Ladies! I think a Friday afternoon deserves a celebration. We’ve almost made it through the entire work week! Woo hoo! We can see the light at the end of the tunnel. This is always the hardest part of the giveaway because we’d love to gift all 3,911 of you, but alas, we cannot, which I guess is what makes a giveaway so fun. With that said, join me in celebrating our SIX beloved winners for this fabulous giveaway. Believe me when I say we here at the office are coveting each of the gifts and almost threw a fit when we realized we couldn’t enter the giveaway ourselves. We love fun stuff like this just as much as you do!
So, without further ado, congratulations to…
Grand Prize Winner: Cara Koski
Second Prize Winner: Ansley DuRant
Gift number 3: Victoria Gelberg
Gift number 4: Kim Tipton
Gift number 5: Anne Dailey
Gift number 6: Leslie Wood
If y’all would please email me (Lindsee) at [email protected] with your mailing address we willl get these prizes to you ASAP. We love y’all so very, very much. Thanks for playing along. Hope you each have a beautiful, fall weekend!
DEAR SIESTAS! THE MERE THOUGHT OF YOU IS MAKING ME GO ALL-CAPSY.
It has been FOREVER and then some but I have been thinking about you. I know I haven’t been in this here blog-space much recently but I can assure you that I’m still at LPM. My days are full since I’m working and going to school part-time. AGAIN. Yes, again. Somehow even when I vow to walk away for good, I end up right back in the classroom in some capacity. This time around I’m working slowly on a M.A. in Biblical Languages at Houston Baptist University. When I’m not researching something for a project at LPM, I’m taking a Greek class in the Septuagint and a Hebrew readings class in the Joseph narrative. Oh, and how could I forget to mention Winston Jeffrey Fitzpatrick?! A little over a year ago Colin brought home a baby rottweiler and our life has never been the same since (even when I desperately want it to be!). Winnie is SO, SO bad but we love him madly.
Here is W posing in my dining room. Or demanding a filet mignon cooked over medium, I’m not really sure.
Here he is again furious about having to wear his birthday hat:
But really, enough about us.
I want to talk about YOU and a fall giveaway we are doing because we love you and appreciate you.
Now, I should mention at this point that if you are one of those people who is SO OVER all the talk about pumpkin-flavored anything, then you will want to run for your life.
RUN FOR YOUR LIFE.
Do I have a faithful fall remnant?
This weekend we had our first legit “cold-front” here in Houston. It was even down in the forties one night. Glory be! The crisp cold air in my lungs got to me in the best way possible and, of all things, I wanted to cook. There’s just something about fall that always brings me back to the kitchen. Nothing better than listening to a little Norah Jones or The Civil Wars with the windows cracked open, cool breeze dancing through the house, while a chili or stew simmers on the stove. I thought just maybe fall might do the same for some of you so the grand prize winner will get a red Le Creuset signature round dutch oven (red not orange like the one on the box).
I love it passionately and do not want to let it go. I even enjoy posing with the beloved dutch oven:
The second prize to be claimed is a $100 gift card to Pottery Barn because, let’s be honest, Pottery Barn during the fall season is heaven on earth:
Gift number 3 includes an amazing decorative pillow, fall flower arrangement, and Hill Country Home candle.
Gift number 4 includes a fun little clutch from Anthro, a scarf, several pairs of boot socks, and some gorgeous MAC makeup in fallish colors.
Here is Lindsee modeling the scarf. Love her and she can work a scarf better than anyone I know:
This MAC stuff is tough to photograph but fantastic (includes three eye shadow kits and two lipsticks in shades of Russian Red and Viva Glam III).
Gift number 5 has a bunch of fun stuff: Cook’s Illustrated Fall Entertaining magazine, kitchen towels, mulling spices, Hill Country Home candle (again this is one of my faves!), autumn cupcake decorating set, beautiful engraved silver dish, Trader Joe’s Pumpkin bread mix, and more.
Gift number 6 comes with a fun autumn welcome mat, potpourri, decorative kitchen towel, and my favorite ever mulled apple cider candle. DIVINE.
Here is Mom sorting out all the gifts. Isn’t she cute?
So dear friend, for a chance to win one of the six prizes, please leave a comment with your first and last name and tell us something you love about fall.
We love you so much,
Melissa
(Lindsee not pictured here ONLY because she was out of the office when we snapped this photo)
I LOVE fall! My chlidren are home educated and fall, for us, means more indoor time. I very much enjoy the holiday preperation, devotions focused on thankfullness and charity, and the introduction of snuggly time weather and crafting in the evenings. **oh, and the AMAZING smell of pumpkin spice =)
I’m from Kelowna, BC Canada and we are much like Colorado. In the season of Autumn it reminds me so much of God’s faithfulness! Everything changes our weather goes from hot too, very brisk cold, our tree’s leaves turn from green to yellow, red and orange and we go from shorts and t-shirts to jeans, jackets and scarf’s!! We go from grilled hamburgers to dutch oven chilli’s and from dry air to rain in the air. Its God’s harvest time where we eat fresh picked apples(yummy)make pumpkin pies and carve and clean out pumpkins with the little ones to a shine a light thru the pumpkin just as God does with us!! When I think of change in the way God produces autumn I love it!!! Its always the best and then I think of when personal change comes in my life its not so fun!! So I try now and think of the beautiful changes that God makes with the season of Autumn and what a beautiful reminder for me that when life is unsettling and hard the change that I’m facing will turn out just as beautiful in me because God created Autumn and he created me!! Oh and what I love about Autumn is the smell of fallen leaves. I wish I could bottled it up and wear God’s Autumn fragrance as perfume all year round!!
I love the colors of fall, so gorgeous here in my neck of the woods! But most of all, fall is such a celebration of family and gratitude to our Lord for His many blessings. It is a wonderful time of remembering all of His benefits. He is good!
Ronda Ferguson, I love the smell of fall, to go for a morning walk and feel the cool air on my face and to smell leaves and someones fireplace burning. Love the seasons God gives us.
My name is Mitzi White and the best thing about the fall I love is all the leaves that fall from our big, big tree in front of the house and the lawn and sidewalk are completely covered and then I love to walk on them and kick all the leaves around.
My husband dislikes that tree for the same reason I love it. I’ll surprise him this year and help him rake them up! Give him some love language. 🙂
I love that ever since we moved 12 years ago, my trees have still not matured enough to need to rake the leaves…:) (We had acres of them over and over again before) So I can enjoy fall to the fullest the beautiful scenery and look at others pretending they love raking leaves 🙂 (amongst other things of course…)
As I sit here looking out my window with dappled sunshine coming through golden leaves, I just sigh! It is so beautiful. I feel so blessed to be in a place I can see leaves changing colors and have bright blue sky as the backdrop….Love the Fall weather
My favorite is long pants and not having to shave my legs as often! Second favorite is all the long sleeve shirts and of course, mums galore!!!!
If I narrow what I love about fall down to one word, it would be “EVERYTHING!” I love watching my kids settle into a new year of school. I love that 3 of my 4 kids have fall birthdays and so does my daddy. I love watching God slowly paint the fall colors onto the trees. Taking my camera out and capturing images of vibrant colors against gray branches. I love the way the air smells and feels. I love cozy socks and turtleneck sweaters and boots and jeans (and not having to shave my legs every day). And hot chocolate in great big mugs and creamy soups with crackers. And Thanksgiving. There is seriously nothing about Fall that I don’t love. 🙂
I love Fall because its the season you truly experience with all your senses. You see the amazing colors, leaves changing every vibrant color of red, orange, yellow and in the Pacific Northwest it’s beyond words. Then you smell it in the air, not sure how to describe it, you just smell the change into this season. Then you taste all the yummy soups, stews and chilis, along with every crazy flavor of latte Starbucks throws our way. You hear the leaves crackle as the kids jump on in the pile. Feeling cozy sweaters are the best. Yes, I ❤Fall!!
Fall is my favorite time of year because God colors His world even more beautiful! Living in the Houston area we have to drive a little up north to really see the colors, but it is one of our favorite times we spend together! My hubby and I have been married almost 35 years and yes, we still love to spend time together and Fall just makes it that much more fun!!
My favorite thing about fall is all the colors! I live in Amarillo, TX and even though we don’t have just a ton of trees, I am absolutely delighted to see all the leaves change when I’m driving around! I also love the way they crunch under my feet when I walk through them! My family and I also enjoy the orange fall moon! BEAUTIFUL COLORS!!!! I love how God paints his creation!
Kim Bignon here…Hi Ya’ll! FALL is my FAVORITE season of the year. I’m a native Kentucky Girl transplanted to Florida and this time of year I LONG for home so much. If you’ve ever been to Kentucky (aka God’s Country) you know how gorgeous the hills and the trees are in the fall. I love breathing crips cool air and having an excuse every day to drink something hot and yummy (even if we are still hotter down here). What an awesome giveaway! Thanks LPM for adding fun fall color to our days by loving us across the miles!
I love spiced candles and a new (to me) drink called Chai-der. Chai & Apple Cider mixed. It’s probably a good thing it is seasonal as I could spend way too much money on this yummy drink!
Our fall was glorious this year–beautiful colours. Until Sandy blew all the leaves off the trees. Now it just looks like NOvember…which I guess is already since it’s the first day of November 🙂
Sorry, *alright, not already 🙂
Judy Sommerville
Favorite fall thing: Cooler temps.
The Fall brings glorious memories of my growing up in Northern Virginia! Today I’m a Texas stepmom who loves sharing the Fall with my two precious stepdaughters who were born and raised in Texas. I carefully prepare Fall care packages for them and their homes. After 18 years of being family they look forward to receiving this almost as much as I love being surrounded by the sights, sounds, and beautiful colors of Autumn and wishing my girls lived closer.
The beautiful trees. Even after the leaves are fallen I love jumping into a pile of leaves or hearing the crunch of the leaves under my feet as I hike the woods on a crisp day.
Thanks for the fun!
I too adore fall! The crisp air, colorful leaves, bright blue sky. Sound of crunching leaves underfoot along with the smell of woodsmoke in the air. Yum.
And seeing your adorable Winston has reinvigorated my wish for a Rottweiler of my own!
Well it seems fall in the northeast has brought an unusual hurricane. The opportunity to see the splendor of the fall leaves has passed us by. But I do love the cooler temperatures, less humidity, and the smell and heat of a roaring fire!
I love the fall leaves, and watching my 1 year old Nora Grace fall in love with the beauty of leaves while watching squirrels run around with acorns in their mouths. 🙂
I enjoy the concept of harvest and pausing to celebrate all our blessings and the abundance all around us with great thanksgiving!
Ahhh…fall. What’s not to love! I love the cool and crisp air, pumpkins (anything pumpkin really), changing leaves, chili, pumpkin lattes, and football! Go Dawgs! It is my absolute favorite time of the year!
Fall! What DON’T I love — my top favorites are:
changing leaves (gorgeous here in the deep South)
Soup for dinner! (YUM!)
Sweater weather — love the cute clothes…. that cover my less than cute upper arms!
Melinda Mattson
I love autumn not only for it’s gorgeous splendor but because it’s a celebration of an ending. The trees have done their best work and the leaves fall finished to the ground. But there’s the promise before us of spring after the coming winter–new growth and life. Oh, and pumpkin spice anything makes me really, really happy 🙂
I love fall! We get a much needed break from the heat and humidity of SC. It is a time of family gatherings with our focus being on giving thanks to God for our many blessings. I love getting out my grandmother’s handwritten turkey dressing recipe and am honored to prepare it for my extended family…always with rave reviews!
How fun! Fall is my favorite time of year. I love apple picking with my nephews (4 and 5) and then making apple crisp and many other treats with the apples. I love decorating my house with all the pumpkins and leaves. I live in New England and love looking at the leaves change colors! As I do I am thankful I do not have to rake any of the leaves 🙂 I love wearing jeans and a sweatshirt in my house so I can leave the windows open to get fresh air. It can get cold but I love fresh air.
Susan Hawk – hit send too quickly 🙂
I love the fall in Pennsylvania for the colors of the hardwoods and the long grasses waving in the cool breeze under a golden sun!
Jo Ann Rodgers, outside Philadelphia
p.s. If I recive the dutch oven, I’ll be making stews all winter!
My new favorite thing about fall: I love hearing my 4-year old son yell out for me to look every time he sees a beautiful tree. Then he says “God sure does love us to give us such pretty leaves.” You can tell we’re working on being thankful! Melts my heart!!
I love everything about fal!! The colors, the fragrences, the tastes, and the crisp morning air. But this year I love sharing all these things with my husband of 10 months. We had both been through horrible “winter seasons” after losing our spouses; but we are forever thankful that God brought us together to share our later years together!!
I love the colors of fall. I love the sound of the leaves crunching under my feet. I love the comforting feeling that fall brings with the colors, the cold North Dakota air and going home to a warm house and husband.
I LOVE FALL!!!!!!!! The changing of leaves, jumping in big piles of leaves, pumpkin spice lattes, watching football with friends, making s’mores, the crisp cool air refreshes SC after getting nice and toasty throughout the summer, BOOTS, warm fuzzy socks, colorful scarves, lots and lots of homemade soup, carving pumpkins, apple pies, thinking about fall makes me smile from ear to ear. PRAISE THE LORD FOR FALL! Such a beautiful season 😀 THANKS !!!!!!!
The smells and colors of fall remind me of wonderful times I had with my mom when I was younger. I love fall because it reminds me of when my mom and I would decorate our house with hay bales, hay stalks, pumpkins and festive wreaths. Then, we would sit on the porch together and just talk as we listened to the wind chimes and sipped cocoa together. My mom and I live 12 hours away now and the smell of fall air, yankee candles, and the sound of wind chimes just help keep memories alive and remind me to tell her how much I miss her 🙂
People say Spring inspires them, but for me it’s definitely FALL. Even though the leaves change and fall to the ground, it’s beautiful and a picture of how God takes us through seasons, some very difficult, but always with a ray of His hope as demonstrated through the reds and golds of the trees and the bursting oranges of pumpkins. We have a God with a brilliant, creative and loving hand!
I live in Florida so fall is a challenge because it is not very different from the other times of the year 🙂
What I love is that it means the holidays are starting and they mean special memories with my grown kids, family and just appreciating life and my blessings.
I love the cooler weather…I love football….I love getting in the kitchen and cooking chili, pumpkin bread.
I love the crisp air and the desire to bake that return with fall!
One of my very fall favorites is the whole idea of thanksgiving. This time of year especially seems to remind me of all the people, things, places, etc. that are in my life that I am thankful for. Most of all I thank my heavenly Father for His overflowing graciousness in my life!
Pumpkin Spice Lattes!
I live in a part of Southern California where we get about a week of fall weather. Needless to say it makes us appreciate fall all the more. If you blink you missed it and the weather just went straight from summer to winter. One day the leaves are changing and the next day that same tree is just bare twigs. One of my husband and my favorite way to pretend its fall outside is to snuggle on the couch while we watch a football game and light this pumpkin candle we were given our first year of marriage. (I’ve had to run out and buy the same scent again a couple times.) Two kids, six years, and a few rocky adventures (and im sure more to come) later I’m still madly in love with this man and so very thankful that God blessed me with him.
Marty Pittman
I love the crisp smell of fall. Favorite season!
I love the fall leaves and cooler temperatures, cooking and decorating and of course, fall Bible study.
This year I am thankful for the fall rain that is putting out the huge fire that burned over 55,000 acres in our state and our air quality is great once again!
I love fall walks by the Potomac River with my seester!
debbie faunce. i love fall Crispness, feeling of energy in the air. realizing its time to get busy and fisinh all the project started before winter gets here. hiking playing with the grands in the leaves, listening to the laughter and delight over such simple things a leaf blowing out of there reach.
well there are 2 things about fall that are the greatest here in Arkansas. The first being Razorback football ( but let not talk about this season…we are looking forward to next year) and the leaves changing here in North Arkansas. Leaves make dying look so beautiful don’t they.
I love sitting outside under a blanket reading a book or just watching things. The smell of pies baking in the oven & a good cup of hot blackberry tea.
Fall colors are one of my favorite aspects of fall! And anything pumpkin-flavored.
I love football, football weather, fire in the fireplace and my MOST favorite holiday with the fam – Thanksgiving.
I love the colors of the leaves in the Ozarks in fall. I love the smell of burning leaves–from a distance.
Toni Larkin
Kissee Mills, MO
Love this time of year!