NOT ME MONDAY!!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

First and foremost -- THANK YOU to all who participated in the Sweet Sensation giveaway!!! G.R.I.T.S. was SOO incredibly overwhelmed by all the blog love! It was a blast doing it! If you'd like to use the "Sweet Sensation" picture and definition to "tag" those you think are a Sweet Sensation, go for it!

As the wife of a man who has everything, I did not scramble to figure out what to do for him... I finally decided to risk it and create a little something for him that. only. I. could. do. -- Now... I am not going to go into details about this, people... Clearly it would be ridiculous for me to write that on a public blog, so... I'm not going to do it -- Not Me! (there will be no pictures of this gift :)

I must say, though, I think I made a serious impression because what I got that night was something out. of. this. world. -- He did not plan a 3 course meal, a romantic movie and some fun (et, hem) afterward --

D is not one to bring home flowers because as a Landscape designer, he hates that flowers die so quickly... So, he did not bring me a Rose Bush in place of flowers and I was not totally over joyed so he'd know this was a very acceptable way of being romantic :)


D did not set the mood for the evening by turning off all the lights in the house, lighting candles and turning the Satellite Radio from the TV on full blast... Then between every course, he did not proceed to announce "Intermission!", flip the lights on, prepare the next course and then return to the table -- Really... he's not that amazing :)

First course was shrimp and homemade cocktail sauce -- D did not set the table with candles, Valentine decor and balloons and then use a green Tupperware plate to put the shrimp on, not D -- He would never do that and then ask later Did you take pictures with that plate?

For our second course, D did not grill steak, cook collard greens, bake Italian bread and slice apples with carrot shavings just. for. me. as he knows these are just a few of my favorite things :)


As we were finishing our meal, the song You're the Inspiration, by Chicago came on and D did not push out his chair, offer me his hand and ask Would you like to dance? -- Seriously... I did not almost cry as we danced in our dining room together and D did not say I feel like I'm in 8th grade again, but our parents aren't watching -- I did not bust out laughing and say Yeah, and you have more of a chance of getting some tonight -- Not Me!

After our meal and dance, he did not serve a cake he bought that was in the shape of a dachshund in honor of Elly Mae... I mean, that would be way too cute and D is just not that cute :)


To top it all off, D did not rent the movie "Nights In Rodanthe" knowing it would a full blown chick flick -- I thought it was fun because this movie was filmed in the OBX, just a short way from our house... We ate popcorn, cuddled and of course! I cried :) -- Then... to the bedroom... and there's no way I'm telling ya about that ;0)

D was not so proud of himself by the end of the night that he announced "Blog about that night, Baby!" -- So... I didn't! NOT ME!

Now, I want to hear about your Valentine's!
HAPPY MONDAY!!

The Sweetest Sensation !!!

Click here to learn about the Sweet Sensation Giveaway

What a fantastically fun giveaway this was for me... I met so many new bloggers and so enjoyed reading each and every entry -- Clearly we have A LOT of really sweet sensations out there!!

With a whopping 40 Nominees, and the vote of each of our judges, LyndsAU, Mrs. Newlywed and Mojito Maven... (thanks, again, ladies)

Puttin' on the G.R.I.T.S. was voted the Sweet Sensation!!

G.R.I.T.S. -- Clearly this definition of a Sweet Sensation fits you...

This blogger exudes kindness, support of other bloggers and spreads their sweetness like wildfire. While appealing to their audience, they are honest, sincere and stay true their authentic self. Their blog not only entertains, it also offers resources to help people excel in their lives such as using their blog to promote charities, spread the word about bloggers who want to become more well known and doing surprisingly kind things for no reason other than to 'pay it forward' --

This blogger is without a doubt an all around Sweet Sensation.

This is what you'll be receiving!!!

SATIN LIPS... Given by my good friend, Elizabeth:

HOT HEART... Given by my BFF Leila:

I personally own both of these products and L.O.V.E. them!

THANK YOU, AGAIN, LADIES FOR YOUR GENEROSITY!!!

And... of course, last but definitely not least, a $25 gift card to Starbucks!!!

CONGRATULATIONS G.R.I.T.S. -- You've gotta a lot of love coming your way... Hope this makes your Valentine's Day :)
(Email me your info so I can get this out to you right away)

Sweet Sensation Giveaway!

*****UPDATED***** I've gotten several requests for the HTML of the picture so they can post in on their blog -- Not sure how to do do that, but what I do is right click on the picture, save it into your pics -- To add it to your side bar, go to "Add a gadget and then "Add a picture" and then enter the link to this post -- Hope this helps :) I'm so excited to see all the entries already!!

I recently did a small, but fun giveaway last week and this is what happened -- But this isn't where it ended! Brooke, who was the final winner (and gives me a SERIOUS amount of blog love... I'd consider following her!) of the $25 Starbucks Gift Card wrote back to me and said "I love that I won, but I really want you to take it and do something inspiring with it" -- Well, that through me for a loop, yet I gave it a lot of thought and this is what I came up with...

Instead of this giveaway being about those who enter, this is an effort to nominate and recognize the "Sweet Sensation" of our blog world -- Your job is to nominate the blogger you believe fits this criteria:

This blogger exudes kindness, support of other bloggers and spreads their sweetness like wildfire. While appealing to their audience, they are honest, sincere and stay true their authentic self. Their blog not only entertains, it also offers resources to help people excel in their lives such as using their blog to promote charities, spread the word about bloggers who want to become more well known and doing surprisingly kind things for no reason other than to 'pay it forward' --
This blogger is without a doubt an all around Sweet Sensation.

How would one nominate their favorite blogger?

1. Nominate one blogger by telling why they should receive the Sweet Sensation Award and include their link in your comment
   
2. Let your blogger know they've been nominated!
3. Promote your nominee!! The more nominations they receive, the more likely they are to win!! (check out my sidebar to see how I would promote my nominee if I were nominating someone)
4. Nomination will close February 12th and the judges* will take the top 3 most nominated blogs and choose the winner of the Sweet Sensation package**
5. The winner will be announced Valentine's Day, February 14th

*Notice I said judges? Well, I have 3 fantastic blogging friends, LyndsAU over at All Things Fluffy..., Mrs. Newlywed of MisAdventures of a Newlywed and Mojito Maven over at Make Mine a Mojito who have agreed to help me in picking the winner -- Once all the nominations are in, I will figure out the top 3 most nominated bloggers and then each of us will read through these top 3 blogs and pick who we believe to be the Sweetest Sensation!!!

**WHAT? you ask is up for grabs for this Sweet Sensation? I'm so glad you asked!

I have two fabulous, and clearly generous, friends who wanted to be a part of knocking the socks off our Sweet Sensation:

Elizabeth is a MaryKay Consultant and specializes in empowering women through bringing women's inner beauty outward -- She has donated this!

Want Satiny smooth and kissable lips? Satin Lips from Elizabeth is the set for you...

Next up! Leila is a Slumber Party Consultant and specializes in empowering women in the bedroom ;0) and she has donated this!

The Hot Heart from Leila is the only way (well, in my opinion) to soothe aching muscles, relieve period pain or add some oil and massage your partner ;0) THIS THING IS AWESOME!

I personally own both of these products and L.O.V.E. them -- Valentine's is upon us so go visit their sites and see if they can meet your needs!

THANK YOU LADIES FOR YOUR GENEROSITY!!!

And... of course, last but not least the Sweet Sensation will be receiving that ever coveted $25 gift card to Starbucks!!!

GET OUT THERE AND START NOMINATING THE SWEETEST SENSATION IN BLOG WORLD!!!