Next week on J’s last day of Junior Kindergarten, I will be celebrating my third anniversary in blogging. I was first introduced to blogging by my friend Danigirl, who was a closet blogger (to those of us that knew her in real life) for a little while, then she let it out that she started her blog. Now, Dani is a writer. She should be writing books but, instead spends her days writing for our Government. What they ever did to deserve her talent is a wonder to me. All that aside, I started reading her blog. From there, I found Ann Douglas’s blog (which was a thrill for me because I had all of Ann’s books at the time and loved her even though I didn’t really know her. Now I know her and love her even more) and from Ann, I found Secret Agent Josephine. And I think most of you know that I just love SAJ for her cleverness, craftiness and all around able to pull one out of the hatness (I know that isn’t a word, but it’s my blog story so I can make up a word if I want to).

These three women kept me going through some of my earliest morning wakings with J. What to do at four o’clock in the morning with a two year old??? Answer, TV and a laptop. Then, they kept me going when I just needed to check out for a while. Through their blogs I found countless others and officially became an addict. After a while, I wanted to put something out there to offer back for all those who offered so much to me. But, what do I do? Although I always wanted to write, I never considered myself a writer. What would I write about? My life is so boring. Well, blogging has helped me in both of those areas. Being a Mom is wonderful, but it surely can let you get stale in your thoughts or writing abilities, so blogging has helped keep my mind fresh and skills up to date. It has also helped me find the fun things in our day or if there aren’t enough of them to start making time for some fun things. I have shared with you happy times and sad times and some pretty boring times. So, in light of all of it, I have decided to host my first ever Giveaway.

I have been trying to figure out what to offer. Something sewn, something knit, something to eat??? Then I realized, I should give away one of my photographs. It won’t take me too much time, I already have them printed and sitting on my piano (I wanted to see how they would turn out blown up to an 8×10 size) and I have always wanted to give the gift of photography so here it is. This is your chance.

All you have to do is leave a comment telling me which one of the four photographs you would like. That is it, that is all. Next Wednesday, June 25th on my actual Anniversary of starting this blog, I will put all entrants names into a bowl and draw a winner.

Thank you all for stopping by and spending a little time at the beach. And don’t forget… there is always a little sand in your happy place.

Please note: The photos were slightly cropped when I made the mosaic, you will see a little more of the flowers in the actual photograph.

I saw this over at Bethany Actually’s place and I just fell in love with the idea. I love the idea of paying it forward and doing so with handmade gifts is very fun. I missed signing up on Bethany’s blog, but was able to join in over at Maura’s Paper Bluebird.

I have copied the directions from Maura, so here is how it works: I will send handmade gifts to the first three people who leave a comment and tell me they are interested in playing. In order to play, you must have your own blog and you must continue to pay it forward by promising the same thing to your readers.

Now, as far as the handmade gifts go, I don’t know yet what they will be. I also don’t know when I’ll get them sent. You may not receive the gift tomorrow or next week, but I do promise that it will get to you within the next 365 days! Sound good? I think it sounds great!

Remember, I will be choosing the first three people who respond by leaving a comment on this blog post. The requirements are that you have your own blog and are willing to send out three of your own homemade gifts (whatever you want to make, no rules or limitations here).

So go ahead; leave a comment. Move this forward again. If I don’t know you, please leave your email address or some way to contact you