Merry Christmas and a Happy NeuYear!

Merry Christmas everyone! I am here today to spread a little Christmas cheer and announce the winners of last week’s NeuYear calendar giveaway!

Congratulations to:
Cindy P.
Christine @ Casa-De-Christine
Melissa K.
Ashley @ The HumberHome Project
I love giving gifts! We will be spending the week surrounded by family, good friends, and lots of puppies so I will see you in 2013. In the meantime, please enjoy a few pictures of some gorgeous Christmas flowers! Have a wonderful and safe holiday! xoxo

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First Blogiversary Day 5: Survey Results, Your Questions Answered, and a Little Something Special!

Welcome to our final day of Blogiversary celebrations! I asked you all to fill out a little survey last Monday so I could get a better idea of who you are and what you like/dislike about the blog.  Shall we begin the recap?
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So the vast majority of you are  20-something females like myself but I was quite pleased to see that we have a bit of diversity in the age & gender of our readers!  When I asked where you all were from, I got mostly responses from people scattered throughout the US (with a bunch of you from the East Coast as I expected). But we even have a few international readers, including two people from Ontario, Canada! #Canada2013?

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Most of you are married or attached and a few even have kids.  Half of you have a pup, a third of you have a cat, and a fifth of you have another pet. Half of readers are also writers of their own blogs (feel free to leave your blog address in the comments below for people to check out if you’d like), which I think is awesome!

The most shocking piece of info out of this question was that a third of you admitted to currently having a wedgie! I’m impressed but alarmed… you guys should invest in some new underwear. ;)

When I asked what you all did for a living, I got a wide variety of answers: people in the TV/Film industry, lots of people in admin roles, a pharmacist, teachers, a toy store manager, college students, a cabinetry designer, real estate agents, a lawyer, a biologist, stay at home moms/bloggers, and one of you even happily answered “Nothing!” (i.e. retirement!) :)
Chart4I was super surprised (and really pumped) to see that we have more renters than home owners in the bunch! Although, considering the age range of most of you, I guess I shouldn’t be.  I suppose I just read a lot of blogs about home owners remodeling their houses so I assume everyone owns a home but me.  Yay for renters! I guess I will have to start showcasing some more renter-friendly DIY projects!

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I wanted to use this survey as an opportunity to find out what you all liked/disliked about the blog. Since I was so super psyched about the new layout, I wanted to see if you felt the same. Overall, you did! A few of you thought it could use a little extra personality so once the holidays are over, perhaps I will try and spice it up a little! I also recently made a change to have the blog notify you by email when I respond to your comments because I personally forget to check back to other blogs to see if the author responded. I was worried it may annoy some of you that comment often, thus the survey question.  It turns out that the vast majority of you like it or don’t mind it, with only a few of you in the “It’s a little annoying” category.  For those of you in the “Hate It” group, I know who you are because you all signed your names and I will hunt you down.  Just kidding but thanks a lot college friends and Dad… glad to know you all think I’m spam! ;)

Next, I asked what you’d like to see more of on the blog and many of you were so sweet to say you like it how it is.  In the words of one awesome survey-taker, “It’s your blog, just do you. ;)”  A lot of you asked for more DIY posts, home decor posts, Bo (happy to oblige!), personal posts/pics, video tutorials, and L.A. living. Those are all things I LOVE to post about so I am so happy to keep them coming!

When I asked what you wanted to see less of, I got a few good jokes (my favorite was from that witty man of mine haha: “that geeky kid with the beanpole body and the Adonis face”) but for the most part you all seemed to say keep up the good work! It makes me happy that you all are enjoying my content!

And finally, that brings us to the question everyone was waiting to see:

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I am so proud of all of you that would live in Mall Madness… I was obsessed with that game but didn’t own it.  However, my cousins did so I demanded we play it every time I came to visit!  That being said, I was even more obsessed with Jumanji and had my dad make me my own wooden Jumanji board like the movie when I was young. So my answer to this question: I chose adventure!

On to the Q & A portion of the survey.  A lot of you opted to leave this one blank (which makes my job easier), but I did get a few questions.

“How did you and Walker meet and when did you start dating?”
Walker and I met at work!  Although neither of us still works there now, we met when I started working in the same department as he did.  In fact, he was my trainer… oops! ;)
I actually have a draft of a long post with all of the details, so I will get my act together and get it posted in the new year with the whole story!

“If you could be one type of dog what would you be?”
Haha great question.  Most definitely a spoiled, loved rescue mutt like Bo. The story of how Bo & I got together is a cute one too… I will have to draft up a post about it for the new year also!

“Definitely some questions about the goldfish snack crackers… how many can you fit in your mouth at once?”
No idea… I haven’t tried.  I inhale them too fast to know. But challenge accepted. I’ll keep you posted! ;)

“White, ivory, or neither?”
Yay a decor question! I would have to say I love white, especially as an accent to a fun, bright color palette. White is crisp, clean, and reflects a lot of light.  However, too much white and not enough color can sometimes feel cold, stark, and not very home-y so there has to be balance. If you are going with a neutral palette though, I prefer a bit of ivory to warm things up!

Wasn’t that fun?  I have some other questions that people tend to ask me a lot so I will touch on those another day.

Now for the little something special I promised you. Since my year ahead will be absolutely insane with school and work, I will need every tool imaginable to stay organized. Enter NeuYear 2013 DryErase calendar! This calendar is awesome. It can be hung vertically or horizontally and gives me a view of the entire year. Test tomorrow? Travel dates? They are all on here to keep my schedule in order. The best part is that I can erase, move, and change things as life throws me little curve-balls. Plus, the staff at this company are super nice and have a great sense of humor that is prevalent throughout their business.

I already have the first few weeks of January packed with fun stuff!

I already have the first few weeks of January packed with fun stuff!

Because I love you all so much and want your 2013 to be as successfully organized as mine, I am giving away four of these bad boys! Winners can choose uncoated or DryErase as well as academic vs. regular calendar year. Just enter below! :)

Didn’t win but want to get one anyway (for you or as a Christmas gift)? Use the code “OurCozyCubbyhole” and get 30% off! Wooooo!

So there we go! Happy Blogiversary to us and thanks to all of you awesome readers for sticking with us! xoxo

Photo: NeuYear.net

Photo: NeuYear.net

Photo: NeuYear.net

Photo: NeuYear.net

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 **For full disclosure, I was provided a free calendar from NeuYear to write a review but the thoughts and feelings are mine alone.**

 

First Blogiversary Day 5: Postponed Until Monday

In typical December fashion, today has been too busy for me to get a post together for our final day of our Blogiversary celebration. So we will extend the celebration to Monday and will see you then with our survey results, questions answered, and a little something special for all of you awesome readers!

Have a great weekend!

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