Thanks to everyone who entered my Red Gold Tomatoes Giveaway! Y’all really wanted that huge can of goodies! It was really fun reading all your silly comments here, and on facebook and twitter.
I’m happy to say the winners are:
How fitting it is that a food blog writer AND a knitter win!
Thanks again to everyone who entered and I look forward to giving out more huge cans of stuff soon!
Huge Can of Tomato-y Goodness
Make sure you zip over here and enter to win this huge can of tomato-y goodness from Red Gold Tomatoes! I’m picking both winners tonight and will announce them tomorrow.
When I got back from my brother’s wedding this weekend I was greeted by this:
Very Large Can of Tomatoes
I should have put a cat next to this can to show you how big it is. It’s the size of one of those holiday popcorn tins. LARGE!
And it was full of this:
Lots of Loot!
Two recipe books, a tin truck (that my brother’s baby is going to love!), two magnets, a soup recipe fold out, a coaster, a refrigerator clip magnet, and a media kit CD about how Red Gold Tomatoes are all grown in the Midwest and started as a family owned business.
Tomatoes!
And, of course, some regular sized cans of tomatoes.
Veggie Pasta!
Right away I whipped up a version of my Veggie Pasta Recipe with the Basil, Oregano, Garlic Red Gold Tomatoes, and it was seriously excellent. I didn’t even season the pasta sauce! It was all in the tomatoes already.
My only complaint, if I get to complain about any aspect of a huge tomato can of free goodies, is with the recipe book. While all the recipes look very easy and use few ingredients and look like they come together very fast and are all pretty healthy, there are only a few vegetarian options. I will be changing them up to make them vegetarian friendly in the future, for sure, but I’d like to give that heads up!
And so, without further ado, the kind people at Red Gold Tomatoes have TWO of these gift cans to give out to my readers! Holla!
Leave a comment to enter! Tweet this giveaway, citing @sweatshopoflove in your tweet, for another entry.
That huge tomato can is already full of yarn, safe away from my kitties, and my tea cup is resting on a tomato coaster right now! And yours can, too. You’ve got until the evening of Sunday, March 14th to enter. I’ll announce the winners Monday morning!
Good luck!
I get comments all the time from students and friends about the frequency of my blog posts. I usually just shrug and giggle and say that it’s part of my job! I know some people struggle with keeping up with their blogs and ask me how I do it.
Here are 10 tricks I use to keep blogging:
1. LOVE What You are Writing About
I love knitting. I love teaching knitting. I love writing patterns and planning classes and talking to other people who love knitting. It is easy for me to sit down every day and write about something I love so much. But if you aren’t passionate about your blog theme you won’t keep up with it. Find something to write about that you love and that permeates your every day life.
2. Take Pictures
When I have pictures on my camera I instantly have blog posts. Write about your pictures! I take pictures of my projects, my food, my kitties. Pictures are great catalysts for writing.
3. Read More
Other blogs, books, magazines, news online. People are always saying ridiculous things, taking ridiculous studies, publishing ridiculous books, wearing ridiculous things; all of which can be turned into fun blog posts. Like my Jersey Shore post, and my Ode to Joseph Gordon Levitt.
4. Don’t Write Yourself Out
I have an unhealthy love for Ernest Hemingway and would do absolutely anything he told me to do. One of this biggest writing techniques was to not write himself out. Always stop writing knowing what happens next. This helps motivate you to both make time to write again soon and to think about your writing when you aren’t writing. It’s easy to translate this tip into the knitting world – I try to make my project posts extend over the course of many blog posts. I knit more and write about that project again.
5. Sit and Do It
I went to school for writing and had to do a ton of it for multiple writing classes. I would think I had absolutely nothing to write about until I made myself sit down in front of my computer and start typing. Sometimes I would type nonsense until words formed, then sentences, and before I knew it I’d have fully flushed out stories. Some days I sit down with a blank blog page in front of me with no idea where it’s going, but I start typing anyway and usually funny, publishable nonsense comes out. Win!
6. Take Risks and Do Things
I’m not a naturally just-do-it kind of person. I have to force myself to leave my house, to do things, to take risks, and find people to play with. I do it because it’s good for my life and good for my blog. If you don’t do anything you won’t have anything to write about! If you don’t do anything you won’t have anything to talk about with strangers and you will be boring. I run around acting crazy to make my life better and make my blog better.
7. Carry a Notebook/Keep a Google Doc Open
This is another left over writing school tip. Sometimes sentences just pop into my head that can be turned into great blog posts when I have a chance. I keep a Google Doc at the ready for these sentences and blog ideas so that when I have time to come back to that idea I don’t have to rack my brain trying to remember it. In writing school we called this a ‘notebook’. The idea was to carry said ‘notebook’ around with you, along with a ‘pen’ so you can write these ideas or observances into the ‘notebook’ and look back on them later. You know, like a Google Doc!
8. Establish Relationships with Your Readers
I like you guys. I like talking to you! I like your comments. I get sad when blogs I like don’t update. Like Eat Me Daily. What the hell, Eat Me Daily? I like to think that we have a pretty good thing here. I would hate to let you down. I like being a part of your life! We’ve got a good thing going! Holla!
I make it sound pretty easy, don’t I? Because it is for me. And when it isn’t easy I come back to these tricks.
No need to go get that writing degree now! I just saved you $100,000.
Every woman, at some point in her life, should take a pair of scissors to her own head.
I Start at the Top
I’ve never gotten my hair professionally cut. I went from having my mom cut my hair to just doing it myself.
How's it Looking Back There?
I use to have really long, curly hair. Three summers ago I just cut it all off myself. It was one of the most liberating things I’ve ever done. I wasn’t hiding behind my hair anymore. I couldn’t hide behind anything! It was just me and my face.
Oh God.
It is terrifying, though, every time I do it. My brain is saying, ‘WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!’ But I keep telling myself, ‘It’s just hair! Nothing bad can happen!’
CLEAN!
When I’m done cutting it always looks terrible. It’s greasy from touching it so much and flat and I feel like I look like a boy. I think about how people won’t be able to tell that I’m a girl.
Short and Cute
And then it dries.
Real Cute.
And I look like a girl.
Right?
A cute girl. Who didn’t just spend $60 on a hair cut. Who just balls-ed out on her OWN HAIR! Crazy/scary/amazing/stupid/kinda hot.
