My gift for one wonderful woman

The Lovely Book For Wonderful Women by Lehla Eldridge is a whimsical book meant to inspire happiness. Each page offers words of encouragement along with illustrations that make you smile.

Lehla is the mother of three young children, twin girls age four, and a 20 month old boy. One day while she was in the kitchen preparing a meal, her children were screaming and tugging at her.

She was very tired and in that moment, she needed to retain her sanity so she decided to get a piece of canvas and write on it with colorful paint about things that made her happy. The sea. Laughter. This moment was her inspiration to write The Lovely Book.

“I also feel in this day and age, women’s lives are so full and busy. It can be easy to forget to stop and take a breath. This book is for all the wonderful women out there who need a breather and want to stop and laugh and remember what makes them happy.”

Some of my favorite happy feelings from the book include:

“Put on music and dance.” pg. 53

“Lie on the grass in the summertime, look up at the blue sky and enjoy the feel of the earth beneath you.” pg. 43

“Marvel at what another woman can do.” pg. 71

“Notice spontaneous acts of love and kindness.” pg. 35

“Dream…Give yourself the time to stop and dream. Dream about what you want and how to get it.”

In addition to giving away a copy of The Lovely Book, we are also giving away a “you’re beautiful pass it on” t-shirt from the Dove Self-Esteem Fund.

I feel very passionate about what Dove is trying to accomplish with their awareness campaign. I applaud them for confronting this issue head on.

The Dove Self-Esteem Fund was developed to help free the next generation from self-limiting beauty stereotypes. Committed to reaching five million young women by the end of 2010, the organization invites you to play a role in supporting and promoting a wider definition of beauty.

So in celebration of Valentine’s Day and for one wonderful woman, I offer this gift of happiness to you.

To be eligible to win The Lovely Book and “you’re beautiful pass it on” t-shirt, you must be a subscriber of this blog.

To enter, leave a comment below about what makes you happy or why you are a beautiful person.

A winner will be chosen at random from all comments by Monday, February 9th at 5:00pm. The winner will be listed on this blog.