To wrap up this week, the lovely Emily of the object enthusiast is here sharing a special time in her life—and she has a special treat as well! You all know what a fan I am of Emily’s work, and I’m so so excited that I was not only able to purchase one of her gorgeous new copper pieces, but that Emily was so nice to give one away to one of you! Read her post, oogle over her moodboard, and then skip on down to have your chance at wining some lovely. I styled the vases and took some photographs to show you just how lovely these pieces really are. Thank you, thank you Emily!

FROM EMILY—The best 6 days of my life were spent in Paris in the Spring of 2008. It rained the entire time I was there, and since then I’ve always had a thing for gray rainy days. Rainy days take me back to the time I spent in Paris, even when I’m stuck in Kansas. On rainy days I like to treat myself to my favorite tea, a flaky croissant, and I grab my boots and an umbrella and I walk around pretending I’m still on those cobble stone streets in the heart of the most amazing city on Earth. My heart swells when I think of Paris – the late night walks, the love that might have been. Words cannot describe the feeling I had when I emerged from the Metro that first day. I dream about wandering those puddled streets again someday.

Rainy mornings are my weakness. Nothing feels better than savoring the grayness of a rainy morning. I often skip out on my responsibilities on rainy mornings so that I can sit and pretend to be in Paris.

One of my girly guilty pleasures is having a vanity—it was my mission to find the perfect one when moving here to Savannah. I was so scared to barter for this one at the flea market that I had a friend take my money and do it for me! hah. Since then, I have accumulated some pretty things to decorate the top with. Antique mirrored trays? You bet! I knew when I saw Emily’s copper vase that it would be the perfect addition to my vanity. I love that I can bring some nature into my beauty routine each morning, and taking this time to relax and be surrounded by beautiful things really makes a great start to the morning.

Now that you have your chance to win your own, where would you put your copper vase? Do you have a vanity to place it on, or are you going to use it on your desk to hold some art supplies? I think it’s the perfect little pick-me-up to pretty much any surface!

There are several ways to enter and you have until next Friday, March 29th at midnight to do so. If you’re in a reader please click through to the post to enter the giveaway—I’m using rafflecopter. You also can stop by to tweet throughout the week for extra entries. For US residents only, excluding Hawaii and Alaksa. Good luck!

Be sure to check out Emily’s shop for more goodies!

All giveaway photos taken by Kelsey Cronkhite for Pinegate Road

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Do you remember my lovely sponsor that I introduced you to last week? Well, Fresh Tangerine has graciously offered to give one of you your pick of three layering bracelets from her shop (value: $54). These would make a perfect addition to your bracelet collection, or as a sweet gift to a friend for this holiday season. I love the idea of pairing up a couple colors to root for a favorite team or to celebrate a holiday. With twenty-seven different colors to choose from, you could really go crazy!

The giveaway will be open until next Monday, December 17th at midnight. I’m using rafflecopter for this giveaway, which means you can keep coming back throughout the week to enter again. Best of luck, and big thanks to fresh tangerine for the giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

PS: I have one last giveaway for this holiday season! It’s my own personal giveaway, and I’m excited to share something near and dear to my heart with you. Look for that next week, and then we’ll be going through a giveaway detox at least until after the new year.

About a month or so ago I reached out to Miss Whitney English about her recent creation: The Day Designer. This quarter, as many of you know, I unexpectedly was moved to all online courses, started working with a couple more freelance clients on top of my regular day job, and was trying to keep up with the growth of the blog and some other surprise personal projects. To say the least, my old organization routine of keeping a teux deux list was just not going to cut it with all of the future planning that I needed to work out on this chaotic schedule. When I heard about a planner that was catered specifically to the creative entrepreneur, I was intrigued. After a little over a month of using The Day Designer, I can definitely let you know that it’s been a game changer in how I work.

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT THE DAY DESIGNER:

• For the first section of the planner, you’re introduced to some unique tools that help you find your personal passions and goals. What?! I’ve always been one to have goals to work towards, but writing these down, and planning your schedule around meeting these goals was something that I had never done before. While I’m still on the journey of meeting my goals, keeping these in mind daily really helps keep them in focus, and you can do little things each day that will add up to meeting that goal in the long run.

• The set up is easy to understand, and you keep your priorities straight by having a month in review throughout the planner to keep those larger goals broken up into manageable aspects.

• There is a large page for each day. This is key! I love having enough space on each day to write notes, and add tasks as they come up. Keeping it all on one page helps you focus on what you need to do for that day, rather than looking at an entire week and feeling overwhelmed.

• It’s aesthetically pleasing. Come on, who doesn’t love hot pink and black and white stripes? The quality of The Day Designer is amazing. You feel like you’re really working with something special.

• It combines a traditional to-do list—that I was already familiar to working with—and combines it with a schedule and priority system. Each day you pick your top three items from your list that you need to complete. This helps make the to-do list less daunting, and helps you feel accomplished when you do get all three of those done for the day. By pairing this system side-by-side next to a schedule, you can see where your daily tasks can fit into your schedule in one day.

• Quotes on each page bring a smile to my day.

So, are you intrigued?  You can get your own day designer HERE. Also, lucky for you Whitney has offered to give one of my lucky readers a Day Designer of their own! The giveaway will be open until next Friday, December 14th, at midnight. I’m using rafflecopter for this giveaway, so follow along below for your chances to win! You can enter multiple times, so head on back throughout the week for more chances. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

After my last giveaway for the Lentement Project, I had the wonderful opportunity to hand-deliver a shadowbox to one of the winners—she happened to be living just down the street from me! After that weird coincidence, I headed over to meet up with EMK over at Rethink Design Studio to get a look at the place and deliver the prize. What I loved about this experience—beyond getting to know a new local friend here—was how versatile this local design studio really is. They focus mainly on interior design, but they go way beyond that. Recently, they have launched a line of powder-coated kitchen utensils in their shop that have my kitchen yearning for some color! Luck for you, they’re giving away this gorgeous pink whisk to one lucky reader.

There are five opportunities to win! Just click through below to follow Rethink Design Studio and Pinegate Road on twitter and Facebook, and leave a comment below letting us know what holiday treats you’re hoping to whip up with this season. Remember to comment separately for each entry—the winner will be randomly chosen from the comments. The giveaway is open to U.S. residents only and will be open until Wednesday, December 5th at Midnight.

Best of luck, and remember to check out Rethink Design Studio, their blog, and their shop!

I’m very excited to share this project with you all! After the introduction of Project Lentement last week, there were many of you who said that something like this was just what you were looking for. Phew! it wasn’t just me! As part of this project, I have created a slow down kit that will immerse one of you into the full experience of the project—and those who don’t win can get a glimpse here!

My goal was to create something special and homemade that dealt with most of the senses. With different layers to the kit, you can experience a different mind-set as you pass through each one. My hopes are that whoever wins this kit will write back and tell me how they experienced the kit, and possibly send along some photographic evidence. I’d love to share your experiences with those following along with the project, and hopefully you can inspire some of us to take a little time in our lives to live in the moment!

While I’d love to send a kit to each and every one of you, the time and craft it took to produce just one was pretty exhausting! (sorry folks). BUT, I have four extra shadow boxes that I will fill with the Lentement Print and a special message.

I ask that whoever receives these prizes fills their shadow box with something personal that will remind them to live in the moment and slow down a little more. I also hope that you would send along a photo of where you decided to put your boxes, and what you filled them with. I filled mine with a fork, reminding me to keep at it in the kitchen—it’s a place where I truly feel happy and love the sensory experiences that I gain there. Not so much the clean-up, but hey.

There are several ways for you to enter the giveaway, just follow along below to get started!

If you are in an RSS reader, or you can not view the giveaway entry, click here.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Best of luck to you all, and remember, keep using the #lentement hashtag on twitter, instagram, and interest to log your moments!

A big congrats to Emily! She is the winner of the lovely Lydali clutch from the giveaway that was hosted here last week. You have an email waiting in your inbox so I can send it your way :)

The winner was chosen via the random number generator. Thank you so much to all who entered and showed support for Pinegate Road and Lydali! AND a big thank you to Lydali for hosting the giveaway—they were a dream to work with, and such an amazing company, so I hope you all continue to support them in their endeavors.

I have a very special treat for you all today. I was contacted by Lydali a couple weeks ago to see if we could pair up together and create some magic. I decided to take a browse through their shop. Not only did I begin to discover their beautiful products, but I learned about the way they work with special artisans throughout the world. Then, I knew we were a perfect match.

“Lydali is a collection of products inspired by the beauty we find in remote areas of the globe. The talent of individual craftsmen in Costa Rica. The vibrant hustle and bustle of a busy marketplace in Nairobi. The sounds of a loom as a woman in Indonesia works with great care on handwoven goods.”

I picked to style the vibrant zig zag clutch for you here on Pinegate Road today and show you just how I plan on using mine. I’m in love with the graphic pattern of the bag, and that pop of neon on the tassle and the yellow contrasting zipper is exactly my taste. To know they were crafted with such care is just the cherry on top.

Lucky for you, Lydali was gracious enough to send a second zig zag clutch for one of you to win! All you have to do is comment below telling us how you would plan to use your Lydali clutch. For two more entries, you can go to Facebook and like both Pinegate Road and Lydali. Please, comment separately for each entry! The giveaway will close at midnight on Friday, September 21st and a winner will be announced the following Monday. Best of luck to all those who enter!

Big thank you’s to Lydali for sponsoring this giveaway, I can’t wait to take the clutch on so many adventures.

Firstly, I want to thank you all so much for the support that you’ve shown me since I announced some of the changes that I’ve been making in my life. It’s been amazing to know that beyond my immediate surroundings there are people out there rooting for me, and that makes me feel happier than you could ever imagine! While it’s only been a short while, one of my mantras lately has been to embrace change. While it can be scary, it is also extremely exciting to forge into unknown paths and to kind of figure it out as you go. I definitely reverted a little over the past week, but you know, even when we fall down we can get right back up and keep forging on and that is how I’m going to embrace these changes that I’ve started to make. As a thank you, and as a motivational reminder, I’ve created a desktop wallpaper that will remind you to embrace the changes happening around you.

Today I’m heading off to a health retreat for the next ten days. If I haven’t already introduced enough changes into my system, this retreat will be sure to shock it! I can’t wait to come back feeling refreshed and more motivated than ever to continue along my path of healthy living and well-being and to hit the ground running when this quarter starts a day later. Wish me luck!

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Congratulations to MAGGIE for winning the sprucing up giveaway! You’ll be contacted by email shortly so I can send you the goods. Thank you so much to everyone who participated. I couldn’t have asked for a better first giveaway here, and I’m encouraged to do some more here and there. I think it’s a great way to celebrate the little joys in life :)

I’m so ecstatic to have my first giveaway here at Pinegate Road! With the new design, my review being passed, and other life changes happening soon, I thought it would be the perfect time for a little sprucing up. The little additions and spruces in life can add such charm and happiness to everyday moments, so I’m hoping these will bring that to yours.

So, here’s what I have for you! Two vintage clip-on baubles, perfect for scarves, flats, or that little extra sparkle to the neck of your tank top. An odor-eliminating candle that smells like heaven, and will spruce up the smell of any room. Three fun washi tapes for you to use for crafts, hanging pictures, or dressing up some snail mail. All of these things are items I’ve been obsessed with using lately, so I do hope that they add a special charm to you day-to-day.

Interested? You have three chances to win:

1. Like Pinegate Road on Facebook

2. Tweet: “Let’s spruce up with @pinegateroad http://bit.ly/J519QA” and follow Pinegate Road on Twitter.

3. Leave a comment here telling me what little things you do to spruce up your life.

If you do entries 1 or 2, please note that in the comments as well. Please leave your email address (will be hidden) so that I can contact the winner. The giveaway is open to US residents living in the contiguous states + the District of Columbia only. The last day to submit for the giveaway is Friday, May 25th at Midnight. 

Good luck everyone! A winner will be announced on Monday, May 28th.