From The Contest Queen

What a whirlwind trip!

(If you didn’t read Vol 6 Issue 3 of The Winning EDGE, you may not know we won a 4-day trip for four to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics from Wonder Bread.  It was a contest you could enter one person per household per day to instantly win a pair of the Olympic red mittens and be entered into the grand prize draw.)

My original intention was to blog each day, but Weston Bakeries/Wonder Bread kept us busy from the get go.  We (myself, my husband Craig and our best friends, Lori & Tom Hoppe) flew out of Toronto at 10:30am ET on Monday February 15th and landed in Vancouver at 12:30pm PT.  All the winners and their guests were met by staff and lead us to a bus just for us.  While waiting they offered us snacks and drinks.  We were all whisked off to the Executive Hotel Vintage Suites.  In the lobby more of the team met us, got us checked in to the hotel and gave us all the swag and paperwork we needed for the balance of the trip.

We got a one shoulder backpack containing: the famous Olympic red mittens (the ones I didn’t instantly win!), a Wonder+/Go Canada Go scarf, a logoed watch, a souvenir program, a small Olympic mascot stuffie, a red logoed mid-layer jacket, a white logoed ski jacket and an ID tag.

Weston Bakeries then gave us our itinerary, a VISA gift card pre-loaded with $75 to cover our meals for each of us and tickets to five events!  The rules stated a minimum of two.  We got tickets to:

Monday February 15
ICE HOCKEY UBC Thunderbird Arena 19:00

Tuesday February 16
ICE HOCKEY Canada Hockey Place 12:00
ICE HOCKEY Canada Hockey Place 21:00

Wednesday February 17
ICE HOCKEY Canada Hockey Place 12:00
SHORT TRACK SPEED SKATING Pacific Coliseum 17:00

Since we had spent the day sitting on the plane followed by a bus, we went for a walk into Yaletown to stretch our legs and for a “real” bite to eat as we didn’t want to eat stadium food for dinner.  We found The Edge Social Grille and Lounge.  The food was great, but what I found odd was, sitting in the bar area, watching the Olympic events live on big flat screen TVs, while we were only minutes away from the actual events.

We then caught the #17 bus on Howe St. to the UBC Thunderbird Arena to see the Sweden vs Slovakia Women’s Hockey game.  (Since we had game tickets, the bus ride was free!)  We were surprised to discover just how tight security was.  Getting in was just like airport security; bag xrays and body scanners and wands.  It’s a smaller sized arena, so every seat in the house has a good view.  It was fun watching the women play.  It reminded us of Junior A hockey with the way the players interacted with each other.  We found it interesting that every player’s name on the Slovak team ended in “OVA”.  Sweden won 6-2.

When we left the arena it was raining pretty hard and we didn’t have umbrellas.  By the time we got back to the bus, we were soaked.  The bus was packed and the windows fogged up pretty quickly.  We had no idea where we were.  The bus drivers are really good and they didn’t let us miss the stop close to our hotel.

The time change had thrown my schedule right off.  I awoke at 4:00am PT and couldn’t get back to sleep.  I decided to squeeze in a bit of contesting before the day started.  An hour later I decided I needed to move and stretch so I thought I would try out one of Vancouver’s most famous yoga studios; YYoga (@yyoga)  I went to their Flow Studio on Burrard Street for the 6:30am-7:30am YHot class.  I had never done hot yoga before.  Both the studio and the class were amazing.

When I got back, we got ready and enjoyed a buffet breakfast before getting on the bus to go to BC Place to see the Men’s Hockey.  It was the USA vs Switzerland game.  What a difference between watching the men and the women play.  The men are better at being where the puck is plus they are far rougher.  Lots of smashing into the boards.  Since it is the stadium where the Vancouver Canucks play, it is much bigger and listening to the crowds cheering was amazing.  It was hard to tell who was cheering for who as most of the stadium was in red and white with a bit of blue thrown in for good measure.  USA won 3-1.

We then split up with Lori and Tom for the balance of the evening.  We found the third hockey game too late for us as it began at 9:00pm PT (as it felt like midnight to us) so we gave them our tickets so they could go to the game with friends.  Craig and I met up with CBC to film a bit of additional footage for a piece on luck that aired on The National (@CBCTheNational) Tuesday night, One Lucky Lady.

It turns out that Lori and Tom were not able to hook-up with their friends.  While exploring the city they ended up in Lululemon (@lululemon).  They discovered Liz (@lizcgse) and Tiffany (@tiffanycgse) were part of Lululemon’s Cool Global Sporting Event.  They were to blog about the Olympics as part of their participation in the program.  Tom and Lori gave the girls their extra tickets and had a ball at the game.  (Read Liz’s blog post about their experience.)

Afterwards we went for a long walk checking out all the events in the city.  It is also a lot of fun people watching.  I made sure we popped into Lululemon as they had teamed up to YYoga to give the Gift of Yoga during the Olympics.  I thought it was one free class at YYoga per person.  It turns out it was an all-you-can-yoga event from February 12-28.  Had I realized that, I would have gotten my pass on Monday so Tuesday morning’s yoga class would have been free.  We decided we were going to attend the evening Candlelight Yoga class and since you should not do yoga on a full stomach we went for and early dinner at a great west coast institution called Earls.  We arrived just after the Canada vs Norway Men’s hockey game started.  The bar was packed!  So we took a table in the dining room.  We knew Canada was winning because every time Canada scored, the cheers, woots and hollers were deafening.  Canada won 8-0.

There was also a pretty funky couple sitting next to us at Earls.  He really stood out as he had huge glasses and tattoos everywhere.  I noticed his wedding ring and thought it was a bit of an oxymoron as I couldn’t picture him taking out the garbage, doing dishes, folding laundry or taking care of the kids.  Wednesday night while watching the late night evening news we discovered it was Dallas Green from the band Alexisonfire.  Dallas was in the news as there was a problem at the free Alexisonfire concert earlier on Wednesday night.

We then continued our walk around they city.  When we got back to the hotel room to get our yoga clothes, for a moment I thought we should just stay in as I was really tired.  However, I hate missing anything fun and free so off we went to yoga.  How many times have we ignored our instinct, inner voice or gut feelings only to discover later we were right?  As the class progressed I found I had no strength to hold the poses, I didn’t have good balance and the icing on the cake was, during Savasana I drifted off and started to lightly snore!!

Since I figure I can always sleep either on the plane or at home, on Wednesday I got up early and went to the Yaletown Studio on Homer Street for the 7:00-8:00am YHot yoga class. (If you ever have a chance to take a class with Sandra Stephanson, go.)  Still hockey’d out, Craig and I gave our last pair of hockey tickets to Lori and Tom.  This time they were able to hook up with her brother Gary.  As both Craig and I have family in and around British Columbia, we never have the luxury of spending this amount time in Vancouver proper, we took the time to visit Granville Island.  It was so warm we saw people in t-shirts and shorts, cyclists, roller bladders, people walking their dogs, etc.  along with spotting dozens of plants ready to bloom, in February!!  Now I know why everyone wants to move to B.C.!

We met Lori and Gary at the Men’s and Women’s Short Track event at 5:00pm.  We really liked it as it was the first event that made it feel we were at the Olympics.  We got to watch the 500m Men’s, 5000m Men’s Relay and the 500m Women’s Final.  We saw Marianne St-Gelais win silver for Canada.  How exciting!!

After the races we went to Gastown for dinner, ate at the Water St. Cafe and went shopping for Official Olympic souvenirs.  Since it was our last chance, we walked the three blocks to see the exterior Olympic torch.  WOW! What a way to end the trip.

At this point my legs were so sore from walking for three days and taking three yoga classes we took a cab back to the hotel to pack up.

Now calling our win a 4-day trip is a bit of a misnomer since the 4th day is spent travelling.  We were up at 5:00am to catch our 9:00am flight home.  The plane had to be de-iced as it had just come from Sydney Australia, so it left late.  We landed at 4:45pm only to have Air Canada lose the container with our luggage.  An hour later they found it.  Travelling is no vacation!

Overall, the trip of a lifetime!

Remember to always support the sponsors or there won’t be contests and sweepstakes like this for us to enter.

ENJOY, GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN!

In 2001 I took a weekend course called Humans Being More. One of the overnight exercises was to discover why we are here. What is our purpose. I determined my purpose was to teach others how to add more fun into their everyday lives.  In 2004 I began to realize that purpose by teaching others to to find, enter and win sweepstakes.

Serendipitously, it turns out, I am not the only one teaching fun. The company Volkswagen has created a website called The Fun Theory.  In Sweden, they are experimenting with fun and turning the mundane into the unusual.  Watch the smiling faces in the videos!

ENJOY, GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN!!

Like sweepstaking, convention is always an adventure.  This year has been no different.  We decided to combine a family vacation with convention again this year.  Unfortunately, at the last moment, my husband Craig could not attend due to work commitments.  We were very lucky and the convention organizers were able to change Craig’s registration to my assistant Aprile (see, good luck flows into all areas of one’s life).  So it became a girl’s road trip; myself, my daughter Nicole, the nanny Jennifer and Aprile.

We left on Monday morning. We could drive all the way to Manchester NH, but we decided to break up the drive to make it less of a long haul along with allowing us to sight-see along the way.  We drove to Burlington VT, then stayed the night.

Tuesday morning we began our trek to Manchester. We had two important stops to make first.  Our first stop was the Vermont Teddy Bear Company factory.

We began with a tour and Nicole left with a new teddy bear.  Then it was off for lunch before we got dessert, at the Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory.

We made spin art, a tye dye t-shirt, took the tour and, of course, ate ice cream! We arrived in Manchester just in time for dinner.

Wednesday we had planned to go to the beach (an hour east of Manchester), but the weather was not co-operating.  So we did what four girls would do, we went shopping!  After lunch we took Nicole to the SEE Science Center.  It’s a small hands on centre for kids (of all ages).  They have a really cool Millyard LEGO installation that used over 3 million pieces of LEGO.

Wednesday night we went to the famous Red Arrow Diner.  I had my first Whoppie Pie. YUMMY! !

Thursday at noon the convention officially started with the Vendor Room opening. It was wonderful to see so many of my sweepstaking buddies.  Lots of hugs all round.

After a quick dinner, the festivities kicked off with an Ice Cream Social and PRIZES! (Lucky me, I won 100 Forever stamps, WOOHOO!!)

If you didn’t make it this year, make sure you attend the 21st Annual National Sweepstakes Convention.

Hope to see you there!

On March 30 I wrote a post called Goal Setting & Winning.  Since several of those goals ended on April 30th I thought I should post an update on my progress.

GOAL 1) I now choose to complete writing the 2nd Edition of the Canadian Edition of You Can’t Win If You Don’t Enter by April 30, 2009.

Sadly, I did not work on my book everyday as I had planned.  I did however, make significant progress.  I believe I can have it completed by May 31st.

GOAL 2) I now choose to complete writing Sweepstakes for Mommies by May 31, 2009.

I have made no progress on this goal.  I will need to increase my efforts to meet this goal this month.

GOAL 3) I now choose to launch my new Contest ROI Maximizer services package by April 30, 2009.

I have made no progress on this goal. I will have to reset my completion date.

GOAL 4) I now choose to write, send out and have the results of the survey to determine the future of the CCA and the 2nd ANCC by May 31, 2009.

After the first draft of the letter was completed, it became apparent that the four directors of the CCA needed to meet.  This goal is on hold until after the meeting, as the meeting may occur after May 31st.

GOAL 5) I now choose to launch the WINuvers for WISHcraft course by July 31, 2009.

I have made no progress on this goal.

I’ll keep you posted.

How are you doing on your goals?

ENJOY, GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN

Scott Blitstein wrote and interesting blog on RoboForm and how you can utilize it for online passwords.  This is a great tip since so many contest and sweepstakes now ask you to login rather than fill out an entry form.

RoboForm Keeps Passwords in Sync

ENJOY, GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN!

With a heavy heart I must inform the contesting community that Betty Yearling, one of the original Affadaisies, has passed away.

Betty Yearling PAYNE
Betty G. Yearling, 85, of Payne, was looking forward to seeing her Lord & Savior, Jesus Christ when she passed away at 1:25 p.m., Thursday, March 12, 2009 at Parkview Hospital, Fort Wayne.

She was born in Payne on March 24, 1923, the daughter of the late Elden & Blanche (Skinner) Gernhardt. Betty was an active member of St. James Lutheran Church, Payne, & the WELCA, where she participated in various bible classes, prayer groups, also teaching Sunday school and vacation Bible school. She was also a member of the Gideons International Auxiliary. Having been finalist in the 1963 Pillsbury Baking Contest, Betty enjoyed creating new recipes and entering skill contests. After high school she worked for an attorney in Paulding and did office work in Payne, until her marriage in 1942 to Carl E. Yearling, who died in 2000. They farmed together for 58 years. Betty will be sadly missed by her daughter, Ann (Gregg) Kroen of Maitland, FL; son,
Jack of Payne; daughter-in-law, Eunice of Payne; three grandchildren, Heather (Jamie) Hart and Kirsten
(Brian) King, both of Winter Park, Fla., Jana Yearling of Payne; three great-grandchildren, Sydnie and Mackinley Hart and Madison King. Also preceding her in death was her son, Michael in 2006.

On a lighter note, I would like to share an excerpt from my book; one of Betty’s wonderful contest creations. This is her winning recipe from the 1963 Pillsbury Bake-Off.

Party Pork Barbecue
Bake-Off 15 (Los Angeles, 1964)
Mrs. C. E. Yearling ~ Payne, OH

NOTE: Three cups leftover pork roast may be substituted for the pork shoulder.
Pillsbury BESTall purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1½ lb. boneless pork shoulder, cut in bite-size pieces
3 tablespoons cooking oil or shortening
1½ cups chopped celery
1 medium onion, sliced and broken into rings
1 cup (8-oz. can) undrained pineapple tidbits
1 cup catsup
½ cup water
2 tablespoons chopped green pepper
2 tablespoons prepared mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon salt

Drop Biscuits
1 cup flour*
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon celery salt
¼ cup shortening
1/3 cup milk
1 slightly beaten egg
1 tablespoon dry onion flakes
2tablespoons mushrooms, chopped, if desired
* If using self rising flour, omit baking powder and salt in biscuits.

Heat oven to 400°F. Combine flour, salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Coat pork pieces with flour mixture. Brown well in oil in large skillet.

Add celery, onion rings, pineapple, catsup, water, green pepper, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and salt. Cover; simmer 20 to 30 minutes or until meat is tender. Pour into 2-quart casserole. Drop biscuit mixture (below) by rounded tablespoonfuls onto meat mixture. Bake at 400°F for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown.

Drop Biscuits
Combine flour, baking powder, salt and celery salt. Cut in shortening until particles are fine. Add milk, egg, dry onion flakes and mushrooms. Stir only until all dry particles are moistened.

Craig sent me a blog post about a company that takes waveforms and makes them into bracelets; The Sound Advice Project. It’s intention was to create motivational messages parents could give as gifts to their kids to keep them off drugs, but you can also create custom messages.  I wonder what “I AM a WINNER!” or “I AM LUCKY!” would look like?

ENJOY, GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN!

I am experimenting with Twitter.  Click here if you wish to follow me.  I don’t post as often as I would like, but I am getting better and posting more often.

You can also follow me on Facebook. I will admit, I am even less likely to update my Facebook page!

ENJOY, GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN!!

As promised, here is the article written by Michele DeLuca for Common Cents magazine; And The Winner Is…

ENJOY, GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN!

Have you gone green?  Have you changed the light bulbs in your home where you enter online or fill out 3×5s for hours?  Have you suddenly developed a skin rash or headaches?  You may need to switch back to your old inefficient incandescent light bulbs.

Global TV Video

Have fun and be safe!