Saturday, August 21, 2010

Winners at the County Fair!

What a fun week this has been celebrating the county fair! Thank you all so much for your comments and contest entries--your participation made this a great week all around!

The first winner I'll announce is the givewaway winner for Made to Order Family. And the winner is . . .

Bluerose!

I used Random.Org's List Randomizer to pick the winner. Congratulations, Bluerose! Be looking for my e-mail!

Now, for The County Fair Contest winners. Yes, winners (plural)! Both official entries were so good that I want to give them both something for their heart-warming scenes.

The prize package goes to Michelle, for her scene at the Ferris wheel! Michelle will be receiving Love Finds You in Romeo, Colorado, A Name of Her Own, a bag of kettle corn, a purple stuffed monkey, and a personalized bookmark from Ashley! Congratulations!

And Ariel will be receiving my copy of Love's Long Journey by Janette Oke! (If you already have this book, let me know, Ariel, and I'll send you a different one!)

Thank you both for your great entries, and I hope it's alright if I share them again below so everyone can enjoy them! And thank you, also, to all of you who left such kind and encouraging comments. They were much appreciated!

Here's Michelle's scene:

She stared up at the ferris wheel. Never in a million years, had she believed she'd be here again. Back in her hometown, at the county fair. The city, and all of its problems and worries, seemed a million miles away. But there she was, back in Justice, and who was standing next to her? Her high school sweetheart.

“Penny for your thoughts?” She heard a soft voice say in her ear. She glanced up, meeting the blue eyes of Donovan Carter. They'd been inseperable in high school. The cowboy and the valedictorian. They had been a bit of an odd couple.

Rachel laughed softly. “Are you certain they are worth that much?”

“I would say your thoughts are worth considerably more than a penny, Rachel.”

She blushed, looking down, perhaps feeling just a little embarrassed. But this was Donovan, who had always cheered her on, no matter what. The one person who had helped her believe anything was possible. She hadn't realized how much she'd missed that. How much she'd missed him in the last fifteen years.

“Being back here, it seems very strange.” She said softly. “Honestly, I'm not certain I ever imagined I would be back.”

He looked straight into her eyes. “Fifteen years ago, you left to chase your dreams. I don't believe there was a person, in this town, who wasn't proud of you when you won that scholarship to Yale. But it is very good to have you home.”

She took his hand, as they stepped onto the platform. “It's good to be home.” She said softly. As they set down in the car, she couldn't help but wonder what, if anything, would happen when they reached the top.


And here's Ariel's scene:

Yeesha walked alone and lost through the hustle and bustle of the booths and barns of her county fair. She didn’t come alone; she came with her best friend Lily and her best friend’s boyfriend Curtis. Those two did everything together, and not having a boyfriend or anyone that liked her made Yeesha lonely. She had slipped away while they weren’t looking and began exploring on her own.

Unfortunately for her, Yeesha had never been to the county fair before and didn’t know her way around the grounds. She passed tons of people, all laughing and smiling and having a great time, while she just wanted to leave. Suddenly she heard her name.

“Yeesha!”

She expected it to be Lily calling her back, so she turned slowly. To her surprise, it was David! David and Yeesha had a small history: He had asked her to her senior prom, and at the time it was obvious they both liked each other. However, nothing had happened beyond that. Seeing him now brought a flood of thoughts and emotions back, and Yeesha stood there shocked as he ran up.

“Yeesha! I haven’t seen you in a while. What are you doing here, and all alone?”

She smiled slightly and explained the whole situation. As they walked, they caught up on everything that had happened in each other’s lives. After a while Yeesha realized she still had feelings for David. Was it possible he still had feelings for her?

Eventually they found themselves in the pig barn. Yeesha wrinkled her nose.

“Yuck, they don’t smell so great!”

David smiled. “They are very smart though! You should pet one!”

“Pet one?! Why on earth would I want to do that?” Yeesha cried.

“What are you chicken? “ David teased.

Pouting, Yeesha gave in. “Oh, alright.” Gingerly she reached through the bars and patted one curious pig on his nose. Surprised, the pig pushed her back and she fell right into David’s arms!

As she looked up at him, it was as if the rest of the world had melted away. Right there, she knew he felt the same way. As he leaned to give her a kiss, the pig snorted rather loudly and rammed the bars. Laughing, David picked her up and gave her a real kiss.

“I really missed you, Yeesha.”

Smiling, Yeesha realized she was glad to have come to the fair. While it started terribly, it had ended with her dreams realized by the help of a very noisy pig. Who would have thought?


Please be sure and leave some encouraging comments for these ladies! Great job, Michelle and Ariel! (And thank you to my parents for looking over both of the scenes, too!)

Have a wonderful weekend ya'll, and be sure to tune in next week for the "End of Summer Bash," starring some of your favorite authors! Can't wait to see you there!

14 comments:

Kav said...

Thanks for letting me virtually visit the fair with you guys!!!! Someday I'll get to one and sample my first taste of funnel cake. I'm not even going to ask what kettle corn is! :-)

Loved the county fair stories. They made me feel like I was right there...my tummy doing flipflops over the ferris wheel (or maybe over what might just happen at the top!) and I'm chuckling over a reunion kiss to the accompaniment of a snorting pig...not to mention the smell! Ewwwww!!! LOL, guess that will be something to tell future generations. LOL.

Ashley (Ibreath2read) said...

WOOHOO!! Y'all won! Michell and Ariel, you wrote some pretty fantastic scenes, that made the fair seem like the most romantic place to be. So, congrats to you guys for winning, but also, for all your hard work and talent we got to see, er...read this week;D

TAMMY!!!I'm super jealous you won A Made To Order Family.But I'll forgive, just as long as you promise to write a review on your blog as soon as you've finished it.LOL, Deal?;D

AMBER!!And I don't think I've ever had this much fun a fair. With all the rides, the great fair food and the friends, this week was a fantastic antidote for my pre-school blues. ;)
Can't wait for the End Of The Summer Bash!
Love Ya,
Ashley

Amber Holcomb said...

Kav,

I'm so glad you had a good time! I wish all of us blogger buddies could get together and go to one sometime. I can dream, right? ;)

(In case you were still curious, kettle corn is a sweetened version of popcorn.)

Thank you for joining me this week, and I'm so happy you liked all the fair stories! Didn't those ladies do a nice job on their entries? :)

~Amber

Amber Holcomb said...

Ashley,

Thank you so much for stopping by and offering your encouragement to all the winners! Michelle and Ariel wrote some great scenes! :)

And I'm with you--I'm hoping to see a review of Made to Order Family, Bluerose! ;)

I'm so glad you had fun this week and that the themed posts might have helped lift your spirits. :) The End of Summer Bash is going to include a couple of giveaways, and some all-star authors will be making an appearance, so needless to say I'm excited, too!

~Amber

Bluerose said...

Thank you so much for a wonderful week at the fair!! It's been fun learning about how other places do theirs. I have decided to do some research and find a fair in a bigger city and see if they have animals and all. I would never miss a year if ours was like that.

I will for sure do a review, because I just know I will love Made to Order Family. I can't wait!! :)

And Congratulations to Michelle and Ariel!! I loved both of your stories! :)

Amber Holcomb said...

Bluerose,

You're welcome! :) Thank you so much for coming along with me on our fair adventures. Good luck finding a fair that you can visit!

I'll be looking forward to your review. :) Thanks for stopping by and offering encouragement to the contest winners!

~Amber

Julia M. Reffner said...

Great job with the stories, Michelle and Arielle. I enjoyed reading them both.

Amber Holcomb said...

Julia,

Thanks for stopping by to encourage Michelle and Ariel! :) You're so sweet!

~Amber

Michelle said...

Thanks everyone! And congrats to Ariel and Bluerose!

It's quite funny how much the fair is still on my mind. While driving across town to church this morning, I saw a billboard advertising the Kentucky State Fair, which is going on right now in Louisville. I also noticed that Kroger had candy apples today, aka my favorite fair food!

Ariel Wilson said...

Congrats to Michelle and Bluerose! And thank you for the book, Amber :)

Amber Holcomb said...

Michelle,

I'm glad this week was one that could stick with you. ;) Thanks for stopping by and offering your congrats to the others, and congratulations to you!

~Amber

Amber Holcomb said...

Ariel,

You're welcome! :) I hope you enjoy it! Thank you for taking the time to offer your congrats to the others, as well!

~Amber

Amanda Stanley said...

Congratulations ladies!!!

Bluerose, you are SO lucky!

Michelle and Ariel, your scenes were wonderful!! You are both so very talented and it was a joy to read your swoon worthy romance :D

Amber, I had a blast this week and thank you so much for all the fun!!!

Blessings to you all and prayers on your writing journeys!!!
Amanda Stanley

Amber Holcomb said...

Amanda,

Thank you so much for coming by to congratulate and encourage everyone! :D I'm so glad you had fun during County Fair Week!

God bless!

~Amber