would you rather lose weight or get ride of debt?

Happy Blogoversary to me!

This wee blog of mine was started a year ago, May 19th, 2008. We'd recently moved across Canada from Calgary to the Ottawa area and didn't know a soul. We had no family or friends around and were living in a hotel in downtown Ottawa (for FIVE WEEKS). I was ten weeks pregnant and suffering from A.W.F.U.L morning sickness. I was sick, bored and more than a bit lonely.

A blog was born.

I wasn't sure if I should celebrate my one year anniversary today or wait until February 5th which was the first time that someone other than a family friend or family member left a comment on my blog (it was Noreen from 5K--Live Love Laugh).

That fateful day. I was hooked.

But having to wait until NEXT February wouldn't be any fun. I'm too impatient.

So to celebrate a year of rambling blogging, I'll be giving away a copy of EITHER the 30-Day Shred with Jillian Michaels OR The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsay. You can read more about my reasons for choosing these two prizes HERE. Because of our commitment to paying off our debt, this prize will be coming to you courtesy of the SwagBucks I've been winning.

In order to enter, here's what you have to do:

• Leave me a comment here on why YOU would like to win either the DVD or book (feel free to also include how great you think I am).

And because I'm a lemming and most other blog giveaways include the following ways to get additional entries, I'll include them too:

• Blog about this giveaway, and then come back here and leave a link for me to check out.
• Twitter about this giveaway (or RT my Twitter feed post update thingy), and then come back here and leave me a link to your tweet.
• Subscribe to my feed, or let me know if you already do.

Leave a separate comment for each entry.

Rules, regulations, and other important stuff: This giveaway ends Saturday, May 23rd at 11:59 PM, EST (at which time I will be passed out after Liam's Lego Clone Wars birthday extraordinaire). Winner will be chosen the following day via Random.org (or we'll cut all the names out of paper, tape them to the wall and throw darts). Winner has 48 hours to respond to my notification email, or a new winner will be chosen in their place. Giveaway is open to Canadian and US residents.

But remember, there's a catch...

I wish I had hundreds of prizes for all my hundreds of readers at least a couple dozen prizes for each of my handful of loyal readers (hey, I'm all about quality over quantity and I have some QUALITY readers!). If you've never left a comment before, I'd love to hear from you. De-lurk yourself! I really do truly appreciate everyone who takes time to read this blog.

What originally began as a space to share stories and pictures with my family and close friends has become much more. Still a place to record my thoughts and memories, it's now also a place where I can connect with other moms (or stay at home dads... hi, Ryan), explore parenting issues, work through feelings about my dad's death, seek accountability and vent and complain about bugs.

Thank you for sharing your time and lives with me. It means more than I can say.