End of "Tera's Truths" Contest

Okay, so the votes are in, so to speak. And no one got all 3 of the "truths".
Three people got one right each. And since no one got all three, and I said the first person to get all 3 would win, I'm going to call it good with the first person who played that got 1 right.
That would be...Shirley! Who's idea it was to do this silly thing in the first place...so I guess that's kind of fitting.  (Shirley, email me!)

So what are the answers? They are as follows.

1:  I once won a backstage pass to an Oingo Boingo concert and had my picture taken with Danny Elfman.
     FALSE!  I just wish it were true. Secret Agent Man is a huge Oingo Boingo fan and I guess   
     it's rubbed off.

2:  I got to be part of a crowd scene at the Rocking Horse Bar in Spokane during the filming of "Vision  Quest".  Madonna sang "Crazy For You".

     FALSE!  However, two of my roommates at the time did drive over an hour to Spokane and 

     then waited in line for 4 hours to try to get in before deciding to just go shopping instead!

3:  I lived in Frankfurt, Germany for two years, by myself, and worked at a Burger King.
     TRUE! I got married way too young to a military guy, moved to Germany with him, 
     promptly separated and then was stuck there until my parents decided to send me $ to 
     get home.

4:  I had to be air-lifted off a mountain after a skiing accident that broke both my ankles.
     FALSE! It sort-of-kind-of-almost-but-not-quite happened to my brother though.

5:  I am a direct descendant of Erik the Red.
     False! As far as I know, being adopted and all. But my dad used to tell me I was. (Way to go 
     dad! Made me feel all important and stuff!)

6:  I once got arrested for public intoxication outside of a Journey concert.
     TRUE!  Well, I got a ticket. (Same diff in this state.)  There was a whole group of us, 

    and several of the group were drinking, I was not (that's my story and I'm sticking to  

    it!), but we all got tickets. And had to go to court. And my car broke down on the way 

     there (no, it's true!) so they issued a warrant for me but since I was on my way out of 

     country (see #3) they said the heck with it and threw it out. 

      (There Michel, feel better now!?)

7:  I'm a speed reader. I once read War and Peace in 20 minutes.
     FALSE! It's actually a Woody Allen quote.

8:  I'm color blind.
     FALSE! But it would make drawing interesting wouldn't it?!
 

9:  I'm a "night owl", get bad sunburns when I'm exposed to too much sun and am severely allergic to garlic. I think this means I'm half vampire.
     TRUE!  Bwah ha ha ha ha! No seriously!  Bwah ha ha... oh drat. Still true, though. 

Award and a contest!

If you have not checked out Shirley at Shirley's Illustrations, go do it now! She is a fabulous artist and her little critters never fail to make me smile.

Shirley has graciously given me an award! I say "gracious" with a laugh, because it's the "Bald Faced Liar Creative Writer" award! Ha!

As most blog awards go, I am supposed to:

1) Thank the person who nominated you (Thanks Shirley!) and link to their blog. (check)
2) Copy the logo and place it on your blog.(check)
3) Tell 6 outrageous lies and at least one outrageous truth about yourself. (check, see below)
4) Nominate seven other "creative writers" and post links to their blogs. (check, ditto)
5) Leave comments for them to let them know you nominated them! (on my way!)

So I'm going to nominate the following:
Michel at Facts Are Strictly Optional
Otin at Wizard of Otin
Spuds at Carrying a Cat by the Tail
The Pseudonymous High School Teacher
"Middle-aged Woman" at Unmitigated and the Zombie News Network
Captain Dumbass at Us and Them (and the Zombie News Network again!)
and I'm gonna cheat by adding "anyone else who wants to play"!
(Disclaimer: If you really don't want to do this, that's fine, too. I know people are busy. But you all are some of my favorite liars storytellers, so I just thought I'd pass on the love!)


Alright. Now for a rousing game of "Truth? or Lie?"

Which of the following are actual true facts about me? Hint: there are three. And the contest part? The first person who responds with all three correct actual true facts about me wins a print of any one of my drawings (from this blog, Etsy or Zazzle) that they want! Yea! (Family doesn't count!)

Here goes!
1:  I once won a backstage pass to an Oingo Boingo concert and had my picture taken with Danny Elfman.
2:  I got to be part of a crowd scene at the Rocking Horse Bar in Spokane during the filming of "Vision  Quest".  Madonna sang "Crazy For You".
3:  I lived in Frankfurt, Germany for two years, by myself, and worked at a Burger King.
4:  I had to be air-lifted off a mountain after a skiing accident that broke both my ankles.
5:  I am a direct descendant of Erik the Red.
6:  I once got arrested for public intoxication outside of a Journey concert.
7:  I'm a speed reader. I once read War and Peace in 20 minutes.
8:  I'm color blind.
9:  I'm a "night owl", get bad sunburns when I'm exposed to too much sun and am severely allergic to garlic. I think this means I'm half vampire.

I am going to be out of town for a few days, but will be checking in...so I will post the answers once someone guesses the correct ones, or on Sunday if no one has by then.  At that point, whoever was closest, wins.

How's that sound?

My New Glasses

So, a while back I wrote a bit about Business 2 Blogger and their great opportunities for bloggers to make a little cash-ola and/or some nice parting gifts. (Joke! I know you're not going anywhere! ...You're not going anywhere, right?)

Anyway, I was selected to participate in an opportunity provided by Glasses USA - get a free pair of glasses in exchange for a blog post. I thought, why not? They have great looking eyeglasses for a fraction of the cost that most places do. They have a lot of styles to chose from, including progressive lenses and sunglasses.Glasses USA is an international company with a US office headquartered in New Jersey, and I'm all about supporting US businesses these days.  And they "recycle" all returned glasses by donating them to charity. Their philosopy is that "Seeing properly shouldn’t be a luxury – it should be a necessity".  I think that's awesome.

I have had prescription eyeglasses since I was in college when I quickly discovered that I had a hard time focusing between my note pad and the blackboard.  Over the years, as I get older (wait, what? that's a filthy lie!) I have found that my eyesight is getting progressively worse. It's not that bad, but I have trouble reading street signs and that kind of thing. On the flip side, I'm finding my close vision is not quite what it used to be either.  On the plus side, I have discovered I quite like the way I look with glasses and now have several pair so I can change them up depending on what I'm wearing.

Now, I have to admit, when I first went to Glasses USA and saw their prices, I was a little skeptical.  I mean, most of them were really inexpensive and, unfortunately, it's hard to equate "cheap" with "quality". But they had a lot of super cute frames, and really, what do I need a designer's name on my glasses for? My purse, maybe. My glasses? Not so much. So I found about 10 different frames that I liked, ranging from $18.00 (I know!) to about $67.00. And that's for the whole pair, lenses and everything (I know!) Plus they have a great FAQ section that even answers questions about your prescription and how to read it. And if you still can't figure it out, you can fax or email your prescription to them and they'll fill out the form for you.  I finally settled on a pair that I thought was really cute and was something different than anything else I owned. The ones I picked were the Maya frames.

 I had several other concerns about ordering glasses online: what if I didn't like them? What if they didn't fit right? But Glasses USA has a really great return policy - you can return your glasses for any reason, and get an exchange or a refund. So really, free glasses never sounded better. All it cost me was a little time and a blog post. Fantastic!
And the reality was that they arrived fairly quickly and they fit just fine and look great! That "quality" I was worried about? Great.  In fact, I like them better than the ones I just bought a month or so ago for over $300 at a local eyeglass boutique store. (Seriously, I'm not just saying that...) Even Secret Agent Man said they were cute. The frames are light weight, they are almost exactly the color they looked online (a great bonus-no surprises) and I didn't have to adjust them at all.

I have already shared the experience with several of my glasses-wearing friends at work. A couple of them are already picking out glasses to order.  And for you, my friends, Glasses USA has included a special code: Mommy5  to use if you order glasses from them and it’s good for 5% off your final order. It may not sound like much, but their glasses are such a good deal, you really don't need much of a discount! Or - if you go "friend" them on Facebook, I see they have other codes, coupons and promotions going on all the time.

So go check it out.
Really!

FTC Compliant Review Policy: The product(s) featured in this review were provided free of cost to me by the manufacturer or representing PR agency for the sole purpose of product testing. Opinions expressed are my own and are NOT influenced by monetary compensation.

Business 2 Blogger

I don't know if any of you have checked this out yet, but I found it through Jay at Halftime Lessons. He and a couple of gorgeous gals named Shauna and Holly have started this website - Business 2 Blogger - to help blogs (and business!) make some money and/or swag and generate some business.
Oh yah - it's free, too! Seriously! No, really... FREE!

What they do is send you an email with several blogging opportunities. You are provided a link to submit your interest in whatever campaign you choose. If you are selected, you get an email telling you the details of the campaign and what is required for you to participate. There are free books to people who will read and review, or clothing to try, etc. Others just want you to write about something using certain words to see what happens on web searches. They differ. Go check out the site, it explains it better than I can.

Anyway, what I discovered is that most of the business want you to have a certain page rating or a certain amount of people reading it everyday. Being a relatively new blog I'm not too high up on the ranks yet. But a couple days ago I submitted my site for a campaign for Glasses USA. Usually by the time I get around to it, the chances are gone (typically they only want 5-20 bloggers for whatever) but this time I was actually able to submit my name. And even though they wanted someone with a page rating of 4+ (mine's only 3) there was an area to type some info if you wanted. So I said I had been a glasses wearer for 20 years and was always looking for stuff to blog about. And they picked me!

So now I have to send them my prescription and pick out a pair of glasses, then review them when they send them to me. Great! I just wish I'd seen this before I went out and bought a new pair of glasses 2 weeks ago! Dang those things are gettin' 'spensive!

Anyway, go check it out. It's interesting at least to see who's wanting what and maybe it'll give you some ideas. Best case scenario is you'll get some cash-ola or some nice "prizes"!

Now I just need to figure out how to get Ford to give me one of these if I agree to blog about it...!

Last Chance for Giveaway

Today's your last chance to enter my giveaway. You can leave a comment here or on this post. Tomorrow (Saturday) I will use one of the online random number generators to pick two winners. Each winner will get to choose one of my newest prints. I'll even go ahead and include Stilts and Some Bunny Loves You!

New Crystals

So I got my new Swarovski Crystals from Artbeads.com. Remember? I agreed to blog about Artbeads and their products and they agreed to give me free stuff? I love me some free stuff!

I tried some different colors and sizes than I normally would, usually I use about a 4mm crystal (I found out the 3's are way tiny, after accidentally buying a bunch, but I'll figure out something to do with them, I'm sure.) But this time I thought I'd try some larger ones to use more like a bead than an accent, so I got 5mm ones. They are quite nice, and the colors are just like they looked online, so that's a bonus! I hate it when you order something on line, beads, shoes, sweaters -whatever- and they look completely different in person than they did in the catalog or online.
Well, these are great. I'm looking forward to having some time this weekend to make some stuff. I think I'm going to do earrings. I, personally, wear more earrings than I do necklaces. But we'll see where it goes. Sometimes I start with one idea and go somewhere completely different. My drawings often work that way, too.

I do have some time this weekend, too, because Hubby, aka Secret Agent Man, is off to Michigan visiting his folks. I couldn't get any vacation time, so I get to stay home and work. And clean house. And make jewelry!

Here's some pix of the crystals I got this week. They are colors like Indian Sapphire, Indian Pink, Rose, Peridot, Padparadscha, Blue Caribbean Opal (which is interesting and opaque, I haven't used crystals like that before), Jet, Black Diamond,and Silver Shade. In a couple days hopefully I will be posting more jewelry.










And don't forget, all my posted jewelry is available at olivehue2 on Etsy! If you want to buy something, and you include in the message to seller that you saw it on my blog, I will give you a discount and free shipping!

Opportunity Knocked

So I got a lovely email from a Duchess Erickson at Artbeads.com who saw my jewelry and that I have a blog and asked if I would be interested in participating in a program they have where they send samples to some jewelry makers/bloggers and have them talk about the products and use them. I thought this would be fun and give me extra stuff to blog about, so I said "sure"!
This month, apparently, is Swarovski crystal month! Yea!
(Of course, the really funny thing is I just ordered a whole bunch of Swarovski from another bead company but, shhh, I won't tell if you don't. That's okay, though, I love them and will use them all!)

Anyway, I'll let you know what I get when I get 'em and maybe have some more pretty stuff to show!

Being the crow girl that I am, I love all things sparkly! Here's some interesting Swarovski stuff I found online:

My First Giveaway!

Cue the bells and whistles and applause! Fireworks? Woo hoo!

Okay, so maybe it's not really all that exciting. Bear with me - I haven't had a giveaway and I'm thinking it might be fun!

I was talking to a co-worker today about a recent UFO call we got. (We do get them from time to time but they tend to be pretty tame.) Mostly we just give out the number for the UFO Hotline, because it's really not all that interesting. I suspect they are mostly jets from the local airport that are seen at a weird angle or something.
However, we both had interesting UFO stories of our own to share. I will share mine, because, well, it's really cool and it's my blog! (I think we've been over this before...) Plus I just read that they have declared May to be National UFO month in Canada. (Any Canadians know if this is true? Or is it just some UFO nut hopeful?)

But wait! you cry. Where's the giveaway part?! Well, it's this: I'm going to share with you all my UFO story. Then I would like for anyone interested to share their UFO story in the comments section. In a couple of days, (oh, how about Wednesday night?) I will select the one that I think is the best for whatever reason I see fit (again: My. Blog.) and then whoever the winner is will get to choose one of my Space Girl prints!
That's right, any one of my lovely Space Girls in all her 8x10 glory. I'll even sign it for you if you like.
So if you want to participate, tell your story (Reader's Digest version, please) in the comments section. I will then pick a winner and ask for you to email me with an address where to mail your Girl.

And here's my story:

It was late summer 1989. I was living in Colville, WA and working at a mom and pop grocery store until fairly late at night. Usually I walked home from work (unless it was raining because, you know, I melt in the rain). Anyway, my roommate came down one night to walk home with me. As we were walking up the hill we were commenting about how nice it was, a few clouds in the sky, the moon shining behind one cloud to the east looked really cool, yadda yadda. All of a sudden he stops dead in his tracks and looks over to the west. I say, hey what's up? He just stands there so I turn around and look. And there, to the west is THE MOON! I know, right?!
So we look back to the east at the really bright light behind the cloud. We stand there watching it for about 30 seconds and all of a sudden it just drops from the sky. Super fast. It goes down behind the tree line and we can't see it anymore but just then all these...beams -for lack of a better word, shoot up. They start moving back and forth like search lights.

My friend and I, at that point, start running for the house. He gets on the phone and calls a friend of his to come get us in his truck ('cause we were in college and p-o-o-r then, so of course we had no car). Friend #2 shows up and we start driving in approximately the direction of the lights. By this time we figure whatever it was went down across the Canadian border (I'm sensing a possible theme here...). We got to a clearing where we had a pretty good sight line and stopped. It was late, we never would have made the border crossing before closing at that point.
At this time the lights were getting dimmer and dimmer until there was just a glow on the horizon. Then about the time we decide to go we hear "whup whup whup whup whup" and look to the east in time to see a couple of these and one of these hauling ass for the border.

We never did find out what the dealie-o was, and we tried! We called the local Air Force Base, we called radio stations and weather services and nada. Zip. Zero. Zilch. I'm sure it was probably some military test plane or something.
Or was it...?

Your turn.