Five for Friday

Previous Fridays

1 - You bought me eggs and hash browns from Trader Joe's so I could make breakfast for dinner.

2 - You really like when I curl my hair.

3 - You shoulder make a great pillow for TV watching.

4 - You have about 20 nicknames for me

5 - You're researching cars coming out soon, so I can find the perfect new car.

CSN Giveaway WINNER!

Thank you to everyone who enter my CSN giveaway! Congratulations to the winner, Amy from The Nifty Foodie!

Amy, email me so I can get all your info for the prize :) and everyone else, go over and check out Amy’s blog for some tasty recipes.

For Japan With Love

{Donate Here)

OperationLayla Bake Sale

If you read my blog (thank you) you probably like food about as much as I do… specifically baked goods. Am I right? Well, here is a chance to get freshly baked, baked goods delivered right to your front door. #OperationLayla is hosting a bake sale right now!

Please check out “Bake Sale Info” for a detailed description of how this Bake Sale works.


Each item below starts with a minimum bid of $15, and to officially bid on any particular item, you must leave a comment with at least a $1 (one dollar) raise in price. All buyers have until 11 pm EST to submit their bid.


Thank you very much for your generous contributions and support. We will try our best to moderate the comments throughout the day. If you would like to comment anonymously or have any questions or concerns, please email OperationBakeSale@gmail.com. Happy bidding!

I’m donating Chocolate Covered Rice Cereal Bars, gluten free - of course. However, since I’m in the middle of finals right now, I wasn’t able to make them this weekend and take a picture for the website… so I drew one.


Mmmmm, don’t THOSE look tasty? The upside is these will be extra fresh when I mail them out :)

HAPPY BIDDING!!

$50 CSN Stores Gift Certificate Giveaway

I had already scheduled this giveaway before the tragic earthquake & tsunami in Japan. I have decided to continue with the giveaway, because I know we could all use a little happy.

Please say a prayer for the people of Japan and their families!

I’m really excited to announce that I was contacted by Sean at CSN this week to do a giveaway on His Birdie’s Nest. I’m sure most of you have heard of CSN or even seen giveaways for gift certificates being offered on other blogs. When the contacted me, of course I went perusing around their website to see the what kinds of thing you all could get with your new fancy gift certificate. I knew they offered a TONS of different things, but did you know they have flat panel TV stands?


This jumped out a me because Hubs and I have been on the hunt to purchase a condo in the past couple months and at every open house we’ve been to, so far, everyone has their TV mounted above their fireplace. Hubs, is not a fan of placing the TV this high because he don’t like looking at the TV from that angle. Personally I like the TV stands more because is a nice place to hide all your stereo system, DVD player etc. I think we’re the only people in South Orange County without our TV mounted above our fireplace.

Anywhoodle, you’re probably wondering about that giveaway, huh?

1 – Mandatory comment below on what you’d spend your gift certificate on, if you won.
2 - Tweet about this offer (with a link) and then post a comment about it including your Twitter user name. Something like "I just entered to win a $50 gift certificate to @CSNStores from @FrenchieBirdie. http://tinyurl.com/4gcdpw6 #winning"

1 - US and Canada residents only (sorry, but it's not up to me. CSN delivers only to US and Canada)
2 – The last day to enter is Thurday, March 24th @5pm PST.
3 – As always I use Random.org to select the winner and I’ll post the winner on Friday, March 25th.





Have you heard of Joss & Main? It’s a sale site (like Rue La La and One Kings Lane) but this one is a sister site CSN! They have sales on things up to 70% off (lasting 72 hours). I’ve been a member for over a month now and they have some pretty great sales!
Like the other sites you need an invite to join, so here’s the link to mine :)

** This gift certificate will not include shipping costs, however there are items on all of their sites that offer free shipping with purchase.

I received the giveaway product mentioned above for free, but received no monetary compensation to post this. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising

Five for Friday

Previous Fridays

1 - You're going out to dinner with my school friends and me tonight.

2 - You roll over if poke you, when your snoring.

3 - You've keep the bathroom sink clean for the past 2 weeks.

4 - You saved Sunday's leftovers for me to have after class on Monday.

5 - You call your pile of clothes on the floor your tornado.

OperationLayla

Update: Layla has said that any money she receives above what's needed for her surgery, will donated to the earthquake/tsunami aid.

You may (or may not, that's okay) have noticed the Donate button that has appeared on the top right of my blog. You may be wondering, "Allison, what is the Operation Layla deal all about?" Well, simply put, Operation Layla is the lovechild of a wonderful group of girls banding together to help an awesome friend in need of surgery.

Photo of Layla & her hubby, used with her permission. Please ask before re-posting.

Here’s the story:

One month after her 30th birthday, Layla was diagnosed with early stage cervical cancer (1A Adenocarcinoma). She was extraordinarily lucky that it was caught early, and was able to have a simple surgery to remove the cancerous cells. Three years later, Layla had been in horrible pain that affected nearly every aspect of her life. Temporarily uninsured due to a job change, she paid out of pocket last October to go to the doctor and make sure that the cancer had not returned. Thankfully, it had not. However, her doctor believes that she has pelvic adhesions and Endometriosis due to the previous surgery, but it can not be diagnosed until an additional surgery (laparoscopy) is performed. The doctor also found out that Layla has cervical stenosis, which basically means her cervix has completely shut due to the scar tissue from the previous surgery. These issues make her miserable most of the time, making simple things like going to the bathroom and menstruation horribly painful, and sexual intercourse impossible. He stated that if she did want to have children one day, even sperm could not pass through her cervix, and she would have to have intrauterine insemination. The doctor wanted to schedule surgery as soon as the insurance at her new job went into effect. Her company fired her the day her insurance became valid, ten days before Christmas, plainly stating that it was because of her health issues.

Fortunately, she was able to get on her husband’s insurance, which went into effect on February 1st. As soon as she could, Layla scheduled surgery for March 22nd. Then her insurance company dropped a bomb: because she had gone to the doctor (even as a self pay patient) within a three month period prior to her enrollment date, they were considering her health issues to be a pre-existing condition, and would not insure any doctor visits, medication, or surgery for them for 388 days.

388 days is a long time to wait when you are in near constant pain and can’t work. The sooner Layla can have this surgery, the sooner she can return to work (hopefully with a nicer company!) and start living her life again. Her doctor has been nice enough to work out a deal with her, decreasing the amount of her surgery to $4,000, the cost of the anesthesia to $500, with additional fees for biopsies of removed tissue to be determined, if Layla can pay as a cash patient.

The problem is, Layla is unemployed due to this, has used her savings to pay for living expenses and medical bills, and has been denied loans for the surgery because of her unemployment status. She does not have a close family, so she can’t ask them for help. Surgery is scheduled for March 22nd, and Layla and her husband are still trying to secure a loan through several banks.

How you can help...

- Keep up with the Operation Layla blog, follow on Twitter, and RT Layla’s story! #OperationLayla
- Donate! Every little bit is appreciated and helps ease the burden of medical expenses for Layla. You can donate though the Operation Layla blog here.
- Several people have donated items they are selling in their personal eBay stores, with the proceeds directly going to Operation Layla.
- An online bake sale is in the works… stay tuned for THAT. Seriously, it’s drool-worthy. I may be donating a baked good myself. It will be gluten free ;-)

All proceeds going to Operation Layla! I can’t possibly think of anyone who is more deserving of the help. Layla is a wonderful person and friend, and I want her to get all the help she needs and deserves!

Five for Friday

Previous Fridays

1 - You don't get mad when I tickle you.

2 - You're funny.

3 - You like watching HGTV with me.

4 - You were beyond excited to pay off your car.

5 - You're "not too shabby" ;-)

Secret Life of Bees: French Bulldog Edition

I wasn’t a Bee yet, when this series started, but I planned on applying and hoped they would bring it back because I really wanted to participate. I don’t even have any fun secret-y type things to tell you all. Seriously, I sat in front my computer screen for awhile trying to think of funny or interesting thing about me and this is all I could think of… I need to get out more.

1 – When I find an article of clothing I really like I buy a bunch of them and wear the crap out of it. In college it was overalls (What? It was technically still the 90’s), after that hoodies, and now cardigans. I’ve also recently re-discovered tights, so if Spring doesn’t happen soon, I may have another addiction on my hands.

2 – When I see a street with my name on it, I insist on taking my picture with the sign.
The picture on the left was taken about 5 years ago on a girls trip to Napa for a good friends Bachelorette party. I was the DD that afternoon, so when I saw the street sign, I pulled the SUV over and made my drunk friends take my picture. I believe there is also a video of me jumping up and down, yelling “It’s my street! It’s my street!” The picture on the left was taken a few months ago in San Diego. Mr Frenchie and I were driving around neighborhoods so see which ones we’d live in & I spotted this sign when we stopped for lunch. We got several really weird looks as I was posing on the street corner.

*Note: In the picture on the left I’m wearing a hoodie (my favorite one) and in the picture on the right I’m wearing a cardigan… I own that one in 3 different colors.

3 – I am OBSESSED with the television show Friends. I have every episode on DVD, thanks to Mr Frenchie who gave them to me for our first Christmas. Pretty much everything in life reminds me of an episode of Friends. For example, I cannot hear about Yemen without thinking of the time Chandler pretended to move to Yemen to get away from Janice.

Source

4 – Mr Frenchie & I don’t have cable (or a dish). We watch all our TV online via Hulu or Netflix. For the longest time Papa Frenchie thought we’d crowd around our computer screen to watch LOST with our friends every week and would politely decline our invites for LOST parties. He was relieved to find out we have a computer hooked-up to our television.

5 – It wasn’t until 2010 that I owned a Nintendo NES!


Growing up my mom wouldn’t let me sister and I have video games because she wanted us to go play outside. Mama Frenchie bought us (Mr Frenchie & I) a Wii for Christmas 2009, which prompted Mr Frenchie to research and buy a refurbished Nintendo NES. I cannot tell you how excited I was to have my very own game of Tetris.

6 – I had my tongue pierced a month into my freshman year of college. Which less scandalous than the tattoo I really wanted and I think it freaked Mama Frenchie out a little less. I managed to hide it from my parents 1 week after it was pierced, at Parent’s weekend and all the way to Christmas break when a friend of our family spilled the beans at a church party. She had accidentally caught a glimpse of the piercing a few months prior when I visited her store to see a friend. She thought my parents knew and started talking about it with my Mom. I think Mama Frenchie was more embarrassed that her friend knew, than mad a me for getting it pierced. Two years later I lost one of the balls trying to freak my roomate out & decided it was time to take it out. You’d think Mama Frenchie would have been excited to see it gone, but instead she got mad at me for sticking my tongue out at her :-P