November 2009

Most Peaceful Place?

Question of the Week

Where is the most peaceful place in your home?

bedroom

Photo courtesy of Tammy Manet

Leigh Anne says…

My garden

Sherra says…

My bedroom

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Categories: Question of the Week

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Surprise Giveaway: Holiday Apron

All you have to do to enter our giveaway is leave a comment at the bottom of this post by midnight PST, Friday, December 4th (Scroll all the way down to the end and you’ll see a comment box.) You just have to have a valid email address, you do not have to have a blog to leave a comment.

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klobanner

We’re delighted to feature Made by K-Lo, an Etsy shop stay-at-home mom who loves to sew, cook, read, bike, run, and anything else adventurous!

The Krista Holiday Apron

apron

A darling handmade holiday apron made just for one lucky iLashGirl winner! This is a half apron with with a ruffle in a holiday print fabric just perfect for baking this season. $25.00 retail value

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We invite you to subscribe by email today so you won’t miss any of our upcoming giveaways. Please help us spread the word and tell all your friends about this great opportunity to win something free and support our giveaway sponsors.

Just leave a comment below by midnight PST on Friday, December 4th and we’ll have a random drawing to choose the winner and announce the random winner on Saturday, December 5th.

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Giveaway Guidelines

  • Anyone in the U.S. with an email and a name is eligible.
  • Sherra says you can use a code name if you want to.
  • One entry per person, please.
  • Emails are never published nor is your identity revealed if you choose to use a code name.

Tell your mother, tell your sister, tell your girlfriends so they can enter too!

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Categories: Giveaway Surprise

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Thank You: Words of Wisdom #67

Weekly on Wednesday

gratitude4

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Categories: Encouragement, Inspiration, WOW ~ Words of Wisdom

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Favorite Thanksgiving Dish?

Question of the Week

What’s your most favorite Thanksgiving dish you are looking forward to eating this week?

Thanksgiving

Photo courtesy of riptheskull

Leigh Anne says…

Cornbread & Sausage Stuffing

Sherra says…

Southern Cornbread Dressing – with NO sausage ;)

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Giveaway Winner: Gratitude Art

Woo-hoo! We have a winner.

#11 – Jengd

gratitudeprint

We want to thank everyone for entering and especially for all of the wonderful comments. We love reading them!

All winners should have received a personal email from us requesting their address and contact information so they can get their prize. If we don’t hear back from winners within 5 days, we will use random.org to choose another winner

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Gratitude: Words of Wisdom #66

Weekly on Wednesday

gratitude3

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Categories: Encouragement, Inspiration, WOW ~ Words of Wisdom

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Gratitude: Family Traditions – Duty or Delight

Moments & Memories

Leigh Anne and Sherra say…

We both know Loi Palmer from our homebased business. She is an active mentor to women in her church and she inspires people with her boundless energy, enthusiasm and creativity. We are delighted to introduce you to Loi…

LoiHeadshotI have been married to my precious husband for 24 years and the mother of three great kids ages 17-22. I have a degree in Biblical Education and I taught Special Ed for one year. I am a certified Lamaze teacher and birthing coach although I ended up with 3 C-sections! I have run a homebased business for 16 years and my favorite part of it is the amazing friends it has brought into my life. My passion is building deep friendships and encouraging women to love their husbands and kids….  life is hard and we need each other to pray us through the junk of life!

Favorite color:

Turquoise and white 

Favorite food you associate with Fall: 

Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Pancakes topped with butter and Vermont maple syrup.

Pet Peeve?

Beds that aren’t made!

What is something that no one knows about you? (That you want to tell the whole Internet world) 

My childhood home was an old Jewish synagogue – it is now a restaurant

One word that describes you: 

Happy!

What’s your motto or mantra:

“Love God, live in truth and peace and pull your friends out of the ditch”  Malachi 2:7

What are the top three things that are most important to you — the things you love to do and you are passionate about?

  1. Slowing down life and watching the grass grow w/ family and friends
  2. Making my faith real
  3. Homemaking

Traditions: Duty or Delight

A wiry smile tugs at my lips as I reflect on the desperate attempt to intertwine the Palmer and Eggimann family traditions. These were “situations” that were not hammered out before we said, “I do”. The Eggimann’s put up an artificial tree the day after Thanksgiving. Gifts were wrapped and placed under the tree as they were bought. The Palmer’s decorated their live tree five days before Christmas. Gifts magically appeared on Christmas morning. I’m sure you have a similar saga – A Thousand Ways to Celebrate the Same Holiday.

Traditions are an expression of who we are as a family. Step back for a minute and evaluate your family traditions. You will discover that traditions stem from our ethnic backgrounds, family religion, and the region of the country we live in. Here is a bold question… “Does my family really enjoy our traditions or are they a bone of contention stressing us out. Thus negating the true meaning of the holiday we are celebrating?”

Dare to be counter-cultural…

Cut out the stress -factor traditions and add family bonding events.

This Christmas we are stepping out of our comfort zone; traveling with 12 members of our family, and spending two weeks at a children’s home in India. Not the norm… we are at a “freedom” stage … so before everyone gets married and grandkids come along we are going on an adventure. Bottom-line, we will be together celebrating the birth of Christ.

Here are some of our favorite family traditions that I am grateful for:
LoiPainting

  • Create your Christmas card. As a gift to our family and friends Chuck paints an oil painting each year. Take digital picture and e-mail it to a printer. A child’s crayon drawing of the nativity or snowman makes a treasured card.
  • The Snow Village. Chuck and I decided to invest in one of the Department 56 Villages. But, which one? We took the children to our favorite Christmas Shoppe and observed them while they looked at all of the villages available. The Snow Village, captured their attention. Each year we buy a new building and add accessories. Chuck built a huge display stand that goes under our tree to hold the village. The pieces are unwrapped with care as memories of Christmas past flood our mind.
  • Sticky buns. The whole family gets involved rolling out the dough, sprinkling on the cinnamon sugar, nuts, raisins and rolling them up. There is nothing like waking up Christmas morning to the aroma of sticky buns and hot coffee.
  • Chili for Christmas Eve: Chuck and I were engaged on Christmas eve, at his grandparent’s farm in West Virginia. He proposed in the tractor barn. We had gone for a walk in the snow, just before dinner. The whole family knew he was going to, pop the question, and were waiting at the door to see if I had accepted. After hugs and kudos, we sat down to steaming bowls of chili. In memory of our engagement we eat chili on Christmas Eve… it is a culinary adventure to come up with a different chili recipe and toppings.

Learning to combine family traditions and have stress-free holidays creates magical memories. Being respectful and grateful for all of our different traditions means a holiday season full of delight. Gratitude for family traditions, especially at the holidays, is what makes our family unique and special.

What traditions are you looking forward to celebrating with your family this year?

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We have designated Tuesday as a day where we will have different women share “Moments & Memories” in their lives.

We plan to feature women from all walks of lives – it may be in the form of an interview or as a guest writer. The column on Tuesday will be centered around our word of the month. We’d love to feature you as a guest writer. Qualifications: No experience necessary…just be willing to share a great moment or memory with other women. Send us an emailand we’ll schedule a date. Our guest writers do not necessarily have to have a website or a blog as we want iLashGirls to be a place where every woman has a voice!

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Categories: Encouragement, Inspiration, Moments & Memories

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Gratitude This Year?

Question of the Week

What’s one thing you are grateful for this year and no longer take for granted?

4057682083_2543672ef0

Photo courtesy of Toronto Rob

Leigh Anne says…

My husband’s job – after 24 years of uninterrupted employment, his job loss made me realize that having a job is a blessing and we can’t take that for granted.

Sherra says…

My immediate family’s health – we’ve had some extended family health crises this year that make me remember how grateful we are for our good health.

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Giveaway Winner: Pumpkin Cupcakes!

Woo-hoo! We have a winner.

#14 – Karen Emerson

pumpkincupcake1

We want to thank everyone for entering and especially for all of the wonderful comments. We love reading them!

All winners should have received a personal email from us requesting their address and contact information so they can get their prize. If we don’t hear back from winners within 5 days, we will use random.org to choose another winner

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Categories: Giveaway Surprise

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Surprise Giveaway: Gratitude Art

All you have to do to enter our giveaway is leave a comment at the bottom of this post by midnight PST, Friday, November 20th (Scroll all the way down to the end and you’ll see a comment box.) You just have to have a valid email address, you do not have to have a blog to leave a comment.

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artgirl

We’re delighted to feature Happy Art Girl, an Etsy shop is a mixed media artist who creates adorable soldered charms, purses, gifts tags, cards, boxes, prints, originals and so much more of all the pretty things!!

Visit her blog at EpiphaniesOfAnArtGirl and see more of her creativity.

Gratitude 4×4 Original Painting

gratitudeprint

This 4×4 inch painting has funky citron green and black stripes with a delicious, vibrant purple background. The overall painting has a modern yet distressed look. Gloss sheen overlay.

The freehand heart, rich in colors, embodies the word “GRATITUDE”
$25.00 retail value

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We invite you to subscribe by email today so you won’t miss any of our upcoming giveaways. Please help us spread the word and tell all your friends about this great opportunity to win something free and support our giveaway sponsors.

Just leave a comment below by midnight PST on Friday, November 20th and we’ll have a random drawing to choose the winner and announce the random winner on Saturday, November 21st.

*************

Giveaway Guidelines

  • Anyone in the U.S. with an email and a name is eligible.
  • Sherra says you can use a code name if you want to.
  • One entry per person, please.
  • Emails are never published nor is your identity revealed if you choose to use a code name.

Tell your mother, tell your sister, tell your girlfriends so they can enter too!

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Popularity: 5% [?]

Categories: Finding the Best, Giveaway Surprise

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Welcome

The iLashGirls community is a place where you can make friends, share ideas and find resources that you will love and share with all the women in your life.

  • Be inspired.

  • Be renewed.

  • Be encouraged.

Put Leigh Anne and Sherra
together
(LA+SH=LASH)
and you have
the founders of iLashGirls.

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