Sunday Social

Linking up with Neely and Ashley for Sunday Social!!

1. What do you miss most about being a kid?
The lack of responsibility.
Seriously, being a grown up is hard work sometimes.

2. Did you have a nickname growing up? What was it?
Am.
Lil V. (apparently being a virgin in high school gets you a dumb nickname)

3. What was your favorite thing to do at recess?Sit and talk with my friends!

4. What did you want to be when you grew up?
EVERYTHING!
A teacher.
A journalist.
An English teacher.
A nurse.
A pediatrician.

5. What was your favorite toy?
Good gosh, I don't even remember that was a long time ago.
3 kids ago.
A crazy husband ago.
shewie, my brain doesn't think that far back.

6. What is the funniest thing you did as a kid that your parents mom still remind you about?Ha. Oh gosh, I'm not sure if I want to tell this story...
When we were younger, my sister and I decided to go play in my grandmother's backyard.
We wandered and wandered until we came to this little pond like thing.
It was SOOOOO green and SOOOO pretty.
We played and played and had a grande ole time.
Once we returned we were informed through fits of laughter that what we had discovered was sewer pipage.....

Meet some lovely ladies.

Don't forget to enter the Birthday week extravaganza: the extended version giveaways!

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5


This month I asked my sponsors to tell me their plans for September.
I'm a bit late at posting this because of the birthday week of giveaways that extended into TWO whole weeks.
(super giant thank you to all that helped with that)

So without further ado, meet some amazing women:

 Alli @ Allena Mistral

My favorite thing about fall is that I'm a September baby, so I get to start off the fall with a day all about me! :) My boyfriend's birthday is also in September, so we have a month of celebration ahead!

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Emily of Hope squared

Can I get a show of hands from those who think fall is awesome?  It's the best season.  I like the colours.  The weather.  The cardigans. The boots.  The tights.  The caramel apple spice lattes from Starbucks. 

My plans for September include a staycation.  My husband is going on a business trip - and I am staying home and cleaning the office/craft room.  I am pretty excited about it. 
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Carrie of The Frugal Foodie Mama.

My favorite thing about fall has to be the smell of the leaves.  I absolutely love the smell of autumn leaves.

I am hoping that we get to go apple picking some time this month or next.  We go every fall.  It has become a family tradition of our's.
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Karrie of I know this much is true

My favorite thing about the fall is the weather changes!  I am not a summer person.  I don't like hot weather.  I live in Michigan so I'm lucky to live in an area that has really pretty leaf changes.  My last favorite thing is Halloween.  Do you know any other 30something year olds that still dress up and go trick or treating?!

My plans for September:  Take lots of walks before it gets cold out, take time to enjoy the season changes, finish the stack of books I checked out of the library, I have a canoe trip plan with some of my good friends (canoeing? that looks really weird!) and find a job as a nurse.
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Jodi of Blue skies and apple pies

Fall is my absolute favorite season.  I love the colors, the food, the
scent of falling leaves, snuggling up in a blanket with a mug of hot
cider, and the cozy feeling that accompanies all of these things...
I've already dug out all of my favorite sweaters and I can't wait to
tug on a pair of boots!  In the month of September I will be pulling
out all of my Fall decor and breaking in my crock pot for the season.
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Kelly of  The Houtz house party

September is sooo busy for us!  We are getting ready to pack up and move from the suburbs to the country and moving with 4 little people is going to prove to be a challenge.  EEK!!!  I LOVE fall though.  The smell in the air, the leaves changing colors, the hot chocolate and tall boots.  I LOVE it all!!!
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Brittany of The Denny Buzz

Fav things about fall:  Getting to wear fall clothes/fall nail polish colors & decorating my house!

Sept. plans:  Making plans and decorations for my daughter's first birthday party!

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Beatriz of Daily living in Geneva

I'm not a cold weather person but fall is one of my favourite seasons when it comes to colors. Love taken pictures of the different gradients of colors in nature. It has some warmth to it. And also not needing 5 coats of clothes to keep you warm!!
Plans for September: I'll be going home for a week (Madrid, Spain) and going to Prague 5 days with my boyfriend!
I'm sending you different photos so you can choose the one that goes better with your post. There is my profil photo (I think is the 3rd one) and one with my boyfriend (which i find quite). If you dont like them let me know and ill look something else.
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fall into fall swap!

I signed up for the Fall into Fall swap!

I was paired up with Chloe of The Preppy Diaries.

Chloe is absolutely the sweetest girl in the world!

She emailed me before I even had the chance to email her, we chatted a bit, found out what we were into and were both SUPER excited about this swap!

A few days later my sister and bittles went shopping!

Here's what we came up with for Chloe.

I attached little notes telling her to relax, to stay organized,  to tell the world to "peace out" and enjoy some her time, etc etc. I had such a great time picking out fall items I thought she'd like.

I hope she loved them all!

(Sorry for the pics, my camera died and I was using my phone....at night)

So when I arrived at our new house in Georgia, I had a box from Chloe waiting on me! YAY!!

I opened it to discover:

I absolutely loved every bit of Chloe's box! I can't wait to get a bit more settled so I can sit down and read that magazine! The chocolate was gone by day 2 and the bittles have enjoyed the hot cocoa more than I have (and that's saying a LOT). Plus that chapstick is my all time favorite and I was running low, so PERFECT timing.

Thanks so much, Chloe!

And thanks Erin, Neely and Tracy for hosting this fun swap!

Birthday week the extended version, day 5

Hey guys!

Me again!

Remember me?! I'm the awesome lady doing this birthday week extravaganza and the extended version! Oh yea!!

Anyway, today we have Miss Carrie of the Frugal foodie mama.

When I asked Carrie her favorite thing about birthdays, she said:

The best thing about birthdays?  The cake, of course!  But I actually get a little more excited for ice cream cakes. ;)

And when I asked her her best birthday memory, she said:

I think it was maybe my 8th birthday, but I remember being so excited for my birthday party that year.  It was all purple and uincorns, my two favorite things. 

Carrie will be giving away this little prize pack full of awesome goodies to include: The prize pack includes a memo pad, a pack of tissues, a Got Coffee? scrabble pendant, and not pictured is 2 ready-to-brew 6 cup coffee filters.  The coffee filters she makes herself! You can have your choice of cinnamon or chai-spiced coffee.  She will grind and spice the coffee the morning of the day she sends out your prize!
How awesome is she?!




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Don't forget to go enter the other giveaways!!

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Wanna win a $60 target gift card?!

Hey hey guys!
Got an extra bit of giveaway goodness for you today!
Go check out this giveaway I'm part from The grant life.
Enter for a chance to win a SIXTY dollar target giftcard.
Yup. $60!!
How insane right?! Good luck, guys!

Entering is easy, just follow the instructions on the rafflecopter below. 

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Birthday week EXTENDED! day 4

Today we have Rachel from La La Lists and Beatriz from Daily living in Geneva

Rachel:

I asked Rachel her favorite thing about birthdays and what her best birthday memory was.

She said:

Favorite thing about birthdays: I won't lie to you… I like the attention. And the fact that I get an excuse to wear a glittery pink feather boa and a crown for the day. Best birthday memory: for one of my childhood birthdays we hired a creature lady who brought all sorts of cool animals! snakes, rabbits, birds, everything… and I had a pretty kick ass disney cake ;)

Rachel will be giving away:
A custom typographic design or a custom blog planner (includes weekly, monthly, and sponsor tracker pages)

Beatriz:

When I asked her to tell me her favorite thing about birthdays and her best birthday memory, she said:

My favourites things about birthdays are getting all together to eat, group photos and cake! At the student residence where I live whenever is someone's bday we do a potluck in the common kitchen. Everyone cokes something and we all share and try everything. Cakes are always the best!
My best birthday memory isnt even about me. Two years ago a friend and I organized Deni's surprise bday (my now boyfriend and loyal best friend back then). He is the type of person that would even forget his own bday so he didnt see it coming. We moved everyone to put a small amount of money to buy drinks, food and a present. We brought friends of him from all over switzerland and lied to him until the end. His face when he enter the dark small common tv room where we had prepared everything and everyone screamed "surprise!!" was worth everything in this world. And his happiness!he is someone that deserves all that amount of love. He promised me to never forget but even if he does, I know I never will.

Beatrice will be giving away a 200x200 ad space to include a guest post, extra love & social media shout outs AND a small surprise goodies bag!



And I'll be throwing in a $5 starbucks gift card!! Because, who doesn't love a good cup of coffee?!

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Don't forget to go enter the other giveaways!!

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Sponsor me, maybe?!

Stats:
gfc: 504 and growing daily. (I started Sept with 400!)
twitter: 531
facebook: 356
pinterest: 252

Monthly page loads:2,178
First time visits: 1,381

More info?! Click here for pricing and options

I'd love to have you join me in October!

Also, the code birthdayextravaganza saves you 27% off ALL ads.

Birthdayweek:extended version day 3!

Today we have Mrs Melissa of Lulu and Sweet pea.

She's here giving away a large ad space for the month of October and

When I asked Melissa her favorite thing about birthdays, she said:

I'm not gonna lie...my favorite thing about birthdays is the cake. I love me some birthday cake. Whether it's store bought or homemade (by homemade I mean a box that you add eggs & oil to btw), whether they are cupcakes or an ice cream cake. I LOVE CAKE. That is all.
And her best birthday memory:

My best birthday memory would have to be when I was probably 5 or 6. We were living in California & my uncle drove up to the mountains, filled the back of his truck with snow, and brought it to my house for my birthday party. I can vividly remember playing in a little pile of snow in our front yard before it all melted away. Then the same uncle got in trouble for spraying Silly String in the house & it got stuck on our sweet 80's popcorn ceiling. My mom was none too pleased, but the snow made up for it a little I think.







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Don't forget to enter
Day 1
Day 2
Day 4
of the extended version of birthday week extravaganza!

It's voting time!

Alright guys!

Once again, it's voting time!!

Vote for your favorite TPP link up of this month!!

Winner gets to be crowned the Pinterest Project Queen
and gets a free large ad on my blog, Sarah's blog and Melissa's blog for the following month!!

Ready?!

I'm excited!!

Here we go.....

**Next week, there will also be some monitoring of the links added. Remember The Pinterest Project is about making/creating/doing/trying the stuff you pin on Pinterest. Make sure to mention that in your post and add a link or button that leads back to one of the hosts' blogs! Thank you all again :)**

Birthday week extravaganza, the extended version. Day 2

Today we have Lissa from Looking Glass!

The lovely Lissa will be giving one of you a Large ad on her blog and a personalized Mary Kay glam set!


When I asked Lissa her favorite thing about birthdays she said:

my favorite thing about birthdays is the FOOD! i always get to choose where we go out to eat and, for 23 years, it's always been olive garden or applebee's. (i'm such a class act! haha) my mom used to make me chocolate muffins with peanut butter chips for breakfast every year, too. i'm tempted to start making them for myself out of tradition! :)

And when I asked her best birthday memory:

my best birthday memory is when my grandpa dropped off a balloon bouquet at school for third-grade me. i just remember walking down the hall with this HUGE bunch of balloons 4x the size of me, grinning from ear to ear, and feeling like the most special girl in the world.


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The extended version
Day 1

TPP Top 3 Most Clicked of the Week.

This week's top three are:

 

#1:  Homemade Reese's Cups from Come What May

#2: 50 Meal Marathon from The Busy Bee

#3: Light Peach Pie from The Pintertest Kitchen

 

 

My personal favorite of the week was 

 

Apple & Snickers "Salad" from Tyler of Rays of Purple!

 

 

Stop by tomorrow for voting for The Pinterest Project Queen of September!

A blogger's dream. (giveaway)

Hey there guys!

Bet you thought birthday week was over, huh?!

Well, I tricked you.

I tricked you SO good.

Today starts day 1 of birthday week extravaganza the extended version!

And today is pretty darn amazing!

If you're a blogger, you might just die of excitement.

See all these lovely ladies?!

We have:
Emily of Hope Squared
Brittany of The Denny Buzz
Amanda of Tales from a far
Carly from Texas Lovebirds
Megan of  And Here's to you, Mrs Robinson
Jessica of Girl Booklet
Erin of Simply Just Lovely
Chelsea of Yours Truly
Sarah of Fortune favors the brave
and Fantastical sharing of recipes
Jazmine of Life as a young momma
Ashley from I love you more than carrots
Gretchen from That mama Gretchen

Do you see all of them?!
They're all giving away ad space!
Awesome ad space!

Emily is giving away: A large ad & a custom header or about me image
Brittany is giving away: a medium ad
Amanda is giving away:
Carly is giving away: a large ad
Megan is giving away: a medium ad
Jessica is giving away: a large ad
Erin is giving away: a feature ad (XL)
Chelsea is giving away: a medium ad
Sarah is giving away: a medium ad on BOTH blogs
Jazmine is giving away: a medium ad for THREE months
Ashely is giving away: THREE small ads
Gretchen is giving away: a large ad

When I asked them all to tell me their favorite thing about birthdays and their best birthday memory, here is what they had to say!

Emily:
Favourite thing about birthdays  --  Obviously the cake.  Well as long as it's strawberry shortcake.  The homemade kind.  Preferably made by my mom.  Hey mom - if you're reading this I want a strawberry shortcake for my 33rd.  Least favourite thing about birthdays - getting old. 

Best Birthday Memory -- The year I turned 13 got a razor for a gift.  My hairy pre-teen legs were screaming to be shaved.

Brittany:

My favorite thing about birthdays is getting to celebrate your loved ones & letting them know how special they are to you! ....oh & definitely cake!!

My best birthday memory has to be celebrating my first birthday with my daughter!  It was so meaningful to have her there to celebrate with us & so much fun to get birthday hugs and kisses from my baby girl! 

Amanda:
My favorite thing about birthdays is that my birthday is my day. And I get an entire cake with my name on it! My best birthday memory was my 21st birthday. I was surprised with a day of my favorite things, Chick-fil-a; The Varsity; and a UGA football game!  

Carly :
Favorite thing about birthdays? Time with family and getting to eat at my favorite restaurant.
Best memory? On my 16th birthday all of my friends acted like they had plans and couldn't hang out with me, when in actuality that had all planned a surprise party for me. So fun!

Megan:

My favorite thing about birthdays is that you are celebrating life & loved ones especially in a world that can be depressing at times. My favorite birthday memories have to involve the times where I was surrounded by my friends & family. And of course a good birthday involves being {a little} spoiled and lots of oreos :) 

Jessica:
What I love about birthdays is not the presents or the yummy cake, but the fact that family and friends get together to celebrate someone's life, and celebrate the fact that they made it to another year. I think that is amazing.

My best birthday memory that I have is probably from my 15th birthday, not because I had a quinceanera (which I didn't have on birthday but 6 months after because of the weather ) The reason why this is my favorite birthday memory is because my closest friends threw me a small surprise party, which I thought was so great of them to do! I was not expecting it at all, and by coming from my good friends it made it extra special. And I love how my Mom was a part of it. I love her to death, she has always made me feel EXTRA special on my birthdays.

Erin:

I love birthdays because it's the perfect excuse for a huge celebration!  I'm pretty obsessed with party planning.

My best birthday memory was my 21st birthday.  One because it was an all weekend event involving Halloween costumes and lots of dancing, two of my favorite things!  And two because I was surrounded by family and friends and what's better than that!

Chelsea:
My favorite birthday memory: turning 20 and spending a great night wandering the beautiful city of Vancouver with people I love, randomly seeing these super awesome xylophone playing street performers and eating ridiculous amounts of chicken wings (like 6 pounds ridiculous,  nomnomnom).

My favorite thing about birthdays: lots of people coming together and being happy and doing happy things like eating cake. And chicken wings.

Sarah:

My favorite thing about birthdays is the cake. I don't really ever get excited for presents or the horrid awkward waiting for the birthday song to be done. I do like other people's birthdays though. Just not really my own.

My favorite birthday memory was my 21st birthday. Hubby came home from his first deployment the day before (a month early). Best present I could ever ask for :)
Use the code 3Bittles
to get 27% off an ad on either of Sarah's blogs.
Fortune favors the brave
Fantastical sharing of recipes

Jazmine:
My favorite thing about birthdays is that I get to spend it with my cute little family and friends. I have two favorite birthday memories. The first one was when I turned 21 in 2009 Rylan started to crawl. When I saw him crawling I seriously was a happy momma. My second one was when my husband and I found out we were pregnant with our second child. That was super exciting.

Ashley:
My Favorite Thing About Birthdays: Birthdays have always been a big deal around these parts. Looking back, there was never a year that passed growing up that my mom didn't celebrate my birthday without an over the top party for all of my friends. After all, it was that one day a year that was really all about me and let's be honest here- who doesn't love a day like that? I'd be lying if I thought that tradition shouldn't be carried over well into my (late) twenties. Thankfully, my husband acquiesces. My other favorite thing about birthdays? The cake. Definitely the cake.

My Best Birthday Memory: Oh gosh, how do I pick just one? I would have to say my best birthday memory took place way back in 1999 during my Sweet 16 party. Sweet 16's were a BIG DEAL where I grew up- I'm talking house parties and parties on boats and parties in mansions and parties in country clubs. Think: MTV's Sweet 16 series but without all the annoying and overly snobby brats and not nearly as many Mercedes. My Sweet 16 was hosted in the ballroom of a hotel during Hurricane Floyd. Yep, you heard that right. The hurricane that took out power lines all across the state of New Jersey. The party that my mom and I spent months planning? Was practically a wash. But my best friends traveled for hours through detours and flooded streets to celebrate with me. So although the guest list quickly dwindled from 150 to roughly 50 people in just a matter of hours, those who showed up come hell or high water made it that much more memorable for me.

Gretchen:
My favorite thing about birthdays is the party planning! Well, party planning for the little one's parties :) Last year we had a Jemma in One-derland theme for her first birthday celebration.

My best birthday memory was my 24th ... my daughter, Jemma, was born just 3 days before my birthday and snuggling her was priceless! In addition to her snuggles my family gave me my sewing machine along with my grandma's vintage sewing basket. Wonderful gifts and memories!

Don't forget you can use the code birthdayextravaganza to save 27% off on ALL of my ad spaces this month. Claim them now before they're all gone.

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Birthday week extravaganza, Day 5!

Today's giveaway is from:

Ms. Anna of Mama's Lil monkeys!

And Sarah of Designs by Dasar

Ms Anna will be giving one of you: a little minion beanie! I'm so in love with them, I want one for all of my ittle bittles!

I mean really... how stinkin' cute?!

She'll even add a bow on it if you'd like!

When I asked Anna her favorite thing about birthdays and her best birthday memory, her response was:
My favorite thing about birthdays would have to be spending quality time with family and eating cake, I'm a sucker for cake, especially if it is cookie cake! Best birthday memory would have to be from when I was 6 years old. I wanted the game Mouse Trap so bad, but I just knew I wasn't going to get it because we always got clothes for our birthday. As I opened the never-ending pill of clothes that I got my mom told me I had one more present. When she brought the box out I knew instantly what it was before even opening it, the game mouse trap!!! That was the best birthday ever!


Sarah will be giving away:



When I asked Sarah her favorite thing about birthdays and her best birthday memory, she said:
  I'm not a huge fan of my own Birthday. Another year older, those awkward thank you's you have to deliver to people you don't really know. Having to sit there, red faced, while a bunch of teenage waiters from Applebees sing Happy Birthday to you in front of the whole restaurant . No thanks. I prefer to celebrate other peoples Birthdays. I love making them smile, making them feel a little more loved and letting them know that I'm happy they were born!
 My favorite Birthday Memory has to be last year. I was opening presents from my parents. I had opened the last one and David (my Fiance) said something along the lines of "I have another one for you". He got down on one knee and proposed! It was so sweet. Although I was shocked and yelled at him. I also dropped the ceramic fairy statue that I had just opened from my parents on their hardwood floor and broke it's wings off. Oops. But it was definitely an amazing Birthday!


Don't forget to check out
Day 4
Day 3
Day 2
Day 1

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Birthday extravaganza day 4!

Today we have the lovely Paige from Eloping stethoscope

And my pretty friend, Bri from No boys allowed




Paige will be giving away one of her custom planners!



I have one and it's super super useful!

And Bri will be giving away this awesomesauce (I truly don't like this word) necklace




Cute, huh?!

When I asked them what their favorite thing about birthdays was and what their best birthday memory was, here's what they both said.

Paige:
What is your favorite thing about birthdays?: my fave thing about birthdays is getting treated special by my husband, Cody! I also love signing into facebook/twitter and seeing the happy birthdays!

What is your best birthday memory?: My best birthday memory is probably my 20th birthday in New Orleans. We were there for Mardi Gras and there was a team of street performers and I got to be in their show along with about 5 other people. We had to dance in front of a crowd and then one of the guys proved how awesome he was and flipped over us. Very cool! It's also not my character to get in front of a crowd so that was an awesome experience in itself, even if it hadn't been my birthday!

Bri:
What is your favorite thing about birthdays?
Well I'm almost at the age, that I don't like birthdays..but for a few
more years I still do. :)  My fave part would have to be everyone
thinks of you on that particular day. *shrugs* And I do love the
presents too. ;)

And your best birthday memory?
My fave birthday memory would have to be my 9th birthday-- the year I
got a trampoline. SCORE!  BEST PRESENT EVER!

One winner takes both.
(U.S. citizens only)

Don't forget to check out
Day 3
Day 2
&
Day 1

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Birthday week extravaganza, day 3

Are you guys loving this yet?!

I know I am!

Today we have the lovely Lauren from Tutus and Tea parties and Kelly from Messy Dirty Hair

Lauren will be giving TWO of you a crocheted flower headband
(colors shown below)!

How stinking cute are these?!

When I asked Lauren her favorite thing about birthdays and her best birthday memory, she said:

My favorite thing about birthdays is being surrounded by my family and friends. I could always do without gifts, but if I had to celebrate my birthday without the people I love...I'd be one sad birthday girl!

My favorite birthday memory is when my mom would always put a candle in my breakfast of choice the morning of my birthday, and now I do the same for my daughter.



And Miss Kelly will be giving away these adorable flower hairclips!

When I asked Kelly her favorite thing about birthdays and her best birthday memory, she said:

My favorite thing about birthdays is that i can wear my crown wherever I go. 

My best birthday memory would probably be my 5th birthday when i was surprised with a horse for the day & we got to have our own private horse to ride around on. Plus I got my favorite disney movie The Little Mermaid.

Day 2

Day 1

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