And The Winner Is...

Drumroll please! The winner of my first blog giveaway is....

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to bring you this very important message.
(You didn't really think I was just gonna blurt it out, did you? Silly goose.)

I wanted to clue you all in a little on why I did the giveaway and how I selected a winner. I know you probably don't care, but I'm telling you anyway.

The first and most obvious reason is that I'd hoped to get more followers for my blog. Shameless, right? But it actually did work. I went from having one follower to having six. And I didn't even make following my blog a requirement for entry into the giveaway, as so many other bloggers do. Ok, sure, I may lose five of you after I make the announcement of who won the Starbucks Gift Card, but I appreciate you stopping in, nonetheless.

The second reason I did it was... well, there really wasn't a second reason. Driving traffic to the site was about it. Pitiful? Yes. Effective? Somewhat.

Now, as to how I selected a winner, there was only one way to be fair, since many of the entrants were friends of mine.

A huge shout out to all of you, by the way, for putting up with my constant tweets and status updates about the giveaway; so glad none of you unfriended me, though I sure would understand if you'd blocked me from your news feed for a few days. It's okay to turn my news feed back on now. Really. I promise. Please?

Back to how I picked a winner (and how all winners of future giveaways will be selected!)

Each comment was assigned a number in sequential order as it was posted and provided it was within the timeframe specified. Once I had all the entries, I headed over to RANDOM.ORG and used their awesome Random Number Generator. You just put in your starting and ending numbers and it will pick a random number for you.

In this case, it selected number 13. Yes, lucky number 13.

And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming

Making the winner of the $25 Starbucks Gift Card...

The envelope please....

AztecConsulting! Congratulations!
I will be contacting you shortly for information on how to collect your winnings.

To the rest of you who didn't win this time, be not discouraged, there will be more giveaways.

Thank you so much for participating, and for sharing your awesome Starbucks drinks with me; I will definitely be ordering some, ok, most, of these at some point in my future.

Here's to a caffeinated weekend!

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Starbucks is My Friend: A Giveaway

Two days on the new job and I am exhausted! Don't get me wrong, I love what I'm doing (so far) and am looking forward to tackling the many, many things that need to be tackled, so the exhaustion is exhilarating. But yeah, I'm definitely exhausted.

Never one to need an excuse to pay my local Starbucks a visit, if these last two days are any indication of what my days are going to be like, well, let's just say that it would behoove me to buy some Starbucks stock.

Now, there are some of you that are likely thinking, "Wow, must be nice to be able to afford a $6 blended coffee drink every day [insert sarcastic tone here]" but the reality is, I try to limit the blended drinks to no more than one every one or two weeks. Too many carbs and/or fat. No, I actually go there for straight up java. It's strong, caffeinated, tasty, and did I mention strong? And these days, strong coffee has become a necessity. I'm actually trying to figure out a way to safely mainline the stuff straight into my veins; I'll let you know if I find a good solution.

In the meantime, I will keep a steady supply on hand for the long days ahead. Call me addicted. And because I know so many of you are also java junkies, for whatever your reasons, "It tastes great!", I am finally ponying up the giveaway I've been teasing you with these last two weeks.

Here's the skinny (latte, anyone?) on the giveaway:

The prize - One $25 Starbucks gift card, to be used at a Starbucks of your choosing for your favorite java concoction.

To enter the contest - tell me, by way of a comment on this post (be sure to include your email address so I can contact you if you win!), your favorite Starbucks drink. Are you a "Tall Pike's Peak with lip for cream", a "Grande Skinny Cinnamon Latte"or a "Triple Venti Soy Caramel Macchiato?" (my personal favorite when nothing but a blended drink will do.)

One entry per person, please! (Multiple entries by the same user will be deleted!)
The winner will be selected randomly from the comment entries.
Entry deadline is 5pm (CST) Friday, March 26, 2010.
Winners will be announced sometime over the weekend; exactly when will depend on my level of exhaustion!

One last bit of messy housekeeping: Contest open to US residents only. Sorry rest of the world!

Here's to having some Starbucks, on me!


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Girl Time, Girlie Food

My husband went out of town this past weekend, to spend some time with the guys and get in touch with his "wild at heart" man.

This meant I had the weekend to myself and I chose to spend it in one of my favorite ways; hanging out with my girlfriends eating girlie food.

Yes. Girlie food.

There are some things guys, my husband in particular, just prefer not to eat. Don't ask me why. It's perfectly respectable food. Still, apparently it's not manly. Therefore, I eat this "girlie" food whenever my husband is out of town, or any other chance I have to enjoy girl time.

Started the day by putting together my favorite quiche. It's chock full of all kinds of goodies.

There's bacon.

And butter. Ah, butter. You make everything right.

We also have onions. Sweet. Softened in butter. Delicious.

And finally mushrooms and artichokes. Oh my.

All this encased in egg, cream, and swiss cheese, and we have a beautiful quiche.

Now, a girl cannot live on quiche alone. 

So we had the quintessential girl food - salad.

But not just any salad. This was my special spinach and fruit salad, topped with delightful chevre cheese crumbles and lightly drizzled with a homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

With these tasty dishes as our main entrees, I had to find something equally delicious as a starter, but something that could also serve as a snack tray.

I decided on a fruit and cheese tray. Raspberries, apple slices, grapes, and strawberries all complimented the smoked gouda, brie, and creamy chevre decorating this noshing tray.

Of course, girl time is just not girl time without the absolute, must have, girl food - chocolate!

This truffle tray:

and these spicy Mexican chocolate soufflés,

were the perfect finish for an awesome afternoon with my girlfriends.

Ladies, if you don't already have a girl day established in your routine, I highly recommend it, if for no other reason than to have an excuse to partake of these girlie treats among your girlie friends

Here's to the power of girls, and their food!

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