InspiriBody Giveaway!!!

Hey everyone!!

I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am for this GIVEAWAY!! InspiriBody is the creator of some AMAZING bath and body products! She has an Etsy shop where you can grab some of her beautiful products. I am so happy to be able to share this with you all!

So I have bought quite a few of her products. I am absolutely in love with her honeysuckle soap and lotion. It smells like my childhood. I can sit in my bathroom and sniff my hand soap. How many of you can say that about your soap?

Her lotion is smooth and silky, without being greasy. And I can smell like honeysuckle all day long!

I have also tried her bath scrubs. They are amazing as a pre-shave sugar scrub, for your legs of course. I had never tried a scrub before I shaved, but holy cow, can I tell a difference! Plus the sugar scrub smells like cake, do I need to say more? She calls it Vanilla Frosting, but I say cake. :-)

And her champagne and strawberry soap would be an amazing gift for just about anyone I can think of - friends, family, birthdays, anniversaries. It smells so good! And it's just beautiful.

I have ordered a few other things... but they are gifts for friends and Mother's Day, so I'm not going to mention them just in case they are reading the blog. But trust me, they are awesome too!

And there are so many other things I am so excited to try. But you... lucky reader... get to enter to win a $20 gift certificate to her shop!! Do you even know how lucky you are?!?! There are a few easy ways to enter to win!

Mandatory:
Check out the InspiriBody Esty Shop and leave a comment on THIS blog with at least one thing you would like to try if you won. Also leave an email address so I can contact the winner AND InspiriBody can convo with you about how you want to spend your $20! If you arent comfortable with leaving your email address on the blog, you can email it to me at willow162001@yahoo.com. I will keep it safe and out of public view.

Extra entries (one each):

Like the InspiriBody Facebook page then leave a comment on THIS blog saying you did.

Follow @InspiriBody on Twitter. Leave a comment on THIS blog saying you did.

Tweet about this Giveaway. Leave a comment on THIS blog saying you did. (One tweet entry per day)    "I entered the @InspiriBody gift certificate giveaway! @sara0120 http://bit.ly/KwNUIo"

This giveaway starts NOW and will run until midnight on May 13th. I will chose a winner using Random.org on Monday, May 14th and notify them.

GOOD LUCK!!

Disclosure: I am recieving a product from InspiriBody for hosting this giveaway.

R.E.D. shirt Fridays!

Hey everyone! I wanted to share with you a topic very close to my heart. It's just a little thing I do to show the troops I care.

REMEMBER EVERYONE DEPLOYED!!

R.E.D. shirt Friday

I didn't even know this was celebrated until Joe was already deployed last year. After finding this out, and since I work on post with Soldiers everyday, I decided that we needed to make an effort to do this one simple thing. Three of us got matching shirts that we wore for a while. When our casual Friday was taken away, I couldn't wear my t-shirt any more. I went to Kohls on a mission to find a bright red shirt for my Fridays at work. I luckily found one.

While Joe was deployed, an online friend sent me a very special gift, a deployment bracelet from http://www.beadworkbysheree.com/. I LOVE this bracelet and wore it every day that Joe was gone. When a good friend had to watch her husband go to Afghanistan, I paid it forward. Our bracelets are posted below.

And I have found a wonderful treasure online, well, I guess she found me. :) You have to see the amazing 550 cord bracelets and keychains from the Facebook page Paracord Bracelets & Stuff!! I ordered a "Red Friday" bracelet composed of Army digital camo and red cord.

And check out this awesome red, white, and blue Support the Troops keychain!

It's Friday, are you wearing your red to support the troops and Remember Everyone Deployed? I know it's not a big thing, I'm not making a huge impact on anything. But with the apathy about our military nowadays, if I can get one person to take a minute to think about a deployed Soldier and their sacrafice for our country, I'll be happy with my RED shirt Fridays. Perhaps they will go one to join a troop writing group or adopt a service member. Every little bit counts.

Giveaway goodies!!!

What a GREAT Wednesday! After a pretty decent day at work, I get home just as the UPS guy is delivering the Scentsy I won from Jenn over at From New York to Italy. Scentsy always delivers so quickly! I was shocked to see it today. But what an awesome surprise. I got the new Morocco warmer and 3 bars, Flutter, Jumpin' Jelly Bean, and Mums & Marigolds. Flutter is utterly delicious! Just smells pink! Jumpin' Jelly Bean is sweet, but not too sweet. And Mums & Marigolds is very similar to Liliacs & Violets, in the fact that it smells JUST like a real flower. I have some new favorites!! If I were you, I would head over to Jenn's scentsy page HERE and check out the new catalog and find some new favorites for yourself!!

Disposable Friends

Joe and I were having a conversation the other day about my friends vs. his friends and it got me thinking. Initially, I was kinda annoyed and had thoughs like- "Joe thinks his friends are better than mine, we always hang out with his and NEVER with mine." It's true, we NEVER do anything with any of my friends. We never go out to dinner with them. We never go to Denver with them. We never have them over to the house.

In Kansas, this was related to rank. My best friend was married to an officer. And Joe had a problem with this. So we never did anything with them. Dont even get me started on rank and Joe's opinion on things. I've discussed it before. I think it's stupid, but Joe has to play by the rules, so I will try to understand.

And the more I thought about it, I realized I do have disposable friends. Most come and go in my life, not really best friends, just around while our lives seem to touch, then are off doing other things. This doesnt really bother me. I only have about 3 really true friends in my life. Friends that you dont talk to for 3 months, then pick up the phone and start the conversation where you left off ---an Army wife from Kansas - who is hands down the sweetest most thoughtful person I've ever met, one life long childhood friend who shares my name, and a very good friend from college who is also an Army wife and also shares my name (strange but true, I have two awesome friends with the name Sara(h))

But now.... I have really awesome friends. I have friends that stuck by me when Joe was deployed. That let me cry on their shoulder and picked me up for dinner to get me out of the house. And I want to include them in my life. So now that Joe is home, I have to figure out how to balance these friends and Joe.

So when Joe wants to go out with his friends, I'm invited of course and I go sometimes. So when I go out with my friends, Joe is also invited, but rarely wants to go. Maybe it's a boy thing. But I will be making a great attempt at keeping the great friends I have here in the Springs. I hope that some of the things my friends and I have planned can really come true, like us and the spouses going to a shooting range, or out to dinner, or to the movies. This is my promise to myself, I will be a better friend. :)

Goodies from Korea!

HUGE thanks to Megan over at Megan Dub-Yuh and her awesome giveaway! Look at all the loot I scored!!

Strawberry and chocolate, cant to wrong there!

Chop sticks and a cute little key chain. The key chain opens up to reveal another little image and a mirror. And the chop sticks are super fancy and metal!

And this box is so beautiful! I think I'll be keeping my rings in here for now.

A bag a cheetos and something that may or may not have honey in it, mostly because I don't know Korean and there's a honey jar on the bag. There's also a sunflower. I dont know what they are, but they are super delicious!!

Music on blogs, the results are in!

I've had this widget on my blog for a while now, I just wanted to post the results for everyone to see. I was just reading a few blogs and there was this god-awful music on one of them, blaring out of my speakers. It's SOOOO annoying!!! Why dont you people realize that??

Wanna vote? Just scroll down a little bit. It's on the right side.

PoshPatina giveaway Winner!!!!

Hi Everyone!! Thank you all so much for the entries!! I am so happy I could share this beautiful ring with you!! The winner of the Posh Patina rose ring according to Random.org is number 18!!
1. Mrs. H
2. Mrs. H
3. McDancer
4. McDancer
5. McDancer
6. McDancer
7. FallonElla
8. McDancer
9. Magg
10. Magg
11. Magg
12. Dale
13. Sierra Echo
14. Sierra Echo
15. Sierra Echo
16. Sierra Echo
17. ShanonRenee
18. ShanonRenee
19. ShanonRenee
20. ShanonRenee
21. McDancer
22. Sierra Echo
23. McDancer
24. ShanonRenee
25. Nicole
26. Nicole
27. Nicole
28. Nicole
29. McDancer
30. dorofffee
31. doroffee
32. doroffee
33. dorofee

CONGRATS Shanon Renee!! Shoot me an email (willow162001@yahoo.com) with your mailing address and I will let Posh Patina know where to send your prize!

PoshPatina Ring Giveaway!!

So a while back I bought a ring from PoshPatina's Etsy page. I'm in love with this ring. I blogged about it HERE. So I asked her if she would sponsor a giveaway for all my wonderful blog readers. And she said YES!! The ring she's offering to you is called Berry Romantic! And it's beautiful!! I am SO excited for one of you!!! You are going to LOVE this ring!!
So now on to....
MY BLOG GIVEAWAY:
The giveaway starts right now and will go until Wednesday March 16th, 2011 @ 11:59pm Eastern time.

To enter:

* visit PoshPatina's Etsy page and leave a comment on this blog post saying which item you like the most. (1 entry)

For additional entries-

* Like PoshPatina's Facebook page. Tell her that Sara sent you. Leave a comment here saying you did. (1 entry)

* Follow me on Twitter @sara0120 (1 entry)

* Tweet about the giveaway (mentioning @sara0120) (1 entry)
"Check out the PoshPatina Ring Giveaway on @sara0120's blog! http://bit.ly/h7VcFm"

*Follow this blog (1 entry)

* Blog about the giveaway (1 entry) Be sure to leave me your blog post link in a comment.

* Tweet about the giveaway (1 entry per tweet per day, be sure to leave a comment EVERY time you tweet so they are all counted.)

BE SURE TO USE SEPARATE COMMENTS FOR EACH ENTRY!!!

One winner will be selected using Random.org. The winner will be announced March 17th. Good luck!!

Have you heard about...

Have you heard about the blog giveway from @megandubyuh in honor of her 200th post??? Check out her blog by clicking HERE.

Have you tried Mary Kay lately?

As many of you know I work on Fort Carson with Soldiers. One Soldier we see all the time started selling Mary Kay. I'm not into make up so I never really thought about buying anything from her. But she was such a good sales woman she got me to buy the Satin Lips® Set (Mask and Balm). The weather here in Colorado has made me addicted to chap stick, so I thought this would help my lips before Joe got home. I used it once and I'm addicted! So the Soldier then gave me a little sample of peach SatinHands hand cream. Now, peach isn't really my thing, but it's not too overwhelming, nice soft scent. It made my hands feel SO soft. My co-worker bought the whole Peach Satin Hands® Pampering Set, which includes a hand softener, a scrub, and the hand cream. So when I got paid this month, I got the Fragrance-Free Satin Hands® Pampering Set. I have used it everyday since I got it. And my hands feel amazing. After the very first use, I could feel a drastic difference. I decided to blog about it when I was sitting on my couch last night, rubbing my hands because they felt so good. I love my hands, my long fingers and perfect fingernails. I use lots of lotions and potions, especially since being in Colorado. I live and breath by cuticle cream. But this system has done more for my hands in 3 uses than anything else has done in the year I've been in this dry weather. The only other Mary Kay thing I've tried is the Nourishine Lip Gloss. The Soldier gave me a sample in Sweet Raisin to try. It's smooth and silky with a great little shimmer without being too glopy or glittery.

Wanna try these AMAZING products?? You're in luck! I have a friend online, Bethany Casias, who is a Mary Kay consultant. Click HERE for her site, or on one of the products linked above. She told me last night that 30% of her February sales are going to Wounded Warrior Project, as if you needed another reason to pick up these fabulous products! And shipping is ALWAYS free!

Thanks Bethany for letting me link to your site!! http://www.marykay.com/bethanycasias

Ode to Tammy Munson

If you are a military spouse on Twitter, there is a very good chance you follow Tammy. But I have had the very great pleasure of getting to know her in person. She was the first person I ever met in Colorado Springs, with Starbucks in hand.

I don't know what I would have done without her over this last year. Her friendship exceeded any friendship I have ever known. Tammy is the most responsible thoughtful compassionate genuine unselfish woman that I've had the pleasure of meeting. How many friends would come get you at 2am and take you to the ER? And again later that day. Only to stay by your side through surgery and recovery the next day? And comfort you when you hit that deployment wall? And listen patiently while you vent about this world. She understood what I was going though better than most people, more so than my own mother. I aspire to be a friend for someone the way Tammy was a friend to me.

She was my rock here at Ft Carson. I don't know why I was so lucky to meet her, but it was a true blessing. And now her family is moving on to another great adventure. And I will miss her more than words can express. You better watch out Iowa, Tammy Munson is on her way.

Just wanted to share...

A co-worker came to work on Friday with a handmade necklace made by a local Ft. Carson Army wife. You can find her site here (also where I got the pic): http://www.hollybird.com/home. I HAD to order a necklace too!! I LOVE all things personalized! And of course mine will say 'I like Joe." Since Christmas is coming up fast, I just wanted to share her link with everyone!

Why dont they get it??

I LOVE my civilian friends from back home. I know they will always have my back and help keep me grounded when this silly milspouse life gets absurd. It's nice that they don't understand rank and commands and don't have the first clue what my husband does for a living. And these select few people will be my best friends no matter where the Army takes us or what rank my hubby is.

Now, why cant some civilians understand a simple countdown, or I guess I should say the count up?

With the big bang the virtual world has had in recent times, I have connected with people I haven't talked to since high school. It's fun and amusing at times. I have found some great old friends. But if you haven't talked to me in over a year and you don't know me well enough to know that my husband has been deployed to a WAR ZONE for 6 months, why are you commenting on my statuses?

I posted a comment yesterday that said something along the lines of 26 weeks down!! Halfway!! And I had MANY people message me asking me if I was pregnant. Really folks?

1. Joe has been deployed for 6 months!! If you don't know that by now, you need to PAY MORE ATTENTION!

2. Halfway to a baby is NOT 26 weeks. I am not pregnant. I have never been pregnant. And I know that the gestation period for a human is not a year. So someone who HAS been pregnant should at least know that too, right??

I guess I should give the non-milspouses a break right? They don't have deployment countdowns. They are all my age and they have the big baby countdowns now, right? Baby on the brain 24/7 probably.

But the baby question has been asked for about oh... 26 weeks now. And really folks, the fact that they aren't paying attention and asking silly questions annoys me to no end. I am observant to a fault. As Monk would say, it's a blessing and a curse. My aunt has a story she tells at family gatherings about canned chili with beans and at 12, she told me I had the "gripping senses." I like to stay informed. I like to eavesdrop. I will search a Facebook page to make sure there isn't an answer to my question before I ask that person.

So can you see how this situation bothers me since I have been talking about Joe's deployment for 6 months and his R&R for the last 3 weeks?

Sorry, just had to get that rant off my chest. :)

Trees for Troops!

TREES FOR TROOPS IS IN THE RUNNING FOR $250,000! CAST YOUR VOTE IN THE PEPSI REFRESH PROJECT!

During the month of September, they are competing for a $250,000 grant in the Pepsi Refresh Project that will help them deliver an additional 5,000 trees to military families this Christmas. The top two ideas will each receive a $250,000 grant from Pepsi.

Have you heard about Trees for Troops? Trees for Troops helps to make the holidays a little brighter for military families - especially those who are far away from their families. The gift of real Christmas trees bring a touch of home to those who sacrifice in order to preserve our freedom. The trees serve as a token of love and appreciation. Many tell us that the gift of a tree frees up a few dollars to be used on gifts, a nice holiday meal or gas money to go visit family.

The trees are delivered for free by FedEx, and will be given out to thousands of military families at bases all over the country during the holiday season. The Pepsi funding would allow them to reach an additional 5,000 families this year, but they need more votes!

I had never heard of Trees for Troops. But I just voted! And I urge you to as well. The link is posted below. I got an email telling me all about this. So feel free to use anything from this post to spread the word. And PLEASE spread the word!!

Pepsi Refresh Everything application for Trees for Troops

HOW TO VOTE:
1. Go to www.RefreshEverything.com/TreesForTroops and create an account with your name, email address and birthday. This will allow you to quickly login each day to vote.

- OR -

2. Login to your Facebook account, search for the Pepsi Refresh Voting App. Allow it access to your profile and then you will be able to vote daily through Facebook.

- AND/OR -

3. Vote from your mobile phone. Text* 102662 to Pepsi (73774) *standard text message rates apply

It takes less than 1 minute to vote. Make a pledge to VOTE EVERY DAY online and via text message during the month of September. You can vote once per day the entire month and votes are cumulative.

NEED A REMINDER?
Sign up to receive a **daily text message during the month of September reminding you to support Trees for Troops in the Pepsi Refresh Project. Your daily vote is needed to help us reach our goal! Text TROOPS to 69302 to begin receiving text updates.

Week 26

Another week down. Sadly, this was a week of R&R, and it went by too fast. Joe's leave is quickly coming to an end.

But we have had a blast!!! We had two fun filled weeks! And the last few days have been very chill, just hanging out at the house and sending care packages. We have seen some movies and we plan on going to the local zoo again. Joe loves the zoo! It's even comforting to get annoyed with the boy when he doesn't pick up his dirty clothes out of his bathroom. Yeah, remind me I said that when he gets back in 6 months.

I'm sorry my virtual life has been to boring lately. My blog, Facebook, and Twitter have been kinda quiet lately. Yeah, Joe is home. And I knew I wouldn't be on as much. But even when I am online, it's not very exciting. But hanging out in the background has been kinda fun. I catch up on my online life some. And it's so much fun to catch people in lies when I know the truth. Maybe they don't think I'll be online to read this stuff, and of course I don't comment. But it's amusing that some people are so different online than they are in person. I try to be me. What you see (read) is what you get. I'm not going to put out this stupid facade so people online will like me. I don't care how many followers I have or how many people read my blog. I don't do it for you. I do it for me. Don't get me wrong, I love my online family, the friends I have made, and the AWESOME #milspouses I know because of Twitter. And I truly appreciate the support during this deployment and the kind words on my blog.

But genuine people are hard to find, IRL or online.

Giveaway goodies!!

I got my giveaway goodies in the mail today! I won a $50 gift card from Paperspring from Amy over at Military Mommy.

I got some personalized gold linen stationery. The small cards are so cute!! And envelopes are included.

And some Cookie Box digital name art™ DNA Holiday cards. These are just freaking awesome!! They came out so well! You can look at previews on online. But I still wasnt sure how authentic they would look. They dont look digitally produced at all! You can personalize the inside too. Along with a small holiday greeting, I listed the members of our family; Joe, Sara, and Rigel. Had to include Rigel!! I have a feeling I will be ordering more of these before the holiday season.

Week 21

DAY 148

Joe's R&R is so close I can't contain myself. The closer it gets, the harder it is to breathe. We talk about our plans and I feel like I have to stand up and pace because I am just so excited! We're gonna have a BLAST. We have so much planned!

The last week has been pretty exciting too. Patty, aka @mommytaco, came to Colorado Springs to (Scentsy) party with us. It was so much fun. And our party was a great success.

And I went to a luncheon at the University of the Rockies on Tuesday. We're seriously considering me going back to school to get my MA in Psychology. The luncheon was an hour and a half long, 3 hours later I walked out with the admissions application thinking about how I could find the money to go back to school. I miss psychology so much. I loved my undergrad degree. I would love to be in the mix again, studying new theories, making up my own, having someone listen to my opinion because it's AWESOME! LOL, I was very good at psychology as an undergrad. I truly found my passion. And then I could actually get a job using my degree, helping people, honoring my talent, making a difference.

And Joe could leave the Army. He's been seriously talking about that too. But one of us has to be the bread winner. I guess it's my turn. I don't mind. I would be doing something I love. I HATE that he hates his job and we cant do anything about it. I doubt he's a Soldier at heart. He's proud of his path. I'm proud of his choices. But I never thought he was a lifer. He proposed to me, as a lifer, saying that this would be our life for 15+ years. But I never thought he would be in that long. He's been in 5 years so far. And I really think he's done. His contract doesn't end for almost 3 more years. Gives me plenty of time to get a good degree and a viable job.

All in all, I'm doing great. 21 weeks down. It's so hard to believe it's been so long since I've seen Joe. I'm so sad that I have gotten so used to being alone. It's a hard thought to swallow. I don't think about him being gone anymore. I don't think about coming home to an empty house. It's just a fact now. And I'm so afraid that I will have to start all over when his R&R is over. But I have done this for this long, and we'll be fairly close to half way done when he goes back. So I only have to do this again, right? At least, that's what I'm telling myself.

Week 2

Not much has happened in the last week. Joe was training for half of it and couldnt call. But he was able to get online for a few minutes last night and called again this morning. Rigel got a hair cut. He looks very handsome. And I reached 70 followers on my blog!! Hello out there!!

I met a new friend. I know some people think Twitter is just stupid. But I have met so many awesome people through that site. I have physically met two friends in the last 4 months. There used to be this sigma about meeting people online. Everyone in chat rooms HAD TO BE stalkers or murderers. Oddly enough, I met my prom date online 10 years ago. He was a very nice young man and became a good friend in college.

And I'm meeting more new people today! A Facebook group of Ft. Carson Army wives decided that we should all meet. We're going to a park on post since it's so nice outside. Some wives are bringing their young children. Of course, I'm bringing Rigel. My friend Ashley is coming along with her two chihuahuas.

Week 2 has been interesting on an emotional level. I find myself being angry again. Angry that we've only been doing this for 2 weeks, yet it feels much longer. Angry that I can only talk to Joe for 10 minutes every other day. Angry that mail is so slow. Angry that we STILL dont have an APO address!! Ugh!!

But in a strange way, my days are marked with very overwheling swells of pride. Pride for my husband. Pride for myself. Pride for the other wives dealing with the same thing. Pride..... that I am part of something bigger than myself. It's a very foreign thought each time it sweeps over me. I'm not that girl that is boastful about Joe's Army career. He's a soldier... yeah, okay, fine. But lately, it's been much bigger than that. My husband is a Soldier in the United States Army. He is most definitely part of something much bigger than himself. There is a very cynical liberal yelling from inside me everyday. But there is a part of that thought that gets trampled by the pride I feel for him. The pride that I feel when I realize just exactly what he signed up for; the strength these men need to walk away from their families; the bravery they need to complete the task at hand; the sense of purpose they need to do it every day.

I've always been proud of Joe for the man he's chosen to be. But I'm ashamed that it's taken me two weeks of a deployment to understand the commitment he has to the Army.