The winner of the $75 Etsy CV store credit, I've got the flu, our 10th wedding anniversary, and other recent going ons

...And now that I've written a title that's long enough to be a post unto itself. :D

First and foremost (despite the hefty title size), this post is not going to be a particularly lengthy one (by my standards). I'm literally writing it with just one eye open only half the way to try and block out the effect that light radiating from my laptop screen is on the pulsating migraine that I have right now, brought on by a rather unpleasant flu (not that there’s any sort that I'd dub "pleasant"!) that came on in the blink of an eye on Monday and is still very much going strong four days in.

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Thankfully, in the world of flues, this is not one of the most severe I've had, but nevertheless, it's taking its toil and putting me pretty much completely out of commission at the moment (especially since, like - without fail - all colds, flues and the like that I get, it has caused serious flare-ups with some of my medical conditions). While I'm not very pleased about that, I am grateful at least that this virus was so "kind" as to spare attacking me at the end of the month. With a bit of luck, lots of rest, and drinking gallons of liquids, I should hopefully be on my feet again come Halloween (fingers crossed!).

Okay, onto more enjoyable topics! For starters, though I was asleep with a 103F fever for nearly all of it, Tuesday was Tony and mine's 10th wedding anniversary. Over the years here, I've talked about our relationship and its beginnings (such as in this post last May) and the profound, unshakable love that we have for one another (such as here), so many of you may already know a bit about our story.

For those that do not however, in the tiniest of nutshells, we met online in March of 2004 (at the time I was living right here in Penticton and Tony was on the other side of the Atlantic ocean in Ireland), in person for the first time in June, were engaged in July, and married in a super small civil ceremony with just a few close family members in attendance in October of that same year. It was, in no uncertain terms, a whirlwind romance, but we both know in the furthest recesses of our hearts that we had found "the one" and that there was no sense in waiting years to do something we knew within weeks that we were destined to have happen (marry one another, that is).

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We were young by modern standards when we tied the knot - I was 20, Tony was 24 - and yet both came to relationship with absolutely no shortage of life history under our respective belts. In the past decade we have lived in two countries, two (Canadian) provinces, and multiple cities. We've faced staggering adversity on many front, become pet "parents" to Stella (our darling tabby cat) and Annie (our sweet, endless energetic American Bullador), cried, laughed, celebrated, and worked incredibly hard together. Tony and I have grown up and grown incredibly close over the course these last ten years and it was with no small amount joy that we celebrated this milestone anniversary this week (which will be properly observed, festive feast and all, once I'm over the flu). I love my husband with every fiber of my being and am so grateful that we get to share our lives and our futures together, continuing to built on the life, dreams and hopes of the past decade, while keeping our eyes on tomorrow and never forgetting to savour today in the process.

In other news, last month I posted a new Chronically Vintage reader and customer survey and invited all those who completed it to leave a comment for the chance to win a $75.00 Etsy store credit. The deadline to do so wrapped up last night and this morning I'm thrilled to announce the winner (who was selected using a random number generator). Drum roll, please...

Huge and very happy congratulations to Abigail from the immensely lovely blog Sweeter Gets The Journey, you've won a $75.00 Chronically Vintage store credit which you can put towards the cost of anything in the shop. I will be contacting you by email ASAP with further details and sincerely want to thank you - and absolutely everyone who took part in this survey and giveaway (your impute is hugely appreciated and will certainly play a roll in shaping my blog and Etsy shop in the future).

{The lucky winner, Abigail, in one of my favourite photographs of her from her gorgeous, image filled blog.}

Between some health issues in the later part of the summer and our wonderful recent travels to Victoria, plus the flu (et al) this week, I am well aware that I haven't posted a new YouTube video for some time now. When I initially launched my channel, I'd - in true, overly optimistic Jessica fashion - envisioned posting there once a week on average. A few videos in and my feet were soon back on the ground again and that notion had flown out the window. That said, I adore making videos and do plan to continue posting them periodically, always (massively) welcoming your ideas for topics to cover in the process.

And last, but not least, in this "bits and bobs" sort of update post, I'm still very much on the hunt for my Halloween costume this year. Maybe it's because I usually know months in advance what I plan to go as, but this year, for the 30th All Hallows Eve of my life, my costume remains one big question mark (not literally - though that could be a fun disguise unto itself :) ). With just two weeks left until the fabulously fun and splendidly spooky night to go, I truly must - once this flu lets up a bit - get to it and come up with something interesting to wear.

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That's it for today, sweet dears. I'm off to get some more healing shut eye. I hope that you're doing splendidly, are flu free, and are enjoying an absolutely beautiful October!

The winner of the Road to Avonlea giveaway, I wrote a guest post on the colour purple, and other fun going ons this week

 This week was one of those where you feel like that for every step you take forward, you take several back. Nothing (thank goodness!) bad happened per se, though my darling chap is feeling under the weather with the flu (and I'm hoping to high heaven that it doesn't jump ship to me), it's mostly that I've been trudging away at the backlog of things that built up (and require I reply to/do them) while we were away last month. No worries though, I'm making lots of progress there and hope to be at least 75% caught up by the time this weekend is over.

Last week we launched a fabulously lovely Road to Avonlea gift pack giveaway here, which not only brought in 114 comments, but also lead me to discover that there are many, many fellow fans of Lucy Maud Montgomery's writings, and Sullivan Entertainment's products, amongst my wonderful readers.

I sincerely appreciate all those who participated in this giveaway, both here and across the social media spectrum. It was a joy to read each of your entry comments as the came in. The Road to Avonlea giveaway has now wrapped up and I am delighted to announce that the lucky winner has been drawn using a random number generator.

Happiest congrats to comment number 31, which belongs to rachlovespenguins! Please contact me anytime via email with your full name and mailing address, so that I can pass it along to the fantastic folks at Sullivan Entertainment, who will be shipping your prize pack out to you, my dear. I truly hope that you adore all of the lovely RTA offerings that are coming your way.

Recently I was touched when my lovely online friend, Tasha (who I know is also a household name for many of you who adore her stellar blog, By Gum, By Golly), asked me if I'd be interested in writing a guest post for her blog devoted to the colour purple.

I don't write a lot of guest posts, as a general rule, because of the wildly unpredictable nature of my health and that fact that I would never want to be unable to deliver by a given deadline and risk messing up someone's blogging schedule. Thankfully there was zero risk of that happening in this case, as Tasha very sweetly gave me ample time to write the post and then (she is such a dear) held off on posting it until we were back from Calgary and I'd recouped a bit from the trip.

Colour has always been a fundamental part of my wardrobe, and there's scarcely a hue alive I won't wax poetically about, so when I was tapped to discuss purple and the role it's played in women's fashion from the Victorian era up to the present day, I was nothing short of thrilled about this fun assignment. Once the wheels started turning, they weren't in a hurry to slow down, and my post ended up being longer than I'd imagined, but I was really happy with its size in the end, because I felt like I got a chance to really delve into the history and popularity of this regal hue.

My guest post went live today over at Tasha's and you can read all about it here. We may still have 2.5 months of the year to go, but I'm already dubbing purple my colour for 2014, a choice that was spurred on even more by getting the exciting opportunity to write this enjoyable piece all bout that hue this summer.

Elsewhere on the great, ol' interwebs, Chronically Vintage hit 1,500+ likes on Facebook earlier this week. Thank you so much to everyone who made that number possible! I love getting a chance to connect with many of you there as well. Who knows, maybe we'll reach 2,000 likes by the time Chronically Vintage hits its one year anniversary of being on Facebook in mid-December.

Last weekend I shared 31 of the things without which Halloween just wouldn't be the same for me, and one my lovely readers, Jennifer, who is also a longstanding online friend, was so inspired by my post, that she wrote an awesome list of her own here. Her list is so festively fabulous and includes some more of my favourite seasonal things that weren't on mine, such as making sure I set aside time to read Poe's spookiest works this month.

I'm always touched when readers are spurred on to write posts based on things I share, so if you do the same (with any post), please be sure to let me know so that I can share it here in a future post.

As you may recall from this post last May, I'm a big fan of earrings (so long as they're 100% nickel-free!). This rings especially true if they're vintage or look the part, and I always enjoy seeing examples of earrings from the past.

Usually the comes in the form of photographs, ads or while out shopping, but this week Joanna (another endlessly dear friend) from Dividing Vintage Moments shared three terrific old school fashion video clips, amongst which was one from the 1950s in which a model tries on earrings in a costume jewelry store. I really though this short little clip was cool, and so am taking Joanna's lead and sharing it here as well with all of you today.

Hopping subjects once more before this quick Friday afternoon post wraps up, I am super happy about the fact that Tony and I both found our Halloween costumes last weekend. I'm a big fan of surprise reveals, so I'm keeping mine under wraps until the 31st, but I'll give you a couple of hints beforehand.

One, it's someone I've wanted to dress as for Halloween ever since I was a little girl, and two, this person has been mentioned on my before. That's all I'm saying in advance though - you'll just have to wait until All Hallows Eve rolls around to find out more! :)

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Have an beautiful mid-October weekend, my sweet dears - and may it be extra happy, bountiful, and very blessed Thanksgiving one to all my fellow Canucks.

Announcing the Spear of Summer Grass book giveaway winners

Happy Monday evening greetings, my dears, can you believe that we're already into the last week of May? Where on earth did this month zoom off to at the speed of light and then some?

Though there were some long moments for me, overall it was pretty darn speedy, very much including the last week, which included a giveaway post that offered up two copies of author Deanna Raybourn's captivating new novel A Spear of Summer Grass.





This giveaway was a touch different that most that we've held here before, because it involved having two prizes (copies of the same book) to bestow on two lucky winners: one from Canada or America, the other from anywhere else in the world.

The North American winner will receive their copy directly from the publisher, the international winner will receive their from me (the publisher will be mailing it out to me very soon, and I in turn will send it to you as soon as it reaches me - that book will definitely be logging some major frequent flyer miles! :)).

Using a random number generator (separating the North American commenters from the international ones and drawing from the total number of comments in each of those two groups), the following two winning comments were selected.


North American winner: Jill from Tea with the Vintage Baroness

International winner: Erika from Swingin' it in vintage


Happiest congrats, ladies! I'm thrilled for you both and hope that you enjoy this lovely page turner that's set in 1920s Africa as much as I did. Please email me anytime with your mailing address so that I can pass it along to the publisher (for Jill) and post out the other copy (to Erika).

I really appreciate all of the comments that poured in for this fun giveaway - which, interestingly, was the first one we've held in more than four years of this blog's life for a book (I highly suspect it won't be the last though).

Fear not if your number was drawn this time around, I have (at least) three more giveaways slated for the coming summer months, so there will plenty of other chances for you to potentially land a great vintage related prize of your own in the coming weeks.

Pink Ice Phone giveaway winner

Two weeks saw the season's first giveaway here on Chronically Vintage (actually, the first giveaway of 2013, come to think of) in which an adorable retro inspired Pink Ice Phone was offered up to one lucky reader.

The giveaway wrapped up on March 29th (between the Easter weekend, my mom's birthday, Annie, and a mysterious stomach bug that struck me late this past Sunday night, I'm a bit behind on getting this post out, my sincere apologies there), I'm delighted to announce here today that the winning comment - selected using a random number generator - was number six.




Happiest congrats to Lisa of Butterflies and Daisies Vintage!!! I'm pleased as punch for you, dear gal. Please email me anytime with your mailing address details so that I can pass them on to the fine folks at Mobile Fun, who will be sending out your cute pink Ice Phone.

Thank you very much to everyone who took part in this fun giveaway! I have two more giveaways for other items in the works for later on in the spring/early summer, so if you didn't win this one, fear not, you might just be the lucky winner next time around.

And the Corset Story giveaway winner is…

The response for the Corset Story giveaway to win a fashion corset of your choice from this terrific online seller has been phenomenal! Comments and interest poured in, and I'm thrilled to announce today that a winner has been drawn using an online random number generator.

The winning comment number was 29, which belongs to Miss Emmi from the delightful vintage blog, They'd have called me "The Bar Nothing".

Happiest congrats, Emmi! I'm thrilled for you and hope that you enjoy whichever fashion corset you pick from Corset Story as much as I adore my pale pink and cream Victorian inspired number.

Please zip an email my way anytime with your email full name and email address to that I can pass it along to the fine folks at Corset Story who will then provide you with the details regarding picking out your corset.

I truly appreciate all of the comments, tweets, Facebook likes, and Pinterest pins that helped make this giveaway such a roaring success, and want to thank all those who took part. As well, many heartfelt thanks to everyone who left happy wedding anniversary wishes for Tony and I, who will be celebrating eight years of wedded bliss this coming Sunday the 14th.

And last, but most certainly not least, a huge thanks to Corset Story for both the review corset I received and also for partnered up for an amazing giveaway. It was a pleasure to work with you and to get to experience wearing a fashion corset for the first time.

There are other giveaways in the works already for the coming months, so if you didn't win this time around, fear not, my sweet dears, another giveaway is just around the corner.

The winner of the Red Apple Lipstick giveaway is...

Last week, as many of you may know, we held a terrific giveaway here in conjunction with gluten-free cosmetic company, Red Apple Lipstick, who's top-notch products I've had the pleasure of personally using since early on this summer.

Comments poured in and I'm happy to announce that, with the help of an online random number the lucky winner drawn for this giveaway was comment number six, which belongs to the lovely Brandy from A Series of (Unfortunate) Vintage Sewing Attempts.

Happiest congrats, Brandy, I'm absolutely thrilled for you! Red Apple Lipstick's products are genuinely amongst the finest cosmetics I've ever tried and I suspect you'll love whichever of their items you select for yourself as much as I adore those that I've been using lately.

Thank you very, very much to Red Apple Lipstick for offering my wonderful readers a chance to win one of your gluten-free beauty products, and many thanks, too, to all of you who took part in this fun giveaway.

Fear not if you didn't win this time, I've already got a different giveaway in the works for October (hint: it involves a very alluring item of clothing!), so you'll soon have another chance to try your luck at going Brandy in the giveaway winner's circle.

Announcing the winner of the Fairyfiligree giveaway

Hello my lovelies, I hope that you're all well and having a terrific weekend! Things are as sizzlingly hot as a habanero pepper over here at the moment, but that hasn't hampered our spirits or stopped us from enjoying the great outdoors. Yesterday my mom and I spent the day shopping for Tony's birthday on Monday, and today I'm mostly wrapping gifts, cooking for his celebration dinner tomorrow, and drawing a winner for this week's awesome $40.00 Fairyfiligree etsy gift certificate giveaway.

I want to thank everyone who took part in this giveaway and for your support of Fairyfiligree. I've known the wonderful woman, Marika, behind this shop for three years, and can tell you that she truly appreciates your patronage and interest in her shop full of covetable European gathered vintage treasures.

This giveaway brought in 46 comments in total, and with the help of a random number generator I'm delighted to announce the lucky winner is comment number 45, which belongs to the dear Meg Eileen Carroll of La vie en rose et moi.

Happiest congrats, Meg, I'm thrilled for you, honey!!! Please contact me with your email full name and email address, so I can pass it along to Marika, who will issue you the gift certificate for her shop.

Many thanks again to all those who entered this giveaway. It had been a fairly long time since we last had one here, but I'm happy to report that you won't have to wait nearly as long as for another one. I've got an exciting contest in the works with a great cosmetics company, which is slated for next month.

Wishing you all a gorgeous Sunday and week ahead, sweet friends!

And the winner of the "What have you always loved?" giveaway is...

Two Fridays ago (April 6th), I wrote a post about a topic that had been surfacing often in my mind lately: what had I (and you) loved for as long back as you could recall? Towards the bottom of the piece, I asked you, my wonderful readers, to share some of the interests and items that have been integral parts of your own personal history for many, many years.

Numerous comments came in which showed a fascinating array of loves. From doll collecting to gardening, vintage table clothes to photographs of dogs, it was such a special treat to get to hear about some of the things that mean the very most to your hearts.

Those who responded to my question in the comment section of the What have you always loved? post  were automatically entered in a draw for a little surprise pack of items that relate to some of my own lifelong long loves.

This is the first "pop up", informal sort of giveaway I've ever held here before, but I highly doubt it will be the last, as I really like the idea of holding giveaways sometimes  that involve sonly items that I already have on hand (as opposed to those that come from a giveaway partner). They're sweet and fun, I do believe, and offer a lovely way for us to connect with one another.

In total 14 comments were received for this post, so yesterday (as promised) using a random number generator, I drew one comment number to award the surprise prize pack to. I'm delighted to report that comment seven, belonging to Kate Champagne (a fellow cat lover) from the charming new vintage blog Old Haunts, is the lucky winner.

 

 

Oodles of happy congrats, Kate! Please email me your full mailing address and I'll get your goodies (a mix of items pertaining to crafts, vintage, cooking, and other perpetual loves of mine) out to you this coming week.

Thank you deeply to everyone who shared your interests with me. It was fascinating to see how many of us share one of more lifelong love in common, and I wholeheartedly look forward to delving into some of my own "forever loves" with you in a future post on that topic.

Have a sunny, fabulously fun Saturday, sweet dears!