TGIF: Good Bloggy Week Edition

Welcome to....



<a href="http://jah-justjennifer.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt=""src="http://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb331/JenAnnHall/TGIFnew2-1.jpg" /></a>
Go HERE to read all about how this came to be.  Basically, it's about ending your week on a positive note!
To participate
1. Write a post about something good that happened this week (or if you don't blog, tell me by leaving a comment). It can be anything. Just keep it positive!
2. Grab the #TGIF button and include it somewhere in your post.
3. Come back here and link up.  Linky is open all weekend (even when I publish a new post).
4. Visit other linkers, leave comments and consider giving them a follow (it would be nice if you followed me, but no pressure).
5. Share posts on Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, etc, if you are so inclined!
6. TGIF is open to guest posting!  In fact, I'd like to have someone else here every other week.  If you want, instead of just linking your post to mine, you can write the post instead of me.  Just let me know by Thursday of the week that you want to do it, and I will happily step aside and let you take the floor!  Be warned, if no one volunteers, I might put you on the spot and you will feel obligated to do it because you love me!

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I am feeling pretty Terrific and Great about my Bloggy self this week!

First, it felt so good to boast about my bestie Jessica and her handmade origami flower Etsy shop, MyBelovedAdoria.  And I feel really good about hosting her very first giveaway for super cute Holiday ornaments (through next Tuesday).  It just feels fabulous to support my friend in this way.  I love hearing you all ooh and aah over her stuff!

I have been participating in a very friendly weekly link up called Lovelinks for a few weeks now.  It's pretty much exactly what its title says: giving some links some love!  Erica at freefringes  (why does she call her blog that?) runs it and it's a pretty genius little thing.  Every Tuesday bloggers choose their favorite post from the last week, link it at Lovelinkin.com, the bloggers who linked read each other's posts and then on Thursday we all vote for the 3 we liked the best.  On Thursday night, Erica announces the winners.  Yes, winners.  Because there is obviously the popular vote, but there's also an editor's choice and the newly instituted lurker's favorite.

Guess who's a winner this week?  That's right, ME!  Our lurker gave me a nod for my Bloggy Wisdom post.  I also have the satisfaction of knowing it gave Erica some warm fuzzies, although she'll probably deny it.

In case you hadn't heard, I survived NaBloPoMo 2011.  But not without a little good-natured bitterness.

Also, I had another post go up over at Band Back Together yesterday and I received some pretty nice, caring and supportive comments on it.  The Band is great!

This just in: more WINNING! As I was putting this post together, Amy the Coffee Lovin Mom just told me I won her "coffee whore" mug giveaway!  Finally, my love of coffee is validated.

Did I not say I've had a good bloggy week?  Sigh.

Now for your Friday funny...

Tell me, what Terrific, Great or Important-ness happened in your world this week?

Origami Flower Creations by MyBelovedAdoria

I suppose you could see this as just another product review and giveaway.  But to me it is much more.  You see, no one asked me to do this and I am not being compensated in any way.  I WANTED to show off these items because the person behind them is one of my very best friends.

But I'm not offering you this solely because I know her personally.  I also happen to LOVE each and every thing she has ever made and sold.  I would love her creations even if she wasn't also my friend.  Truly.  Every time she shows me something new I am giddy with delight.  I am continually surprised by the new and creative things she can make with her craft.  And yes, I am very proud of her.

She is Jessica who runs the Etsy shop MyBelovedAdoria.  When she first opened her shop less than a year ago, she listed items she had crocheted, thinking that was something people would like.  But when she took up Kusudama origami (Jessica is a real Renaissance woman!) the response was an unexpected pleasant surprise.  Not long after she listed her first paper flower bouquet, she got her first wedding order....

Peacock theme

Another wedding order...

And another...

Then a second peacock themed wedding order, even better than the first....

Amazing peacock boutonnieres!

Then some playing around with different ideas...

Since starting last spring, Jessica has done flowers for TEN weddings!  Not only that, but she has placed many individual items for sale in her Etsy shop.

Such as...

Wall flowers!
Isn't that the cutest play-on-words name for them?

In a MyBelovedAdoria blog post, she expressed:

"I'm not only getting better at making these, but I'm learning what materials work, what doesn't, and different tricks to make it all come together so much easier."

And some awesome feedback she received:

"Probably the smoothest, most positive experience I've ever had buying something that was custom made. She took the time to find out what I wanted, made suggestions when I had no idea and kept me updated the entire time. I can't wait to have a reason to buy from her again, and I'm telling EVERYONE!!" ~AmandaH

Now we have arrived at her first Holiday season as an origami flower crafter and she has jumped in head-first with NEW festive items!  Jessica first made an Advent wreath which I coveted and someone snapped up quicker than you could say "but I wanted that!"

Next came ornaments....

Holiday origami ornaments in classic red and green

Blue/white/silver flower "ball" ornaments

Red ornaments with snowflake centers

I love this wreath too!

Plaid and poinsettias holiday wreath with nesting red robins

OK, so!  Now that you can see just how talented and versatile Jessica is, you totally want some of these beautiful flowers, don't you?

You are in luck, my friends.  Jessica and I are excited to host a GIVEAWAY of a set of 4 handmade Holiday ornaments!

Mulit-color polka dot flowers with green centers and red hanging ribbon
Aren't they cute??

Mandatory entry

• Go to the MyBelovedAdoria Etsy shop, look around and comment below with which listed item you like best.

Additional entries

• Follow Jessica on Twitter @MyBelovedAdoria (leave separate comment with your twitter name)
• Like the MyBelovedAdoria Facebook page (leave separate comment with your Facebook name)
• Follow the MyBelovedAdoria Blog via GFC or RSS (leave separate comment that you did so)
• Tweet about this giveaway (one entry per day): I entered the @MyBelovedAdoria origami ornament GIVEAWAY via @JenAnnHall and you should too! Or something like that.  (leave separate comment with tweet URL)

The fine print

Giveaway will be open for 1 week, through next Tuesday, December 6.  A winner will be randomly selected and announced on December 7.  Winner will have 48 hours to respond.  If no response, I will redraw, and so on and so forth.  Jessica will ship the prize to the winner as soon as said winner responds with shipping info.

PS: In order to keep the comment count as accurate as possible, I do not plan to reply to them here.  So if you have anything you want to say about this post that's unrelated to entering the giveaway, please find me and/or Jessica on Twitter!

World's Greatest BFF/Bestie

Today I will enter a friendship contest on behalf of both my BFF and my Bestie.

Wait. What's that you say? Aren't BFFs and Besties the same thing?

Well, I suppose to the average girl they are, but not to me.  Allow me to explain.

I have a BFF (Best Friend Forever) AND a Bestie.  This is because I love these two women equally and cannot pick just one of them to call my "best friend".  One I have known longer than the other so I give her the title of BFF just for that reason.  I call the other my Bestie because she has become just as close to me as my BFF over the last 8 years.

"Yes'm, old friends is always best, 'less you can catch a new one that's fit to make an old one out of."

~ Sarah Orne Jewett

My BFF is another Jennifer.  In high school we would introduce ourselves as Jen...nifer, pointing from her to me as we said it.  Today I fondly and lovingly refer to her as J.Ho.  (That's a play on J.Lo, in case you didn't make that connection.)

She's wearing a Christmas shirt that says "Ho Ho Ho".
She added the J. I love it!

I met J.Ho in 7th grade waaaayyy back in 1986.  But we were just acquantances in the same PE class back then.  Our relationship really took off when we got to high school. Each year we had a few classes together and because we both had H last names and lockers were assigned alphabetically, we had lockers close by each other.  Between each class we'd pass notes, J.Ho's with the funniest little cartoons at the bottom.

When J.Ho got her driver's license and bought a sweet '56 Chevy truck, she wouild pick me up for school and we'd leave campus for lunch.  She'd let a bunch of other kids pile in the back of the truck and it was so fun!

We would rock out to the B52s' "Love Shack", INXS' "Suicide Blonde", Madonna's "Vogue" and Deee-Lite's "Groove is in the Heart".  I would sing my lungs out to Deee-Lite in J.Ho's truck!  She probably wanted to laugh at me so bad, but she never did.

We went through several boyfriends.  She helped get me through a dumb mistake I made.  She got me drunk for the first time.  Then this really stupid thing happened.  We had a fight over my boyfriend that resulted in us not hanging out for almost all of our senior year.  Even after the stupid boyfriend dumped me, I had too much pride to apologize to her.  And by the time we did get back on track, we graduated and she bolted from Tahoe so fast, all I could do was wave goodbye.

But!  Because she's so totally awesome, she made it a point to keep in touch with me.  And thus began the beginning of the best long-distance relationship EVER.  Seriously, there are no two closer friends who don't live anywhere near each other, than me and my J.Ho.  We have been each other's Maids of Honor, she hosted my first baby shower, I planned and co-hosted her bridal shower and we are Godmothers to each other's kids.

J.Ho holding my baby AJ at his Baptism.

We email almost daily, use Facebook and text.  We are both really good about mailing the other photos.  J.Ho is an awesome gift-giver, never once ever missing either of my kids' birthdays or Christmas.  She is thoughtful, generous, supportive, talented and so funny!  She is like family.

"There is magic in long-distance friendships. They let you relate to other human beings in a way that goes beyond being physically together and is often more profound."

~ Diana Cortes

My Bestie is Jessica.  We met in the Fall of 2003 through our local MOMS Club.  It was Recipe Club day with an apple theme.  Jess brought an apple cake.  She was pregnant with her 2nd child with the sweetest little 3 year old boy in tow.  We continued to see each other at day outings including one where we took our little kids bowling.  Her belly was so big, my husband helped her son with his bowling ball.  I couldn't believe Jess even showed up that day!

A few months later I had a little extra spending money and wanted to go shopping.  I can't drive, so I sent out an email to the new friends I had met, asking if anyone would like to take go with me.  Jessica raised her hand and we had a great day at the mall.

After that we started talking on the phone a lot, finding oodles of things we had in common.  Even the stuff we didn't have in common was cool.  I mean, we spent HOURS on the phone, chatting the day away while we did housework and took care of our kids.  We could talk - yell at kids - talk - start a load of laundry - talk - get snacks - talk.  It was really quite a productive relationship.

Along with another really good friend of ours, Carin, me and Jess both have millennium babies and this has been something that has bonded us.  Jessica's, Carin's and my oldest kids went to preschool together.  We have tried each of the last 8 years to get at least 1 photo of the 3 of the kids together, almost without fail.  The 3 of them are good friends too.

Left to right: Jessica's son, my daughter, Carin's son
July 2010

Left to right: Jessica, me, Carin
July 2010

Jessica has been there for me in some huge ways, most recently last year when my husband Mark had his heart bypass surgery.  She went above and beyond for me and my family and if she hadn't before that, she cemented a place in my heart forever.

Jess sewed this "badass" cover for Mark's heart pillow.

I can't count how many GNOs Jess and I have had together, how many movies, Mexican dinners, kids' birthday parties or conversations.  She is a truly consistent friend.  She is kind, giving, talented, funny and she helps me be a better mom.  And just like J.Ho, Jess is like family to me.

Love is like the wild-rose briar;
Friendship is like the holly-tree.
The holly is dark when the rose briar blooms,
But which will bloom most constantly?
~ Emily Brontë

Jessica is the one who encouraged me to start a blog.  She has one too.  And then I encouraged J.Ho to start a foodie blog.  I believe in paying it forward!

When something is going on in my life, I need both of them to know.  When I was spending my days in the hospital with Mark last year, J.Ho cried on the phone with me and Jessica held my hand.  Literally, at the same time.  I am so blessed to have these two wonderful women in my life, to be able to call them my friends.

I've had other best friends in my life....Tressa, Shelley, Heather, Lisa, Brandie...and I've loved them all.  But I think the older I get the more I refine the definition of what a best friend is to me.

"People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime."

~ Author Unknown

I could really go on and on, but this is already so long!  Suffice it to say that my BFF and my Bestie are amazing and I love them.