If I can make it there

dress - modcloth

flip flops - old navy

bag - h&m

hair bow - f21

As you can probably tell from that big blue ribbon on the painting I'm holding (there's a better photo of it if you scroll down) ... my art show this weekend went pretty darn well!! I've been doing this particular show -- the Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibit -- since 2007, and I never in a million years thought I'd ever win first place for one of my paintings!! They have exceptionally talented people participating who submit the most intricate, mind bogglingly amazing paintings to be juried... I honestly thought they must have made some kind of mistake when they chose mine!

These photos are from the third (and last) day of the show. I made the mistake of wearing sleeveless dresses with no sunscreen on days 1 and 2, and definitely paid the price. My back and shoulders hurt if a piece of hair lightly brushes against them :p So on day 3 I went with a strapless halter dress and got even more sunburn, just to avoid any fabric touching my already roasted skin! eek!

Except for the sunburn and extreme heat, I had a really nice weekend! My mom had to stay home because she didn't feel good, but my dad, my brother and I really enjoyed ourselves. And I actually did well enough money-wise to start buying my furniture and home necessities (like these utensils!) for my move to Canada!!

Tomorrow & Friday I'll post more pictures from Days 1 and 2! And here's my 1st place painting!! :)

modcloth giveaway winner

Thank you SO much to everyone who entered. There were so many incredibly sweet comments that absolutely made my week! I really wish I could afford to give EVERYONE a modcloth gift certificate! As long as I'm wishing, I really wish I could afford to give everyone an unlimited budget shopping spree there.. myself included lol ;-D

Now, to choose a winner, I entered all of the names in numbers (mac version of excel) in the order they were received (including 2 entries I received on facebook) which assigned each entry a number. Then I let random.org do the hard part -- choosing one winner out of 209! So congratulations, Rachael! The Squalling Storm Dress is soon to be yours! :D I'll contact you so I can send you the gift certificate :)

I had so much fun doing this I might make it a regular thing (not $50 regularly, but something almost as equally neat) ... I'll admit, it's partially so I have a reason to keep my giveaway graphic on the sidebar. I've grown so smitten with seeing it there, I don't want to take it down now! lol!