Remember The Cranberries? I stole my post title from their album of the same name. Oh, the early 90's...I was a new college student, attending a state school just outside my hometown. Meanwhile my friend Kelly was living the full collegiate experience at Georgia Tech, becoming cooler by the minute, soaking up the Atlanta atmosphere. I made frequent trips up and down I-75 to hang with her there, because I wanted to be cool, too...and the University of Georgia is in Athens, which was a further drive.
But I digress.
Everybody in the blogosphere seems to be having a giveaway. And it's a good time of year for it, what with the holiday season in full effect. Have you been in Target lately? They are in full-on Christmas mode. Already. Before Halloween. Seriously, it has to be Thanksgiving day before I break out the Christmas With The Rat Pack CD. Or pour my first glass of eggnog.
Again, I digress.
I feel the need to give away free stuff. Yes, free stuff. Don't you love that word? FREE! Since I love Target, despite its early decking of the halls...er, aisles...I think it's appropriate to give y'all some Bullseye love. Who wants a $25 gift card? What a silly question. We all want a Target gift card. And if you don't, please have your head examined. Then go read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.
And because I would feel lame just giving away a "flat one," (as it's called in my husband's family--"flat ones" are cards containing money and/or a gift card--we love flat ones!) I'm throwing in one of my favorite, fun books...I've posted about it previously:
(But don't "Search Inside"--I ripped this off Amazon. There is no searching in Lulaville. I put it all out here for y'all. It's just the way I am.)
We love this book. It's bunches of fun on cold nights, long car rides, meals with friends, at family get-togethers...and it's perfect for this time of year.
So how do you get the goods? Glad you asked. Just leave me a comment. But wait...I'm gonna throw out a question from the If book, and I'd love to hear your response in my comments. I'm not making you work too hard here, huh? I'll go first:
If you could pick one famous person to be your next door neighbor, who would you have next door to you? Paula Deen. We'd share tomatoes and squash and hang out in our gardens. And I'd watch Bulldog football with her sons, while Caroline plays with her grandson, Jack, with Libbey supervising. Scott & Capt. Michael would be doing their own thing...watching Nascar, listening to Charlie Daniels, chewing tobacco...being manly men. We'd also be invited to her dinner parties, as well as Easter brunch and a big ol' fish fry on Independence Day. Also, every now and then she'd call and say, "Hey, Lula--my close, personal friend--wanna come over and drink some coffee with me? We'll give each other pedicures and eat Chess Bars and drift off into a sugar coma. Whaddya say, darlin'?" Good times.
[And y'all thought I was gonna say Jason Statham. Or Stephenie Meyer. Or JJ Abrams. Or Joss Whedon. Or Tim Curry. No, I'm sticking with Paula. The rest of these folks will just live within driving distance, of course. Dang, won't I live in the coolest place ever? Y'all come live near us, too.]
Let's discuss amongst ourselves, peeps. Comment away! I wanna give away free stuff. It will make me happy.
66 comments:
I ADORE contests! Thank you!
I'd want to live next door to Holly Madison. We would become BFF's and she would finally tell me once and for all what in the world she was thinking when she was doing the nasty with Hef. And if it's any better with Criss.
I have to know. It's a sickness. I'm thinking about writing her a letter.
Hand Down.
Edward Cullen. Um, he is famous to me. I would stand around begging him to bite me so that I could look at him forever.
Seriously. This is not strange is it?
Derek Jeter. We are huge Yankees fans! It would make my husband sooooo happy and he'd give us season tickets and let us use his private plane to fly back and forth and my daughter has a little girl crush on him so he'd coach her softball team.
Did I win? I love flat ones too as long as they're not on my chest.
oh la la! a giveaway. i'm in. i'd do anything for a little Tarjay action. (does that make me sound skanky?)
BUT..........your gonna have to give me time to think about who my famous neighbor would be.
Must go sleep on that. I'll be back later.
PS The Benjanator brought home The Westing Game from the library this week.........so I'm going to go read it right now so that I may partake in intelligent discussion with my eight year old.
Oh gosh.....I would have to live by Scott Foley....only so I could see him everyday and then maybe he would fall in love with me and then I could turn him down because of my fabulous husband but then I could still see him everyday and know he wanted me......ahhhhhh.....what a great question!
While we're talking about foodies- how about Mario Batali on one side and Alton Brown on the other?
I love Paula's food, but her persona annoys me - and who cooks wearing those 10 carats gorgeous rocks on their hands??
now , if I could only do something about Mario's orange crocs....
Well I WAS going to say Robert Pattinson, but I'm not sure I want drunken parties going on next door (unless I'm invited... hee hee).
I'm gonna go with Sarah Michelle Gellar and her hubby Freddy Prinze Jr. After all... they do have a house here in the San Fernando Valley already.
oprah. because maybe she would give me things, and my neighbor that gives me things moved away.
thanks for coming to visit me at school. i'm sure we had a great time. if i could just remember. oh well, good thing you do :)
I love free stuff, too.
I think I would want my famous neighbor to be Patrick Dempsey. He is so good to look at. I wouldn't stalk him or anything, but I would love to look over the fence, you know what I'm sayin?
I changed my mind. I would want to live next door to Madea. I love me some Madea. We could sit on the porch and harrass everyone that goes by. Ha ha. That'd be fun.
I would want to live next door to Bob Vila. Really, my hubby is not much of a handy man and there are so many things I would love to have done around here like um finish the fench that is not keeping my dog in the yard, sigh. But anywho, I would love a target gift card and more than that you could burn me a copy of that Rat Pack Christmas CD. I love me some Dean Martin!!
Okay, I cannot tell you how stressful this question is to me, because I have no idea. I have been thinking about it all morning and even asked my husband and he said "pick Hitler, then you can keep a good eye on him and if he acts up, you can put a stop to it." I laughed so hard. He said it so matter of factly.
I still don't know. I am sure I will think of someone better later, but I have never thought about it and it really isn't that big of a deal, yet I ponder.
I will just say Jamie Oliver since you said Paula. I think he would be someone fun to hang out with and his wife's name is Julie. I would know how to cook really great meals that are healthy for kids... love that. And you gotta love the accent!
Okay, I am done. Now you can send me the stressful book and the lovely gift card... I gladly accept :)
K, if I got to pick one famous person to live next door to it would be Jack Johnson cause then we could sit around and sing all the time. He'd probably wanna do that. And then I would get to be friends with G. Love, because he and Jack Johnson sing together so he'd probably come over and hang out a lot. And then G. Love sings with Tristan Prettyman (another new friend) who sings a lovely little ditty with Jason Mraz (check, friend). Do you see where I am going with this? A whole bunch of musicians for the price of one....
I saw the Cranberries in concert circa 1994 and it was hands down one of the best concerts I've ever been to. Who would I want to live next door? Hmm. I'll have to think about that and come back. Great question!
This is a hard one, Lula. Really, it is. Paula and all the other chefs are a great choice and I might have to say Tom Colicchio from Top Chef. But I might also agree with whoever chose Patrick Dempsey. Or I might have to choose YOU because you would be fun to gab with over the picket fence. So many choices.
Who would I want to live next to me?
Jesus.
Cuase then I could say "If you girls don't knock it off, I'm gonna get Jesus over here to deal with you."
And I bet he would mow over into my yard to be helpful.
You can be Paula's neighbor on one side... I'll be her neighbor on the other side! She is fabulous!
Somehow I've got to get my sister to meet Bobby Deen... I just know he would fall head over heels in love with her and they'd get married... then Ms. Paula would be my mother-in-law. Sort of. Well not really. She'd be Heather's MIL but I would so claim her as my own.
Oh, I love Lizzie's answer. If only I were that good.
'Cause I've been imagining being Patrick Dempsey's neighbor since I read Shelley's comment, especially when she changed her mind.
Maybe I'll meet in the middle and say Tobymac. 'Cause he's really cute, super talented, and he sings Christian rock. And that would make me the coolest mom in Isabel's eyes (she loves her some Tobymac).
Can we listen to the Rat Pack CD next month? I know it will be before Thanksgiving, but it'd be awesome...
You know I was having some good dreams last night. Oh, Edward/Robert, you are divine.
Ok you know how I absolutely love contest.
But to be quite honest I don't think I would want to live next to a Famous person. I mean all the paparazzi and there high fluten parties up all hours of the night. No thanks I would much rather live out on a big piece of land somewhere in the country with the closest person being at least a mile or so down the way.
I'm going to have to pick Ryan Gosling. That way I could spend less time stalking him on the computer since I could just nonchalantly pretend to paint my fence or do yard work and stalk him outside. :)
You know how I feel about Paula. She's my mother, she just doesn't know it yet. I would insist that you both build me and all of my children and house right next to yours because you're CRAZY if you think I would miss out on a group pedicure...and smoking...with Paula. I would so smoke a pack of Camel Lights with that woman.
This just works out so well b/c I love to get free stuff and you love it give it away. Awesome.
I am going to kinda steel your idea and say that I would love to live next door to Giada de Laurentiis. I just love her and I KNOW that we would be the best of friend ever. By that I mean that she would love to cook for me and teach me new tricks and recipes.
I love Tar-jay. And it would be quite helpful to the economy if I won...because I am quite sure that lot more than $25 would be spent by the time I left.
Famous neighbor? How about Lula. We could talk. And giggle. And get into lots of trouble. And if my phone told us we had talked for long enough, we could just hang out in the kitchen trying out new Paula recipes...
OK, Jen up above there, I am MAD now. I guess we'll both be Giada's next door neighbors. After all, I just cooked 4 of her recipes within the last week alone. And my Dad always says I remind him of her. But I think that's just the whole boobs and cooking thing. But I take the compliment & then feed him more food. Anyway, I do love her and think we have quite a bit in common. If I was a food personality I think I would have her kind of presence. Down to earth & not intimidating at all.
I love Target and I would like to have my beautiful grand daughters for my next door neighbor! How about that?
Mom
Bullseye love...it's so grand. I would say Katie Couric. She's famous enough to get me into fancy parties, but normal enough that we could co-exist and have fascinating conversations. Can you imagine the stories that woman has?
~It's so cute that your Mom answered. And the countdown clock just keeps ticking away!~
Do you remember the Cowboy Junkies? I was addicted to them.
For a second I thought that book was OJ's 'If I Did It' and was confused, then I woke up :)
Is it Friday yet???
I am giving away a book this week too and you would love it...Twilight! Yup, I am converting any non-Twilighters out there!
Now, as for your question...um, i am thinking Ty Pennington. a) there is the cute factor b) he would totally decorate my house! Oh, and if I were his neighbor, he would soooo let me shave off the lip hair he's got going on. ;0)
Lordie, I'm already commenter 273 and it's only 9:55. Good job! I'd pick Beth Moore. We' have a whopper of a worship session each morning singing Shackles by Mary Mary and she'd practice her teachings and Bible studies on me. Girl, I'd probably start speaking in tongues. We'd go shopping together and I'd finally figure out where she gets her outfits.
But, if I couldn't live by her I'd live by my friend Cher (not the famous one). She reminds me so much of Beth, even the accent and Cher grew up around Atlanta. Speaking of Atlanta, what train of thought were you on that led you from college to Atlanta to Cranberries to Christmas? Oh, and I'm officially holding a grudge now since you were up in Atlanta so much and never dropped by the beautiful campus of Agnes Scott. Weren't you friends with Betsy? I went there too you know. Winning the gift card would erase any grudge whatsoever. I probably just blew my chances though.
Steve Irwin...I know he's dead, but I had such a thing for him. Crickey I loved him. And his wife was pregnant at the same time as me twice. Our kids would get along fabulously and I just know I'd be best friends with Steve and Terri.
First of all, I sooo want to read that book (The Hunger Games) because you referred Twilight and it was awesome, so I know that this one has to be also.
I do want to win, I love Target and that book looks interesting too dammit, I don't have TIME to read anymore....shoot!
Ok, famous next door neighbor, hmmm, firstly it would have to be a male because I want someone who looks awesome in jeans and no shirt to cut his grass. So I can watch. Patrick Dempsey, Cameron Matthison, some famous rock star, the list goes on and on and I can't pick just one. Heck, Joe Jonas would be good too :D
I would pick James McAvoy, but then I would leave my husband, so bad idea.
I like the idea of a chef. I actually really like Bobby Flay, so I'll pick him.
Pioneer Woman. She's a hoot. Plus, then I could have a ranch next to hers...and I dream of living on a ranch again.
I really like Angelina Jolie, but I don't think I could handle their media issues. Her kids would be a blast though.
OOoooohhh! Great giveaway!!!
Soooo, I would live next door to Andre Agassi and Steffi. My husband and I play tennis and hopefully my future children will love it, too. We can share backyards - of course there will be a tennis court. He can give the children lessons, we can play a nice round of doubles, then we'll hang out and drink with all of our professional tennis player friends - Sampras, Federer, Roddick.....
Yea, okay - dream world!
That's a hard one.
I guess I'll go with Rachel Ray (totally biting off of yours) because who doesn't want a chef living next door to them. We could have dinner parties often :)
Now, do I get to move to her neighborhood or does she have to move to mine?
Since Jesus is taken, I've got to go with Bill Clinton (what? Jesus to Clinton?).
Bill's bound to still have a lot of pull and could get things done on my agenda. Sitting and talking out in the yard at day's end would be completely entertaining. I'd get to meet important people coming to hob-knob with 'Slick Willie' (that should be a pretty impressive A-list). The guy obviously knows how to have a good time, and since he still rates Secret Service protection, I can't think of a better neighborhood watch program.
I would, however, be a little nervous about my wife and 2 daughters...Bill will be Bill, you know.
Andy Rooney would be my second choice... if only to catch him asleep in a hammock one day and trim his eyebrows.
Okay, I think Hot Tub Lizzy wins hands down, but only for her answer - which ROCKS! ("Don't make get Jesus up in heea!")
And your mom is too cute.
I think I would have to go with Brad Paisley and his wife (Kimberly Williams-Paisely). Not because I adore country music, or because I think he's good looking (he's definitely not a dog), but they strike me as a very down to earth couple and they're expecting #2 and they seem very grounded even in the midst of fame and fortune.
I know, its all serious and stuff. But I'm just like that...sometimes.
Mike Rowe (from Dirty Jobs). It's be great -- My kids think he's cool, I think he's cute, and my husband totally has a man crush on him.
Between Mike's wisecracks and my husband's one-liners, I'd be entertained all the time.
Plus he can sing opera so we could have him as entertainment for our many fabulous dinner parties. ;)
I loved The Cranberries! Ah, memories. Now, on to your question.
My next door neighbor would be Jon Stewart. Our kids would hang out and I could meet all of his cool guests that he interviews and he would keep me sane in this political dumping ground that the campaigns have become. I need comic relief desperately!
Great giveaway!
I would want to live next door to you, just to hear your southern accent and smell your fried green tomatoes, and then I would have to beg you for some cheese grits and share my land shark with you! :)
I need that book, thankyouverymuch
this is a good day for visiting. Glad I stopped by today! I would live next door to hmmm. That is a hard one. I have never been a "fan" so I really can't think of anyone. Maybe Oprah - because living next to her would mean I was rolling in the money.
I'm still trying to get my hands on The Hunger Games. Sigh.
Hum.......as a next door neighbor.....at first I was going to say Gwynth Paltrow because she seems so normal.......well except for the fact that she is BFF with Madonna. But, that aside, I would love some perks of being her friend. But then I read your answer and I HAVE to go with a food personality too. I mean, I want to be fed.......good food on a regular basis. So, I'm going with Rachel Ray. Even though she annoys the crap out of me. BUT, she can whip something wonderful up in 30 minutes. That's my kind of meal. :)
I'll go with Anthony Bourdain... I've said it before and I'll say it again... I'm a picky eater, but I reckon he could convince me to put just about ANYTHING in my mouth.
;)
Boy who would have though this would be such a hard question? Do I go with someone with a great decorating sense, someone who could actually teach me to cook something edible, or someone funny (who doesn't need a funny neighbor). I guess I'd have to go with Bonnie Hunt. She's funny, plus she has connections so she could find someone to help her new best friend (me) to decorate and cook.
To Caroline's comment RE:Brad Paisley...
I know it isn't quite the same...(warning-name dropping ahead) but Brad Paisely's beautiful cousin, Kevin Paisley is a surgery resident at the hospital where my son recently had surgery! He is TOTALLY adorable and says his cousin is totally down to earth. Sorry to say, but I would take Kevin Paisley over his cousin any day! TOO CUTE! And not as much media...
As for who I would want to live next door to... Gracious... I have no earthly idea.
I would want them to be gracious and to keep their dog's crap out of my yard, that's fo sho. If they didn't even have a dog, that would be better. They could be cat peoples, though. That would be cool.
I do love some Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. Maybe I can live right between them!! Oooh yes!! That would be so totally perfect. Then I could be laughing my face off at every turn! They were so totally cute in You've Got Mail.
I love me some Target. Hard CORE Target love. I dream of it. Seriously. They let me walk in, as if I were famous, and grab whatever my heart's desire. Yes. They greet me by name and hand me a piping hot triple grande mocha from their own Starbucks.
Yes. Life is SO good.
But then I woke up and realized that I forgot to put the trash out.
I LOVE this book. I had it. I lost it. Now I want that one.
If I could choose anyone as my next door neighbor it would be...Jared Leto. Because he's hot. And he has a thing for me. He told me so. It's true. IT'S TRUE DAMMIT.
I thought this was going to be hard .. I sat and went over pros and cons of different celeb neighbors, and then it came to me in a flash. Because, deep down, I've known who my ideal neighbor (of the famous variety) would be since I was 10 years old.
Hanson. Not just the three blonde boys most of America is familiar with .. I want to live next to all three of them, their wives and children .. I want to live next to Mama Diana and Papa Walker. I want my kids to play with their kids, and for their sisters, Jessica, Avery and Zoe to babysit. I want their brother Mackenzie to hang out with my husband and brother. I want to participate in jam sessions in the garage.
My name is Brittney, and I want to live in a complex with the entire Hanson family.
Is this weird? Never mind .. don't answer that ..
My gut says I'd be on a farm, that way I could watch the naked, mud, tractor races of Ralph Fiennes and Ed Harris (they have a bachelor pad err farm), but I really love Le Targat so I'm going to be practical...
Bill Gates. He's frickin rich beeyotch! He has to have the coolest parties, and I think if I lived next to him, I'd have to have a huge casa with a pool...which he would fill with sharks with laserbeams on their heads for Xmas, because every girl has had a moment where you wish you had a laserbeam shark to take out someone. Bill and I are tight like that. Actually, he probably could arrange my tractor races. :)
I have this fun book. It has seen many of drinking games on the Sassy table.
Well, since I am already married and wouldn't trade him for the world, I would live next door to my BOYFRIEND Marky Mark. (Issok, Sweetie already knows about him)
"Gotta run next door! Need to borrow some suga! Mark wants to have me over for coffee again. Mark, could you please open this jar of jam for me?"
Awwwww, man! I wrote this great comment and then blogger ate it. Fart.
I talked about how I didn't want to be a copy cat but I was totally going to say Paula Deen, too.
It would be great! She'd make us fried chicken and butter cakes now and again. Mostly now. And she would just love my boys. She'd call then over for cookies when they were in the yard playing. They'd call her Miss Paula and so would I.
I went on and on. It was a great comment. Bugger.
Kimba
HMMMM someone Famous to live next door...I want to live next door to one of MY BLOG Buddies first off but for a Famous Person I think I would pick INA GARTEN the Barefoot Contessa....I adoore her show and think WOW her neighbors must also.
Today I would have to go with any member of the band The Kooks. For multiple reasons really:
1. They are British. Yum.
2. Have you heard them? Yum in such a raw way.
3. We could sit outside and make music. Or more accurately they could make music and I could revel in the joy of pretending to be cool like them.
4. For some strange reason, The Kooks are my own personal soundtrack to Twilight right now. I usually assess a book based on what band would suit it. I feel my Kooks are doing this for me today.
Clearly, I have crazy written all over me.
{Go listen to "Seaside" by them. Love, love, love it.}
Hmmm... that's a tough one. I think it would have to be Patricia Arquette. I l-o-v-e Medium. I would have picked a man but then my hubby would be jealous!
Lucille Ball...I just think I'd have such a fun time since I STILL Love Lucy! That gal had a gift for making people laugh, is all I'm saying...PS: I LOVE free stuff, too! Which is why I'm hosting another Pop'rs Giveaway, starting Saturday morning!!
I love me some Target!
If I could live next to anyone it wouldn't be a "celebrity" (at least not now anyways), no I would pick Jenn Lancaster. She is one of my favorite authors and reading her memoirs already have me feeling like we were meant to be friends. Seriously I will move to Chicago in a heartbeat.
John Locke, because I am pretty sure he would be handy to have around, especially when it came to home repair, and yard work. I am also pretty sure he could show me how to play backgammon, because I do not know how. I also want to learn how to throw a knife. Plus he is just cool...I am pretty sure he would take me to Australia and we could go on a hike in the outback, and eat meat. I am pretty sure he is not a vegetarian. Jackie is, John would laugh at tufo. Anyway, that's my answer.
If you had asked, who would you want to just have lunch with, I would of said you. Because I want to hear the funny stories about Eric growing up. But if I had to pick someone to be my next door neighbor it would be Colin. My dear Colin Ferrell. Just because we are soooo together, but it sucks cuz he doesnt want the paparazzi following me around, so we have to keep it on the down low...It would be nice to see him everyday. Also with winning the Target gift card I would totally buy the book followinG TWLIGHT. Which I started reading because of you.....just saying.....
My web page is www.hogi82.wordpress.com
If you like coffee you need to get in on my Giveaway! To celebrate the launching of my online coffee shop, Get The Bean,I am giving away 1 pound of coffee (or chai or herbal tea if you prefer) every Friday in October. To enter visit:
www.getthebean.blogspot.com
If you are interested in a chance to get money for the cancer charity of your choice for an entire year go to:
www.gtbfightscancer.blogspot.com
Or just visit our site:
www.getthebean.com
Barbara Kingsolver and I have sooooooooooo been waiting for someone to ask, for like MONTHS!
I REALLY want to just meet her for heck's sake. Talk about raising chickens, and beans, and eating locally.
Just once.
D'ya think it's possible? I know where she lives...sorta.
Heather. Camel light? Gross. Girl, if you are doing the "I've had some wine a my annual smoke sounds good", you want Marlboro Ultra Lights.
Camel will like, grow hair on your tongue or something.
Good questions Lula. I think I'll go with .........
Faith Hill. Doesn't she just seem so nice?
And, her husband ain't too bad either.
Okay, I'm back......
I had a good one earlier but blogger ate it. PIG.
I had the whole cul-de-sac arranged.
It was me, Jesus (cuz Lizzy is genius), Bobby Flay (you know we'd have better block parties than you and Paula!), Andrew Dan Jumbo from TLC's Take Home Handyman cuz he's handy and well, HAWT. And the last house in the cul-de-sac would be the Afflecks. Ben, Jen, Violet and baby #2 cuz they are just plain normal.
I know you said pick one, but when I dream, I run with it.
Martha Stewart. Because she is OCD and because my home needs some personal attention. The house next door to me (Martha's new house) is so tiny it'll only take her 5 minutes to get it all gussied up. Lacking anything to do and because she is OCD she will come over and Fix Everything and make dinner too. It'll take her awhile to Fix Everything. We'll all live happily ever after.
The End
Oh, wow. I would love to live next door to Matthew McCon...whatever, pre-baby w/Ms. Alves. You know, when he was playing the bongos nekkid.
Yeah, that would be fun.
Do they have to be still alive? If not, I would love to sit down with Marilyn Monroe, I love her, and want to know what really went down. If they must be alive...hmm...Mandy Patinkin, LOVE him. He can cook for me, sing for me AND act out his Inigo Montoya role every day!!
I love Target!!
Hey Lula,
Just dropped in to see what you've been up to and I'm smiling! You really need to consider writing as a career. I wasn't gonna enter this contest since I have great neighbors but......Al Pacino would be nice. Then we (yes, I would invite you too) could have elegant dinners (you'd have to teach me which fork to use), go to awesome parties (this one I can handle-no help required), Red Carpet Events (need a new pair of Jimmy Choos' first), Movie Premiers (oh, forgot, you dog), ect. Anyhoo, that's who I'd choose!
Ummm...nobody because I like to walk around in my nakies and there'd be too much chance of the paparazzi catching me and my rolls on film. Then they'd block out my head and fuzz out the privates and use my picture for one of their "Obesity in America" stories. Egads, I'd be doomed!!
Post a Comment