thank you and a giveaway

i've told you before that i have

a love affair with cookbooks.

very little makes me happier

than getting a new one,

sitting on the couch,

reading it cover to cover,

mentally bookmarking the

must-makes.

as you can imagine,

such a habit is big and bulky

and despite buying a large

bookshelf to house them all,

the collection has expanded

slightly out of control.

yes, they're on shelves.

but the books are also on the floor

of larry's closet.

and they're on the bed in our second bedroom.

not to mention that i'm pretty

sure there's a few in the kitchen,

our bedroom and probably

in places i cannot even imagine.

yes, i love cookbooks.

and that's why it meant so much

to me this morning when i

found out that my cranberry sauce

will be featured in food52's.

thank you for voting and

supporting me, the blog,

and of course, the cranberry sauce.

so in honor of today's news

(ok, that's not true,

we were going

to do this anyway),

i have a giveaway.

and no, it's not a cookbook.

or exactly food related.

you may have noticed the

very cool new logo

not lazy. rustic. has

been wearing since sunday.

well, here's the story

behind it. well, ok, wait -

one other story first.

i've talked about lauren

several times before -

how we met in camp,

have stayed friend's since

and have super bowl get togethers.

but, here's the real beginning.

we had already had the towel experience.

but then, a couple weeks later

we were out playing kickball.

i was put in the outfield. sadly, i was always

put in the outfield. nothing ever went out

there. ever. so i sat on the ground and

used a broken twig to dig in the dirt.

lauren - who i think was supposed to

be covering second base - came over to

me and said,

if i were you, i'd stop digging.

otherwise, you'll dig too far and

some old man from china is

going to start pulling on the other side

and you're going to end up in china

with no way of getting back home.

we were 10. but, i listened to her.

and since then, she's been there

to support me, snap me out of funks

deeper than outfield-relegated isues,

pack me up for college when i

could not handle the thought of

leaving my family and friends,

cleaned my room (looking at it

like a challenge, not a nightmare),

helped larry put our bed together

when we moved into this

apartment 3 1/2 years ago

and encouraged me to start this blog.

and finally, i have a small

opportunity to support her.

earlier this year,

lauren and her sister, stephanie,

started AnaStella (look, i even capped

for them) - invitations and stationary

with style & spark!

everything is beautiful, from their

wedding and shower invitations to

moving announcements to save the dates

and stationary. and now, logos!

i contacted lauren last week with a

very vague...does stephanie do logos...

i want something...not sure what...

is this even a possibility? type of of e-mail.

a minute later i got back an e-mail:

she already designed one for you,

she didn't send it?

i really had no idea what i was looking for,

i knew i wanted something that represented

not lazy. rustic. but that's about it.

when i saw the design - one that stephanie

made for the fun of it weeks before - i knew it was perfect.

stephanie conveyed more about the blog

through her logo, than i could have with words.

and, so, to celebrate the new logo,

lauren and stephanie are offering one

custom stationary set to a winner

chosen at random. check out their

website and their page on esty.com.

then e-mail me

(notlazyrusticATgmailDOTcom)

by wednesday, november 26.

please include your name,

complete mailing address,

which style you would like and how

you would like them personalized

(they can print initials or names).

the winner will be notified by the

end of next week.

exciting day, right?