My Baby Shower Celebration~My Day Registry Giveaway~6/9

I am thrilled to be joining in with Tots and Me to bring her last Baby Shower Celebration Giveaway. The following review was written by Tots and Me.

A couple of days ago I shared a little bit about mydayregistry.com.

In The Raw~ends 6/7

I have teamed up with Sweet Silly Sara and the Sublime Media Connection to bring you a Super Sweet Giveaway!

In the Raw offers 3 great natural sweeteners, Agave in the Raw, Stevia in the Raw and Sugar in the Raw. Derived from natural sources, In The Raw Sweeteners are perfect for adding to a hot or cold beverage, for sprinkling over fruit, or for baking!

In The Raw has an impressive recipe collection that you will want to check out, these recipes are sure to inspire your inner chef to shine!

Sweet Silly Sara had the pleasure of sampling all 3 products and she found them all to be equally impressive! You can read her review here. She also shares a few of her favorite recipes in her review.


In The Raw has generously offered to give 3 lucky readers each a super sweet prize pack that contains one of each product, Sugar in the Raw, Stevia in the Raw and Agave in the Raw. Enter via the rafflecopter form below for your chance!






Be sure to visit
http://www.intheraw.com to learn more about the products and to find many other great recipes!


This giveaway is brought to you by Sweet Silly Sara and the Sublime Media Connection.


The Sublime Media Connection brings bloggers and companies together to create a sublime social media strategies!


Bloggers please send an email to pr@sublimemediaconnection.info to learn more. Companies please send an email to sara@sublimemediaconnection.com for further details.


The participating bloggers cannot be held responsible for the shipment of this prize, as that is the responsibility of the sponsor.  This giveaway is open to US residents 18 and older.








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Mommy But Still Me Book Tour~6/2

www.mohanalakshmi.com
www.facebook.com/themohadoha
www.youtube.com/themohadoha

Tour Schedule:
5-14 Hanging off the Wire
5-15 The Review Mom
5-16 Margaret's Review Goodreads
5-22 Optimistic Mommy
5-28 Freebies Galore & Giveaways Too
6-3 Blueberry Sky
6-5 Gale Stanely
6-9 My Friends Say I am Just Like June
6-13 Blog O’ The Irish
6-14 Infinite House of Books
6-15 Sugarbeat’s BooksWhat Have You Risked?
.....Guest Post

By Mohanalakskhmi Rajakumar

For the first time in seven years, getting ready to go to Gaza, knowing I would be one of four non-Arabs amongst forty Arabic speaking people had me outside my comfort zone.  The trip was something I had been working on for several months, while writing proposals for creative writing workshops with high school students. But as the departure date rushed forward, I couldn’t remember why I thought this had would be a good idea. First there were the safety and security concerns of my welling meaning husband and friends. Then there was the hectic semester of teaching five classes which culminated in hosting a surprise birthday party, then grading final exams on the eve of departure. We even stopped in on a two year old’s birthday party before going to the airport. When I got out to give him a kiss, the sight of my own nearly two year sleeping in his car seat, showed for a crystal clear moment all that I was risking.

I strengthen my resolve and said goodbye, still doubting why this trip and at this time. I flew to Cairo and prepared for the six hour bus ride that would take us to the border. This part of the journey, cocooned in the bus’ air conditioned interior, I put my head against the window and slept for the first three hours. Waking up for lunch, I then read a magazine that was several months old which I was contemplating cancelling the subscription to because I was so busy. During the five hours we spent at the border waiting to get into Palestine, I read a book I had only dipped into a few pages at a time at night when at home. The physical rest and mental replenishing helped me gather my bearings.  The fact that all my electronic devices were depleted of battery probably didn’t hurt either.

We arrived into Gaza City, one of the most contentious places on earth. After this, the most exciting stamp in my passport would have to be from North Korea (not that I have plans to get that one). I went to Gaza as part of the Palestine Festival of Literature or PalFest. For the past five years PalFest has taken writers into Palestine to meet with students, artists, and readers whose mobility to other countries is limited.

This year’s festival was four days, the mornings of three of them were spent giving workshops to high school students.  These students are hard workers: they’ve mastered good writing in fusha, or classical Arabic, which would be somewhat like teenagers knowing how to write in the style of Shakespeare. The students were startled out of their rigid teaching methods when our gang of writers showed up. Men and women from a range of ages, they conducted workshops in poetry, short story, and blogging. While the workshops were in Arabic (and mine is still faltering) I did interview the writers afterwards to get a sense of what their experiences had been. Their comments apply to these students and their immediate situation but also to anyone wanting the foundations of good writing:

·         Be specific, not clichéd: don’t go for the easy or over used image. Use the one that is unique to you and your experiences

·         Write in your own voice not what you think you should sound like: I tell this to my own students as well – readers despise fakeness, whether in fiction or nonfiction. Tell it like you see it.

·         Read, read, read as much as you can. The classics aren’t bad for you unless, as in this case, they’re all you read. Mix up the styles, the genres, the nationalities of the writers you read. Each book teaches you something different about technique, literary devices, style.

They sound simple, almost elementary, but hearing them repeated from six different writers, Egyptian, Tunisian, Palestinian, male and female, from twentysomethings to seventsomethings, I was reminded that good writing isn’t posturing for the reader. Puffing up and pretending to be what we’re not. Instead it’s the ability to lay bare our inner most thoughts and feelings and share with someone else parts of our journey so that in some small way theirs may be enriched.

I’m glad I went to Gaza not only because everyone we met was starved for culture: They wanted to talk (often late into the night) about writing, the concert we hosted was the first one many people had seen in ten years. But also because I remember now what it’s like to take risks and feel scared. That’s a great place to start with when writing a piece and it’s very much how I started my journey as a professional woman becoming a mother which became my memoir for newbie moms Mommy But Still Me.

What’s the latest risk you’ve taken either in your personal life or in writing? What did you learn from it?

MOMMY BUT STILL ME by Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar

The modern woman's guide to switching from jet setter to incubator, MOMMY BUT STILL ME retells the story of a first time mother with humorous and honesty. From sex with a purpose to ankles swelling into cankles, this is a no-holds barred look at the all the changes, big and small; from knowing "hipster" as a term that describes your generation to using it describe where you like to carry things.

Imagine a man volunteering to trade in his game nights for heart burn and back ache. Good thing there are women around to ensure the survival of the species. This hilarious look at the journey from high heels to high blood pressure, as a jet setter turns into a bed wetter, is what your doctor won't tell you and your own mother may have forgotten in the years since she was blessed by your arrival.

Excerpt

"At our first meeting my future father-in-law waited until we sat down in the Thai restaurant, the oblong menus placed in our hands and the waiter was a distance away, tending to other diners, before turning towards me, his eyes glowing. This was the first time we were all seeing each other after his son had proposed to me. "When will I get to hold my first grandchild?" He asked. For my father-in-law and everyone else, I have a question of my own: When will any of you be satisfied?"

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PayPal Cash Event~6/3

The Sublime Media Connection has a great giveaway in store for you! We want to offer you a little extra paypal cash just in time for the beginning of summer!

The Sublime Media Connection brings bloggers and companies together for great reviews and giveaways. We offer blogger support services, in addition to our sponsored tweet, facebook status updates and blog posts. The Sublime Media Connection even offers guest posting services to fit a variety of budgets.

If you are a blogger, we would love to have you join us! Please email pr@sublimemediaconnection.info to learn more!

If you would like to learn more about how the Sublime Media Connection can promote your brand please email sara@sublimemediaconnections.com

Now, on to the giveaway!

Please enter via the rafflecopter form below!

This giveaway will begin on May 27th at 12:01 am est and end on June 2nd at 11:59 pm est.

The winner will be notified by email and has 48 hours to respond before a new winner is selected.




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Cook'n Birthday Event~6/6

Cook'n Recipe Organizer is Celebrating their 20th Birthday!

 To celebrate they are giving away over $385 in prizes to 

*3 WINNERS*

Prize #1-Valued at $130!

(Cook'n Software and $50 Walmart Gift Card)

Prize #2-Valued at $130

(Cook'n Software, Cook'n Binder, and Recipe Cards)

Prize # 3-Valued at $125!

(Cook'n Software, Old fashioned popcorn maker, & latest edition of Cook'n Magazine!)

Cook'n, Give Oh Giveaway, Raking in the Savings, Mamal Diane, Capri's Coupons, and Freebies Galore And Giveaways Too!  have teamed up with some other great bloggers to share this awesome giveaway with you! 

What exactly is Cook'n?

Cook'n is the #1 selling recipe organizer software with over 3 million copies sold! 

Some of the awesome features include: (hint: click the link to see the feature in action)

"Capture" recipes from the internet- My favorite feature!

Calculate the nutrition of the recipe-Helps you live a healthy lifestyle!

Enter your family's favorite recipes easily- There is an quick fill in feature!

Print your own cookbook- This would make a great gift!

Generate grocery list by aisle- An organized shopping list and cost of meal estimate!

MORE great features here-There are so many cool things this software can do, it really is amazing!




After seeing all these cool features you want a copy of Cook'n, don't ya? You can buy it HERE or try to win it via my blog first! This giveaway starts now and will end on June 6th at 11:59 pm Eastern time. Sorry this giveaway is for US only. I know that makes some of you sad....sorry, international shipping is a bugger. To enter all you have to do is answer the following question on the rafflecopter form below. What is your favorite feature of Cook'n? Easy right?

Of course you will have plenty of extra entries to submit too! For this giveaway each participating blogger is listed individually. Choose to like the ones that might interest you and submit those entries. Or better yet, like them all, get every possible entry in for the great prizes; then if in a weeks time you feel your news feed is too clogged, just adjust the notifications. You can hide the posts from your news feed by clicking on the little gadget (star like button) and then adjust accordingly. It is easy to do and better than un-liking a page. Remember you can fill out as many or as few extra entries as you want on the Rafflecopter form! The winner will be emailed and have 24 hours to respond. GOOD LUCK!

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Disclaimer: I did not receive any monetary compensation for sharing this giveaway. I just like to share great giveaways!  The comments made above are honest opinions generated by Cj from Give oh Giveaway. 

No Fee Blogger SignUP

FREE blogger sign up- 5K giveaway

To thank our fans, Camp Wags and Route 249 want to giveaway some great prizes. $25 to Amazon, a ChuckIt Pocket Ball Launcher and 2 Chuck it glow in the dark tennis balls.
Giveaway starts Wednesday 5/30 at 9p est and ends 6/9 1201am
We will take the first 50 bloggers, FB links only.
Join the FB group for updates:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/322602574450528/

Sign up here