2010 September 30 | I'm An Okie

Since this blog has changed my life, I want to do a giveaway that will blow your socks off. Why? Because I love you. Blogging rocks, and it’s because of you. YOU have helped me see what a wonderful person I am. YOU have helped me see that I’m beautiful. YOU have helped me through struggles. YOU have helped me life my life.

This giveaway encompasses some things that I love. I thought that giving away things that are close to me would mean something.

I am giving away THREE items and there will be THREE winners. Each winner will one one of the giveaway items.

1. A one-of-a-kind painting from my very talented artist boyfriend. He made this painting just for this giveaway, so I hope that you love it. It’s 11 x 14 on Masonite. It can be framed, matted…basically, whatever you like.

You can check out all of his art at Sean K Jackson Art. If you like this stuff, become a fan of his page. I’d appreciate it .

He has many paintings available for sale and does commissions as well. He is so talented and does great work (and can really paint anything). I’d love it if you check out his page.

2. A notecard set of your choice from me and my moms business, Winning Photography Solutions. + a cookie dough and carrot cake Larabar.

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These are just two of her card sets. She has 19 in all.

If you have read my blog for any length of time, you know about our business. She has a love of photography and combines that with her love of letter writing and makes beautiful notecards.

She also has a Facebook fanpage that has all of her notecard sets, photo prints to purchase, dried flower art and much much more. Please check it out and become a fan.

Winning Photography Solutions Page

3. INSANITY! Yes, the whole DVD workout program.

It’s the giveaway of all giveaways. It’s everything that encompasses my life. It’s a love of family and loved ones with some exercise thrown in .

There will be 3 winners. One will win the painting, one will win the card sets and Larabars, and one will win Insanity.

How To Enter:

I know people get annoyed when bloggers make you jump through hoops to do giveaways, but since I want to promote people I love (Sean and his artwork and my mom and her notecards), I’m going to ask you to jump through hoops a little for EXTRA entries. If it was just a regular old giveaway that weren’t involving people and products I love, then I would just have you leave a comment. Plus, I mean, you are winning Insanity! That’s a huge value. I hope you understand and I hope I’m not turning anyone off.

1. Leave a comment to enter.

For additional entries…

2. Become a fan of Sean K Jackson Art and Winning Photography Solutions on Facebook. If you are already fans, great, thank you (just let me know). If you don’t have Facebook, that’s fine too. Just tell someone about my loved ones and what great work they do. Please leave a comment letting me know that you are already a fan or became a fan of both pages.

3. Link this giveaway on your blog.

4. Tweet about it . (and let me know)

All count for an extra entry!

The drawing will be held on Friday, October 8th! Happy Entering!

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Can you guess what today is?

I’m sure you can figure out by the title of my post.

My blog is one year old today.

I never would have thought my blog would have lasted this long. Blogging was never even on my radar. If you would have asked me last August if I wanted to start a blog, I would have said no. It didn’t interest me.

But, then, I met the lovely Julie @ Peanut Butter Fingers. I met her at another online fitness forum and we both had journals there. She was a big blog fan and we all encouraged her to start her blog. And look where it is now. Her fun blog led me to other blogs.

I fell in love.

I started my blog about a month after hers. My first blog post was short, sweet and to the point. I had no idea what I was in for and no idea what the blog would do for me.

My first blog picture. Kind of crazy that I just posted a picture of me two days ago holding a corn dog.

I started out this blog at a time in my life when I had some major issues regarding food and exercise. I was riddled with food rules, disordered eating, and guilt. Guilt if I ate an extra apple, guilt if my cardio wasn’t intense enough, guilt if I didn’t life heavy anything. I was very weighed down and it caused me to live a life that I didn’t recognize as my own anymore.

This blog helped me pull out of that.

I saw other healthy, happy and beautiful women that treated themselves with respect. They took care of their bodies, looked great, and were in no way depriving themselves.

This blog saved my life.

It wasn’t until early spring 2010 that I started to feel better about letting go of my issues with food and exercise. But, once I did, I found a new Lisa. I loved being with this new Lisa. I now love myself and my life. I eat healthy and I don’t exercise myself to the ground. I’m not afraid of social situations due to food situations I can’t control. I live life now.

This blog gave me the courage to start school and follow my dreams of becoming a Nurse. This blog made me realize that I am worth something.

My readers helped me find confidence and feel good about myself. Every single comment has led to helping me building a stronger me.

I never came to realize that this blog might impact others. That thought never crossed my mind. Then, one day, I got a long email from a reader saying that me voicing my struggle and working through it has given them the courage to do the same thing. I was so touched. It’s wonderful that something you love doing is impacting someone else across the country in such a positive way. She filled me with such passion and love for life. That email encouraged me to keep living my life the way it needs to be lived.

I’ve gotten more and more of those touching emails as my blog grows and each one lights a fire in me to keep being the best person I can be.

It took me a while to find where I belonged in the blog world. I tried being a Food Blogger and talking about what I ate, taking pictures of food, and talking about my exercise. That only fueled my obsession with food and exercise. The pressure to show good foods on my blog caused me to gain weight and binge. I often thought about quitting my blog during this time. It didn’t feel right. It wasn’t fun and it made my issues worse.

It wasn’t until I allowed myself to be ME on my blog that I really and truly began enjoying it. I love that my readers accepted me for who I was and love my blog for it. My blog is now ME. It’s random. It’s about life and everything that comes with it. Love, friendship, healthy living, sex, finances, dancing…you name it, I’ve gone there. I hope you will stay with me as I continue to grow and touch on topics that are important to me in my life.

It’s been an exciting year. A lot has changed in my life. I didn’t get to go on any amazing vacations. I didn’t win the lottery. I didn’t lose a bunch of weight. But, I became healthier. I became stronger. I let go of fears and let nothing hold me back.

I found myself.

I am so thankful for that. And I’m thankful for you. You’ve played such a huge role and I want to THANK YOU. MUAH! HUGS!

It’s been an amazing year.

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