OWOH 2011 - One World One Heart - My Blogiversary

Today is a very, very  special day!  First and foremost, it is the start of the

5th Annual One World One Heart (OWOH)

Welcome or welcome back to MoonCat Farms Meanderings.  This is a husband/Mr. MoonCat and wife/Jules endeavor (though as in most good marriages the wife is the one doing most of the talking/blogging :)

Our place is called MoonCat Farms ~ did you notice the cool logo that Mr. MoonCat designed?  We have a large number of animals who call these 10 acres in the California boonies home.  They include cats, dogs and chickens right now.  We have horses and cattle as well, but they're at Dad's ranch a few miles from here. 

Gardening, photography, riding, sewing, cooking and reading (see my other blog: One Book Shy of a Full Shelf for our book reviews) are just a few of the many things that keep us busy around here ~ besides all of the critters.  We try to live as green a life as we can and lessen our impact on this Earth in as many ways as possible.  I hope you'll stick around or come back and see what kinds of things we come up with to "Make It So" ~ I'm a closet Trekkie..

OWOH is the brainchild of Lisa at A Whimsical Bohemian.  She created this event as a way to give bloggers all over the world a chance to mix and mingle.  She dreamed of people meeting others they might never have crossed paths with except through One World One Heart.  Lisa started what could only be described as a phenomenon.  It has increased immensely each year with more bloggers worldwide taking part.

I started my blog TWO YEARS AGO TODAY because I was encouraged by several bloggers that I met through One World One Heart.  They basically held my hand as I jumped into what would become a large part of my life ~ a very important part.  So I'd like to say a big THANK YOU to Lisa for dreaming up OWOH and also to those lovely, lovely ladies who told me I could do it! One World One Heart started me on the blogging highway.

Happy 2nd Blogiversary MoonCat Farms and Happy 5th One World One Heart!

I'm sure you're well aware by now that each of the bloggers participating in OWOH is offering their visitors a chance to win a "door prize".  It is a way of saying Thanks for stopping by and looking around.  Y'all come back now ya hear?

I haven't really decided what I'm going to give away.  I love doing surprise or mystery prizes so I think we'll go with that.  Entry into the drawing is very simple.  You must be an active blogger ~ sorry, but this is a blogger to blogger event.. and you must fill out this very short form.  That's it!  I will draw a winner using the random number generator and then email the lucky number holder.  They will have 48 hours to respond or I'll have to draw another winner.  Comments on the post are appreciated, but only entries on the form below will count for the drawing.

To continue on your adventure through the blogisphere, please click HERE to be taken to the list of participating bloggers.  Have fun!

Beyond Vagabond OWOH Prize

Isn't she cute??? 

This is the darling little Wish Vagabond that I won during One World One Heart from Beyond Vagabond.  Zan has a lovely site with lots of beautiful photography.  She is also one of the writers at The Renegade Farmer which is a fascinating site for those of us with a love of farming and a simpler life. 

Be sure to check out her Vagabond Creations for more of her cute dolls like my little pretty above!

Thanks so much Zan!

OWOH loot from Loralai Original Art!

Loralai Original Art is the place to go to check out this print and several others that I have fallen in love with.  I was chosen as the winner in her OWOH drawing and couldn't be more thrilled.  When I saw the print of her with her little black cat, I just knew I had to have it!  It reminded me of myself with my (fat) little Porkchop.  I had it bookmarked to come back after the event.  Imagine my excitement when I received an email from Loryia telling me I won!  Whoo hoo.... 

Loryia generously framed it for me (I took it out to photograph the print) and then reminded me that I could choose two more prints.  I went to her Etsy Shop and found the following two:

While it's obvious by my choices that I adore her kitty artwork, I am also enamoured by her mermaids and fairies!  There were so many darling pieces.  You be the judge - see even more of her talent on her Flickr feed HERE.

Also, she is currently hosting a fabulous GIVEAWAY of two of her darling little mermaids on really cute totes.  Be sure to go by and get your name in the drawing.  She is quite the artist!

Thank you so much Loryia!  I am a big fan. I love my prints and can't wait to get them up on the wall in my sewing room.

I'm A OWOH Red Panty Crafts Prizewinner

Look at what I won from Tammy at Red Panty Crafts!  Isn't little Ghost Kitty adorable with his little Ghost Mouse?  I was one of the winners in Tammy's One World One Heart giveaway.  She has some more cute things in her Etsy Shop.  I really like that she repurposes items from the thrift store into new, usuable pieces (especially for those of us that don't wear a size 2).  The Red Panty Avenger on her blog is a major kick too.  Go check it out if you get a chance.  Thanks Tammy!!!!

(I actually won FOUR goodies in the OWOH extravaganza this year.  I will share each with you as I get them.  Talk about icing on the cake...)

OWOH Winner(s) Announced

This has been one wild magic carpet ride!  I have had so much fun visiting HUNDREDS of blogs these last few weeks.  While I haven't been able to come see everyone YET, I do plan on continuing down the list so I can meet all of the participants eventually.  Lisa has made up an alphabetical list of all the participants Here to make that easier for those of us who couldn't quite reach all 1,088 blogs in time.  WOW! I am so thrilled to have some new followers of MoonCat Farms as well as finding several bloggers out there that I have added to my growing reading list.  The talent that is out there is just flat amazing.

Blah blah blah, I know you're saying "Be quiet and tell us who won!"  Without further ado, your winner:

Jeanette said...  I love surprises. Please count me in. Love the name of your blog.

Congratulations Jeannette, thank you for visiting from the Land Down Under.  I'll be sending you an email shortly for your mailing address.

Now, as to the other business.  If you recall, my prize was a mystery (some of it to me too...).  I did give you hints on two of the things that were already in the box.  One was something you might wear on the magic carpet ride and the other was something "jangly" with an element of the post title.  If you could guess what they were, you would be entered in a separate prize drawing. 

Well, noone got both items.  I do understand that I was a bit vague.  I LOVED so many of the answers. It is very interesting what many of you would be sporting on your magic carpets although I would also request a seatbelt!  But that's not the answer I was after.  The words I was looking for were:  pashmina and keychain.  I found three of you that had one of those words in your answer and I drew one of your names to win the extra prize.  In fact, the winner had the exact description of heart keychain in her guess.

susanscraps said...  I am a new follower to your fantastic blog,love your photography!  I also love surprises,there are so few left in this life.  My guesses: a scarf to keep my hair from blowing around, and a heart bracelet or keychain.  I am new to blogging (blog being built) but not to art. I hope you will include me in this wonderful giveaway!  Best of luck to all your visitors :)  Greetings from the New Jersey Shore,USA

Congratulations Susanscraps!  Good guess on those jangling keys.  I hope you'll keep us all updated as to when you get your blog up, we'd all love to see it.  I'll send you an email shortly as well. 

Thank you ALL so much for the awesome comments and for coming by MoonCat Farms.  Hopefully you'll all be sticking around to see what's next around here.  (Be sure to check out our latest giveaway Here)

OWOH Update and Thank You

I am so amazed by the amount of comments coming in from the One World One Heart event.  We are almost to 300 comments.  I'm thinking I'll have to add a little extra goody or two to the drawings...   I hope everyone knows that I DO read each and every comment that comes in.  I just haven't been able to respond to them all.  That is one of my intentions for the New Year - respond to every comment.  BUT, with the sheer volume in the OWOH drawing, I really can't accomplish that.  So I am issuing a blanket THANK YOU for the moment to everyone coming by and I hope you'll all continue to visit MoonCat Farms.  We have a lot of new stuff planned for 2010.

 

Happy My Blogiversary to You

I can't believe it's been a year!  MoonCat Farms meanderings is 1 year old today.  I've had so much fun and met so many wonderful people through this blog that I decided to give presents because I've received so much love and support from all of you!

So, here's the deal.  Email subscribers and followers can leave a comment on this post only and be entered for my blogiversary giveaway.  One entry per person please.  Even though you are all winners in my eyes, I will only have a few prizes to share.  Details later on what they are (yes, I like mystery drawings.)  So, you have until Friday, February 5th at 6pm PST to enter.  Tell me how much you love me, what your favorite pet is, or whatever you feel like saying! 

Good luck & Happy Blogiversary to Me!(us)

OWOH One World One Heart Starts Today!

THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED! 
Winners will be announced shortly.

I can't believe it's finally here!  This was the event that started it all for me last year.  It kicked my rear into gear and got me blogging.  One World One Heart starts TODAY!

You too can be a ticket holder!  If you're new to this event, you're in for a real treat.  If you choose to take the magic carpet ride that is One World One Heart, you will be meeting lots of fabulous bloggers for the first time and possibly reconnecting with some you've met on previous occasions.  This ride will take you to far flung places that are only reachable for most of us via our magic carpet ticket. 

I have very warm feelings for this event as it did allow me to form some very lovely friendships with bloggers I met during the 2009 OWOH.  They have become important people to me, even though I have yet to meet them in person.  THIS is why the event was started.  To connect with bloggers that you might not have had the chance to at random.  I would love to know how many friendships hae been made because of one woman's desire and dream of a peaceful way for us to get to know others in our small little world.

By clicking on the picture at the top of the page or by clicking on this link: OWOH,  you will be taken to the site of The Whimisical Bohemian aka Lisa Swifka who started this event in 2007.  Her site tells more about the event and includes a running list of all the bloggers who are participating.

Before leaving here for the OWOH site and continuing on the ride to blogs in faraway places, I hope you'll take a minute to learn about us here at MoonCat Farms and then check out the giveaway below.  While this isn't why OWOH was created, each blog will be offering up a prize for their guests.  It's a way of saying thanks for stopping in & saying hi to me!

My Giveaway
Well, I will be once again giving away A SURPRISE!  I know of a couple of things that will be in the box - something one might wear while on a magic carpet ride and something jangly that has one of the elements from the title of the post in it.  There will be several other goodies added as I go, but who knows what they may be?

If you're up for the suspense of not knowing what you'll win, all you need to do is leave a comment.  You don't have to do anything extraordinary or acrobatic - just say Hi! or tell me something I'd like to hear!  It would be fun to know what part of the world you're visiting from.  You DO have to make sure that I have a way of contacting you if you are the winner. 

This giveaway is open to anywhere the magic carpet tour could possibly stop so all are welcome to enter.  Please...just one entry per person.  The drawing will close at midnight PST on February 14th and the winner will be announced here on February 15th. 

Just for fun:  I will have a second little drawing for those who can correctly tell me WHAT they think the first two goodies in the box of treasure might be!  Just leave your guess in your comment.  

(Please note:  I have comment moderation turned on.  One reason is to stop some of the spam comments that show up, but the MAIN reason is that I want to read each and every comment and not miss any!  I enjoy hearing what visitors have to say..)

Also...if you check back on January 31st....It's my 1 year Blogiversary ....presents .....followers ....presents

Thank you so much for stopping in to visit with us at MoonCat Farms today.  I hope you'll come back often, with or without a magic carpet!

Hello, My Name Is... 100th Post!

Trisha from Mom Blogs at MomDot wrote about how we, as bloggers all introduce ourselves when we first set up our "About Me" page. We then forget about it and start posting. That is all we really tell about ourselves other than our day-to-day posts on our day-t0-day lives. We then just associate other writers as the blogger known as MoonCat Farms, not a person named Julie behind the words.

Trisha set up an "Introduce Yourself to Your Neighbor" round-robin/Mr. Linky type of event in order for us all to learn a few things about the people that we're conversing with regularly. Important things such as my name is really Julie or Jules, not MoonCat Farms and the hubby is not legally named Mr. MoonCat, but Michael - although it does have a ring to it.


I thought it would be fun to join in and share some of my info as well since this also marks my 100th post! I was going to do a giveaway to celebrate, but I think I'll just give away some information - much more valuable. I will be doing an actual giveaway of something tangible that you can hold in your hot little hands in a couple of weeks. It will be my 1 year blogiversary and the beginning of OWOH or One World One Heart 2010. You can click the icon to the right or read my post about it here.

On to some valuable dirt on the MoonCat Farmers...ummm, Julie & Mike.

• We are both firm believers of lazy weekend mornings, he likes Saturdays for the cartoons, I like Sunday just because I do.



• My favorite author is Diana Gabaldon. After we got together, I made him read the first book "Outlander" because he is my "Red Jamie". He insisted we use a part from the book in our wedding vows....



• We love being an auntie and uncle and are hoping to add a child to our life this year and finally become parents ourselves.



• I like rock music and he likes country. I grew up on a ranch listening to country and he grew up as a city slicker listening to show tunes.



• I rarely wear anything but pants and he regularly wears a skirt - I mean kilt...



• We both enjoy fishing. I catch them, he cleans them.



• I am the proud owner of a Fantasy Football team. I play with several guys I grew up with. Hubby watches a lot more NFL since meeting me.



• We both have natural, very curly hair. My father once remarked that if we ever had a child, "that THING would have some WILD hair!" Thanks Daddy.



• I am still extremely close to a group of friends that I have had since I was six years old.



• Michael played the part of "Lord Gordon" in Renaissance Faire. I dubbed him "Lord Pompous-Assedness". I was a serving wench that he dallied with once or twice.



• We met online!



• He is ex-military and I am ex-law enforcement.



• We both enjoy cooking and way too much eating.

Well, I think that takes care of some of the burning questions you've had about the MoonCats. I hope you can now rest easier knowing that I hate to gut and clean my own fish! This has been fun for me and I hope you'll go by Trisha's blog here to learn more about her and some of the great bloggers that are participating. It really is cool to be able to put more of a name and face to some of the fabulous writing out there.

Hey while you're still here...look at the poll I have posted to the top right. Do me a favor and click on a few of the things and let me know what you think. It's quick, easy & anonymous and it will help me out with knowing what you'd like more or less of. Thanks gang...

Hope you'll stay with me for the next 100...

One World One Heart 2010

I can't believe it's been almost a year! This event is what got my blogging career kick started. I found out about this awesome blogging extravaganza and knew I had to be a part of it. You can read my post about the 2009 event here.

I have made a couple of very dear friends because of 2009's OWOH (One World One Heart). Meeting them through this wonderful blogfest was such a gift. We have stayed in touch all year long and are building our friendships that were started in January. A couple of these fabulous women have been such great inspiration and support to me this year, I couldn't be more thankful for them. I am hoping that at some point I will get to actually meet them in the the real world. That connection is exactly why OWOH came into being. It was created to bring bloggers together who may not have found each other by any other method.

OWOH is the brainchild of Lisa Swifka of A Whimsical Bohemian. She held her first event in 2007 with about 85 or so bloggers participating. By the end of the event in January 2009, 911 bloggers were riding the Gypsy Caravan! It was such a blast going blog-hopping, basically all over the world. Lisa noted that 28 countries were represented in the 2009 event. It is such a treat to "meet" and learn about bloggers from all walks of life with so many diverse opinions, styles, and life stories. Each blog hosts a giveaway and encourages visitors to spend some time nosing around the site and then leave a comment/entry. While the giveaways aren't the purpose behind the event, it is a blast to check out all of the goodies that the generous bloggers give away as a sort of "door prize" just for visiting their blog.

This coming year's (2010) event will start on January 25th and run until February 15th. This gives participants plenty of time to spend many hours visiting fabulous blogs, entering drawings, and meeting lovely new people while at the same time reacquainting themselves with old friends. I can't wait, it'll be so much fun to travel thru blogland again!

The reason that I am posting about this international event so early is that I want to help get the word out there to other bloggers that may not be familiar with OWOH and might be interested in participating. You can click on either of the photos in this post, the button on my sidebar, or just click HERE to get more information. It's very easy to join in on the magic carpet ride and well worth the trip.

On January 25th, be sure to check back here for the giveaway post and get ready for a fantastic journey.

OWOH Winners!

Ok, I actually got a chance to do the drawing before I left for work. The old hat was amazingly full, but we have the two lucky winners: Congratulations to Waxela S and Trisha D!!!!

I will email you both privately as well. So keep an eye on your inbox.

Thank you to everyone who participated. What a fun and exciting event. I hope to get to play next year.

Now, I will be concentrating on meat for my blog! I hope you will all check back with me as we're also hoping to launch the website with our product line in the next few months. I'm planning on some more giveaways too as this was a blast to participate in!

Last day for giveaway!

This has been amazing! I have been having such a blast meeting so many wonderful people and fantastic artists/creators. The sheer amount of talent that is involved in this event is HUGE. While I really didn't plan on visiting every blogger involved, I DID. I have spent so much time this last week checking out the amazing sites that my hubby started threatening to limit my online time! It's been addictive though. Some of these talented bloggers have so much to share that you just don't want to leave their sites. I have earmarked several (dozen) to go back to when the hubby isn't peering over the shoulder. Especially since I have found several lovely, lovely items that I must purchase for myself and gifts of course..

I've also been thrilled by how many wonderful people have stopped by my little fledgling blog! It has been so nice to see the kind and encouraging comments from some of you amazing peeps. I'm really getting organized now so that I can start blogging on a regular basis, about my farming & herb endeavors. I'm hoping that I will even have photos soon.. The camera seems to be working, but it's iffy. Maybe a great excuse to have to buy another?

Ok, so here's the plan: My drawing will officially close at midnight tonight (Pacific time). Tomorrow I will post the two winners and email them, this won't occur early as I have to work :( but I will have the names up by 5pm. The winners will then have 48 hours to contact me with their mailing info. I will package up their goodies and send them winging away to their new homes. Hopefully all will be happy and I will have kicked my blogging career off in a great, big way! (I'm also hoping people will come back to see me!)

Ciao for now! Until tomorrow at least.

Giveaway Update

WOW! I can't believe the response this has been getting. I was afraid that since I jumped on board reallllllly late in the game that I wouldn't get but a few comments. We're now over 100 and more appear to be coming.

Because of this.....I am adding a 2nd giveaway and winner. The 2nd drawing will be for another thing of bath salts and misc goodies just like the first! Everyone seems to be in favor of surprises so we'll just leave it at that. Sorry about no photos yet, the camera is malfunctioning again. Sorta adds to the mystery aspect though, doesn't it? Who knows what will go into the box.... I still don't yet, but I do have a couple of ideas whirling about my head.

Thanks so much to all of you for being so encouraging, offering support, and for letting me know that I'm not alone in this great blogging wilderness. I'm learning so much from some of my new blogging friends out there. This event has kickstarted new blogs and new friendships. Thank you Lisa!