Win It: T.ruffles.
I’m positively giddy (well, as giddy as I can be on a Monday morning) over this week’s giveaway! The T.ruffle girls, Mary and Karey, are two of my favorite people. And their shoppe? Well, it just happens to be one of my favorite things. Mary opens the doors early with a dazzling photo, while Karey closes up at night with the sweetest words. And this week they’re debuting a brand spankin’ new print right here, right now. For you. (And maybe a little for me, too, since coffee is another of my very favorite things.)
be brave.because sometimes, it’s you against the world. don’t let it grind you up.
To Enter, Tell Me
1. Your best story of being ground up and spit out only to prevail in the end.
2. Your email address.
3. Do it all before Monday, March 8th at 9am CST.
Please leave only one comment. Those who do not leave a valid email address will be disqualified. Winner will be selected and contacted Monday, March 8th.
Posted In create, photography, win it
Jenn
March 1, 2010 at 5:05 pmAfter my undergrad degree, I applied for graduate school. I poured my heart into my applications, applying to 10 top-tier and middle-tier schools. In the end, I only made it into one – my alma mater. The one that I really didn't want to go to. I felt defeated, and then wasn't able to even accept that offer, as I had a summer job that conflicted with a mandatory Teaching Assistant Orientation. I was heartbroken, and felt pretty worthless. Fast forward to three years later. I enrolled in a different masters program, was accepted to my first choice, and have been told that I would be a great candidate for the top-tier PhD programs in the country. What a difference a few years makes…
ciceronian -at- gmail
Leisa Hammett
March 1, 2010 at 6:17 pmI am a poster child of Grief. I have been Fired. My only child was diagnosed with Autism. I have been Divorced. I have been Bruised and Banged up in between and since. Yet, I know that Life is Good. There is Hope. And Blessings are Abundant. Grief, Turmoil, Challenge only make Me Stronger.
Lizzie
March 1, 2010 at 10:40 pmAfter traveling across the ocean from Mexico to the UK, I felt completely displaced from who I was and who I should be. I started college here and found it extremely difficult focusing on my studies. I ended up failing two of my classes, but now I've transferred colleges and am succeeding in all of my classes. I've become a better person through a year of experiencing and learning, but now I know to work harder for what I want and remember that problems now will soon be problems of the past and I can't allow them to break me.
– Liz
xxflutter_winklesxx@hotmail.com
la la Lovely
March 1, 2010 at 10:45 pmEverytime I read t.ruffles i think it can't get any better ..that is until i read the next days… and this one .. how did i miss it? Love it… my little babies name is Liam Brave.. so i just have to have this one…… fingers crosssed!
xx Trina
Stephanie
March 2, 2010 at 1:43 amI'm currently doing my clinicals at a pediatrics clinic and I literally have the wicked witch of the west as my clinical instructor! I have really had to buck up and get through this day-by-day! I have to say I am uber proud of myself…
ONLY ONE MONTH TO GO! I know I can do it!
YAY!!!
=Stephanie
okieot(at)gmail(dot)com
{lovely little things}
March 2, 2010 at 1:58 amDue to education budget cuts I was cut or "RIFFED" last May. It was so stressful, difficult to be at work knowing I wouldn't be returning, but as a teacher you can't ever have an off day. I packed up my entire classroom; books, posters, school supplies, everything…and then found out I funding came through and I was rehired on the last day of school. It was the best news I could have gotten out of a stressful situation.
lovelylittlethingsblog@gmail.com
leigh
March 2, 2010 at 6:58 pmThere are many more brave people out there that deserve such a wonderful image to remind them to be brave then little ol' me. I just wanted to say that I love love love it.
Shayna
March 3, 2010 at 4:21 pmI think I'll go ahead and echo what Leigh just posted up above. I feel pretty darn lucky these days and wish that the bean helps someone, who really needs it, to get a little boost of self-confidence. Good work, ladies.
Sarah
March 3, 2010 at 4:26 pmeeeeep i love this one!
i was working at a high profile consulting firm and was 'let go.' i was unemployed for a year but during that time i found the love of my life, got engaged and now have an amazing job with a wonderful company and am getting married in 6 months.
Aimee
March 4, 2010 at 1:52 amGosh, I have a ton of these episodes! To pick just one…Let's say that my teen years were spent being spun and spun and spun until I was spit out at 19…the details I will spare you, but I turned out OK. Then this last year and a half I have been fired, quit, fired, and now can't find a job. I went back to school for nursing and OMG if that isn't the grind…I want ot meet one nurse who can tell you about ALL 206 bones of the skeleton…and their attachments and their processes and their foramens! WHOA! I love love love karey m. and her girlies three…pick me, please pick me, I know JUST where this woudl go.
apoquette1977@yahoo.com
livin wide
March 4, 2010 at 10:27 pmat 25, it's not nearly the common age to get a detached retina and then a resulting cataract. for the past year i hadn't driven at night, and for months of that year i didn't drive or see out of one eye at all. definitely chewed up and spit back out. but now! final surgery (fingers crossed) and driving.
thanks for the chance to win!
Madelynnnn
March 5, 2010 at 12:23 amI would have to say that I am mid spin right now. I graduated from college in May and before even unpacking I moved to a new state for a job. I knew no one. Knew very little about the job. And I had NO idea what I was going to do.
I have gradually gained the confidence in myself to be independent and learn new experiences, and I can for sure say that coffee is part of that 🙂
To say that this is one of my biggest challenges means I have been truly blessed. With all of the earthquakes and tsunami's it reminds me that this is some life and I am going to live it up!
Mary
March 5, 2010 at 3:43 pmWith Shayna and Leigh. I'm a lucky girl. I do love the print, though, and I adore Mary's photos. Good luck to the others!
Kärt
March 8, 2010 at 8:32 amI think the most recent occasion was when I went to an event (it's kinda this youth-politics event or something) only to discover that I had to lead a group, which I'd never done before, all by myself (usually, the new ones get a more experienced one by their side). I seriously considered leaving at that exact time, but decided to take on the challenge and after 4 days of leading the group, I was so happy that I didn't leave. 🙂
Kärt (kcrat@hot.ee)
Gillian
March 8, 2010 at 2:31 pmI applied to be an ARD, assistant resident director, for the Residence Life department at my university. Twice I was rejected. On the third try, I got the position. I make a difference on my staff and in my hall by leading with humility, caring, and belief in my colleagues work. My hiring may have been against the grain of the usual popularity contest that the application process is, but I work that much harder to prove that I was meant to take on this position.
gillian_murphy@student.uml.edu
Laurie
March 8, 2010 at 2:55 pmCan I tell a story like that with 12 minutes to the deadline? We'll see.
Five years ago the person I was sure would love me forever left me instead to pursue a dream and a life that did not include me. I was crushed, almost 35, professionally unstable and not sure I could go on. I learned what it really felt like to have a broken heart, one that I felt like I had very little control over.
For a very long time I put one foot in front of the other every day, and that was all I did. I was overwhelmed with the prospect of rearranging my daily life and my plans for the future. But what I also did was try things. I learned to say yes, because what happens when you feel like you've got very little to lose is that not much feels very risky. I signed up for photo classes, picked up a camera and fell in love with a practice instead of a person. I started blogging on a whim and found out that I could still write even if I'd forgotten. I went back to school.
I tried to be brave in spite of sometimes crippling fear.
Life is still not easy and some days are very difficult. I still don't know what I'm doing sometimes but if I learned anything it is the power of persistence and the next best guess, and that sometimes things don't look like what you thought they would at all but that they are just that way. And you have to do with them whatever you can to at least try to be happy.
I love the T.Ruffles ladies and also coffee and will have to get myself a copy of this regardless, but thanks for the writing prompt on this somewhat underwhelming early Monday morning.