A Happy Birthday to Me and My Blog and a CSN Giveaway for YOU!

Thanks to all those who have shared my journey with me down the middle of the road! Photo by Squashpup

Remember to stop by my giveaway to win a copy of the classic children’s book The Very Hungry Caterpillar! The giveaway ends Monday night!

I can’t believe it has been a year this week that I first clicked on the create a blog icon over at blogger and sent these tentative words out into the blog universe…

Welcome folks to this wonderful place–inspired by my journey–my roadtrippin through life which has brought me to many wonderful places and finally delivered me to…the middle of the road!

In the coming weeks, months, years i will share with you my journey which deposited me in the middle of a life of moderation…some of this, and some of that and never too much of the other…and will share with you what causes me to freak out with passion and excitement and what ticks me off and what brings me health and joy…

Will be sharing about life lessons, food, health and alternative wellness–and anything that makes my day passionate–and helps me walk down that thin yellow line…right down…you guessed it! The middle of the road!

I have certainly done all that and learned a whole bunch in the process! I have written 265 posts (not including guest posts!) and 52 pages. I have had 4,000 comments and countless spam! Thank goodness for spam protection! I have been introduced to new ingredients, new chefs, found the cooking love of my life in Mark Bittman (Thanks to my brother Matt!), learned how to link, post, write HTML and network! It has been such a fun ride and every day my love of food and writing deepens.

What was entirely unexpected when I began blogging was the completely amazing people that I would meet along the cyber way! To try and list everyone here would be futile because there simply are so many generous, kind hearted bloggers who have taken me under their wing, offered me friendship, shown me the ropes, taught me the technology, shared ingredients, knowledge, their blogs and cookbooks with me! I have no doubt that you all know who you are because I have previously expressed my undying love and gratitude directly to you. I stand in awe of what you have personally accomplished on your blogs and you helped me to find my own voice and stay true to it. No matter what.

I get up every day excited about the prospect of what I shall discover in this lovely soul kitchen we call food blogging. The new flavors and fusions and recipes I will be exposed to and the continued expansion of my foodie love and my love for all of you. To all those who have helped me, read me, commented on my posts or tried my recipes, I thank you from the bottom of my heart and I promise to continue to be held accountable to you with the promise that I will always just be myself and share my love of food with you! I look forward with great anticipation to another wonderful year of sharing the foodie love with you all, from right here…in the middle of the road!

I am so pleased that CSN online stores has offered to provide me with a $50 gift certificate for one of my lucky readers as a way to celebrate my 1 year blogiversary! I was lucky enough to win a gift certificate a few months back from Miz Helen and it was such fun shopping for my prize! I got a yogurt maker but you can get anything from cast iron cookware to backyard swing sets! Their customer service is impeccable, the products are high quality and they are delivered promptly. I am certainly one happy customer, so I am very excited to be able to run a giveaway with them! It is my birthday, but you could get the present!

One lucky winner will receive a $50 CSN Gift Certificate to spend as they choose. The giveaway starts NOW and runs through Monday, March 28th at 11:59pm. The winner will be chosen from available entries by Random.org and announced on my Hearth and Soul Hop at a Moderate Life on Tuesday, March 29th, 2011. Please note this giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents only! There are NINE possible ways to receive an entry! To enter you must do at least one thing on the following list up to nine possible entries. I would especially appreciate you following me on twitter or subscribing to my feed. For each entry, you must post a separate comment. If you are new to this site, please fill in your email address and web address on the comments form so I can contact you if you win! If I do not hear back from the winner in 48 hours to claim their prize, a new winner will be selected. No purchase is necessary to enter this giveaway.

***NOTE that you must post a SEPARATE comment to tell me about EVERY entry you do in order to increase your chances of winning.****

1. Sign up for my A Moderate Life email updates or RSS feed. Leave a comment below telling me that you signed up. You will also get an entry if you already subscribe ? this is the most important thing you could do for me and I would seriously appreciate it– make sure to comment!

2. If you link a recipe to the Hearth and Soul Blog Hop, you get an extra entry! Just be sure to tell me in the comments that you linked up.

3. Follow me on Twitter and tweet about the giveaway. Please be sure to include the URL to this page in your tweet. (You could also hit the ?retweet? button above.) Comment below telling me that you followed and tweeted.

4. If you also would ?like? A Moderate Life on Facebook and post about the giveaway on your Facebook status I would really appreciate it, but due to the new FB rules, I can no longer give an extra entry commenting about the giveaway, only for becoming a fan of the page or “liking” it. THANK YOU!

5. Blog about the giveaway and link back to this page on your blog. Comment below with the link.

6. Email 5 friends about the giveaway, with a link to the page. Comment below telling me that you did.

7. Stumble this post and comment telling me that you did.

8. Submit this post to Reddit under the Food Reddit and comment telling me that you did.

9. Follow A Moderate Life on NetworkedBlogs on Facebook and comment telling me that you did. That is ten different ways to enter this great giveaway.

You can do one or all of them, but remember to leave a separate comment for each entry so you increase your chances of winning! This contest is open to US and Canadian residents, and will end in 8 days, on March 28, 2011 at 11:59 PM Eastern. The winner will be chosen via random.org and announced on the Hearth and Soul Hop at A Moderate Life on Tuesday, March 29, 2011.

Thanks again for making my first year of food blogging simply delicious! Good Luck Readers!

This article is a part of Giveaways Galore, Tip Junkie Giveaway Directory, Link em up Giveaway Linky, Fantastic Fridays, CSN Stores Giveaway Linky, Weekly Giveaway Linky, Mom Giveaways and Online Sweepstakes.

Remember to stop back by A Moderate Life for all the great fun!