Giveaway Winner and an Announcement!!!

Thanks to everyone who entered my Blogaversary Giveaway!  There were over 70 entries and so many sweet comments from all of my awesome blog friends. Random.org generated the lucky winner and that is Chari over at Happy To Design!  Congratulations Chari and thanks again to Kristen's Creations for providing the wonderful gift.  If anyone would like to order one of Kristen's beautiful creations, just click here to view the items on her Etsy store.

This week I'm going to be making a very exciting announcement so be looking for that post and have a very blessed week.

Get Your Blog On!

The wonderful Traci at Beneath My Heart just did an awesome post on how to grow your blog.  Traci was fortunate enough to attend the recent blogging convention, BlissDom, in Tennessee and was gracious enough to share with us some very good tips for growing your blog.  I encourage everyone to go check it out.  I'm so glad I did because I found some great resources for networking and connecting with other great bloggers.  You will see them added to my sidebar.  These sites are pretty easy to join and offer some very worthwhile tips on how to promote your blog.

In other news, I've been having problems with customizing my blog lately and am asking you to be patient with me during this frustrating time.  I've lost the buttons of some of my favorite bloggers and am experiencing trouble trying to move things around in my sidebar.

Additionally, my Blogaversary Giveaway is ending tonight at 9:00 p.m. so please make sure you enter here before then.

Hope you all have a blessed weekend!

Trash Picking Thursday!

Today I'm linking up with two parties, the lovely Kendall at Finesse Your Nest for Trash Picking Thursday and the wonderful Leigh from Tales From Blogeritaville for Thrifty Thursday.  For these parties we are going down to the basement of the Bliss House, where you'll find many of my TP'd finds that are both aesthetically pleasing as well as functional.  And for me, functional is the name of the game.  These days when I am out and about I try to look for things that have storage, whether it's a large piece of furniture, or an accessory.

At the very bottom of my stairs you will see this console table.

I found it on a curb in the neighborhood where I grew up, not far from here.  This neighborhood has been a treasure trove for trashpicking and our favorite spot to scour.  The neighborhood is still transitioning from empty nesters to young families and there is always good furniture.  We have NEVER come home empty handed from treasure hunting there.

I am assuming that this was the server part of the set.  It was an oak color, so I painted it black and added some rub'n buff accents on the sides and hardware for some pizzazz!  It makes a nice statement at the bottom of the stairs.

I use it to store all of my stash of used, slightly used and unused candles.

I needed a place to store some books and this was the perfect piece.  I can't remember what curb this came from, just glad I got to it before the trashmen! It just needed a little cleaning, but otherwise, perfect condition.

This cute bookshelf also came from my old neighborhood and Mr. Bliss uses this in his office area of the basement for storing the printer and other office supplies.  It's collapsible and a pretty walnut color, so I didn't paint it, just cleaned it up.

I got this picture on one of our all-time favorite trash picking adventures.  It was myself and my bff/trashpicking partner, Denise and this particular time, we brought another couple of friends.  We picked at a house that was sold and at that exact moment, the homeowner pulled up and greeted us.  He was as nice as could be and invited us into his beautiful home to see some other furniture that he was selling.  The four of us ended up pooling our money and purchasing quite a bit of beautiful furniture that day.  Here is the picture that I kept for myself!

He gave me this Pottery Barn bench for free.  It was pink and I just painted it black and it sits under our fireplace in the basement.

So that's it for this weeks TP Thursday bash.  Thanks to Kendall and Leigh for hosting and be sure to go to Finesse Your Nest and Tales From Bloggeritaville to see other curbside/thrifty treasures.

Don't forget to enter my Blogaversary Giveaway.  There is only 1 day left!

Also, I've been making some changes to my blog lately and need your help!  Since I switched to Updated Editor (which I love) I have had a hard time dragging things in my layout.  Also, I've learned that different browsers are showing my "Page Bar" and other elements in the wrong place.  And lastly, when I view my blog, the wrenches are visible, are they visible to you?  And if so, how do I remove them?  Ugh.  So frustrating!  I would appreciate any help you can give me.  Thanks and have a great day!