Blu Frog Contest

BluFrog is holding a contest and I want you to win a cool prize. You can choose from one of the following prizes:

Happy Blu Year: You and a guest get to go to New York City on New Years Eve. You get three nights in a luxurious hotel, and a helicopter ride for two over the city. Any trip to NY would be grat for me, not too sure I would enjoy the helicopter ride though.

Blullapalooza: This trip centers around Lollapalooza, which is being held in Chicago August 7-9. You will get two tickets to the event and a two night stay in a luxurious hotel. I think I know a certain Boy who would love to win this trip.

BluStreak: It's a trip to Florida, where you get to participate in the Richard Petty Driving Experience. You will get two nights in a luxurious hotel, and two tickets for the driving experience. Hmmmmm……Do I get to hug Richard Petty?

ExtremeBlu: It is a trip to Aspen and the extreme part is that you will get two tickets to the Winter X Games. This trip gives you three nights in a luxurious hotel. I see that Boy’s name written on this one as well

BluGamer: To clarify this is not a trip, this is a Gaming Package. You get an XBox360 Elite package, Rock Band 2 bundle, Call of Duty: World at War Complete Package, and a wireless adapter. I worked at the E3 (gaming) conference this year and all of these names were on the tips of tongues.

All you need to do to enter is go to the BluFrog contest page and leave a comment, letting them know which prize you want to win, and why.

Or if you are of the Tweeting variety you can Tweet about the contest. Include which prize you want to win, being sure to use #bluword and http://bit.ly/UiiJy in your tweet.

Travelling to Chicago

I am getting ready to travel again. I am leaving in two weeks for Chicago where I will be participating in Blogging events for both UL Laboratories and Ford and then attending BlogHer. Because one can never have too much luggage I was browsing around on the internet looking for wheeled carry on luggage.

I have a huge suitcase, but am thinking of shipping that ahead and bringing only a small Carry-On Luggage on the plane. I am staying in one hotel the first night and then switching hotels the next and it would just be easier to not worry about moving my luggage across town after attending the event on Wednesday.

This one would be perfect for my day’s worth of clothing and my laptop and all my paraphernalia.

I also drifted off and was checking out the Briefcases, which are all gorgeous. Of course I purchased a new laptop bag last year before BlogHer and it is still in fine condition, but really a girl can dream can’t she?

As long as I am dreaming would you feast your eyes on this? Gorgeous I tell you! But the day I can afford $900 for a carry on bag is the day I fly in my own private jet!

This is a sponsored post.

Giveaway Day 5

WOW! This isn't as easy as it looks.







I have a few more sponsors lined up for later in the month, but for right now I am kinda winging it on my own.







Since we did books yesterday, we can move on to my other favorite pastime - MOVIES! I love going to the movies. I especially love going to the movies alone. I know that seems odd to most, but really, do you want someone to talk to you? I just want to sit back relax and enjoy a good movie, or catch a good nap during a bad one. Within the last few weeks I have seen so many good ones, Seven Pounds, Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, just to name a few.







Today, I am giving you a chance to win DVD's of two of my favorite movies

AND

Chicago! and Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man's Chest!

Anything with Johnny Depp is worth watching more than once and Chicago is a classic that will never get old.

Rules regulations and all that jazz.......
1. Follow and/or Subscribe to my blog.
2. Tell me any good movies you've seen lately.

3. Leave a comment letting me know that you have acheived 1 AND 2. Make sure your comment includes a way to contact you or your entry will be removed.
4. Sit back, relax and wait to win!

Each day will have either a different sponsor or a different blog I think is followable.
Each days giveaway will run from 12:01 AM Pacific Time to 11:59 PM Pacific Time that day. Any comments left after 11:59 PM Pacific time will not be considered.
Random.org will choose each winner each day and the winner will be notified by email.

Where did I leave you?

Oh yeah, last Sunday I was driving down from the UP back to South Bend. We made it home in time to put Jackson to bed and that was directly where I went as well.

Monday morning, Erika and Jackson took me to Chicago to see the Field Museum. I have read about their many trips here before and asked to tag along. Jackson is a fountain of information when it comes to the dinosaur exhibits. He is 4 years old and was pronouncing names of these beasts without a care in the world. He informed me that he knew them and wasn’t just reading the sign because he “can’t read yet but he is learning”. At one point he was discovering bones that were surreptitiously buried in the play area. When an employee asked J if he could identify the bone, he knew right away that it was a tooth from a T-Rex because T-Rex is a meat eater and it has big teeth, but the plant eaters have little teeth so it couldn’t be one of those. DUH! The employee was sufficiently impressed. A little boy – about 8ish – came over to play and said to no one “I wonder what bone this is?” Jackson answered him. The kid looked at the employee and said “No, really, what is it?” The employee backed J up 100%. Dinner at McD in the basement of the Museum (those smart people). And then back onto snowy icy roads for the 2 hour drive back to Indiana.

Tuesday was a relax at home day for me. I lazed around, did some laundry and shopped for the dinner I was making for the Zynda’s and their friends on Thursday. During all of this, I met Erika and her co-worker Sue (she may be a Cubbies fan but we like her anyways) at the Mainstreet Grille for lunch for the Casino debriefing. While making dinner I also cooked the stew for Thursday so it would have a couple of days to marinate.

Wednesday was back to work with Erika to finish up the project she had assigned to me. Time to put up the Christmas tree! I did nothing but watch as Erika and Jackson did all the work. It is a little wonky but still very cute.

Thursday brings the dinner party. There is not much more that I enjoy than cooking a big meal for a bunch of appreciative people. I made Irish Beef Stew and served it in Bread Bowls along with a side salad. If I can judge by the number of times people went back to serve themselves more, then I would proclaim it quite a success. (the recipe will be tomorrow’s post) Some of the friends of the Zynda family I had met before and some I had just lived in their house for a few weeks. But good times were shared by all and it was a very enjoyable evening.

Friday was back to work this time to screw up Erika’s Holiday cards (LOL). Unfortunately E was without a car most of the day and needed me for that part as well (well not really, but I like to feel needed so let’s just go with that ok?). In the evening I was set to babysit J while Erika and Lyle went to dinner and a movie. As you can see by Erika’s post we made cupcakes (to which J said “What’s a cupcake?”). They were (and still are) a big hit and the pictorial she has shows that if you organize it right baking with kids can be fun.

Quick Catch Up

Sunday - Arrived in Chicago, picked up Erika from her hotel, hung out in Chicago hit casino on the way to Mishawaka. Went out to dinner with the Zynda family (including Lyle's mom) and hit the hay early.

Monday - Went to work with Erika at IUSB, where she promptly placed me on a HUGE project and a couple of littler projects. All of which I thoroughly enjoyed and quickly accomplished (except the huge one is ongoing). Had a yummy lunch at my favoritest place ever - any guesses? That's right Long John Silvers!

Tuesday - Returned to work with E and had a nice lunch with Mrs. Zynda. Then it was time to hit the road on our way to Michigan. With of course a casino pit stop. A quick stop at Four Winds (Sue you were right, it is by far the best casino in the area!) and then up to Westland to see Gretchen and Gordon.

Wednesday - Sleeping in is always nice, then a yummy breakfast at Leo's Coney Island (really someone needs to open a franchise in LA) and a bunch of errands to run with E. Megan and Robin (not uneventfully but, I'll let G blog about that) arrive in the evening for a fabulous dinner of both spaghetti and pate chinois. Chocolate pie for dessert and off to dreamland.

to be continued..........

Travelling with Murphy

Murphy and I had a flight that was leaving at 12:20 am on Saturday night. I have known about this flight for months, heck I booked the damn thing. But by 9 pm that night was I packed all the way? Nope, still had stuff in the dryer even. At 9:30 I finished my packing and brought out the scale to weigh my suitcase. Dammit 64 lbs. I grabbed a bunch of stuff out and figured I had room to carry it on and got the weight down to 49.4 (or so I thought).

Kathy gets me to the airport by 10:30, I have plenty of time, all is good. I use the automated machine to check in my luggage (I printed my boarding pass at home the night before) and even get a chance to get a “premium extra charge” seat for NO extra charge. Feeling pleased and impressed I let the attendant know I was ready for him to take my luggage and up on the official scale it goes….WTF? 54 lbs! Are you kidding me? Who slipped something in my suitcase when I wasn’t looking? Attendant not so nicely reminds me the limit is 50lbs and tells me to remove something. I hate people like me so I quickly open up the suitcase, ascertain that removing my toiletries bag will do the trick (don’t get ahead of me here) and it fits snuggly into my second carryon. I get it to weigh 50lbs EXACTLY and Mr. Smuggy Pants, directs me to the security lane.

I have traveled plenty since 9/11, I have heard horror stories about security lines and yet have actually inwardly laughed at everyone’s stories because I have never had a problem. But when you travel with Murphy there is always a problem. The security line took almost a half an hour. By the time I got through and to the gate it was 11:45 and they were beginning to make announcements for boarding my flight. But let’s get back to the security line. I am very proficient at security, I wear easily removable shoes, I know how to run the laptop through (in it’s own bucket), I usually end up with 4 buckets with all my stuff. This time was no different, well it was though because remember that toiletries bag? Yep, it was full of shampoo, lotion, hair gel, all things I no longer own. I got pulled aside and they went through the bag and disposed of all of them. They did relent and let me keep the Bengay since it is medicinal.

I am so glad I got there as early as I did.

Murphy decided to stay in LA, on my first flight I was very comfortable in my Exit row seat, with so much leg room I didn’t even notice when the person in front of me put their seat back. And the ONLY empty seat on the plane? Yep right next to me! I was able to curl up or spread out, and actually slept for the majority of the flight, over 3 hours. The second flight was of course on the other side of the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport but I hightailed it and made it in the nick of time. I thought I was late because the waiting area was pretty empty. I heard the desk attendant tell the flight attendants as they were boarding that they had 415 passengers. I looked around me and thought there must be another flight coming in cuz there isn’t 415 people here. We boarded and I found my teeny tiny seat and got buckled in and as comfortable as possible. A few more people trickled in. AND THEN THEY CLOSED THE DOOR! The 415 turned out to be 4/15 4 first class 15 coach! 15 people on my flight! I asked the attendant if I could move and she approved so I jumped into the empty exit row, flipped up all the armrests and laid down to go back to sleep! Unfortunately this was a fairly short flight but the nap was nice.

I arrived in Chicago more than a half hour early ready and rarin’ to go. Well, maybe not as ready as I thought. Let’s backtrack a little. Remember when I changed my seat at the very beginning? I had to get a new boarding pass for that and relinquish my old one (yep that’s when Murphy was still around). When I got to Chicago, I realized that my rental car reservation paperwork was with the relinquished boarding pass and I had NO clue which company I rented from. I tried calling my sister, you know, the one who says “Call me when you land!” Yeah that one, the one who didn’t answer her phone the 6 times I called her. I found a courtesy phone and proceeded to call all of the rental car companies and explain my plight and they all very nicely declined my reservation until the 5th one finally Budget had me listed. I get my beautiful Ford Escape (that’s a whole ‘nother post) and head out on my way.

I have by now finally reached my sleepyhead sister and have the directions from the airport to her hotel (she and Lyle stayed in the city overnight). Unfortunately there was no hotel name on the directions and I guess our illustrious President Elect was going to be in the city because all available street parking was filled with police cars. After circling the block multiple times, I decided to pay the piper and valet at the hotel.

Breakfast was beyond yummy, not just because by now I was starving but it was really good. I didn’t catch the name of the restaurant but it is attached to the Club Quarters hotel. Lyle went off on his own adventure to a record store (I swear he and Adam are more related than just by marriage) and Erika and I headed off on our own.

(to be continued)

I'm Going!

WANNA JOIN ME?

8 Places to Live

Hilda over at the Mind Wobbles had this Meme going and I joined in.

Here are the instructions, copied from Hilda who copied them from DIxie...

"McCain has 8 homes in the U.S I thought it was 13 but whatevs. You have to pick eight places you would like to live. List them. You don’t have to list your reasons, but if you do at least for a few of them, it would be more fun. And remember that the only rule is: the homes must be within the borders of the United States of America or else, within the borders of the country you live in, so as to utterly emulate the McCains."

I'll add the usual, let me know in my Comments if you're participating...

1. Las Vegas - I would love to have a home there to host my family when they visit.

2. Detroit(ish) - Don't think I am ready to move back into the inner city, but it would be nice to have a place there, again close to family.

3. Chicago(ish) - Have I mentioned I would want my homes near family members?

4. Denver - I fell in love with this city when we visited a few years ago. It seems to have it all - all the seasons, good sports venues, great culture. And it is smack dab (ish) in the middle of the country for the family to come visit me.

5. Santa Diego - I need a coastal home (don't we all?) and it is a toss up between Santa Barbara and San Diego. I chose San Diego because of the many things to do when family comes to visit.

6. New York - The hustle, the bustle, I would like to be a part of it, just not all the time.

7. Montreal - Actually, I couldn't decide between, Montreal, VanCouver or Toronto, so I went with the family theme and chose Montreal.

8. An RV around the country - I have always dreamed of driving around to all the baseball stadiums in the country.