Gold
Yo, kids! Life is good. It’s been a fabulous summer. And we’re heading into my favorite time of year. My body is working in my favor. I’m madly in love with my husband. Our dog rocks. I’m surrounded by some of the world’s best family and friends. And you know what?
I want to share it.
That’s right. I’m feeling so good that I want you to feel good, too. And so, I’m doing a GIVE AWAY.
You just might strike gold!
Remember when I went to BlogHer. And how I had mixed feelings about being there? Well, the BlogHer gods forgave me for my mixed emotions. About a month ago, I got word from some Johnson & Johnson peeps that I had won! Wait, won what? I had to rack my brain to remember what it was I entered. There are so many giveaways at BlogHer and I was pretty whorish about putting my name in the hat. Despite promising Sweets I wouldn’t bring home a lot of swag. (And I didn’t bring home much, but I did want to win something – who doesn’t?! – so I had to add my name to many hats!)
And then I remembered. Going with Sam over to the J&J booth so she could get a much-needed Band-Aid. And getting stuck there while we waited for Paula Dean and her entourage to walk through (on her way to do a cooking thing). And looking at the J&J products and being surprised that so many brand names fall under their umbrella. And putting my card in to win a Night on the Town gift basket.
Oh yeah, that giveaway. I almost forgot; it had been so long. Well, ladies and gent, I won that bad ass gift basket. There’s lotions and hair products. Lip gloss and make-up remover. That time of the month and sex products. And just a whole basket of yumminess. See, look at the picture!
So, not only do I want to share some of these goodies with you (because believe me, I plan on keeping a few for myself), but I’ve turned this into a MUCH bigger giveaway. I pleaded with some friends to contribute to the give-away. And boy have they come through.
Children’s CDs and finger puppets from Professor Pocket
Free tickets to About Face Theater
Jewelry from Beads of the Heart
Personalized cake from My Itty Bitty Cake
Mary Kay Hand Magic from beauty consultant, Kelly Barefoot
Yarn from Secret Stash Sock Yarn
Gift certificate to Kitchen Stitchen
Gift certificate to adornMeant
I’m not kidding you. I have some multi-talented friends who were so generous with sharing their wares. And I think you’re going to like what you see. So, here are the down and dirty rules to this giveaway:
- Enter the give away once by leaving a comment to this blog post (all entries must be submitted no later than 11:59PM CDT on Thursday, September 24)
- Gain a second entry by advertising the give away with a link on your own blog (leave a second comment here once you’ve posted to your blog – same entry deadline as #1 above)
- Feel free to Twitter about it, but you get no bonus entries for doing that as I’m not on Twitter and have no way to track you. =)
- Chicago residents and anyone with a connection to the Chicago area should put CHICAGO somewhere in their entry, as one giveaway is good only for people in this area (which means there very well could be TWO winners to this giveaway)
- Promise to pay it forward; by that, I mean you must give away at least one item that you receive if you win. It could be yarn to the grandmother who knits. Or theater tickets to the best friend who lives in Chicago. Or KY to the boyfriend (bow chica bow bow) Whatever it is, I want this good feeling to be spread around.
I’m so happy to be sharing some of this awesomeness with you. And I’m excited to see who enters and who wins! The winner(s) will be announced on Friday, September 25. Good luck!
September 17th, 2009 at 6:48 am
I don’t think SoMi’s gonna let the basket go. Maybe you should just say that you’re sharing the prize with him and call it a day.
BTW, you already know I’m in Chicago.
September 17th, 2009 at 8:02 am
Joy! look at all the fun stuff!
September 17th, 2009 at 8:03 am
Looks like quite a haul! Yay for you for winning so many goodies. I love the idea of paying it forward and think it promotes good karma. =) You are such a doll.
September 17th, 2009 at 8:40 am
I’m totally jumping up and down with my hand in the air going “Pick me, pick me!”
I checked out all of the Etsy shops, and how adorable is Beads of the Heart???
September 17th, 2009 at 8:42 am
Omg I love your dog! She looks so adorable.
Um, so please enter me because you know how I’m such a whore for free stuff, but I do promise to pass something along in that very rare case I win.
September 17th, 2009 at 8:47 am
WooHoo, I actually DID put this up on Twitter so that more people know about it!
September 17th, 2009 at 8:55 am
Awesome giveaway. I would love to win the gift basket. I probably couldn’t use most of the J&J products due to some allergies, but I have a friend who is going to Uganda soon and collecting such things for the orphanage she is visiting to help bring home her new niece and nephews. They are in desperate need of such things.
Also, the theatre tickets would be awesome as I am visiting my sister in Chicago for Thanksgiving.
P.S. Your dog is adorable.
September 17th, 2009 at 8:57 am
i love pay it forward giveaways! im IN!!
September 17th, 2009 at 9:00 am
SWOON. You’ll have to hide this basket from me next week when I’m there, just in case =) (kidding!)
That’s definitely a fantastic amount of stuff to giveaway. And I’ll make sure to mention this on my blog.
Has anyone told you are the best lately?? =)
September 17th, 2009 at 9:01 am
Hehe! My best friend from High School is a Big Cheese at J and J. She always talks about the cleaning products she gets to try, but never the beauty and *fun* ones that YOU have!
September 17th, 2009 at 9:04 am
I was just recently laid off as outside counsel to J&J. I was in awe of all the products that were in their family.
I want in and I would love pay it forward!
September 17th, 2009 at 9:05 am
How fun! What an awesome basket. You are a better person than I for paying it forward. I would totally be hoarding all the stuff for myself. OK, not really.
September 17th, 2009 at 9:07 am
I think I can use Jack as a distraction for SoMi to leave her guard duty post!!!
September 17th, 2009 at 9:50 am
thanks for holding the giveaway! i promise to pay it forward :)
September 17th, 2009 at 10:00 am
I love the pay it forward idea! I’ve never seen It before!
September 17th, 2009 at 10:10 am
Great idea, Nilsa! OK, if I win (assuming it’s a random draw), please feel free to donate to someone you think is in need, or to someone who needs their spirits lifted.
September 17th, 2009 at 11:02 am
Wow girl, how sweet of you. Somi is doing a great job. Oh and chicago!
September 17th, 2009 at 11:31 am
How nice! I’d love to win, if only for the children’s CD and finger puppets (and maybe some lotion, with cold weather coming up). I would definitely give some away!
September 17th, 2009 at 11:53 am
Though this should count as my entry, I am sad that I didn’t get into the giveaway as a donor — totally not your fault — facebook messaging has been treating me badly and the new format makes it impossible to see what messages I’ve replied to. So my apologies for never getting back to you about it (I swear, between this and the CD playlist, I have serious reasons to think I am really losing it!). Great giveaway – I’ll mention it in my blog entry tomorrow!
September 17th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
You are a gem for doing this – but that’s I’ll I’m here to say. My cupboards are so jam packed with stuff, I don’t need another thing in my house. So you don’t have to enter me, I’m just commenting to say hi. :P
September 17th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Oooooooh, lotions and potions, I’m totally in.
xox
September 17th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Ooo–pick me! And I will definitely pay it forward.
And, as you know, I’m a Chicago gal.
September 17th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
I love to play giveaways…I won once…dried blueberries from Oh!Nuts.
I will pay it forward!!!
September 17th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
One day I swear I’ll win a giveaway….
September 17th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Who doesn’t love giveaways?!
And I’ll def pay it forward.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
You had me at sex products.
:-)
September 17th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Oh, sweet! I’ve got one coming up myself… we could trade? :-)
September 17th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
I don’t want to win (although the stuff that isn’t mine or my daughter’s is pretty awesome!), I just wanted to say that you are pretty awesome for putting this together.
September 17th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
Look at Somi – nicely watching over everything!
Um, holy J&J! This is awesome!!!
September 17th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
I love your calendar photos! I promise to share ma stuff ;-) Thank you so much!
September 17th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
Does the dog come with the basket as well? Or is that optional? :)
September 18th, 2009 at 6:18 am
That all looks fantastic. Thanks for sharing your happiness with us!
September 18th, 2009 at 7:38 am
This is an awesome giveaway, Nilsa. (Fun fact, I almost typed “Somi” as your name. Ha!)
September 18th, 2009 at 9:41 am
I never, ever, ever win these give-aways, but I always keep tryin’. :)
Happy Friday!
September 18th, 2009 at 11:05 am
Wow, that stuff looks awesome! Count me in! You are very sweet for sharing. The only child in my doesn’t like to share (although I would share a piece of it to make someone else happy too!).
September 18th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Lady! You are so generous, giving away part of your winnings :)
September 18th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
So I need to leave a second comment then? Alrighty, here it is, you know I posted about your giveaway on my blog!
Have a wonderful weekend!
September 18th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
i am posting this on my blog as we speak, i am from chicago and i promise to pay it forward! what a great gift for the lucky winner :) i hope its me…
September 18th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
[...] cute bandaids to speed up the process of nursing my filange back to health. what giveaway you ask? well go check it out Leave a Comment No Comments Yet so far Leave a comment RSS feed for comments on this post. [...]
September 18th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
posted
September 18th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
How cool! I hope I win!
September 19th, 2009 at 9:51 am
Woo! I love giveaways. Thanks for doing this :)
September 19th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Oooooooh, count me in! I can’t believe how generous you are! I would have a really hard time parting with all of those wonderful goodies :-)
September 19th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
And I posted the link on my blog :-)
September 20th, 2009 at 3:58 am
count me in! thanks for hosting it! i love giveaways too and enter every single one i come across for as long as i can remember.
September 20th, 2009 at 4:16 am
i posted the link to your contest on my blog :)
September 20th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
How nice of you to share! And what fun things you’re giving away.
Best of luck to everyone!
September 20th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
Oh good I’m not too late for the giveaway! I could totally pay it forward at my wedding in two weeks! :-)
September 21st, 2009 at 7:24 am
Wow! I’m totally impressed by your fantastic giveaway. Is it possible to win twice on Somi Speaks?! If so, count me in!
September 21st, 2009 at 7:58 am
count me in!!! this is an awesome giveaway!
September 21st, 2009 at 2:22 pm
[...] * SoMi Speaks is hosting a super fantastic giveaway. Check it out and enter to win! [...]
September 21st, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Thanks for the reminder to leave a second comment with my mention of your blog! Not sure where my head is today =)
http://nory.wordpress.com/2009/09/21/quote-tidbits/
September 21st, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Oh!! Count me in!
September 21st, 2009 at 5:00 pm
wow, nice prize!! both from j&j AND from you ;-)
September 21st, 2009 at 7:36 pm
This is such an awesome giveaway. The pink J&J lotion is my favorite!
September 21st, 2009 at 7:38 pm
CHICAGO! My sister is a few hours outside of Chicago, and I would love to send her a gift.
September 21st, 2009 at 7:38 pm
I will definitely be paying this forward, especially if it involves the Chicago thing. My sister is near Chicago and is a poor college student.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:24 am
Oooh, such lovely things!
September 22nd, 2009 at 2:26 pm
OK, OK, you’ve twisted my arm… I’m in Chicago (duh!) and entering with this entry. I’ll also post on my blog later today…yay!
September 22nd, 2009 at 2:36 pm
And here are two blog posts about this:
http://cheapfreechicago.com/2009/09/22/a-fun-giveaway/
http://faithinwomen.blogspot.com/
September 22nd, 2009 at 3:58 pm
I totally thought I already entered, but then I looked and I guess I meant to but didn’t get around to it! Anywho I think this is a great idea and I will absolutely pay it forward if I win!
September 22nd, 2009 at 5:50 pm
How generous! May Canadians enter?
September 23rd, 2009 at 7:43 am
Looks like some great stuff!
September 23rd, 2009 at 11:53 am
What a fun giveaway! I’m in. :)
September 24th, 2009 at 2:18 am
Ooh so much beautiful stuff! I have a lot of stuff, so maybe I should share most the wealth if I do win. That soudns fun! :)
September 24th, 2009 at 2:19 am
*sounds (oh the spelling mistakes…)