Zach and I were married in a private ceremony, and by private I mean just the two of us along with a minister. There were no wedding guests, no bubbles blown, and no mountain of beautifully wrapped presents.

Last night as I carefully opened each box of my new dinnerware from Mikasa, while enjoying the delicate clinking of porcelain on porcelain, I couldn’t help but smile, and relish in the thought of dropping off a heaping cardboard box of our previous selection of misfit dishes at the local Salvation Army. I can’t say that I will miss them.

Before I take you any further, please note that one lucky Dear Crissy reader will win four (4) 5-piece place settings of the same design I selected for this review, Spun Ivory!

One of the things I truly love about Mikasa, is their extensive selection of patterns. My husband and I could not be more different when it comes to our design taste and preferences, but choosing a pattern that we both loved was a breeze.

Spun Ivory is a clean, classic, and sophisticated pattern, while still being simple enough for everyday use.

After seeing how beautiful this design is in person, I immediately revisited Mikasa’s website to browse patterns that I might want to purchase for special occasions, including the upcoming holiday season.

I also love the fact that you can find gorgeous, high-quality dinnerware at reasonable prices from Mikasa. I like knowing that if I need to replace pieces from my collection, or want to add to it, I can do so at an affordable price.

I cooked a special birthday dinner for Zach tonight, albeit a day late, and having the opportunity to enjoy our lovely new dinnerware from Mikasa was certainly an added bonus that we both recognized and appreciated. I hope the winner of this giveaway will love their Spun Ivory as much as we do!

WHAT YOU WILL WIN:
Four (4) 5-piece Spun Ivory place settings from Mikasa! A $200 value!

HOW TO ENTER & RULES:
You can enter multiple times for many chances to win! Please take the following steps to enter the contest, and make a separate comment below for each entry (ie., if you are a fan of Mikasa Dining on Facebook (hint, hint), comment and say so). You have lots of chances to win! 18+, USA

MANDATORY ENTRY (worth 1):
Visit Mikasa, and tell me which pattern is your favorite!

EXTRA ENTRIES IF YOU (worth 1 each):
Like Dear Crissy on Facebook
Like Mikasa on Facebook (if you are already a fan, mention your favorite pattern and Dear Crissy on their wall!)
Like Lifetime Brands on Facebook (if you are already a fan, mention your favorite pattern and Dear Crissy on their wall!)
Follow via Google Friend Connect (see my sidebar!)
Subscribe to DearCrissy.com via Email.
Follow @Crissy on Twitter
Follow @MikasaDining on Twitter
Follow @LifetimeBrands on Twitter
Tweet Daily: Just use the ReTweet button at the bottom of this post! :)

Contest ends Sept. 30th, 2010, 11pm EST. Winner will be drawn randomly. Best of luck! :)

Disclosure: I am not an employee or affiliate of Lifetime Brands, Inc. I received tableware from Lifetime Brands at no cost for this review. Opinions expressed are my own, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Lifetime Brands.

I will never forget the day I found out that an Olive Garden was finally being built in my town. Those of you with endless dining options in your area may scoff, but the arrival of our Olive Garden was a beautiful thing in my small city, and while we’ve had a few other well-known restaurants move into the area since, I am still a huge fan of Olive Garden’s delicious pasta and crave-worthy breadsticks. Keep reading to find out how you can win a prize pack from Olive Garden including a gift certificate and beautiful ceramic bowl from Williams-Sonoma!

At Olive Garden, it’s that time of year again! That’s right, now through October 10th, Olive Garden is featuring their Never Ending Pasta Bowl promotion, featuring endless servings of pasta and 40+ pasta-sauce combinations, including two new sauces! At $8.95 per guest, this is a really great dinner at an amazing price, particularly for those of you with healthy appetites! Oh, and of course, you can’t forget the unlimited garden salad, or soup, and breadsticks, all included with the Never Ending Pasta Bowl!

Are you getting hungry for pasta yet? Well, I’m happy to tell you that one lucky Dear Crissy reader will be winning a prize pack filled with goodies from Olive Garden!

WHAT YOU WILL WIN:
Williams-Sonoma ceramic, hand-made salad bowl
Olive Garden’s signature Italian salad dressing in traditional glass bottle
A $15 Olive Garden gift certificate
Complete Never Ending Pasta Bowl Guide

HOW TO ENTER & RULES:
You can enter multiple times for many chances to win! Please take the following steps to enter the contest, and make a separate comment below for each entry (ie., if you are a fan of Dear Crissy on Facebook (hint, hint), comment and say so). You have lots of chances to win! 18+, USA

MANDATORY ENTRY (worth 1):
Visit Olive Garden’s NeverEndingPastaBowl.com, and tell me your favorite pasta combination!

EXTRA ENTRIES IF YOU (worth 1 each):
Follow via Google Friend Connect (see my sidebar!)
Subscribe to DearCrissy.com via Email.
Like Dear Crissy on Facebook
Like Olive Garden on Facebook
Follow @Crissy on Twitter
Tweet Daily: Just use the ReTweet button at the bottom of this post! :)

Contest ends Sept. 22nd, 2010, 11pm EST. Winner will be drawn randomly. Best of luck! :)

Disclosure: I received a $15 gift card for Olive Garden. No other compensation was received, and opinions are completely my own.

A holiday weekend MAY not be the best time to post this, or anything for that matter, but for those of you reading my blog today, I have some questions. 1. Do you blog? 2. Where?

Please leave a comment with your URL, and if you like, a little about you and your blog. I’m going to be making visits to each URL that is posted, because I want to spend a little time getting to know you better! :) Whether you are a regular commenter, or a silent lurker, please say hello.

So… what are you waiting for!

In my home, we love pizza. We love, love, lovety-love pizza! According to my text editor, “lovety” is not a word, but that’s OK, right? Being pizza-obsessed perhaps isn’t the most glamorous admission to make, but hey, it’s true! For at least a year now.

I’ve been complaining about our old pizza pan, and promising that I would buy a new one when I got around it. If you know me, you know that I rarely get around to anything; luckily we received an incredible 14″ Tri-Tanium Pizza Crisper Pan from Wilton! Keep reading to find out how you can win one of these great pizza pans too!

Our exclusive Tri-Tanium non-stick coating resists scratching from metal utensils. Professional heavy-weight construction allows for even heat distribution. 14 x 5/8 in. (from Wilton.com)

Wilton’s Tri-Tanium® pizza pan is sturdy, and has a nice weight. Definitely a major upgrade from the flimsy, bottom-of-the-line pan that we had been using prior. The nonstick surface is wonderful, and I found that our pizza cooked evenly.

I am so excited to try some recipes for gourmet pizza on this pan! It’s really amazing how much a shiny, new, nonstick kitchen item can inspire you! Would you like to win a Tri-Tanium® Pizza Crisper Pan of your own?

WHAT YOU WILL WIN:
A 14 in. Tri-Tanium Pizza Crisper Pan from Wilton!

HOW TO ENTER & RULES:
You can enter multiple times for many chances to win! Please take the following steps to enter the contest, and make a separate comment below for each entry (ie., if you are a fan of Dear Crissy on Facebook (hint, hint), comment and say so). You have lots of chances to win! 18+, USA

MANDATORY ENTRY (worth 1):
Visit Wilton.com, and tell me which items (in addition to this pizza pan) you think look awesome!

EXTRA ENTRIES IF YOU (worth 1 each):
Follow via Google Friend Connect (see my sidebar!)
Subscribe to DearCrissy.com via Email.
Vote For Us on Top Baby Blogs (vote every day for extra entries!)
Like Dear Crissy on Facebook
Like Wilton on Facebook (tell em’ who sent ya, if you feel inclined!)
Follow @Crissy on Twitter
Follow @WiltonCakes on Twitter
Tweet Daily: Just use the ReTweet button at the bottom of this post! :)

Contest ends Sept. 15th, 2010, 11pm EST. Winner will be drawn randomly. Best of luck! :)

Disclosure: I received a pizza pan for this review. No other compensation was received, and opinions are completely my own.

The following article comes courtesy of awesome guest blogger Jen, of Jayesel! I’ve known Jen online for what seems like a REALLY LONG TIME, and among her other talents, she is everything that I wish I was when it comes to being organized and just generally with-it. I mean, she was even able to knock out this amazingly useful and informative post whilst being extraordinarily pregnant! Big thanks to Jen, and be sure to check out her wonderful blog!

When my husband and I got married, I had never really cooked before. Unless you count microwavable pizza rolls in my college dorm, or microwavable Easy Mac, or Ramen noodles made in the microwave.

I was VERY good at using a microwave.

But, now that I had a husband and an apartment, it was time to be a Grown Up. We had a (small, yet fully functional) kitchen! With a stove! And an oven! It was time to learn how to cook.

I started simple with some pastas and stir fry and tacos. Then I got recipes from my mom for all the things I loved growing up- tuna casserole, real macaroni and cheese. I also had a brief but frustrating relationship with a crock pot (turns out, that particular crock pot was terrible so it wasn’t that I couldn’t cook. I am now BFFs with my crock pot!) I tried to cook a few nights a week, and we used leftovers for lunches or Lazy Leftover Nights. I’m sure I made some icky meals now and then, but it was a learning process. Eventually I got the hang of things and even got more adventurous with trying new recipes I’d find online or in magazines.

Fast forward about 6 years and we had a baby. Suddenly my routine of cooking semi-regularly went out the window. One of the biggest problems I had with cooking dinner was planning ahead. With an infant to feed and wipe and burp and take care of each day, I would look up at the clock and suddenly it was 4pm, I hadn’t showered, and there was nothing on the menu for dinner. Nothing in the fridge thawing. CRAP. We ate a lot of soup and drive-thru fast food. And really, that wasn’t helping with my post-baby weight loss.

The ‘fly by the seat of my pants’ method of cooking just wasn’t working for our lifestyle anymore. I needed to get organized. I needed a plan.

The first thing I did was get rid of the messy recipe box I had been using. It was hard to keep organized and some of the recipes I had clipped from magazines were really tiny or really huge and everything got lost in a sea of paper. And I would just plain forget about some of our favorite dinners that I didn’t actually have a printed-out recipe for- like spaghetti, for example. So I got a binder instead.

I cleaned house on all the recipes I had collected, only keeping the ones we had tried and loved or ones I honestly thought I could make and enjoy. I reorganized them all into categories: instead of ‘chicken’ or ‘beef’ or ‘soups’ like on the pre-printed cards of my recipe box, I made my own: ‘Dinner’, ‘Appetizers’, ‘Side Dishes’, ‘Baked Goods’, etc. More topic/meal-based, rather than ingredient-based. It just made more sense for me to organize them that way. If I’m looking for something to take to a party: APPETIZER
SECTION! If I’m looking for a side dish to go with chicken: SIDE DISH SECTION! When I’m looking for dinner ideas: DINNER SECTION!

Then- and here’s the somewhat insane, maybe a little bit anal-retentive part- I typed up each and every recipe on my computer and printed them out on 4×6 index cards. And I put those index cards into sleeves that fit into the 3-ring binder. With dividers and everything. There are also pockets in the front and back for new recipes I haven’t tried yet. Once I make something new that we love and want to have again, I’ll type it up, print it out, and stick it in the right category. Ta-da!

Like I said: a little anal-retentive. But ORGANIZED! I know it sounds nuts, but once I got the first batch of recipes typed up and in the binder, it hasn’t been hard to keep up with at all. My husband may have given me a few weird looks during the process. But whatever. He loves me anyway!

I’ve been using this binder for several years now and it has worked great. Before my weekly grocery shopping trip, I make a list of meals for the week, leaving a few days ‘open’ for leftovers or ordering
pizza or even going out to dinner as a family. Then I make my shopping list based on those meals. I’ll consult the sales for our local grocery store, along with what’s in the fridge or pantry already to see if I can come up with something to save some money (because I SUCK at using coupons, so sales are my best bet for deals.)

There is flexibility here, of course. I’ll sometimes switch things around depending on what I’m in the mood for on a particular day or if something comes up one day and we won’t be home one night, etc. But at least I know that I have 4 or 5 meals for the week, all the ingredients bought and ready to go. It has saved me tons of stress over the last minute What’s For Dinner? question. And it has also made us eat healthier- no more panicked calls to my husband at 5pm, asking him to pick up some greasy fast food on his way home from work (though, occasionally, I’ll let that happen. Because: YUM.) Once I got organized and started planning meals ahead of time, I was able to lose those last 20 pounds of pregnancy weight. Hooray for that!

So there you go! That’s my system. Yours doesn’t have to be quite as crazy as mine. You could be less insane than me and just put clipped-from-magazine-recipes in the binder if you wanted to, instead of going nuts and typing and printing them all. Or, you could skip the binder altogether if you already have a great recipe box or cookbook you love to use. I think the biggest thing is just having some simple,
yummy dinners available in your recipe library and planning ahead a little bit.

So… what’s for dinner tonight? :)

What better way to kick off a month-long cooking and kitchen giveaway-fest, than with a copy of the #1 New York Times Bestseller, The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl by the amazing Ree Drummond!

As a longtime stalker, I mean fan, of The Pioneer Woman, I was more than thrilled to receive a copy of this cookbook. In my home, cookbooks typically function as an occasional source of reference, at best. I mean, the idea that I would ever sit curled up on the sofa reading a COOKBOOK, as if it were a piece of escapist literature, would have probably seemed absurd to me prior to receiving this book. However, Ree’s unique blend of personal narrative, crisp photography, and deliciously-delicious recipes combine to create a book that is truly a page turner even for cooking newbies like myself.

Evan also gets a kick out of this book. As you can see, there are plenty of photos featuring farm animals, which has given us the opportunity to brush up on our moo’s and neigh’s. Seriously, though, just like on her website, Ree’s photography sparkles in The Pioneer Woman Cooks.

I was pleased to see that one of my favorite recipes ever made the book, Ree’s Delicious, Creamy Mashed Potatoes. These mashed potatoes are downright decadent and quite possibly the best mashed potatoes I have ever had the pleasure of devouring.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks is chock full of scrumptious recipes, organized neatly and presented to you with accompanying photos, in classic Pioneer Woman style, and guess what? One awesomely-lucky Dear Crissy reader is going to win a copy of Ree’s book!

WHAT YOU WILL WIN:
A copy of The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl!

HOW TO ENTER & RULES:
You can enter multiple times for many chances to win! Please take the following steps to enter the contest, and make a separate comment below for each entry (ie., if you are a fan of Dear Crissy on Facebook (hint, hint), comment and say so). You have lots of chances to win! 18+, USA.

MANDATORY ENTRY (worth 1):
Visit The Pioneer Woman, and tell me what your favorite recipe is. Not sure, browse the site, and tell me what you think looks delicious!

EXTRA ENTRIES IF YOU (worth 1 each):
Follow via Google Friend Connect (see my sidebar!)
Subscribe to DearCrissy.com via Email
Like Dear Crissy on Facebook
Like The Pioneer Woman on Facebook
Follow @Crissy on Twitter
Follow @thepioneerwoman on Twitter
Tweet Daily: I entered to win a copy of @ThePioneerWoman Cooks from @Crissy, on DearCrissy.com! #cooking #giveaway http://retwt.me/1OA3x

EXTRA ENTRIES IF YOU (worth 5 each):
Blog about this contest, linking to both The Pioneer Woman, and Dear Crissy. PLEASE NOTE: While I am not looking for a masterpiece, one sentence does not constitute a blog post.

Contest ends Sept. 14th, 2010, 11pm EST. Winner will be drawn randomly. Best of luck! :)

Disclosure: I received a copy of The Pioneer Woman Cooks from Harper Collins. No other compensation was received, and opinions are completely my own.

Labor Day weekend is coming up–do you have plans to travel? Before you load the kids into the family car, take a moment to consider the condition of your tires. The folks at Goodwrench have provided a great source of information on tire safety, available to help make sure your family enjoys what’s left of the summer travel season, safely! Keep reading to find out how you can win a prize pack from Goodwrench! Finally, a giveaway for the guys!

According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA,) 660 fatalities and 33,000 injuries occur every year due to tire-related problems.
 


How scary is that? Luckily, my husband is quite diligent about maintaining our vehicles, and this includes regular home tire inspection. In fact, when we received a tire tread gauge from Goodwrench, he immediately went outside to check the tires on our vehicles. As parents, it is especially important to ensure that our tires are in excellent condition. We are driving around with precious cargo, after all!

Be sure to visit Goodwrench.com to learn more about your tires, and what steps should be taken to help make sure you are ready to roll!

How about a giveaway?

WHAT YOU WILL WIN:
A prize pack from Goodwrench, including the great hat and the tire gauge pictured above! This is a great prize for the guy in your life (whether it be your dad, boyfriend, husband, brother, or friend!)

HOW TO ENTER & RULES:
You can enter multiple times for many chances to win! Please take the following steps to enter the contest, and make a separate comment below for each entry (ie., if you are a fan of Dear Crissy on Facebook (hint, hint), comment and say so). You have lots of chances to win! 18+, USA.

MANDATORY ENTRY (worth 1):
Visit Goodwrench, and tell me something you learned about tire safety.

EXTRA ENTRIES IF YOU (worth 1 each):
Follow via Google Friend Connect (see my sidebar!)
Subscribe to DearCrissy.com via Email.
Vote For Us on Top Baby Blogs (vote every day for extra entries!)
Like Dear Crissy on Facebook
Follow @Crissy on Twitter
Tweet Daily: just use the re-tweet button at the bottom of this post!

EXTRA ENTRIES IF YOU (worth 5 each):
Blog about this contest, linking to both Goodwrench, and Dear Crissy.

Contest ends Sept. 13th, 2010, 11pm EST. Winner will be drawn randomly. Best of luck! :)

Disclosure: I received a hat and tread card from Goodwrench. No other compensation was received, and opinions are completely my own.

Having a hard time finding unique, modern, innovative products for your little one? Never fear, because I have an online retailer to share with you that I am really in love with–Trumpette! Keep reading to find out more about a special giveaway (5 winners!), exclusively for Dear Crissy readers!

The cliché may go that you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, but I find it almost always true that you can judge a shop by it’s storefront. I am attracted to stores online that provide me with a clean shopping interface, crisp images, and cool stuff. Trumpette’s baby gifts and apparel stand out immediately as not only adorable, but funky and fresh. Exactly the kind of items I love buying for little E.!

This week we’ve been having a blast playing with Evan’s new Howdy cow from Trumpette. Howdy is a rubber bouncy cow, and as you can see, the kid approves. Evan is actually perhaps not quite coordinated enough to fully appreciate the wondrous bounciness of this toy, but that’s a good thing, because he is only going to enjoy Howdy more as he gains control. I can totally see him playing with his Howdy for years to come.

The Howdy cow is simply a soft, rubber bouncing toy that you will need to inflate before use. Such a simple toy, but what kid doesn’t love to jump and bounce! See below to find out how you can be one of FIVE, yes five, lucky Dear Crissy readers to win a Howdy Cow from Trumpette! Also, be sure you check out Trumpette’s Facebook page, become a fan, and tell them where you came from! :)

WHAT YOU WILL WIN:
A cool Howdy Bouncing Cow for your active kiddo! Retail value: $38.50. Note, 5 will win!

HOW TO ENTER & RULES:
You can enter multiple times for many chances to win! Please take the following steps to enter the contest, and make a separate comment below for each entry (ie., if you are a fan of Trumpette on Facebook (hint, hint), comment and say so). You have lots of chances to win! 18+, USA

MANDATORY ENTRY (worth 1):
Visit Trumpette, and tell me which items (in addition to the Howdy Cow) you think look awesome!

EXTRA ENTRIES IF YOU (worth 1 each):
Follow via Google Friend Connect (see my sidebar!)
Subscribe to DearCrissy.com via Email.
Vote For Us on Top Baby Blogs (vote every day for extra entries!)
Like Dear Crissy on Facebook
Like Trumpette on Facebook (tell em’ who sent ya, if you feel inclined!)
Follow @Crissy on Twitter
Follow @TrumpetteInc on Twitter
Tweet Daily: I want to win a Howdy (bouncy rubber cow!) from @TrumpetteInc, @Crissy, & DearCrissy.com! #toys http://retwt.me/1OxS9

Contest ends Sept. 12th, 2010, 11pm EST. Winner will be drawn randomly. Best of luck! :)

Disclosure: I received a Howdy Cow from Trumpette for this review. No other compensation was received, and opinions are completely my own.

As a wedding photographer, I am invited to share some extraordinarily emotional and intimate moments with my clients. I mean, I’m with the bride and groom through their entire wedding day, from that jittery getting-ready phase, to the exchanging of vows, and finally, the celebratory finish. Do you want to know which event on the couple’s wedding day will put me into near-tears, without question, invariably, EVERY SINGLE TIME? You guessed it–or at least read the title of this post–the mother and son dance.

During the first wedding I photographed after having Evan, this came as a total shock to me. I didn’t anticipate experiencing such an intense rush of emotions, but when the lights go down and I see a mother, any mother, dancing with her newly-married son my heart just aches. I watch the mom smiling at her boy through the lens of my camera, and my head is filled with a flurry of images of my own kid. Someday my sweet, innocent, beautiful little boy will grow up and (hopefully) get married.

After that first wedding where I nearly cried my eyes out while trying to photograph the mother and son dance, I have tried to prepare myself beforehand. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to matter how much I try to block it out, I am pretty much victim to a painful lump in my throat through the entire song.

It really seems like most of the spotlight at weddings is put on the first dance, which is understandable, and the father and daughter dance. Not that the mother and son dance isn’t appreciated, but taking third place in the lineup means that many of the guests may have become bored with the sentimental slow songs, and their attention has wandered.

Well, I am paying attention, and I am sure that I am not the only mom of a boy in the room feeling the urge to cry a little. The relationship between mother and son is unique and special, and I am so blessed to know that every single day of my life.

I was chosen recently to represent SHOUT as a Brand Ambassador, and I could not be more thrilled! I have always recognized SHOUT as the stain remover, but have been so pleased to learn more about this brand’s fresh philosophy. One phrase that I read on SHOUT’s website that really struck a chord with me is, “Spills and stains are bound to happen when you live life to the fullest.” Isn’t that the truth!

As the mother of an active toddler, I am sometimes fighting an internal battle between the urge to keep my little guy neat and clean, and allowing him to explore, and maybe even get a little messy, which let’s face it, is a lot more fun! To help encourage your kids to play, learn, and live life to the fullest, you should enter the SHOUT Go Play Sweepstakes!

Deadline for the contest is Septbmeber 14th, 2010, so enter to win now!

Signing up for the SHOUT Go Play Sweepstakes is simple, and once entered, you will be eligible to win a weekly $200 gift certificate to Growing Tree Toys (one of my favorite online retailers, and hey, I was their Featured Blogger recently!) Of course, the grand prize (boy, is it GRAND!) is a Super Sunshine Castle from Rainbow Play Systems. This playset is the stuff dreams are made of.

I’m pretty sure the mom or dad who enters the SHOUT Go Play Sweepstakes and wins this playset for their child is going to get the award for Parent of the Decade.

Stay tuned over the coming weeks and months, as I will be bringing you more exciting information about SHOUT and their incredible line of stain removing products. For now, roll up your child’s sleeves and let him or her go play–you can leave stains up to SHOUT!

Disclosure: I am a compensated Brand Ambassador for SHOUT, in affiliation with Mom Bloggers Club.