TRAVEL CONTESTS

ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Saturday, July 29, 2006

YELLOWSTONE IN WINTER

If posts are sporadic between now and August 12, it's because I'm off to the groves of academe, to Goucher College, to begin the second and final year of my MFA.

Yesterday I entered a National Geographic Expeditions sweepstakes for SIX to visit Yellowstone the week between Christmas and New Year.

To enter, click HERE.

From the Official Rules:

The Grand Prize consists of attendance for the winner and five guests at the National Geographic Expeditions "Winter Wildlife in Yellowstone" in Yellowstone National Park, Montana, from Dec. 26, 2006 - Dec. 31, 2006 ("Expedition"), as described in the National Geographic Expeditions catalog (see next paragraph for details). The Grand Prize also includes the following: the winner and five guests will be flown into Bozeman, Montana on Tuesday, Dec 26th from the major airport closest to winner's home. Upon completion of the trip in Yellowstone, the winner and five guests will enjoy a private 1 and ½ day tour in Yellowstone in a Mercedes-Benz vehicle and then driven to Bozeman, for return flight home. The Expedition includes local transportation within Yellowstone, accommodations for six (6) nights, and meals as indicated in the itinerary. Approximate Retail Value ("ARV") is $21,000.

For the itinerary, from the catalog, click HERE.

Now that would take care of a few Christmas gifts, wouldn't it?

See you on the other side.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

HIGHS AND LOWS: PAPA NEW GUINEA

As I’ve mentioned before, my idea of adventure travel is limited to activities such as nature hikes, provided the trails aren’t too steep, and climbing in and out of a hammock. One reason I’m not more adventure-leaning is that I am terrified of heights. Whenever I try to conquer my fear it backfires. Once I went up in a hot air balloon in Albuquerque. When we were hundreds of feet in the air, I happened to mention to the handler I was an acrophobe (mnemonic: Acropolis). I think I was boasting a bit, I think I was trying to impress him with what I thought was courage but what he most likely interpreted as distrust of his hot-air-balloon piloting skills. What he did next can be described only as sadistic. He started shaking the basket and taunting me. “You’re afraid of heights?” he asked. Rhetorically I should add.

I went into one of those states of hyper-lucidity, where you’re preternaturally aware of your thought processes, and thought, I could do one of two things. I could freak and rip him a new you-know-what and sit down in the basket for the remainder of the ride to protect myself from the sight, but not the knowledge, never the knowledge, of the space between the basket and the earth. That was my impulse. That is what I almost did. My second option was to blow him off and pretend I did not care. And that is what I did. And that that is what I did still surprises me. I was that close to freaking out. After we landed -- not without incident: we scraped the top of a tree on our descent -- we had a picnic. Terra firma never felt so good.

Now, there is one adventure pursuit that’s been tugging at me for years: Scuba diving. I know it’s not a risk-free proposition. The bends sound dreadful. But I can’t imagine I would be as afraid of depths as I am of heights. Plus, it would be a lot quieter. Hot air balloons are loud.

I discovered this one, a chance for one of three dive trips to Papa New Guinea, rather circuitously. Earlier this week, Gadling linked to some truly amazing pictures of a breaching white shark taken by a fellow named Erik Cheng. He’s deep into photography, especially underwater digital photography. He blogged about this sweeps, which is sponsored by FiNS Magazine, on Wet Pixel, a site devoted to underwater digital imagining.

To enter, click HERE. You have to fill out a brief questionnaire.

The deadline is July 31.

The three giveaways are:

Trip One: 7D/ 6N at Walindi Plantation Resort for one, inclusive of bungalow accommodation, all meals and two dives per day.
Trip Two: 8D/ 7N with Aquaventures PNG aboard MV Kamai for one.
Trip Three: 7D/ 6N at Lissenung Island Resort for one, inclusive of standard single room accommodation, all meals, two boat dives/ day, afternoon shore dives.

If I won this, I’d take lessons at the National Diving Center, my local scuba-diving school.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

TAOS AND A POSTSCRIPT: THE DRILL

A photograph can inspire a trip. Case in point: On a trip to New Orleans in the mid-1990s, I chanced upon A Gallery for Fine Photography. With its gold-standard inventory (Berenice Abbott, E.J. Bellocq, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and so on right down the alphabet), it has to be one of the best photography galleries in the U.S. A photograph by Edward S. Curtis, At the Old Well of Acoma*, caught my eye. Where, I wondered, was Acoma? New Mexico, someone, perhaps Joshua Mann Pailet, the gallery owner, told me. Bingo. I had to go there. The next trip, two weeks after I quit my job to go freelance, was a road trip to New Mexico. (*Here’s a posterized version. Suffice it to say this rendering does not do the image justice.)

Could a sweeps achieve that inspired urgency? Maybe, maybe not. This one, for three nights in Taos, revived my interest in getting to Nevada one of the days. I was on a Reno jag several years ago, caught up in the divorce-ranch history. The pull remains.

Here are the prize details, cut and pasted from the sweeps rules:

GRAND PRIZE: Sign up for a chance to win a vacation to Taos during Summer 2007! Included will be a raft trip for two on the Rio Grande courtesy of Native Sons Adventures, museum tickets for two to all five Taos historic museums, and three nights lodging at your choice of Casa de las Chimeneas Inn and Spa, Hacienda del Sol B&B, both in the Town of Taos, or Columbine Inn in Taos Ski Valley.

This one does not include airfare. That can be a good thing. You can come and go when you choose. When you enter, you have to choose your lodging. I went with the Casa de las Chimenas.

The deadline is September 30.

To enter, click HERE.

P.S. Here’s the drill: I only enter No Purchase Required sweeps and contests. I will subscribe to newsletters and fill out online questionnaires, provided they are of interest. You can unsubscribe to the newsletters; the spam risk seems slim to none. I have yet to receive any spam that I can connect to a sweeps entry. Early on I received a questionnaire, from a magazine. That’s not bad after nearly five months of this. I find sweeps by Googling and by checking my two favorite sources: About.com’s listings and FlyerTalk’s Free Travel Contests and Sweepstakes forum, right HERE. I try to find as many sweeps on my own as I can. I enjoy the hunt.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

VANITY FAIR OSCAR PARTY

I entered this one this afternoon but something tells me that the actuality of going to Vanity Fair’s Oscar Party as a sweeps winner could get real awkward real fast. Odds are high that I would not run into anyone I knew. I’d only keep bumping into people I thought I knew. Though I might bump into one or two people I technically knew, people I’d met before but who over time had forgotten they'd made my acquaintance. (I tried to give one Vanity Fair writer who kept forgetting my name a convenient mnemonic: “Major Barbara.” It went in one ear and out the other.) Of course I’d have a friend in tow, but I can be quite shy, which is why I’m discreetly referencing this Q&A with yours truly over at World Hum in the middle of an entry as opposed to shouting it out in a separate post.

Vanity Fair is doing this to try to entice folks to subscribe to the magazine. I almost did, too, until I saw the CLICK HERE TO ENTER WITHOUT SUBSCRIBING line.

What’s funny about the prize is that you get airfare (economy – no star treatment en route to mingle with the stars) and three nights at Santa Monica Loews Hotel and a pre-party session with a stylist and tickets to the Vanity Fair’s Oscar Party but no tickets to the Academy Awards. In fact, Conde Nast’s lawyers had to put the following in all upper case in the Official Rules: THIS SWEEPSTAKES IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH OR ENDORSED BY THE ACADEMY OF MOTION PICTURE ARTS AND SCIENCES. Of course the Academy cannot start co-sponsoring sweeps or the next thing you know there would be an orgy of Oscar-themed giveaways every Oscar season.

I suppose watching the Oscars at the hotel (Santa Monica Loew) while the stylist fulfills his or her obligation on your person increases your chances of having a decent, if tired, stylist.

The package also includes $1,000 for a shopping spree. $1,000? That would only leave $500 after the shoes!

To enter, click HERE.

Enter once and you are done.

The deadline to do that is December 5.

Sunday, July 23, 2006

ONE FOR THE ROAD

Isaac and I are headed back to D.C. tomorrow. We're going to spend part of the day in New York, hitting the snakes and lizards exhibit at the Museum of Natural History in the morning then having lunch with a friend who works close by. Then we will catch an afternoon train back to the city we call home.

Here's one for the road: Four nights at a resort in Breckinridge. You have to fill out a questionnaire to enter. Have you ever been Breckinridge? That kind of harmless stuff. Details as far as a deadline and dates of travel are not spelled out. I entered this one on good faith. It's sponsored by the Breckinridge Resort Chamber.

To enter, click HERE.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

WHERE THE DEER AND THE BUFFALO WINGS ROAM

When I found this sweeps last night, for four nights in at Hotel Victor South Beach and a consultation with Dr. South Beach Diet himself, a.k.a. Dr. Arthur Agatson, plus a one-year membership to the South Beach Diet program, plus $1,000 in cash for a South Beach shopping spree, I loosened my metaphorical belt and sighed a languid sigh of relief. The timing could not have been more perfect.

I've been visiting my mother since Wednesday, in Norwalk, Connecticut, where I grew up, and these visits always involve ritualistic meals that, after a few days, leave me feeling ready for the fat farm. We do takeout from a place in the Cranbury section of town, called The Gourmet Village Chinese Restaurant, which makes the best General Tsao chicken I've ever tasted, all white meat. We order from a Mexican restaurant in East Norwalk, Tacos Mexico. The enchiladas in green sauce are divine. Then last evening, I made lobster, corn on the cob and Caesar salad for my mom and Isaac. A perfect little meal. Then I entered the perfect little sweeps. Or so I thought, until I read the Official Rules. This sweeps does not close until MARCH 31, 2007. That's the farthest out deadline I've encountered so far. Usually the sweeps I enter end a few months out at most. Now, the feeling of urgency around my overindulging night in and night out will subside the moment I get home. But still. This unexpectedly far out deadline threw off my fantasy of meeting Dr. South Beach Diet sooner rather than later, presumably before the year was out.

You can enter once a day through March 31, 2007.

To enter, go to www.prevention.com/sbd/.

P.S. The reference to deer in the title refers to deer that saunter through my mother's backyard, not to venison. The buffalo wings would be those served at Ash Creek Saloon, a local restaurant that serves some of the best ribs I've eaten on either side of the Mississippi. We did not, thank goodness, get there this time.

Friday, July 21, 2006

PORTLAND ON POWELL'S

An editor who shall remain nameless once described herself, on national television no less, as part bookworm, part gadfly. I could so relate. This trip would satisfy both strains: four days in Portland on Powell's, the bookstore, with three nights at the Heathman Hotel. The package also includes a $250 gift certificate to Powell's (I would hope so) and dinner at a Saucebox, which is supposed to be a swell restaurant.

To enter, go to www.powells.com/trip/.

The deadline is August 31.

This sweeps wins the Easiest to Enter Award hands down. All you have to do is provide your email. For that, you will get a subscription to Powell's newsletter and the chance to win the trip to Portland.

I probably will not post again until next Monday evening. My laptop is on the fritz. That tends to happen when a nine-year-old accidently spills the detritus of a bag of pretzels onto a keyboard. I can still feel a few oversize salt grains wedged betwixt select consonants when I type.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

FORTUNE COOKIE

While I was packing for a visit to my mother’s this morning, I found a fortune cookie tucked in my wallet: You will travel far and wide, both for pleasure and business.
I can't argue with that.
Here’s a sweeps for a week at the Club Med in the Turks and Caicos.
Note the specific dates: November 4 – 11.
More anon.
To enter, click HERE.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

BERMUDA CASUAL RESORT

Here’s a concept I can get my mind around: a casual resort.

9 Beaches in Sandys, Bermuda looks like that kind of place. Cabins, all with a view of the water. Cabins, made of aluminum frames and a space-age material that resembles sail cloth. Or so they say. Cabins, all on stilts, a few right on the water. Cabins, plus nine beaches. Count them. Nine. Sounds good to me. (Forgive the staccato ad-copy cadence.)

You’ll find the entry-from icon on the left-hand side of the 9 Beaches homepage right HERE. If that does not work, try www.9beaches.com and good luck!

Friday, July 14, 2006

HELLO GORGEOUS! TWO WEEKEND PACKAGES!

If you happen to be in the vicinity of Henri Bendel in New York City this weekend (Fifth Avenue between 55th and 56th Streets), check out my writer-friend Rachel Weingarten’s book display, the book being her new book, Hello Gorgeous!. Get this: This Wonder Woman of Sublimely Classy Marketing has taken over a window at Henri Bendel’s to showcase the tome, a history of mid-century beauty products (the 1940s through the 1960s). Rachel is simply a genius at this sort of thing. And I do not use that word often.

Of course there’s a travel-sweeps connection in all this: A chance to win one of two Hello Gorgeous! Weekends: 1.) a weekend at Flatotel, (valid through September 5, 2006) in New York, New York, continental breakfast daily at MODA (the hotel’s chic restaurant), personal shopper at Bendels, dinner for two at Zarela and spa services at Oasis Day Spa or 2.) a weekend at Regent South Beach, in you-know-where, with continental breakfast daily and in-room spa services.

The catch is you have to enter in person. The sweeps runs through Monday, so do not delay. It does not include air (I only note this because most of the sweeps I write about here do). But who cares! As I have written before, I very much like the idea of having the freedom to travel on my own around a happily won package. (Alas, I will not be in New York this weekend. I'm posting this as a public service announcement.)

I cannot wait to get this book. It’s so neat when someone who know, or even kind of know, finds success in their passion. (I’ve never met Rachel in person, but we used to participate in the same online writer’s forum, Freelance Succcess, and we did speak on the phone once.) Thanks to AOL Book Maven Bethanne Patrick for her post on this clever promotion for a what can only be a terrific book.

P.S. For readers of the last post: I still care about the environment.

MY FIRST SWEEPSTRESS PROTEST

Every travel sweeps I enter is promoting something, usually a product or a place. Today’s sweeps is a promotion by Amoco, the gasoline conglomerate. Yes, gasoline, the finite-resource fossil-fuel derivative of which the U.S. consumes over 100 billion gallons a year, the derivative from the natural resource that could, touch wood, be at the heart of World War III one day.

Global warming has me reassessing nonessential travel. Headlines that the Swiss Alps are crumbling and Antarctica is shrinking can do that to a gal. I do not plan to stop traveling altogether, at least not anytime soon. I still see road trips in my future, as well as flights to parts afar. But I think we should all should get a much better sense of how much energy we use when we travel. I mean, is jet exhaust diminishing the ozone layer? Everything in moderation may become the new travel mantra.

I suspect this is part of the responsible/ethical travel movement. If anyone can suggest a resource on this, I would very much appreciate it. I will begin researching this myself when I get to the other side of a deadline.

As for this sweeps, I entered this one this morning for a chance to win a four-night stay in your choice of one of five U.S. cities (I selected Los Angeles. The other four are Las Vegas, San Francisco, Denver, Orlando). But now that I think of it, and writing always helps me understand what I think, I’m not going to keep trying to win this one. And if I win, I will ceremoniously decline the prize. It’s my little sweepstress protest.

To check out the sweeps that I am protesting, click HERE.

P.S. Two coincidences, one amusing, one not: Today is Bastille Day, a perfect day for protest, even small ones. Also today: The National Climatic Data Center reported that the first six months of this year were the warmest on record for the 48 contiguous states.

Thursday, July 13, 2006

THE FLAVOR OF COINCIDENCE

Coincidence has been a theme for this blog since I started travel-contesting in early March. Just this week, the day after I wrote about the Redken sweeps to New York, which, take notice, includes a haircut, I took Isaac to get his hair cut. So, that’s the first part of the first coincidence: A haircut. Isaac has had his hair cut at a number of places since his first haircut at age three, at my once and future hairstylist’s in Georgetown: neighborhood Hispanic salons, which always cut his hair too short, no matter how perfectly I pronounce: “no mucho, por favor;” Cartoon Cuts, all the way out in Rockville, Maryland, all that schlep so Isaac could be hypnotized by videos while a lovely Iranian woman cut his hair; an Italian barber named Bruno in my hometown of Norwalk, Connecticut, a dying breed with a thick accent who always offers Isaac scotch as a joke and Isaac is never quite sure if he’s kidding or not; SuperCuts, a serviceable chain in Cleveland Park, here in D.C.

This time, we went to SuperCuts. As I was chatting with the receptionist, I noticed a card on the counter, a card that beckoned, “Enter Each Month’s Sweepstakes for a Chance to Win!” That’s the second part of the first coincidence. A travel sweeps. A trip to the Bahamas in December. I was instantly transported. I was already swimming in the turquoise waters. When I got home, I tried to enter, but there was some funkiness associated with a timeshare promotion to Las Vegas with TakeMeOnVaction, and I decided not to bother. There was something, what shall I say, suspicious about the whole thing. Despite the sweet coincidence, I did not enter.

On Tuesday, I researched accommodations in Hershey, Pennsylvania for Labor Day weekend for a possible jaunt there with Isaac and Isaac’s best friend and his mom. Now, it’s not a sure thing, because school will have already started and the school year is a real marathon – ah, the thought of it makes me tighten with anticipatory anxiety -- and I might just want to kick back or do something more relaxed, like go out to the country. But you do have the option of canceling up to 72 hours in advance and getting a full refund. (Both The Hershey Lodge and The Hotel Hershey require a one-night deposit.) Then on Wednesday, as in yesterday, I stumbled upon a sweeps to Hershey, Pennsylvania, for four, the exact number that would be in our party. That's coincidence number two. Again, I was instantly transported. I imagined what a chocolate wrap would actually feel like, and whether the chocolate slather would wash off easily later in the shower without any chocolate getting stuck in the cracks of my toes. Of course, if I won, we could not take the trip as early as Labor Day.

I suppose it’s bizarre that I fantasize to the degree I do about winning these trips – to varying degrees, of course. I mean, I have a life. But Aurimas Cernauskas, the winner of the Audi Streets of Tomorrow Contest, said he dreamed about winning the Colorado road trip that he won, the one put together by, sigh, Abercrombie and Kent. So who knows what the vibe factor is with all this. Or with anything at all.

The prize: Two nights at The Hotel Hershey for four, four spa certificates (yes!), four two-day passes to the park and, if you live 250 or miles away, air. If we win, we’ll be driving.

To enter, click HERE.

Here are the OFFICIAL RULES.

Enter once daily until July 29.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

BETTER LATE THAN EVER: RANCHO LA PUERTA

But earlier rather than later would have been much better in this case, an enter-daily sweeps for a one-week stay at the storied and beloved RANCHO LA PUERTA in Tecate, Mexico. Darn. I wish I’d discovered this charmer closer to the start date of June 1.

A friend of mine has been to Rancho La Puerta, and everything she reports is fabulously inspiring. (I've forgotten what she reported. What follows comes from travel articles and the website.) It’s one of the original destination spas, founded by Edmond and Deborah Szekely in 1940. (The Brooklyn-born Deborah was age 17 when they married on Christmas Day 1939; she writes that Edmond, a Hungarian, was a scholar and natural living experimenter. At age 34, he was twice her age when they wed.) In 1950, a week cost $25. Today, the lowest weekly rate is $2,500, based on double occupancy.

This is definitely a thinking woman’s spa, as opposed to some sybaritic pleasure palacio. This summer, speakers include Erica Jong and Naomi Wolf and Pepper Schwartz and Arianna Huffington. (Me thinks men are welcome, but the clientele leans to the ladies.)

The Grand Prize package includes roundtrip air to San Diego and all meals and three treatments.

You can enter once daily now through July 31. A vos jeux!

To enter, click HERE.

Here are the OFFICIAL RULES.

The website Spa Addicts is sponsoring this one. Apparently, they have a monthly sweeps. Did I know this and forget? Or did I never know this? I don’t believe I never knew. Now I do, and I will forever enter, and post, accordingly.

Speaking of spas, last week I found notes I’d taken after my first spa treatment, at The Homestead in 1990. A list.

bath/spring water
salt rub – table salt
shower – a dozen nozzles
Scotch spray
hydrotherapist (Teresa)
massage therapist (Ruth)
citrus oil
avocado oil
Unscented oil
eyepads

As a form, lists can be very effective. Or at least evocative.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

TOUR DE SWEEPS

The French love to make things complicated. This sweeps, with a grand prize of two nights in Paris at a three-star hotel for the 2007 Tour de France final stage, involves a daily quiz. It’s one of those contests that makes you work, do things like think and concentrate when all you probably want to do is contemplate luck and escape and winning the damn trip.

I just registered, and have yet to go through the first stage of the quiz, but it’s supposed to work like this: Entrants get a daily question via email, then go online to answer a question. Besides the grand prize, there are a slew of other prizes, including a three-night stay in Alsace. I suppose this should not be too bad. It only runs through the end of the month.

I think I've said all I can say about France and the French lately. Yes, I’d love to go back, especially to Auvergne. But I’d much prefer to go to francophone Africa or to one of the French-speaking Caribbean islands. Je rêve de quelque chose plus exotique.

As for the Tour de France: I’m not following it like I did the past several summers. I’m vaguely aware of doping problems, but it’s just not holding the same pull without Lance Armstrong. I did follow the World Cup pretty closely. Pauvre Zizou. My heart goes out to that man. I know he felt terrible after his volcanic eruption. Of course it was wrong. I still feel for him. It was the sports version of a crime of passion. If Materazzi uttered any racial or ethnic slurs, or insulted a specific family member (mother or wife are two possibilities floating around), I hope FIFA condemns the verbal assault. FIFA is investigating.

Of course, if I won one of these trips to France, either to Alsace or to Paris, sponsored by Air France, La Maison de la France and RailEurope, I would be thrilled.

To enter, click HERE.

Deadline to enter: July 31.

To review the prizes, check out the Official Rules.

Sunday, July 09, 2006

BEAUTY AND THE SWEEPS

Preening beyond the basics hasn’t exactly been a priority for me lately. Most days, I look like a before photograph. My not-quite-thoroughly-brushed hair is swept up in a squirrel’s nest of a chignon, my face sports the barest minimum of maquillage, my eyebrows languish largely unplucked (though not frighteningly so; I possess not a Frieda Kahlo-esque MONO BROW).

I therefore posit that I could put to greater use one of these two prizes than the typical, moderately maintained entrant. Both prizes involve three-night stays in New York City and some serious styling: a makeover from the Maybelline Great Lash sweeps and a color and cut from the Redken Weekend of Style sweeps.

As for three nights in New York City, at unnamed but presumably swell hotels, (I’m thinking one of the W’s), well, how exhilarating would that be. New York City is one place that will never leave me ho-humming The Thrill Is Gone. I get up there now and then, but never, ever enough.

Here we go …

MAYBELLING GREAT LASH SWEEPSTAKES * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

To enter, click HERE.

Deadline: July 31

I actually use this mascara, when I get around to using mascara that is.

The prize as described in the Official Rules:

Prizes: One (1) Grand Prize winner will receive a prize package consisting of a trip for two (2) to New York City including round trip coach air transportation from major airport nearest Grand Prize Winner’s place of residence to New York City, hotel accommodations (double occupancy) for four (4) days and three (3) nights, tickets to a Broadway show, dinner at a top restaurant, a makeover by a Maybelline NY makeup artist (winner only), a spa treatment for winner and guest and $500 spending money. … Approximate Retail Value of the Grand Prize: $4900

REDKEN WEEKEND OF STYLE * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

To enter, click HERE.

Deadline: October 31

I don’t believe I’ve ever used a Redken product. It’s never too late to try new hair products.

The prize as described in the Official Rules:

PRIZE: One Grand Prize winner will be selected from a random drawing held on or about 11/20/2006 from among all eligible entries received. The Grand Prize winner will be notified by email or telephone. Odds of winning depend on number of eligible entries received. Grand Prize includes: A weekend of Style in NYC, including airfare for 2 & hotel accommodations for 3 nights, $2500 American Express Gift Certificate, cut & color for 2 at Cutler Salon & Redken haircare & styling products. Approximate Grand Prize Retail Value: $5,000.


P.S. You can check out the winner of the Audi Streets of Tomorrow Contest RIGHT HERE. His name is Aurimas Cernauskas. His wife’s name is Asta. They invited their friends Darius and Danguole Laurencikas along for the ride. Interesting collection of names, no? Lucky devils. Of all the sweeps I’ve entered so far, this one was one of my most coveted.

Saturday, July 08, 2006

MLS ALL STAR GAME CHICAGO

MLS = Major League Soccer.

To enter, click HERE.

Deadline to enter: July 17, 11:59 ET. (Synchronize your watches.)

I entered this one before I checked the dates and were I to win it would be the biggest shame because I would not be able to take the trip. I will be at my MFA residency and Isaac will be in Ecuador with his father. Sigh. Peter Nowak, the coach of Isaac’s favorite MLS team, D.C. United (my favorite, too, by the way), will be coaching the MLS All Star team, so this would have been particularly sweet.

In addition to synchronizing your watches, check your calendar for the first week of August and make sure you're free August 4 - 6 before you enter.

Here are details about the prize, which is sponsored by Adidas, from the Official Rules:

6. Prizes: ONE (1) GRAND PRIZE: VIP MLS All Star Game Xperience. Trip package includes roundtrip coach-class airfare for two (2) from a major airport near winner's home (determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion) to Chicago, Illinois; three (3) days and two (2) nights accommodations at a hotel that Sponsor will choose in its sole discretion, (single room double occupancy); ground transportation from airport to hotel, from hotel to game, from game to hotel. and from hotel to airport; two (2) tickets to the Sierra Mist MLS All Star Game (seating determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion); $250 gift certificate for shopping spree in Chicago adidas store; meet and greet with Pablo Mastroeni (if Pablo Mastroeni is unavailable for any reason, Sponsor will determine another player in its sole discretion); autographed soccer ball (Sponsor will determine the autograph in its sole discretion); and Pablo's game-worn Tunits (if Pablo Mastroeni's is not available for any reason, Sponsor will substitute another one in its sole discretion) that will be presented at the meet and greet post-game. Winner must comply with all terms and conditions of gift certificate. Winner must take trip on August 4, 2006 and return on August 6, 2006 or prize will be forfeited.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

LA JALOUSIE PLANTATION IN ST. LUCIA

Back in the early 1980s, I crashed the Romance Writers of America conference on a lark. It was being held that year in the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C, just a few blocks south of the cramped basement apartment I then called home. I’d just graduated from college. I had a day job with my political science professor. I waitressed a few nights a week in a French café. I was burning with desire to become a writer. Literary, not romance, novels. I’d started several. One, Letters from Brazil, still strikes my fancy: A young woman decides to rob a bank with the idea of getting caught and write while serving out her prison term. Otherwise, she doesn’t see how she will be able to choose art, with its attendant discipline and isolation, over Life. “Life” with a capital “L.” Only she doesn’t get caught. After hiding out in New York for a week with her best friend, she decides to go to Brazil and try her hand at writing there. Then, big surprise, surprise, she continues struggle with the live-life/create-art conundrum there, too. She manages to bang out long letters to her best friend back in New York (I got this idea pre-email. I would set it in the early 1980s.) but no novel. Her letters to her best friend are my novel.

I thought writing romance novels might be good practice, like practicing your scales or jamming. Never mind that I had never read a romance novel, off to the conference I went. If memory serves me well, the editors on the panel I attended said that lead characters were getting stronger, more independent. I believe one editor said that they were letting them have good jobs. Imagine that! Of course, the sex was getting juicier, too. It all sounded very doable to me. On the way out of the ballroom, I grabbed as many romance novels as I could. I figured I’d read them, got a hang for the formula, and go to it.

I could not finish a single one. They read like soap operas on the page. No depth, no suspense and, a much greater sin, no humor. I threw them out in short order.

Fast forward two-plus decades. I still have no interest in writing a romance novel. I am interested in writing something longer, a novel or a nonfiction book. I have an agent, Lori Perkins. She was recently profiled on MediaBistro. But until I finish a proposal or a novel or my memoir, Lori is more a friend than an agent. Maybe I’m like the main character in Letters from Brazil. (Of course, I have never robbed a bank. If I did, I’d get caught.) Life, hectic, messy, glorious Life, keeps getting in the way.

All this is a rambling introduction to today’s sweeps, a romantic seven-night getaway to La Jalousie Plantation Hotel in St. Lucia sponsored by none other than the Harlequin Romance folks. To enter, you must send a 100-word-or-less “fantasy.” (The one I sent is simply too dreadful to share here.) I can’t resist remarking that the name of this hotel, Jealousy Plantation, could be the title of a racy romance novel.

To enter, click HERE. Enter by July 31.

Monday, July 03, 2006

AN ECO-ADVENTURE ANTI-DEVELOPMENT SWEEPS

This is a first for this sweepstress, an eco-adventure, anti-development sweeps. Thanks to Adrienne Wilson at Gadling for her POST.

The prize: Two weeks in Fiji, on Adventure Island in the Mamanuca Islands, as part of a startup eco-community, TribeWanted.

To enter, click HERE.

According to this LA Times article, the idea behind TribeWanted is to stave off development on the island. Here’s to that. However, certain semiotics around the project, like the membership categories (Hunter? Warrior? When there is an actual tribal family residing on the island?) seem at cross purposes with TribeWanted's otherwise admirable intentions. And the project's reality TV vibe is slightly offputting. It feels like Survivor: The Timeshare Edition. Not surprisingly, the press is catching on. Good Morning America will soon feature TribeWanted on the show.

Here are details from STA Travel’s U.S. homepage:

What is TribeWanted?
· TribeWanted is an eco-friendly, green community.
· Adventure Island is located in Fiji in the Mamanuca Islands.
· Members participate in the community and debate tribal issues via the online forum to decide the development of the island.
· There are only 5,000 memberships being sold, and only 100 people are allowed on the island at a time.
· For every year of membership purchased, the member is entitled to 7 nights stay per year on the island.
Choose your membership option:
· Nomad - 1 year including 7 nights accommodation on the island for $214
· Hunter - 2 years including 14 nights accommodation on the island for $429
· Warrior - 3 years including 21 nights accommodation on the island for $643
What's included:
· Access to the virtual Tribal HQ and Tribal TV.
· All meals and accommodation during your stay on Adventure Island (duration of stay depends on package purchased).
Pick up from Labasa Airport in Fiji and transfer by bus and boat to Adventure Island.
· A donation to local Fijian community projects.
· Tribal membership certificate, Tribal key chain ID, and Island Passport.

Saturday, July 01, 2006

MEET THE GOLDFINGERS

I would like to nominate Myron and June Goldfinger to the Great Name Hall of Fame. What an unadulterated hoot. (Myron designed COVECASTLES, a stay at which is a possible prize mentioned in the PREVIOUS POST. June, a talent in her own right, designed the interiors.)

Upon Googling MYRON GOLDFINGER I discovered that he is an accomplished architect, a modernist, a student of vernacular Mediterranean and such, and that his wife June has a store in Katonah, New York, with some amazing items, including an absolutely inspiring collection of shoes. Well, maybe not the loafers. But I would love a pair of the SLIDES WITH A LITTLE HEEL right now.

She calls this a GENERAL STORE but with art, including photographs by one of my personal heroes, Edward S. Curtis, this is not your typical staple-laden general store, oh no. What a treat.

As you can tell, I am procrastinating with a venegeance today. I should be doing chores and errands.

TIMELY ANNOUNCEMENTS

1.) It’s the first of the month, and Frommer’s already has its Hot Spot prize for the month up and ready for entering. This month it's Ireland. Just this week I was boring someone at a party with talk of travel, how I wasn’t really going to travel this summer, how I didn’t much like to travel in the summer, and, how conservations go, we jumped from this to that and, the next thing I knew, I was describing how when I went to Ireland and got to the west coast the beaches resembled the beaches of my early adolescent dreams and I was so elated I could not tell if the salt on my lips was from my tears or windsnapped seawater.

To enter, click HERE.

2.) The folks at Luxury Link are equally efficient. They have their sampling of prizes for the third quarter contest posted as well. The winner gets a five-night stay at one of the accommodations listed below. Were I to win, I would jaunt down to Covecastles in the British West Indies. I'm a practical gal. That's closer to home. Plus, I just checked out the website and see that Covecastles was designed by a New York architect named Myron Goldfinger. I would love to stay at any resort designed by a man named Myron Goldfinger.

To enter, click HERE.

Elounda Mare Hotel A member of the prestigious Relais & Chateaux group, the Elounda Mare Hotel in Greece enjoys stunning views of the azure Mirabello Bay…

The Fairmont Orchid Adjacent to the award-winning Francis H. I’i Brown Golf Course, The Fairmont Orchid is a dazzling oceanfront oasis on the Big Island of Hawaii…

Bora Bora Lagoon Resort and Spa Named to Conde Nast Traveler’s Gold List and Travel + Leisure World's Best List, Bora Bora Lagoon Resort and Spa is a lavish South Pacific
retreat...

Covecastles With its sculptured, architecturally daring villas, Covecastles is a dramatic living ode to art and an idyllic retreat in the British West Indies...

Soneva Gili Resort & Six Senses Spa Located on a tiny Maldives island, the exclusive Soneva Gili Resort & Six Senses Spa features over-water villas, a spa sanctuary and superb recreation...

3.) After careful deliberation, management decided to discontinue the banner headlines that were suspended atop the first three posts for the past week or so. We appreciate your patience during Phase I of our marketing research campaign.

EVERY DAY IS NOT THE FIRST OF JULY

But today is.
I don't know what I'm doing up at this hour.
I've been staying up late this week, watching the late night talk shows.
David, Craig and occasionally Jimmy.
I dropped a seltzer bottle on my foot this evening.
I hope I didn't break my fifth metatarsal.
Or the fourth or the third or the second or the first.
Every day is not the first of July.