekend spent playing video games later, he can walk and the pain is not quite as intense.  Poor kid.  And poor me.  I spent the past three days waiting on him hand and foot since walking wasn't in the cards for him this weekend.

2. I woke up yesterday humming the theme to Call of Duty 4.  I guess the constant video game playing of this weekend has finally gotten to my brain.

3. Read 'The Time Traveler's Wife' and was blown away.  As in couldn't put it down and read late into Saturday night just to finish it.  And couldn't stop thinking about it afterwards, even though I had already seen the movie and 'knew' what was going to happen.  It still kept me on the edge of my seat.  Be forewarned that it's 500+ pages, but well worth it!

4. I let Adam pick out my nail polish this weekend too since he was a tad on the bored side.  My nails are now a very bright teal...Summer Splash from Maybelline's Salsa Sun nail collection.  I can't seem to find the color online anywhere...so here's a quick BB photo. 

 

Told ya it was blue.  And yes, still sporting this at work today.  No quite sure how 'business casual' this color is, but we'll go with it.

5. Shamless self-plug, but I'm giving away a Walmart Gift Card!  And I have some other fabulous giveaways from my friends listed on my sidebar, check em out!

6. How was your weekend?  I will live vicariously through your adventures since mine consisted of blowing up little 3-D people on the tv screen.