*The winners of the Blue Door Boutique Giveaway are…

Congratulations, Faith, Angela, and Dani! Just send me an email when you get a chance!

One of my favorite things about social media (Twitter, blogging, and Facebook) are the really wonderful people I’ve come in contact with that I otherwise wouldn’t know at all. Through blogging, I’ve gotten to know a friend who works for Beach Cities Health District.

The Beach Cities Health District (BCHD) is a health agency promoting community health and wellness, and it also funds lots of health and wellness programs for the local schools.

Agencies like this need awareness and we should all be following them on Facebook for information and updates. The BCHD has plenty of opportunities for you to volunteer if you’re in that area.

But they also have something that we could all use, no matter what part of the country we’re in. In 2011, we saw way too many natural disasters in the United States and so many of our friends and loved ones have suffered. Natural disasters, like earthquakes, tornadoes, and flooding, or manmade ones, like fire or explosions, happen without warning. Being prepared for emergencies can greatly lessen injury and loss of life or property.

The BCHD has a really great Emergency Preparedness Kit and we’re giving one away today on my blog. You can never be too prepared and this kit didn’t leave anything out!

The Beach Cities Health District Emergency Preparedness Kit includes: (a $42 value)

1 – Red Backpack
2 – Food bar packets (for three days, 4,800 total calories, five-year shelf life)
1 – Hygiene kit (tissues, towelettes, hazardous waste bags)
6 – Water boxes (50.7 ounces, five-year shelf-life
2 – Emergency blankets
1 – 33-piece medical kit
1 – First-aid, CPR and choking guide
1 – Flashlight with alkaline batteries
1 – 12-hour light stick
2 – Adult ponchos
1 – Whistle

To enter this giveaway, first “like” Beach Cities Health District on Facebook so you can get the latest updates. Then come back and leave a comment on my blog!

For a second entry, “follow” Beach Cities Health District on Twitter . Make sure you let me know in your comment which of these things you did!

1. Despite a really yummy Valentine’s Day dinner of twice baked potatoes and steak, TC and I fell asleep on the couch watching HGTV. Nothing says lovin’ like Sandra Rinomato. (And can I say that I’m sad to say goodbye to Sandra Rinomato?)

2. My house still smells like last night’s supper. An overwhelming smell of red meat and potatoes at 9:00 a.m. But it actually doesn’t bother me a bit. And I’m sure Boudreaux is happy!

3. We had a great “don’t buy crap” month of January and saved a lot of money. And then February came. And it hasn’t been bad, but we’ve had some expected expenses and some large unexpected expenses. More reason to plan for the rainy days.

4. There’s a lot of pressure with having a kid in school/preschool. I saw moms walking in with Valentine’s Day teacher gifts yesterday and very quickly started to feel panicked.

5. I am very easily motivated by the person next to me at the gym. I like to check his or her pace on the elliptical and at least match it. I may fall over and faint one of these days because of it, but I guess I’m just competitive.

6. I may be competitive, but I’m not at all athletic. So I should really just stop being competitive.

7. My teeth are still moving. I got my braces off twelve years ago and I still have to wear my retainers a couple of times a week because my teeth will shift a lot if I don’t.

8.We have moved on to watching Cinderella in our house. I worried that Todd would be mad at me for having Hudson watch another Disney Princess movie, but Hudson adores it! All the mice, birds, Lucifer (Rucifee), and Bruno have him in stitches constantly! We can hear him cracking him from the other room because he thinks the mice are so funny. I had forgotten how many little critters are in that movie.

9.Todd and I have decided to go forward with getting Hayes the doc band. We’ll have another appointment soon where his head will be scanned/measured for the doc band and then we’ll wait for it to be ready. Charlotte girls… I see lots of fun meet ups in our future!

10. My tailbone is officially bruised from yesterday’s spin class. I love spinning, but hate getting used to the seat. But the calories burned are totally worth it. I just have to stay away from the Valentine’s Day candy and the cookies.

11. Hayes was up at 4:30 this morning. We let him cry for about 15 minutes and then when it was clear that he was past the point of no return we went in to change his diaper and give him a very small bottle to settle him down. (Hayes! You had been doing a great job for about a week. What’s the deal?! Anyway….) Since my alarm was going to go off at 5:00 (I’m insane), I decided to just go ahead and get dressed for the gym, go downstairs, fix some coffee and do my Bible reading for the day and then head off to the gym. Well my reading made me extremely sleepy, so I grabbed a blanket and took a nap. For almost two hours. Around 6:45, I jumped up and ran out the door to go to the gym. I am still not used to the earlier mornings. I’m just waiting for the day when it’s my natural wake up time.

Happy Valentine’s Day, friends!

1. Thanks, again, for all of your encouragement regarding the decision we’ll be making for Hayes. It means so much to me to read about your stories and your experiences. Thank you!

2. Todd and I celebrated Valentine’s Day on Friday night. It’s easier for us to get a babysitter on Friday night and we get easily irritated with Valentine’s Day crowds. I was also dying to see The Vow. We had an amazing time! We had a delicious dinner at Garibaldi’s and ended dinner with my favorite dessert, the almond basket. Then we went to see The Vow. It was a sweet movie. Parts were a little bit lame, but the story was sweet. I can honestly say that my Channing Tatum crush is over. He is just kind of blah to me. (Not trying to stir up a debate- I know some girls really really love him!) But I love Rachel McAdams!

3. I helped out with Hudson’s Valentine’s Day parties this week. He brought the cutest little Valentines and treat bags and then we brought cupcakes and the yummy pretzel, Hershey’s kiss, and M&M snacks. Love those little things!

4. This morning, we set the table for the boys so it would be all happy and lovey when they came in for breakfast. They didn’t get anything big for Valentine’s Day, but it was still fun to acknowledge it and show them they’re loved in a fun way. And y’all know I’m a sucker for pink and red!

5. When I was making the fun pretzel treats for Hudson’s class, I asked Todd if he would come help me put the M&Ms on top before the melted chocolate cooled. He said, “I am intimidated by crafts. I’m having VBS flash backs.” Seriously? Crafts? So funny!

6. Don’t forget to check out my Kelly’s Kids party! They have the cutest clothes for your little boy and little girl!

7. The Josh and Susan Powell story just breaks my heart. And makes me  super angry.

8. I cannot believe Whitney Houston is gone. We watched a tribute story on Sunday night and so many of my childhood memories flashed before my eyes. I have so many wonderful associations with her songs. I Will Always Love You came out when I was in the 5th grade- and I definitely saw The Bodyguard at much too young an age. I Will Always Love You was played at all the dances and was the last song. I Wanna Dance With Somebody and How Will I Know were such favorites of mine as a little kid and they still make me dance! Her voice was the absolute best and, in my opinion, only comes around once in a lifetime. No one can compare.

9. Our church has a women’s retreat coming up and I am so excited that I’m going to be going! It’s less than 24 hours away from the boys and Todd, but it will be time well spent.

10. I may have ordered four extra cupcakes when I ordered them for Hudson’s school party. You know. Just to have some at home.

11. Relatedly, my journey on My Fitness Pal is going well. I rejoined my gym a couple of weeks ago and I’m actually enjoying going. I need to be going for longer and working harder, but it’s a start in the right direction. A good friend and I went this morning at 5:45 for the morning spin class. I completely forgot how much the seat hurts!

12. I’m planning to make steaks and twice-baked potatoes tonight for an at-home Valentine’s Day celebration. Yum!

Sometimes I watch the Grammy Awards and sometimes I don’t. I did this year because, thanks to Glee, I knew some of the songs. And as I said last night on Twitter, I like watching the Grammys so I can test drive all the songs and see what I should be listening to. (We don’t listen to a lot of radio in our family because the DJs’ conversations are often inappropriate for toddler ears and the commercials for strip clubs are kind of embarrassing.)

So, thanks to the Grammys, I now have a list of songs that I need to download and add to my iTunes.

I stopped watching the Grammys after the Whitney Houston tribute (which was really understated in the best way possible), but wanted to share some of the highlights for me.

Bruno Mars’ performance made me so, so very happy! I loved it!

Adele raked in the Grammys! Yay for Adele!

And a flawless, timeless, haunting performance by the lady of the night!

Every single thing about this picture makes me laugh. I love Blake and Miranda and think it’s hilarious that they were seated next to Lady Gaga.

And the gorgeous Carrie can do no wrong. She sounded great and she looked beautiful.

What were your favorite Grammy moments?

photos via People.com and JustJared.com