The above photo is another image from my most-recent maternity shoot. As I mentioned in a previous entry, it's the most fun I've ever had at a session. The mommy-to-be is so beautiful and perfect, it's almost obscene. There is no Photoshopping involved here — this is her second child and there are no stretch-marks. I weep at the Universe.

Late yesterday afternoon, a good friend e-mailed me and said, "You HAVE to do this. It is so you!" The one big drawback? The contest ended in just about an hour.

At the time, I was still my boxer shorts and a t-shirt. I hadn't yet showered, even though it was nearing time for Todd to leave work for the day. One son was running around the living room like a bat out of Hades, and the other was in his booster seat shoving slobber-soggy Cheerios in his mouth. So I rushed to finish snack time, got the boys tucked in for their late afternoon naps, hit the showers, got ready in record time (fast enough to screw me over the rest of my life because now Todd knows it can be done), hurriedly grabbed my props, set up the tripod - and ta-da!

About two hours later, I opened up BluDomain's blog and learned that photo had not only won me an $800-value Flash website the night of its release, but also cupcakes and two bottles of champagne. Cupcakes! All for doing something in a photograph that was standard operating procedure for me every Friday night in my twenties anyway...

I can't believe it. I hardly ever win anything! I mean, when I was eight I won $300 worth of socks from a local department store in Enid, Oklahoma. Yes, $300 worth of socks. My family's feet stayed very warm and toasty that winter. When I was eighteen, I won dinner with the band EMF — and that included t-shirts, CDs, backstage passes and front row seats to their concert.

But an $800 website, two bottles of champagne and...sweet mother of god...cupcakes?!? GET. OUT.

This is great big freakin' huge for our budget. BluDomain had a big sale a few weeks back and half the people I know on Flickr bought a website during it. But I sat on my credit card and pouted, knowing there was no way I could justify a new portfolio site with all the equipment I had already purchased, and still yet needed to... So I told myself I was being smart with my money, there would always be another sale at Blu, and it would make more sense to fork over hundreds of dollars after I was ready to make "the leap" and had a few more sessions under my belt first. It was a want and not a need and I just couldn't expect my family to digest that kind of budget hit. And I tried not to throw too many tantrums accordingly.

But as luck would have it, karma smiled upon me that day my friends and I got to cash in the ultimate Internet coupon — "free - no purchase required". For a bargain hunter like me? Yeah, baby!

If you'd like to see a demo of the site I won (just officially launched at 5 p.m MDT Friday night), you can find it here. And if you're really nice, I just might share my cupcakes with you. As for the champagne, sorry but that's a negative ghostwriter. A girl's gotta have her standards.

I won I won I won I won I won I won I.....won!