And the Winner Is...

Better late than never right? Yeah, yeah, I know I promised to announce the winners to my 500th Celebration Post GiveAway sometime last week. But, well, I’ll be honest lovely readers, I just didn’t have the motivation or the energy to post much of anything last week. So, better late than ever, here are the results.

But, before we get to the winners, I want to thank all of you who visited and commented. And I especially want to thank those of you who left constructive input about my blog. The two pieces of advice I seemed to get that repeated themselves were that A)my font is too small and B)my posts are too long. Ah yes…I KNOW! But if you know me in real life, then you know I don’t quite know how to shut up and edit myself, so that’s not really surprising. I’m a story teller by nature, and when I tell a story, I want you to know every last little detail. BUT, since I asked for your input, I am going to take it to heart, and work on shortening SOME of my posts. It won’t happen overnight, and I’m sure it won’t happen with all of them, but, I’ll work on it. The other point, about the font…I actually agree with that, and am working on changing it, but I’m still an HTML newbie, and I can’t seem to change it the “easy” way, so bare with me, I’ll figure it out eventually.

Okay, this is turning into another of those “LONG” posts, so let’s get to the winners already.

As you know, there were two prizes. This one:

For anyone who left a comment telling me how long they’d been blogging. There were 13 comments that qualified for this entry.

I did a very scientific drawing to pick the winner, and I’d share photos, but I did this at work, so no photos were taken (sorry). My scientific method? I listed your names in the order the comments came in and assigned them a number. Then I number 13 little pieces of paper and folded them up nice and tiny, stuck them in a bowl and pulled out a number.

And the winner is: JANA! She just happens to be one of my new Inspired Bliss buddies, and I’m so happy to be able to welcome her to my blog with a prize! Congrats lady!

The second prize, THIS ONE:

Was for anyone who offered some constructive criticism about my blog, or shared what it was that made them come back, what they liked, disliked, etc. I again thank you all for your input. There were 7 comments that qualified for this entry. Again, I put all your little numbers in a bowl and…the winner is JENI!! Yet another of my Inspired Bliss buddies. How about that? You girls took over this thing and RAN with it. Congrats!!

So, what I need from the two of you is your mailing address. You can either email it to me, or DM me on Twitter, and I’ll get your goodies out PRONTO!

Thanks everyone for visiting!

Half-Way to One Thousand!!!

Hello everyone and welcome to Candid Karina’s 5ooth Post Celebration.

This is an event of monumental proportions, so we couldn’t let it go by without throwing a grand Gala in its honor. There will be something for everyone here tonight, so please, check your coats, grab a drink and take your seats, the evening’s festivities are about to begin.

I’d like to welcome you all, and take a moment to thank you for coming by. I didn’t want to forget anyone or anything, so I wrote a little something, and hope you’ll bear with me while I go through my thank you’s. I’ve got it here somewhere…ah, yes, here we go.

First and foremost, I’d like to thank God, because how blessed am I to be able to share a piece of me with all of you and have you come back for more? Trully amazing, I think. Next, I want to thank Wil Wheaton, because it was through his blog that I was introduced to the world of blogging. He most definitely does not even have a clue who I am, but it’s all his fault I do what I do here, so a big fat thank you to him.

Next, I want to thank my loyal readers. I’ll start with the ones who have been with me for quite a while now, who’s names I know as well as the ones of my IRL friends, and who have become true friends, regardless of whether we’ve ever met in person. To my “She Who Blogs” buddies, especially our amazing leader Frances, HOLLA! You girls ROCK and gave me my first sense of “community” within the blogging world. I’m so proud to be a part of the gang. I’d also like to give a very special shout out to all the lurkers, you know you’re out there. I know you’re out there because even though I don’t average very many comments per posts, my stats tell me you’re out there, reading. So, thanks, I’m glad you’re here. And finally, a warm welcome to my new readers. I do hope you’ll be back.

I’d like to kick off the festivities with a bit of a look back, a retrospective if you will. It might be fun for those of you who’ve been around to relive some of our best times, and for the newbies, maybe it’ll help you get to know me a bit better.

A quick note to the first timers, anything you ever wanted to know about me can be found in any of these posts (which are also on my sidebar under Candid Close-Up).

Let’s take a look at the highlight reel, shall we?

• My first EVER post, which was actually brought over from my life on a previous blog.


• The 30 posts in 30 Days challenge that brought me to blogging more full-time.


• A bit of self-indulgence.


• Some of my ventures into photography.


• Love Stories


• And I grew into other blogs.

Well, that was fun, wasn’t it? While I compose myself and wipe the tears from my eyes, let’s move on to the next part of the evening.

This is the part you’ve all been waiting for. It’s time for the games and prizes. I hope you will all play, it’s so much more fun when everyone participates. For you lurkers, this is your chance to come out of the woodwork, even if just for one night. And anyway, there will be prizes. Two of them to be exact. Here are the rules of the game:

For the first prize, a trio of Body Shop Lip Butters, in Mango, Grapeseed and Coconut, you simply have to leave a comment, letting me know you were here celebrating my 500th with me and answer me this question: How long have you been blogging? That’s it. I will pick a commenter using a randomizer, and they will be the prize winner.

The second prize, a nice gift set from Yankee Candle (with a Gingerbrad and a Christmas Cookie candle...yes, it's a Christmas set, you can start your shopping early), will be yours with a little more work on your part. Now, don’t get nervous, it’s easy enough. Leave a comment, letting me know you were here, celebrating with me, and then let me know what it is you like about my blog. This is important, because I’m fine tuning the way things work around here, so your input will help me tremendously. So, in your comment, I need some positive feedback about your favorite types of posts I do, or even a particularly favorite post, or I will take constructive criticism about posts I may do that just don’t strike your fancy. Tell me what you would like me to write more about, something you would like to know about me, or what makes you come back, or would make you come back more often. Give me ideas, suggestions, and friendly criticism, it’ll all be taken into account. For each “individual” piece of feedback you give me you get ONE entry into the drawing(meaning that if in your comment you give me three suggestions, etc. then you would get three entries. Get it?).

So there you have it…fun and games.

What a fun time we’re having tonight, I sure hope you’re enjoying yourself as much as I am.

Unfortunately, the evening is getting late, and soon it’ll be time to say good night and go our separate ways. But before we do that, it’s time to look to the future. I mean, 500 posts is incredible, no doubt, and throw in two other blogs, with Creative Karina, and Café Karina, and guests appearances at SheWhoBlogs here and there, and wow, I really do have a reason to celebrate. My career as a blogger has been blossoming rather well. I’m very happy with my limited success thus far, and just glad I’ve been able to share myself with you.

BUT, things are getting bigger by the moment. There are grand things on the horizon, and I can’t wait to share them all with you. So, I thought tonight’s celebration was the perfect moment to do so.

First up, a new meme is launching at Creative Karina next week. I’ve been neglecting that blog, so I thought I needed a little something to get the creative juices flowing. More info. will follow, but I hope you’ll join me, because I think it could be a whole lot of fun. It will be a photo and poetry meme all rolled into one. Click here for all the details.

Next, because Café Karina is also being neglected lately, starting next week I will be featuring more book reviews, movie reviews and now that the new television season has kicked off, you can bet there will be some tv show reviews as well for your reading pleasure.

And finally, the most exciting of all new ventures, is my involvement with Inspired Bliss. You can read all about that in this post, and click on the pretty little "Inspired Bliss" button on my sidebar to be taken to that site. My first post wil be up on Friday!

Sadly, we’ve come to the end of our program. The hour is late, and it is time to shut the lights. I do hope you’ve enjoyed yourself, and please, don’t be a stranger, the door is always open, and we are always happy to see you here. No invitation required. Bt wait, before you got...we have fireworks...

Okay, have a good night, drive safely...Until the next 500th, stay Candid!

It's Party Time!

Hello, hello, welcome. Come on in, grab a drink, have a bite to eat. Today we are celebrating the official "launch" of my new blog design.

Take a look around, what do you think? Personally, I think this new blog design screams "Candid Karina" and I couldn't be happier. I owe it all to my blog buddy "lissa", who has just launched "Just Design Blogs". She offered the redesign as a means for her to practice launching her design blog, how could I refuse? I sent her a few ideas, some color choices, and some photos, and she created what you see here today. How fabulous is she?

And all this she did with no request for payment, except that we promise to pay it forward.

So, I decided that a Launch Party was in order. Before we go any further, won't you have some ice cream cake? What's that? Oh right, the recipe. Certainly.

Oreo & Fudge Ice Cream "Cake"

Ingredients:

1/2 cup fudge ice cream topping, warmed (as you can see above, I use Hershey's syrup instead and it works just fine)

1 tub (8 oz.) cool whip whipped topping, thawed, divided (I used chocolate flavored cool whip this time)

1 pkg. (4-serving size) Jell-O Chocolate Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie Filling

8 Oreo Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

12 vanilla ice cream sandwiches

Prep time: 10 minutes - Total time: 4 hours 10 Mins. (including freezing).

Pour the fudge topping into a medium bowl. Stir in 1 cup of the whipped topping with a wire whisk until it's well blended. Add in the dry pudding mix; stir 2 min. or until well blended. The consistency of fudge topping ca vary depending on what brand you purchase. If your fudge topping mixture is too thick to spread easily, stir in 1/2 cup milk.

Chop the Oreo cookies roughly into chunks. (I just break them with my hands over the bowl into random sized bits). Stir them into the pudding mixture.

Arrange 4 of the ice cream sandwiches, side by side, on a 24x12-inch piece of foil; top with half of the pudding mixture. Repeat the layers.

Top the pudding mixture with the remaining 4 ice cream sandwiches. The layers create a neat striped effect when sliced.

Frost the top and sides with the remaining whipped topping, it doesn't have to look perfect.

Bring up the foil sides. Double fold top and ends to loosely seal the packet. Freeze at least 4 hours before serving. Let stand at room temperature to soften slightly before serving.

Makes 12 servings. Enjoy!

And there you have it. Easy and tasty ice cream cake.

But, what's a party without party gifts? I'm paying it forward by giving a few little things away.

Here are the prizes: A cute little stuffed teddy (about 6 inches high):

DVD of the movie "Labyrinth" (still in plastic wrap):

Special Collector's Edition DVD of Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Still in plastic wrap):And few consolation prizes:

Three different winners will win a set of "ear buds":And one more will win this fun little Colby "earpiece" to use with your cell phone.

Yes, I know, it's a random mix of things, but I wanted to give away more than one prize, so I dug around and found all these fun little bits and pieces.

So, how do you win? That's easy, just leave me a comment telling me what you think of the new design. You can also tell me which prize you'd rather win...I will see what I can do about you getting your choice.

Okay, that's it, I'll let you mingle and converse amongst yourselves...I have to get to my second day at my new job anyway. Come on back tomorrow and I'll tell you all about how my first two days have been.

Follow-Up Friday - American Idol, Giveaways, and more

A lot to talk bout today, so let's get right into it.

First of all, a while back I held an impromptu contest. I had a Friday where I had nothing to say, so I asked my readers to fill in for me. I then asked you to vote for your favorite. And the winner is: uh, well...see, the thing is that technically, there was no winner. I pretty much had one vote for each of the entrants, so in all fairness, I can't pick a winner, so guess what, you're all winners. And the best part? Well, the best part is that I had decided (before I knew who the winner would be) that the prize would be a bit of Blog Lovin' from me. I was going to write a special post, all about your blog, and tell folks why I visit, and why they should. And then, if you were not already on my blog roll, I was going to add you. Turns out most of the contestants are already on my blog roll, but not all, so for those of you who are not, before this weekend is over, you will be. But for all of you who entered without even knowing you entered (that is Frigga, Lil' Mouse, Pamela, Ana, Joy T, Lisa), stay tuned, because in the next few weeks you will all get a post from me, here at Candid Karina, all about why I love ya!

Moving on to yet another contest. On Valentine's Day I held another little contest. This time I asked some trivia questions, as well as some fun little questions. I got some fun answers, and you really must click the link to read them all. But I picked a winner based on...well, basically, I took the five commenters (wow, slow comment day that was) who took the time to answer the questions, threw numbers 1-5 into a had (okay, actually I used a bowl), and picked a number. And the winner is: The Mama Bear. Congrats lady, email me with your address and I'll send off the little Love themed mini-books.

Moving on...on Saturday I posted three pictures for Saturday's Photo Hunter theme of "Free". Qualcosa di Bello wanted to know if that was me in the last picture I posted. Yep, that's me. Enjoying the serenity of Lake Winnipesauke.

Fun Monday this week was all about funny things we see on our travels daily. Unfortunately I didn't learn what the assignment was until it was too late to go out and take photos...so I'm glad you all enjoyed my tale about the Buffalo. I have paid attention on the way to work this week, however and I must tell you...you missed nothing...I see NOTHING funny on the way to work. Just bad traffic, rude drivers, and the occasional crater...uh, I mean pothole. Nothing to see here folks.

On Tuesday I reviewed a few movies, including two more dance movies. If you missed it, check it out.

The last two days I've been recapping American Idol. The boys, and the girls. Last night was the results show, and we said goodbye to Garret Haley (he was not one of my bottom 2 picks, but he was one of my bottom 5, not too surprised or disappointed to see him go); Amy Davis (one of my picks to go home this week, no surprise here); Joanne Borgella (my other pick for the girls to go home this week, so again, no surprise) and Colton Berry (my first surprise of the night, not that I was shocked, he wasn't great, but he was not even in my bottom 5, still, not one of my favorites by any means either). Now, you all know I love Simon, he cracks me up, and I think he's right "most" of the time, but what in the world crawled up his ass last night? He was exceptionally mean to the poor kids going home. Lighten up Simon, it's only tv. Sheesh.

But, more importantly, can we talk about Paula Abdul's music video? I mean, come on, we grew up singing along with and dancing to Cold Hearted Snake and Straight Up, how could we NOT love this new song? It's PAULA Abdul! I love it, it's fun, and you know what, the song is catchy. Good for you Paula!

Finally, I should clear something up, only because I don't want you all to think I'm sunning myself on the beach somewhere in Spain, when in fact I'm wiping snow off my ass, from where I landed this morning when I took a pretty nasty spill right outside my condo complex, in the middle of this LOVELY (said with heightened sarcasm) snow storm we're getting hit with today. See, I want sympathy from you folks, not jealousy! haha...But Jannis left a comment on my TT post about how I was at the beach with her, and I am...mentally. See, if you click on that link it'll take you to Jannis' most recent post, where she said she was taking a mental vacation at the beach, and I asked to join her. So, I'm there...in spirit anyway. Mentally right now we're having a couple of glasses of wine and checking out the cute spanish guys in speedos. Physically? My ass hurts and my shirt is still wet from the snow. (Sympathy, folks, I want your sympathy!)

And there you have it, hope you all have a great weekend, come back tomorrow to see what I've got in store for the Photo Hunter theme of "wooden".

Some business to attend to - A Valentine's Day Giveaway!

Current posts are below this post, but I have some quick things I need to address before we get to it.

First of all, I announced the winner of my bloggy giveaway over a week ago, here in this post. I've emailed the winner twice now and received no response, therefore, the winner has now forfeited her prize (I'm sorry to do this, but the rules clearly stated that I need to be able to reach you to award you your gift). So, I'm moving on to the person who placed second...Congrats to Shannon, you win by default. Please email me with your mailing address and I'll get your prize out to you this week.

Secondly, I hosted an "improptu" little contest in my Follow-Up Friday a few days ago...just because...I haven't closed the contest yet, so if you have a few moments, go read he entries and vote for your favorite...I'll announce the winner this Friday and announce my prize then as well...I'm pretty excited about this particular prize.

And THIRDLY....I'll be hosting another little contest/give-away on Valentine's day...come on back to enter.

Follow-Up Friday - It's Baa-ack!!! (with a contest)

Okay, I'm forced to admit that moving Follow-Up Friday to Sum-It Up Sunday was unsuccessful. It turns out that with my new duties volunteering Sunday mornings (well into Sunday afternoons) with the youth at the church, I simply don't have the leisurely mornings I'd grown accustomed to on Sundays to blog. So, instead of doing the wrap-up posts I'd been intending to do, I end up just posting a quick thing...and although I'm not sure any of you care whether or not I do them, I actually miss doing the wrap-ups. I like that they give me an opportunity to address questions or comments you might have left, and I like how it allows me to tie my week up in a nice little bow. So, Foll0w-Up Friday is back, and we've got a few weeks to cover, so, I'm going to try to keep it as short as possible. There is a little contest hidden within this post, so please read on and vote. Off we go:

We'll start with the Fun Monday of January 21, the Anniversary Edition. We were asked to show the view from our front doors, so I obliged. But since the view from my front door is my neighbor across the hall's front door, I also gave you the view from my balcony, with some pretty sunset photos. I'm glad you all enjoyed them so much.

On Tuesday, January 22nd, I posted a bit about trolls. No, not the cute cartoon kind with pink and purple hair, the kind who post anonymous comments on blogs meant only to incite, hurt or upset. I was glad to see that you all seem to have the same attitude of delete, forget, move on...really, no better way to deal with it, right? And yes, I'm running out to buy the red wig really soon.

I'm skipping the next few days because I want to dedicate some extra space to the Friday of that week. On that day I didn't have a whole lot of blogging time, so I left it to you to "fill-in-the-blanks". Those of you who responded are so darn creative you all deserve props, so I'm giving them here. I'm going to post the 6 responses I got, and then you, dear reader, are going to vote for your favorite. I'll have a little gift to send to the winner.

The sentence you were asked to finish was: Today, Candid Karina couldn't write a blog entry because _____.

1. Frigga - of the universal forces that prevented that. See, she had every intention to. She even got up this morning, got dressed. But when she stepped outside to grab the paper she was abducted by aliens. As much fun as she's having at her inter-stellar party - those aliens don't have the wrireless connection necessary to post to her blog. You see, aliens don't need blogs, they can read minds. However, I did hear a rumor that they were going to teach Karina how to do this mind reading, and then she can publish from the space craft.

2. Lil' Mouse - she is too busy eating cheese on her couch in her pajamas, listening to lifehouse and being otherwise covert. (refer to this post to see why this was really funny to me).

3. Ana - she is experiencing cranial flatulation - hopefully it will pass in the next day or two. We apologize for the inconvenience caused.

4. Lisa - she was too busy picking the fuzz from between her toes, and using said fuzz (along with belly button fuzz) to knit herself a pair of really warm mittens.

5. Joy T - she was too busy researching which brands of peanut butter and jam go best together in preparation for her very first pb & j :o) (FYI, nope, I still haven't had one).

6. Pamela - she had frostbite on her fingers from digging through 17 inches of packed snow to save her future boyfriend who was buried by an avalanche. - he's out there in the c-c-c-cold somewhere right now... brrrrr

Funny gals right? Well, here's the deal, I have to get back to work, so will continue Follow-Up Friday later on, there are some other posts of the last few weeks I still need to adress. But for now, vote for your favorite, so I can send them a little prize. ;-)

Mini GiveAway - AND THE WINNER IS...

Thank you to everyone who entered the drawing this week. It was a lot of fun to be part of bloggy giveaways, and I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did.

Without Further Ado, the winner (picked by random.org) is: AHILTZ. Unfortunately, I wasn't given a blog address in order to link you to her(him?) so I can't award link-love along with the prize, but I do have an email addy, so I'll be sending out notification.

Thanks again to everyone who participated! Stay tuned, there will be another giveaway in about a week...just in time for Valentine's Day.

I've joined the Bloggy Giveaways Carnival (just in time too)! What does that mean? Well, it means I get to give one of YOU a goody! I've been wanting to do a giveaway on my blog for a little while now, and when I learned of the carnival through two of my favorite bloggers (Lisa and Robin), I just knew I had to join.

So, here's the deal, for my first giveaway ever, I'm giving away a "MINI" package:

That, my friends is a little "Mini" book, of quotes about women (Women's Wit and Wisdom), a "mini" nut body butter from The Boy Shop, and a mini shower puff. And all you have to do to win this mini package is comment below by no later than Saturday, February 2nd. That's it, no catch.

I'll be drawing and announcing a winner on Sunday, February 3rd, and your mini-package will go out next week. In order to receive your package, you must be willing to provide me with a mailing address, once you're notified as the winner, you don't have to be a blogger to enter, however, please make sure I have a way to find you (email, etc.) in case you do win.

If this goes well, I may start doing a monthly giveaway.

Oh, and there's still time to host your very own giveaway, head on over HERE to learn how, or just click HERE for a list of almost 900 blogs participating in the giveaway...that's almost 900 chances to win something, and find some fun new blogs in the process.

Good luck, and happy trails.