The Other Mama's Birthday Bash- Day 2- Lisa Leonard Giveaway

This giveaway is now closed. Random.org said the Winner is commenter #34 Lori from Building Our Nest. Congrats, Lori!!

The thing I love most about jewelry is that I don't have a fat day necklace. I don't have to suck in when I wear certain bracelets and I don't ever have a bad earring day {unless I lose one which does happen occasionally}. Spanx are not needed for any piece of jewelry that I own- and for that, I am eternally grateful.

Classic jewelry looks great on everyone! For example, I am pretty sure we passed around the same set of pearls for those sorority composite pictures in college. You know the one where your face is a miniscule oval, but you obsess over YOUR teensy, tiny oval? No matter what color shirt the committee decided you would all wear, you all looked good in classic pearls year after year.

The same holds true for Lisa Leonard's jewelry. It is hands-down, my most commonly worn item that I own. I have 2 of her necklaces and I get compliments on them almost every day. Because I wear one of them almost every day.
I try really hard to not wear them at the same time because that would be ghetto and I wouldn't treat Lisa like that. But my main decision in the morning is which one to wear.

This is the tiny squares necklace that has my kid's names on it.

And this is the oval monogram necklace that has my monogram on it, of course.
It's H D H. And I love that it's symmetrical.
Hi. I'm Hillary. And I'm quirky.

This jewelry is absolutely perfect for a gift! If you are of the male species, please take note. This is the perfect Mother's Day, Anniversary, Let Me Out of the Doghouse Day or It's Just Wednesday gift.

Since it's my birthday and we are talking about gifts, please allow me to give a few gift pointers:

1) Do not regift unless you use the go-to phrase, "Someone gave this to me, but I knew you would enjoy it more". Much like, "Bless her heart" following "She just can't back away from that dessert table" exonerates the sayer of such harsh words, that phrase allows you to re-gift.

2) Do not regift and leave the original card in the present.
This happened to me at a baby shower. It was all I could do to not read the card out loud, but I just let it slide and laughed really hard on the inside. And then passed the gift along to someone else later.

3) Don't make a big deal out of asking for gifts if it's your birthday.
This drawing of attention to oneself is generally frowned upon and tacky.

1988- my 10th birthday party at my grandmother's pool

I was wearing my pink OP swimsuit that I thought was the coolest thing since Max Headrom.

4) Don't ever send a singing telegram. Period.

5) You can never go wrong with flowers {and not carnations, people}. I have a flower delivery story for another time that would go perfectly here, but I am already rambling. Quick version: me nursing with blinds semi-open+ really persistant flower delivery guy looking for signature= no tip.

6) Know the political affiliation of recipient.
Here is my fourth birthday party. {Not quite the small, quiet affair we threw for Ollie's 4th birthday last week.}

I'm pretty sure those lovely faux flowers were not part of my gifts, but that Donkey Party box was. What in the world? Did my family used to have members of the Donkey Party in it? This was 1982, so I'm positive it did not. I was a little Alex P. Keaton in training, so I'm thinking that was a pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey game.
And that bowl cut? Yes. Still there. It had a long run.

7) Do not give sisters joint presents just because they share the same birthday. This goes for twins, too. But for us, my sister and I have one day between our birthdays and would get puzzles to "share". Just what every 9 and 5 year old want.

8) Do not, under any circumstanes, give someone a perm for their birthday.
Specifically someone who had a bowl cut in the first place.

I'm pretty sure this is my 11th birthday party. Skating at Bob-A-Lou.

Can any LA peeps tell me if that fine establishment is still open?

9) Always, always ALWAYS go with some good jewelry!
And that brings us back to my friend, Lisa. She's become super famous now and I'm so proud to know her. You will love her, too!

Today's Giveaway is a $50 Gift Certificate to Lisa's Jewelry Store: Lisa Leonard Designs.

To enter to win:
* Go to Lisa's site and shop around.
* Leave a comment in the comments section and tell me what you would purchase if you won. To do this, click the word "COMMENTS" directly below this post. Then type in the big blank section and click post. Easy peasy.
* You have to leave your e-mail address with your comment. If you know your e-mail is attached to your Blogger account, then that's fine, too. Want to do this and don't know how? Read my quick tutorial on it here.
* One entry per comment.
* But you can gain another entry by becoming a blog follower and then leaving a comment to tell me so. If you already follow this blog, then you can click for another comment to let me know that. Please read my view of becoming a blog follower and what it is if you have any questions.
* Or you can Tweet about this giveaway and reference the post and leave a comment to tell me you did.
* Or you can write about it on your blog and link to this post and leave a comment to tell me you did. {WOW that's FOUR ways to enter!!} {And a max of 4- not 4 per day.}
* One winner will be chosen at random on Friday at noon and will be notified via e-mail.
* Please let me know if you have any questions at all about entering.
* Each giveaway is separate, so if you entered yesterday's great Homemade Gourmet giveaway, you need to also enter this one separately. That HG Giveaway is open until Thursday at noon, so mosey on over there and sign up, if you haven't already!

This post is linked to Amanda's Top Ten Tuesday {fine, I went with 9} at Oh Amanda and Jo-Lynne's Things I Learned This Week at Musings of a Housewife.

Happy shopping! Lisa also has an amazing personal blog, too. She is an awesome photographer. So hop by there, too, and tell her hey from us!

Happy Birthday Bash! I'm having so much fun! Thanks for playing along!