Give Aways! | Heir to Blair

Some things are just better through snail mail. (aka Storkie review & giveaway!)

6 Nov posted by heirtoblair

I love getting cards in the mail – party invitations, birth announcements, Save the Dates, Christmas cards. They line our fridge year-long & I think that’s a habit I picked up from The Momma. Currently, my friend Kacia’s little girl Harlow adorns our fridge, along with Dennis’ second birthday invite & last year’s Christmas card. & two year’s later, The Lusher’s Save the Date still smiles up at us every time we dive into the freezer for ice cream.

For Harrison’s second birthday, Storkie Express graciously offered us a $50.00 credit to order invitations, which stretched far enough for 20 custom invites plus address labels to match! While we were going for “Curious George inspired,” I really wasn’t into George himself adorning everything. So I went with bouncing monkeys.

Picture 4 Some things are just better through snail mail. (aka Storkie review & giveaway!)

The cool thing is that I could change the colors, the texts, the fonts PLUS the number of monkeys, the gender of said monkeys, & even the pillow feathers flying around. This was the “original” & I edited it to have a green background, blue bedspread, all boy monkeys with green & orange hats. The software was a little sticky on some of my computers, but once I finally got it going? I was happy.

(confession? I was so distracted by job stuff that I only got THREE of the invites in the mail, handed a few out in person, & mostly passed them out at the actual party. epic failure on my part.)

Because I like passing on things I love, especially right before the holidays, one of you will also get a $50.00 credit to Storkie Express! Got a birthday or announcement or you know, some kind of a big holiday with presents or nightly candles or fat men in suits? I checked out their Christmas cards & fell in love with these:

<———-

So different, right?! I think those might have to be on my list. If my friends sent these, I think I’d hang them on my tree or find a cute way to display them…like on a branch. Because that’s the kind of thing I see on Pinterest.

So here’s what you do to enter to win the $50 credit!
1) Go over to Storkie Express & tell me what you need most. Invites? Christmas Cards? Birth Announcements?
2) For an extra entry, follow me or Storkie on Facebook. Your choice.

Leave a separate comment for each entry, please.

Good luck! I’ll email the winner in a few days!

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Filed Under: Give Aways!, Stuff I Love, Suzie Homemaker

Look, ma! No undereye circles! aka CoverGirl Lash Perfection

4 Oct posted by heirtoblair

Despite what some may think, I’m not a weirdo that holes away in a basement selling Avon & listening to Christmas music in August.

Okay, scratch that. I totally listen to Christmas music in August.

I have a job that I love as it challenges me & puts me in front of clients on the daily. Which is wonderful, because I love people. But having to look my best every day? oh, do I often fail. I was most worried before returning to work after my son – I had 40 extra pounds on my frame & no clothes that fit. I was losing hair like a husky & had this weird thing going on where my feet sweat a lot. (new motherhood = totally glamorous) But after three months of maternity leave, we still had a mortgage to be paid, so I bought a few new pairs of slacks, slipped my stinky feet back into my pumps, & tried desperately to still feel confident & pretty in my job.

I realized quickly that the weight would take awhile to melt off. But I could brighten my face up in just a few minutes with my old trusty friends, the blush stick & mascara wand. So I covered the dark circles under my eyes that appeared sometime during the 3am feeding & dusted a little bronzer across my cheeks to help me look among the living. I am not a huge make-up enthusiast, but surely, I entered my new stage of life as a working mother with a little more confidence each day until I was comfortable with my clients once more.

CoverGirl & BlogHer wanted to make sure I was staying on top of my game almost two years into the gig of being a working momma, so they sent me the new CoverGirl Lash Perfection mascara to try out in a brown-black shade.

Oh, my. It is very pretty on. I never really believed that mascara could “lengthen” lashes until this one & I didn’t even have to dig out a toothpick to take out clumps! (kidding! I’m too clumsy to put sharp objects near my eyes.) It held up beautifully, even though the tears of a therapy session. Also, this may have been the first mascara I have tried where I didn’t look like a raccoon by 5pm. Thank you, Lash Perfection, for not smudging under my eyes. Love you, mean it!

I love fair-trade coffee because I’m an economics nerd, aka HOLY CRAP, YOU CAN WIN GREEN MOUNTAIN COFFEE & A KEURIG!

8 Sep posted by heirtoblair

I love coffee.

I think every mother loves coffee or some caffienated beverage because, let’s be honest, those kiddos are a big phsycial & emotional suck of awesome.

I started drinking coffee at a younger age then most, but I loved the taste & the friendship it allowed with my mother as we sat across the kitchen table with steaming mugs. I formed some of my greatest friendships over a cup of coffee (hi, Kacia!) & even lost some, where the red chairs in Starbucks remind me of conversations during the good times. When we married, my non-coffee drinking husband quickly reformed & we now spend weekend mornings in bed with mugs & a two-year-old. Also? It keeps me awake on the road during my morning commute.

Because we drink so much coffee in our home, we do our best to make sure it’s helping out others, too. Because it’s easy to simply purchase Fair Trade coffee, which helps support local economies & the environment. We prefer Green Mountain Coffee (& have even before this review, without knowing it!); our favorite is the Newman’s Own Special Blend, but we got to try the Green Mountain Coffee Columbian Fair Trade Select & loved it (surprising, because we usually like dark roasts!).

We currently use the K-Cup portion packs because we’re busy having a love affair with our Keurig coffee maker, but they also sell the same stuff in bags for classic brewing.

p.s. they make the Pumpkin Spice K-Cup portion pack, which is my fall must-have.

Here’s how Fair Trade coffee works & why you might want to double-check labels the next time you buy:

coffee farmers are part of a co-op with other farmers in the area.
they have to meet stringent requirements to qualify, including democratic voting among members, fair labor laws, & the exclusion of certain chemicals. they also have to meet specific environment regulations, like proper erosion control & including a ban on slash-&-burn.
growers are guaranteed a minimum price, plus the current market rate.
in return, they reinvest the premium Fair Trade prices into local schools, health clinics, infrastructure, etc. plus reinvesting in the coffee & lands to produce better product.
which, of course, means that better product leads to higher sales, which leads to more Fair Trade farming agreements, which leads to more premium prices & the ability to invest locally.
end result? Fair Trade coffee is better quality for all.

That’s what you call BOOM. Win-win for all.

So while we can’t do much in our little home in North Carolina, we do our best to make our every day a positive for someone else.

p.p.s. if you visit Green Mountain Coffee’s Facebook page, you’ll find tons of coupons & samples so you can taste the goodness

To spread the word on Fair Trade coffees & practices, BlogHer would like to offer one Heir to Blair reader a Keurig coffee maker, plus a sample of Green Mountain Coffee K-Cup portion packs!

What is your favorite aspect of Fair Trade Coffee? Leave me an answer & you’ll be entered to win!

Plus, you can Tweet about it for an extra entry! i.e. “Learn fair trade & win Green Mountain Coffee & a Keurig from @heirtoblair! http://wp.me/pRSLA-1QI”

Sunshine Stitch summer giveaway!

16 Aug posted by heirtoblair

Alysha is smart & talented. I know this because a) she was smart & jumped on my ~~SUPPORT BA’S NETFLIX ADDICTION~~ summer advertising campaign & b) just look at her work.

Yep, that’s a beaver hat. I love him.

Harrison might have to have him for fall, yes?

As something fun & sweet to kick off your week, Alysha is offering one lucky winner a $25.00 credit to her shop, The Sunshine Stitch.

All you have to do is hop on over to her shop & tell me what you’d order!

Feeling overzealous? “Like” her Facebook page & leave another comment letting me know that you did.

Also, someone please buy me these darling coasters for my back porch, even though they’re for the front porch. I don’t think that really matters, right?

I’ll pick the winner on Friday. Good luck!

15% off with the code HEIRTOBLAIR for the duration of the giveaway!

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Filed Under: Give Aways!

Rescued by a leatherbound knight! aka Back to School with momAgenda

11 Aug posted by heirtoblair

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess named BA.

She loved sweet tea, miniature dachshunds, & most of all…staying organized. From the time she was a wee girl, BA loved to organize her room, making all stuffed animals stand in straight attention. Friends & family called it “quirky.” As sorority president & business student, she was lovingly called a “perfectionist.” Grown full into a woman & mother, she is now called “anal retentive.”

But really, Princess BA just likes to have her stuff together. So she balanced a work calendar, a mini calendar for her pocket book, the calendar on her phone, Outlook on her computer…& she juggled & juggled & juggled, feeling more & more like the Court Jester. Until one magical day…