Almost Wordless Wednesday

Elias sitting in the big Terrace chair at the University of Wisconsin this past Saturday. I am obsessed with this picture. I LOVE how much personality it has. You can see all seven of Elias's teeth!

Be sure to come back tomorrow for Giveaway Thursday. I am soooo excited about it.
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Fiction Book Winners

Sorry for the delay in randomly selecting the winners of Lisa Samson's book, The Passion of Mary Margaret.

Kristi said... 27

I'm a follower:)
Kristi
guntergirl71@hotmail.com

Ruthie said... 88

I adore reading, and also, since becoming a mom rarely have time to do it! When I start a book everything else gets neglected (well, I still feed the kiddos! :) ) until it's finished! I'd love to read this book!

Ruthie :)

Catherine said... 114

Yay!! Love a giveaway...Love a great book!!
pick me please!!!!


Anonymous said... 138

That looks and sounds like a great book to read at the beach with my feet in the sand, husband fishing, and children building sandcastles! Gini from NC

Craig and Kristy said... 1

Yay for a giveaway. I would love to win a copy. Although Karen Kingsbury is by far my favorite writer I would love to give this book a try.
7:34 AM

Anonymous said... 144

Please enter my name in the drawing. I'd love to try this book! Thanks and God bless.

Angie
angjay@bellsouth.net

Eva Joy said... 154

I've been looking for some good new fiction!!!
9:09 PM

wordlily said... 7

I just tweeted about your giveaway: http://twitter.com/Wordlily/status/2549734684
8:04 AM

beachbum804 said... 135

Would love to! Trying to get back into reading, writing college papers will make one go crazy to avoid it. :) Thanks!
10:44 PM

Brandi said... 13

I tweeted.
http://twitter.com/LHSMom/status/2549824580

If you are one of the winners, please email your address to me at jessicanicoleturner@gmail.com.

If you didn't win, you can purchase The Passion of Mary-Margaret on amazon.

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A Trip Down Memory Lane

It's been one year since these videos was made. Enjoy. :) Fun to go down memory lane...

The beginning of the birth process


They let me talk but shouldn't have - I am very drugged


Angie and Matthew Recap My Labor


Matthew and Angie are so tired and slap-happy :)


Introducing Elias (Matthew has gotten better at holding him!)


Parents for 24 Hours


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SWA Headquarters Recap

Southwest Airlines' headquarters is amazing. It has been three days since I was there and I still don't know if I can do the trip justice.

I flew to Dallas on Tuesday to meet with the emerging media and PR team, talk about mommy blogging and just get to know some people.

When I told the ticket agent in Nashville that I was going to headquarters she said did you bring your camera, because you are going to want to take pictures.

I said, of course.

Well, my camera died after about 8 pictures. NICE. (Lesson: charge your camera that you carry in your purse periodically!)

Thankfully, I did get some pictures of the mannequins they have on display decked out in SWA flight attendant gear through the years. Check them out. HILARIOUS.

What I didn't get pictures of were all the walls. Basically, Southwest's headquarters is like one big scrapbook. The hallways are decorated with hundreds of collages and 3-D displays as far as you can see. It is amazing. Everything celebrates the company and its employees. I could have looked at everything for hours.

We had lunch at Southwest's delicious dining hall, which offered every kind of food you can imagine. It was nice to just sit and chat with the emerging media team.

After lunch, we had a brainstorm session where I had the opportunity to share a lot of ideas with the teams about mommy blogging. I can't go into details, but the possibilities are exciting.

Then it was time for some video and audio stuff. First, I was interviewed by Brad Hawkins for the blog about mommy blogging. This video will be posted sometime soon.

Then, I did an interview with Steve Haser for Red Belly Radio, which you can listen to here if you missed it yesterday. You don't have to download anything special. :)

After that, it was already time to go!

Right before I left, I turned my camera on in hopes it would have the juice for a picture of me with Southwest's amazing Emerging Media leader, Paula Berg. It did! I look exhausted, but she is cute as a button.
What I was most blown away by was the people. Everyone was so incredibly friendly and emulated the fun and kindness so ubiquitous with Southwest. I am so honored that they have selected me to represent them as their mommy blogger and look forward to what the future holds.

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Giveaway Thursday: A Great Fiction Book

I love to read. Since becoming a mom, I don't get to read as much as I used to, which makes the time that I do read even more enjoyable. I generally do NOT read Christian fiction. No offense to those of you that do read it and like it. I just usually find that the writing is not as good as the mainstream writers that I like. So when Matthew asked if I would be interested in giving away the book The Passion of Mary-Margaret by his friend Lisa Samson, I wasn't sure if I wanted to. However, she has written more than 20 books and received much critical acclaim, so I thought I should give her a chance. (And Matthew has nothing but wonderful things to say about her as a person).

I am so glad I did.

Though I am not finished with the book, I can say that Lisa's writing of the story of Mary- Margaret sucked me in from the first page. Her style is engaging and easy to read. Here's what Publisher's Weekly, which gave it a starred review (its highest honor) said:

Samson (Quaker Summer) mixes quirky with mysticism, seasons it with social justice, and the result is a page-turner with characters so fresh, funny and indelible the reader wants another 50 pages or so, please. Samson envisions a Jesus even an atheist would enjoy talking to, a Jesus whom the titular Mary-Margaret Fischer, a religious sister, talks to and gets direction from, as mystics quite naturally do. An even more compelling figure than Jesus, or at least someone with more lines and hence more characterization, is Mary-Margaret's childhood friend, Jude Keller, a ne'er-do-well with a soul needing saving encased in a body so good-looking it's hard for a body to resist. The required Christian progression to redemption is a natural in this story that slips between past and present—somewhat confusingly at first—and ranges from Maryland to Africa. The plot holds a few surprises that make some of the final, far-flung episodes more narratively and theologically satisfying. Quirk works; this is a deeply engaging book deserving of a broad audience. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

I have TEN copies to give away, so leave a comment if you would like a chance to win this book.

For additional chances to win:

• Tweet the giveaway using my tweet: @JessicaNTurner is giving away 10 copies of @lisasamson's Mary-Margaret book here: http://tinyurl.com/lb7jgn (please RT)
• Become a public follower of this blog
• Subscribe to this blog
  

Be sure to leave an additional comment if you do one of these extras! (and include your email in your comment if it isn't in your profile so I can contact you if you win.)

Comments Closed

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My First Southwest Podcast

If you have a couple minutes, please check out my first Southwest Red Belly Radio Podcast. It is all about mommy blogging and traveling with an infant. I am so excited about it.

Be sure to come back tomorrow to see pictures of the SWA headquarters and hear all about my trip. It was amazing.
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Almost Wordless Wednesday

He thinks his puzzle pieces are pacis.
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Thank You Cards

I love the hot hues thank you cards that Target carries. I have bought them for years. The cards don't seem to be as thick as they used to be, but the colors and designs are still great.

I want to somehow easily customize some thank you cards for Elias's first birthday without going with a custom print job. I immediately thought of the Hot Hues cards.

I selected one of my favorite photos from Elias's party, cropped it to 3x4, put two on a 6x4 canvas in photoshop, saved it as a .jpg and uploaded it to Walgreens. I printed a bunch, cut them in half, adhered the photos to the cards using my handy xyron 900 and viola! perfect, adorable first birthday thank you cards.



I will be writing these on my flights to and from Dallas today.

You could easily do this for any holiday - or even just because.
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A Busy Week Ahead

This coming week is going to be incredibly busy! Here's everything on my plate:

• Today my Big Picture Scrapbooking class is due. I worked on it all weekend and have it 97% complete, so I am submitting what I have. I should have the few last components completed soon.
  
• Tuesday: I am flying to Dallas to meet with the Southwest Airlines' social media and PR team. I am very excited.
  
• Wednesday: We have a consult with an ENT for Elias's ears. I think we are going to go the tubes route. We just can't seem to get him any relief.
  
• Thursday: I will be packing to go home to Wisconsin for Elias's birthday with my family. Please be praying for Matthew as he will be staying home to work on edits to his book, which we are hoping he can get turned around quickly.
  
• Friday: Elias and I fly to Wisconsin for the weekend.
• Monday: Get home at 9 am and go straight to work!
  

Whew! I am tired already. Please pray for energy, wisdom and joy in the midst of the busyness. Oh, and I never shared the pictures we took of Elias on the 4th, so here are a few of those to make the grandmas - and Sara - happy. :)






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Elias's First Birthday Party Recap

Elias's first birthday party was great! Here's the recap I have been promising.

The Prep
We had it at a local park, so I had to pack several boxes of stuff to take. All the food, decorations, etc. While it was a bit of a pain, I found I was less stressed getting prepared because as I thought or bought items, I would just toss them in the party box. I didn't forget anything.

I bought most of the party supplies at The Dollar Tree (they have a great party section), which kept it really affordable, since we only had a small budget for the party. Everything was bright and fun. I loved it.

The Location
We had the party at Dragon Park in Nashville. It is known as Dragon Park because of the huge tiled dragon at the park. Isn't it neat? I love that Matthew and Elias are making the same face in this photo.


The Food

Since it was at 1 in the afternoon, I kept it really simple with the food and drinks. I bought most of the food at Costco, which kept the cost down. Here's what we served:

• Regular and mango salsa
• Fresh fruit
  
• Bowls of pretzels on each table
  
• A baby snack tray (with Beach Nut snacks and cheerios)
  
• Cupcakes (I cut dragons out to put on top of the cupcakes, but then I forgot to put them on. Oh well. They were still a big hit.)
• Water, lemonade and juice boxes

Even in keeping it simple, we had TONS of food leftover. That always happens, doesn't it?

The Birthday Boy
He looked so cute in his First Birthday hat! Although, he didn't keep it on long...
He also was given some really lovely gifts.

The Cake
I took cake decorating back in 2007 with the intent of someday making my children's cakes. Well, the opportunity was finally here. I made a six inch cake for Elias and was so pleased with how it turned out. Unfortunately, Elias was not a big fan. I think it was too sweet for him (it was the first time he had artificial sugar) and it was very hot out... We did get him a little messy - and Matthew even stuck his feet in the cake when he pulled him out the high chair.




The Sign
Even though I put four hours into making the cupcakes, Elias's cake and the frosting, I was most proud of the sign I made for Elias's high chair.
Here's how I made it.

• I painted large chipboard letters from Rusty Pickle
• I mounted the letters on yellow cardstock and cut the bottom of the cardstock using scalloped scissors.
  
• I used tacky tape on the backs of each letter to attach red crepe paper
• I attached felt characters (by Fancy Pants) to each letter to give them dimension and further tie the design together
  

It added so much color to his high chair and looks great in the pictures (yes, we took around 300!) I am going to hang the sign up on the valance in his room. Isn't it sweet?

Thanks for sharing in the day. :)
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Grateful for His Independence

Elias was the hit of the 4th of July party we attended last night. His joy is so contagious.
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Winner of the Camera Strap

Random.org selected 37, so the winner is:

Linh C. said...

All of them are pretty, but Blue with Branches is my favorite!

9:37 AM

Email me your address and I will get your strap sent to you! Congrats and thanks to everyone for entering.

Updated: I just realized I said I would post the winner Sunday and today is Saturday. I am screwed up because I was off yesterday. Sorry! I will do better next week. :) Happy 4th!
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