THREE OR MORE TUESDAY: GIFTS, GIFTS, GIFTS & A GIVE~AWAY!!

Today is Three or More Tuesday hosted by Tam at The Gypsy's Corner. Visit Tam to see a list of all the participants. This is such a fun way to show off anything that you have three or more of. Today my theme is gifts. I have been stockpiling them!! But I want to give credit where credit is due and show off just how lucky I am! The bracelet above is one of my favorites. I bought it a year ago before I had an invasive biopsy and it worked!! Onward!

I received this array of gifts from Lisa at Another Day Today. Don't you love the name of her blog? It reminds me of the Mary Engelbreit painting "No matter where you go, there you are!". Ha Ha! I won this in her Pay It Forward give~away and I will explain further down how this works and how you can win a gift from moi!! She sent an original photograph in black and white of water trickling down a wall. She took this at the Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts in Valdosta, Georgia. It came already matted and now I am going to look for a frame. I love it and someday when she is a famous photographer, I can say I knew her when! She also sent a real sandollar and I even had to ask The Husband if it truly was real because I have never seen one. It has real fossilization on it that is just awesome. Obviously, we do not have sandollars here in the Great Plains so I am thrilled to have this. She also sent a Southern Accents magazine which could not have come at a better time because I am so in love with the style and the food of all things Southern since my trip to the South last month. I had to laugh a few months ago when my Domino Magazine subscription was replaced with Southern Living. I thought, "Don't they know there is a Midwest Living?", but now I'm really enjoying it because I don't think it matters where you are from to admire other locales. Lisa also sent a Yankee candle, some teabags tied up so pretty and some hand stamped tags. She also hand stamped the pretty bag it all came in! Thank you so much, Lisa. Make it a point to visit her, she is fun and creative and a really sweet soul!

Now I couldn't help but slip in some gifts I bought myself when in Charleston. :-D I happened to mosey in to a shop called Pierre Deux. My purse and I immediately said to ourselves, "We are in the wrong place!". But oh, the fun we had! Eye candy everywhere. Very French! I wonder if toile is as big in France as we are making it out to be. It is everywhere I look. And as much as I love it, I won't get in to anything that is going to be a trend. That's just me. Anyway, I purchased these two books and although I have only had a chance to flip through them, I know they will provide hours of fun!! They were making great coffee table books until they actually started to become coasters for coffee so now I have relegated them to the den (where no one is allowed except me and there is no sitting on the furniture whatsoever!). You can visit the website of this store, I have a catalog and so far the only thing I can afford is a pretty set of pewter salt and pepper shakers! LOL!!

I took a picture of the cover of this book but forgot to download it. It is called Very Charleston and it is an illustrated guide and very informative book. I just love illustrated books and this is just so much fun to look at and a nice keepsake of my trip.

These two cookbooks are great. Party Receipts is written by the Charleston Junior League and these types of cookbooks are really a testament to what "real" people are serving, in this case, the refined Southern ladies of Charleston! I can't wait to try some of these recipes out. The second book looks a little difficult as it calls for some items I don't usually have on hand; sweet milk, lard, ham hocks, crappie fillets and for their Chili Sauce: 22 large tomatoes!! :-) I will give some of these recipes a try although I am sure my arteries will be clogging before I take my first bite!

And here I have some really cute note cards that I won in a give~away by Kathleen Ellis . These are the creation of Fifi from Fifi Flowers, a talented artist and designer that many of you blogging ladies know. I love her work. If I could paint like this I think that is all I would do all day long. "Happy" is how I describe her works, and very "Frenchy!". Kathleen interviewed Fifi in one of her post and you should read it. Fifi had a wonderful and interesting journey to where she is now. A fascinating lady!

These are some beautiful gifts that Christine from Christines Home and Travel Adventures bought for me from the Crate & Barrel here in Chicago when she was visiting last week. We actually got to meet and have dinner together along with our husbands. I wanted to include pictures we took but alas, The Husband took our laptop on a business trip to Las Vegas and that is where all my pictures are stored. And hey, isn't Las Vegas a little over the top for a business trip? And it isn't like all day meetings, he entertains clients while there! He said to me last night, "Next year wives may be allowed." I nearly went through the ceiling! Allowed? ALLOWED??? Oh, how close I was to booking myself a room at the Bellagio and spending days in the spa or at the pool, waving to him from my penthouse room. Allowed my arse!!! Anyway I will do a separate post on my visit with Christine. If you'd like to see some pictures, you can go to her blog, she has already posted. She is such an interesting and intelligent lady, not to mention absolutely gorgeous looking!

Finally (almost), I want to mention a lovely gift from Karen Harvey Cox from A Notebook Of Inspiration. I forgot to take a picture so I will include that in another post. Karen is a lovely artist with a wonderful blog and you must visit her.

And in ending I want to mention the Pay It Forward give~away. When you leave a comment on my blog, your name will be entered in the give~away. I will remind you of this is my next three posts. Then I will draw a name and you will receive a gift from me. You then will have to "Pay It Forward" in the same fashion. Sort of like a chain letter! LOL! So starting today you have a chance of winning! Mention it to your blog friends, I love new visitors!

I hope you love my gifts as much as I do. I am indeed lucky!!

xoxo

Jane