Are you a Sweet Tea Junkie? GIVEAWAY!!

Good morning friends! In an attempt to make your Monday just a little more cheerful, I've got a GREAT giveaway for you today! I've been so excited about this, and have had the hardest time keeping it to myself. I have a feeling y'all are going to love love love this giveaway so be sure to read this entire post, and make sure you do everything you can to get all of the extra entries!


I was recently contacted by Michael Dorman, owner of Sweet Tea Junkie, a graphic design, print shop & apparel company in central Florida. This company was started as an experiment between a group of friends who loved sweet tea and wanted to see how many other "sweet tea junkies" there were out there. After starting a Myspace page and discovering more than 8,000 people shared their affinity for sweet tea, they knew they had stumbled onto something!

Michael decided to design a shirt and have a friend wear it to a music festival in order to see if anyone expressed an interest/desire to have their own shirt. After seeing the positive response to his design, Michael went to work on 3 new designs and the rest is history! It's been nearly 5 years since the idea was first conceived, and Sweet Tea Junkie is still going strong, printing amazing tea shirts and of course, consuming lots of sweet tea!

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On to the giveaway! I know we all love our sweet tea and I'm willing to bet most of my readers are "sweet tea junkies" like me!

One winner will receive Sweet Tea Junkie's most popular tea shirt - the Welcome to the South tea shirt is perfect for all of my Southern readers!

One winner will receive Sweet Tea Junkie's newest design - the Sweet Tea Script tea shirt has been very popular among buyers and for good reason, it's so cute!


And lastly, one winner will receive their choice of any tea shirt that Sweet Tea Junkie offers! Whoever wins this will be awarded a $21.50 shop credit, which will cover the cost of a shirt and shipping!


I nearly forgot to mention one of the coolest things about these tea shirts! People are given the opportunity to submit their favorite sweet tea recipe, and if it's good, they are printed on the inside of each tea shirt. So you are not only getting a shirt, but you are also getting a tried and true recipe for a delicious beverage!!

There will be a total of 3 winners!

Sweet Tea Junkie is also offering a discount to Sweet Tea Diaries readers of 15% off your purchase. Please use the promo code "sweetteadiaries" during checkout. Y'all, this is such a generous giveaway, and I want to say thank you again to Michael for offering my readers the chance to win such amazing prizes and this discount code.

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Here are the rules:

Earn ONE entry by visiting Sweet Tea Junkie, and leaving a comment on this post letting me know your favorite design.

Earn ONE entry by liking Sweet Tea Junkie on Facebook.

Earn ONE entry by signing up to receive the Sweet Tea Junkie email newsletter (which will often contain discounts and special offers on apparel).

Earn FIVE entries by submitting your favorite sweet tea recipe to Sweet Tea Junkie. If you are lucky, it will be chosen to be printed inside a tea shirt, along with your name!

Earn FIVE entries by posting about this giveaway on your own blog and submitting the link with your comment.

Feel free to leave one comment or multiple comments for your entries. I will be entering each entry manually into a spreadsheet to draw the winners.

Enter by midnight on Friday, March 4.

Best of the Week

Best of the Week

February 21-25, 2011

I'm very excited to announce that C has finally started his blog! He only has a few posts so far, but he's well on his way to becoming addicted to blogging! I think it will mostly be beer reviews, but he'll occasionally blog about food and our weekends as well! Tell your boyfriend/husband/any beer aficionado you know to check it out...I'm sure he'd love to see new followers :)

The Brewtal Yeti (get it?!)

As an update to last week's Best Of, I received my blog book from Blurb, and I couldn't be more pleased! Many of you expressed an interest in turning your blog into a book, and Blurb makes it super easy and affordable. The quality of the book is great, and you have complete control over every aspect of the creation process. I did my book in about 4 hours. It's 102 pages and the total cost (including shipping) was under $40. Here are some pictures of my book:

National Margarita Day was on Tuesday, and margaritas are like my all time favorite beverage! So C made me a yummy margarita to accompany our chicken taco dinner. Thank you internet for telling me about this wonderful celebration!

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And really, the best of the week is the fact that at 6 pm today, I will be on vacation for 9 glorious days! I am so excited and I've hardly been able to sit through this week without daydreaming about sleeping in and relaxing!

C and I are going to Carlsbad for the weekend. C had an event that ended up getting canceled because of bad weather, but we already had reserved our timeshare. I'm sure we'll find something to do! I am excited about watching the Oscars.

Then on Monday, we are driving to Las Vegas to meet up with my parents, and on Thursday, C's parents are joining us, along with his aunt & uncle, and a couple of cousins. This will be the first time I'm meeting his parents as well as the first time his parents are meeting my parents (obvi). I'm really praying that things go smoothly and everyone gets along. (By the way, this was in no way planned, it was coincidence that our parents were going to be in Vegas the same week so we just decided to get all the introductions over with.)


Come back Monday for an AWESOME giveaway...I am so excited I can hardly stand it, but I'm going to keep my mouth shut for a couple more days! But I do promise that you won't want to miss it! Have a great weekend friends!

Jumping on the Fit Train - Week 8

Biggest Loser
There are literally NO words.

Okay, I'm lying...I have plenty to say :)

I am appalled that the black team (i.e., Marci and Deni mainly, but I think Jesse a little bit too) purposely gained weight in order to "save" the younger players from elimination. In all of the seasons, I have not seen this many incidents where players purposely gain weight. First it was Don, Dan, and Irene, and now these 3 in this episode. It's amazing because the players that gained weight were applauded for being "selfless." What planet are we on that it's okay to do this and it's considered selfless?

Moses said it best, "I do respect what they did, but it doesn't really teach the children to go out through life to tackle anything. Regardless of whatever obstacle's in front of you, give everything you got."

I really hope that the producers have learned something from this episode and in the future, they don't tell players about a double elimination until the weigh-in because in the end, it really only hurts the players

And on another note, Jesse got completely screwed in the elimination. He should not have gone home. It was Marci and Deni who wanted to throw the weigh-in to begin with, and use Jesse as the scapegoat, should they have to go to elimination. This is so unfair and makes absolutely zero sense to me. He needs to be there, certainly more than Marci or Deni (who ended up being eliminated for falling below the red line). I just really don't get why the team ganged up on Jesse over Marci...oh, and also - my new least favorite player is Hannah...or is it Olivia? Actually it's both. They've got bad attitudes and temper problems.


Angela
Like I expected, it was tough to get back in the mindset I needed to be in. I struggled to get to the gym and I didn't make the best food choices, especially at lunch. Dinner tends to be easier because C and I are able to make the right choices together, but I'm on my own at lunch. Thankfully, even with moderate exercise and less attention paid to my calorie intake, I was still able to lose the weight I had added while on vacation (it was about 1 lb).

The not so great part? I'm heading out on a 9 day vacation starting Saturday, and am concerned about how to stay on the right path while still having fun. I know this is a situation that I will encounter for the rest of my life, and I have to figure out a way to continue the "get fit" journey even when there are temptations and obstacles in my way.

Here are 5 rules I've made for myself and I hope they help me stick to the plan:

Work out every day. Whether it be only 300 or up to 800+ calories burned, exercise is exercise. It gets the blood moving, it kick starts your metabolism, it helps you burn calories all day long! Plus, it makes me more conscious of calories consumed if I know how hard it was to burn those calories in the first place.

Eat a sensible breakfast. For me, breakfast is what keeps me structured throughout the day. I try to stick to a 200 calorie breakfast, usually in the form of a Luna bar. This fills me up for such few calories, and there is no reason to go crazy at breakfast, especially when you have the whole day ahead of you.

Drink LOTS of water. This is a habit that I've always been good at. I actually love water, and rarely drink other beverages, except maybe a glass of sweet tea every now and then. Water is a great way to keep your stomach happy and full, especially when you may be tempted to eat even though you're not hungry.

Keep fruits and healthy snacks within arm's reach. I love potato chips! Obviously, this snack isn't very conducive to my "get fit" plan, but I've found a great alternative to curb my crunch cravings...popchips! These are a delicious snack and I highly recommend them! Taken from their website:

We don't fry it (unhealthy). We don't bake it (undelicious). We take wholesome potatoes, add a little heat and pressure, and pop! It's a chip. The only thing added is a flavorful blend of seasonings for a snack so delicious and crispy, you won't even notice it's (we hesitate to say) healthier.

What's out? More than half the fat of fried potato chips, trans fats, and cholesterol. All gone. For good. What's popped in? Only what's natural, tons of delicious, and plenty of crunch.

I also love the sugar-free Jello pudding cups - the dulce de leche is especially tasty and at only 60 calories, makes an ideal afternoon snack. And of course, I try to eat around 3 servings of FRESH fruit a day - usually an orange, pineapple slices or a handful of grapes. Yes, fruit is high in sugar and sometimes calories, but it's a way better option than say a 100 calorie snack pack, which has absolutely no nutritional value.

Keep alcohol to a minimum. Honestly, this won't be a problem. It's very rare that I drink anymore, mainly because I get awful headaches and very tired after only one sip of alcohol. I'm not sure why, as this has really only happened in the last year (believe me, I used to have zero problems with drinking!!) but it's substantial enough to make me not want to drink.



Putting my rules down in writing makes it feel real, and I'm now being held accountable by each one of you that's reading. I'd like to thank all of you for coming on this "get fit" journey with me! I know this feature isn't appealing to everyone, but I'm very appreciative of the comments I do get, and each one helps to motivate me! So thank you :)

TV Show Update

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, then you know I love my tv shows! After the holidays, I dropped some of my regulars that just weren't doing it for me anymore, and added some new shows. Currently, here's what I'm watching:

Monday
Chicago Code
Hawaii Five-O
Castle (on hulu)
Greek (on hulu)

Tuesday
NCIS: LA
Biggest Loser: Couples
Glee
White Collar

Wednesday
Top Chef All-Stars
Toddlers & Tiaras
Survivor: Redemption Island (premiered last week)

Thursday
Jersey Shore
Nikita
Bones
Private Practice (on hulu)

Sunday
Amazing Race (premiered this week)
Brothers & Sisters (on hulu)

It may seem like I watch a lot, but you'll see that some of the shows are watched via hulu on my lunch breaks so it isn't like I'm sitting in front of my tv 24 hours a day :)

I've cut out the following shows:
Gossip Girl (I can't stand this show anymore)
NCIS (the regular one is too boring for me now, even silver fox can't make me watch)
Criminal Minds
The Mentalist (I didn't like the character JJ LaRoche so I stopped watching)

I've picked up The Chicago Code (good so far!) and of course Survivor and Amazing Race.

Did you give up any of your regular shows and pick up something new? Let me know in the comments!

Weekend Recap

I almost didn't write a weekend recap because let's face it - 75% of my weekend was spent sleeping! But that's exactly what I needed so I'm glad I had a free schedule.

Some high points of my weekend:

The Kogi food truck was near my house on Saturday and we randomly discovered they were there when I was checking my twitter. There is usually a looooong line anytime Kogi is around, but we lucked out and were able to walk right up and order.



The verdict? Two thumbs up!

The rest of Saturday was spent napping and then going to the gym. Quick little rant: there was literally no one there so all of the cardio machines were open. I was at one end and there were at least 12 open machines down the line. Then this one girl decided to use the machine RIGHT BESIDE ME! Why? I'm not sure why it annoyed me so much, but it did.

On Sunday I was finally able to do the laundry. This was very exciting for me...I love having clean clothes!

C and I watched the NBA All-Star game on Sunday night. Go West!



That's about it! Like I said, very low-key and just the break I needed after a busy Valentine's weekend. How was your weekend?