Saturday Snapshot 12/18/2010

Gingerbread Fun house and Carousel

Every year the resort in town hosts a gingerbread house contest.  This one was my favorite.

What I Want

I've been meaning to do some kind of wish list here, but with work and school and the kids I haven't had the time.  So now, even though Christmas is less than 10 days away, here is my list:

Hot Topic has this cute hat/scarf/mittens all in one at their shops, but I don't see it online.  They have buffalo, dogs, bunnies, etc, but I love the leopard.  Fun AND practical.  $34.99

Bath and Body Works  These cute socks are infused with shea (which smells amazing) and peppermint.  They're also available in other scents and infused with lavender or vanilla.  A steal at $5.

        


Homedics Squishy Pillow
I love these pillows.  My last one ran into an tragic accident with the vacuum and I haven't been able to find another Homedics brand until now.  They're $9.99 at Bath and Body Works and only $8 with the 20% off coupon Bath and Body Works always sends in the mail.






Barnes and Noble





I love making lists and I love music.  It seems like my life has a soundtrack.  This book looks like a lot of fun.  $16.95.


Alice in Wonderland is one of my favorite books.  I'm trying to convert all my paperbacks into nice books like the ones in this collection that Barnes and Noble has.  Last year I got the works of Jane Austen.  This year I want Alice.  $19.99




Lush

$34.95 a sparkling gold star filled with 6 of the Christmas bath bombs.  I got one a few years ago and the star was silver then.  I've kept it and I'd love to have the gold to match.  Not to mention the bath bombs are the best! 




I'd also like a ceramic hair straightener but I don't know much about them and I'm open to suggestions on which brand is good.


That's my wishlist for this year.  What are you hoping to find under the tree?

2011 Debut Authors Reading Challenge

In 2011 I am participating in the Debut Authors Challenge  hosted by The Story Siren.  I plan to read 12 books by debut author’s with books that come out in 2011.  For full details on the challenge and a list of books coming out by new authors in 2011 check out The Story Siren blog.

The books I am planning to read are:

1.        Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

2.       Vesper by Jeff Sampson

3.       Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

4.       Wither by Lauren DeStefano

5.       The Iron Witch by Karen Mahoney

6.       Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton

7.       Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton

8.       Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs

9.       Vicious Little Darlings by Katherine Easer

10.   The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab

11.   Half-blood by Jennifer Armentrout

12.   The Coven’s Daughter by Lucy Jago

  I will update here as I read the books.

One more day of school....

One more day of classes for this semester and then I will be on to update with my reading challenges for 2011 as well as some other fun posts.  In case I don't get on before Christmas, Happy Holidays everyone.

Gold Canyon Winner

A winner has been chosen using random number generator.  The winner is

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

32 

Timestamp: 2010-12-17 04:58:54 UTC

Which is:

Arianah Watts said...

I follow you on twitter as arianah_00 #2. Arianah_00@hotmail.com

November 27, 2010 7:27 PM

I will be emailing Arianah to claim her prize.  If I don't get a response another winner will be chosen.

Congratulations Arianah!

P.S. If anyone can tell me how to make the little Random Number embed thing show up in my post I'd really appreciate it.

Gold Canyon Candle Scents/Products that Will be Out of Season in January

The following Gold Canyon Candle items are seasonal and will be unavailable beginging January 1st.  Be sure to place any oders for these items by the end of this month.

HERITAGE LINE:

Gingerbread House
Mrs. Claus’s Kitchen
Peppermint Bark
Pool Towel
Christmas Presence
Coconut Lime Verbena
Cozy Christmas
Days of Christmas
Juicy Pear
Orange Mango
Orange Vanilla
Pink Lemonade Spritzer
Cinnamon Garland
Cozy Cabin
Kings Myrrh
Sleigh Ride
Water Garden

BELLA LINE:
Lilac
Apple Spice
Birthday Cake
Cinnamon
Pool Towel
Cozy Christmas
Fresh Orange
Love Struck
Pineapple Coast
Cozy Cabin

SPECIALTY CANDLES:
Pink Sugar Cookie

TEALIGHTS:
Apple Spice
Birthday Cake
Cedar Woods
Citrus Garden Herbs
Cobbler on the Roof
Cozy Christmas
Cranberry Orange
Fabulous Fudge Brownie
Fresh Orange
Holiday Wreath
Mulled Cider
Pineapple Coast
Quiet Moments
Sparkling Apricot
Vanilla Latte
Warm Apple Crisp
Warm Welcome

VOTIVES:
Apple Spice
Cinnamon
Cozy Christmas
Fresh Orange
Lilac
Love Struck
Pumpkin Pie
Sleigh Ride
Sugar Cookie
SCENT PODS:
Candy Corn
Cinnamon Garland
Citrus Garden Herbs
Coconut Lime Verbena
Cotton Splash
Cozy Cabin
Cozy Christmas
Days of Christmas
Gingerbread House
Juicy Pear
Mint Mocha
Peppermint Bark
Pillow Talk
Pool Towel
Refresh
Revitalize
Serenity
Sleigh Ride
Vanilla
Vanilla Latte

FRAGRANCE OILS:
Cozy Christmas

Gold Canyon Candle Scents/Products that are being discontinued in January

The Spring catalogs are out and there are many new and exciting scents and products.  Be sure to check the website after January 1st for the new items.

Gold Canyon Candles is discontinuing many scents/products.  Please review the list and if they're discontinuing any of your favorites be sure to place an order by the end of the month as this will be your last chance.

I will also be posting a list of items that will be out of season, therefore, unavailable for an unknown span of time beginging January 1st.

HERITAGE:

Heather and Hyacinth
Jasmine
Marigold
Rose
Tangerine & Spice
Vanilla
Cotton Splash
Fresh Denim
Currant
Grapefruit Splash
Sunrise Tangelo
Spruce & Citrus

BELLA:
Spruce & Citrus

BOUTIQUE CHIC:
Amber & Vintage Bouquet
Powder & Violet Fleur
White Sage & Rose Noir
Woods & Vanilla Romantique

CAFFE VELLUTO:
Mint Mocha
Vanilla Latte

COMFORTS OF HOME:
Citrus Garden Herbs
Cobbler on the Porch
Living Room
Pillow Talk
Quiet Moments
Warm Welcome

SOY CANDLES:
Refresh
Revitalize
Serenity

SPECIALTY:
Iced Bayberry
Roasted White Peppercorn
Sugared Vanilla Bean
Candy Cane
Candy Corn
Brown Sugar Spookie
Cider Brew
Pumpkin Pie


TEALIGHTS:
White Sage & Rose Noir
Woods & Vanilla Romantique

SCENT PODS:
Amber & Vintage Boquet
Currant
Fresh Denim
Grapefruit Splash
Heather & Hyacinth
Jasmine
Living Room
Marigold
Powder & Violet Fleur
Spruce & Citrus
Sunrise Tangelo
White Sage & Rose Noir
Woods & Vanilla Romantique

How Well Read Are You?

This list was compiled by the BBC and includes classic and contemporary titles that if read would make you well read. I love doing this kind of thing


According to the BBC, most people have not read more than 6 books found on this list.

Instructions:

•Copy this list.

•Bold those books you’ve read in their entirety.

•Italicise the ones you started but didn’t finish or read only an excerpt.

•Tag other book nerds.

•Underline the ones that you have but haven't read. They are probably in your TBR stack/on your shelf at the back because someone said you should read them.

Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen

The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien

Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte

Harry Potter series – JK Rowling


To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee


The King James Bible

Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte

Nineteen Eighty Four (1984) – George Orwell

His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman

Great Expectations – Charles Dickens


Little Women – Louisa M Alcott

Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy

Catch 22 – Joseph Heller

Complete Works of Shakespeare

Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier

The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien

Birdsong – Sebastian Faulk

Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger

The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger

Middlemarch – George Eliot

Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell

The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald

War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams

Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh

Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck

Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll

The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame

Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy

David Copperfield – Charles Dickens

Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis


Emma -Jane Austen


Persuasion – Jane Austen

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe – CS Lewis


The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres

Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden

Winnie the Pooh – A.A. Milne

Animal Farm – George Orwell


The DaVinci Code – Dan Brown

One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez

A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving

The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins

Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery

Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy

The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood

Lord of the Flies – William Golding

Atonement – Ian McEwan

Life of Pi – Yann Martel

Dune – Frank Herbert

Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons

Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen

A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth

The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon

A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens

Brave New World – Aldous Huxley

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon

Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck

Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov

The Secret History – Donna Tartt

The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold

Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas (en francais)

On The Road – Jack Kerouac

Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy

Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding

Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie

Moby Dick – Herman Melville

Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens


Dracula – Bram Stoker

The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett


Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson

Ulysses – James Joyce

The Inferno – Dante

Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome

Germinal – Emile Zola (en francais)

Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray

Possession – AS Byatt

Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens

Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell

The Color Purple – Alice Walker

The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro

Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert (en francais)

A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry

Charlotte’s Web – E.B. White

The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton

Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad

The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery (en francais)

The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks

Watership Down – Richard Adams

A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole

A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute

The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas (en francais)

Hamlet – William Shakespeare

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl

Les Miserables – Victor Hugo (en francais)


I have completed 35 and read portions of several others. How many have you read?

Gold Canyon Candles GIVEAWAY!!!!

Gold Canyon Candles is the original 2-wick candle company. There are two safety wicks to burn evenly and prevent tunneling, thus eliminating wasted wax. Gold Canyon Candles are made to burn longer and maintain their scent while scenting every room of the house. GCC has over 600 products and 100 different scents. Here is a sampling of some of what GCC has to offer:

 Tea Light Snow Bell

A beautiful holiday tealight holder to liven up your holiday table.  $14.48

Heritage 16 oz Candle

Comes in over 60 fragrances and has a burn time of 120-140 hours.   $15.98

I'm currently burning Mulled Harvest, "a traditional autumn scent that captures boiling spices on the stove mixed with apples, berries, brown sugar, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and pumpkin."  Also perfect for this time of year: Pumpkin Pie, Gingerbread House, Iced Bayberry, and Mrs. Claus's Kitchen.

Pod Warmers

GCC Pod Warmes are easy to use, come with an automatic timer

and come in a variety of styles to fit any personality.  Use with

scent pods which come in over 80 fragrances.

 Gold Canyon Candles also has fragrance oils, soy candles, room spray and skin care.

Gold Canyon Candles is having a sale from now til Monday, 11/29/10. For free shipping with orders over $75 enter HOLIDEALSHIP at checkout. For free shipping AND $5 off orders over $95 enter the promo code HOLIDEALSHIP5. For free shipping and $10 off orders over $125 enter HOLIDEALSHIP10 at checkout. For free shipping and $15 off orders over $175 enter HOLIDEALSHIP15 at checkout.

I am giving away a 16 oz Heritage Gold Canyon Candle in the scent of the winners choice.  Retail value of $15.98.  The winner will be chose by random number generator on December 15th at 11:59.  Winner will  be notified by email.  In the event I don't hear from winner withing 48 hours a backup will be chosen.  Winner will be posted here as well.  This giveaway is only open to people in the United States.

Mandatory Entry



Go to Gold Canyon Candles and tell me what scent you would choose if you win.  Make sure that you leave a way for me to contact you if you win.  This entry must be completed before any bonus entries are counted. 

Bonus Entries

5 extra entries go to Gold Canyon Candles and sign up for my mailing list.  Come back here and leave a comment with the email address you signed up under.  (Leave 5 seperate comments for this entry)

15 extra entries go to Gold Canyon Candles and purchase any item, then come back here and let me know you ordered.  (Leave 15 seperate comments for this entry)

1 entry go to Gold Canyon Candles and come back here and comment with something you learned.

1 entry go to Gold Canyon Candles and tell me another item that I haven't posted here that you'd like to have.

2 entries follow  my blog on Google Friend Connect (leave 2 seperate comments for this entry)

2 entries follow my blog with Networked Blogs (leave 2 seperate comments for this entry)

3 entries for subscribing to my blog (leave 3 seperate comments for this entry)

2 entries follow me on twitter engelsigh and comment with your twitter username (leave 2 seperate entries for this entry)

1 extra entry tweet about this giveaway and come back here and leave a link to your tweet.  This can be done once a day.

1 extra entry for any of my other posts you comment on and then come back here telling me you commented and where.

5 extra entries, make a blog post about this giveaway and comment with a link to your blog (leave 5 seperate comments for this entry)

3 extra entries post this giveaway to any giveaway site or mr Linky giveaway event.  Post the link to the event (leave 3 seperate comments for this giveaway).



Pickle Lip Balm

A pretty well known fact about me is that I love pickles. Yum! I even sometimes eat pickles for breakfast. I have fond memories of the dill my grandmother grew in her garden.

Some time ago doing a pickle lip balm search (yes, I was actually searching for pickle lip balm – I had gotten pizza flavored lip balm from My Lip Stuff – it’s gross, lol). In my searching I re-stumbled across Archie McPhee & Co. They have pickle lip balm, pickle soap, pickle flavored mints, pickle gumballs, pickle floss, and a ton of other pickle items.

Additionally they have bacon lip balm, nacho lip balm, and corn dog lip balm. They have Thanksgiving gum balls that taste like turkey, cranberry and pumpkin pie.

They are also the home of the crazy cat lady action figure.

I’d love to try some of their weird flavored items. How ‘bout you?