It's time to . . . PARTY ON!

{ *** This is a "sticky" . . . brand NEW posts below!! One of them being about photography and my work space! *** }


Finally it's blog party time again at 5 Minutes for Mom!

Last year was my first year participating and it was one of the best times in my blogging life. I met so many wonderful blogging women, many of whom I became close friends with, and one of whom I MET IN REAL LIFE just this past October. So I really do consider it a party with other women . . . a way to connect with other stay-at-home work-from-home mommies . . . and a way to find friendships with these super-fabulous women. They're blessings in my life and I am quite excited to meet more of these amazing women starting TODAY! It's a blast of a time not to be missed.

Oh, and apparently I don't know all the rules! You are suppose to tell about your 3 favorite things you'd like to win, among others, so here they are in order:

#12 - $50 gift certificate to Happy Panda
#15 - $50 gift certificate to Kids Magical Wonder
#20 - $50 gift certificate to Paperlicious

I also adore the following prizes, too!
#34, #50, #70 (yum!), #76, #88, #100, #101, #103, #107, #114, #117, #126, #140, and #151.


Phew, okay, so about me!

I will be thirty-two (I don't like seeing the actual numbers!) in 8 days, I have been married 9 years to my amazing hubby (we've been together 15 years!), have two spectacular (miracle) children, Noah (almost 4-1/2) and and Maia (almost 2-1/2). We live in central Illinois. I love where we live because we are within 2-3 hours to Chicago, St. Louis AND Indianapolis so I easily can enjoy the city life while still living up the small-town life as well. I am a stay-at-home mommy, but also a work-at-home mommy. I have had my photography business for almost SIX years now. I am absolutely amazed by that. I never ever EVER thought I would be able to say that. It really does put a huge smile on my face when I think about it. (And I thank those who have helped me get here. I'm so so blessed!)

Let's see . . . I grew up on a farm (corn, beans, alfalfa) and loved every single minute of it. I miss it desperately at times. I have one brother (also amazing) who lives in Kansas City right now. I have a sister-in-law and brother-in-law who are our best friends. Michelle is the sister I never had. I have 4 very special precious nieces. We have a dog and 3 cats. I love love love animals. I also have great passion for photography (obviously, hehe), my friends, graphic design, gardening, traveling and God, of course. I love ketchup, the colors red & turquoise, coffee, dark chocolate, sushi, Oprah, fashion, interior design, coffee table books, old Disney movies, magazines, oh how the list can go on and on. These passions, including my children I will talk about more in the coming week. :c)

With that said, I thank you for coming to my blog and giving me the opportunity to share my life with you. I met a dozen amazing women last year (Erin ~ who I met in real life last October!, Amanda, Jen, to name a small few!) and hope to do the same this year. Getting to know mommies who blog is such a rewarding experience and it's became a huge part of my life.

I have four blogs (1, 2, 3, and this one) and hope you have the time to come visit me at all.

Now for my exciting part . . . I would like to offer a fun little contest called "Things I've Learned About Val". I have these 5 cards with 5 questions on them (click on them to read the questions easier) and some of you will already know a few of the answers, but most of you might not know any. But at the end of this blogging party week, I hope you will have answers to all of them and know a lot about me ~ enough for you to want to stay with me here :o)

So the actual contest . . . next Friday, the 14th, the first person who can email me the answers to all 25 questions will win a . . . drumroll . . . 8x10 canvas gallery-wrap of any personal photo you choose! It's approx a $100 value!!! These canvas-wraps are one (of the many fabulous) thing(s) I offer at VWC Photography.

So just for keeping up with me at my blog for 1 week, you can win one of these!!! (I love them - I have them all over my house!)

I need to have (correct, hehe) answers to me by noon on Friday (as I am leaving that evening for a [my!] birthday getaway). Please email them to me here ----> [ valeliz @ mac . com ] no later than noon (central standard time) Friday March 14th. I will tally the answers and have a winner for you by Friday at 5:00 pm! If I have more than 1 person who answers all 25 correctly, I will put the names in a hat and draw THE winner. Yayyyy!!! This will be sooooo fun! Answers to all 25 questions will be posted throughout my blog entries all throughout the week starting today!

* Oh, and one more thing, you have to have a blog to qualify to win, so when you email me, please attach your full name and name of your blog. Have fun, and thanks again for stopping by! Party on! :c)

The "Things I've Learned About Val" Quiz:



And while you are here, check out Kidazy.com. They are giving away a $100 Toys R Us gift card! I had never heard of Kidazy, but now after looking around, I have added it to my bloglines. I've found some great gift ideas and ideas for my own kiddos. I love ideas for new unique gifts. Check it out!! Hopefully one of us will win!

And now I am on a roll . . .

This one is really great, too! How many of us can relate to this one?! :c)

Award? Really? Nuh-uh. No way. Are you sure??

Oh my goodness! Another Thinking Blogger award for . . . me??! (Are you guys sure?? Seriously??) Amanda, thank you. Truly thank you! Like I told her, I don't think I have won any award since high school and this one is just way better. I can say some equally great things about her as she keeps me smiling, keeps me laughing and especially keeps me grounded. Thank you, Amanda! I am so glad I found you Amanda (& Erin, Michele, Liza, and I could keep going on and on . . .) my long lost friends who I feel like I've know forever . . . (happy sigh . . .)

Finally 2 snippets of good news!

First of all, there is some hope with Noah's vomiting! He has only thrown up twice in 3-1/2 hours and we think those two times were because we let him drink too much all at once. My poor boy is drinking like he's never had water in his life! Prayers, prayers and more prayers that he continues to keep most of it down. (The thought of dehydration and being hooked up to i.v.'s is scary!) The phenergan seems to be working, but I've been reading up on it (thanks to the internet which can force me to become paranoid!) and while it is amazing stuff, it can also be scary. We'll be keeping a very watchful eye on him all night. Thank you for all so very much for the thoughts and prayers today. A network of friends is an amazing thing!

Secondly, I have been highlighted today as a featured favorite blog by Janice at 5 Minutes for Mom! I never ever thought I would be featured, but how exciting! Finally, on this dreaded 31st birthday of mine, I'm feeling a little special. (*blush*) Thank you for all your kind words, Janice, and for giving me not just recognition for Purple Valley, but for my passion of photography @ VWC and for Grandma's Diary. It's all such an honor. Really, it is. Keep up the hard work at 5 Minutes! You and Susan are inspiring women yourselves!

New blogger comes to town!

I have a friend, her name is Jenn (not the same Jen as my Jenny-Jen in Mississippi, but still quite special!), and she is joining our blogging community! She lives in Tennessee . . . even has that slight southern accent which I love! . . . and I guess I have now inspired her, too, to start blogging about her life as a stay at home mommy to 4. I have known Jenn for like 7 years now . . . wow. Two of her kiddos are the exact ages of mine. I hope you'll go over and say hello. Can't wait to see more of her entries. Here she is!

new fab look at cerellabella

Check out Cerella's way too cool blog. What a nifty header there, Cerella ;) Hehe.

Making changes

I am one person who always has to have change. I've always been like that. When we lived on the farm growing up, I remember "changing around my room" (i.e. moving furniture around to create a new look and feel) all the time. Even now I am like that. Our neighbor, Vickie, just came into our house a few days ago and she said "something seems different. Did you change things around?". She was right. We did. I think people say this to me every time they enter our house. If it's not the furniture, it's a new wall color (yes, I love to paint walls!). I think all this is one reason why I always wanted to be an interior decorator. (Did you know I even changed my major for a week from graphic design to interior decorating and back to graphic design? Going back just because I realized I had to take some architecture classes which I had no interest in doing. What a pain it was to switch it back, too. And look at me now, not in interior design or graphic design!) Anyway, what I am getting at is, you probably already noticed that my blog is completely different. I decided I just wanted to change some template things. (Yeah, right.) I wasn't even going to change the entire format and look, but once I got started, I went a little crazy. Anyway, everything here is basically still the same, just threw in some different colors, but it's still me.

Me, and inspiration?

No way. I guess so, though. I've now inspired 3 people - three - to write a blog. I am also just learning about all the people who read regularly who have never told me. I guess I better not give up now? Hopefully I can keep inspiring people to write. What an inspiration it is to be and inspiration.

Blogging - wow - it's such an excellent (and easy and fun!) way of keeping up with people. You can read when you want to, no one is disappointed if you don't, and there's no way of deleting an email with information because the blog is always out there in the internet world. Keep'em comin' girls!

One of my bestest girlfriend's has a new blog. Jennifer Jayne is her name! See her in "my friends" or linked to this post. You won't believe how gorgeous her sweet Addison is! Jen, I miss you sooooo much. Come back . . . please?

By the way, just an update. Yes, we are still without power. Going on day #3!