$1,065,235!! The Minden Million!

We did it!

Our amazing little town raised the Minden Million!

$1,065,235!

Can you believe it???

Sunday nights at the auction are the highlight of the weekend, and there is never a dry eye when the final grand total is revealed.

This year was a huge year for everyone, and we were all continuously praying to break the million dollar mark!

Mrs. Melissa and Mrs. Christie (first and third in the picture below) are the chairpersons of the event.
 Cora Lou Robinson has been involved in the auction for 20+ years because over the years many of her own students developed cancer. 

Mr, Pete Treat (on the end) helped to start the first auction 36 years ago after he lost his young daughter to cancer.

Regardless of the impressions you may gain of north Louisiana from what you see on tv, our town has a huge heart, which is definitely something to be proud of! 

These were just a few of the hardest working volunteers of the weekend . . .

THIS is why we give . . . 

All of the Minden cancer survivors: 

Thanks everyone for all of your help! 

We couldn't have done it without each and every penny donated! 

Keep on praying for a cure!

St. Jude Auction Weekend Update

Today marks the 50th Anniversary of the St. Jude Hospital!

It was started by Danny Thomas on February 4, 1962.

It currently costs 1 million dollars every day to keep the hospital up and running. 

Yesterday was truly a great day at the auction.

We were all stunned by the presentation of a check for $58,050 from Central Elementary.

The entire school works hard for the whole month of January to contribute to the auction, and this year they truly outdid themselves.

Fifty-eight thousand dollars!

Can you believe that?

Also, another donor just contributed 99 Grand prize raffle tickets, which is a total of $9,990!

This morning we got up early to participate in the 5k, which had over 500 registrants and raised over $10,000!

We woke up to a downpour, but it didn't bother the 200+ runners who came out for the race!

It was mine and Josh's first race together and it actually turned out to be a whole lotta fun!

Team Rat

It's not too late for you to help out!

We are constantly having auction items every hour (watch the live stream on the website!) and we will be drawing for raffle items all day today and tomorrow 

So far we have already drawn for an xbox, two tvs, two ipads, and two kindles, but you can still buy chances for most of the best prizes like: 

The Canon DSLR, the mac desktop, two mac laptops, a boat, two more iPads, and another Kindle fire, a vacation to the Great Wolf Lodge, lots of jewelry, a lifetime hunting/fishing license, granite countertops, lots of guns, and tons of great gift cards! ($1,000 Visa card!)

Any Shreveporters would appreciate my favorite prize this year, The Wine & Dine Package with gift cards to the following places: 

Superior Bar & Grill $100 Outback $135

Texas Street Steakhouse $300

Silver Star Steakhouse $100

 Cheesecake Bistro $100

Oyster bar & Grill $100

Earnests $75

Ralph & Kacoos $200

Cantina Laredo $100

L'Italiano $100

2 Johns $100 

Visit www.mindenstjude.com and buy some raffle tickets!

Funny Texts [from Josh]

Just a glimpse into some really strange conversations we've had lately . . .

(I was serious about the learning Chinese thing)

Hey you there,

www.MindenStJude.com NOW!

We are off to carb load for the big 5k tomorrow morning . . .

(Not that it will really matter, I just love excuses to over indulge in carbs)

The Annual Minden St. Jude Auction

If you ever pay attention to one single thing that I will ever blog about, then I want it to please be this post.

Over the years my hometown of Minden, Louisiana has had a staggering number of children develop cancer.

For the past 30 years, Minden has been hosting an auction benefiting St. Jude Children's Hospital.

Minden raises more money for St. Jude per capita than any city!
Anyyyyyyy city in the worlddddddddd.
Since the auction started our little city of 13,000 people has given over 9 million dollars.
Seriously.
9,000,000

Here's some stats of the money raised from the last 7 years:
2005: $509,179
2006: $703,604
2007: $755,846
2008: $788,611
2009: $876,264
2010: $881,885
2011: $943,628

We have yet to break the million dollar mark, but I have a good feeling this year may be the year!

Here's how you can help:

Start by watching the little video to get a feeling of what giving means to the people of Minden.
I have yet to watch it without crying.

The auction starts today and continues through Sunday night.
We have a website that you can buy raffle tickets from or simply donate.
(Which is suuuuper easy to do)

Some of the items for auction this year are:
A Mac desktop
A Canon Rebel t2i! (Just like mine!)
2 Macbook Pros
2 iPads
2 Kindle Fires
$1000 gift cards to Best Buy, Dillards, VISA, and Wal-Mart
$500 gift cards to Academy, Bass Pro, Lowes, or Home Depot

2 Xbox 360's (I actually won one last year!)

55 inch LED tv or a 46 inch Smart Tv (whatever that is)
Granite countertops
A grand piano
A freakin horse (for real)
A washer and dryer
For the dudes: a 4-wheeler, boat, fishin trip, or a buncha different guns!
Golf cart or Go-cart
Some jewelry (including a rolex!)
. . . and cute little fireman playhouse

The raffle tickets only range from $5-$10!
Raffle tickets for the grand prize are $100
. . . but that gets you a chance for a 2012 Yukon Denali or $50,000

Click here for a full list of items and their raffle ticket prices.

The drawings are at various times throughout the weekend (the bigger items are last) so be sure to check on the website or Facebook to see when items will be drawn and see if you won anything!

You can watch the coverage live from the website.
www.MindenStJude.com

Items are continuously being added to the website, so keep checking throughout the weekend. 

The past few years, they have also been hosting a 5k & 10k and if you are in the area and wanna participate you can go here to sign up.

Please please please take the time to check out the website and donate.

You can also follow on Twitter @mindenstjude or like it on Facebook here

If you are a follower of my blog, I would appreciate it more than you know if you would please blog, tweet, Facebook, or just tell your friends about the auction.

If you are able to give, please let me know, I'd love to hear from you!
I'll love ya forever!

Interchangeable Quote Frame DIY

Participating in the Blog Party Gift Exchange was one of the funnest things I've done since I started blogging.

When I signed up for it, I had no idea what my gift could possibly be, but once I realized I had been partnered with a sweet little California girl, I knew I had to give her a little taste of Louisiana.

I honestly wanted to just ship her crawfish or a king cake, but that would not have turned out too hot, so I got crafty (without the help of Pinterest, shockingly enough) and made this little piece right here:

Like all of my crafts, this one is (again) just like a prostitute, super easy and super cheap.

Inappropriate?

Nah.

Anyways, I bought some paper with burlap print on it at Hobby Lobby (the store where if you don't pay half price, you aren't doing it right)

I typed up the alphabet in few fonts that I thought were appropriate.

(Unlike my prostitute joke)

Side note: To give the paper some structure I painted on a few layers of Modge Podge, before the next step.

I also found a rustic wooden frame at Hobby Lobby (half price, duh) and inserted hooks at various points along the back of the frame.

I started off using brown rope, but later changed to green rope (because I realized I kinda overdid it with the whole tan/beige/brown color scheme).

Instead of cutting out each letter individually, I carefully tore the paper to give it a more textured look.

You have to be sure you are tearing it in the correct direction so that the frayed part is showing (if that made any sense at all)

I got real good at my ABC's.

After that, I poked little holes in each letter, then tied some string through them and strung them on the rope!

I chose to use the French quote "Laissez les bon temps rouler!" which means "Let the good times roll!"

(This is one of Nat's pics from her blog after she received my gift in the mail, check her blog out here!)

It was very hard for me to part with this little frame, hah, but no worries I'll probably be making myself one soon! 

I just keep thinking of too many quote I wanna frame.

I think thats why I love the idea so much, because you can change it out as much as you want!

I think the first quote I will choose is the infamous quote from Matilda:
"You can do it Brucie!"

Please please please check back tomorrow to see a post very very very dear to my heart!