Shutterfly giveaway!
Author: thenicknick
Recently, I had the opportunity to sign us up for a new giveaway. Yes, us! See, I love my free stuff, but more than that, I love getting free stuff to share. This time, I have something I know you’ll love! (Okay, I can’t be certain, but I am reasonably confident…)
Shutterfly is a wonderful site offering you the opportunity create personalized stationary and cards using your photos. And since I will be getting married some time in the reasonably near future, I thought about all those thank you cards I’ll need. This should give me a great start.
I knew nothing about Shutterfly, but I love trying new things. The site is very user friendly. (Never underestimate the importance of a user friendly site.) And the options are plentiful. Very quickly I found a ton of different thank you cards I could personalize. I love variety! I love personalized stuff! I can even see where I could become dangerously in love with Shutterfly.
And so they have given me a promo code for ten free cards for myself. Oh, but the best part is that three, yes THREE, lucky readers will also get ten free cards.
Think of the possibility! You could actually send Christmas cards this year! You could send baby announcements or bridal shower invitations, or save the dates. You could even personalize your own thank you cards, like I plan to.
All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post about anything Shutterfly or personalized card related. The promotion will end on Tuesday, August 3rd. The winners, selected by Random.org, will be announced on Wednesday, August 4th.
Good luck! Happy commenting!
Well, this is is a special night for me. I’m very excited. Tonight I will be going to meet a group of Queen City Bloggers I found on Meet Up.
This was my FAVORITE day of the entire weekend. And for the most part, it was a really great weekend. It was the only plan we had for the weekend: Travis’ First Birthday.
This is the kind of story that is bound to make you rethink using Craigslist altogether. Shoot, my last few dating tales from Craigslist probably had the same result…
I was going to tell you all about Saturday, since it was such a great day, but there are more pressing issues right now. Rachel is suddenly single.
One of the most important changes I wanted to make after my return from California and Yahoo! was to begin writing for Shine. After the close of the Silicon Valley Moms Blogs, which includes Deep South Moms, I was feeling at a loss. I needed a new direction to take my writing. And thanks to Yahoo!, I seem to have found it.
The screen porch renovation is complete. And I have to admit that it couldn’t have come at a better time. Right now we need a sense of accomplishment, need to feel like we are making some sort of progress on our life. (That’s right, life, not lives. We’re in this together.)
In the meantime…relaxing in our new favorite space: the screen porch. It was yet another team project. He builds it. I make it pretty. Ahhh.
When the buses pulled up in front of Nola’s, I knew I was in for a treat. I like a place that isn’t guilty of false advertising. In the wall over one of the windows was a sign that said: Booze.
Well, we had the entire top floor of the restaurant. And it was really cool because there was this central open courtyard area that we looked down on and could see everyone there. On our floor, we spent forever simply mingling.
What I did recognize was the alcohol. There were Mojitos and Hurricanes galore. In fact, they kept bringing us pitchers of the Hurricanes. Yay! And they had to be the strongest Hurricanes I have ever had the pleasure of tasting.
And it was there in the car on the way back that 
Oh, but first (and the first of many many meals that day) BREAKFAST. Yeah. I’m a huge foodie. And Yahoo! constantly delighted my eyes, tickled my taste buds, and fulfilled my dining desires. The attention to detail is what truly impressed me. There were flowers with meals and snacks. At breakfast we had a huge buffet with pound cakes, bagels, fruit, three different times of croissant sandwiches, yogurt, granola, and an array of juices, coffees and teas that would make Starbucks green with envy. Wow. And I tried to be good, really I did.
There was a break in there. And we had snacks. Yeah. It had been a good hour and a half since we’d eaten. We were practically starved. So, I had a mini Milky Way from one of the Yahoo! buckets that lined the counters. They have everything imaginable. There were granola bars and protein bars and candy and breakfast bars and chocolate and well, EVERYTHING! And I grabbed a Coke. (My first of many.)
Then after the morning sessions it was time for lunch. I mean, almost an hour had passed since our snack. Duh. It was back to the buffet. This time there were two different kinds of salad, fancy ones, with champagne vinaigrette dressing. And there was a huge selection of rolls and butter or margarine. And there was an angel hair pasta dish and orzo and apricot chicken. For dessert, rice krispie treats with purple m&ms. These people know how to brand. Seriously.
Luckily, it was soon time for more breakout sessions. And that’s where it becomes a little tricky. Yeah. There are a lot of new things coming out, new products, new programs. And we have a gag order. Yes, we were Tweeting like fiends during the presentations, a Tweet Deck showing in the main room. Only, we can’t talk about so much stuff. Don’t worry. I’m keeping all my secrets from those sessions. Dammit. Or am I supposed to say…’wine?’ (Inside joke for the Mother Board. Sorry. Guess you had to be there…)
Well, then it was time for afternoon snacks. Again, we hadn’t eaten for a good hour. This time…cupcakes. Yahoo! Mother Board cupcakes. And they were soooo good. Heck. I was soooo good. I limited myself to one, had to have a little chocolate on chocolate action. Yum.
We shopped in the company store. We checked out the campus. We saw people playing basketball during a normal work day. We saw people working out in the gym. We saw them using the foosball tables, the pool table, the air hockey, the free espresso bar, relaxing in the cafeteria and lounging outside. I want to work there. Shoot, I could move in!
I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to organize this. I mean, there is so much to talk about.
I had more amenities than I knew what to do with. It was a case of sensory overload, since I hadn’t stayed in a room alone for 20 years and a hotel room alone EVER. My personal favorite touch…the television in the bathroom that meant I could ‘watch’ while I readied myself. Too cool.
Well, I dressed for the pool party reception in a purple sarong. That’s my style. And I worried that I would be too casual. I shouldn’t have. These women are so diverse, so extraordinary, that anything I chose would have been just fine. I’m glad I went a few minutes early to take pictures. The décor was incredible. The food was divine. The company was exceptional. The open bar and desserts were a special treat. And I met a woman that could easily become a true friend for life. Yes,
We laughed, we joked, we carried on for two hours. And when the cocktail party was wrapping up, we received the first of many gifts from Yahoo!, as if the flight, reception, and fabulous digs weren’t enough. They gave each of us a pair of Shine slippers and a Four Seasons 





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