Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Chapter 7: Savannah Finale...FINALLY! :)

mother pushing daughter on swing

(You can swipe the photo if you'd like, I'm sharing!)

Wow! What a ride it's been!

It's been TWO weeks since I was in Savannah...and I'm still talking about it! But after this post...I'm promising you that I am done because I have some other cool stuff that I've been dying to share with you! (and the fact that The Man is so tired of hearing/reading about Sa-VAN-nah as he pronounces it with that whiney voice)...yes...he does read my blog!

First off, do you remember in Chapter 1 when I talked about my very own chauffeur from the Savannah airport to my hotel? Well, as I stated before...she was MUCH more than just a chauffeur...she was a blog friend whom I'd never met in person and now since I met her for real in Sa-VAN-nah, I KNOW she'll remain a true friend in my heart...not just in blog land anymore.

I'm talking about Theresa of They Call Me Ganky.

I wanted to share with you the sweet things she gifted me with the night I met her. She is truly an amazing and sweet soul :)

I wish I could show you how sweet it was all wrapped up, but guess what? MY photos came out blurry! Trust me, it happens to me too! haha

The gift started with a sweet little envelope...

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and a handmade card that melted my heart.

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A sweet little book, which the title almost put me in happy tears...

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A cute little coozie that made me smile instead of cry...

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But the happy tears started welling up again, as I read this beautiful mirrored angel ornament...

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"Some people come into our lives and quickly go.

Others stay a while, make footprints on our hearts and we are never, ever the same."

sniff sniff...isn't this beautiful?

THEN, to top it all off, she embellished this cute little matchbox...

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And I totally went over the happy edge when I opened it up...

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It was full of HUGS!

Isn't that just the sweetest thing???

Do you know how hard it was not to crack up with happy tears in front of everyone?

I have a "tough girl" reputation to keep up here (haha) so I quickly looked at my phone, saw the time and shouted, "oh no, we'll be late for our reservations...we gotta go!" and Theresa, Karen and I were quickly chauffeured to The Old Pink House where I treated them to drinks and a lovely dinner.  I'm pretty slick, huh? ;)

However, when I came back home to Louisiana, unpacked and opened all of this up again...I did go over the happy edge again...including letting the happy tears roll down...all by myself :))

And that wasn't all...

My roommate, Karen of Some Days are Diamonds gifted me too that night. But thank goodness she was smart to give me my gift when we came back from dinner. If I'd have opened this at the same time I opened the gifts from Theresa...I would have blown my "tough girl" reputation right there! I was so ON THE EDGE already!!! We'd have totally been late for dinner as I would have had to re-group myself and re-do my make-up!  ;)

I absolutely could not breathe when I opened her gift...

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She knows I LOVE MY SAINTS...(who doesn't know that?)

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But most of all, I wasn't expecting something so personal...

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with so much detail...

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Don't you just looooove this collage Karen made just for me?

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Oh Lordy...here come the happy tears again!!! sniff sniff!!!!

Oh! I am sooooo not finished!

If you thought that was amazing...look at this below!

Old letters...

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***

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And the real deal vintage paper ephemera and photos...

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All to die for. If you ain't jealous, then you ain't breathing!

When I have the time, I am going to take these and make copies so that I can use them in my art work later on down the road. But for right now, they will be tucked inside a hat box for safe keeping :)

Theresa and Karen, if you are reading this...THANK YOU AGAIN from the bottom of my heart...under my happy tears!

:)

*****

Well, if you stayed with me this long, I have a little something more to say and a little more thanks to give.

I'd like to reveal my "End of Savannah" giveaway winner of Where Women Create's "Book of Inspiration" authored by Jo Packham and Jenny Doh.

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As I explained at the end of Chapter 5, it is a special copy as it was signed by Jo Packham during my Sa-VAN-nah trip.

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Sooooo...

If you've followed my Chapters of Savannah and you left me a comment, I thank you!!!!

If you've lurked my Chapters of Savannah and you didn't leave me a comment, I thank you also...

but I'm sad that I didn't hear from you.

Why?

Well, I didn't "officially" announce that I was having an "End of Savannah" giveaway in any of the titles of my posts. I only announced it at the end of Chapters 2,3,4,5 & 6.

Reason being, I didn't want my blog to appear on a google/yahoo search of a "giveaway" and have you competing with any old person that's just looking for free stuff. (can you believe people actually do that?)

Instead, I wanted to take you along with me on my wonderful trip to Jenn's event and give something special back to one of you. I wish I could gift all of you but...unless I win powerball, that ain't gonna happen ;)

And also, I didn't "officially" announce what the rules were for the giveaway because since you are my friend and this is my blog, there are no rules here on my blog. This is a happy place and I want everyone to feel welcome and certainly not obligated for anything.

There is no pressure for you to leave a comment, however I love (and look forward to) hearing from all of you.

But most of all,

There is no reason for you to follow me if you don't want to. I would rather recognize the QUALITY of the numbers instead of the quantity. My friends are quality and not just another number by any means!

So with that being said, I had so much fun coming up with the winner of my "End of Savannah" giveaway.

Let me tell you how I did it...it was rather ingenious if I do say so myself  ;)

From my "Honey...I'm Home" post to the end of my Chapter 6 post (at 7pm central time today), I went back and listed ALL of my friends who came to visit me and took the time to leave me a sweet comment.

Some of you did so once, some twice, some four times, etc. and I so appreciate that you did!!! I loved reading each and every one of them!!!   :)))

Breaking News: Attention: Debbie at Talking Trash: Just because your computer broke...that's NO excuse. You really need an iPhone (but because of it's size, you'll have to find another place to store it ;)

Sorry for jumping off the track there...

Out of 108 unique friends that stopped to leave a total of 224 comments,

only TWO friends visited and left comments on each post of my Savannah trip. Wow!

Those two friends would be...

Julia of Vintage with Laces

&

Debby of The Gathering Nest

Now the hard part...deciding how only one will receive this ONE book (& some extra goodies).

Well, it was easy actually...

In no particular order with Julia being no. 1 and Debby being no. 2, I walked up to The Man (who is sick of hearing me talk about Sa-VAN-nah) and I asked him to pick a number, number one or number 2.

He picked number 2.

I said "Alrighty then" and I walked away.

He said..."Hey! What was that for?"

I turned around with my hand on my hip and said, It's about Sa-VAN-hah...you don't want to know."

;)

Congratulations Debby of The Gathering Nest!

You win!

And as for you Julia, I'm still sending you something special too!!!!

Thank you to all who read my "Sa-VAN-nah Book"

As always, it was fun taking you along with me!!!

:)

Now I'm off to REST, catch up with my friends and make sure that nobody had fun without me while I was gone! I hope to be in your comment box soon :)

*****

Aunt Belva, if you are reading this...I've never forgotten about you...I love and miss you terribly...sniff sniff!  :)

39 comments:

Hearts Turned said...

Hey, Miss Jodie! Another lovely post, my friend--look at all those lovelies your dear friends gave you--so many sweet treasures!

I have absolutely LOVED your Sa-VAN-ah posts, feel like I was KINDA there with you thanks to your beautiful sharing!

I think the way you chose the winner is genius--well done! (And DANG--I did miss a post!) I never knew that about giveaway stalkers...sad!

Hope you're having a wonderful evening and enjoying all your sweet memories--your hubby can deal with it--keep talking!

Ceekay-THINKIN of HOME said...

I am sorta sad that your SaVANnah posts are over and VERY sad I didn't win that gorgeous book...but that is ok...I can't wait to see what else you are up to!

Julia @ Vintage with Laces said...

Hey girl, You're up late! Do you have Thursday off? Karen did a fantastic job with the collage. I love the netting that she had put over the sheet music and all the yummy laces around. It's very pretty, no wonder you were so excited! The ephemera goodies are very pretty as well. Theresa's box of hugs is real cute and the saying on that angel ornament is so sweet.
Congratulations to Debby for winning that wonderful book! I've just been spoiled so much by Lisa that I'm not disappointed at all :-).
Have a good night and sweet dreams, dear Jodie!
Big hugs,
Julia

Stephanie O. said...

Hey, thought about you twice today (okay since it's after midnight, I guess I should say yesterday)...Jed wore his Saints Superbowl t-shirt today and Hope said she called you to see if you had any insight into the microsoft writer issue that I cannot for the life of me figure out...I'm jealous she got to hear your voice!!!!

Anyway, have loved reading about the Savannah trip! Sounds like a fabulous time.

Hearts Turned said...

Jodie, I'm still giggling....and I'll have the papers drawn up right away--I'd love to be your mamma! (teehee!)

Lori said...

oh, you are sneaky girl:) hee hee...congrats to your winners...i know they will be happy to get a package from you...the goodies from your friends are wonderful!!!

Theresa said...

Congrats to Debby! Great gift my dear!

WOW Jodie, I could just squeeze you to pieces! That was such a sweet post and it made me get tears in my coffee! I had so much fun and you sure made my gift look much better than it was:) You and Karen were the first two blog friends that I had met and friends for life is what we are! Like the angel ornament said...

"Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Others stay a while, make footprints on our hearts and we are never, ever the same."

You made footprints on my heart! Love you sweet Jodie! I truly enjoyed seeing Savannah thru your eyes! The only thing that could have made it better is if I had participated in the event! Have a blessed day and GIANT hugs!

Sandi~A Cottage Muse said...

Hi Jodie...thanks for sharing your memorable trip! I love your attention to detail. As for Mr. Sa-VAN-nah...he must be related to my Mr. BLOGging! Congrats to the winners and have a fab day!!

Pierelantijntjes said...

What great posts you wrote of your trip. I realy love the swap gifts everyone made. The parasols were also beautiful. You can always make one at home if you like. I like the papermache dresses also. What an event, If I lived in the USA i would love to join it too.
I'm glad you had so much fun.
And i want to congrat the winners of your sweet give away.
Many hugs and greetings from Ester

Anonymous said...

Dear Jodie...I loved your mini-series SaVANnah. Thank you for sharing those beautiful memories. Where are you going next??? We will be waiting for those chapters! So glad I stumbled across your blog...I've enjoyed every word!!! Have a great Thursday :D
Victoria

Bryanna Lenan said...

Beautiful posting!
xo
Bryanna

Robin Thomas said...

Dang girl, do you talk as fast as you write? I am glad that was such a special trip. Love your gifts!

Lisa said...

Congrats girls on the goods!! I have this book and it is FAN-TAS-TIC!!! YOU WILL LOVE IT!!! Me too, gonna miss hearing about your trip! I love the picts of all the vendor goods and the frilly dresses!! Gotta run for now.. Have a great day to all ya'll out there in blog land and to you too Jodie!!
Happy Scrappin'
Lisa

Unknown said...

You are too funny Jodie...I love reading your posts and getting to laugh in the morning. You had an amazing time and I know you will cherish the memories when are are old like me. You'll bring them out and remember just how felt and the special friends you made.
Oh I bet Debby is beside herself. I just love that girl!
hugs to you friend!

Pam @ Frippery said...

What great treasures you received! Sneaky give away too. I have to agree, you went about it in the right way!

Tammy@T's Daily Treasures said...

You mean that's it? This is the end? There was a time when I commented on EVERY SINGLE POST. Yikes! Not enough hours in the day of late. As always, you received such lovely, sweet, heartfelt and handmade gifts. Always fun! Thanks for sharing your adventure in Savannah. Many blessings, Tammy

Claudia said...

What great gifts from your thoughtful friends! And congratulations to the giveaway winners!

I love the way you did the giveaway - regular readers should have a chance at the prize - not people who come by just to win something!

You go, girl!

xo
Claudia

Debby said...

Oh my gosh, that is me!!! I am the WINNAH!!!! I am so darned excited. I was so busy reading your last SA-VAN-NAH post that I forget there was a giveaway happening. I find it so hard to believe that I could win this fabulous giveaway just for being a stalker..LOL...I really, really try never to miss one of your post as I love soaking in every word and photo you have to share with us, so if I miss more than two in a row please contact my hubby..hehehe...he should know what the problem is!

I love all the beautiful gifts you got from your friends, the best gift of all has to be meeting them in real. Boy, that Karen really has you figured out, love the saints collage, it is brilliant.

Oh Jodie, I am so excited about winning your awesome giveaway, thank you for being so kind and sharing. Give Mr. SaVanNah a big ole hug for me too. I love the way you planned your giveaway, you be very smart girl. I don't really care for the giveaways where you have to promote..lol...I decided it was time to quit the giveaways and send special little treats in the mail to my sweet blogging buddies that I know will really love getting great mail.
Thanks again for making my day!
Hey, I just found out that I am a dingsker, at least that is what the word verification says..LOL..
Hugs,
Debby

Jane Jeffress Thomas said...

Congratulations to the winner. I will just have to go and find a place to pout!!! :-) I so don't want the trip to be over with even if your hubby is tired. However, whatever you have it store for us will be delightful. Have a fantastic weekend.

The Polka Dot Closet said...

Ok I admit I am jealous!! What a great time and treasures to remember it by!

Laura said...

Jodie-

I love your giveaway description. It is exactly how I feel-
I may quote you when I do a giveaway.

You are the best.

Laura

red.neck chic said...

Okay... uhmm... who are the Saints?

haha! dang - i'm duckin' and runnin' after typing that... I ain't no tough girl like you - you girly frilly, got great stuff because you're fun to fall for, flowery, rhinestoney, pearly you...

Dang Jodie - how did you contain yourself? With each picture I'm imagining the face behind the talent... and SO MUCH talent!!!

Congratulations to Debby!!! Think I can trade her duct tape for the book?

;-D
robelyn

Sandi said...

Jodie,
What a wonderful time you had! And I enjoyed every minute of it with you on your blog.
VictorianGypsy

meleen said...

oh jodie....please say it one more time.....Sa-VAN-nah....maybe two more...tell hubs you are going to be doing savannah anniversary posts as the date rolls around!!

love ya.
meleen

Karen said...

Awwwww. I loved making it for you. You never did tell me what Thad said about it? Am I like on the top of his "I like that girl!" list?
YOU HAVE AN AUNTIE BELVA?
OMG! Just one more thing in common Girl - I have an Auntie Belva too! GIRL! What a name!
And I also want to know why - of all the blogs - yours says you posted this hours and hours ago - but it doesn't show up on my sidebar as a current post? :(
It makes me sad! But your blog makes me happy!
HAGD! Karen

Sissie's Shabby Cottage said...

Hey Jodie,
I'm coming over here to get my "Jodie fix!" I love how you chronicled your lovely Savannah trip, it will be something that you will remember the rest of your life. It was wonderful to partake in something so endearing and I am so glad that you shared it all with us.
Even though, I am terrribly jealous of all your fun. Like meeting celebrities, famous bloggers and all those fantastic, gorgeous gifts. Wowzer!!
You are going to need another room just to display all this loot!

Congrats to Debby, lucky girl!

Thanks for coming over to visit me today, I just love your sweet comments so well written and from the heart. You rock girl!

hugs
Sissie

Lisa said...

Jodie,
As I told you in previous comments, I hope you had an extra suitcase to lug home all those awesome gifts!! As if the retreat wasn't enough, all of that love you received was icing on the cake! I can just see you sitting in your art room crying over all of the sweet goodies & stuff your friends gave you. You don't fool me girl, tough - I don't think so! Your a softie! It's been tons o' fun going on this little trip with you. Okay, maybe not little, 7 chapters. LOL Great giveback to your peeps too. I totally agree about people google-ing 'giveaway' just to get freebies. What's up with that? Some people have too much time on their hands. Love Debby, Love Julia, I'm sure you'll treat em both well. I'll talk to you soon sister. Lisa

Sue said...

I have just loved coming along on your lil' old journey! Thanks ever so much for sharing your wonderful experience in Savannah with those of us unlucky enough not to attend. It sounds like you had the most wonderful of times.

Sue E.

summersundays-jw said...

Isn't it great to be with kindred souls!!! I've enjoyed reading about your trip & it's definitely made me want to take a trip to Savannah. Congrats to the winner. Jan

Draffin Bears said...

Hi Jodie,

I have enjoyed all your Savanah posts and what a wonderful time you must have had.
I love the beautiful words about people coming into our lives and I have written this down.
Has been fun to have found you and your sweet blog and thanks for sharing all your fun times with us.
What beautiful treasures you got from your friends. Congratulations to Julia and Debby.

Have a wonderful weekend
Hugs
Carolyn

Ginny Gibson said...

well am leaving a comment just so you know i am one of the visitors that does not usually leave a comment BUT I LOVE your blog :-) i used to leave comments all over blogland and take part in swaps and involve myself in an international journal project to but after nearly 4 years in blog land other things have taken my time and attention ... it is inevitable i think. I don't even post as i used too ...it has become a journal rather that a creative inspiration for people, though it is time i created again .... i bought the book about the Mercer house in savannah on your recommendation and will let you know what i think... thank you for all your informative posts ... one of my fav blogs

take care
Ginny (way over the pond)

Sheri said...

Oh Jodie, that was so funny how you picked your winner. I'm giggling as I picture your conversation. Thank you for sharing your trip with us. You are so unique and so wonderful.
Blessings!
Sheri

Charlene said...

I have loved the Sa VAN ah book! And oh lucky Debbie. What a sweet girlie you are giving away that amazing book. I am stillllll posting Sa Van ah because I am soooooo behind that I haven't gotten to blogging as much as I would like & like you was so very behind visiting all my girlie friends. I am missing being there with all of my Art SISTA's I am so glad we got to meet in PERSON! Stay out of the oil & let's keep in touch. Your goodies you shared were wonderful & I was jealous! That photo of the lady was amazing. I need to go hey Ms Karen. Can you believe we were on the same flight? Miss ya girlie! HUGS! Charlene

Tins and Treasures said...

I sooo enjoyed discovering your blog today. I plan to be back for another visit.

Happy Mother's Day...and thanks for sharing the photo. ~Natalie

Unknown said...

Oh, phooey! I love Savannah, & Charleston! Well, it has been fun as you shared!

Happy Mother's Day ~
TTFN ~Hugs, Marydon

shana said...

You really had a great time and I am completely jealous. I enjoyed reading all your posts and seeing all your fabulous gifts.

The Victorian Parlor said...

Wow-I have enjoyed reading all about your Savannah trip! I almost felt like I was there too:). Everything looked like so much fun and what wonderful treasures you received!

Happy Mother's Day!

Blessings,

Kim

Brynwood Needleworks said...

Jodie:
You really had a wonderful time in Sa-VAN-nah! lol I enjoyed every photo of every little thing you posted each time in your series. You really got some beautiful gifts, too!

Congratulations to your winners for your giveaways. I'm sure they'll be thrilled.

Finally, thanks so much for sharing the image at the top of this post. The dress the woman is wearing just takes my breath away!

Have a great week, sweetie!
xoxo
Donna

kanishk said...

Sounds like a fabulous time.
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