And the winner is...

The lucky winner of the $50 CSN giftcard is Kelly of She Wears a Red Sox Cap! I actually referenced her in the blog post - maybe that was her good luck charm!!

Kelly, I will email you the details! Happy shopping!

Giveaway Time!

Greetings - it's almost Friday! Yippee!

The lovely team at CSN has offered to do another giveaway post. By now I assume most of you are familiar with CSN. They have anything from modern dining room furniture to cookware to bedding. They have 200+ websites, so the options are endless.

One lucky winner will receive a $50 gift certificate to use on one of their sites!

If I had $50 to spend, I'd maybe use it towards...

this All-Clad 12" Frying Pan...

or a Wusthof paring knife...

or perhaps I would use it towards this mandolin. I have wanted one for a while but now I REALLY want one after reading Kelly's post about Parsnip fries last week! Yum!

To enter the giveaway, please comment by 10 pm CST on Wednesday, January 26th and let me know what you'd purchase! I'll announce the winner next Thursday!

My Best Summer Ever & a Winner

It's time to announce the winner of last week's book giveaway!

I had so much fun reading about your favorite summer jobs last week. So before announcing the winner, I'd like to share my favorite summer job!

During the summer of 2001, I moved out to Steamboat Springs, CO with a sorority sister to move in with her aunt and uncle who both worked for resort management companies. I had never been to Colorado so was so excited for a new experience!

With her aunt , we secured front desk jobs at two different properties. I worked at Thunderhead Lodge, which was located at the base of the main mountain, and Amy worked at another place called, The Lodge. We spent our days greeting guests, checking people in, and suggesting activities for our guests. I absolutely loved my job.

I didn't have a digital camera back then and haven't been able to track down as many photos as I'd like to share, but here are a few!

It's hard to believe this photo was taken 9 SUMMERS AGO. I like to think that I haven't changed too much since then.

Hiking Fish Creek Falls. Oy vey, those jean shorts were hideous. Err, the whole outfit is a bit of a disaster. And seriously - who hikes in jean shorts??

Relaxing in the natural springs - clothing was optional at night! How risque!

It's hard to believe that I actually took this picture on a hike. It looks like something you'd find in a book! I wish I had a digital copy to enlarge and hang in my condo.

The summer came to an end and I had the hardest time leaving Steamboat. There is this phenomenon known as "The Yampa Valley Curse". I met many, many people who came for a ski season and stayed for a lifetime - like my friend's aunt & uncle! They were so sure I had fell under the curse. But I had two years of college left, so staying wasn't an option. Luckily, I was able to come back out and work over the following 2 Christmas breaks. I'll have to tell you about my first experience skiing sometime!

That summer was truly the summer of a lifetime. My eyes were opened to another area of the US that I hadn't experienced before. Colorado is so breathtakingly beautiful, I feel like I would need "less" if I lived there. I gained more of a sense of independence since it was the first time I had been away from my home state for a considerable amount of time.

After graduating from college, I strongly considered moving back out there. But after a couple of discussions with my manager in Steamboat, I decided that I needed to try a different path first. I loved Steamboat, but I also know it's a city full of Peter Pans. In a way, it is sort of the equivalent of Never Land. Although, I will say I probably wouldn't be single if I lived there as the guy to girl ratio is something like 10 to 1! Those are my kind of odds. ;)

I am happy as a city mouse, but I still miss Colorado. If I were to relocate anywhere, the Denver area would be at the top of the list. I hope to some day get my family to take a vacation out there (hopefully these photos will convince them that this is an area that they need to check out). I'm already working on getting my sister & her husband to meet me there - possibly next summer - since it's pretty central for us (she lives in Tucson, I live in Minneapolis).

After all, I am pretty sure I could hook us up with a pretty sweet deal.

Alright, enough reminiscing. It's time to announce the winner of Summer at Tiffany! The winner is...

Nora from Walking With Nora!!

I'll be reviewing more books for TLC Book Tours, so I there will be more book giveaways to participate in this summer!

Book Reviews & a Give Away: Summer at Tiffany

During the summer of 1945, Marjorie Hart and her best friend Marty Garrett, sorority sisters from the University of Iowa, decide to move to New York City for a summer of adventures. After several unsuccessful attempts to find jobs, they are able to secure positions as pages at Tiffany & Co. Marjorie Hart's memoir, Summer at Tiffany, chronicles their time in this great city during a pivotal time in our nation's history. This book was not published until 2007 but you would have thought that Hart wrote this book as a young girl. She successfully captured the excitement and naivety of her younger self, which I think would be difficult to do! You could just sense the wide-eyed wonder of the author as she described their day to day experiences!


Hart and her best friend had so many "once in a lifetime: experiences. They joined the celebration in Times Square on VJ Day. They were working the day that Judy Garland came into the store with her fiance to select a piece of jewelry. Hart met Mr. Charles Lewis Tiffany II, grandson of the founder of Tiffany.

Life wasn't all joy and bliss during this time, though. After all, a war was being fought. Hart shared what it was like to find out a relative had been killed; she spoke of the anxiety of opening letters from home, fearing what news her parents would be sharing.

All in all, it was a fun, light, summer read. I believe I read it in about 2 days, so it is a quick, engaging read. It will leave you dreaming of 1940's fashion and the beautiful jewelry of Tiffany & Co.

I received this book through TLC Book Tours and I'd like to give away my copy! To enter the giveaway, leave a comment and tell me about the best summer job you've had. You have until 8 pm on Tuesday, June 15th to leave your comment. I will then announce the winner on Wednesday, June 16th!

And the Winner is...

Greetings & Happy Friday! This has been a fun, but packed week for me. I totally over-scheduled myself and barely ran. Now I remember why I usually only accept social plans on one week night (v. 3 this week). I have a relaxing weekend ahead of me at the cabin, though. The temps should be in the 80s tomorrow! I can't wait to lay out on the dock with a great book. I have some wonky tan lines (I sort of have a farmer's tan) from last weekend in Tucson so I need to try to get rid of those - otherwise my dress options for the wedding next week are going to be a bit limited!

It's time to announce the winner of my giveaway from last week. Last time I did a giveaway, I told my sister Abby about my methodology for selecting a winner. I think it's a pretty common method but she thought it was so involved and said I must share it next time I do a give away. So here is how it worked:

1. I entered the names into an excel spread sheet. If you were a follower, I entered your name is 2 cells.

2. I then used the random number generator command in excel which is =Rand(). Excel then assigns a random number between 0 & 1.

3. I then sorted the number from lowest to highest, and ranked them from 1 to the highest (28 in this case).

4. I then used random.org to pick a number between 1 & 28.

And the winner is...

J from Morning Runner. J - send me an email at lisasyarns@gmail.com with your address so I can pass this onto the give away sponsor!

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend! Any fun plans?

Giveaway Time!

Happy Friday and hello from Tucson. I'm so excited about being in Tucson, I want to find a mic, hook up some speakers and speaker stands and announce that it was 90 degrees here yesterday. Alleluiah, I have officially thawed out people! You probably don't want to hear me gush on and on about how great it is to be on vacation - so instead I will tell you about a fanstastic giveaway that is being sponsored by CSN Stores.

You have a chance to win a Cuisinart Round Classic Waffle Marker!!!

As I said in my miscellany post on Monday, I think a waffle iron should be on every person's bridal gift registry. One of my favorite parts of my weekends at home or at the cabin are the big family breakfasts that my mom prepares. Luckily there is an awesome gluten free baking mix that makes fantastic pancakes! I keep a bag of it at my parents' house and cabin so that I can also enjoy waffles and pancakes along with the rest of my gluten-eating family!

There are three ways to enter this giveaway*:

1. Leave a comment & tell me how you like your waffles - I like mine with whipped cream & freshly sliced strawberries!

2. Become a follower and leave a comment telling me you are a follower - or if you are already a follower, leave a comment telling me you are already a follower.

3. Post about this giveaway on your blog and include the link to your blog post in a comment.

The giveaway is open until 10 pm on Thursday, May 20th. I will announce the winner on Friday, May 21st. I will then pick a winner using a random number generator and pass your info onto CSN stores; the waffle iron will be shipped directly to your residence!

Good luck!!

* Giveaway is only open to US and Canada residents

And the winner is...

Time to reveal the winner of my giveaway!

And the winner is....

Nicole from My Life with a Crazy Puppy! Nicole, please send me your address. I will try to get the hat & scarf made within the next month or so!

I am heading up to my parents' today at noon. I had originally planned to leave after work, but they are forecasting a storm so I decided to take a 1/2 day today. I am not crazy about driving in the dark by myself and REALLY don't like driving in the dark by myself when it's storming. So even though it kind of sucks to waste vacation time driving, it's totally worth the peace of mind of knowing I'll get to my hometown safe and sound!

I'll be at my parents' house through Friday and then we head to the cabin for the remainder of the weekend. I can't wait to spend the next 4 days with my family! I plan to sleep in tomorrow, soak up the time with my family, play the piano, and do some knitting.

I hope you all have a safe and fabulous weekend! I'll be back on Monday with some sort of recap! I can't wait to hear all about your holiday - and catch up on the posts from this week. I have not had time in the evenings to do much blog reading, but I promise to get caught up eventually!!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Giveaway Time!!

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

It's been awhile since I've done a giveaway. 'Tis the season for giving, so I thought now would be the perfect time to give something away!

So what will I be giving away?

Well, after your favorable response to the hat and scarf that I showed you last week, I've decided that would be a great giveaway. The best part (in my opinion) is that the winner gets to pick the color of the scarf/hat! They have to be the same color, but you can pick whatever color your heart desires. I'm kind of a yarn snob, so you'll have to pick a color offered by Malabrigo. Mine was done in Pearl, in case you were wondering.

There are a couple of ways you can enter this giveaway:
1. Leave a comment, telling me what color you would choose (click on the Malabrigo hyperlink and leave the name of the Malabrigo color).
2. Become a follower, and comment, telling me you are a follower. If you are already a follower, leave another comment letting me know you are a follower.
3. Blog about this giveaway and leave a comment with the link of your blog entry.

You have until 10 pm on Tuesday, December 22rd. I will then announce the winner on Wednesday, December 23rd.

Since the scarf & hat will be made to order, you'll probably have to wait about a month to receive it - but hopefully you'll understand since it will be made especially for you!!

PS - I have no affiliation with Malabrigo. It just happens to be one of my favorite brands of yarn!!