A big congrats to Libby, who entered and won this month’s drawing for a $25 iTunes giftcard. Thanks, everyone, for playing!

When I rolled over this morning and looked at my alarm clock, it said “7:32 a.m. Dec. 1.” I got a smile on my face right away. I love December — the cold (requiring sweaters and coats and cute hats), warm fires, decorations, gathering together with family and friends at parties and holiday gatherings and much more. It’s definitely one of my favorite times of year, and I’m all wrapped up in the Christmas spirit already this morning.

For this month’s giveaway, I wanted to throw a little holiday spirit at one lucky blog reader, plus a few recommendations to get all of you as excited as I am about this wonderful season. My favorite Christmas book? Holidays on Ice, by David Sedaris. My favorite Christmas snack food? Clementines. Favorite beverage? Egg nog or peppermint hot chocolate — homemade, not from Starbucks. My favorite Christmas movies: Love Actually, The Family Stone, Elf, It’s a Wonderful Life, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Mixed Nuts and Miracle on 34th Street.

For me, though, nothing beats Christmas music. I pretty much keep my iTunes playlist on a roll all through December. Here are my top recommendations for Christmas albums that I can’t get enough of:

Diana Krall’s “Christmas Songs”

Sufjan Stevens’ “Songs for Christmas”

Harry Connick Jr.’s “Harry for the Holidays”

James Taylor’s “At Christmas”

Pottery Barn’s “Classic Christmas” compilation

I want to give one lucky blog reader a chance to pick up one or two of these albums (or their choice), so I’m giving away a $25 iTunes gift card! The drill is the same as always: enter to win by commenting on this post (either on Facebook or on the blog) and I’ll draw a winner at random on Thursday morning at 8 a.m. Winner will be announced on the blog sometime around noon on Thursday. Good luck to you all, and happy December!

This morning’s random drawing came out in favor of Kelly, who entered on the blog to win a $200 credit toward a Christmastime family portrait session. I can’t wait to meet and photograph your family, Kelly!

As for the rest of you, thanks for entering and remember to come back next month for our last drawing of the year!

I know it’s a bit of a drag when the time changes and it’s getting dark early and the rain is back here in the great Pacific Northwest, but there is a silver lining. It’s time spent with family and friends and yummy food and glitzy parties. That’s right, the holidays. This month we get to celebrate Thanksgiving, and it’s one of my very favorite holidays.

Along those lines, this month’s giveaway is a festive one — since I’m running a special holiday promotion for family portraits, I’ll be giving away a $200 credit toward a family portrait session. If you’ve been on the fence about whether to jump in, enter the contest today and you may be able to come out and have your photos taken on me.

To enter, just comment on the post — doesn’t matter if it’s on Facebook or the blog. I’ll announce a winner on Wednesday!

Shannon, my most recent bride, was the lucky winner of a set of my custom-designed holiday cards this year. Hooray, Shannon! I can’t wait to see you and TJ again soon!

To the rest of you, thanks for entering and remember that even if you didn’t win the cards, you can purchase them for $50/set. Not too shabby for really unique cards that’ll set you apart this year.

Hi blog readers!

It’s October — isn’t that crazy? I can definitely feel it in the air, though. It’s that time of year again. Fall is my favorite season and I’m so excited to be photographing three weddings this month, celebrating my own wedding anniversary (2 years!!) and then looking on forward to the holidays.

Speaking of the holidays, it’s the first of the month and time again to give something away. This month, I’ll be giving away a set of my custom-designed holiday cards. My awesome designer, Allison Doty, came up with two designs for Sara Gray Photography clients only, and they’re really unique and cool and I can’t wait to see batches of them coming back from the lab.

These cards feature portraits of your family, whether that be your kids, your dog or just you. A set is 25 cards with envelopes. I’ll be drawing and announcing this month’s winner on Monday, so you’ve got a couple of extra days to enter. Just leave a comment below and check back on Monday to see who our lucky winner is! Happy October, everyone.

I wanted to thank you all for entering this month’s contest — it was our best turnout ever and it was fun to see all your comments. After our highly scientific drawing (this time, all your names were written on folded scraps of paper and scattered all over our guest bed and Eric plucked one out), our winner is Carrie Peeples! I hope Carrie and her husband Mark can enjoy a little solitude in Lincoln City before their baby is born!

For all the rest of you, thanks for entering and come back in October for another shot at an awesome prize.

I like hotels. I like staying in them, I like visiting them and I used to write about them quite a bit. During those days, I discovered the Surftides Hotel in Lincoln City, which is a retro hotel that’s had a really hip makeover in the last year or so. I’m a little bit smitten with the details inside the hotel.

I recently did some photography work for the hotel and it was so much fun documenting all the details – I love their mermaid logo, which appears throughout the property.

How does this relate to you, you ask? Well, this month, since it’s my favorite month all year (happy birthday me!), I am giving away a free night at the Surftides Hotel. It’s a great place to stay, right in the heart of Lincoln City and it’s going to make one lucky reader’s day when they get to spend a night down there.

You know the drill: if you want to win, you need to comment on this post. Say whatever you like, but make sure you leave a comment. You have until Thursday morning at 8 a.m. to enter, and on Thursday afternoon I’ll draw a winner! If you win, you could be sipping drinks at the Mist restaurant and lounge, below.

Good luck to all of you! Stay tuned Thursday to learn who our big winner is!

We had tons of people enter this month’s contest for a massage at Massage Naturally, and Stefanie won in our highly scientific Post-It note-in-the-shoebox drawing. She just got married on July 4, so a little more newlywed pampering will probably feel pretty good right about now. Thank you all for entering, and be sure you all come back on Sept. 1 because the prize will be the biggest I’ve ever given away on the blog!

The monthly contest is getting to be a favorite thing of mine, especially as we move into the summer months and I have some really amazing things to offer as giveaways!

These are some relaxing images from Massage Naturally, a massage spot in Raleigh Hills. Christy and Kim are great massage therapists, and I highly recommend them. We have been working on some new images for their advertising and web site, and they’ve been such fun to work with.

This month’s giveaway is a one-hour massage from Massage Naturally. If you’re in need of some relaxation, enter here and you could be relaxing soon on one of their massage tables. You have until Monday morning at 8 a.m. to enter the contest, so don’t waste any time! To enter, just leave a comment on the post below. I’ll e-mail the winner and I’ll also announce them on the blog on Monday afternoon.

Good luck!