200 Already?

I can't believe I already hit 200 posts! I think that is just crazy. I know I wrote this almost exact post for 100 posts- but still, I can't believe I am doing this.

So many people around me think I'm crazy and think that it is "just a stupid side thing to pass my time". A lot of my friends discourage me whenever I talk about blogging- or just nod and say "uhuh, sure Stevie".

But I have written 2-0-0 posts! That is not something to take lightly. I am super proud of all 200 of my posts this year. Hell, I was proud and happy when I hit my first 10 posts!

So, right now, I want to say a big thank you to everyone here who supports me. Everyone who stops by my little section of the internet every now and then. THANK YOU.

And to all of you bloggers out there- the bloggers that have the support from your family and friends- to those of you that don't have that support system- and to people like me that have a little of both- THANK YOU FOR BLOGGING!

BIG SMILES FROM ME <3

I hope you all have a fantastic day today- whether you are blogging or not! Just be happy!

Now, I am off to set up the final touches for our craft show tomorrow. Wish me luck!

A kind heart and a cute candle.

I love promoting handmade.

Whenever there are giveaway events that I participate in, I love to get sponsors who create handmade items. I know I have said this many many times in the past but it is truly something I am passionate about.

Being able to promote someone's items and bring traffic to their gorgeous pieces, puts a smile on my face.

I have worked with some great sponsors over the past year and it has truly been an honor for me. One of my favorite sponsors was Marcy from Pics, Petals, & Scents.

Marcy creates sweet smelling handmade soaps and candles.I did a review of Marcy's soaps last month and I was amazed that before even opening up the package, the scent was so strong (yet airy) it filled up the space around it! The soaps scents never faded---- and an added bonus was the soaps looked absolutely adorable!

Once I got home from vacation this past week, I had a package from Marcy that I was not expecting! Marcy, being the sweet woman that she is, sent me one of my favorite items from her shop! The Jell-o Candle!

Along with this candle, she sent me two handmade soaps!

I couldn't believe Marcy did this. I immediately emailed her thanking her for her generosity. I also told her that she did such an amazing job making this Jell-o candle look real- my sister came upstairs and grabbed a spoon not knowing it was a candle! That could have ended badly! Thank God my mother stopped her haha.

I have to admit, I don't know when I plan on using the candle because it really does look so beautiful!!! I am dying to use it- but I might wait another week or so because I love the way it looks in my room ha ha. I did in fact use one of the soaps though- and just like her previous soaps it was a strong, airy sent- not too much- but just enough to keep me wanting to breathe it in!

I am so grateful that Marcy sent me these items. Pics, Petals, & Scents has an amazing selection of items that I will recommend to everyone! And along with great quality items, Marcy is a pleasure to work with. When I told her I planned on writing a blog post about these items- she respoded ---that is not why I sent them to you, you don't need to do that. THAT, RIGHT HERE, is one of the special qualities that Marcy posseses. I understood completely that it was not an obligation for me to write this post... but if I can spread the word about this great shop- then I will do whatever I can. As I said earlier- it is a passion of mine to promote handmade items- and it's even better when the shop owner is so nice, ha ha!

I know there has been times in the past where I have purchase an item from a shop and the owner is just rude and not pleasant to deal with. I won't go back to those shops. Good people really make a difference in my opinion- and Marcy is one of the best.

So Marcy- THANK YOU! It has been a great pleasure to work with you!

Totsy Giveaway! LOW ENTRIES!

Have you entered my amazing Totsy giveaway yet? Well, what are you waiting for? It has UNDER 100 entries, and it has the very easy Rafflecopter form to enter! Stop on over and enter!

CLICK HERE TO ENTER!

You can't win if you don't enter! Look at the great toys you can win!!!

Crazy, Hectic Week!

Sorry I haven't been around much! Now that I am home from vacation I actually realized how much work I have to do. I was crazy to go away for two weeks (even though it was glorious!).

Starting from August 20th- October 1st we have a craft fair almost every weekend.

August 20th: Milford Oyster Festival

August 28th (day after my birthday!)- Easton Jazz Festival

Sept 4th: St Jude's Fair

Sept 24th: Southbury Women's Arts Festival

The two weeks off in between are 1. A joint birthday party for myself and my three good friends. and 2. A family reunion for my father's side of the family.

And as of TONIGHT, we just got a gigantic order for a bridal party- we need to have 16 pieces completed by first week of October.

Um, this is all amazing but- wow, a TON of work! I am really having high hopes here that everything runs smoothly.

So far this week mymother and I have been designing our table displays, making labels, making signs, pricing all items, taking inventory, and organizing boxes. Along with all of this we *officially* bought our own website so I am trying to design it so it isn't just a blank error page.

Ever have one of those weeks? haha.

And with all of this- we design the table displays- take pictures of how we like it- and pretty much every craft fair we have ever done- WE NEVER USE THE PICTURES TO MAKE THE DISPLAYS THE SAME!
Here are the shots from this time around:

I cut the middle shot out because there's a very special necklace we created for The Oscars and I wasn't quite ready to share it here yet. It's a surprise for another post! <3

Does anyone here do the same thing we do? Get ready for a craft show and take all of these pictures to make sure you remember what to do and then end up never looking at the pics? Am I just crazy? haha.

Well, hopefully we will get everything organized and ready for the next month of craft shows and events.

Wish us luck!

Totsy Review & Giveaway!

I came across Totsy over my travels while blogging. I love a good deal, and Totsy definitely has that! Do you not know what Totsy is? Well, it's a good thing I'm here then- I'll explain it to you!

Totsy is an amazing sale website that is perfect for mom, kid, and family! And even for us "non-moms" too (I bought tons of stuff for all of my friends babies that they just love!!). Each sale usually lasts around 48-72 hours, and the website is invite only.

I was lucky enough to review one of Totsy's items...The Melissa and Doug Horseshoe Set!

As most of you know, I was in Florida this past week- which was the perfect time to use this game with my best friend's adorable son Bradyn. I have to tell you, this game is meant for ages 5+. I understand that completely- and any child who is not 5 is not recommended to use this toy.

Bradyn is not 5 yet. Not even close actually, so I do not recommend doing this at home folks! But with our supervision we all played with this game. Bradyn LOVED playing with the horshoes just giggling to himself and flailing them around- and the adults actually had fun playing the actual game!

I actually have about 50 or so pictures of him playing with this game... he wouldn't put it down! It was the cutest thing I've ever seen! And the fact that us adults got to actually play with the game was a ton of fun too (yes, we are all big kids at heart!)

The horseshoes came in two different colors with adorable designs on them!

 They were extremely lightweight yet suprisingly sturdy- it seems like it would take a lot to break these things.

The fabulous people at Totsy so graciously offered to do a giveaway on Jewels for Hope; The Blog! Since they do not duplicate items, the Melissa & Doug Horseshoe Set is no longer an option, but they are offering two amazing Melissa and Doug items! The matching crab hourglass sand/water funnel and buckets.

Want to win it?

Please fill out the rafflecopter form below!
You must be a Totsy member to participate in this giveaway (either exsisting or new).

Only open to the U.S.

***I did receive the horseshoe set free of charge from Totsy. All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own and were not influenced in any way by receiving this item for free. ***

Global Resort Homes

I was lucky enough to win a weeks vacation from Life with 5 Monkies to a Global Resort Home. I was thrilled that I won- I couldn't believe it for weeks! I really needed a good vacation this year since I was so ill most of last year.

We drove down from Maryland to Florida on August 5th to be there by check in time on August 6th. I have been back and forth with one of the Global Resort Home Reps- Tara. She was so sweet during this whole experience- I would recommend her to anyone!

After the extremely long drive, we were itching to get to the home. We had no idea what to expect because as we all know, pictures can sometimes be decieving. Corey was nervous we wouldn't even have a reservation down there- since he doesn't understand blogging at all- he had no faith in me that this was actually real.

We pulled on our street and my breath stopped.

AB-SO-LUTELY GORGEOUS.

I thought I was dreaming.

We were able to get the resort I requested, Paradise Palms. I can't even begin to describe how amazing this place is. The pictures did not do it justice!

My pictures don't do it justice either, ha ha. All the pictures above are of just the lobby area! Did you see how beautiful it is?

Once we were in the lobby everyone was so attentive and helpful. The staff really couldn't have been nicer. And that was a real change from normal, at least compared to the drive down to Florida- let's just say the places that we stayed were definitely not as high quality with the atmosphere or staff like this place!

After leaving the lobby we went to our own house. I honestly didn't think it could get any better then the lobby... guess what? It did!

Um, Gorgeous?

The best part about this house? I GOT MY OWN BATHROOM! There was F-O-U-R bathrooms in this house. After having all of my gal bladder issues last year- even though I am better now-- I still tend to vomit more often then I'd like from different foods (greens, mushrooms, fats, etc). Sooo, the fact that I had my own bathroom pretty much made this house heaven for me.

We were supposed to have a total of 6 people staying with us this week- Myself, Corey, Paul, Loren, Loren's friend and one of Corey's friends. 2 people ended up bailing- Loren's & Corey's friends. They really lost out on this one!!

Along with having this gorgeous house, the other top reason (besides my personal bathroom) is the pool. I am a pool girl. I love tanning, love swimming, love it all. And with Global Resort Homes, I got TWO pools. A cute personal sized one that was attached to our house (midnight swimming anyone?)- and the main one near the clubhouse. Along with the pools- at the clubhouse they had not one, but TWO hot tubs there!

This vacation was picture perfect! If only there was more sun I would have said it was my favorite vacation of all time (lemme tell you, it rains A-LOT in  Florida!). Even with all the rain though, Global Resort Homes is prepaired...  Free Movie Theater Anyone?

Yep, they have their OWN movie theater in the lobby! See my two favorite men right there trying to see how it is? We didn't actually get the chance to watch a movie in there this week- because even with the rain we were out and about... but I think this is a perfect addition to the resort! So if your family is staying for a week and maybe one of your kids is not a "pool person" they can go right through the lobby and watch a movie. Who wouldn't love that?

Oh, I wish I were back now.

From the bottom of my heart I want to thank Life with 5 Monkies and Global Resort Homes for this amazing trip! It will go down in the books for me, and I would recommend this glorious resort to anyone. I hope I am able to go back soon- possibly when there is more sun so I can utilize their fabulous pool a bit more.... maybe once I'm no longer unemployed I can start saving ha ha. Oh, a girl can dream, right?

A Fun Souvenir Giveaway!

Fabulous Followers... I have a little surprise treat for you! While on my two week vacation, of course I had to pick up a few goodies to give away to you guys! I wish I could have gotten something for everyone- maybe when (not if!) I become rich and famous I could do that!

For now though, I got a ton of little gifts for one winner to get! These are all souvenir gifts that I thought were adorable!

Some of these items were purchased by me- others I won at Dave & Busters (so much fun! I'll write about that place in another post!), and some of the items I got for free for being amazing( haha!). I have absolutely no idea how much this prize package is worth- let's say it is worth a ton of love! Corny? Maybe. But, it's my blog- I can be as corny as I want.

Now, for the goodies? Don't laugh- I love each and every one of these items! And there may also be some surprise gifts included that I am not mentioning here.....possibly some earrings or a necklace, maybe? I like surprises.

Florida Flip Flop Magnet!

Pretty Purple Sand & Shells in a bottle!

 Donald Duck Pen!

 Flip Flop Picture Holder

 Pretty Princesses Mini Doodles Coloring Set!

Extra Large Bubbles! (Fun!)

A Gigantic Tie! (Look below for my Fiance modeling the tie for us! He wasn't happy to be modeling it hahaha. But I needed a real person to show it off!)
(*Please note, Fiance does not come with tie-
as much as I would love it if that was the case, hahaha kidding!)

A Dave & Buster's Hacky-Sack

Don't Bother Me I'm Crabby Glass

Aren't these some fun gifts? I hope you think so!

For this giveaway, I am having links to all my social media sites as entries, AS WELL AS, helping out the ones I love and the groups I am a part of. Got to help my peeps out (haha, don't worry- I won't say "peeps"ever again. Promise.)

Want to win?

**Only open to U.S.**
**** This giveaway is sponsored by me. Dave & Busters is in no way affiliated with this giveaway. No other company is affilitated with this giveaway. I either won all of these items or purchased them myself. ****

Did You Miss Me? I Missed You!

I'm Back!

It's official... my two week vacation is now over. I am back in the comfort of my own home and as much as I love vacation- I am happy to be back!

The whole vacation was such a great time, I can't believe it is actually over though! I had been looking forward to this for the better part of this year already. It's sad that it is over now.

I have so much to tell you all I don't know where to start! Okay, This is defnitely going to be broken up into sections.. so let me get all the details out about my first week's vacation in Ocean City with my family.

This is us. Myself (to the right), my two sisters Krista & Layla, Krista's friend Inez, and my parents. We had almost a perfect week. We sat around at the beach and at the pool for most of the vacation- which is just the way I like it. Personally, I don't have to leave those two areas ever and I will be perfectly content. I love the sun, the water, everything. Just relaxing on the beach with a good book and some music on is probably my favorite thing to do, ever.

It was nice to just sit back and relax. I know you must be thinking- "you're unemployed... isn't that what you do all day long?" Well, believe it or not, no. I am usually glued to my laptop promoting Jewels for Hope or I'm job hunting. And when I'm not on my laptop I am creating jewelry or greeting cards to sell. So Normally I don't get time to just "relax".



This first week had AMAZING weather. Really, it couldn't have been better. It only rained 1 night--- of course we happened to be outside, on the boardwalk that night and got caught in that rain. Without a working umbrella (remind me never to let my father buy me an umbrella again-- the one he got me was cute leopard print--- but DID NOT OPEN! Thanks, Dad. Thanks a lot. )

Don't know if you can tell, but we are dripping wet here. We walked at least 15minutes in a straight downpour to get back to our hotel. Nice, right? Here's a better shot of my sister- you can CLEARLY see the difference of wet pants to- non wet pants haha.

Other then that one night of rain, it was perfect. Something that realllly made my vacation though? My fiance surprised me and showed up early!

He was texting me all morning on Thursday telling me there was a HUGE accident on the GW bridge and he won't be in Ocean City until late in the afternoon. I was upset. He ended up getting to the hotel BY 11:00 that morning! I was so happy! We walked up and down the boardwalk all day and got funny pictures taken- then we all went mini golfing and out to a nice dinner.

It was perfect.

Then we had to drive 2 days down to Florida. Hmm, not my best idea to DRIVE to Florida. Haha. I kid, I did have fun on the drive- other then the horrible storm we hit in South Carolina. I forced asked the fiance to pull over and get a hotel at arond 7:30 Friday night. We get to a hotel, and funny thing? Lightening hit the hotel next to us and it caught on fire. It was THAT bad out! Thank God no one was injured!

That wraps up my Ocean City Vacation. Tons of eating, tanning, pool-ing it up, and relaxing. Here are a couple more great shots I'll leave you guys off with...