We Have a Winner!

#6- KRISTEN!!!  Hip hip hooray!  Send me your address and the sizes you want girly whirl :)

In other news, Caleb and I made it to Virginia yesterday and it is way too cold here!  We will be visiting family for a while and we are glad to have some company.  I hope you guys are having a good week! Talk to ya soon :)

What am I drinking?

Raspberry flavored red tea...and it is delicious.  I decided to do some research on red tea and this is what I found:

Researchers have discovered that Red Tea, the indigenous wonder herb of South Africa called Rooibos (ROY-boss), is full of polyphenois and flavonoids, which help protect the body from free-radicals that weaken natural defenses and eventually lead to aging and the onset of disease. Scientific studies indicate that drinking Red Tea daily can reward you with powerful antioxidants that help build the immune system and create a healthier, longer life.

Red Tea has all the benefits of green tea, but is completely caffeine-free so that you can enjoy unlimited cups, multiplying the benefits from all its healthful properties without overdoing the caffeine.

~is completely pure, natural and contains no additives, preservatives or colorants.

~contains no caffeine and has a soothing effect on the central nervous system.

~has anti-spasmotic properties which help to relieve stomach and digestive problems like nausea, vomiting, heartburn and stomach ulcers.

~benefits the management of allergies like hayfever, asthma, and eczema.

~has a soothing effect when applied directly to the skin as a tincture or can relieve itching, rashes and sunburn when added to a bath.

~has antioxidants which limit the effects of free-radicals in the process of aging and the declining immune system.

~supplements the daily amounts of calcium, manganese and especially fluoride, needed for the development of strong teeth and bones.

~contains zinc and alapa hydroxy acid, which promote healthy skin, and magnesium, which is necessary for a healthy nervous system.

source: republic of tea

Soooo, if you like tea, you might want to think about trying some red tea!  I like to drink mine with sugar in the raw.  It gives it a great taste.  Now I am just waiting for all those benefits to kick in :)

The D word

Deployment!
I have been in a blog funk- boo.  I think it has something to do with all this deployment mess!  Trying to get myself back to a "normal" routine though.  Here are some pictures from d-day- and believe me, all of the smiles in these pictures are completely fake.

Last day in the neighborhood for Sethy poo

Kisses

Yes, it was Caleb's birthday that day too- how terrible, right?

No daddy! Don't leave! Pwease?

If ya gonna leave, then at least let me keep this hat

This is such a fake smile- seriously

I guess these pictures are kind of disturbing.  It looks like Seth just got back instead of getting ready to leave.  We had told each other that we were going to be as happy as we could and that we weren't going to cry- although we both broke that promise.

Thankfully, all Caleb was worried about was getting something to eat.

As my friend Sarah would say, this is what sad people look like :(

Sorry for the down post.  I guarantee that the next post will be much happier!

Ciao Bella's,

Kathlyn

(the girl trying to get a grip!)

The Critter Jitter GIVEAWAY!!!

 The very creative and giving people over at BabbleTees and CritterJitters are offering one of my readers the chance to win not one, but TWO adorable tee's from their adorable tshirt shop!

Babble Tees is a small tshirt shop located in northern Illinois in a town of 750 people.  The shop itself is in a renovated bank building located on the Hennepin Canal.  The office is in the bank vault and the screen print room is in the basement.  Doesn't that sound like the quaintest little shop?

The Poppies shirt is printed on brown American Apparel and is available in sizes S, M, L, XL and XXL. Please keep in mind when choosing the tshirt size that these do tend to run small.     

             

The toddler shirt is available in 2T, 3T and 4T and is printed on a Rabbit Skins 3301T toddler tee.

As always, just enter by commenting in one or all of the available ways. The winner will be able to pick the size of each tshirt he/she would like.

There are 4 ways to win this great giveaway! (Just make sure to leave a seperate comment in order to have your entry/s count more than once!):

1.  Visit Babbletees or CritterJitters and come back telling us your favorite print (other than the two already mentioned).

2.  Follow my blog.

3. Follow me on twitter an tweet about this giveaway.

4.  Blog about this giveaway and link back to this blog,

Have fun! The winner will be chosen Wednesday, February 24th!

Time Out

Hello all you beautiful people!

I had to check in with you guys to let you know that you won't see much of me for a few more days.  I am taking a "deployment" break by spending every moment with my hubby before he leaves.... :-(  Obviously we are both very sad about this time in our lives but we are praying that God will help us be able to look at it as positively as we can.  I can honestly say that we are both truly enjoying these last few days together.  The day he leaves will be the hardest, but until then we are cherishing each moment we have.
We aren't the first couple to have to do this and we surely aren't the last!

But don't be too sad... I will be back soon with a reallllly cute giveaway :)

Love you all,

Gotta Love Her

Amy Butler that is :) 

Some may think her fabrics are overused and overrated, but it will only take a few minutes of browsing through her website to see just how amazing her designs really are.  I am in love with just about every one of them.  I wanted to show you a few of my favorites:

And the winnnnnnerrrr is.......

So sorry for the delay, we just had way toooo much fun in Savannah! 

With no furthur "ado" the winner is #3- KRISTAN!!!!!!  My fellow follower :)

Please email me Kristan with your mailing address so I can pass it on to Sarah.  You can find me at retrogalusa@aol.com and I am sooo excited for you!!!

Be on the lookout- I have another great giveaway coming soon!!!

Coffee, Cookies, Tshirts and Paula Deen!

I am a blogging machine lately.  When Seth comes home from work, I put all my crafting things away and I spend the evening with him.  Since he hasn't been here this week, my crafting day doesn't end at 5:30, so I have been crafting up a storm and really enjoying blogging about it.  Today I did a few things.  First, I stayed up late last night making some baby etsy shop items.  My new favorite is a JCrew inspired tshirt for a baby. 

I am a sucker for animal print.  I hope I don't take it overboard to the "gaudy" side one of these days!

The next thing I did was revamp some of Calebs pants.  I got him a Dwell Studio penguin onesie that I adore.  He had some blue pants that matched it perfectly but they were too short.  So, I chopped the sleeves off of an old t-shirt and attached them to the bottom of Caleb's highwaters.  They work perfectly and now I don't have to buy him new blue pants here at the end of winter (we are in Georgia, so we have about a month in a half left of "cold" weather down here).

Then, I made myself an iced vanilla latte.  I mixed cold coffee, half and half, vanilla extract, splenda, ice and whipped cream on the top :)  If I wasn't careful, I could spend a lot of money at Starbucks so I try and come up with home coffee recipes when I can.  Thats about $3.50 saved :)

Next, I made cookies (and layered taco dip) for the knitting party I am going to tonight, at my friend Sarah's!  I am so excited about it.  Plus, one of the other girls that is coming has a little boy close to Caleb's age, so Caleb gets to have some fun while I have a mama craft night.

Speaking of Sarah, don't forget to enter the giveaway she is sponsoring!

And btw, this is an Arthur Court dish that I love.  We got it for a wedding present, but I have always felt bad about this gift because the note saying who it was from wasn't in the box so I never was able to write a thank you note to the person who gave this to us.  If by chance you are reading this and you gave it us, please let me know- and THANK YOU!

Okay, the next pictures are Caleb's first experience with chocolate cheerios.  He liked them, just maybe a little too much. 

 Yummmm!

Finally, if you will remember this post, we LOVE Savannah Georgia!  It just so happens that Seth is training near Savannah this week and has the weekend off.  Sooo, that means Caleb and I are packing up the car and driving to Savannah tomorrow.  And you better believe we will be eating at The Lady and Sons (Paula Deens restaurant)!

Finally Finally, all of those who guessed that I was 5'9" were right!  I'm a tall gal :)

Have a happy Thursday YALL (practicing in case I run into Paula Deen herself)!

A walk by the "richer"

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Oh Charlie

I love giving my baby clothes names.  I think it makes them more personal in some way.  These are my newest and they are so comfy that I wish I had a pair for myself.  I named them Charlie.

  To be precise:

 "The Charlie" kneepad pant.

Now I just have to hurry and list them on etsy before I change my mind and keep them for Caleb!

By the way, if you have a boy you should check out Dana's (over at MADE, my newest, favoritest blog!) "Celebrate the boy" month.  Truly refreshing for mamma's of boys :)

11?

Yepp, that's right...Caleb is 11 months old!  Where do the days go?

We sure do love him.

Right before our photoshoot, Caleb found my liquid breath mints.

I tried taking them away...

He won

Oh, how I love my sweet sweet baby boy...all 11 months of him :)

Cool Girl Cowl Giveaway!

This giveaway is extra special because it is sponsored by my new army wife friend, Sarah!  She used to design for a knit shop and she is so talented.  You really must stop by her cute etsy shop and her facebook fan page and her hilarious blog! 

I was tempted to keep it for myself!!!

This is a description of the fabulous Cool Girl Cowl:

Look good and keep warm while wearing this super soft and chunky handknit cowl that I like to call the "Cool Girl Cowl".

Perfect for mild winters AND frigid temps!

Wear with a long-sleeved t-shirt or pair with your winter coat and you'll be sure to keep warm and look stylish.

Handknit with a wool & acrylic blend yarn. Machine washable & dryable

Isn't is beautiful.  Plus, it is super soft and warm and will still be perfect for chilly spring mornings and evenings!

The sky blue cowl is the color that will be given away.

Here is how you can win (make sure you leave a seperate comment for each entry in order to be counted for more than one entry!):

1.  Leave a comment with your email address.

2.  Become a fan of Mississippi Mud on facebook

3.  Become a follower of my blog.

4. Tweet  about it, linking back to this blog! (You can do this realllly easy by simply clicking the tweet button at the beginning of this blog post.)

5. Visit Mississippi Mud's etsy shop and come back to tell us your favorite item!

The winner wil be chosen a week from today :)