Souvenir Saturdays - Giveaways for Homesick Texifornians

I'm posting Souvenir Saturdays a day early today! Might be adding more to this tomorrow though!

I have been riding the magic carpet at One World One Heart the last couple of days, visiting all sorts of interesting blogs, and entering fun giveaways for some unique stuff.

I'm giving away winner's choice of either iced tea from Bush's Chicken or a postcard from Texas. I thought that would be nice for a visitor wanting a taste of Texas, or a homesick Texan wanting a taste of home. Along my travels I've found some other giveaways that Texifornian's might enjoy:

If you're missing the beaches of California or Texas, wearing a tiny capsule of treasures from the ocean might remind you of home.

Or you might enjoy flipping through the pages of 16 x Mom, a true story of a woman who raised her 16 children in the heart of San Jose, California which chronicles over 100 years of California history.

And, who wouldn't enjoy some Cowgirl Chocholate?...cowgirls are definitely a part of both Texas and California history and lore, and chocolate is always a good treatment for homesickness (IMHO). On my regular travels (not through One World One Heart), I found several blogs giving Cowgirl Chocholates away...

Helping Mommy's Win
Shop With Me Mam
Simply Stacie

Magic Carpet Giveaway

WINNER CHOSEN - CONGRATS MELISSA

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Hello and welcome to Texifornia! If you're coming here by carpet ride you may be wondering what strange place the magic carpet has brought you! Let me introduce myself and show you around a little.

I am a mother of three little boys who moved to Texas from California long before any of those three little boys were born. I was homesick as crazy at first, and had a lot of trouble with the culture shock....which is how Texifornia came about.

Texifornia is a little spot I created for Californians in Texas (like me) and Texans in California. It's a place where you can find news, humor and other tid-bits about California and Texas (and especially anything that relates to BOTH states) and meet other Texifornians. This blog is just part of it...there's graphics and jokes and more on the main site.

So, from wherever around the world today, Hello and welcome to Texifornia! And, now...on the the giveaway:

I am giving away one of the following (your choice):

A Post Card from From Texas (From Me)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominicspics/ CC BY 2.0

No, this isn't the actual one you'll get. It's a picture I found on Flicr and doctored up (with permission - love Creative Commons!). The real one I haven't bought yet, but it will most likely have one of the following on it: Wildflowers, The Texas State Flag, A Cowboy and a Sunset, or Cows (specifically Long Horns). Note also that my real handwriting looks better...that's mousedrawn and blurred to look like pencil using the Gimp. Cool huh!

...or you could have:
A Free Coupon for a Large Tea at Bush's Chicken

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevharb/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Again, I didn't have a picture of the coupon, so here's a picture of tea...ICED TEA of course, for anyone who lives outside of Texas and therefor might think the tea was hot. In Texas, you can order tea when it's 20 degrees out and it will come served with ice unless you specify otherwise. I don't think Bush's Chicken even serves hot tea. But, anyways, Bush's Chicken can't be found worldwide, which is why I'm giving everyone a choice between that and the post-card. If anyone wonders, Bush's chicken was started by a football player named Keith Bush...and as far as I know has nothing to do with the former presidents George Bush (Jr. or Sr.). It was however, started in the town I'm living in, Waco, TX...which is practically shouting distance from Crawford, TX, where former President George W. Bush still lives.


I know these aren't big prizes, but the main idea of the of the One World One Heart Giveways is to explore and meet some fun people around the world...the giveaways are just a good excuse to do that.

TO ENTER
Leave a comment below saying where you're from, where you are now, and where you've been in between! Or, if you rather (and this would make my day) make up a crazy word for where you've lived (for instance, I'm a Texifornian...you might be an Carolinayorker, or a Canadimarican, or you might be from Oklahio.) Make sure to leave an e-mail where I can contact you ( myemail at hotmail dot com is a good way to do it to avoid spam-bots ). And if you happen to have a blog or website, please leave your link so I can visit! After all, this whole things is about exploring! You can let me know whether you wanted the tea or the post-card after you win.

RULES
Anyone can participate, worldwide. Giveaway ends the last day of February 14th (formerly I had said the 31st, but there is no Feb 31st, and as it turns out we are supposed to announce all these on the 15th, which is a little detail I missed. Thanks Birgit of Swapping Howdies for pointing that out. Honestly, it wasn't a sneaky way to make this giveaway go on forever, just me being my absentminded self. ) Winner will be chosen the by random number generator (or, if there are less than ten entries, by my son picking a number out of a hat). The winner forfeits their prize if they don't provide a working e-mail or if they don't respond to my e-mail within 1 week.

MY OTHER GIVEAWAYS
Here are some other giveaways on my blogs you might be interested in (not all of these are OWOH giveaways, so read rules carefully and watch for hoops - easy hoops, I promise!):

• Large Scribbleprint Magnet (At Scribbleprints - OWOH #953) - 2/14
  
• Poetry Magnet & Honey Shea Soap (At Scribbleprints) - 2/14
• Shamrock Giveaway (At Scribbleprints) - 3/3
  

Souvenir Saturday: To Mess or Not Mess With Texas

You've all heard the phrase "Don't Mess With Texas." It's been used by the state in an anit-littering campaign, but when you usually hear it it's got nothing to do with littering.


But, of course, if you're a Californian living in Texas, it's hard not to mess with Texas now and then (and I don't mean littering):


CALIFORNIA, LET' S MESS WITH TEXAS !!! by march1694
Design customized t shirts at zazzle.com


I Mess With Texas by PerilousApparel
Design custom t-shirts at zazzle





Especially when Texans start coming up with things like this...


I mean, cause sometimes...


Texas is a mess. by funnycustomtshirts
Browse Texas T-Shirts

But on the other hand, if you're a Texan living in California, you might prefer something like this...


The Girl From Texas by trracie
See more Texas girl T-Shirts

...or this.


Don't Mess With Texans (black T) by ronscottcom
Make personalized tshirts at zazzle.com

But my absolute fave is this...


Don't Mess with China by mathcaddy
Browse more China T-Shirts

Advertise Here - Support a Good Cause

I've decided to sell advertising on this blog, the Texifornia main website, and my other sites to raise money for  MercyCorps, an organization that's working in Haiti and other places affected by disaster, war, and oppression around the world.  I'm not affiliated with MercyCorps - this is just something I'm choosing to do on my own accord.  I also sell advertising through Project Wonderful which does not go to support charity (mainly, it goes to right back into advertising for my own site).

The following spots are available on Texifornia for $1.

Texifornia - Front Page 
STATS: Around 95 hits per month
AD SPOTS:
Side Bar Text Link (Max 20 Characters) - 2 years
Side Bar Mini-Banner (Max 125 x 60) - 2 years
Side Bar Button (Max 125 x 125 ) - 1 year
Side Bar LARGE BANNER (Max 125 x 240) - 6 months
Bottom Banner (Max 468 x 60) - 2 years
Bottom Banner (Max 468 x 300) - 1 year

Texas Jokes Main Page
STATS: Around 250 hits per month
AD SPOTS:
Bottom Banner (Max 468 x 80) - 2 years
Top Square (125 x 125)* - 1 year (or 2 years for Zazzle affiliate links)
*This ad spot is only available to humorous ads related to Texas

Texas Joke: You Know You're Texan When Page
STATS: Around 125 hits per month
AD SPOT:
Top Banner (max 468 x 60) - 1 year


Texas Joke: Texas State
STATS: Around 95 hits per month
AD SPOTS:
Top Banner (max 468 x 60) - 1 year

Texifornia Blog
STATS: Around 20 hits per month
AD SPOTS:
234 x 60 or 125 x 125 or smaller banner in side-bar for 1 year.
A blog post about your Texas or California related product (will remain on blog indefinitely).  For consumable items like soap or food, and some other products, I may require a sample to try so I can write a proper review.  This is usually not the case for things like t-shirts or jewelery where I can see a lot about the product just from a picture.
FREE:  Will list any Texifornian's blogs (Californians from Texas or Texans from Californian) in our blogroll for free, no donation necessary (but don't let that stop you...it's a good cause!).


For a complete list of sites I'm offering ad space on, click here.


To order, contact me and let me know what ad spot you're interested in.

Websites must be pre-approved, cause you see I'm sort of picky about what sites I link too...I don't want to link to places with porn, racism, vulgarity, or any of a number of other things I feel conflict with my ethics and beliefs. So, I want to screen sites first. But that being said, for just $1 donation to you can get up to two years of advertising? Not bad, is it? It's worth asking first, for, right?

And if you would like to offer advertising on your own site to raise money for a charity you care about, or find out more places where you can buy advertising that goes to support a good cause, click here.

Hot and Not Hot Wednessdays....on Thursday Again

Well, better late than never. Here's what's hot and what not this week.

HOT
Visiting family and friends in Houston.

NOT
Houston roads. OK, so I'm used to roads having more than one name now. And luckily we were warned ahead of time about all the tollways. But I didn't expect to find tollways we couldn't go on without an "EZPass" (a whole road, and no amount of quarters could get us onto it. And the clencher was a closed on-ramp that kept us zig-zagging through not so nice neighborhoods in downtown nearly an hour with three fussy tired kids who had already driven three hours. And that was even with and i-phone with Google maps!

NOT
Loobylu seems to be missing. She hasn't posted a new Mr. Linky since Christmas. Hope she's just taking a vacation and that nothing is wrong.


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Hot and Not Hot Wednesday

NOT
An earthquake has leveled most of Port-au-Prince, Haiti (Hait's capital city, population around 200,000), and has affected nearly 3 million people -- one-third of Haiti's population.

HOT
Sending help. There's a list of places to donate on Charity Navigator. I will be giving to Mercy Corps, an organization I've been watching for several years after it was sited by Charity Navigator as having one of the most affective and well-organized responses to relief for victims of Hurricane Katrina.



Below are two places that also support Mercy Corp when you click (that's right, all you have to do is click on a page on their site - advertising on the site pays for the donation).

. ..............
Just click the pictures above. Clicks support several charities, including Mercy Corps. I'm not sure if any of the funds earned for Mercy Corps through those site will specifically go to Haiti relief, BUT any funds going to this charity should help, since they free up more non-allocated funds to go to disaster relief. And it's quick and free, so why not try it?

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Thanks as always to Loobylu for starting Hot or Now Wednesdays! Visit her Mr. Linky to see others who are participating.

Souvenir Saturday - Texifornia Tee

I like to search for funny and interesting "stuff" related to Texas and California. This week I found a particularly Texifornian T-shirts at Zazzle.

TEXIFORNIApopulation: 1 by dustinvs

LIKE IT! Though I might argue that Texifornia has a lot larger population than one!

I'm gonna try to do this "Souvenir Saturday" every week. Originally was going to make it T-Shirt Tuesday, but that just excludes entirely too much good stuff (like bumper stickers and postcards and strange little figurines). Should be fun!

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