7 Year Blogversary GIVEAWAY

 7 year Blogversary GIVEAWAY 

Who is ready for some serious Loot?
Who likes the word Loot?
Say it out loud, Loot, Loot, Loot?

   Are you ready for the Loot?

       Would you look at this here little love

Don't you just adore the quote? I really think that quote is worthy of space on your wall somewhere to remind you of the very important truth. Life is about the details. The "little things" are to be enjoyed and given attention. Don' you agree?

This here lovely is from Nat, who blogs over at Take the Cannoli. If you haven't met the other Natalie in my life you should head over there right now and say hello.
Nat, is the amazing momma of 2 kids and she has a heart of gold. For realz.
And, yes of course we bonded over the infamous quote that is her blog name. 
Oh wait! You might want to enter to win her hand stitched lovely first though so don't go there just yet.

And you can shop for more of her lovely creations that are beyond top notch here:

Take The Cannoli 

Next We have an Amazing Creation from my Splendid English Friend Livvy who is enjoying the Summer Olympics right outside her front door ;) 

You can, and should shop for some more of Livvy's Lovelies over at Mibbidesign. Livvy has one of the best Etsy shop's on the block. She packages each item according to season and puts so much love in every piece. 
She is The BEEZ NEEZ!!

She has some amazing pieces in her shop right now so don't miss out on her pretties.

     Next we have my Girl Kelly over at The Houtz House Party

Kelly is the amazing Momma of 4 kiddos who once was working Cooperate America, and now has been blessed with the hardest job on earth.
 She is giving away an Extra Large Ad Space.

And I wouldn't be a true friend to you if I neglected to tell you about this lil shin-dig that she is doing in a few weeks...

Be sure to mark your calendars now for 5 days of giveaways. 

And Now on to my friend Hannah over at Happy Days. 

When I first made my blog public this past January, I quickly realized I needed to have a blog button. I worked for hours on end to make one myself only to realize on my first ever hosted link up that it didn't work.

Can you say, Epic fail?

Well...

The Amazing, Talented, Kind, Inspiring Hannah helped me out when I was in one of the biggest blog pickles in my entire blog life.

Have I mentioned I'm dramatic?

We bonded that day that she saved my blog life, and have been friends ever since.

She has offered up 

these beautiful earrings to brighten your day.

You can find more of Hannah's creations at Wifeysinger. I really love the coral and blue combo. 



Then we have my friend Alyx over at Every Day is a New Adventure.
I'm not sure that Alyx even knows this but when I first landed upon her amazing blog I loved her blog button so much that I just put it up on my sidebar without even knowing her yet. I really loved looking at it because Every Day really IS an New Adventure.

 I just love this girl. 

For realz. She has got more things going on "Than Carter's got Liva Pills" (like what my mom in her Boston accent likes to say)

Still, she manages to keep me laughing and the blog world enjoying on a daily basis.

I gotta say I am So wishing I could enter for all this Loot right about now.

And Now For What I Want To Give TO YOU Dear Beloved Reader
Beautiful Vintage Pillow Cases, Cloth Napkin,

 Pink Retro Glasses that you see me wearing here

And 


Well there you have it beloved reader.
This is a one winner takes all giveaway that will be randomly selected by that Helicopter Dude below. 
Give him a tip, maybe he'll pic you.

NOW
Don't forget to enter to win.
And thanks again for stopping by,
Nothing But Love <3 font="font">
No..el

a Rafflecopter giveaway

FBF and A Service Announcement

We interrupt this episode of Flash Back Friday's link up to bring you a very important announcement. Stay tuned for the details on that announcement and please come back next Friday for FBF link up.

My First Post was written on August 10, 2005. I was at home in Sparks, NV, and my babies were more than likely sleeping when I wrote it. I remember thinking this is so weird to just write something that the whole world can see. I also remember clicking through onto the next blog that blogspot made available to read and thinking that there are countless people in this life who just long to be heard. And there I was joining the ranks.


I was introduced to the world of blogging from my friend Louie. At that time I didn't have a MySpace, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, or Hello Cotton account. I didn't Text, Skype, or Tweet my every movement. The only connection to the outside world that I made was either by phone or face to face. Looking back now I can see why Blogspot became one of my very favorite spots to take a deep breath and remember.

Sigh... 7 years is long time. 

Since then I have recorded countless events in my life and the lives of others on this here live journal. I have shared songs, poems, pictures, quotes, tributes to the deceased, and over all just documented well the past 7 years. 
I can't even begin to describe to you all how much this blog has become a faithful friend, and how much I appreciate all of your Vitamin Love. 

Now, blogging has taken on a whole new role in my life. In a way it has given me a new lease on this life with bigger kids. It used to be that I would blog to stay connected with the adults and feel normal when I was at home 24/7 with babes. But now my kids are bigger, and out and about in this big world, I am no longer leashed to them in a sense. I can at any moment get in the car, leaving my oldest to watch the crew, go to my favorite spot and Selah. My posts on here before would be very random and pretty short because that was all I had time for. Now that I'm not needed us much with the lils I have more time on my hands, and friends I have to say I don't like having idle hands. 

Beyond the fact that my job here as CEO has changed, I also retired from Preschool teaching last Fall with not a clue as to what my new role would be. Don't get me wrong, I still have plenty of raising up the Fab 4 to do, but it's a different beast all together these days.
I thought long and hard about what I wanted to do in this phase of life where I am still very much needed at home to clean,cook, taxi-cab, make appointments, cloth, shop, nurse, tutor, and countless other things I do when kids are out of school. But what to do when they are IN school became the question? 

The answer.

Write.

Some of you may have noticed the increase in writing that came about in January. And while I do love writing I also love making some fun money. I started to look around for another part time job and right about that time I started to realize that my blog could be my part time job. 

It seems funny to say that out loud, or type that out loud I should say, but that is exactly what I started to think I wanted to do.January of this past year when I made my blog public, I decided to hit the streets of Blogland and see what there was to see in money making department. I realized very quickly that there was indeed some money to be made in Blogland.
I also discovered that I am not alone in this land of Mom's who are working hard at home, and still trying to contribute to the families income.

But, somewhere in there I realized I don't really want my Blog to become One big commercial so I have been fumbling to find the balance. Help me out if you have found the balance in this here spot on Blogspot that I find myself at now.

I'm not sure I have found balance really yet, but I have found amazing, truly amazing people. And I appreciate your patience with me beloved readers. 

I also discovered that I'm not alone in the world of writers who love to blog, and bloggers who love to write.

I saw the kindred spirits that I have with so many of you beautiful people and I thought, I can do this. This can be my part-time job.

DID you know YOU have become my part time job? YOU make a really, really great boss. YOU tip me so well with comments. And YOU make my heart sing when I get to see YOU happy from something I wrote. Truly, I can't thank YOU enough beloved readers. 
But, because I value YOU and your trust in me, I will keep trying to find that balance in blogging. 
I'm not quite sure all the link ups, giveaways, and other ads will be a main staple here in this coming year of blogging.
My sponsors know this and appreciate this and so we are all good.

That being said, I would like you to know that I am going a different direction to find that fun money, and that's where My BIG ANNOUNCEMENT comes in.

One of the other things I learned this past year of blogging it up, is that a lot of people have Etsy shops connected to their blog. Actually some people had the Etsy shop first, and then a blog to go along with it. Ha ha, An Etsy Blog cocktail if you will. I honestly did not even know of Etsy or Pinterest until just this past year. I know I'm a little late to the party, but in the tradition of better late than never....

Today, right here, right now I have A BIG ANNOUNCEMENT to make 

with you all my Beloved Readers;

I am opening my own Etsy Shop. You can find it here;

NoDotsShop

I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am about this little adventure. I am also a tad bit scarred at having my own business again, because the first time I owned my own business was to sell a product little product called BeautiControl. Some of you may remember my BeautiControl days. Well,I'm pretty sure I lost money on that shin-dig, but I was young and naive not so much the administrative type. Now I am not young, I am still somewhat naive, and I'm pretty sure I can handle administrative if I really want to. Hello, I am the mom of 4 kids now.  So my hope is that you might visit me over there at No Dots Shop, and enjoy strolling the isles and rummaging through my vintage treasures, and every so often homemade creations.

Things Are Changing Around Here

I don't know if you have noticed my faithful readers, but things are changing around here.
(Things are also changing around here @9567, but I won't be posting here @beautiful life about @9567 anymore because @9567 has it's own blog now.)

I am of course speaking of the design of my blog and the few little things that I have done to this place. This year in August will be the 6th year anniversary of beautiful life.
In honor of 6 years of me having this live journal I have been making some changes to spruce up the place. I hope you like the subtle changes, and don't worry I won't be getting all crazy like about it. Just a few changes that won't take away from the words on the page.

Here are some of the things that have changed.

I have labeled every blog so they are all connected and you my readers can now easily find the topic you might want to read about on the right over there. You might need an hour or two, but if it's a rainy afternoon and you don't have anything better going on(which for your sakes I hope you have something better) then give it a whirl. If you are faithful reader chances are your name is on the right and you have been labeled. So go... go right now find your label.
If you don't find your name over there and you have been a faithful reader, but not a faithful commenter, than shame on you... comment, comment now and I will give you a label all your own.
Of course maybe you don't want to be labeled. My Giant hates to be labeled... that's why I have so many labels for him :) Snicker, snort, giggle!

The other change I have made is that I have created pages. To be quite honest I am not exactly sure why "pages" are necessary on a blog when the whole blog is in fact a "page" but whatev! I have pages now. One is about this blog and what I talk about here. The other is the first blog explaining my new blog 9567. How many times did I say blog? How many times can one say blog without smiling. Blog, blog,blog! Try it. Did it make you smile.

And finally, I added permanent pictures. They are the cast of characters in my life. I may refer to them by other names like Meisha, Lo Lo, and Zed in the future so I put them there as a little reference to help you out:) I'm a giver!

I hope you like the changes. I hope you know how much I appreciate your comments, encouragement, and support. Thanks for keeping up with my life. Ya know, I consider this my year long Christmas letter. I hope you know, label or not you are important to me. And please by all means comment about the changes, do you like them?

Oh and I almost forgot come August we are going to have a little blog party to celebrate my 7th year of blogging,so consider this your official invitation. Blog Door Prizes will be given!

# Tagging

So now that I have this tagging thing somewhat figured out, (only took me ... ahem...not going to say how long it really took me to figure this out) I have a lot of old posts to tag.

In doing so I am having so much fun looking back at when I first started this ongoing rant with you all.
It will be 7 years this August, and I do believe that I am going to throw a party for my BLOG :) LOL!
That's right. We are having a party to celebrate "beautiful life" right here folks, August 2012

Not sure how I am going to throw a blog party but I have some time to think about.
In the meantime check out the tag below that will lead you to my first post here, many moons ago.
Hope it provides a chuckle.

Oh and tagging blogs is so much fun.
I can't believe it has taken me this long to catch on.
Ya know me a lil slow in the tech dept, but on point in real LIFE!

My First Post

Finally, I can expose my thoughts to the world and find out what people really think. I can hardly wait to hear all your comments about my ramblings.
For now all I have to say is "My sweethawt(boston accent there) is in Germany and well I miss him already.