Power of Digital Video JVC Blogher Contest

JVC recently launched the JVC HD Everio “Power Your Passion” BlogHer ‘10 Sweepstakes, which gives bloggers a chance to win an expenses paid trip to the BlogHer ’10 Conference in New York City on August 6 – 7, 2010.

For the second consecutive year, JVC will provide four winners with roundtrip airfare, hotel accommodations and a full registration to this popular event, along with a JVC HD Everio camera to power their blog with rich high-definition content. From now until June 20, 2010, women bloggers can enter the JVC HD Everio “Power Your Passion” BlogHer ‘10 Sweepstakes by visiting the sweepstakes home page and explaining how digital video could power their passion for blogging.

Video has proven to be a powerful medium for many bloggers, but the addition of high definition content can boost traffic, increase reader engagement and enliven a blog. JVC is asking bloggers how video has enhanced or could enhance their blog to help them communicate with their audience.

Bloggers can enter the sweepstakes in one of four categories: Parenting; Business & Entrepreneurship; Travel & Leisure; and Health & Community. The sweepstakes is open to all female bloggers residing in the U.S. and one winner from each category will be selected at random. Each winner will receive a BlogHer ‘10 Conference registration, roundtrip airfare to New York, hotel accommodations for three nights and a JVC HD Everio GZ-HD620 camera.

Participants can also submit additional entries by blogging about the power of digital video, subscribing to the JVC newsletter or following JVC on Twitter (@JVC_USA) or on Facebook. Winners will be posted to http://hdeveriosweepstakes.jvc.com on June 23, 2010 and will be notified via email.

JVC is an official sponsor of BlogHer ’10 and will have an exhibit at the New York conference. JVC will also sponsor the first annual Mouthy Housewives Happy Two Hours event during the conference, which will take place at the Forty Eight cocktail lounge on August 6, 2010.

Ticket Giveaway to Disney Rockin Road Show

I’m giving away four tickets to the Disney Rockin Road Show at the Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis (Feb. 20 6:30 p.m. show). Head on over to Lipstick to Crayons to enter!

Shop N Save $25 Gift Card Giveaway

I’m giving away a $25 Shop N Save gift card on my other blog, Lipstick to Crayons. So click on over and enter to win!

Mother’s Bracelet Giveaway Winner

Congratulations to Dramaqueensmom (aka Kimberly) — she posted the winning comment as chosen by a random comment number generator. Kimberly, I hope you love your Bragelet as much as I love mine! I seriously wear it almost every single day and I get a ton of compliments on it. You really should go check out these bracelets.

Stay tuned for some exciting news about a new business venture for me and more fun giveaways for readers!

Mother’s Bracelet Giveaway

Everyone knows that Moms love to brag. Many of us Mommy Bloggers started our blogs to do just that.  But you can’t wear ablog. You can, however, wear a mother’s bracelet – particularly one made with sterling silver beads and letters, semi-precious stones, Swavorski crystals and 14 karat gold-filled beads.

I’ve seen all kinds of mother’s bracelets out there at craft shows, specialty shops and mall kiosks. But I don’t think they compare to Bragelets– a company that started in St. Louis, MO in 1992 and is now owned by Rosie VanDorpe and based in Harvard, MA.

I recently sent my old mother’s bracelet to Bragelets to have my third child’s name added. Rosie re-designed my bracelet and I love it more than ever. It’s a classy, tasteful way to “brag,” and it coordinates with just about everything in my jewelry box.  It’s casual enough to wear to playgroup, and classy enough that I recently paired it with my David Yurman pieces for a wedding.

Here’s a picture of my new Bragelet:

Unfortunately, I don’t think this picture does my Bragelet justice.  Here’s a better picture of the style I chose from the Bragelets Web site:

It’s the Silver and Gold design with the toggle clasp.

Bragelets offers dozens of ways to personalize your Mother’s bracelet, from Swavorski crystals to birthstones to dangle charms. There are standard block and premier block letters, funky beads, Thai silver beads with a matte finish and special flower beads. You can design your Bragelet with all silver beads, all gold beads or a combination of both.  You can use pearls, turquoise or eclectic cloisonne beads. Bragelets also makes Baby Brags, a perfect keepsake or Christening gift, Lilbrags for young girls who love jewelry just like Mom, Family Birthstone Bragelets and Two-strand Grandma Bragelets.

Single-strand Mother’s Bragelets start at $45, but here’s the good news: One lucky reader is going to win a single-strand for free. (Of course, you can purchase additional strands to go with your free one if you wish.)

To enter this contest, you must:

• Go to Bragelets and pick your favorite style Mother’s Bragelet.
• Come back here and post a comment telling me which style you like the best.
• Leave a valid email address in your comment so I can contact you if you’re a winner.

For additional entries, you can:

• Tweet this contest with a link back here – one entry.
• Blog about this contest with a link back here – one entry.
• Subscribe to my feed – one entry.
• Make sure you leave a separate comment for each additional effort you make for an entry.

 The contest runs through 11:59 p.m. June 23. The winner will be chosen and asked to respond within three days or a new winner will be chosen. Good luck!

Winner of the 2nd Weight Watchers Membership Giveaway

Congratulations to Jill, the winner of my 2nd Weight Watchers Membership Giveaway.

If you entered my contest and didn’t win, I hope you’ll consider joining Weight Watchers and the Momentum Walk-It Challenge just the same. It’s a great program, and once you reach and maintain your goal weight for six weeks, you achieve lifetime status, which means you never have to pay again as long as you remain within two pounds of your goal weight.

Another Weight Watchers Membership Giveaway

First of all, congratulations to Tori, winner of my first Weight Watchers Membership Giveaway. Tori was comment #88 and I just KNOW she will love Weight Watchers as much as I do.

Now it’s time to enter my second contest, which ends at 11:59 p.m. May 15. Here are the details:

Weight Watchers just launched the Momentum Walk-It Challenge, and to celebrate, they’ve given me two 3-month memberships to give away on my blog!

These memberships can be used for Weight Watchers in-person meetings or for Weight Watchers online. Meeting attendance costs $12 per week, plus the one-time registration fee unless you join during a free registration period. And the online membership costs about $65 for three months. So, these 3-month memberships are pretty valuable. Plus, you can get healthier and thinner and learn new/better eating habits, etc. etc. So, they’re actually priceless.

You can read more about the Walk-It Challenge and my confidence in the Weight Watchers program here.

Now, onto the contest:  To enter my second Weight Watchers Membership contest, all you have to do is post a comment below about why you want to win the membership and you’ll be entered into the drawing. Be sure to include your email address in the post so that I can contact you if you’re the winner. Again, the contest deadline is 11:59 p.m. May 15. The winner will have three days to respond to my email or the prize will go to someone else.

For additional entries:

• Subscribe to this blog in a reader or via email (see the buttons in the upper right sidebar). Be sure to post an additional comment that you did this.
• Tweet about this contest, and again, post an additional comment with the link to your tweet.
• Blog about this contest, and post an additional comment with the link to your blog post.

Good luck.

Weight Watchers Challenge

As promised (to myself), I made it back to my Weight Watchers meeting this week. I lost a pound (and I just resisted the temptation to type “only lost a pound”). Isn’t it amazing how we all want to lose weight quickly, but don’t mind if it takes months to put it on? Anyway, I’m glad I’m back to the accountability of weekly meetings. I’m still motivated to be “free” again , but it may take three weeks instead of two weeks at this rate.

I’m also still looking for a 5K event that my husband and I can do together, since he’s decided to join Weight Watchers and do the Walk-It Challenge, as well. I’m thinking about one sponsored by our YMCA in July. We both plan to run the 5K, and I’d like to see if I can run it in less than 25 minutes since I just achieved my first “speed” goal in the St. Louis Half Marathon.

If you’re interested in trying Weight Watchers, don’t forget to enter my giveaway. The first one ends tonight at midnight, and the second one starts tomorrow.

Win a 3-month Membership to Weight Watchers and Lose Weight!

Weight Watchers just launched the Momentum Walk-It Challenge, and to celebrate, they’ve given me two 3-month memberships to give away on my blog!

These memberships can be used for Weight Watchers in-person meetings or for Weight Watchers online. Meeting attendance costs $12 per week, plus the one-time registration fee unless you join during a free registration period. And the online membership costs about $65 for three months. So, these 3-month memberships are pretty valuable. Plus, you can get healthier and thinner and learn new/better eating habits, etc. etc. So, they’re actually priceless.

I’m a huge believer in the Weight Watchers program and I’ve written about that here and here and here. I lost all my baby weight on the Weight Watchers program and trained for my first marathon while also attending  meetings and learning to eat better. I’m  a lifetime Weight Watchers member, which means I attend meetings for free as long as I stay within 2 pounds of my goal weight. Unfortunately, I waned in my commitment over the last few months and I’m no longer within that range.  But that’s okay. I went back to my meeting today and re-committed myself to the program and to meeting attendance. I plan to be “free” again within two weeks. (There, it’s in writing).

I also signed up for the Momentum Walk-It Challenge (I’m a runner, so I’ll be “running” it) and I created a Walk-It Challenge team. That’s because my DH is joining Weight Watchers, too, and will be doing the challenge with me. We’re going to train for a 5K together sometime in the next eight weeks. I haven’t chosen our 5K event yet, but when I do, I’ll be writing about that, as well as my progress and my DH’s progress in the Walk-It Challenge training, here.

The Momentum Walk-It Challenge encourages all Weight Watchers meetings members and Weight Watchers Online subscribers to get active this spring. Between April 12 and June 6, set an activity goal for yourself — like walking 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) — and Weight Watchers will give you access to the tools you need to get there. Join or create a walking team, or sign up for a 5K event and you can get a FREE 8-week online training program to help reach your goal. (I downloaded my free 8-week online training program and it is very cool and fun to use). So, if you win one of my free memberships, you’ll want to consider signing up for this challenge.

Now, onto the contest:  I’m giving away one 3-month Weight Watchers membership between now and May 8 and one between May 9 and May 15. To enter the first contest, all you have to do is post a comment below about why you want to win the membership and you’ll be entered into the drawing. Be sure to include your email address in the post so that I can contact you if you’re the winner. The contest deadline is 11:59 p.m. May 8. The winner will have three days to respond to my email or the prize will go to someone else.

For additional entries:

• Subscribe to this blog in a reader or via email (see the buttons in the upper right sidebar). Be sure to post an additional comment that you did this.
• Tweet about this contest, and again, post an additional comment with the link to your tweet.
• Blog about this contest, and post an additional comment with the link to your blog post.

Good luck.

Custom Family Car Decal Giveaway

Check out my very cool custom car decal, which depicts my family’s makeup: Professional Dad, Super Cool Mom (hee hee), Swimmer Daughter, Basketball/Sporty Son, Toddler Daughter.

I had been admiring these decals on the cars of other people for the last couple of years. So I was very excited when Grafxdosgueros.com offered me one to review, and one to give away to one of you. (See details below).

I have to say, customizing my decal was a ton of fun, and it was really easy. You just go to the site, click on “Create Your Own Decal” and get started. There are dozens of “characters” to choose from in each of the categories: Dads, Moms, Boys, Girls, Babies, Grandparents, Pets and more. Of course, I chose the Mom with the thinnest waist, an action which has brought much ribbing from my DH. And, my 13-year-old competitive swimmer is put out on a couple of fronts:  she’s says she wears goggles, NOT a mask, and she is taller than me in real life. Plus, if you’re 13, it is apparently uncool to have a family car decal. Oh well. Back to the review.

If you want, you can put names on your characters (I didn’t) or a header on top (I did).    When you’re done, you order your decal and then you get an emailed proof that you can approve or make changes. Grafxdosgueros.com even offers ideas and a how-to video on the decal application, although I thought the instructions that came with the decal were easy to follow.

The cost of these custom decals is very reasonable and based on the number of people in the design.  One character is $6, two cost $10, three  cost $12 and four to eight characters cost $15. Each additional character beyond eight costs $2. However, one lucky reader is going to get a custom decal with up to eight characters for free by entering my giveaway.

To enter this contest, you must:

• Go to Grafxdosgueros.com and pick your favorite character (i.e. Mom 22 or Dad 19)
• Come back here and comment on that character and why you like him/her.
• Leave a valid email address in your comment so I can contact you if you’re a winner.

For additional entries, you can:

• Tweet this contest with a link back here – one entry.
• Blog about this contest with a link back here – one entry.
• Subscribe to my feed – one entry.
• Make sure you leave a separate comment for each additional effort you make for an entry.

 The contest runs through 11:59 p.m. Feb. 9. The winner will be chosen and asked to respond within three days or a new winner will be chosen.

NOTE: I DID wash my minivan before taking this picture — twice actually. You see, I received my decal when the weather was below freezing in St. Louis, and I couldn’t apply it during those weather conditions. Then it snowed and remained cold. Then in warmed up into the 40’s and I got my car washed and applied the decal — but the snow was melting and the car got dirty again from the road spray. So I washed it again, and it got dirty again from the road spray and I gave up and just took the picture and wrote my review already!