For the last two weeks, I hosted a submissions contest for my upcoming book, which is based on my other blog, Operation Beautiful. I received over 200 thoughtful, creative, and amazing entries, which are all now jammed into my Official Book:
But I can only select 19 notes for prizes. 125 of the notes will be in the book!
The 19 prizes include:
- GRAND PRIZE: A $100 Spafinder.com gift card
- A variety pack of Glo Bars from Oh She Glows
- A Stonyfield Farm gift bag
- A case of POM Wonderful
- A Superchick CD
- A pair of Feelgoodz Flip Flops
- A piece of jewelry from DragonFlie Designs
I judged the entries on creativity and uniqueness of the note itself and/or the location of the note. It was HARD to choose the winners, but here they are….
- Sarah; 19; Richmond, VA: The GRAND PRIZE winner posted a huge, colorful note on a stop sign pole at a busy intersection. It’s catchy and unique, and I loved it.
- Brooke; 18; New York City, NY
- Christina; 28; Austin, TX
- Rachel; 19; Denver, CO
- Janae 24; Denver, CO
- Kelsey; 26; Denton, TX
- Mary; 33; Minneapolis, MN
- Kath; 26; Charlotte, NC
- Jessica; 18; Boulder, CO
- Emily; 21; Shreveport, LA
- Jessica C.; 24; Boston, MA
- Jessica M.; 25; Massachusetts
- Sherri; 49; Seattle, WA
- Emily; 15; Virginia
- Katie; 24; Baltimore, MD
- Monica; 26; California
- Jessica; 20; Beaumont, TX
- Morgan; 28; Freehold, NJ
- Amelia; 21; Sandy Hook, KY
Unfortunately, I cannot publish the winning notes on the blog – you have to just trust me that they were AMAZING! 
Or, you can see them yourself in the book, which comes out in August. Congrats to the winners (I’ll e-mail you!) and THANK YOU to everyone who entered the book submissions contest. You’ve helped me pull together what I hope will be an awesome book.
In Other News….
I’m still sick and started to take antibiotics. I don’t normally like antibiotics, but I think its necessary this time around.
Snacks of the afternoon included some Glo-nola from Angela with Greek yogurt (ohmigod, the granola was awesome):
And grapes:
Dinner was quick and easy. I felt too tired to stand in the kitchen and cook. I had cous cous, kidney beans, and some green vegetable that I currently cannot recall the name of (help?):
The cous cous was drenched in this yummy Thai sauce, which was good and I want to try with tofu:
Wedding Revisited – Sneak Peek!
Remember how we re-took our wedding photographs on Sunday? A great photographer named Adam Wiggall photographed us, and here is one of the shots!
I’ll put the rest up tomorrow. I’m so happy with our new pictures! It feels like my wedding day in those pictures!
Hears to hoping I wake up, magically cured of my respiratory sickness and can run. I need to get in marathon miles!!!
Twitter
Operation Beautiful
they are snap peas dear
I have been thinking and praying for you this week, I just got back to internet world…and it looks like things are ok
Prayer works.
I had a similar dinner, except sub in oats and mix it all together with cheese
. Congrats on finding your top notes! The book is going to rock (hard).
Aww, I wish we could see the winners now, they must be great!
Feel better soon. I find sleep the best of medicines, but I’m sure that glonola will help bolster your system too
Congrats to the winners! I hope you feel better soon! That picture is amazing! I am so happy that you got pictures that you love! I can’t wait to see the rest!
Congrats to the winners!
Your pic is GORGEOUS!
*waving magic wand* Feel better:)
i cant wait until your book is available for purchase! i will be buying when, for sure.
i love your re-wedding picture! so beautiful and artistic :]
Can’t wait to see all the Operation Beautiful submissions in your book next August! =) Also, your wedding picture looks amazing, I am sure the rest are as well. Hope you feel better soon!
LOVE THE WEDDING PHOTO!!
Also, if you like curry sauce it’s super easy to make your own (you know, if you’re still feeling like being adventurous and trying new recipes!).
Get well soon! I feel your pain. I have a nasty sinus infection and I’ve been sidelined all week. I finally caved and took antibiotics. I hate taking them, and avoided it till the last minute which is why almost a week and a half later I still feel dizzy and awful. They put me on Bactrim/Septra. What are you taking?
Amy
mine is the generic z-pack? i hope it works!!!
WOW!!! You guys look gorgeous! It looks like it’s straight from a wedding magazine.
I love that Thai curry sauce. But not as much as I love your new wedding shot!!!!
Congratulations to the winners!
Healthy Eating
Tasha
Can’t wait to see the winning notes.
Feel better. Get some rest.
Congrats to the winners!
Your wedding photo looks great! Can’t wait to see the rest!
Hope you feel better!
It is so awesome to see all the many different places that notes were left! I can’t wait to see the book
I have been wanting to try that curry sauce too, yum. I believe those are sugar snap peas?
That wedding pic is BEAUTIFUL! Hope you feel better soon!
I’m so glad you’re happy with your new pictures! The lighting looks amazing. I think my husband and I need to start saving to have our own re-do, my wedding pictures are so depressing!
YIPPIEE!! I am so excited for this whole post. Thank you, thank you, thank you and I can not WAIT to see the book!!! (the winners are in it?) The wedding picture is SO awesome!! I love it, amazing lighting!! Feel better soon!!
yes, you are in it!
you look beautiful! can’t wait to see the rest!! hope you feel better!
The picture is gorgeous! I cannot wait to see the rest!
What a beautiful picture. I can’t wait to see the rest tomorrow.
What a great picture! Hope you get to feeling better soon!
I think those might be called snow peas?
cous cous & kidney beans… interesting combo! sounds good!
How amazing for the winners! And your reshoot photo looks gorgeous!!!
I literally think I may have just had a premature heart attack – when I saw the title of this post, my heart jumped a little in hopes that my name would be on the list of those 125 selected into the book. My heart then proceeded to FLY OUT OF MY CHEST when I saw that MY NAME was listed as the GRAND PRIZE WINNER!!! I. am. freaking. out. THANK YOU CAITLIN!!! And congratulations to all of the other winners and entries into the book! YOU are beautiful
:):):)
seriously, you had a great entry. i hope you enjoy your gift certificate – i will email you tomororw!
Feel better! And the photo is absolutely gorgeous!!!
Gorgeous picture, can’t wait to see more!
So excited I won and honored to be a part of Operation Beautiful!
great pic! can’t wait to see more
jenna
That photo = epic. I love it!!
Rest up my dear!
OMG I LOVE the wedding pics so far!!
Can’t wait to see the rest of the “wedding” pics!
I struggled with sinus infections last Jan/Feb in the midst of training for my first half marathon. One round of antibiotics I started on a Friday a.m. and felt like a whole new person for a long run the next a.m. I try to avoid antibiotics, too, but sometimes they’re what your body NEEDS to heal!! Hope you feel better quick!
The wedding picture looks awesome-I can’t wait to see the rest of them!!
You look amazing in that picture and you two look really happy!
Get some rest and feel better!
The wedding picture looks beautiful!!
I cannot wait for your book to come out
Congrats on your book!! Yay for new and improved wedding pictures
I sure hope you get to feeling better soon.
Congrats to all the winners!!! And what a beautiful picture
hooray to all the winners! hope you feel better! and i cant wait to see more of your new wedding pictures!
Oh your picture makes me want to pull my dress out of fancy smantsy drycleaned forever storage and redo my pictures! Mine are ok, (and I should be getting my album any day, nevermind we are at month 20?) but I want AMAZING ones like I can tell your new ones are!
wow, the colors in that photo are beautiful!! (and so are you, of course!)
when you asked about the sugar-snap peas, i was like “well, duh!….wait, what are they called?” haha…it’s just one of those days.
That picture looks like an advertisement for something very posh – it’s gorgeous!
i have been a reader for a while, and never really commented before, but it seems like everyone is sick! have you ever heard of a neti pot? i NEVER get sick and hate antibiotics, but got a horrible cold and knew i had a sinus infection. someone told me about the netipot, and it worked SO well, it cleared up my infection in 2 days! hope you feel better!
i have not heard of netipot, i just googled it and it looks cool, though!
That photo honestly looks like something you would see in the ads of In Style or something across a two-page layout! You’re kind of inspiring me to re-shoot my own wedding photos, actually. I didn’t like mine either, but never liked the idea of re-creating them because I knew it wouldn’t be “the day,” but they are just as beautiful hte second time around!
Congrats to the winners!
Oh I like the photo of the “wedding”! Can’t wait to see the others eheh
I hope you feel better soon!
Oh my gosh the “wedding” photo looks so incredible! I really can’t wait to see more
Looks like you really did pick the right photographer. He did a fabulous job in that photo.
I love Granola and Yoghurt!
In fact, RIGHT NOW I am going to go make some more granola and mix up some yoghurt.
YUMMY!
SUGAR SNAP PEAS! That’s the green veggie. And your photo is absolutely stunning. Much more artistic than the others. Even though I was at your wedding and found your photos gorgeous, this one just gets me more excited to see the new ones more.
Exciting to hear all about your book-writing progress. I’m glad you got so many great entries! I’ll have to try that curry sauce. Plus you always make kidney beans look so good – I never know what to do with those.
Caitlin,
Rad photo!! Loves it…
So, I have to ask since no one else did yesterday… am I the only one seeing some kind of danger in posting an eye-catching Op Beuatiful note “at a stop sign pole at a busy intersection?” Lol. Maybe I am not picturing this correctly.
Regardless, have a great Friday! Do you get to make up your Anatomy test? I am glad you are not in my class my guy doesn’t allow make-ups no matter what. Pretty harsh.
TGIF!
naw, its safe. i promise.
*beautiful*
That wedding picture reminds me of two superheroes ready to conquer the world!! How appropriate!
Thanks for choosing my note for the book. Keep up the great work Caitlin!
awww, gorgeous wedding pic! can’t wait to see the others :O)
Beautiful wedding pictures! Seriously, those are exactly what I want mine to look like.
Also, I’m not sure if you were eating non-dairy yogurt, but you should be! Lots of antibiotics will make you sick to your stomach if you eat them with dairy, and Z-Pak especially did so to me. Don’t want you to feel worse than you need to!
you know what, my mom told me that, too! i didnt feel sick to my stomach yesterday but i will stay aware of my dairy intake today. i pretty much have a stomach of steel, though.
That’s such a fierce picture! I love it.
Mmm yellow curry is so good. I bet that would be awesome with tofu. I got a pineapple yellow curry at a Thai place one, so maybe try adding pineapple! It was amazing.
OMG I AM SOOO EXCITED!!!! YAAAYYYY happy days!!!! I can’t wait for the book to come out and see everyone else’s entries all over the world!!! WOOPWOOP thanks so much Caitlin!!!
Beautiful wedding shot!
Congrats to the winners!
ooo..wish I could have won, those prizes sound awesome! The wedding pics are great! Oh, and I’m sure you are probably getting tons of advive while being sick, but I have found that if I take my Emergen-C (Vit C packets) every 6 hours for a few days, it really helps my immune system recover so much faster!
i agree with the netipot. i’ve seen it on oprah once when dr. oz was on, and just last week he had it on his show
i always steer away from dairy when i’m sick, i tend to have extra mucus around if i eat it while sick. one thing that helped me when i was sick last year was i drank a lot of fresh squeezed oj. at least a few glasses a day! and of course-sleep!
good luck!
also, that picture is amazing! great job at staying healthy and fit!
Can’t wait for the book! I especially can’t wait to see all of the winning submissions.
On a side note (in case your doctor didn’t tell you or you weren’t already aware) – Antibiotics have a reverse effect on birth control. I know a couple of people who were never told this when they got a prescription and well….. oops!
Hope you feel better soon!
ive heard that before but its definitely something ALL women should now.
anyway, ive been banned from sex for two weeks. how much suck? the doctor asked if i would live and i said ‘i dont know’ and she rolled her eyes. LOL
[...] been selected and I was even more excited to find that I was also selected by Caitlin as one of the 19 prize winners too! I can not WAIT for the book to come out, and for you my readers and friends to see my [...]
I’m so excited to be apart of the your book! Thank you for making a difference in this world
The Stonyfield Farm gift bag prize is amazingly cute! P.S. love the new pic!
lol please don’t read the “the” in between “of” and “your” stated above… i’m still half asleep!