$35 CSN Gift Code

Looking for some great stuff at a great price and from a place with great service? I'm giving away a $35 gift code for CSN Stores over on Cerebral Girl in a Redneck World. The giveaway ends March 13th, so hurry over to enter!

Home Construction and Improvement Giveaway

Home Construction and Improvement is a great site for picking up tips on doing your own DIY home improvement projects around the house. I wish I would have known of this site last year when I painted my bedroom! When I bought my house, the bedroom was one of the rooms most in need of a little TLC. It was a horrible beige-ish color, with paint all over the ceiling and white patchmarks all over the walls...

My friend and I decided to tackle this over the Christmas/New Year break in 2009/2010, and I had no idea what I was getting myself into! It seemed that everyday I had to head back to the store to buy more supplies, and the costs really added up for just a single room!

But with lots of hard work and determination, it paid off with a lovely light buttercream room and  beautiful velvet sky blue accent wall. (Please excuse the wrinkled curtains and bedspread. Everything was just unpacked and hadn't "settled" yet.)...

I was so happy with the way it turned out!

Now my next painting project is my guest bath, which is currently what we affectionately call a "baby poop" brown...

Ugh! So you can imagine how happy I am that Home Construction Improvement is having a giveaway for a $200 Home Depot gift card! The kind folk at Home Depot are offering the card for one lucky winner to redo their bathroom as part of a renew and redo event. Fabulous!

Just head on over to HCI for your chance to win!

One World One Heart 2011

Welcome to the 5th and final One World One Heart blog hop! The point of this blog hop is to hopefully discover some great new blogs and introduce your own blog to others. This blog hop will run January 30th - February 17th. Learn more about the blog hop on our host's blog The Whimsical Bohemian.

This is my third year participating in OWOH. Last year I was very lucky and won several times. I posted two of my winnings back on this post as a thank you (a third winning I never received), but the last winning I never posted, as I just received it a few months ago. So I wanted to take a moment here to post a little thank you and show everyone what I received.

Organic Odysseys promised me a piece of artwork, but wanted time to "get to know me" and do something specific to me. What I wound up with was this...

I thought this was so great, as it showed that she really did spend time getting to know me. She learned that my motto is "To thine ownself be true" and made me this bracelet depicting that motto. Absolutely awesome! So I wanted to take this opportunity to say "Thank You" to Kate for her very thoughtful gift and show everyone what she made me!

A quick introduction before the giveaway. My name is Heather, and this is just one of my many blogs (many of which are being neglected). If you like books, be sure to check out my other blog Cerebral Girl in a Redneck World.

I'm a divorced woman with no kids but a whole slew of animals. You can meet most of the ZooCrew here, and you can meet the latest addition Zucchini in my latest post about him. I enjoy a quiet life of family, animals, nature, music, TV, books and cooking (I am now a vegetarian/pescatarian, but I still have some great meat recipes listed on the blog. Check out my recipe for slow-cooked Short Ribs!). I blog here about all of these things except the books. That area of my life is usually covered over there at Cerebral Girl in a Redneck World, plus over at Snoop Dogg Adventures I cover any of my small adventures in life (camping trips, festivals and the like).

For my OWOH giveaway, I'm doing something a little different. I am a big fan of Kiva, which allows average people like you and me to make micro-loans to entrepreneurs around the world to give them a shot at bettering their own lives. You put up as little as $25 and allow an individual that you select to use that money (along with money loaned by others like you) to expand their businesses or begin a new business. Learn more here. I am currently loaning money to a woman selling cosmetics in Bolivia, a Bolivian man trying to fix up his home, a woman who sells in the food market in South Sudan and an electrician in Ecuador. I've also had three other loans successfully paid back. So you loan money out, they pay it back, and you loan it back out to someone else. The same money can help countless people. Kiva has even been listed by Oprah as one of her favorite things.

So what I'm proposing is this: I will buy the winner of my OWOH giveaway a $25 virtual gift card to Kiva for the winner to loan out to help someone else. We all need to count our blessings and try to help those in this world who are less fortunate. And I'd like to introduce someone else to this outstanding group!

So just complete the form below for your chance to become a Kiva lender! A winner will be drawn using Random.org on 2/18/11.

NOTE: If you aren't sure how to navigate through the form, just use your Tab key on your keyboard to go from field to field. For some reason the scroll bar disappeared.



Thanks for stopping by! I hope to "see" you again sometime, and I will be visiting as many blogs as possible myself. Have a great trip around blogland!

OWOH 2010 Winner

So the 2010 One World One Heart event has come to a close, and it is time for me to look into my crystal ball and divine who is the winner of the $20 Barnes & Noble gift card and bookmark.

And the winner is...

#87 Sandra of Thistle Cove Farm

Congratulations, Sandra! And thank you to everyone who entered to win, and to Lisa Swifka for the great event. It was great getting to meet so many new people, and I hope to see all of you again next year!

Earring Giveaway at Classy Covet

Well, I love earrings and I love teal, so what isn't there to love about this giveaway?

Classy Covet is giving away a pair of teal earrings by bold minimalist. Aren't they lovely?

Go now for your chance to win. But hurry! The giveaway ends tomorrow!

One World One Heart 2010

It's that time of year again! It's One World One Heart 2010, and we're taking off together on a magic carpet ride!

If you are unfamiliar with it, this event was started by Lisa Swifka of A Whimsical Bohemian in 2007. She reminisces:

I created this event in 2007. The original idea behind this giveaway event was to bring bloggers together from around the world who may never ordinarily meet. It closes the gap of the blog community and enables us to interact, discover new and wonderful people, and in the process possibly win a prize or many prizes along the way. 2007 had roughly 85-90 participants and many connections were made because of it......friendships that are still going strong.

We had a strong showing the first year for sure, and then in 2008 we had just about tripled that number. In 2009 there were 911 participants, to say I was amazed is an understatement. 28 countries were represented in the 2009 event as well.

I joined in last year for the first time. In fact, it was the book giveaways that I happened upon while touring around the OWOH participating blogs that led me back to books and into book blogging.


This year Santa was so excited about the OWOH event that he decided to fly in on his flying carpet to see what all the hullabaloo is about. (You didn't know he had a flying carpet? Well the reindeer have to recuperate after their all-night trek around the world, don't they? So this is his backup transportation...)

I have many blogs, but this was my first and is my heart and soul. I blog about my life in general, and often blog about my cooking adventures, outings to art and music festivals, nature adventures and my animals (I have five cats- plus a new backyard stray- a lovebird and a turtle).

So, while many of the participants in OWOH make their own gifts to give away, I won't be. This year I will be giving away the following to one lucky winner:

A $20 gift card to Barnes and Noble, and a neat little bookmark that I found that includes an emblem on it that has been embedded with wildflower seeds. So you take the emblem off of the bookmark and plant it, and it will sprout up flowers. Cool!

To enter to win, just comment below and be sure to leave an email address so I may contact you if you are the winner. The contest will end at 6 PM EST on February 15th, and a winner will be drawn and announced later that evening. Oh, and while you are here, feel free to check out any of my other blogs as well:

• Cerebral Girl in a Redneck World is my book blog. All things book related, including book giveaways!
• Freedom Gardening is about growing food for self-sufficiency and economy.
• Weedy Garden is for tracking my work (or lack thereof) in my garden.
• Snoop Dogg Adventures tracks the adventures of my good friend Snoop Dogg.
• Just Me Spouting Off is a place for me to rant on occasion.

Thank you for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy your stay. Leave a comment, and maybe, just maybe, Santa will be flying by your place to drop off a little something...

Win a pair of beautiful wine glasses...

...and they are wine glasses like you've never seen before! Sweet, Mysterious Feast is giving away a pair of six-ounce white wine glasses by iittala Tapio (valued at over $44)!
Isn't that a lovely glass?!

But this giveaway ends tomorrow. So hurry and just become a follower of Sweet, Mysterious Feast and get your chance to win these beauties!

Giveaway: A beautiful keepsake box

Tchochkes is giving away a Sterling Pear Keepsake Box.

Have you ever seen anything so lovely before? And this would be a great option for me to store away those little items that I cherish most, and would look beautiful doing it!

This giveaway ends 1/4, and is for US residents only. Oh, me! Me! Please?

Win a Sealy Mattress!

Awesome! Mommy Mandy is hosting a giveaway for a Sealy Posturepedic Innerspring Signature 11 mattress. What?! Yep, you heard me! The winner will get their choice of Twin, Full, Queen and King (but not CalKing). The winner will also be able to pick the model in firm, cushion firm, plush and ultra plush. The giveaway ends January 20th. Go to Mommy Mandy and enter now!

Yowsa! Blog Candy Giveaway!

Stephanie at Where'd All My Money Go?! is celebrating 25,000 blog hits. To celebrate she is giving away "blog candy"-- otherwise known as a $150 gift card of your choice. Holy Cow! Yep, you heard right! Head over there now! The deadline is August 28th.

Love, Love, Love It!

I found a great little shop today that sells the cutest stuff! I LOVE whimsy, and this is whimsy!

AllenDesigns has the coolest, cutest, most colorful items. And on their blog Michelle My Belle they are giving some of it away. Look at the adorable cat box, the quirky "sunshine" print, and the fun and funky "Art Blox". I would love any of these things, and all of them are being given away! Head over there today to find out how you can win.

As you may know, I am in a new house, and I am trying to figure out my decorating style. I've decided I like bursts of color, and I want to have a little bit of a whimsical flair. Who could be too depressed when surrounded by things like this?

Photo Contest

National Geographic and Energizer Batteries are hosting a photo contest. I just thought that these were beautiful submissions, and I had to share them:


3 Garnets and 2 Sapphires is hosting a giveaway, and giving away a year subscription to National Geographic magazine and a sample pack of Energizer Lithium batteries. Head over there to see how you can enter to win. There's lots of different ways! I LOVE National Geographic!

Madsen Bike Giveaway

Madsen is giving away two of their bikes to two winners. These bikes are great in our "green" age. With the basket on the back, you can run up to the grocery store, local farmer's market or plant nursery, and get healthy doing it. I'd love one of these! And my big fat butt would love me for it!

To sign on, just click the banner to go to their site.

Free Wall Decal Giveaway

I just wanted to take a moment to mention that Lewa's Designs is giving away a free wall decal to anyone who blogs about them.

I just love wall decals! Blog about Lewa's and you will get your choice of a caterpillar, bird or baseball wall decal. I think that they can really make a room feel much warmer.

Check them out!

Fiestaware Giveaway

I'm still in the middle of my 24-hour read-a-thon. I have just under 7 1/2 hours to go. However I was taking a break and I found out that there is a fiestaware giveaway going on.

I LOVE fiestaware. I replaced my everyday china with Fiestaware a couple of years ago, and am so happy I did. I love the colors-- so bright and cheerful!

If you are a Fiestaware fan like me, head over and sign up to enter!

Welcome to the Ultimate Blog Party 2009

Welcome to the Ultimate Blog Party 2009, and my little corner of the blog world! I'm so glad you stopped by, and I hope you'll spend a few minutes getting to know a little bit about me and my world. If you are one of my usual followers, or if you came by my site through some other means, and you aren't familiar with the Blog Party that is going on 3/20-3/27/09, you can click the button to the right to go learn more.

I guess I should give you a little introduction, huh? Well, let me first explain that I am slightly introverted, a homebody with a sense of adventure, and can be a little socially awkward. So please excuse any of my little social faux pas. I have a good heart! Really I do!

My name is Heather (obviously!), I will be turning 40 this year, and just bought my first house. I divorced in 2000 after almost ten years of marriage. I have no children, but I have five cats, a lovebird, and a turtle. I refer to them as my "ZooCrew". I have a boyfriend known on this website as "Woodrow", since he values his privacy. We all live in south Florida.

I am involved in the technology field, doing sales and support for a software company. I aspire to become self-employed and work from home, so that I may adopt a child in the upcoming years and be a SAHM. I'm not sure yet what I want to do from home. I've considered website design and desktop publishing, unless I find something else that gains my interest.

My main interests currently are blogging and gardening, but I am trying to get myself back into reading and crafts, which I used to love. I am also interested in learning HTML and CSS, and maybe some PHP programming. And I have always been fascinated with pioneering days and survival skills and such. As a kid, one of my favorite books was Cold River. When I played "cowboys and indians" by myself as a child (I was alone a lot), I was always pretending to be a young "cowgirl" lost out on the plains with a broken leg after being thrown by my horse, and found and raised by a tribe of Native Americans. I used to study herbs, ethnobotany and aromatherapy, but fell out of it after moving back to Florida from Washington State. I also used to be deeply involved in genealogy, but my boyfriend consumes too much of my time and I have too many other interests currently occupying my time.

I just started blogging in December, and I already have four active blogs. Can you tell I'm a little obsessive? This blog, Heather's Eden, is about my daily life, cooking, and my loves and passions. My blog Weedy Garden is about my attempt to tame the wild garden that I acquired when I bought this house. Freedom Gardening is a site that was created for my gardening forum, and is mostly about gardening techniques and events and sustainable living. Snoop Dogg Adventures is about my adventures with my buddy Snoop Dogg. The other two blogs aren't really "active" at this time. I kind of have my hands full already!

Until recently, I was coloring my hair an auburn sort of color (normally it is a medium brown). But with money being tight, and me being a procrastinator, I put off coloring it again for awhile, and noticed a couple of months ago that I was getting the cool gray at the temples that I've always wanted! So now I am abstaining from any color while I see what's going to happen with the new gray streaks that are developing at the temples and in my bangs.

Anything else you would like to know about me you will just have to learn from my blog!

There are so many great gifts being offered to participants of the UBP, but I think that my favorites are:

• The electric mixer from Moms Who Think
• A $100 for HomeGoods from HG OpenHouse
• A bracelet from Sydney Andrews (I love the Brown, Blue and Beyond bracelet!)

I'm also interested in these prizes (in order of preference):

19, 21, 26, 91, 118, 111, 88, 5, 12, 37, 11, 50, 64, 8, 10

So welcome to Heather's Eden! I hope you enjoy your visit, and thanks for stopping by!

Paying It Forward Giveaway

I've decided to join the "Paying It Forward" gang and give a gift to each of the first three people to comment here.

The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a gift from me "sometime during this year". The prize is a surprise and will be mailed anywhere in the United Sates. I will spend some time visiting the three winner's blogs to try to get to know them better, to give me a better idea of what might make a nice gift for them. Then they will unexpectedly receive a gift from me at some point during the year.

You must post this same thing (Paying it Forward Giveaway) on your own blog and then come back and leave a comment telling me you're in, along with a link.

Remember, only the first 3 comments participating in the Pay It Forward Giveaway will receive a gift.

Recap of the Rules:
1. Be one of the first three to leave a comment to this post, with the link to your Pay It Forward Giveaway post.
2. Be willing to follow through on sending out one prize each to three lucky winners of your contest.
3. Make sure your profile has contact information available. Otherwise, spell out your email address in the comment section.

Save Boobs and Win a Cookbook!

Mango & Tomato is trying to raise $1800 for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer organization. Donate money for the cause, and be entered in for a chance to win a cookbook. Check Olga's blog Mango & Tomato for more information.

Hoover Giveaway on Mom Fuse

Wow! I don't know about the rest of you, but I sure could use a new vacuum! I have five cats that I am constantly cleaning up after.

Well Mom Fuse is having a giveaway for a Hoover Platinum vacuum! You have to check this thing out. Awesome!

Get your name on the list! Wait! What am I doing? The more people I tell about this, the worse my odds are to win.

Forget I said anything. Nothing to see here. Move along.

Invite Giveaway

I don't normally post about giveaways that I am entering-- there are too many, and I don't want my blog to be about giveaways. But I was so struck by the workmanship of this one individual that I had to make mention of her shop. Over on Handmade in PA they are holding a giveaway for a wooden postcard.

So I went to look at the store of the postcard maker Love Your Invite, and OH MAN! Love them! Just check out her gallery to see what I mean. Beautiful!