The Best Mother's Day!

We started the night out a little rocky as Rosemary didn't want to sleep late Saturday/early Sunday so we were up until 4:45am on Mother's Day. Man, those nights are rough!

Other than the lack of sleep, my first Mother's Day was truly so special.

We went to my parents for breakfast and to hang out with my Mom for a bit followed by going to my husbands parents for dinner. While it was a pretty busy day and I was tired, I feel extremely blessed to have my daughter and family in my life.

Rosemary and my Mother

Rosemary and my Mother In Law

I was lucky enough to receive a couple beautiful cards from Rosemary and my husband, as well as some flowers and cupcakes too! After Rosemary was in bed I had a nice glass (or two) of red wine while we watched a movie and I even had time to write Rosemary a little letter. :)

As you can tell, my day was pretty perfect. We made it to see all the family and I even had some down time at the end of my day. A wonderful day in the life of any Mother! Hope everyone else had a great day too!

Letter to Rosemary on Our First Mothers Day Together

Dear Rosemary,

This was our very first Mothers Day together and it was the best Mothers Day in my 29 years of life. I can’t even begin to tell you how much more special this day is to me now that you are in my life.

I’ve always loved my mother, your grandmother, but never understood just how much until I had you. I had never truly understood just how much she did for me and just how much she cared for me, until you.

I look forward to the day the same realization comes to you. It will. It’s so amazing, this feeling and comprehension of love, and I can’t wait to share this with you one day.

You bring me so much joy and happiness, thank you. Thank you for making this the best Mothers Day. And thank you for allowing me to be a Mother, your Mother.

Without you I’d still never know just how special this day really is.

Love Mom

Happy Mother's Day!

I wrote this paper titled Role Model for a class in high school in 1998, so I was a senior in high school. I don't remember giving this to my Mom, but right after I had Rosemary she let me have a copy of it. I haven't read it since 1998 (I couldn't bring myself to read this until just now.) and I thought I'd share it with you all. My Mom has always meant the world to me and I'm really curious as to what it says. Now again, please remember I was in high school when I wrote this. I am writing this word for word for you.

My mother has taught me many great lessons throughout my life. Deciding which three lessons are the most valuable has been a difficult decision for her. After thinking about it over time, she was able to select three of the most important. First of all, she wanted to teach me that my family should always be the most important people in my life. Growing up in a large family, my mom wanted to share with me the love and security that she felt as a child. She also wanted to make sure I knew that I can always count on my family for the support I need. Second, my mom wanted me to always believe in myself. She wants me to be happy with my life, who I am, and to accept the talents God gave to me. Third, my mom wants me to strive to be the best that I can be. She wants for me everything she has in life and more. My mom hopes that I will make the right decisions concerning my future, as well as the present. She hopes that she has done a good job raising me so that I can go into the world and be able to take care of myself. These lessons are just three of the lessons my mom wanted to install upon me.

My mother has left me, and continues to leave me, with many lessons of which are very valuable lessons. Lessons that I will value for the rest of my life. One lesson is being true to myself. This is because I have learned that sometimes it is hard to be different, and even if it means being outcast by others, sometimes You are the only one you have. Many times I have found that just being myself will Help me to find my true friends. I've also found that if I need to change in order to gain respect or a friend, that whatever I was changing for wasn't worth the trouble. This coincides with another lesson I have learned from my mom, which is respecting others enough by not trying to change them. Knowing what it is like to be different sometimes, I know that other people are unique just as I am. Learning to accept people for who they are has often been a flaw of mine, but my mom has always taught me to try and understand where people are coming from. Other lessons my mom has taught me are things such as knowing right from wrong, taking care of my responsibilities, and doing things for myself. My mom has taught me so many things, it is hard to even describe why she does all of this for me. She does it simply because she is my mom and she loves me. Hopefully these lessons will stay with me for the rest of my life and I will be able to teach my own daughter these lessons.

Having learned these lessons from my mother, I plan to share all I can remember with my own daughter. I want my daughter to know that she can be whoever she wants. I want her to be confident and modest. I want her to be able to accomplish anything she sets her mind to. I plan to show my daughter that if you work for something, you can achieve it. I also hope to leave with my daughter values such as honesty, respect for others, and friendship. I wish that I will be able to raise my own daughter as good as my mom raised me. Hopefully I will be a great role model to my daughter as my mom is to me.

That's it.

A bit of it is hard to follow, but I'm guessing the assignment was to choose a role model and why I thought they were a role model? Upon reading this just now, I seriously have no recollection of writing this. Apparently I wrote about her often in high school as I thought this was a completely different assignment. I know I did a speech on her in speech class too, but this wasn't it. Funny how she ended up with it! I'm pretty sure when I wrote about her in high school, I would've been too embarrassed to give this to her, so I'm sure she probably found it or something. What's even weirder, is that the teacher I had wrote some really amazing things and I still have no recollection of this! She wrote "Your mother has done a fine job - so will you. You have come mile in your RHS (my high school) career - I really admire your honesty, your courage, your strength." She wrote some other nice comments too. Such beautiful comments, and I never even bothered to notice them before. How different I was at 17 than I am at 29. Now something like this is one of the most flattering comments I could receive.

Anyway, it's obviously not my finest piece of work, but you get the gist of how I felt about my mom even as a bratty teenager over ten years ago. She's probably the best person I've ever known and is responsible for (along with my father of course) any and all good in me today. I really have learned so much from her. I will tell you, ANYONE who knows me, knows that my first priority in life above all else is my family.

Happy Mother's Day Mom! I love you!

Happy Mother's Day to all of us Mother's! Remember we are our children's role models and its so important for us to show our children the very best in life. My mother certainly did and this is just another reminder of my job with Rosemary.

I'm glad I finally read this. I've been putting it off because with my Mothers Cancer I already cry all the time and figured this was just going to bring on more tears. While I may have shed a couple, I'm really glad I waited to read this just now. This was so very fitting for Mothers Day.

May all of us be even close to the woman and mother my Mom is.

Mother's Day Gift Guide and Giveaway - CLOSED

Check out this amazing Mother's Day Gift Guide over at Tip Junkie. There's also over $800 worth of giveaways to enter as well!

Giveaways end 04/27/10

The Taffy Box "Blessed" Locket Mother's Day Review and Giveaway - CLOSED

Just in time for Mother’s Day I have a special treat for my readers! Koryn over at The Taffy Box has graciously offered one of my readers one of her fabulous locket necklaces from her Etsy store.

Before I review the locket she sent me, let me introduce you to Koryn.

Koryn is a military wife (thank you!) and the mother of four wonderful children. She’s lived all over the world traveling with her family, and now with their Golden Retriever, resides in Virginia. Koryn is also a Breast Cancer survivor with an excellent prognosis after surgeries and Chemotherapy just a couple short years ago.



Not only has she been married for over 23 years and lived a full and wonderful life, she works part time for Network of Strength, a national Breast Cancer peer support organization, counseling newly diagnosed patients. On top of that she also finds the time to run two jewelry businesses from her home Mother’s Precious Gems and The Taffy Box. Sounds like a pretty amazing woman to me!

Check out her blog to learn more about Koryn and her journey.

Koryn sent me one of her beautiful Locket Necklaces from The Taffy Box to first review for you, and then one lucky reader will win the necklace. Everyone say thank you Koryn!

I received the locket and the first thing I noticed was the very cute and professional way it was packaged. It comes wrapped nicely in tissue paper as to avoid marking up the silver, then packed in a cute pouch with a piece of, what else, taffy! I was very impressed with the packaging.

Then I opened the locket!

It really is beautiful! I find it amazing that she actually makes these necklaces herself. Let me tell you, in college a few years ago, I took a jewelry making class, and my work looked nothing like hers!! Hers is beautiful and I think it is of the same caliber as any jewelry store you’d walk into.


(This is the exact locket the winner will receive.)

The front of the locket has hearts stamped into the cover and inside is the beautiful word, blessed, in a nice font. The jump rings are securely closed ensuring the locket remains secured. The back of the locket has a nice brushed finish as well.

This is how she sent the locket to me, but the winner gets to customize the locket with dangling Swarovski© crystals (see the picture at the top of the review for an example) of their choice to make it personalized for them. After the end of the giveaway ends, Koryn will send a secure jump ring with crystals to the winner direct.

When purchasing this locket at The Taffy Box, the locket retails for $37.00 and can be customized on the front, the inside, as well as the finish on the back to your individual liking when you purchase. It is also available in yellow gold for an additional fee of $15.00 or in a smaller size as well.

Check out her two websites for a variety of products and purchase something for yourself or a loved one today. After all, it is Mother’s Day coming up! What a perfect gift handmade jewelry would be. If Mother’s Day isn’t enough of an incentive, perhaps the fact that a portion of all proceeds goes to an organization that provides early detection of breast cancer to uninsured and under insured women. What a great cause!

If you aren’t ready to purchase quite yet, Koryn is offering up this beautiful necklace as a giveaway to one of you lucky readers!

Main Entry – To be eligible to win the locket, you must go to Koryn's website and return here telling me what product you must have (other than the locket). That’s it. Leave that in a comment along with your email so I may contact you if you’re the winner.

Extra Entries – These entries are not mandatory, but are for those readers that wish to increase the chances of them winning the locket. You must do the Main Entry first before these extra entries to be eligible to win. Remember to leave a separate comment for any and all entries and to leave an email address so I can contact you.

1. Follow my blog publicly via Google Connect (over on the right side bar). You must follow publicly in order for this to count. Current followers just have to write that you already follow me. (2 entries, leave two separate comments for this one) Please let me know what email and name you are following under.

2. Follow me on twitter and tweet about this giveaway. Please leave a URL where I can check that you tweeted. This can be done once a day to earn many extra entries. Leave a URL for every tweet please. Copy and paste the following tweet:
"Enter this #giveaway to #win a beautiful locket necklace from The Taffy Box over at @Inthknowgivawys http://bit.ly/cwtEG9"

3. Blog about this giveaway. Please leave a direct URL to the blog entry. (2 entries, leave two separate comments)

4. Join my blogfrog community and comment in the forum.

Giveaway is open to entrants in the U.S. only, and ends on May 4, 2010 at 11:59pm EST (hopefully in time for you to receive it by Mothers Day, May 9). A comment number will be drawn at random from random.org. Winner will be contacted by email and have 48 hours to respond. If I don't hear back, another winner will be selected.


I was provided with this product to review for my readers by the highlighted company and/or its PR agency in order to test the product first hand and to provide you with my personal opinion on it. I was not offered a free necklace, but I was offered a discount should I choose to purchase a locket in the future. The opinions I have provided are mine and mine alone. I am in no way required to write a positive review and my review was not influenced in any way by monetary means. Please investigate before any and all purchases as I am not liable nor responsible for any losses or damages you may incur. Please read my Terms of Use before entering this contest.