ANGUILLA FUSION

Today was an interesting day sweeps-wise. I got up in the middle of the night, before the birds, that old insomnia, and clicked on my four daily-entry sweeps (Audi Road Trip, World Cup, Working Mom, Luxury Link).

When I woke up for good, after the birds, I tried to enter the Gourmet Montréal Getaway Sweepstakes. Only I kept getting an error message. Me thinks my entry was “lost, late misdirected, garbled, or incompletely received for any reason, including by reason of hardware, software, browser, or network failure, malfunction, congestion, or incompatibility at Sponsors’ servers or elsewhere,” rendering my entry ineligible. That legalistic language is lifted verbatim from the Official Rules. I'm guessing my entry got garbled. It felt like a garbled entry.

No big, since as lovely as Montréal would be, especially considering my visit there with my parents, I would prefer a more tropical locale. With that in mind, I successfully entered the Bon Appétit sweeps. Remember: You can enter without subscribing to the magazine. Now, this one, for five nights at The CuisinArt Resort & Spa in Anguilla, with airfare, a master cooking class and a tasting dinner, looks sublime. My one quibble, and I noticed this when I read about the resort when it opened a few years ago, is the resort’s fusion of Mediterranean and Caribbean sensibilities. The design was inspired by Greek island architecture. People liken it to Mykonos in the Caribbean. That’s a little jarring to this purist, like those Asian-influenced resorts in the Southwest, but I think I could get over what really in the end is a minor detail lickety-split.

This one has me absolutely pining.

Later that same day, which would be today, I chanced upon a sweeps on the Southwest Airlines website, for a three-night trip to SeaWorld for four, with air and admission tickets. It closes July 31. I can’t resist imagining the expression on my son’s face after I told him I’d won one of the sweeps I’d entered with him in mind, like this one.