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)
Hi! My name is Sierra Schwartz and up here in Minnesota it gets chilly quick! I love fall because it is a time for family to come together! I love leisurely conversations over homecooked food with my favorite people on earth.
My name is Lynn Gilliam, otherwise known as “Geesh.”
Fall is my FAVORITE!! What comes to mind today is all the wonderful soups! Today I am smelling the last of my home-grown tomatoes cooking into a very fragrant soup for lunch! It takes over the house! Love it! Would love to cook my soups in a le creuset!
My name is Lisa Perdue, and I love chocolate chip pumpkin cookies! Lots of other stuff too, but mostly the cookies! :~)
THANK YOU for this super fun giveaway, Melissa and LPM!
Darn it…I forgot to leave my last name the first time…
I love all things Fall…the colors, the pumpkin lattes, the crisp air, but most of all I love Friday Night High School Football! Mulvane Wildcat Football most because that is my alma mater and where my hubby spends a great deal of his time from August to November coaching those boys up!
Would LOVE to win any of the above things!
God Bless!
Chele
What I love about fall is the crispness in the air. The sound of leaves being crumbled beneath my feet as I walk around and smell the fresh air. I love the sense of solitude that I experience when I look outside or when I am outside. And of course I love the pumpkins, candied apples and turkey dinners!
I love autumn! The smell in the air, changing colors, the weather, and yes..pumpkin flavored food of any kind!
I love the changing leaves set against a blue sky and all things cinnamon! (sweaters and boots are nice too!)
I love just about everything of Fall. I love the leaves. I remember being in 1st grade and my mom and I going out to collect leaves and we put them between sheet of waxed paper and ironed them so they we encased in the paper. I think we may have dried. That memory is from 55 yrs. ago. I love the smell of fall, the brisk cool days. I love fall!
Sharon Weldon
Love fall in the Golden Valley around Truman Lake in Missouri. The air is crisp and the trees are showing off their grandeur and splendor. A feeling in the air and around town of things just slowing down a bit, getting ready for the next season to settle in.
I’m a seminary student, and the peak of the beautiful fall leaves and the perfect crisp weather this year seems to come right alongside the overwhelming onslaught of papers, exams…and, well, all that reading that didn’t quite get finished the first time around! Autumn is a precious time; the leaves are golden for such a short sweet moment, and I’m learning that I have to savor it while it is here, or I’ll miss it entirely. It reminds to me savor other parts and seasons of my life as well; the time God has given me to learn and study is just as much worthy of the savoring and celebration. Colors, flavors, textures, moments – it all reminds us that our God is beautiful!!
I love the smells and tastes! Wood burning, cinnamon, toasted marshmallows, and pumpkin spice.I LOVE eating apple butter, chili, potato soup, apple pies, roasted corn and sweet potato souffles! These are the things that spark our memories. 🙂
I love being able to wear sweaters, we got cold weather here but you still have to wear a jacket over the sweater. Love the awesome colors that God created. Having a born fire in the backyard with a smore in one hand and a cup of hot chocolate in the other. 🙂 🙂 🙂
I live giveaways! And fall is my favorite time of year! I love the colors, scents, weather, and I course, Pumpkin Spice Lattes from Starbucks :)))
What I love most about fall? Hmmmm…can we say hunting season!! Nothing like sitting in a stand at dark, experiencing the crack of first light and all the creatures waking up. AMAZING! Then experiencing God as Jehovah Jireh, as he’s providing our meat for the next year.(Genesis 27:3)<3. I live in South Georgia so not to mention all the gnats are gone, Hooray! And these buzzards, I mean misquitoes that love gnawing on me all summer have disappeared, double Hooray! I love the smells of fall here, peanuts being dug, then boiled :), cotton being defoliated,harvest time, control burns going on. I love the family time, corn mazes, camping, bonfires, smores, dutch oven cooking (wink wink), visiting state parks, riding my horses in the cooler weather. I could go on and on but I'll stop and it's not that I don't like the other seasons, but I think it's safe to say that fall is just an awesome time of the year.
What a fun collection of fall things!!! I love fall. I was in Ireland a few months ago and have had a hard time being back in Central Ohio. Let’s face it, it’s just not as pretty as Ireland. However, the Lord used fall and the beauty it brings to remind me that He makes all things beautiful! I LOVE me some fall foliage!!!
Leanne Cody
Starbucks pumpkin spice lattes!!
FALL? I LOVE fall…because fall is when I celebrate my Christian Birthday – Oct 10, 1999. I celebrate THIS birthday way over my regular birthday. And I happened to get saved on none other than Canadian Thanksgiving weekend…how about that for an amazing gift from God eh?
Second to that is the SMELL of fall, love it…
Jenn
Corrie Cline Buchanan 🙂
I love fall for SO many reasons…but I will narrow it down to the beauty of the pretty leaves that cascade down and crunch under your feet!
How fun! Thanks, ladies!!! 🙂
Ejoyed seeing all the beautiful pictures. what I enjoy about fall is the different beautiful colored leaves and eating anything pumpkin.
Love when you go outside in the Fall evenings and smell the wood burning fireplaces against the crispness of the evenings 🙂 It’s awesome!
Hot apple cider!
I love so many things about fall! The magnificent colors of the trees, the leaf piles, the smell of leaves, apple crisp……….
Fall – I love FALL because it’s a good excuse to snuggle (as if you really need one).
I love autumn! It is my favorite season of the year. Being born and raised in Indiana I remember the brilliant colors and smell of that time of year. It has been a very long time since I have experienced the true autumn season. Since leaving Indiana many years ago I have lived in warmer climates such as Saipan in the Marianna Islands, East Texas, and now on the East coast of Florida. Tell help me remember Fall in Indiana, every year my parents send me a box of leaves. They wait until the leaves are just the right colors of red, orange, yellow, and brown. My Dad picks them and my Mom presses them between wax paper in encyclopedia pages. For over 20 years they have been doing this for me. I love to get that box of Indiana autumn leaves. I love the colors, the smell, but most of all the love it is filled with. I know someday that box won’t come anymore and I will miss it so very much. I have the best parents ever and I thank God for them every day!
I love the colors of Fall and Harvest!!
Kristin K. Loves pumpkin spiced coffee, knee high boots, football, bonfires, and scarfs!
My name is Cathe Henderson. I love and desperately miss the trees changing colors… Nashville is wonderful to see this in, not West Texas. 🙂
Leanne Swanson, Billings, MT
I love the beautiful fall colors, but the best thing about fall is football. Go Bobcats!
Thanks for such a fun giveaway!
My favorite thing about fall…too many to pick just one. College football, boots, sweater dresses, chili, fall leaves, caramel apple cider and sweet potato casserole.
I’ve noticed the pattern of how the Lord has used Fall to bring about a time of refreshment in my life! This season has the same feeling on starting a new journal for me! It’s hopeful and full of newness and there’s a sense of expectation! Accompanied with the AMAZING smells and bright colors and I LOVE THANKSGIVING FOOD!! I’ve found that characteristics of fall mirrors that of what happens with our walk with the Lord…the sense of expecatancy that comes from new seasons he brings in our lives, the consistency of his presence (just like we know fall comes ever year). Possibly my favorite part being that as he teaches me new things and it starts to change my character much like the leaves change…causing my old self (leaves) to fall off ready to start new! I’m growing to LOVE this process more and more!!
I love sitting by the fire in morning and being able to watch the sunrise during my quiet time. I don’t ever wake up early enough in the summer to see the sunrise!
Hi there…
Amazing prizes. Somebody (or somebodies) have really good taste around the LPM office!
Favorite thing about fall? Taking a long walk in the woods full of color and hearing the crunch of fallen leaves under my feet. If I am drinking a Starbucks Caramel Apple Cider at the same time…it’s heaven on earth
Holly
what i love most about fall is powered donuts with apple cider and a big pumpkin to carve!
Jackie
Unfortunately in south Louisiana fall is practically a figment of our imagination, but I do love imagining what fall would be like! And the wonderful fall foods and scents!
My favorite thing about fall is getting back into the schedule of life! I NEED my life to be scheduled, and orderly…and summer break (tho I do love it!) messes up my days!
I love we can sit outside and not instantly melt! We live in West Texas so we dont actually have alot of color changes but when the temps drop then the mulled cider and apple clove butter candles come out! Oh and my husband and I love to sit out at night and watch the meteor showers every fall. Oh… I cant forget cuddling up close to the fireplace in the evening!I’ve already had 2 or 3. Love them!
I ADORE EVERYTHING ABOUT FALL!!!!!!!!!!!!! The gorgeous colors of the leaves, apple cinnamon candles, the cool, crisp mornings, bonfires and toasting marshmallows at night and I love ALL THINGS PUMPKIN! Favorite season, hands down. :o)
I LOVE all things fall… the cooking–soups, the fashion–scarves and boots, the weather–cool/crisp, the scents–cinnamon/pumpkin/apple, and the beginning of just togetherness!!
Amanda Allen
Family time at our local pumpkin show and the holidays! Love it!
I love a fall hike…the smell just does something for me mind, soul and body. Hiking Buffalo Mountain Sat with some of my best buds…looking forward to it.
I love pulling out my sweaters and scarves from storage, sipping hot cocoa and watching the leaves change colors and fly through the air. Also, while I am here – I have to share just how great our God is with this story about my son and my husband, Hurricane Sandy, and a conversation that almost didn’t happen: http://www.theritzes.com/3/post/2012/11/especially-now.html
I love the cooler temps and the start of the holiday season. I start my Christmas baking and shopping!!!
My favorite thing about fall is decorating my house! Every year, before I got married, my mom and I would joyfully take down every bat, skull and broomstick and replace them with leaves, wreaths and a thousand signs and emblems that reminded us to “Give Thanks”. Even though this is my first fall out of the house, my tradition stays! Today the Halloween decorations go away and garlands of brown, orange and yellow will take its place and everyone who walks through my front door will know Who I give my thanks to!
Kelly Olsakovsky
I love the cooler temperatures. We’ve been in the Houston area nearly four years now, and I’ve still not gotten used to how warm it stays around here. So I look forward to those crisp mornings, and the brief changing of leaves.
I love the colors, smells and crisp air the fall brings – although currently in So Cal we’re expected to have 90 degree temps this weekend.
Pam Mundy How fun is this.. I love fall for the beautiful colored leaves and like you Melissa the urge to cook cook cook Iv’e made two pumpkin pies this week. I have meatloaf in the oven now and some leftover homemade chicken noodle soup in fridge. 🙂 My sweet neighbor has feed me some yummy veggie soup as well….. Love you all
I love the change of the seasons (love the variety!) and getting to pull out nice cozy sweaters again. The changing leaves really make me stop and notice the beauty of God’s creation!
Hello from Ohio! My name is Andrea Brouwer and Fall is my favorite time of the year! A time to break out the pumpkin roll candles, the Uggs, and the crockpot! I also love fall because its football season, it seems to be the time when family gatherings on Sunday afternoon become the norm.
I love seeing the different colors of the trees. I love seeing the green all summer but it’s like God says “surprise!” every Fall when they start to change.
LOVE it
My name is Katherine Henz and I love the changing leaves and chance to dress warm and drink hot tea 🙂
The fall is when everything exciting happens. Schools start, new classes, bible studies. Thanksgiving, the anticipation of Christmas. But I especially love the wind! The cold air hitting the still-warm earth. It’s exciting and novel, and really reminds me of adventure, and change, and the promise of exciting things to come! Plus the gorgeous colours of the leaves, and the fact that my birthday falls then helps 🙂
I like the fall because I can curling up next to my fire while reading.