sweepstakes

Monday I randomly decided I wanted to start entering online sweepstakes as often as I could just to see if I would win anything with little to no effort. Now that I think about it, I suppose a Nest newsletter I received that advertised a drawing for a free kitchen aid mixer (you know the kind on every single wedding registry that no one ever gets) could have spurred this on, but that is neither here nor there. What matters is I have won absolutely nothing after 5 days of trying... its just awful.

On Wednesday we got one of those scratchers in the mail for a chance to win $30,000!!! All you had to do (or so it said) was to scratch off all three boxes and if your #s in any of the 3 boxes matched perfectly the #s listed then you won! Well, low and behold, our middle box matched! Now, I knew there was a catch but as Jake casually asked, whether I won, I calmly said yes. Unbelieving, he grabbed the card and diligently started reading the disclaimers, etc. The funny part of all this is the smile he had while doing so. His words said he understood this was a ploy... but his face, no, his face said he was excited we'd won $30,000. Poor guy.

As a side note, I would like to put out there that I am very open to doing something to earn the free item, as long as the entry requirement is relatively easy. This said, if you know of any feel free to pass them my way. I don't care for video submission-type contests, but I'm not opposed to photos or written entries. Keep your eyes open and your ears peeled for me.

By the way, my work's pet contest is coming to a close and finalists have been selected. Now it comes down to the people's vote! Feel free to vote now for your favorite pet (as long as it is Addy, just kidding... but seriously, help Elizabeth out)!

This is Addy and her PERFECT picture, make sure to look her when you cast your vote!

I Swore I Would Never Do This...

...but my work has created a consumer promotion around pets and I thought some of you could enter. Here goes my shameless plug.

The winning pet will receive $1,500 cash and three finalists will receive a $400 gift card to a national pet supply store.

Main stuff you need to know:

• photos should be emailed between April 12th - May 12th, 2010 to contest@forrent.com with the following info: Pet's name, location (city & state), breed, & a brief description of the image
• you can submit up to 5 photos and can include more than one pet
• ForRent.com enthusiasts and pet lovers will vote for the winner and the runner ups from May 14th - May 23rd, 2010; winners will be announced on May 24th

If you don't live in an apartment you can still enter. The idea is to show us in pictures how your pet lives...and if you can make it appear like its an apartment setting then that is even better! We're just after some creative and cute pictures of your four-legged family members, so send em on in!!!

Valentine's Day Replay

Ok, ok so this Valentine's Day was not too shabby. I know my previous posts might lead you to believe that Valentine's Day is my least favorite holiday, but it has never been awful. Jake is always great to me, I just don't love the created pressure it brings about.

Anyway, Jake and I celebrated this past weekend in our usual fashion and it was nice. I can never wait to give Jake his presents til the day of- never...I just get so excited that I always give him at least part of his present early. So this year's V Day was no exception and come Saturday I gave Jake a big bag of cliff bars (2 of every flavor except for mint). I know it doesn't sound romantic, but food is the way to Jake's heart and cliff bars are something he considers a "splurge" so I'm safe to assume he won't have bought himself any recently. Plus, this was a compromise since he asked me not to spend any money. I did at least save the card for Sunday to shake things up, but all in all I was glad I gave my gift early...as Jake's plans for the holiday unraveled on Saturday as well.

He started the evening off with a much appreciated gift card and bottle of wine I mentioned wanting to try and then started cooking what became one of my favorite shrimp dinners thus far. I actually tried to take a picture of the beautiful meal and table, but as usual, our camera battery was dead and it took too long to find the charger (story of my life). After dinner, we watched the Olympics and had some good conversation about the crazy athleticism...it was perfect.