Pleasure is spread through the earth In stray gifts to be claimed by whoever shall find
Winner is Shawna! Congratulations. I will be contacting you via email!
Did everyone check out my review below? I don’t always get so excited about things I review, but I certainly am about this 
one. I just can’t stop gazing at my lovely new canvas.
I started thinking last night about what a fantastic gift this would make for my mom and grandma! So personal, unique and beautiful. I am so in love with my canvas and the unlimited ideas that you can do with this, that I decided I have to share some more. With all of my readers and fellow bloggers.
Next week, I am lucky enough to be attending Blogher ’11 and chances are pretty good I will get to meet some of my dear online friends for realz in person! I can’t imagine that there won’t be tons and tons of pictures taken by everyone in attendance. Maybe there will be one real special connection you make that is immortalized by a photograph….wouldn’t it be great to turn that into an 8×10 canvas?
We are in the throws of a heat wave all across the country, so it must be summer! And summertime always results in tons of great pictures of family events, vacations and lovely scenery. Pick your favorite shot and transform it into a piece of art on canvas.
One lucky reader of mine is going to receive one custom 8×10″ canvas! Designed by you!
To enter just follow the rules below leaving one separate comment for each entry. You don’t have to be a blogger, all you need to enter is an email address (don’t forget to leave your email address so I can contact you if you win):
- Leave a comment telling me what photo you think you would make a great canvas. (required)
- Like Easy Canvas Prints on Facebook. (extra)
- Like Vixen’s Den on Facebook. (extra)
- Share this post on your Facebook page. (extra)
- Follow me on twitter: Ladybugsgrama and tweet : “Turn your favorite photo memory into a unique piece of art: Win an 8×10 canvas of your creation at Vixens’ Den http://wp.me/peexC-1sr” . (extra)
Contest ends Friday, July 29th at midnight PST. One winner will be chosen by random number generator. Must leave a valid email to win. Winner will be notified via email and if you don’t respond in 24 hours, a new winner will be drawn. Winner must be a U.S. resident *excluding Hawaii and Alaska due to shipping costs.
A picture is a poem without words
My daughter takes fantastic pictures. Sometimes I can take a good one also. What I really love to see is photography become art. I would love to wallpaper my living room with photos (wouldn’t that be cool?) or take a few favorites and blow them up as posters. When I was approached about a review for custom canvas prints I was really excited.
And then the problem began. The choosing of the photo. I agonized for days. Then weeks. I was pretty sure the lady had given up on me ever making up my mind. I love canvas and I had it set in my mind that the photo should be one with depth and texture to really stand out on canvas. I made my husband go through hundreds of photos with me, trying to choose. In the end, I saw a photo taken by Nannygoat on her facebook. I knew immediately it was perfect. It had everything I was looking for! Depth, texture, light, dark and (of course) Ladybug!
I had her send over the higher quality file and headed to the website to order. The site is very user-friendly. Just upload your photo, choose your border options, add any image & color effects if you want and voila, you are done. My canvas was in my hands in just a few short days. I chose a deep 1.5″ wrap with a mirror image border. I couldn’t be happier with the results. The prices are reasonable, the turnaround is quick and I love my canvas.
The hunt has begun again for more ‘canvas perfect’ photos, as I am going to have several done in a larger size to decorate my living room. Probably one each of the grandkids. Of course, I am hoping they are not all grown by the time I choose! I created a mosaic of my canvas below, but to really see it in all it’s glory you should click here to see individual photos.
I would highly recommend Easy Canvas Prints for all you canvas photo wants and needs.
(edited to add: I just saw this promotion they are running, what a great deal! “Like EasyCanvasPrints.com on Facebook to receive the offer of 50% off all products and free shipping. The offer will be automatically applied to your cart when you are redirected to EasyCanvasPrints.com from Facebook. This promotional offer cannot be combined with any other EasyCanvasPrints.com discount offers.”
I received a this free canvas print in return for reviewing their site. All opinions are mine.
I Think I’ll Be A Clown When I Get Growd Up
Tonight is opening night of Fully Charged presented by Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey in San Diego. Excitement is high here at The Den, as Mr. Vixen and I are taking three of the grandkids tonight for their first BIG CIRCUS ADVENTURE.
For me there is nothing better than a really, really amped up and excited grandkid (because I get to send them home later, tee hee), so we started the day early this morning with a special behind the scenes visit to the circus grounds. We were able to see all the horses, tigers, and the elephants; up close and personal. We even saw an elephant get its bath! Did you know they have special wash made just for elephants? They do and its called Safari Shampoo!
If you are in the San Diego area, run out and get some tickets to the circus! I learned this morning that the animal area is open to all ticket holders 90 minutes before each show! You can see all the animals up close before the show and meet their trainers.
Here are some pics of our visit this morning. I hope I see you tonight at the circus. If you don’t have tickets yet, the circus is here all the way through Sunday, the 17th with two shows a day on Friday and Sunday, and three shows on Saturday! Click here for schedule and ticket information.
Challenged. Things I LOVE about ME.
I like lists. Lists keep me sane. I am actually very happy going through life “flying by the seat of my pants” yet I still love lists. I make them about everything. Carry them around for years. Lists are my form in chaos. Lists are my light in the dark of night.
I don’t like me (all the time). Sometimes I am okay with me. Some days I feel good about myself. 2011 has been a year of discovery for me. A year of new discoveries, buried thoughts, and uncharted territories.
For all the reasons that C.Mom talks about here, I am challenged to complete this list. But I think it is something I need. Maybe everyone needs to do. As difficult as it seems, I am going to take a shot at the hardest list I have ever written. I hope it is a discovery of monumental proportions. I hope I believe it at the end of the next bad day. I hope it is true.
- I
wasam a great mom. Not just good. But truly great. The greatest mom I could be. - I am fun to be around. Not always funny, but sometimes witty and always sarcastic.
- “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” is something I truly believe in and practice. Simple but true.
- I am compassionate.
- I am creative.
- I am pretty intelligent for someone who never finished college.
- My glass is ALWAYS half full.
- I am comfortable mentally in my body (although not physically)
- I can find the silver lining in the most horrible situation.
- I am emotionally strong and a rock for my family (and no, Lord, that does not mean you can add more burden~acceptance isn’t a sign of needing more)
- I am loving
- I am faithful to those I love and will protect them to any extreme
- I am driven
- I thrive when challenged
- The color of my eyes
- My faith is strong
- I believe in people
- I believe in YOU….let’s storm the internet with things we love about ourselves…Join Ciao Mom and The Empress and love YOURSELF
Where Will You Be In August?
Yesterday, I woke early and had a few moments to myself. I actually turned on a “real” computer (as opposed to squinting my eyes at the tiny iPhone screen) and discovered (much to my dismay) that it is June. Almost the end of June. I glanced over my writings to see I still have yet to finish my Christmas post and a couple other dozen from nearly 7 months ago. I skimmed through my emails and other long-saved reading materials and it hit me….
BlogHer ’11 is in weeks. Not months. Weeks. Despite my greatest efforts in manifestation techniques, the money never appeared for me to purchase a ticket. I am disappointed. It has long been my dream to attend BlogHer. Until I heard it was coming to my hometown, I never thought it would be more than a dream. But here we are, six weeks from the BlogHer ’11 no-travel-required version and I have no ticket.
Sad as it is, that is not what this post is about. It’s about you. Are you attending BlogHer???? Because seriously people, the conference is mere miles from my front door and I want the chance to meet you all! I have a ticket to the Clever Girls Collective I’m With The Brand party and I am sure I will be attending some SDMomfia events.
I could list (and link) to all the wonderful bloggers I have read throughout the years that I feel I simply must meet. But that could take days. One I will include is the lovely lady who got me started, just by setting such a great example: BusyMom. Without her, I would never have taken the step from lurking-land into the blogging realm. I simply must see her in person. But there are so many others also!
So, are you attending BlogHer ’11 in San Diego? Please leave a comment letting me know and we can start planning secret rendezvous and magical meetings. I am willing to crash any party and travel any lengths. I may not attend the conference, but I want to meet you!
PS: I haven’t given up all hope. On my list of things to do today is to enter this contest, but that would actual require a second post and I don’t exactly have a great track record for posts lately!
They are dead; but they live in each Patriot’s breast, And their names are engraven on honor’s bright crest
Memorial Day (or weekend as it has become for most) is a day to remember the brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for their 
country. I heard that nearly 85% of Americans don’t even know what Memorial Day signifies. I find it quite sad that so many think of this national holiday as only picnics and barbeques. I will have a family get-together also, but it will be a day of remembrance for those who served and died.
That picture is Uncle Charlie, my Pop’s uncle. He was born in Oklahoma on September 20, 1922. At the tender age of 23, this beloved husband and young father of one, was serving as Fireman, First Class. On April 12, 1945,
EDITED: If any of you follow me on Facebook or twitter, you may recall my frustration with my paid ancestry search results the day before this post. That is because Pop couldn’t recall the ship Uncle Charlie was on or any other details. In trying to honor him, I did the best I could with the limited information I had. It turned out he was not aboard the U.S.S. Abele Mannert. Luckily, his daughter found her way here and shared the true story of his last day and the future of his ship:
Hi Vixen, your father forwarded your blog to me. I am the daughter of Charles Evans Hughes. I really appreciate the tribute that you paid to my father. There are some discrepancy in your tribute. The destroyer, DD777, was the USS Zellars, not the Adele. Four (Jills), Kamikaze’s attacked the ship. Two turned to the forward part of ship the other two toward the aft. Two planes were shot down, the third found it’s target. It carried a torpedo and a fifty pound bomb. Torpedo broke loose and exploded, the bomb did not detonate. Forty-four enlisted and officers died, forty-five injured out of a crew of one hundred twenty-five. The Zellars continued to battle the Kamikaze’s and shot down a third plane.The ship returned to port with extensive damage. After temporary patching, it returned to the States for the major repairs. Returned to service after WWII. The ship was sold to the Shah of Iran. It was still in service as of eight years ago. Now known as the Babar.
Your 2nd cousin
Karen
The rest I wrote below is still true. I have actually been to the Memorial in Hawaii and I have a picture somewhere of his name on the memorial, which I why I tried to find out the details to share. Please excuse my previous erroneous information.
44 of the crew were lost with the ship and remain on duty. That includes my great uncle: Charles Evan Hughes. He received the Purple Heart and is memorialized in Honolulu at the WWII Memorial.
Please take a moment during your celebration today, Memorial Day, to remember the lives of all the men and women who gave their lives for our country and freedom.
They was a-splishin’ and a-splashin’
Guess where I was yesterday? On a Friday? In May?
That doesn’t look anything like my work, does it? You caught me. I wasn’t at work, I was at the LEGOLAND waterpark for the new opening of their toddler SplashZoo area! Not by myself either. I thought it only fitting I bring the cutest kids I know: RolyPoly, Ladybug and WhatAboutMe!
All three of those kids adore being in the water. Our previous trips with the older two to a waterpark has been difficult because they believe A) they can swim alone in deep water B) they can do anything an adult can do. It was overwhelming to keep them happy and safe.
I adore, adore, adore the New Duplo Splash Safari with every bit of my grandmotherly being. Shallow, warm pools, kid-sized water slides, soft squishy pool bottom and a great big sprinkler area of giant zoo animals: everything in the place is made for kids to love and enjoy. And our three were no exception!
(see below for scientific/photographic proof of their enjoyment).
If you live in the area, are visiting Southern California or are planning a trip here this summer (any of you BlogHer 2011 attendees bringing your families?!?!) I suggest you take a day (or two) to visit the LEGOLAND Water Park (and of course LEGOLAND too!). The cabanas are terrific and give the family a central place to meet while your bigger kids head over to the regular sized slides and your toddlers and younger kids enjoy the fun (and easier for them to navigate) Splash Zoo!
Thanks to LEGOLAND CA for the opportunity to attend the grand opening and to the SDMomfia for helping to arrange the day for us bloggers. I was given four admission tickers to LEGOLAND, but all opinions, sunburns and fun are mine.
Am I The Only One Highly Amused by Craigslist Responses?
I posted an ad on craigslist for the saddle that didn’t fit Calypso, the following is real. At least I really received these texts, who knows if the buyer is serious….
Buyer: u want 100 for u saddle
Me: Yes, if you can come tonight I will take $100
B: well i tex u from tecate baja california but my job is located in lakeside
M: Well if you want to call me when you are in Lakeside tomorrow and see if it is still available you can do that
B: ok i be in the yard 3 20 pm 8834 winter gardens blvd lakeside ca 92040 u need to be there 3 20 to 3 30 thank u
M: I don’t deliver, especially not for the cheap price of $100. If you can come pick it up give me a call and I will give directions. I am in esco about 25 miles from Lakeside I think
B: So when i see u if you want make deal
(I did not respond to this last message as I was still laughing about the “be here at 3 20″ remark. And I didn’t think I would be “see”ing him any time soon. But about 20 minutes later I got this next message)
B: I dont have car but give ur address and let me ask my frend if hi take me to pick up the saddle
M: Okay but I won’t go lower than $100, so if you get a ride it is cash only. Text me if you get a ride and I will give you the address then.
B: ok o course cash
We shall see if he/she calls tomorrow…I may not be laughing all the way to the bank, but I am laughing. (and I haven’t given him/her my address yet…I got creeped out and Mr. Vixen said just wait to see if they call back)
Find the Vixen
For Realz
Spread The Frenzy
Barked Back