Happy Birthday, and the Gift Is For You-- No Foolin'!

Barnes and Noble Contest Now Closed: Winner is Katy F.!

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I've seen other bloggers do this in the past and I thought it was a great idea--  Gift giving on my birthday, only YOU get the gift!  It's also the 15th anniversary of the day I married Jonathan Hartness, my best friend and Soul Mate.  I'm so grateful that we were brought together all those years ago in college, and I'm privileged to be his wife.  And to top it off, it's going to be his 40th BIRTHDAY on Saturday!!  So we're both 39 for two days, and then he leaps forward into middle-agedom.  I'm right behind you, honey!

A comment on the wedding photo:  We were both 24 that day, with Jonathan turning 25 two days later.  The ceremony was held at Myers Park Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, NC.  My parents were married there in 1968.  We had the same florist, baker, processional music, recessional, organist and cake design.  Both mom and I were married on our 24th birthdays, and my brother @DonovanWoodside later married on his 26th birthday on 8/25/2000.  We love carrying on traditions!  I would've worn my mother's beautiful gown, but it had not been preserved and was falling apart.  Instead, I found a $1,100 gown in New Jersey that I liked - but found it on the rack as a bridal salon sample dress in Biloxi, MS for $450!!  It was a beautiful spring day, the best way we could have begun our lives together.

In addition to celebrating these wonderful milestones, I'm celebrating 6 months of The Calico Critic. Without getting too personal, the last year was really difficult.  I began this blog in October of 2009, and it's brought me so much joy.  I've loved meeting so many interesting people from around the world, both on my blog, on others' sites, Facebook and Twitter.  We've exchanged ideas, debated a bit, shared books, cried on virtual shoulders and tweeted about anything and everything. This "hobby" has brought quite a bit of sunshine (and more than a few books!) into my life.

So to thank you loyal readers (and newbies who discover this site), I'm offering $20 in credit at Barnes & Noble (two $10 GCs).  Here's how to enter - read carefully!

• Leave a comment below; this counts as your entry.
• Entries accepted until 11:59pm on Saturday, April 10th
• Open to U.S. addresses only.
• Make sure at least one posted comment includes your email address. If you'd rather not have your email posted here, you may contact me directly to give me that information after you've entered.
• I will compile the entries and the winner will be chosen by Random.org, so even one entry can make you a winner!
• Should you win, I will contact you on Sunday the 11th.  Please take measures to ensure that my email will make it past your spam filters, lest you miss my message! (CalicoCritic@gmail.com) You'll have 72 hours to respond before I pick another winner.
• More information on the giveaway policies can be found on the Contact / Policies page.

Bonus Entries (Please make note of your bonus entries in your comment(s)):

• Follow the blog by clicking on the Google "Follow" button on my sidebar (old or new followers both get the bonus entry, just let me know you're following).
• Follow me (@LHartness) on Twitter (Please tell me your @UserName).
• Tweet about this giveaway on Twitter.com; be sure to use an URL linking back to this contest in your tweet. You may do this as frequently as every 8 hours between now and April 10th at 11:59pm EST.  For each tweet, please come back and post the direct URL link to that specific tweet, not just your @Username.
  
  

So that's it!  Thanks again for stopping by and HAPPY APRIL FOOLS DAY!!

 Our anniversary date location- Ocean Grill in Vero Beach
We had the best seat in the house, the corner table facing out toward the beach.