Back to the Grind and Giveaway Winner

A selection of beautiful blooms I photographed on the South Island

Greetings friends - happy Monday! I am back from my trip to New Zealand - what an incredible blessing it was to be able to travel with my mom and second dad AND have the bonus of breathtaking scenery. New Zealand definitely has my heart. As usual, I took a gazillion photos and have some interesting/amazing things to share...but in typical Belinda fashion, during my extensive travels home, I managed to get a terrible case of the flu and have completely lost my voice...and I am also in the stressful process of setting up a new computer (replacing my desktop computer, which inconveniently died right before my trip)...so bear with me while I try to nurse the flu and get caught up on all things Blue Ribbon Designs.

I will start today by announcing my Planes, Trains and Automobiles Giveaway winner. Thank you to everyone who played along - I had quite a few guesses, here on my blog and throughout my social media channels (I even got a guess via e-mail), but no one guessed correctly. After talking with my husband and parents, I decided it was best to give the prize to the person who guessed the closest without going over. I actually used 20 methods of transportation in my travels...and I will go into detail below. Just to get to New Zealand, I was in a car, on an Amtrak train, in a passenger van, in a coach bus, and on three airplanes! Valerie H. (valtatting on Instagram) had the highest guess (without going over) with 15, so she has been declared the winner! She was one of two people who guessed over 13...and the other person guessed an extreme 47. I have contacted Valerie on Instagram to claim her "prize." There should have been at least one more method, as I was scheduled to go horseback riding at Walter Peak Farms in Te Anau, but it was cancelled at the last minute due to staffing issues....I think 20 is a pretty high number (but a horse would have been the perfect addition to my photo collage). Let's break it down...

1. My feet - this was a hiking/walking tour of the South Island, so my feet got plenty of miles.
2. Car
3. Amtrak Train
4. Passenger Van
5. Coach Bus (8)
6. Airplane (6)
7. Taxi
8. Sprinter Van (this was our daily transportation during the hiking tour)
9. Choo Choo Train
10. Kayak
11. Golf Cart 
12. Bicycle
13. Tour Boat
14. Gondola
15. Steamboat
16. Helicopter (3)
17. Jet Boat (2)
18. Ferry Boat (3)
19. Custom MAC Boat (Glacier Glider)
20. Hägglunds (International Antarctic Centre)

As you can see, we made good use of our time in New Zealand! I will be making several posts, breaking down our weeks of travel, so I can share the beauty I captured on each day. So look for those in the coming week...going through photos and blogging is on my long list.

For now, I am back to the grind (while heavily medicated). Fingers crossed that I will be finishing up the set-up of my new computer today (luckily, I backed up all my pertinent files and documents). I still have a bit of correspondence to tackle. My Etsy Shop is fully open...and all orders have shipped. I have some needlework finishing to do for new cross stitch designs and pattern layouts to do this week...and my 2022 Christmas ornament design is coming soon (I stitched it during my travels). Once I get my head healthy and screwed back on, I will be working on client orders. Thank you all for your patience! I should be back to share more of my travels with you real soon...