I Need Your Vote!

Hi Everyone!  A few months ago I entered a "Quick Summer Meals" contest over at Stop Lookin' Get Cookin'.  I won the entry for the week I entered and am now in the running for the grand prize.  

Kendra is giving away a boatload ($215.00) of kitchen products from Chef's Planet to the winner.

I would REALLY appreciate it if you took about 1 minute and popped over there and voted for my CROCK POT COUNTRY RIBS.  It's super easy, just click on the link below, scroll to the vote now button and on the next page find my Crock Pot Country Ribs and click the button.  Then Scroll to the bottom and click finish or vote now.

THANK YOU  THANK YOU  THANK YOU   THANK YOU  THANK YOU  THANK YOU

Click on the link below to take you to the blog post and then click on the Vote Now button at the bottom.  Voting ends at 11:59 pm CST on August 26.  Winner will be announced on Monday, August 27 by noon.

http://www.stoplookingetcookin.com/2012/08/quick-summer-meals-contest-voting-starts-today/

You can vote 1 time from each device you have - i-pad, computer, phone, etc....

YOU ARE THE BEST BLOGGING BUDDIES A GIRL COULD HAVE

 ~ MUCH LOVE ~

I'm off again :)

I know I haven't been home all that long but I am off to Disneyland to take my daughter and her friend for a couple of days for her 18th birthday.  I can't believe 18 years have passed so quickly since she was born.   

I've decided to wait until Friday to post my link party instead of just posting a generic one with no features again.  Have a wonderful rest of the week and I'll look forward to seeing you again on Friday.

~Hugs~

Michelle

Summer Vacation

As some of you may know already (I'm terrible at keeping exciting news) I'm leaving tomorrow for a wonderful Mediterranean Cruise!  Yipee!  I can hardly wait!  We have been planning this since December and it's finally here.  

Totally swiped this sketch (Isn't it the cutest) from Rose over at A Rosie Sweet Home  ~ Thanks Rose :)

Since my house sitter isn't into blogging (Crazy lady) I have scheduled five wonderful ladies who will be guest blogging for me while I'm gone.  You will see posts from April over at April's Country Life, Julie over at White Lights on Wednesday, Lisa of Wine and Glue, as well as Robyn over at The Ranch Wife Chronicles and Robyn of Robyn's View.  Hi Ladies!

These women stepped up as soon as I asked for guest bloggers and I am forever grateful for their help.  You need to check out their blogs too ~ they are AMAZING! Stop by and tell them I sent you over for a look see.  Be sure to come back and see what they post in the next two weeks too :)

Don't think I didn't remember my link party.  I have scheduled the next two weeks so make sure to come by and link up what you've been working on.  I will be posting features as soon as I return (well, maybe the next day)  

Ciao Bella!

My 4th of July and Creative Thursday No. 12 Featured Posts

Hello blogging friends!  How was your 4th of July?  Ours was amazing.  We spent 5 days at my parents on a lake with a houseful of family and friends.  The kids got to go wake boarding, sailing, and play in the water while the adults got to go fishing, play board games and play in the water too.  Here are a few pictures from my week away.

Gorgeous picture of the lake from my parents back yard.

                                                    

 Grandsons and friend using Papa's Hobie Cat.

Family friends on the paddle boat

 

My son Justin wake boarding

 

My daughter Jessica wake boarding and single skiing

My nephew Paul, daughter Jessica, and her beautiful friends

  

 

My nephew Paul wake boarding.  I couldn't resist the fall!

My best friends daughter

My brother Darrell and the big mouth bass he caught.  Me and the icky fish after I helped net it, YUK!

Fireworks they shoot out over the lake - not bad for an i-phone huh

Happy Birthday Dad!

Now enough about me ~ What did you guys do for the 4th of July?  Did you spend the day with family and friends, have a BBQ, watch fireworks?

Hopefully you all had as wonderful a day as I had spending time with loved ones.

Because I was away from my computer last week I couldn't do my featured favorites from No. 12 link party.

Here are the top three featured favorites from Creative Thursday No. 12  (1 - 3)

and my three featured favorites (4 - 6) in no particular order

1.  Fake cleaning 101 from Confessions of an ADD Housewife this has some great tips for quick pick up around the house and I know I've done at least two of them.

2.  Playing with PicMonkey from: Natasha In Oz - great pictures from holiday in Paris. Ooh la la

3.  Pavlova from Tartan Tastes in Texas a wonderfully light meringue dessert with fresh whip cream and berries, Yum!

4.  Buttery Rolls from Love Bakes Good Cakes nothing like fresh yeast bread or rolls baking in the oven!

5.  Layered drinks from Sugar Bean Bakers an awesome way to layer colored drinks!

6.  Mini Peach Cobbler from The Recipe {critic} perfect sized dessert for everyone at the table.  YUM  - Love those fruit desserts in the summer!

Congrats to everyone who was featured ~ You guys are amazing and I couldn't do these link parties without you.  

Don't forget to grab a button from the sidebar.

Guest Bloggers needed

Hopefully everyone had a wonderful 4th of July.  We are having a great time at my parents.  The kids are wake boarding, sailing, swimming, and enjoying each others company. 

The adults are cooking, cleaning, and staying after the kids to keep stuff picked up lol, sounds like home to me.  We are having a great time too.  Spending time with family and friends playing board games and just relaxing in the sun.

What did you do for 4th of July?  Block party? Family BBQ? Go to the movies?  Hopefully whatever you did you had a wonderful time too :)

On to the guest bloggers ~ It seems like we have left all our vacationing to the month of July this year and we will be going on a wonderful Mediterranean cruise week after next and my house sitter won't be blogging for me, darn it! 

So, I was wondering if any of my wonderful blogging friends would like to do a guest post?  I've never done one but I'm pretty sure I can figure this out.  It can be a new post or a post you've already had on your blog because it will still be new to my followers.

If you would like to guest post on my blog just drop me an email and we'll set it up.  I would like to get the posts scheduled by next Thursday (sorry for the short notice) so I can have plenty of time to schedule them all.

I will also be pre-scheduling my link party so there won't be any features until I return.  Thank you guys in advance for your patience with all my globtrotting.  I would take you with me if I could, really I would!

I'm being Featured - Stop on by

Happy Wednesday blogging friends!

I just wanted to let you know that about a month ago I was asked to write a blog post to be featured on Inspired By Family Magazine blog and I am so excited that it is posted TODAY!  Hop on over and take a peek, leave a comment, or just peruse their site.

Wishing you all a great week! 

Don't forget to come back tomorrow and link up to my Creative Thursday Link Party :)

~Hugs~

Michelle

Help me out here blogger peeps

I have a question and don't really want to sound like a simpleton but lets face it, most of the time I learn by example and just kinda wing it.

What is the difference between Linky Followers and Google Friend Connect?  Do I need to sign up for both or just one.  Will one be disappearing?  I thought I saw that somewhere.

Okay so that was more than one question, but for the rest of you who don't know and are too afraid to ask, I'll just put this out there in blogland and hopefully someone, or everyone, will answer us.  And if you actually already knew; then thanks for letting me know, smartypants!

Hope you are all having a great weekend.

~Hugs~

Michelle

Liebster Blog Award

Wow, I have my first blog award and I am so excited.  I would like to Thank Deborah at Country at Heart Recipes for honoring me with this award and taking the time to read my blog.  I am happy to promote fellow recipe bloggers as well.

The Liebster Blog Award:

This award originated from Germany and it means "favourite, beloved, dearest". The rules are: 1) Show thanks to the blogger who awarded you by linking back to her blog. 2) Pick 5 blogs with less than 200 followers and let them know about your nomination by leaving a comment on their blog, and 3) Post the award on your blog!

My five Recipe Blog Nominations:

(Please visit them and maybe they'll become one of your favorites too!)

The Domesticated Duchess

Wishes and Dishes

Steph's Bite by Bite

Where Flours Bloom

That's some good cookin'