And The Winner Is...

Last week was fun for me! 

I know you are just dying to know who won but I thought I might give you the links to the posts I had pulled my questions from. 

My favorite flavor m&m: Yellow

My favorite NASCAR car: Tampax

My favorite heating blanket: Cookie (having trouble finding this one myself, but that's the answer!)

The tradition I tried to do on my own: Tamale Making. And here was was the fruit of that endeavor. They were terrible, way too salty.

Last but not least the elusive "Action Hero" link. I think I may have led some of you astray! The Mister informed me that Mami, Dora the Explorers mother, is in fact, NOT an action hero. He said action figures are more like people who save others in the face of danger.

I agree. What is more dangerous than parenting a preschooler? Especially if said preschooler is a bilingual traveler who talks to monkeys and backpacks. I'm just sayin'. 

Anywho, the person who answered all the answers correctly was Lauren H.! 

Congrats Lauren! You have won an apron and a pound of my favorite coffee! Email me and let me know your address....I am pretty sure I know who you are, but email me anyway!  ;)

The consolation prize goes to Adrienne for guessing that I was Mrs. Incredible...cuz really that would be fun.

We sort of have the same haircut!

So Adrienne, send me your addy and I'll get some surprise sent to you speedy-quick!

Thanks y'all for playing! It was fun!

(Raising my new blue coffee mug with my initials on it)

Here's to the next four years!

They Say Its My (Blog) Birthday...

....(So around here) It's Your Blog Birthday Too!!

It's going to be a great weekend! 

I was unable to get on the computer yesterday for your fifth and final question. So today I am going to give you a hint, but the question is a two-parter.

Here's the question: Growing up we had a family tradition. Over the years this tradition has NEVER happened without a certain story being told: What is that tradition? Why did I decided to try that tradition on my own?

And the other questions this week were:

What is my favorite flavor m&m?

What is the name of my fave winter heating blanket?

What is my favorite NASCAR car?

Who is my look alike action figure?

Now, if you have had trouble finding the answers to these questions, that's OK! There will still be a consolation prize for those who can make up answers that will make us all laugh.

(But for those of you who found this blog under the R-rated Google search words, you are automatically disqualified. I will not post comments that are inappropriate. Just bein' clear.)

For those of you who know the answer to all six questions (and those who will try to guess), give me your answers in the comments below. I will keep the comments open until 3pm (EST) Monday, July 13. I will then randomly choose a winner for the prize.

Wanna know what you're going to win? Well, you are going to win a La Vida Dulce original apron of your choice, and a pound of the coffee that the H-E-B People say is "close" to the original coffee called La Vida Dulce, the coffee this blog was named after. 

Consolation Prize? Well, that will be a surprise....I'll have to see what I've got around here, but it would be worth commenting because I like to give nice gifts, I'm just sayin'.

Also, you may see that things around here are looking a little different. Jo-Lynne of Musings of a Housewife and DCRDesign, did the green and burgundy design a little over a year ago. She had just started her business and I was one of her first clients. I've loved the work Jo-Lynne did!

This year, Jackie from Our Moments Our Memories opened her blog design business, Memories by Design. I have read Jackie's blog for over a year now and I really wanted to support her new endeavor, as I had Jo-Lynne's when she was a new designer. 

So that's what I did. 

By the time this posts, my new "look" may be visible. I am so pleased with the new design, and Jackie is just great to work with! If you have the desire to get some bloggy style, go check out her design site. (If the new design isn't up yet, please come back soon to check it out!)

I have got to get to swimming Championships this morning, and i'll be there all day. can't wait to get home and see who's dropped by the party!

Disclaimer: Since the choice of apron will be of your choosing, it will not be ready until the first week of September (I am about to be on vacation for a month). You do not have to a blog to win. But you do have to have a valid email address. 

Party Like Its 1999

Y'all, really. Sometimes life is just neat.

This week has been one fun event after the other. 

On Tuesday my cousin Emily and her sweet family came to stay for one night, and it was just fun to have them over. 

It was surreal to see The Girl playing with the baby and realizing that when Emily was born, I was exactly The Girls age. 

Now, here we are... old enough to travel alone, and own homes, and have babies...and what's more, getting the opportunity to share our lives with each other.  Its precious.

Then, last night while I sat in the cool summer breeze with The CarpoolQueen and Whimzie, sipping latte's and receiving sweet Tweets from our Blogger Gals around the country, I just felt happy.

This meeting marked the third time I have had the opportunity to meet someone I have "known" through this blog.

At one moment I was listening to Whimzie's soft southern drawl, and I was overwhelmed with how sweet life can be. 

I am about to say something that may sound like a back-handed compliment: Whimzie is exactly how she sounds on the blog, only better. 

Meeting her in person was a privilege because it completed an already beautifully painted picture. She's wonderful on the blog, but it cannot hold a candle to meeting her "for real". 

I loved hearing about her life, some past and some present. But what was really fun was watching CPQ and Whimz interact with each other, tell stories on each other, and laugh at each other. They've lived some life together and its made them strong women, and abiding friends. 

I was sad that the evening went so quickly. I hope we get to hang out again soon.

However, the party goes on and on here at the La Vida house!  I didn't have the opportunity to post yesterday, so I will give you two question today. An easy question, and a more challenging question:

Easy: What is my favorite NASCAR car?

Hard: Who is my look-alike action figure? (you'll have to go way back in the archives for this one)

Remember, don't answer the question today! Wait until Saturday (July 12th) to give me all five answers to be entered into the Giveaway!

La Vida Dulce!

The Party Is Just Starting

My day is completely crazy today, what with the memorial service and all....

Just kidding. I refuse to play a part in that debacle.

I have enough craziness in life.

Anyway, I am going to be away from the computer today, but I know you are just DYING to know what the La Vida Dulce Birthday Giveaway question is for today. So here you go:

What is the name of my favorite winter (heating) blanket?

Have a great day!

Happy Monday!

Oh the loveliness of holiday weekends! I just hated to see it end.

But here I am on this Monday-ist of Monday mornings.

The good news is that this week is chock full of fun things to come! There will be out of town guests, and dinner with bloggy friends, and a production of the Wizard of Oz (we'll find out which part The Girl gets to play this afternoon). There will be doctors appointments and swim championships, and all the little things in between.

But the Best News of All?

I'm celebrating my Bloggy Birthday this week! 

Next Saturday I will be celebrating 4 years of bloggy success. 

Each day I will be asking a La Vida Dulce trivia question. 

On Saturday, July 12, I will give you a chance to give me the answers to those five questions. You can post the answers to my comments on Saturday and those with five correct answers will be put in a drawing for an original La Vida Dulce Giveaway!

Mondays Question: What is the CoffeeGals favorite flavor m&m? 

(Hint: If you are relatively new to La Vida Dulce you may need to do a search. The search box is up there at the left hand corner...the answer is in one of my Random Polls.)

Remember, don't answer the question today! Wait until Saturday to give me all five answers to be entered into the Giveaway!

However, I don't want you to walk away with having the opportunity to comment...I started this blog to keep up with friends I had moved away from. If you blog, why did you start?

Happy Monday!

First Day

Well, they are both at school. 

At this very moment one of them should be right in the middle lunch. 

It was a good morning, although it wasn't void of wailing and clinging and tears. 

But I'm good now.

I went to the gym with a friend, and then came home to clean, so I've kept busy. Which is good when your a tad bit weepy.

Speaking of busy...before I was a stay at home mom I had visions of lounging in front of soap operas and eating bon-bons.  What ever happened to that?

No really, I'm not a soap opera fan. As a matter of fact my TV is never on during the day...but I used to be a HUGE General Hospital fan in high school and college. I totally could have used TiVO. It wasn't invented way back then, and my VCR wasn't trusty, so in college I would orchestrate my entire school schedule in order to be near a TV by 2pm. 

Ok, sorry...that was like a really scary random memory from my head...what was I saying?

School. Yes. The kids are there and I am here drinking a smoothie and typing away at you. I have managed to get quite a bit accomplished this morning: the kitchen, the living room, and the bathrooms, are all clean and now I just need to finish my lunch, read some of your blogs and go get my little peeps (who aren't so little any more...when in the world did that happen!)

It occurred to me that this year will be my oldest's last year in elementary school...it seems like just yesterday I was hovering outside that kindergarten room. The principle literally patted me on the shoulder and told me to go home. 

Oh the memories...I don't have any Kleenex in the house, and since I accidently forgot a few key items while shopping last week, we are rationing toilet paper...I can't waste it on nose blowing. 

Let's talk about something happy.

Since I have managed to make every single birthday celebration (and subsequent present) late this year, it is appropriate that I missed my 3rd Bloggy Birthday on Saturday July 12th.

It is unimaginable that I have blogged for three full years.

It's on days like today, when I might be tempted to feel sorry for myself, that I am filled with joy over a community whom I dearly love. I was talking to a friend the other day and she said she thought that this blog was like a ministry. That surprised me. Especially since I had received two emails from different people saying the same thing...

(Oh here comes the weepiness again!)

I never really thought about this blog in that way, but I do believe that ministry is being who you are, where you're at...so I guess this qualifies. 

I often find myself typing and wishing I could tell you these things face to face, but I will take what I can get...I am so grateful for the blogging community; both those who are just readers, but also those who are bloggers.

Thank you for reading and sharing your lives through this amazing thing we call social media. It truly makes my Sweet Life, that much sweeter!

La Vida Dulce!

PS: Here are the posts from the last Four July 12ths! 

July 12, 2005: Big Blogging Blueberry Day

July 12, 2006: Blogger Birthday

July 12, 2007: Blogiversary