Guest blogger: hello contest winner!

Lauren and her husband: could you guess they operate a photography studio?

Hello to Lauren, winner of the Constant Body Organic Skincare products! I always ask winners if they’d like to say hello in the blog, and Lauren said yes. Here’s her hello from Calgary.

I found your blog through an article featured on http://www.msn.ca, though I can’t remember which one! I’m currently subscribed to a few other blogs written by friends near and far. I used to have my own personal blog but it’s been a few years since I last updated it! Instead I have found myself in the world of wedding and portrait photography, and am loving every second of it! My husband and I live in Calgary and have been married almost three years. While no children are in our immediate future, I look forward to someday being a stay-at-home mom and using the flexibility of my photography business to allow me to do so.

You’re welcome to check out our website at www.forgottenstudios.com, and feel free to contact me or pass on my name to someone you know.

I’ve been to her website, and their work is excellent. They do lifestyle and portrait work in and around the Calgary area, and are available for local and destination weddings. Check out the link!

We have a winner!

I am thrilled to announce the winner (I really wanted to announce my winner before the Oscars, but hey, there’s a lot of production to these award things, and my assistant bunked off at the last minute) of the Constant Body Organic Skincare contest: Lauren!

The questions for the contest (and you only had to answer one) were: QUESTIONS FOR YOU: on a scale of 1 (not important at all) to 10 (vitally important), how imortant is organic purity in what you put on your body? How important is organic purity in what you put on your face? How important is organic purity in what you put IN your body? Would you buy a skin care product from the internet after researching it and finding good reviews? Or would you have to be able to try it, or at least examine it, in store before buying? And last, but not least, who would you buy a $12 bar of organic soap for: yourself? your partner? your teen? your grade-schooler? your baby?

Her winning comment:

Great blog! (blogger’s insert: I promise you do not have to say this to win.)
I do use some organic skin care products and have to say they work just as well if not better than regular drug store products. Plus the peace of mind knowing I’m not slathering chemicals all over my skin… but I am not completely converted yet, as it’s difficult to spend twice the money on organic products. I would have to say a 7 on a scale of 1-10.
My husband has eczema and we have yet to find a lotion that really works for him, so it would be nice to try out this new line of products.

Lauren will be receiving a full-size Pure Unscented Body Wash, Pure Unscented Body Lotion and the Organic Olive Oil Pure Unscented Soap. Congratulations! Check out tomorrow’s post, when Lauren says hello from Calgary.

And the winner is…

Television has the Golden Globes, I have the Great Teletoon Giveaway. I was blogging about my extreme fondness for cartoons, and the holiday lineup at Teletoon and Teletoon Retro, and their amazing publicist Kate sent me the most fabulous swag—SO, HERE ‘S THE PRIZE! This fabulous bag of swag is king-size, and includes, among other items, a sparkly Teletoon travel mug, the hat and pencil set pictured below, a big hardcover Looney Tunes Storybook Collection, Teletoon notebook and matching pen, plus three DVDs—6teen Deck the Mall, the original Tom & Jerry A Nutcracker Tale, and the original Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy! That has to add up to $100 easy. And all I asked readers to do is answer one question below, or more if they liked.

QUESTIONS FOR YOU: what was your favourite cartoon as a kid? Do you watch cartoons now? With a kid, or on your own? What’s your current fave? What is your favourite Christmas or holiday cartoon?

And the winner is HenniPenni, who left this response:

When I was a girl, cartoons were something you watched at the local cinema (yes, I am dating myself). Walt Disney movies were so amazing to us. I think that nothing can beat what Disney did, but today Pixar has taken that to a new level. I love watching Disney cartoons on my own or with my grandchildren and now my great granddaughter. But I admit, I am a fan of The Simpsons and not ashamed to say it, although when it first came out I was shocked. I guess if you live long enough, you can see the humour in anything.

My favourite Christmas cartoons are the stop-motion ones: Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and Santa Claus is Coming to Town. But I love the gentle sweetness of A Charlie Brown Christmas. Every year I still wish someone would send him a Christmas card.

And what an excellent response. When I contacted her to tell her she won the prize, I asked her if I could do a little profile of her— my mother is glued to her computer, but how many great grandmas enter online contests? What she wrote back was so good, I realized I didn’t have to rewrite a word of it.

I’m pleased to introduce the latest winner of Because I Said So!’s giveaway, Ms. HenniPenni!

How very nice of you to select me as the winner of your contest. I will definitely be the coolest grandma in my apartment building. I think I will save all the prizes and give them to my grandchildren for Valentine’s Day or maybe I will just keep them all for myself if they don’t come to visit me. Ha Ha.

I am going to be 75 years young this year. When I worked I used a computer for my job, and although I came into it at a later age, I enjoyed using one and learning about them. I got back into the workforce after my husband died before his 50th birthday, so I understand what it is like to raise 3 children on your own. For a year, I took keypunch training to give me a skill before I started back to work. Do you or anyone else remember that? When you used to have to punch cards for the computer.

As with many people today, I still work, but now I work for that big retailer we all know and love/hate. Let’s not name names, but just say I look wonderful in my blue vest. I like getting out and meeting people (well, at least that is true most days). I have 5 grandchildren and 1 great-grandchild.

My daughter gave me a computer for my home and my son set up my internet. Some of my grandchildren lived in Europe for a few years and would send me pictures and letters by e-mail. I am still fascinated that you can do that. I think in some ways I heard more from them that way than I would have if they were right next door. I enjoy getting jokes from them.

I have only recently been introduced to the world of blogs, but I don’t have one myself. I am still learning about what is available on the Internet. This weekend my grandson showed me his ipod and how it works. What a great invention. I liked the idea that he can learn a language on it. He made me laugh when he showed me that in his Chinese phrase book it tells him how to say, “Please don’t shoot me,” and “The drugs are not mine.” What a different world today’s young people live in.

So, that is a bit about me. Thank you again for the prize. I will be the envy of all my neighbours when the parcel arrives.

Well-said, and thank you to HenniPenni and everyone else who entered. My next giveaway starts January 15, and the prize is a gift pack of full-size Consonant Body Organic skincare items. Better come back now, y’all hear?