Belles and Whistles

Funny story about the name of my blog:

back in the day, when I was not the avid blogger you witness now, I had no blog at all. I had recently been introduced to a few blogs blogs that still to this day are some of my favorites {Rockstar Diaries and No Sex In The City, just to name a few}.

I was inspired by the idea of a blog, and thought to myself, "if I were to have a blog, what would I call it?" It suddenly hit me "all the bells and whistles" like it was meant to be. But there was something about this little phrase that needed to become more me. I took french in jr. high andfell in love with the language. Put two and two together and voila! I hurried and opened an account and felt ever so lucky that it hadn't been taken yet. And so there is the story of the birth and naming of my blog. I let my blog sit dormant for about 5 months. Now, blogging is one of my favorite things to do. But, it's not something that defines all of me. I don't introduce myself as "Claire, the blogger" nor do I tell many people about it. If they chance upon this little blog of mine I hope they take something good with them when they leave. Anyway, I'm sure you were totally interested in the history of my blog right!? The real purpose of me even talking about it was to share with you the most heart felt gift I received this Christmas.

So you know Brandon, more commonly referred to as "B" in my posts, and even more commonly referred to as the love of my life. Well, he's so sweet to me. He happens to know I really like blogging, but noticed my banner was lacking. So for Christmas he painted for me the banner you see now! Isn't that just too sweet. I can't get over it, every time I log in, I see that painting and am reminded of how much he loves me, and how much I love him back.

His gift totally beat mine. I got him a vintage candy machine and filled it with good & plenty. {he sorta likes those} {I sorta don't, but always find myself eating them when he does...it's like candy corns. Are they even good? No one knows. But we eat them anyway} a good read, and mustache mug. Which is a mug, with mustaches all over it (duh.).

But nothing NOTHING beats homemade gifts.

So, something cool he did was photograph the process of his painting, which results in me having lots of options to choose from, SO I NEED YOUR HELP!

post your vote in a comment below, the one with the most votes will be my new banner!

woot woot!

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Vote Now!

*The finished product is hanging up in my garage at home. Drying. {oil paints apparently take ages to dry...and I'm always so tempted to touch them! So we put it up real high.}