This giveaway is now closed. Stay tuned for the winner!

(I know, I know, cheesy title. But I can't help it with all the love that's filling the air ;))

Have y'all ever heard of Barberry and Lace? If not, you need to check it out as soon as possible. So adorable! Here are some of my favorites...

(clockwise, starting at top left: the alice pocket watch, the turquoise gracie earrings, the photographer's dream necklace, and the rosy necklace)

Swoon.

So today, because it's a beautiful Saturday morning, because it's supposed to get up to seventy four degrees next week, because Valentine's Day is on Monday, and because I love you, I'm giving away any one item from Barberry and Lace up to a twenty five dollar value, generously donated by the fabulous Leigh.

Here's how you enter to win...

mandatory entry
(You must complete this step or your entry will be deleted)


Leave a comment answering the following question: "What's your favorite season?" Mine is definitely late spring/early summer.

really want to win?
Here's what you can do for extra entries... and please, please, please leave one comment per entry instead of lumping them all in one comment. It makes my life much easier! :)


- follow me on Google Friend Connect over there on the left in the sidebar (it counts if you already follow)
- blog about this giveaway, leaving the link in the comment section
- follow me on twitter (@pastorsgirl)
- tweet - make sure you include @pastorsgirl so I can track the tweet - or facebook about the giveaway

(each worth one entry)

The giveaway will end Tuesday, February 15th at 9:59pm CST and winner will be announced soon afterwards. Note: If the winner doesn't respond in forty eight hours after being announced, a new one will be picked.

Have fun and good luck!

-carlotta

awkward


The fact that I ate one third of a package of Oreos in one sitting.

All the schools in our area have been out since last Tuesday because of the snow. Not including weekends, that's eight consecutive days without schools. Seriously?!

When you wave back at someone and then realize they were waving at a person behind you.

This picture. Can you say awkward? What the heck am I doing, you ask? I'm just doing my best "Oh yeah!" impersonation, that's what. And not a very good one at that ;)

A song that my friend and I wrote when we were probably nine or ten. We just rediscovered it and I about died laughing. Are you ready for it's awkwardness? My personal favorite is the last verse..

"You ate my cheerios, you ate my Oreos, so take my trash out! You ate the dashboard in my car, you ate the tires but that's not all, take my trash out! If you eat all of my scarves, I guarantee you're gonna barf, so take my trash out! You ate my pots, you ate my pans, you ate some spinach from a can, so take my trash out! You ate my chairs, now they're not there, so take my trash out! You ate my spam, you ate my man, stop chewing on my crayons! Take my trash out! You are so fat, like a huge brown rat! None of your clothes fit, so stop eating! Sit! Relax, take a bath, but first...
TAKE MY TRASH OUT!"

Ahem. Yes.


Falling out of bed. Or rather, make that slipping out of bed. I was trying to be all cool (Actually, I was afraid something would grab my foot from under my bed. I know. Childish. But it's still something I fear.) last night and jumped onto my bed. My foot promptly slipped on my bedding and I crashed to the (hardwood) floor. Ouch.

awesome


Getting in the car for the first time in a week and a half. The roads have been awful - still from the snow - and my mom didn't feel comfortable driving. It was heavenly to see people other than family ;)

On said leaving-the-house-for-the-first-time-in-over-a-week excursion, we went to both Target and the library. Love.

These shoes. Swoon. (find them here) 

It's the weekend for me. Very happy about that :)

An impromptu French lesson while cleaning up the kitchen.

The Girl Scout cookies we bought today. 

The fact that I'm writing this sitting by a roaring fire and watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

My new favorite photograph of Lilly.

How Lilly did a perfect imitation of Ken (i.e., Barbie and Ken) at the dinner table, complete with the arched eyebrows. Hilarious.

What's been awkward and/or awesome for you?

-carlotta

Every Tuesday afternoon the kitchen is transformed into a bakery. The cookbooks get pulled from their flour dusted shelves, sticks of butter are taken out of the refrigerator - because we all know butter is essential to good food - and mixing bowls are stacked haphazardly on counter tops and in the sink. After lots of spilled ingredients, messes, and dirty dishes, delicious smells waft throughout the house, enticing certain little children to come running to the kitchen to beg for a bite.

Baking is so therapeutic. I mean, you get to take your frustrations out on eggs by beating them, you dismember sticks of butter with a knife, and when you're done mixing everything together, your creation gets to sit in a fiery oven. Ahem. Sorry. My violent side got out there for a minute.

But in all seriousness, it's really kind of amazing what simple, basic ingredients like butter, flour, and sugar can be transformed to. I admit I spend good deal of time thinking about how people got the idea to mix such vastly different staples to create a new food. (There's proof right there that I'm a geek.)

(muffins that taste like donuts)

But regardless of how baking originated, I love it. I love the accomplished feeling of knowing that you made that and it's not something off a grocery store shelf. I love the soothing feeling of gently folding together ingredients. I love photographing the finished product. I love the fresh, homemade taste that you just can't get when you buy a treat. And I would love it even more if I had a maid to clean up my baking messes (read: I'm not a neat, tidy baker)...but that's another story. ;)

Do you like baking? Do you have any tried and true recipes you love? Do tell!

-carlotta

Lately, I've been craving simplicity, especially when it comes to my blog and so decided to give pastor's girl's ponderings a little makeover.

I got rid of unnecessary clutter on my sidebar thanks to some scrolling menu bars (Thank you to the lovely Amanda for helping me with them!). I also switched out my previous photo collage header with one simple photograph. Finally, I chose to do away with the font Century Gothic in favor of a simpler Times New Roman.

Personally, I'm loving the simpler, cleaner look. What do you think?

I said I was craving simplicity, especially blog wise. Because of this, I feel like on cloud nine's time is up. Who knows, I may bring it back sometime in the future, but right now it not longer feels right. To me, it seemed that all I posted was blog hops, and that wasn't the direction I wanted to go with my blog. I'll still continue with occasional photo challenges, but on cloud nine will be currently discontinued.

While I'm on this topic, I want to mention that I'm going to cut back on the “themed” posts (i.e., miscellaneous ramblings, confessions, outfit posts, etc). I'll still write those kinds of posts, but not quite as often.

Instead, I really would love to challenge my creativity and write more original posts in favor of adding a few new words, slapping on a “miscellaneous ramblings” title, and calling it a day. Y'all deserve more than that :)

I'm really excited about all these changes, and I hope you'll enjoy my (somewhat) new and improved blog!

(an older photograph, but still one of my favorites)

-carlotta


PS I'm guest posting over here today! Feel free to check it out :)