Giveaways

Giveaway! Giveaway! Give-A-WAAAAY! ²⁶

In case you couldn’t tell, the title of today’s post is a reference to Steven Spielberg’s 1991 fantasy adventure, Hook. (“Rufio! Rufio! RU-FI-OOOOOO!!)

Anyone?

Alright…moving on.

So…uh…how about this apocalypse? Pretty crazy, right? While I don’t believe that today is actually the end of the world (The Mayans may not have been the nicest people in the world …but even they wouldn’t be cruel enough to end our existence before the Top Chef Seattle finale episode!) it certainly has caused me to push aside pressing matters like online shopping and reality TV so that I might engage in some important reflection. Most of my time spend in deep thought has been in regards to all of the cool stuff I want to do before the world (or my existence in it) actually ends.

You know…things like starting a family, buying a home, traveling to Africa and finally finishing my book.

Yet one accomplishment seems to rise above all the rest.

Finally completing my freaking wedding album.

I know, I know…it’s been nearly six years and I still haven’t gotten my ‘ish together and compiled all of our photographs into some sort of keepsake. This partly because I’m lazy, partly because I design websites all day and get too burnt out to design my own stuff, and partly because I don’t actually care for my wedding photos all that much.

Unfortunately, the wedding snapshots have been hanging out on a very old laptop. So old, I fear it may decombust before this alleged apocalypse, taking all of my beloved wedding memories with it. It seems the time has come to finally get serious about making the album.

So, when the people at Moleskine gave me the opportunity to try out their MILK Bespoke Books, I jumped at the chance. I’ve been working on my Milk book all week, and am kind of obsessed with it. (Alright…maybe more than kind of. Let’s just say I totally skipped last night’s new episode of Project Runway All-stars as I was totally engrossed in the creation of the book. Yeah. It’s that serious.)

I’m planning on finishing the album over the Christmas holiday, but wanted to share some in-progress previews so you can see why I’m so gosh darn excited.

How do I love this book? Let me count the ways.

1. It’s quick. All day long I work as a designer. While I love my job, I never feel like doing anything design-ey once I’m off the clock. While this book looks very designed, it was actually incredibly simple. I literally just picked a theme and then dragged my photos in. There are tons of options for customization if you want, but if you’re simple in need of a wham-bam-thank you-ma’am photo book (which I was) they can do that, too.

2. The program is extremely easy to use. Even my mom could do it — and that’s saying something as she can’t even properly use eBay. (Example: She accidentally ordered my sister 6 of the same birthday gifts last month thinking she had only ordered one. After not figuring out how to fix it, she simply gave them all to her.)

3. It makes your ‘ish look good. Unfortunately, I’m not a huge fan of how my wedding photos turned out. But in this book? They look amazing! It’s astonishing what a simple layout and elegant details can do to jazz up some lacklustre images.

4. The quotes. Oh you know I love me a good quote. Being that the book is sixty pages, I appreciate being able to add some visual “rest areas” with cool sentiments on them. The best part? They have all the quote options built into the program. That means you don’t have to troll those annoyingly cheesy quote websites for the perfect passage…Milk has already done the grunt work for you.

5. It’s collaborative. When creating a photo book, you can share the book with friends via Facebook, Twitter or email. You can also invite up to nine friends to add and edit the book–how cool is that? It would be a perfect way to collect and document photos from a family vacation or group event. I invited Scott to contribute to our book, but he simply replied. “Sorry…I don’t like fairy tale stuff.”

Naturally, I immediately added this page.

Take that, Mr. Cynical!

6. It didn’t crash my computer. I’ve been doing this entire project via my ancient MacBook Pro that is essentially on life support. I assumed the process of uploading photos would take forever, but Milk has somehow magically programmed the photo book tool to be quick and crash-free…even if you’re on a dinosaur computer.

7. It looks fancy. This one’s pretty self-explanatory.

I am beyond thrilled to finish the book and finally have an actual wedding album. I’ve literally started this project four times with four different websites, and this is the only one I’ll finish. The books are stunning, the process was simple, and I didn’t have to rip my hair out sorting through a bunch of obnoxious photo filtering options. All in all, the process has been far less painful than I expected. Dare I say it, I’ve actually had fun working on this!

I have big plans for the finished project — namely, Scott Valentine’s Day gift. Sure, it’s gift that’s more for me than him, but I’m considering payback for V-Day 2004 — the year he presented me with an extremely unromantic jogging suit and tennis shoes. (On the bright side, he had the sense to select ones that were hot pink.)

The best part is that Scott isn’t the only one who will be receiving the gift of a Milk Bespoke photo book — I’m gifting a book to one of you! Here’s how to enter:

1. Pin the image below on Pinterest, and tell me about it in the comments section! (1 entry)

2. Tweet about the giveaway, and post a link to your tweet in the comments section (1 entry)

3. Post bout the giveaway on Facebook, and tell me about it in the comments section (1 entry)

4. Leave a comment sharing what type of book you would create. (1 entry)

That’s four chances to win! And remember, you must leave a comment for each way that you enter. I’ll randomly select a winner from the comments section on December 28, 2012 at midnight EST.

(That is if the world doesn’t end before then. But seriously…I don’t think the Mayan’s would want me to leave this world without getting to see a hard copy of my wedding album…right?)

*******

Psst! If you’re looking for the perfect last-minute Christmas gift, Milk is currently offering 25% off all gift vouchers!

Liked this? Then try these:

Recycling is gangsta

The Lens Crafter

This is why I'm not allowed in niche home decor boutiques

I’m ’bouts to drop $24 on one of you. ³⁰

This is my not-so-polite way of announcing it’s time for another giveaway!

Yesterday, Scott and I celebrated Independence Day by traveling to his dad’s house and picking raspberries.

That’s right — my father-in-law owns a raspberry and blueberry farm, which is all-around awesome. Partly because the berries just so happened to be fourth of July colors, but mostly because his name is Gerry, so I was able to make countless jokes about “Gerry’s Berries” while sweating profusely.

Best fourth of July ever.

Actually…it probably wasn’t the best ever. But it certainly was the healthiest. While I don’t know much about science, I’m willing to bet that berries are far better for you than hot dogs, and I’d like to personally thank Gerry’s Berries from saving me from myself, and my insatiable appetite for salty junk food covered in mustard.

Thank you, Gerry’s Berries.

Does anyone else feel like this just got really awkward?

Anyway…it was super hot in Minnesota yesterday. I’m talking Africa hot. As I literally dripped sweat in the tub of raspberries I was picking, I couldn’t help but think how back in Seattle, where all of my family was celebrating, it probably hadn’t even got up into the 70s. Yet here I was, working in the field, sweating my balls off in the 100+ degree weather.

(For the record, I don’t actually have balls. It’s just an expression.)

This entire experience made me really glad that I’m not a farmer. And that I don’t have balls. To be quite frank, I don’t think I could handle either one of those scenarios.

Yup. Definitely can’t hang with the big boys.

It also made me appreciate how very different every state I’ve spent time in is. The 50 unique states that constitute our nation are one of the things that make America truly special. I’ve been lucky enough to live in five of them (Alaska, Washington, Nebraska, New York and Minnesota) and have also visited 32 out of 50 — visiting the remaining 18 is actually a goal of mine.

Basically I love states.

I also love jewelry.

This is where the giveaway comes in.

One of you is going to be the lucky winner of one of these awesome necklaces from Louise Rose Designs!

You’ll be able to pick whichever state you like as a charm. Perhaps your home state, the state you currently reside in, or maybe, if you’re like my husband, you’ll select the state of Missisippi simply so you can point to it when people give you strange looks while you walk through the grocery store making demands in a loud, thick and obviously faux Southern accent.

(Yes, he actually does this.)

(At least he doesn’t wear charm necklaces, though.)

You have four chances to win the necklace, and can leave an individual comment for each. You must either be a subscriber, or like ‘Sota is Sexy on Facebook to be eligible to win.

Here are your options for entering:

1. Post a link to your favorite blog post (can’t be this one) on Facebook. (1 comment)

2. Pin this giveaway on Pinterest (1 comment)

3. Tweet your favorite blog post (can’t be this one). (1 comment)

4. Walk around the grocery store using a fake Southern accent and send me a video. Unless you’re actually Southern. Then you’ll just have to do a Minnesota accent. Or you could just leave a comment telling me the best and worst aspects of your current state. (1 comment)

That’s it! The contest will end on Thursday, July 12th, and 8:00pm CST.

Liked this? Then try these:

Jolie's super sweet 56.

The long drive home

I promise this is the last post about Sheila. (At least for a while.)

Giveaway! Best Book Ever ¹⁰

Alright, alright…so I technically haven’t read it yet.

Only because the electronic version I pre-ordered won’t be delivered to my iPad until May 1st when the book officially hits the shelves.

But I just know it’s going to be awesome.

Why, you ask?

Because it’s written by none other than the Queen of memoirs herself, Miss Jen Lancaster.

Meeting Jen at a book signing in Seattle last year.

Yeah, I met her.

Unfortunately, my intense Jen Lancaster girl-crush caused me to act totally insane, and completely freak Jen out as a result. You can read all about that little episode (and the shameful evening of wine drinking that later ensued) in this post.

I was first introduced to Jen’s writing when Scott presented me with one of her other books as an anniversary gift.

It may have just been the best gift ever. (And yes, that’s including my awesome birthday bicycle.)

There’s a chapter in her first book, Bitter is the New Black, that pretty much sums up why she’s my hero. In this chapter, Jen finds herself without a job and decides to go to the local unemployment office. While carrying a Prada bag.

I mean…does that not totally sound like something I would do? I mean…if I actually had a Prada bag?

She also once spotted a homeless man in downtown Chicago carrying a stolen Louis Vuitton briefcase. She convinced him she had cocaine in her lunch bag (she didn’t) and got him to trade her.

Basically, she’s an older, smarter, wealthier and generally more successful version of me. She’s also much more tan.

Reading’s Jen writing was actually what inspired me to start this very blog. She showed me that not only is it okay to be slightly neurotic…it’s also okay to share your idiosyncracies with the world! People may even (gasp!) like it!

Jen’s new book is titled Jeneration-X: One Reluctant Adult’s Attempt to Unarrest Her Arrested Development; Or, Why It’s Never Too Late for Her Dumb Ass to Learn Why Froot Loops Are Not for Dinner.

I’ll read anything that has cereal on its cover.

Photo via Jennsylvania.com

Here’s a description of the book:

In Such a Pretty Fat, Jen Lancaster learned how to come to terms with her body. In My Fair Lazy, she expanded her mind. Now the New York Times bestselling author gives herself—and her generation—a kick in the X, by facing her greatest challenge to date: acting her age.

Jen is finally ready to put away childish things (except her Barbie Styling Head, of course) and embrace the investment-making, mortgage-carrying, life-insurance-having adult she’s become. From getting a mammogram to volunteering at a halfway house, she tackles the grown-up activities she’s resisted for years, and with each rite of passage she completes, she’ll uncover a valuable—and probably humiliating—life lesson that will ease her path to full-fledged, if reluctant, adulthood.

Sounds amazing, right? As if you needed any more convincing, here’s a promotional video she shot for the book:

The woman is a genius.

A snarky, witty, scathingly honest, beautifully tanned genius.

Here’s how you can win the book:

1. You must be a subscriber (via email or a blog reader) to be eligible to win.

2. “Like” ‘Sota is Sexy on Facebook (1 entry) *If you already like the page, just leave a comment letting me know.

3. Tweet a link to your favorite blog post, which can’t be this post. (1 entry)

4. Post a link to your favorite post on Facebook, which again, can’t be this post (1 entry)

5. Pin an image from your favorite post on Pinterest explaining why you liked the post–and yes, you guessed it, you can’t pin this post (1 entry)

Please leave a comment on this post for EACH WAY you have entered. I’ll use your individual comments as entries. You can potentially enter four different times. I’ll select a winner via random number generator on Saturday, May 5th. Entries will be accepted until 10:00 pm, CST on Friday, May 4th.

That’s it! May the odds be ever in your favor!

Oh..err…wrong book.

Want more? Subscribe via email.

Liked this? Then try these:

Fifty Shades of Awkward

Scott Loves Oprah

Carrot Cake + Couture

Giveaway: Chanel Nail Polish! ⁵³

I’ve decided I’m now going to wear Chanel everyday.

Without going broke.

Remember this Facebook post from last week?

Actually, it was $52. I’m good at fashion, bad at math.

I haven’t painted my own nails in over a year…yet after reading Rachel Wilkerson’s rave review of Chanel Nail Vernis, I thought I might give it the old college try.

Yes, spending $26 on a single bottle of nail polish could be considered a bit excessive.

But then I considered this: I’ve been getting a manicure every 2-3 weeks and a pedicure once a month. That’s roughly $75 a month for nail care, which adds up to $900 annually.

So yes, in 2011 I spent nearly $1,000.

On nails.

Oh snap.

Looking at it that way kind of lessened the blow of $23 nail polish.

Also? The nail salon isn’t always relaxing for me. I spend the entire time terrified of being cut by the tools that, in my whacked out mind, will infect me with HIV. I realize that sounds incredibly insensitive (not to mention illogical), but in 2007 I truly convinced myself I had contracted AIDS from a nail salon for a good three months. Only when the woman at the free clinic told me to go see a psychiatrist and never to come back for the rapid HIV test did I finally snap out of it.

I believe her exact words were, “Oh you’re sick. Just not with AIDS.”

Needless to say, the nail salon tends to bring out some of my “cray cray”. Plus, I’m getting sick of the ladies who work there trying to force pregnancy upon me. I do not want a baby, I just want my nails done without contracting a blood-borne illness, thank you.

What I’m trying to say is, the Chanel polish will saving my bank account and my sanity.

When these puppies arrived in the mail earlier a few days ago, I might have done a few celebratory somersaults. Jolie claims they looked more like someone having a seizure, but I was wearing super tight skinny jeans and did the best I could.

The fact that my jeans didn’t rip is truly a miracle. I swear, the ghost of Coco Chanel must have been watching over me, or something.

The two colors I selected were “Distraction” (I wanted something bright for Spring) and “Particuliere” (I have a total addiction to neutral grey shades).

The colors are, in a word, dreamy. Much better in person and just the right shade. Even the peachy pink “Distraction” is neutral enough to coordinate with just about any color.

Suddenly, this super expensive nail polish thing is starting to make sense.

I was itching to paint my nails with the pink color.

But there was a slight problem. I still had a month-old Gelac manicure on my digits.

31 days after my manicure

I’ve got to hand it to Da at Foxy Nails. While she may be the only person in the world who wants me to get pregnant more than my mother, she gives a pretty durable manicure.

My nails had been painted with Gelac–a lightweight gel polish that combines the long-lasting effects of a gel nail with the easy application of a regular varnish. It doesn’t chip, and stays shiny for up to one month.The process requires a UV lamp for “curing”, and takes around 10 minutes to remove.

Unless you try to remove it yourself.

Then it will take upwards of one hour and twenty minutes.

And your nails will look like this:

Better stick to my day job.

It was the best I could do. And quite frankly, after 80 minutes of battling the nail polish that’s almost as stubborn as I am, I was pretty much over it.

Although I have to say…the removal process wasn’t totally monotonous.

Gang signs. That’s right…I’m starting a manicure gang.

The initiation is spending $900 a year on getting your nails done.

After another half hour of chasing Jolie around the condo with my foil fingers, it was finally time to dress my hands in Chanel Les Vernis.

Let me preface this by explaining that I am terrible at painting my nails. The last time I tried to DIY my manicure (in bright red) it looked as if I had attempted to butcher a rabid squirrel with my bare hands.

I am not exaggerating.

Which is why I was shocked when my Chanel manicure turned out like this:

I dont’ know if it’s the high-end polish, the fancy brush, or the fact that I tried unusually hard not to screw things up…but they actually look kind of…nice. And, if the reviews are accurate, they won’t chip.

(Insert seizure-looking sommersaults here.)

I realize the texture is a little rough and bumpy. This is due to the fact that I didn’t have a nail file to buff my nails after removing the insanely cantankerous Gelac polish. I essentially painted directly over nail beds that had the texture of steel wool.

My toes (which did NOT have petrified gel polish that needed to be removed with a sledgehammer) provide a more accurate representation of the glorious polish that has pretty much changed my life.

Chanel + Target + Feet = Katrina in a nutshell

Oh…you like the shoes?

As promised, I stopped at Target to make sure I completed “part B” of my Epic Pinterest fail turned glorious shoe shopping success.

Yeah. Rockin’ these mama’s is way better than sewing a giant bean bag or painting an octopus on canvas. (No offense, Sherry and Katie.)

As if the new shoes, designer nails and 70 degree weather wasn’t enough, I finally made my debut at the brand new Stargetbucks of Small Town.

No matter how warm the weather, I prefer my lattes hot.

You can take the girl out of Seattle, but you can’t take the Seattle out of the girl.

Basically, that’s the “clever” way of saying that after guzzling this bad boy, I ate a pound of smoked salmon before slipping into a pair of Birkenstocks.

With socks.

Just kidding. Do you really think I’d slip on hippie shoes instead of prancing around the house in my new Pinterest heels? I’m not that Seattle.

Jolie thinks my attempt at walking in the heels made me look like an uncoordinated giraffe going through puberty.

I think she’s just jealous that I can actually wear shoes. And go through puberty.

“Who needs shoes when you look this sexy?”

Despite her cheap shots at my gracefulness, today was pretty much the best day ever.

And it can be just as fabulous for you — because I’m giving away a bottle of Chanel Polish to one lucky reader! You’ll be able to pick from these 37 adorable colors that Nordstrom has to offer:

And you have five, yes, five chances to enter! Leave a comment on this post for each one of the following:

1. Follow this blog in your reader or via email subscription. (1 comment…you can still comment if you’ve already followed!)

2. Like ‘Sota is Sexy on Facebook (1 comment…you can still comment if you’ve already “liked”!)

3. Share your favorite post (can’t be this one) on Facebook (1 comment)

4. Share your favorite post (can’t be this one) on Twitter (1 comment)

5. Pin your favorite post (can’t be this one) or the blog homepage on Pinterest (1 comment)

Each comment you leave on this post will counts as one entry. You must leave a comment on this page for your entry (or entries) to count. The giveaway closes at 8PM EST on Thursday, March 22.

*******

Here’s to Stargetbucks, buying things you found on Pinterest, and spending way too much money on nail polish!