House of Frickenstein Giveaway!

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You know all those dressers you have? You know how you have big, Pinterest-inspired dreams for them? Well here's something that will bring you one step closer to that perfect piece. House of Frickenstein's Vintage Emporium is giving away a set of 4 vintage knobs to one lucky winner!
These are the available colors:

If you can't wait until the winner is announced, or want to purchase anything else from House of Frickenstein, use the coupon code 

12FRAMED10

to get 10% off your total purchase! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

PS- here's another giveaway for ya, on Flats to Flip Flops.

Progress

Today I am 23. I have been alive for 23 years.
To celebrate, I'm throwing myself two parties. Two. Technically, it's more like six, since the whole week and weekend we'll all be partying, too.

I ordered myself a tiered cake.
What do you guys think about throwing yourself a party? Is it tacky? I'm aware that it's at least a little narcissistic. I just knew that if I waited for someone to offer to throw me a party, it would be really last minute and not what I wanted. And the thing with last minute parties is that nobody comes.

Check here for my progress on my 30 for 30 list!
My birth story.

If you're a new follower

Welcome! I'm thrilled to have grown to such a size. In case you haven't heard about the new NEWSLETTER, I wanted to let you know about it. Go here to sign up, or enter your email in the sidebar to the right.

The first 20 people to sign up get a 50% off code for any ad on The Framed Lady.

Also, if you sign up for my newsletter, I'll sign up for yours. Leave the link in the comments.

Where's the worst place to have a bug bite?

While we were in Yellowstone a few weeks ago, we were looking for a spot in the river where we could plant ourselves and enjoy the water. We walked into a cool, shady spot in the woods and were ambushed by demon mosquitoes who had probably been waiting for human flesh for thousands of years.

These were no ordinary skeetos. The bites immediately swelled to three inch wide welts. My sister looked like she had grown a second elbow on her arm.

Last week I told you guys about the facebook question I posed about sleeping. I recently posed the question:

Where's the worst place to have a bug bite?

Here were some of the answers:
Face
Butt cheek
Behind the ear
Big toe
Upper inner thigh
Arch of foot
In between toes
Eyelid
Ankle

What do you think? Where's the worst place to have a bug bite?

On Blog Networking: Do you lose authenticity when you try to gain a following?

an unrelated picture 

Lately, I've been participating in and hosting a lot more giveaways and link-ups. I do it because it's fun and I get to find new blogs, but I mainly do it because I want more followers. Is that greedy or narcissistic? I think that's why most people do it. We want to gain a following.

But when is it too much? When do you cross the line to that area where bloggers no longer write genuine posts, only posts on blog/twitter/facebook hops, giveaways, etc.? How many "authentic" posts should a person write per week in order to stay on "this side" of the line?

I had to set some rules for myself so I never forget why I started blogging, and what my blog is supposed to be about. I lost sight of that a while ago (as seen in this post), and I've tried really hard to keep my focus with these rules.

1 giveaway per week, and never have more than 1 giveaway open on my own blog at one time.
2 link-ups (absolute maximum, avoid if possible). If I do more than 1 link-up, only one should be for networking purposes.
A minimum of 3 personal posts. These can be week recaps, pictures, recipes, how to's, or general musings. Those posts are the reasons I continue reading blogs.

Do you have rules for yourself? How do you stay authentic? Or do you think that as soon as you start networking and trying to gain followers, you lose all authenticity?

Speaking of networking, enter the giveaway on Living In Yellow!
Also enter the JUNIEblake giveaway.
Two giveaways at once? you may be wondering. Yes. But only one of them is on my blog. Ha! Trick.

Two Whole Days

Wow. I did not mean to go that long between posts. I had posts that I wanted to write. They were even scheduled in my calendar. But when it came to sitting down and writing the posts, I couldn't find the time! Here's what I did instead:

We went to Barnes and Noble on Friday night and sat and read stacks of books. Here's my pile. 

Saturday morning, I donned my best 1920's dress, jellyrolled my hair (to look shorter), and headed to an exclusive event at the Del Mar Racetrack with some girlfriends. 

I placed two bets and lost them both. Down four dollars. 

And they're off. 

We got our hair done at a mobile barber - like a food truck, only hair. They made us look like authentic '20's girls. 

When I got home, Conrad and I tried a new sushi place that turned out to be amazing. This is the Red Dragon Roll and the Mango Mango Roll. We also got a Geisha roll, complete with a flaming cucumber. Blew our minds. 

After dinner we ran to the store for some milk, eggs, ice cream, and red sunflowers. I love the way they look in the white pitcher. 

We munched our favorite ice cream treat and watched Super 8. A perfect ending to a great day! 

Sweet and Sour Link Up!

Oooh these cupcakes. The lime olive oil changes the game guys. 

Game: changed.

I started watching Reno 911 during the second batch, and they turned out more like cookies (still delish). 

Sweet: I've completed a lesson a day for the last week in one of my two final classes!

Sour: I still have the second half of this class to finish, as well as the whole second one. 

Sweet: Fall is coming!

Sour: No sour. Nothing sour about Fall.

Sweet: Falling in love with a show on Netflix.

Sour: Having to wait a long time for next season.

Sweet: Blog giveaways! Love hosting, love entering.

Sour: Blog giveaways that are comment-based. I hate scrolling down through 1000 comments. Give me rafflecopter.

Sweet: Ohmygosh shopping at Sur La Table. SO MANY THINGS!

Sour: The hit to my wallet. It's a big hit, I'll tell you that.

Link up your sweet and sours (recipes or related posts), and take a look at other people's blogs! No rules here, but if you like 'em, follow 'em and comment! Everybody likes followers and comments. 

Coming Soon to an Inbox Near You!

A totally unrelated picture.

The Framed Lady has a new newsletter! Sign up and be the first to hear about giveaways, meet the sponsors, and get exclusive offers at The Framed Lady's etsy shop!

The first twenty people to sign up will get a 50% off code for any of the ad spots on The Framed Lady!

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Ants are my worst enemy

source (the gun is made up of the ants!)

A couple weekends ago, we unexpectedly stayed a couple days at Conrad's parent's house. We thought we'd only be gone for the day, but it got late and we decided to sleep over. Normally, when I'm leaving overnight, I clean the house well. I make sure dishes are clean and there's no accessible food on the counters. I may even take out the trash, depending on how long we'll be gone. 

Since this overnighter was unexpected, I didn't do any of those things. When we came home a couple days later, the ants had arrived. Not in full force, no no. They first send scouts to find a home with a weakened defense. Then they send a couple more scouts to find food. You can't tell where they're coming in, because there are only 20 ants, and they're all scattered (not in a line). If you don't "handle" the scouts, you can expect a full-blown ambush within two days. 

I've been killing them as soon as I see them, so they haven't been able to form a line yet, but this also makes it more difficult to find out how they're getting in. 

All day long, I'm standing on chairs scouring light fixtures, on my knees patching holes in the wall, looking like (and altogether being) a crazy woman. I'm scratching myself because I feel like they're on me. I've also seen some pretty horrid things when it comes to ants. 

Watch this video and you'll never think of ants the same way again. 

Even worse, I actually saw that in real life. A mouse got trapped on some sticky paper in my in-laws' basement. As if that death wouldn't have been bad enough, the ants came and started eating it before it was dead. Another time, all I saw was the little bone structure of a mouse on some sticky paper (again at my in-laws'... they may have a rodent problem). I asked, "how long has that been there? Jeez, Dan, clean up your dead animals!" He said, "oh, he got stuck last night. The ants ate him while we were sleeping." 

Mind blown. And traumatized. 

The third time I saw ants go after something living, it was a bird. A little sparrow flew into our window and paralyzed itself. We knew he was alive because he was breathing. The ants started crawling all over him, and I knew what was going to happen, so I made Conrad "take care of it" in the most humane way possible. 

This is why ants are Satan's creature. This is why I am a crazy person if ants get into my house. Because I know they will eat me in my sleep if I ever let my guard down. 

How's that for paranoia?

Humpday Link Love

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It's Wednesday. Which, for the crude, means it's Hump Day. And what humps more than anything? Little dogs. Little dogs who deserve to be shamed.

Now you want to look at pictures of shamed dogs, don't you?

How's this for a breakfast idea? French toast with coconut syrup!

This cowl with wood buttons would be perfect this fall!

These vegetable cards are the perfect thank-you notes or greeting cards for the fall!

This is the most beautiful fruit tart I've ever seen.

Click here for some awesome blog networking.

What a cool idea for party decorations!

For those of us who steer clear of alcohol, here's a recipe for the equally stylish drinking vinegar.

Don't forget to enter the JUNIEblake giveaway!

Link Love is where I share cool sites, images, and articles with you! Email me with your links at tesiahwilk [at] yahoo [dot] com if you have anything you think is super cool!

How do you sleep?

I recently asked my facebook friends to describe their sleeping style with one word. I got some pretty funny responses.

I started the thread by writing "Angry." I'm an angry sleeper.

A friend followed with "passionate."

Then "insane."

Then my OWN HUSBAND wrote "patient." Several people liked that. I'm an angry sleeper, and my husband, naturally, would have to be patient.

The funniest thing to me was that no one described their sleep as "peaceful" or "restful" or "pleasant."

"Interrupted," "awake," and "finnicky" graced the list.

What's your word?

Don't forget to enter the JUNIEblake giveaway!

Start your week off right: A Monday Giveaway

Today's giveaway is from JUNIEblake, a clothing shop that specializes in "trendy, modest clothing!" We all know how hard it can be to find flattering clothes that cover our lady lumps (etc.). They're so generous that they're giving away TWO $30 giftcards to their shop! That means TWO unique winners! 

I'll be honest. I seriously considered telling you that there was one available giftcard, and just keeping the other one for myself. I'm kidding [no I'm not]. I would never do that [I almost did]. Good luck! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Birthday Wishlist

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These are the things I think about, nay, dream about. These, and a big party, complete with a tiered cake, friends, and music. If you click on most of those links, you'll notice I shop on amazon a lot. It's wayyyyyy cheaper than buying from the store. Go buy me those things and I'll invite you to my musical, cake-filled, friendly birthday party. 

But really, who needs presents when you have a lovely house and a loving husband who does the dishes? Oh, who am I kidding? I still want presents. Throw a rash guard and an apple corer onto that list. 

Coastal Things

1. Conrad got off work early yesterday because we thought some relatives were coming over. I was really bummed when it turned out they couldn't, but we ended up having a really great afternoon at the beach.

2. It was a marvelously low tide. I love long beaches. A big fish (20 inches or so) swam near me in the shallow water. I did not fear.

3. I went surfing! By surfing I mean "I sat on a surfboard in the ocean for a half hour." And, to add to the wonderfulness, I only had one ocean-is-death panic attack! This is real progress. Real progress.

4. The water was perfectly greenish-turquoise. It was clear, and there was nary a kelp patch in sight. Neither a shark. I think.

5. I rode the longest long board. Ten whole feet. Board? More like boat. All I needed was a paddle and a sheet and I could have sailed that thing around the world.

6. We are so lucky that we live here.

Generations

I love this picture. Son, Father, and Grandpa in a row, dressed in blue Hawaiian floral. All talking at the same time, none listening. All doing something with their arms (folded, hands in pockets, behind back). I'll be glad I took this picture in ten years. I hope someday we can have four generations in one picture.

We had a marvelous weekend filled with family, eating, a baptism, a Court of Honor, and laughter.

Don't forget to enter the 300 Follower giveaway!

Those Floral Pants

Remember when your mom was young (if she was in her twenties in the late '80's, early '90's)? Remember how at your first birthday party, she rocked those maroon floral pants? And ten years ago you looked upon that home video of those floral pants with shame and embarrassment for your mom? But now you covet those floral pants, along with all of her Laura Ashley dresses for yourself?

And now the trend has come full circle, hasn't it? From beloved, to out of style, to hated, to skeptically tolerated, to beloved again. I guess that's what happens in 22 years.

Here are some lovely floral pants for you to drool over.

D&G

7 for All Mankind

Alexander McQueen

Mossimo

Xhilaration

Don't forget to enter the 300 Follower Giveaway! 

Fish Sticks for Grown-Ups

I saw a recipe in Martha Stewart Living for "Sophisticated Fish Sticks," and I thought I'd try them! Here's a couple Framed Lady flavor ideas to try on salmon.

Dill-lem-ma Brush (get it?)
Whisk together:
1 Tablespoon of good olive oil (a flavored oil would work well here too, like garlic, habanero, or lime)
The juice of 1/2 a lemon
2-3 sprigs fresh dill, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Sweet Curry Brush
Whisk together:
1 Tablespoon of good olive oil (do not use flavored)
1 teaspoon of yellow curry powder
Dash of garlic salt
1 Tablespoon honey

Sweet and Spicy Mango Relish Topping
Mix together:
1/3 of a finely chopped mango
2 sprigs of finely chopped cilantro
1 Tablespoon of sweet chili sauce (I like Maggi brand)

Drive 2 skewers into each salmon steak, then brush with the desired mixture! Other fish will work, but I find that salmon holds up better on the grill. Place on grill, cook for 1 minute, then flip and cook for 1-2 and a half minutes until just opaque.

Top with Mango Relish or squeeze a lime over the fish, and serve with rice or salad!
*These recipes are original Framed Lady recipes. I did not take any recipe from Martha. Promise. 

Don't forget to enter the 300 Follower Giveaway! Win lots of ad space, giftcards, and prizes!

300 Follower Giveaway!

I am so grateful and overwhelmed by all of the donations that were given for this 300 followers giveaway!  I'm already daydreaming about having another giveaway for 400, then 500, and so on! I think it could be a really fun way for all of us bloggers to network and help each other get followers, without the commitment of sponsoring. Anywho, there are amazing prizes up for grabs, so be sure to complete all the Rafflecopter entries, so your chance of winning is higher! Good luck! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway