Yesterday during my morning birthday workout I got a knock at my door…
It was a gentleman from FedEx with a package for me.
A few weeks ago I won a giveaway from Angie at Living Aloha who was celebrating her one year Blogiversary!
If you haven’t visited her blog already, I suggest you do so right NOW. Her writing is flawless, she takes breathtaking photos, and has such a positive attitude. Her stories make me smile and her way with words sends shivers up my spine. I am always uplifted after reading her posts. Did I mention she lives in Hawaii, the most beautiful place on earth?
Anyway, her giveaway was ridiculous and I thought there was no way I would win. I was ECSTATIC when I read the results and saw that it was me! In the package was a collection of Angie’s favourite things:
Hawaiian shortbread cookies
Papaya Seed salad dressing
Aloha Wish Necklace + Black sand bottle necklace from Maui Dive Girl Designs
$40 Forever 21 Gift Card
Hawaiian Waters Ocean Bliss candle that smells like heaven
Live Aloha car decal
$10 Starbucks Gift Card
Body Lotion and Soap that smells so good I almost ate it
Surfer’s Salve all natural lip balm
AND…a hula girl to put on my dashboard 
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! And for it to get to me on my birthday morning…perfection.
Thank you, Angie! It really was the best birthday morning surprise.
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My perfect day continued with lunch at Fresh with my amazing cousins.
I went wild and ordered Kombucha for the first time and it was delicious! I wonder if it comes non-carbonated though…I would probably prefer that!
All three of us ordered a BBQ veggie burger topped with quinoa-battered onion rings.
For dessert we shared a slice of vegan carrot cake
I spent the evening relaxing with the Mr. I may or may not have overdosed on chocolate-covered raisins
I got some nice birthday goodies too. Perhaps I will share them tomorrow!
It was a wonderful day!
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The WINNER of my Bondi Band giveaway is…
Congrats to Julia from Pain, Pride and Perseverance! You have won a Bondi Band just like mine! Now we can “Run like an animal” together
Send me your information so I can get this out to you ASAP!
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What is the BEST thing you ever won?
Besides this amazing giveaway from Angie, I won a few things from challenges that Dean made with me… They were GOOD too 
You can read about one of them here.
{ 36 comments… read them below or add one }
What a great birthday! I hope I have as much luck in scoring some sweet blog giveaway for my birthday!
The best thing I’ve ever won… Hmm… I’ve won $ a few times… Which seems boring until you think about all the cute shoes and ice cream you can buy with it!
I agree! Money is the BEST to win! I have a couple more giveaways coming up shortly so stay tuned
That is one amazingly stellar giveaway! Happy birthday too! I have never won a blog giveaway yet – hopefully soon!
Kombucha is my favorite! It gets addicting and is pricey stuff so its an expensive habit! Because it is fermented tea it will always be carbonated. I didn’t realize it the first time either and shook the bottle. Yeah that totally sprayed everywhere!
I shook it too! I quickly closed the bottle though so no accidents occurred! I wish it came in a non-carbonated version. Carbonated things kind of burn my throat, but it was tasty nonetheless!
eeeeeek!!!! can’t believe i won…and holy cow lady…you won jackpot with the giveaway you won! can’t wait to wear our matching bondi bands in toronto! woo hoo! can we PLEASE go to Fresh while I am there!?!
YAHOOOO!! We will wear our Bondi Bands to Fresh!! That is the first place I’m taking you. All three locations are downtown not too far from where you’re staying! I hope you’re ok with vegan food! Trust me, even Dean loves it and he’s as carnivorous as they come! You will love it, I’m sure
How great to score that wonderful and generous win on your birthday. Karma!
Neat for Julia to win your giveaway… how fun that she will be in T.O. and you can get together.
I KNOW! So amazing right?! I can’t believe she’s coming to T.O. all the way from Utah! So crazy how the world works! I think you should all come and we can have a big blogger meet-up here
I have a couple more giveaways coming up…good ones too so keep your eyes peeled
So glad you followed me to my new blog!
omgosh! that’s a LOT of stuff!! haha glad you won it all!! esp on your birthday! (:
I know, right? Best surprise ever!
Hey you! Yaaaayyyy! So glad it (finally) arrived…and on your birthday of all days! You are too cute with this post…thanks so much for all your kind words (I had Phil read it and even he agrees that you are really pimpin’ my blog!). It looks like the cookies got a little smashed (I was worried about that), but I hope you are still enjoying them, because they are screamin’ good!
You are a girl after my own heart…I *love* Mango Kombucha…super yummy, but reeeeaaaaalllly expensive, which kind of takes the fun out of it, but whatevs. Every now and then it is nice to indulge, you know?
Did I already email you about possibly doing a tutorial style post on how you switched to a self-hosting site? I am thinking of doing this but I am scared about messing things up! So…if you feel so inclined and want to share your experience, maybe you can write about this someday?
Have a beautiful weekend! xoxox
P.S. So, you and Dean will be here on Maui for New Years Eve? Haha…I keed, I keed…
Your blog totally deserves to be pimped out
The cookies did get a little smashed, but it’s all good. They will last longer that way. Instead of eating a whole one, I just take a little broken bit at a time hehe.
You did mention wanting me to do a tutorial post about the big switch! To tell you the truth, I can’t remember what I did. It was so confusing. Instead of writing a post maybe I will write you an e-mail with an attempt at a step-by-step recollection of what I did! I had to talk to so many people to have it switched, especially because my domain stayed the same. I’ll do my best for you though, okay?
I really want to go somewhere for NYE and I think Maui would be perfect. Right now though, it’s WAY expensive to book this far in advance. Actually, everywhere is expensive for that time. We are going to keep our eyes open and see if we come across any good deals. If not, we may just end up going to Florida to run Disney
We WILL visit Maui though at some point. It’s on my list!
Have a great weekend, beautiful!
Um, how perfect is that? Hooray for getting giveaway goodies on your birthday!
I think the best thing I ever won was a book signed by Burt Yasso, because I just love him. And his stories were absolutely hilarious.
Julia is visiting you in Toronto? SO JEALOUS! Can you bring your computers to Fresh so we can Skype while you eat? Thanks.
Um I just died a little about the Skype at Fresh comment. YES she is coming for a conference in November!!! How crazy is that?!?! We will totally Skype with you. I think there is WiFi at Fresh. That would be hilarious
A signed Yasso book? Amazing.
That veggie burger looks SOOO amazing!! Sounds like you had an awesome birthday!
It WAS so amazing! If I had another stomach, I would have eaten two!
How perfect is that! A great occurrence for your birthday
I recently won a 50 dollar gift certificate to Lululemon! Rather psyched about that
WOW! $50 to Lululemon is AMAZING! That is my absolute favourite store! Pricey, but so worth it. They’re workout clothes are so cute and come in the BEST colours!
quinoa battered onion rings- sounds.amazing!!
So amazing! I wish I could have a giveaway for them but I don’t think that would work haha
Happy Belated Birthday as well
You are so right! September babies/Virgos are really just the best!!
Looks like a good day, ps your cake looks better than mine did. I really should have had 2 cupcakes all to myself!
2 cupcakes should be mandatory on birthdays!
AAAAH your new site looks AWESOME!! I love it!! And I LOVE that header photo of you! Best running photo EVER!
Oh, and we are almost birthday twins!! Mine was yesterday!
Thank you for the nice comments about my site! It was a lot of work to switch over, but SO worth it!
I can’t believe it was your birthday yesterday!! HAPPY BELATED!! Hope you had some lovely sweet treats
GIRLLLLLLLLLLLLL OMG HAPPY FREAKING BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!<3333 so sorry i was mia on your bday stupid finals BUT YAYYY GIRL ITS YOUR BDAY WEEK LIVE IT UP!!!!!!!<3 LOVE YOUUUUUUUUUU!!
ps just got the bra and i LOVE IT IT FITS PERFECTLY AND IS SO SO CUTEEE!
Thank you Emily!! Hope your finals went well! So happy the bra fits. It really is the cutest thing ever
Congrats Julia!!! LUCKY!!! Hmm best thing I ever won – well one was my gift card to Active Bands – LOVE THE BANDS!!! They are life savers!
Yes Active Bands are the cutest ever! I saw sparkly ones on Julia’s page and fell in love with them!!
What a fun package! And yes, serious timing perfection for it to come on you bday, and happy bday, by the way!
Also, I’m so impressed with how yummy the food looks! I have to say, I’m not as good as you at vegetarianism…I must have meat. I want that quinoa battered onion ring so bad!
THANK YOU!!! Vegan food can be quite tasty! I get it though, some people just need their meat! What works for one may not work for someone else! But onion rings seem to work for everyone
Wow, for some reason my google reader wasn’t updating your posts, I guess it was because of your new site! It looks super fab, “proudly powered by SWEAT” I LOVE IT!! Thats such a great package you won. I honestly can’t remember ever winning a something in my life. I didn’t really enter many contests growing up though so maybe thats why!
Yes! Since I switched, people’s readers haven’t been updating my posts. You can try deleting me and then re-adding me into your reader and that should work
Thanks for the nice comments!
KOMBACHA – I can’t find this drink anywhere in Ottawa!!
Looks like you are having a wonderful start to the long weekend Christina!
Aw happy birthday! That is the best timing, and what a great package! I love hawaii and Hawaiian things. My uncle lives there, so jealous. Your birthday looks great, WHAT a burger! A quinoa onion ring?!!? coolest thing ever.
WOW! What a fantastic BDAY surprise!! Congrats!!
Looks like your bday was very relaxing, fun-filled and perfect! I am glad you had such a great day, you deserve it!
I wish we had something like Fresh in Boston…hmm…I will have to keep my eyes peeled…
Congrats Julia!! So cool – lucky ladies!
What a great blog giveaway! Happy Birthday!!!! I hope you had a wonderful day!