No, Etsy is not a new name for another weird building in Dubai.:-)

From time to time, I will be featuring fabulous Etsy shops and their products and even hosting giveaways here on this blog.

The moment I clicked on Etsy, my internet time has never been the same. I ogle at the cutesie stuffs, the classy bags and the wonderful artwork made by Etsians from all over the world. Now, I can actually open my mouth while working (I only used to open it during lunch time). Now I say, ooh and aah while looking at the adorable pieces at Etsy.

I know, I know, this is non-Dubai related but in the middle of traffic, construction mess and the other miscellaneous rant posts I have, wouldn’t this be a welcoming respite?

I’m so surprised after coming back from vacation to get a couple of blog awards from someone who’s frequenting my blog lately. Thank you Eaton of Passionate Fiction for thinking of me. I am honored.

Eaton  is a writer who lives with her beautiful family in Australia.

The award I picked up came with some rules and a tag.

Here are the rules:

Mention the blog that gave it to you and comment on their blog to let them know you have posted your award.

Publish these rules:

Share 6 values that are important to you and 6 things you do not support. Grant the prize to 6 people.

6 THINGS I VALUE

1. My family
2. My friends, near, far and online
3. My (no overtime) work
4. The memories I keep in a diary
5. My faith
6. My independent spirit

6 THINGS I DO NOT SUPPORT

1. War
2. TV
3. Violence/Abuse of children
4. Promiscuity
5. Abortion
6. Plastic Surgery (although it might be a creative way to enhance one’s looks)

I would like to pass this award to these creative bloggers: Michelle of Bleeding Espresso, Sabine, SabineM, Urban Thought, Joyce and Puss Reboots.

This reward is in Portuguese, with the translation:
“This blog invests and believes, in proximity” [meaning, that blogging makes us 'close']

I truly believe that we’re living in a small world, thanks to the internet and blogging. I am proud to say that I have made ‘friends’ with people I haven’t even met yet and although my husband finds that amusing, I think that’s cool.

“They are all charming blogs, and the majority of them aim to show the marvels of friendship; there are persons who are not interested when we give them a prize, and then they help to cut these bows; do we want that they are cut, or that they propagate?

Then let’s try to give more attention to them! So with this prize we must deliver it to 8 bloggers that in turn must make the same thing and put this text.

I pass this on to my bloggy friends, old and new:
Amy Q, Zen, Maribeth, Betty, Desert Songbird, Robin, Krista and Kailani.

My bloggy friend, Kailani over at An Island Life is hosting a fun Bloggy Hoss Elections where you can nominate your favorite blogs for categories like Most Athletic, Head Cheerleader, Most Talkative, Nicest Personality, Most Artistic, Most Likely to Succeed, Brainiest, Class Clown, Best Looking (blog design) and Most Popular – kinda remind you of high school? The nomination is finished and voting is now open.

While this looks like a campaign, it’s not – - I just want to say that someone has nominated me in the Brainiest category!! That surely surprised me and I have no idea who put my name on the hat. If I do, I’ll give that person a good gift for Christmas. For the meantime, whoever you are, thank you.

Now I know that Hollywood feeling: it is elating just to get a nomination. The Oscar statue is just the icing to the cake!

So, if  you are up for it and want to vote or simply want to check out the nominees (there are lots of wonderful blogs worth checking out), go hop on to the 2008 Bloggy Hoss Elections now. Voting ends on the 12th of  June.

In case you haven’t heard or read, there will be a great blog party over at 5 Minutes for Mom and everyone is invited, including international bloggers. Yay!

I’ve read that last year’s party almost 1000 participants! The Ultimate Blog Party is a great way to introduce your blog out there, meet new people and find new blogs to add to your feed reader. I can’t wait to meet some new interesting people/blogs! The party stretches from March 7th to 14th so there’s plenty of time to blog hop to all party goers. To get you started, you grab a button and post an invitation on your blog. Then you write a party post on the 7th and sign Mr. Linky over at 5 Minutes for Mom. I promise you it’s not that complicated! You can go read the details of this blog party here.

There are tons of prizes at stake as well so this should be fun. Facing a slump lately, this party might be just all I need!

It’s that time again to thank some bloggers who showered me with some blog blings recently. You all make blogging more inspiring!

Kailani of An Island Life has given me this:

Kailani lives in another side of the world, in one of the beautiful islands of Hawaii. If not for blogging, I would not have met her. Thanks for the cool award. Mahalo, Kailani! Now I pass this award to:

• Stacey, who blogs from a cruise ship and updates the blogosphere with photos of her stopovers in many, many different countries around the world. I am so excited to see you soon in Dubai!
• Robin, who blogs from Israel providing me with a view to a different world.
• Michelle (Scribbit), who blogs from Alaska posting photos of the great white north and great mommy articles.
• Michelle (Sognatrice), blogging from scenic Calabria, Italy. Beautiful place, beautiful blog.
• Nat, who is posting very nice photos of Japan, the country I call “home”.

Jennifer of Diary of 1 has gifted me on Valentine’s Day with something better than chocolate and most importantly, with zero calories:

Jennifer is another excellent blogger from Oregon who I had the pleasure to know through how else but blogging. If you are a lover of arts, you should check out her blog.

I had been blogging for just a year and never really expected this! Thank you so much, Jen.

This award I will pass on to excellent bloggers I know: Karen, Robin, Sarah, Michelle (Sognatrice), Claudia, Sheira, Harlekwin (thanks for the superb T13 banners!), Desert Songbird, Frank, MakiMeji Mamah, Christine, Cajun Vegan

*****

Charlotte of Charmed Life has given me:

Charlotte and I had been friends since we were both working in Japan. We have since got married and had babies and still managed to stay in touch although we’re miles and miles apart. I am definitely seeing her and her cute little boy Matthew in summer on our vacation to Japan.

Thanks for being a friend: Sandra, Kailani, Melany, Jennifer, Maribeth, Sabine

*****

Robin of Around the Island gave me:

I forgot how stumbled into Robin’s blog but I’m glad I did. She blogs from Israel and although we are from the same region, the place and culture is so much different. I am glad to take a peek of her world through her blog. Oh, she makes my day just by being there always. Thanks, Robin.

All the blogs in my feeder makes my day so if you are frequent here in my blog, please consider yourself awarded. Keep on writing, you all make my day! This award also goes especially to Cathi. Thanks Cathi for making my day with Valentine goodies!

*****

Dragonstar Days gave me a totally new award. I say new because unlike the previous four awards mentioned above, I have never seen this before:

Well, what can I say, I’ve never been told ‘cool’ and ‘cat’ so this is a double celebration for me! Thank you!

I pass this award to cat lovers who visits this blog: Dragonheart and Merlin, Gandalf and Grayson, Lara Chronicles

It was just another day at the office. It’s Saturday and I am back working with minimal things to do and with very limited (I can only check mails; this post is written at home) internet access, I was terribly bored thinking of lots of (bloggy) things but could not post any.

The mailman came and tapped my shoulders. He had a parcel for me!

Oh my God, is all I can say when I opened the package from my Valentine Goody Swap partner, Cathi. My Valentine’s have never been better! Cathi just hit the spot by sending me chocolates that are not just chocolates; she sent me my favorite Lindt chocolates among others she put in the box too! Thanks, Cathi! I hope you get my package too, soon!Now I really feel bad because I am not sure when she’ll get mine. I mailed it a week before Valentines but the parcel came back to me after five days for undisclosed reason. It must be the red heart-shaped box that Emirates Post did not like so I had to repack it and send it over again — after Valentine’s! 

Watch out for the empty cereal box wrapped around with lots of packing tape, Cathi! I hope you like it.

The Bloggy Giveaways Carnival hosted by Shannon wrapped up last week but I am still reeling with the results. There were 890 blogs giving away stuffs!

Things I won:

• Insignia Pilot Video MP3 Player with Bluetooth Headphones at the Island Review blog – There were more than 400 contestants and I was chosen so it took me a long time to stop jumping up and down!
• Kiddie Cradles Baby Cloth Ring Slings at the Blessed Nest blog – I had been eyeing these baby slings for quite some time now. No, there is no baby yet so I gave away this prize to a wonderful friend who had a baby a couple of weeks ago.
•  A copy of the book Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh at the Happy at Home blog – I entered this contest without expecting anything. I look forward to reading another book.

Other prizes I won in other contests, not related to the Bloggy Giveaways carnival:

• A copy of the books Four Wives and How Big is Your God courtesy of Sarah at Puss Reboots.
• $25 from Thompson outdoors blog (I joined via my other blog)
• A copy of The Sky Isn’t Visible from Here by Felicia C. Sullivan from Mother Talk. Not exactly a prize but I got the book for free and will post a review here soon.

Did you join the Bloggy Giveaways carnival? Did you win anything?

Today will be the last drawing date of most of the bloggy giveaways ran at Rocks in my Dryer for one week last week. What a massive carnival it was with more than 800 bloggers participating and giving away stuffs! I have entered in the contests here and there, however, very limited because majority of the contest post says, “for US addresses only”.

I got an overwhelming response to my own little giveaway with more than 500 comments. Thanks to everyone who participated and left a message mentioning their favorite books. I have added some of it in my Amazon wishlist.

Popular authors:

• Jane Austen
• Jodi Picoult
• J.K. Rowling
• James Patterson
• Karen Kingsbury

 Popular titles:

• To Kill a Mockingbird
• Pride and Prejudice
• Little Women
• The Bible!
• Gone with the Wind

I already chose the winner with the help of random.org and have contacted her. I’ll post the name here once I get the reply and confirm that she’s still interested with the prize! (For security reasons, I did not include the gift certificate code in my email to her and will only do that once I get a response.)

Congratulations to Beth who said she loves anything by Jane Austen. I hope the certificate will help you purchase a good Jane Austen book, Beth!

It was a great carnival and it was a fun way to discover new blogs to add to my feed reader. I sure will be participating again in the future.

Kailani over at An Island Life is hosting a Valentine’s Day Goodie Swap and I signed up! I know, I know, I am on a diet and not supposed to be eating sweets but promise I’ll do it (eat) in moderation. The idea of swapping gifts with another blogger from another side of the world picked by Kailani in random is exciting I had to join.

You can join the fun, too. Swap partners will be announced on February 1st, so you have only some days left. Go check it out if you are curious.

There was a questionnaire about Valentine’s and here goes my answers for them:

• What is your idea of a romantic Valentines Day?

A romantic dinner at a restaurant I haven’t been to, with sparkling wine and maybe a romantic movie afterwards.

• In reality, what is your Valentines Day really like?

Be prepared to be shocked: we don’t celebrate Valentine’s. Pre or post-baby, we never did. You can kick my husband now. In Japan, Valentine’s Day is celebrated peculiarly. The females give chocolates to the males. I baked brownies.

• If you could have a lifetime supply of your favorite sweet indulgence, what would it be?

That would be Lindt milk chocolates or Ritter Sport Marzipan and VolMilch, Hazel Nuss, Dark, all of them!

• Is there any sweet treat you absolutely do not like?

I don’t like anything with rice crispies in it.

• If you fell into a pool of chocolate, how would you get out?

Who would want to get out? I would prove to the world that man (woman) CAN live by choc alone!

I will let you all know what I received after the day of hearts…or after my package arrives. I hope the Dubai postal system does not play its prank on me this time. The Christmas cards sent from friends last month has not yet arrived!

To celebrate the great bloggy move and the new look, Michelle of Bleeding Espresso is having a contest! Bleeding Espresso is an intriguing name for a blog and you will know the reason behind it in one of her favorite posts: A blog by any other name. I think her blog name is cool and something that sticks to mind.

Back to the contest, one lucky winner will receive $30 gift certificate from Amazon. Check out her new blog (if you haven’t already) and celebrate with her!

~o~o~o~o~

Speaking of contests, I have recently won not one but two great books over at Puss Reboots. Thanks to Sarah who will be sending me a copy of Four Wives and How Big Is Your God? I can’t wait for the books to arrive. Thanks for the generosity and the opportunity to win these books.

Thanks also to Elaine of Blog in my Eye for giving me a copy of Toddler’s Busy Book during Fall Y’all Great Bloggy Giveaway contest. Sorry this took me so long to mention it here. The book is a must have for people with kids.

~o~o~o~o~

Since I have learned that one can be quite lucky and actually win stuff in the blogosphere, I am trying my luck again and enter contests. You will never win if you just dream, right?

There are lots of places to find great giveaways and contests, not limited to books all over the net. Some of my favorites are Laura Williams Musings, An Island Review and Contest Beat.

… and for my other addiction aside from books, here’s a chance to win 3 months of chocolate supply! Since I am on a diet and aiming to be on my fighting form until our vacation in summer, I won’t be participating (who am I kidding). All you need to do is drop your comment before January 31st and you are in the draw! Do share some chocs if you win, ok?

~o~o~o~o~

Oh by the way, have you entered in my first contest to win a new blog design? Don’t miss the chance to win a blog makeover courtesy of RS Designs. I wish I can participate and win because I badly need a new theme but since I can’t, I hope one of you gets the new look for free!