Showing posts with label pottery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pottery. Show all posts

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Earthborn Pottery giveaway -- by Rachel

If you recall, I won an AMAZING Earthborn Pottery set on my friend Rachel's blog last year! In fact, that was the way she and I began our friendship! We met "IRL" for lunch when she presented me with my prize!

Well... Rachel is now doing another giveaway, and I thought I'd mention it here, in case any of you would like to have an opportunity to add a beautiful Earthborn Pottery bowl to your home! (Here is a photo I snagged from her blog post! Gorgeous, isn't it!)


Of course, I have ulterior motives: I'm hoping that by mentioning her giveaway here (and by following all the directions to enter the contest), that perhaps I will have a few extra chances to win another piece of this too-cool pottery!

But if I don't win, it's a-ok. I have my own pottery proudly displayed in my dining room -- a constant reminder that I actually won something!

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Pottery, new friends, ketchup spills and Celtic Woman

Yesterday was quite a day!
I had a fun (and entertaining) lunch with a bloggy friend, Rachel, who met me IRL (that's "in real life"... haven't you seen "The Net" with Sandra Bullock?) to give me the beautiful pottery that I won during her bloggy anniversary contests! As you can see in the photo, below, the set has a place of honor on my hutch... and is just about the only splash of color on that thing. (Hmmm. I may need more Earthborn pottery!)
(BTW -- thanks, again, Rachel!!!!!)


During lunch, Rachel's daughter, Ali, had a bit too much fun with her "dip-dip." In this case, the "dip-dip" was none other than kecthup, and we all know that ketchup makes for some lovely laundering challenges! (I "stole" this picture from Rachel so you could witness the clean-up efforts. "Stole," as in: I snapped the shot, but it was not with my camera!)


Later on, Sean and I met mom and dad for dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant. YUM! That was a "pit stop" on our way to see the Celtic Woman concert. This was my second time to see them in person, but I was not prepared to be on the second row, right next to the stage (as in, I could touch the stage from my seat... if I stretched out my legs all the way... and reached really far with my feet)!

We aren't suppsoed to take pictures, but since I had my phone with me, I got away with a few quick, blurry shots of the stage and us before the show.... and, man! What a show! It was so incredible. But I must admit, it was a bit odd to be close enough to see their eyes... the hair on their arms...the sweat on their brow. When the performers made eye contact, I felt kind of dumb... like, "Hey! Here I am. Watching you. And you're now watching me watching you. So. That's weird. Ummm...I'll just smile and look at my shoes now... and maybe try to reach out and touch the stage."

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

And the winner is..... ME!?!


I discovered early this morning (on my Facebook page, of all things!) that I am the winner of THIS incredibly beautiful dinner set from Earthborn Pottery!!!! WOW! I'm really excited. :)
Thanks so much to Rachel and her fun contest celebrating her first bloggy anniversary! And thank you to Tena Payne who designed -- and donated -- the pottery!

I'm not usually one to win the big giveaways, the random drawings... or the lottery, for that matter. But on a few rare occasions in my life, I've experienced a few lucky streaks!
It may have started on Thanksgiving Day, circa 1989, as I listened to WDJC, hoping for my chance to win Michael W. Smith's new "I 2 Eye" tape. Yes, tape, as in cassette tape.... the little, rectangular plasticy thing with the delicate ribbon of tape that you.... ah, never mind. Not important.
I was listening intently to the radio because the DJ was supposed to play a new "Smitty" song, and whoever was the first to call when it played was the winner. Well, due to my speedy dialing (or the fact that it was Turkey Day, and no one else was likely paying any attention at all to the radio that evening), I won! I jumped around and giggled like a crazy person. My mom and my grandmother thought I'd lost it. They could not believe that I was that excited about a silly little tape. Of course, it was more than that silly little tape.... I was excited that I'd actually won something! I'd never won anything before! I thought, "Wow, maybe my luck has changed, and this is just the beginning of a long streak of big wins!"
Well... I guess my luck wasn't all that great... because it wasn't until February 2007 that I won something again.
Funny enough, it was another radio contest. I was listening to the... uh, was it the Mark and Mack show? Anyway, they had a Valentine's contest running in which you were supposed to e-mail them a letter stating why you'd marry the person you're with all over again. Sean and I had just been married the month before, so this was an easy one for me! So on the very last day of the contest, I sent in a quick, little e-mail. Almost an afterthought....
Since the contest was a random drawing and was NOT based on the creativity or the construction of the letter, I didn't put too much time into it. So when I heard my letter read on air, right after dropping Jaiden off at play school, I was a little dumbfounded. My phone was ringing when I got back to the car, but I ignored it. Had I answered it, I would have been on the air -- LIVE -- hearing about my big win from the radio DJs! I did call the station back a few minutes later, and then I heard my sappy, giddy voice played over and over (and over) again for a few weeks (was it months?) after that....as part of their radio promos.
Oh... and what, exactly, did I win, you may wonder?
I won a bouquet of roses, a Valentine's Day dinner (and show) for two at the StarDome, tickets to the Billy Joel concert (which we gave to my in-laws, since Sean and I were on a work trip out of town), tickets to the Nora Jones concert (which the station promised me but never sent), and a $900 diamond "circle of love" necklace!!!!
Of course, I never wear that necklace. It makes me nervous. The one time I did wear it out in public, I kept thinking that the diamond pendant was going to just fall off, leaving me with a $10 chain. In fact, I don't think anyone even saw the necklace that evening. I had my hand over it the whole time, checking to see if it was still there. Still safely attached.
Don't get me wrong, the necklace is beautiful. But nowadays, I just opt for the $10 copycat version that my mom got me at the women's show!

And, just for the record, (pun intended?) I still have my "I 2 Eye" tape... somewhere. I practically wore it out in '89... but I don't think I've listened to it -- or to the winning song -- since the early 90's. Luckily, a pottery set will be much more useful! I can't wait to display it in our dining room! Yes, display it. It's just too pretty to put food on!
(Hmmm... maybe I can put my necklace on it?)

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Our Ceramic Creations Day o' Fun!


So... Corinne and I got to chatting one day and decided that we needed something new and fun to do. She suggested painting pottery, something I'd tried to get Sean involved with on a few unsuccessful occasions!
At any rate, we planned it out, and it turned into a FUN family affair! Sean's Mom, Toni, Corinne, my Mom, Sean and I had a super-filling lunch at Panera... and then we headed across the way to Ceramic Creations. We roamed around, wide-eyed and confused, looking at unpainted, white pottery blobs... careful to NOT touch the beautiful finished versions that were "for display only."
After about 15 minutes (or possibly more... we were really overwhelmed by all the white pottery blobs!), we finally settled on our creations of choice... (see below) and got to painting!
I spent nearly all of the time painting, repainting and painting more of my base coat. (The dern paint didn't want to stick!) We also flipped through books and examples for some inspiration. (Too bad our painting didn't look like the examples... hmmm...)
When we finally handed them in --to be coated and fired -- none of us seemed too enthused about our hard work. But when we got the pieces back the next week, we were THRILLED! How great they all turned out... and how much fun it was! I think we're addicted now. I'm already thinking about my next white pottery blob....

my Mom: candlestick
me: candlestick
Sean: spoon rest (which he painted for me! He is not a huge fan of ladybugs and flowers! Ha-ha!)
Corinne: bowl (w/ chopsticks/holder)
Sean's Mom: bowl
Toni: mug