Happy Blogiversary To You! (It's A Giveaway!)

Once upon a time, there was a housewife named Sarah. She was a jolly, happy soul, but wished to find an outlet for her multitudinous, brain-cluttering thoughts. Her poor, handsome husband tried to listen to all she said, but grew weary from the sheer volume of words she emitted. She thought about starting a journal, but being something of a lazy-bones, Sarah soon left the journal dusty and forgotten. She tried to talk to friends, but realized that she never had quite enough time with them to satisfy her talkative tooth. Thinking an artistic solution may be the best route to take, she even attempted to join an orchestra to reacquaint herself with her old love, the violin. If only she were a good enough violinist, this blog might never have been born.

Lucky for us all, she wasn't talented enough, and due to the aforementioned laziness, neither did she want to embark upon lessons to improve her musical ability. So she sat down one long winter afternoon -- one year ago today, to be exact -- and banged out some navel-gazing words. She released them to the internets, and she hasn't been the same since.

She told embarrassing stories about herself (more than once). She expressed herself in words that had sat dormant inside her heart for far too long. She tried to be funny. She made friends, both across the country and across the world, and asked for advice when she came up against insurmountable obstacles. She admitted things. She fawned over her gorgeous daughters, bragging about their undeniable perfection while admitting to their frustrating tendencies. She realized that she loves to write, and began to wonder how she'd not self-imploded long ago from a lack of writing. She dabbled in poetry. She whined. She joined carnivals. She wrote and wrote and wrote, and before she knew it, one entire YEAR had passed: Sarah The Lazy-Bones had become Sarah The Heavenly.

And bless your hearts, you READ what she wrote, never failing to uplift her or make her laugh, always ready with words of encouragement and friendship.

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To celebrate my Very First Blogiversary, I'd like to THANK YOU all by holding my Very First Giveaway!

Last month, when I posted about my favorite aprons, I got so many comments from readers who'd loved the aprons! So as my gift to you, I'd like to give away ONE apron of the winner's choice (Up to a $32.95 value.) from Jessie Steele's adorable apron collection.

To enter:

1) Leave a comment here telling me either:

a. Which Jessie Steele apron you'd love to have, or

b. Which kind of post you most enjoy at This Heavenly Life. Funny? Serious? Thoughtful? Random? This is just me being nosy.

2) For a second entry, blog about this giveaway. Leave me a link in a separate comment, and your name will be thrown in the hat twice.

3) For a third entry, Tweet about this giveaway. Leave me a link in another separate comment to your Twitter account, and your name will be thrown in the hat thrice. (Yes, I'm on Twitter, but only very occasionally. I'd love to know more friends on Twitter though, so this sounded like a good way to meet some new tweoples.) (Wait, did I say that right? Tweoples? Am I cool?) (Don't answer that.)

4) Make sure to enter before 9 PM (CST), Friday night, December 18th. I'll randomly choose a commenter and post the winner on Saturday, December 19th.

If you have any questions, please email me at thisheavenlylife [at] yahoo [dot] com.

Are you excited? I am SO excited! Please enter -- you deserve to be thanked. After all, it takes a noble, hearty, and brave countenance to withstand my banter.

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And so, Sarah The Heavenly lived happily ever after, with visions of comment threads dancing in her head.

Have a happy day!