A few announcements!

{1} For all you Cold Hands, Warm Hearts participants, please make sure to have your package sent out to your swap partner by Wednesday, December 1 and you’ll be able to link up your blog posts on Much Love, Illy showing off the items you’ve received starting on Tuesday, December 7!

{2} Have you entered the Much Love, Illy accessory shop credit giveaway and the FlowerPot Designs cowl giveaway yet?

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How was your Thanksgiving? I hung out with family and ate… A LOT!  I’m sure that’s pretty much the case with all of you, yea?  For Thanksgiving, I had the luxury of going to my brother-in-law’s house for dinner (empty-handed) as we arrived into town on Thanksgiving morning.  Note to self: traveling ON Thanksgiving Day is just like any other travel day, not busy at all!  My husband’s family and friends did all the cooking this year as they all live in town and might I add that everything was delicious!  I didn’t think there was a possible way for my love of food photography to grow any further, but I think it did, which means, your eyes are about to get bombarded with tons of food pictures! 

Here’s the star of the show, the deliciously cooked turkey!  Even Chloe, the dog, was waiting patiently for her piece!

Yum!! Stuffed mushrooms, green beans, stuffed rice, and perfectly cooked asparagus to keep things healthy!!

And of course, no Thanksgiving would be complete without Cranberry Sauce and Mashed Potatoes (says The Pioneer Woman on her Thanksgiving throw down episode with Bobby Flay)!

And my food styling was really put to the test when I had to decide how to arrange my plate (because I knew that it would for sure get a photo debut).  Does it look appetizing to you?  Hope so, because I’m linking this up to my3boybarians Sweet Shot Tuesdays!

Here we are with my husband’s wonderful parents!  Thanks so much for having us this holiday!

A meal wouldn’t be a meal without DESSERT, am I right??  Pumpkin loaf with cream cheese frosting and red bean buns to be exact!

Finally, Thanksgiving Day also happened to be my brother-in-law Steve’s birthday, so of course, we had to have ice cream cupcakes from Cold Stone.  Ummm, have you had these before???  They are soooo GOOD, I’m still thinking about it now, not kidding!  The pink one is a rich belgian chocolate cup filled with a layer of moist red velvet cake, fudge and cake batter ice cream topped with fluffy pink frosting and rainbow sprinkles!  I think I need to learn how to make these, seriously, HEAVENLY!  You must go out and buy one right now if you haven’t had one before!!

How was your Thanksgiving?  What did you eat?

Hope you are all having a great first day back from the holidays (for some of us) so far!!  I just wanted to drop in and announce and the WINNER of the Happy Serendipity Giveaway!  We had an amazing turnout and we brought Lou to tears with excitement with the new shop love!  Her shop is just so lovely, isn’t it?  Out of the many entries, the lucky number is…

Whoever was the 18th person to comment on the giveaway gets to win this beautiful pouch!!

And the winner is…

Congrats Brooke from Bright Wishes!!  I will send your email address to Lou and she’ll contact you shortly to get your mailing address so she can send you your new vintage pouch!! 

And if you haven’t noticed, Lou already posted some new items up in the shop just in the past week, you must go check them out!  Thanks Lou for a great giveaway and we wish you MUCH SUCCESS with your lovely shop!  Remember, there are two other giveaways going on right now… and another to come this week!

Signed, the Giveaway Queen.

{shop} {blog}

She’s back… with another giveaway!  She being me.  I hope you guys are enjoying all these giveaways lately, what could beat winning something for yourself or as a holiday gift for a loved one?  Today, I’d like to introduce to you my dear blog friend, Flora, of FlowerPot Designs.  Her shop is full of cute knitted goods for ages young to old!  Her signature items are her elf, gnome, and pixie hats, but she also sells cowls and fingerless gloves too!

{MEET THE KNITTER}

1) Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I’m a wife and a mother to two beautiful girls. I love knitting, reading, cooking and anything crafty. I started a blog over 3 years ago to document my adventures as a new mother on maternity leave. Now my web site and shop are my creative outlets.

P.S. I’m a huge coffee lover and I’ll never give up really good cheese.

2) Where do you draw inspiration from?

My inspiration comes from my girls. They are the joys in my life and almost everything I knit was originally conceived of for them. I hope I can one day share my fiber love with them and inspire them to follow their own paths to creativity.

3) How did you get into knitting?

I started knitting regularly after purchasing a knit-your-own bag kit by Suss Cousins at a local bookstore one day and learned to knit using the instructions from the kit. When I was about 13 years old, my mom had taught me the basic knit and purl stitches and I remember making a mountain of scarves and mini blankets for my Barbie dolls. So when I started this kit, there was a moment of deja-vu as the stitches actually felt familiar to me. My grandmother was an awesome knitter.

4) What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?

I love coffee flavoured ice creams — so anything mocha or cappuccino would make my day.

{DISCOUNT}

Good through Sunday, December 12 2010, Flora is offering a special discount to FlowerPot Designs just for you lovelies!  You can receive 10% off your order if you enter “SANDYALAMODE” in the Coupon Code box at checkout!

{GIVEAWAY}

FlowerPot Designs is giving away a fabulously chic Uptown Cowl in Seafoam Green (a $58 value), absolutely PERFECT for this chilly weather many of us are having!  With a variety of ways this ribbed turtleneck cowl can be worn; from around the neck, to pulled down from the shoulders, or with the collar up or rolled over like a cozy turtleneck, the styles are endless.  This stylish cowl is hand knit in a wool-acrylic blend for softness, warmth and easy care.

To Enter:

1.  Visit FlowerPot Designs and leave a comment with your favorite item from the shop!

For additional entries (please leave comment for each action):
2. Follow this blog with Google Friend Connect on right (if you already do, please let me know)
3. Heart (add to favorites) FlowerPot Designs on Etsy (if you already do, please let me know)
4. Tweet about this giveaway (make sure to use @sandyalamode in your tweet)

Feel free to use this tweet:
I just entered a giveaway for a stylish cowl made by FlowerPot Designs on @sandyalamode http://bit.ly/dLxASa

This giveaway is open INTERNATIONALLY and closes on Monday, December 6, 2010 at 5PM CST.  Winner will be announced shortly after.

Entries for this giveaway have been closed!  Thanks for entering!!

Can you believe it?  Another month is almost gone!  Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving full of yummy food, I sure did, and the food hasn’t stopped yet!  Did ya’ll get find some good deals for Black Friday?  I ended up doing some shopping, I got a leather jacket, some sweaters, and some sweats (in preparation for all the food we ate haha)!  Well, for this post, I just wanted to send a special THANKS to my awesome sponsors!!  They are so supportive of what I do as I am of them!  And if you weren’t satisfied with your Black Friday shopping or still need to find that perfect Christmas present… well this post may just be your one stop shop!

Blog

Are you guys following Sassy Smolak?  Because if you aren’t, I think you should!  Emily is a loud, colorful, crazy, kind of gal.  She love string cheese yum!), vintage kitchenware, her husbands t-shirts and 50s movies.  On her blog, she posts pictures from around her nest (like her ever changing chalkboard fridge, I think I need one!), great inspirations that are always new to me, and new tunes that will have your ears ringing!  You can even connect with her daily over on twitter!

Design

Need a new business card design? Look no further, Sooki Designs is your way to go!  Lovely designs, affordable rates and great customer service!

Photography

Remember that wedding I showed you a sneak peek of?  Anna Wu, the main photographer has posted her pics on her blog, go check them out and leave her some love!  This is one of my fave photos she took from the wedding!  Also, if you will be in the SF area on December 18, Anna is offering a Photography Workshop for DSLR beginners!  I know if I were in town, I’d totally go!!

Need a portrait to use for your holiday card?  Or still thinking about doing those boudoir shots?  Then Bllew Photography is your friend!

Lovely Goods

1 Don’t forget!  The Happy Serendipity giveaway is still going on!  And through this Monday, you can receive 10% off your order if you enter “SANDYALAMODE1122” in the Coupon Code box at checkout!  Her shop is full of beautiful clutches, key fobs, scarves, paper and more!
2 Need to create your shopping list for Santa?  Head on over to Blushing Pearl to check out her lovely holiday collection of paper goods!
3 Are you a fan of cards that have lyrics, fantasy or everyday sayings?  Then Moonbeamwishes is your shop!
4 Need a camera strap for that new DSLR of yours?  Want to stand out from the rest?  Eclectic Whatnot makes some amazingly beautiful straps!
5 Want some more rosette goodness in your life?  Allora Handmade makes the cutest shoe clips, earrings, necklaces and more in a huge variety of colors!
6 Looking for some jewels, gems and whimsical delights?  Take a peek at Janie Liu Jewelry!
7 Will someone buy me this bow headband please?  Or any other thing from Wattlebird, like a character hat, headband or cowl?
8 Dress up your outfit with some of the cutest accessories on the block from In Honor Of Design!
9 Are you a photography lover?  ChicGeek Designs takes some amazing pictures and turns them into beautiful cards!
10 Looking for cowls, blankets, scarves, hats, wraps and shrugs to keep a loved one (or yourself) warm?  Then check out Holly Knitlightly!
11 Know someone who can appreciate fine art?  Studio M.M.E. has some beautiful pen and ink drawings in her shop!
12 In case you missed it, there’s a Much Love, Illy giveaway going on right here, right now!  Click here to enter and you could be $25 closer to winning your favorite poppy headband!
13 Looking for some Christmas hair accessories or bookmarks for a bookworm?  I highly recommend A Bit Of Lace!
14 Sick of the old traditional Christmas stocking and want something new, fresh, and modern?  Rik Rak Studio is FULL of them!
15 Looking for modern personalized prints or Christmas cards?  Grace Hester Designs is the place to go!
16 We Heart Paper has some beautiful holiday, animal, everyday, wedding, and vintage letterpress cards to send to a loved one!
17 Love the look of fabric button accessories?  Snnewt is filled with beautiful ones, trust me!
18 Weren’t satisfied with your Thanksgiving meal?  Sweet Lydia’s has tons of s’mores to satisfy your sweet tooth cravings!

And that’s a wrap!  Again, sending a big huge virtual *hug* to my wonderful sponsors!  Please please go visit their shops and send them some love!  Many of them still have Black Friday specials going on and deadlines for Christmas orders!

If you are interested in being a sponsor of this blog, please don’t hesitate to contact me at sandyalamode(at)gmail(dot)com for statistics, details and rates!

Happy Thanksgiving!

{source}

this year has been SUCH an exciting one for me!  mostly because marv and i got to grow our marriage, my nephew can finally call my name, a got to see my family/friends a ton because of weddings, and of course, this is the year i began my blog and shop!  it’s easy to get caught up in things and not be as appreciative and outwardly thankful as we should be sometimes… so in no particular order, i am thankful for these 25 things (and more)!

{1} my husband. i could write a whole blog post or three about why but i’ll keep it simple. he loves me. he supports me. he is my other half.
{2} my family. words can’t even express my love for them. they have raised me up to be the sandy a la mode that i am today. they support me endlessly. and they shape who i am on a daily basis!
{3} my blog friends. who leave sweet comments that always brighten my day!
{4} twitter. the best social media tool to promote my blog/shop
{5} dark chocolate. nuff said.
{6} my laptop. my companion for 75% of each day.
{7} my cognac colored steve madden boots. i can wear it with tights and skinny jeans!
{8} our mailman. who leaves a sticky note in our mailbox that says “package at door ” when we have a package at our front door! otherwise, some days when we get home after dark we may not notice.
{9} felt. it has inspired me to create new bows for my shop!
{10} my oven. my tummy is loving all the baked goods that come out of it.
{11} college football. it’s a good excuse to stay in and be lazy on saturday.
{12} my snuggie. it keeps me warm while i blog from the couch!
{13} band-aids. it has helped protect my poor finger (that i cut) for the last few weeks! still can’t type with my left index finger.
{14} naps. they do a body wonders, am i right?
{15} my covered porch. where i do all my product photography, through rain, shine or snow!
{16} my canon 50d. it’s my sidekick and you can find me behind it a lot of the time!
{17} tights. it always you to wear tunics and short dresses without feeling like you’re revealing to much!
{18} my job. it pays the bills and allows me to spend frivolously on clothes and shoes, wait, just kidding, i don’t do that!
{19} my purse. it holds stuff. A LOT of stuff!
{20} sweatpants. there’s not better feeling then coming home from work, taking off your work pants and putting on some sweats. ohh so comfy!
{21} my little red suitcase. it’s my life in a carry-on when i’m on the road.
{22} my stuffed animal “kids”. jojo, bebe, lulu, and koko, they bring us TONS of joy and one of them always keeps me company on business trips!
{23} my sponsors. they support me. i <3 them. don’t they look so fine over there? –>
{24} giveaways. i love winning them and i love hosting them. and i’ve got two going on right now. (happy serendipity) and (much love, illy) have you entered?
{25} black friday cyber discounts. totally beats waiting in line! i’ll be offering a 15% off of my shop, but you’ll have to head on over to wild & precious and much love, illy to get the discount codes! click the buttons below to take you do the discounts!  while you’re there, there’s a ton of other discounts going on too!

What are you thankful for?

Are you planning on going Black Friday shopping?

I’ll be back on Monday with… wait for it, another GIVEAWAY!!