Category: product reviews/giveaways

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Vintage Indiana Ticket Giveaway: We are Entering Summer!

This giveaway is now closed– thanks for playing!! I’ll announce the winner when I hear back from her! 

In the past few days, Summer 2012 has moved from an idea to an actual real thing that’s going to be happening sooner rather than later. I have it on good authority it’s going to be filled with Awesome, from time at the pool to amazing events around town.

To celebrate the beginning of summer, I am teaming up with Indiana’s Family of Farmers to give away 2 tickets to the first nod to summer- The Vintage Indiana Wine and Food Fest.

INDIANA. It may not be the first place you think of when you think of wine, but actually, there are 63 wineries in Indiana. I’ve been to four of them, I think (I was, you know, drinking while I was there). I’m not the best judge of wine, I’ll admit it- the night that we decided which kit to make at Harmony Winery, I had a star next to every wine I tried. I was good with any of our choices. I’m easy like that. These 63 wineries produce 1.25 million gallons of wine each year. I’m proud to say that my friends and I produced a few gallons of that last fall, and so far this year, I’ve probably consumed a few gallons. I like to support Indiana ventures, what can I say?

This is Vintage Indiana’s 13th year of bringing together the best local food and wine Indiana has to offer. 26 Indiana wineries will be offering samples of over 200 award-winning wines. I can’t wait to draw a star next to every one that I try.

Here’s the thing though- even if wine isn’t your thing (are there really people like that?), there is still plenty to do on June 2nd. In addition to wine samples, there’s also food available from 14 Indiana restaurants, food and cooking demonstrations, a KidsZone for the younger set and live music. There is really nothing I love more than live music outside, in Indiana, on a summer’s day.

Here’s the current line up:

12-2pm: Mike Milligan & Steam Shovel

2:30-4:30: Jennie DeVoe

5:15-6:45: Casey James, former American Idol! Current hit is “Let’s Don’t Call it a Night”

Ticket information (in case you don’t win) is as follows:

Adults tickets are $22 in advance at Marsh Supermarkets or online at www.vintageindiana.com; $25 at gate

Designated Driver tickets are $10 and include unlimited soft drinks and water. No wine glass or wine samples allowed on this ticket.

Kids ages 6-20 are $5. Under 5 years old are free.

Here’s the Ticket Giveaway to Vintage Indiana Wine and Food Festival:

So you want to go to this,right? I mean, there’s great entertainment, there’s great food, and there are 200 varieties of wine being poured. What’s not to like?

To enter to win 2 adult passes (with drinking privileges) please do the following:

1) (required) Leave a comment here telling me something about either wine, an Indiana winery you’ve been to or want to visit.

2) For up to 2 additional entries (one for Twitter, one for Facebook): Tweet or post the following on Facebook:

“I entered to win tix to @vintageindiana from @gotchababy & @FamilyofFarmers & you can too: http://wp.me/pVbJS-HY #VintageIN”

(feel free to take out the @ if you’re posting it on FB) and then leave a comment (one for each action) here telling me that you did.

This giveaway will be open until Thursday, May 24th at 9pm. I will email the winner, and the winner will have a day to get back to me- if I don’t hear anything by 9pm May 25th, I’ll pick another winner.

Good Luck!

Want some more chances to win? My friends Katie, Sarah, Angie and Crystal have ticket giveaways going on RIGHT NOW. Check back here often, and as more giveaways go up, I’ll link them here:

 

Disclosure: As an IFOF Ambassador,  I received compensation for running this giveaway and 2 tickets to the event for my own personal use. My experiences with Indiana wine are all my own.

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Wendy’s is SO Nice, Mom!

My daughter knows about Gotchababy.com. Actually, she likes to say my domain name like assorted commercial jingles, which is pretty funny. She loves helping me open  assorted blog-related  packages as they arrive, and checking out the contents with me.

What’s sweet is that she doesn’t understand the business side of these packages, so sometimes our conversations go like this:

“Oh look, there’s a FedEx bag!”

“Do you want to help me open it?”

“Oh yes.”

“Let’s see what we have.”

“Oh look Mommy! It’s cards, and a keychain, and oh, this says FREE BURGER. Mommy, who sent us this?”

“Wendy’s did, because they’d us to try their new cheeseburgers.”

“Wendy’s is SO NICE, Mom!”

For the record, Wendy’s really is nice. I love what they do, both with cheeseburgers and the Dave Thomas Foundation.

And OMG, the cheeseburgers. They’ve been reconstructed, and they’re YUMMY. My mom and I tried them out last weekend (the kids opted for chicken, even though they both had cheeseburger tattoos on their arms), and they were delicious. Substantial bun, juicy burger, fresh toppings. With this remake, the Wendy’s basic cheeseburger is more like a speciality burger. And unlike some other chains, this burger is sized so you eat one and you’re DONE. My mom and I both got a small fry with our meal and neither one of us could finish them. SO YUMMY.

But back to the FedEx bag- I’m wondering though, if next time, they’ll just contact Mam directly. I was walking near her in the hallway at school the other day (I was volunteering, she was going to class, and she was not acknowledging my existence) when she started her pitch:

“Hi Will!”

“Hi MaM!”

“I have a new keychain.”

“Cool.”

“It’s a cheeseburger. It’s from Wendy’s.”

And the future generation of bloggers has been born.

 

Disclosure- I was sent a bag of Wendy’s goodies, coupons and a gift card in exchange for my honest review. I chose to eat and sing the burger’s virtues on my own free will. And MaM raved about Wendy’s all on her own, with no prodding from me whatsoever. 

 

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Contain Indy

If you live in Indy, you may have heard- the Container Store is finally here! If you’ve never been to one, you might not know why this is a big deal. If you’re familiar, well, then, you aren’t reading right now, you’re shopping.

Last week I had the opportunity to have lunch with some of my favorite people and tour the Container Store, all 25,000 sq ft. That evening, I attended the Preview Party, complete with live band, dance floor and 2000 of the Container Stores biggest fans.  It was a lot of fun, really overwhelming, and really left me wanting to reorganize my entire house. October 6, 2011 will forever be known as “Container Store Day” in my book.

The Container Store generously sent me home with a bag swag and I thought it would be fun to take some before and after pictures to demonstrate how useful their products really can be.

Exhibit A: The kids’ bathroom caddy. Ack.

Before: The basket actually held everything from toothpaste to a measuring tape, to hair ties.

Before
After: This Turbo Organizer has a spot for exactly everything that actually needs to live in that space nothing more, nothing less. I want one for our other two bathrooms now!
After
Exhibit B: Organizing the family calendar
Before: The back of my kitchen door is magnetic, so I use a couple of magnetic clips to hold papers I’ll need for the week. I only have two clips.
Every time I need a paper, everything else held by the clip falls to the floor!
After: The Container Store sent me home with four mega-magnets with hooks. Now there’s a magnet for coupons, tickets, school and etc. I’m still using the clips as well, and I’m not sure that it looks better, but things are a LOT easier to find!
Sorting the papers I need each each week by topic make things easier.

There are more goodies to put to work- I think the FlipFold  might have to be it’s own post. I find it oddly relaxing to fold my shirts like they do at the Gap.

What do you need help Containing? Whatever it is, I’m pretty sure the Container Store Indy will have an answer for you!

(Top photo courtesy of Angie Six, local blogger and Container Store enthusiast!)