Posts Tagged ‘giveaway’

living
April 20th, 2011

Spring pick-me-up (for you and for me!)

So, after “going to the cave,” “fulfilling my to-don’t list,” and living in “survival mode” last night, I woke up this morning feeling a bit more recharged already. I even put on a matching outfit today and that kind of perked me up a bit too.

Which reminded me that I have a nice spring me-pick-me up to share with you! Remember how pleased I’d been with the selection and price of the clothes at Mark’s? Well, I have $50 with your name on it to spend at Mark’s. Treat yourself to a little something, why don’t ya’!

Personally, of all the things I have from Mark’s, I am most enamoured by the “jeggings.” These things really suit me: they’re comfortable, look like regular jeans, and the elastic waist band doesn’t give me the muffin top that regular jeans do. I wear them with a long shirt or dress over top at least once a week, including today actually. Like so:

I had to wait until no one at work was in the washroom to take this!

They don’t actually call these puppies “jeggings” at Mark’s, so if you’re looking for them, you’ll need to look for “Womens Contemporary Fit Denim Leggings with Knit Waistband” (but do not — I repeat, do not! — wear these pants as per the photo on the website). And although I am still wearing my  Mark’s Quad Comfort Boots (also worn in the photo above, but you just can’t see them) and Perfect Fit Panties (I will not specifiy if they are pictured in the photo above or not!), I’m going to pick up some more for the new season shortly. So, if I had a $50 gift certificate, that’s probably what I’d be spending it on.

Your chance for a $50 gift certificate to Mark’s

All you have to do to enter for a chance to win a $50 gift certificate to Mark’s is to check out their Spring Look Book and choose something you’d like to spend your $50 on. Tell me in the comments and you consider yourself entered!

I’ll do a draw using random.org from the comments at noon-ish on May 11, 2011. The contest is open to all Canadian residents and the gift certificate will be mailed to you directly from the PR agency that works with Mark’s.

Your chance to win one of three prize packs all valued at more than $5,000

Mark’s Spring reStyle Contest is a fun contest where men and women from across Canada enter to win by sharing their need for a fashion refresh or upgrade. I thought the prize packs looked especially awesome, so you may want to check it out as well.

To enter and learn more, go to www.MarksRestyle.com.

Bloggy disclosure note: I did not get paid to write this post or promote Mark’s. But I will be receiving a couple of items from the Spring Look Book I told you about above. I hope you know my opinion can’t be bought for the approximately 100 bucks these clothes are worth. (A cool million? Yeah, now we’re talking!)


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March 25th, 2011

An Ottawa Giveaway! Tickets for two to the National Arts Centre

EDITED TO ADD:  WE HAVE A WINNER!!!! The winner for this giveaway was determined using random.org and it was PB Addict. Congrats to a fellow peanut butter lover and I hope you have a fabulous time! (Come back and tell us all about it!) Warm wishes, Julie

Great news! The National Arts Centre has generously offered two tickets for Coffee with Julie readers to see a really interesting show that’s coming to town.

The performer is Patricia O’Callaghan:

And here’s why I say she’s interesting:

  • She’s a Canadian (I love to support Canadian art!), born and raised in Northern Ontario.
  • When she was growing up she wanted to be a nun and a rock star — tough decision. So, she became an opera singer instead.
  • Although a classically trained opera singer, she mostly does contemporary stuff …  as diverse as Leonard Cohen to Pearl Jam.
  • She’s billed as a cabaret act. So she sings, but also puts on a fantastic, almost theatrical, show.
  • She gets rave critical reviews.

So … sounds like a good night out, doesn’t it??!!!

AND since Chef Blackie has been doing such an unbelieveable transformation of the NAC’s in-house restaurant Le Cafe, you can indulge yourself with a delicious dinner because you didn’t have to pay for the theatre tickets! (Like how I justify expenses? I’m good that way.)

If you’d like a chance to win a pair of tickets to see Patricia O’Callaghan, just do this:

  • Make sure you are free and/or can get a sitter for Friday, April 1st. Show starts at 7:30pm.
  • Leave a comment below that includes a valid email address (your email does not show publicly when you comment).
  • That’s it … easy, peasy! (No retweeting, joining facebook or any of that nuisance.)

Good luck! :)

I’ll do the draw on Tuesday morning around 9am.


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August 9th, 2010

BlogHer Swag: baby & toddler giveaway packages

Edited to Add: The New Mother & Baby package had a total of 5 entries and the winner via Random.org was Tracy! The winner of the Toddler package had a total of 14 entries and the winner via Random.org was Judy! Congrats to you both and thanks to you all for participating in the fun!

I got back from the BlogHer conference in New York City late last night and I’m still processing everything — it was non-stop activity from morning until night!

In the meantime, I would like to share some of the swag (promo items) that were given to me as a participant by hosting two giveaway packages.

#1: New Mother & Baby

This may be perfect for you or for a baby shower gift. This giveaway is worth approx $125 and includes:

#2: Toddler Fun

A little bit of fun for a small person in your life! This package is worth approx $25 and includes:

To enter:

  • Simply leave a comment with a valid email address where I can reach you.
  • You can enter both contests or just one – simply specify your interest in the comment.
  • Note that you need to be able to pick up the package from a location in Ottawa or be willing to pay cash-on-delivery for the postage costs.
  • Entries will be accepted until 6pm on Sunday, August 15th, 2010.
  • I will use a random draw to select a winner for both packages on Sunday, August 15th, 2010 at 7pm.

If you’d like to share this giveaway with your friends, simply click on the “share” button in the bottom left-hand corner of this post and you can share on Facebook, Twitter, email, etc!


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living
March 11th, 2010

Magical mystery tour (ticket giveaway for Ottawa’s NAC)

Magic shows make me think of a Ken-doll look-a-like man, a Barbie-esque assistant, and tacky costumes with too much skin. And velvet — lots and lots of velvet. But I’ve never actually seen a live magic show though, have you? 

Well here’s your chance: Joseph Gabriel will be performing a magic act in concert with the National Arts Centre orchestra. The show is called “Mysterioso: Music and Magic.” I’ll admit it does sound a bit cheesy and I’ve never been smitten by watching magic shows on television. But live? That might be pretty cool. Especially since Gabriel has been feted by everyone from Johnny Carson to Rosie O’Donnel.

Here’s a clip from one of his shows:

So, hey, I’m up for it! If you are too, I’ve got two tickets for the Thursday, March 18th show.
To enter, simply:
Make sure you’re available to attend & leave a comment (no need to use a real name if you’d rather not). I’ll draw a name from the comments using a computer randomizer on Monday, March 15th at noon.


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family
November 26th, 2009

Ho! ho! ho! ribbit! ribbit! ribbit!

*** at the bottom of this post you can vote for which children’s charity will receive a LeapFrog donation of toys — please voice your suggestion! ***

It’s time to get serious about Christmas!

Like many things I used to scoff at, shopping early for Christmas is something I now do. I used to think that people who shopped early for Christmas were either too organized for their own good or just plain liked shopping far too much.

Now I know the real reason to shop early for Christmas: it saves time and money! The romantic notion I used to have of always shopping the last week before Christmas is gone. Now, a  family and a budget = early Christmas shopping for me.

LeapFrog Toy Testing
In preparation for Christmas, I’ve accepted an offer to test out LeapFrog toys. If you’re not familiar with LeapFrog, Stella describes their toys like this: “They are a little bit tricky, these toys. They trick you into learning.”

The original email I received described my potential involvement like this:

The online community is a very important audience for LeapFrog. Although we would love for you to post product reviews on your blog, this comes with absolutely no obligation on your behalf.  If nothing else, we’d be happy to provide LeapFrog products to you and your friends to try out.

I had already bought LeapFrog toys in the past for Stella, my oldest child. We still have these toys in full-functioning order more than five years later — and both children still take an interest in them. So this sounded like a win-win situation to me.

The original idea expressed to me was that I could host a playdate and let people try out the LeapFrog toys. All toys could be kept by the testers. There was no obligation to blog about LeapFrog or their toys. But if I did choose to blog about them, there was no obligation to speak positively about them (i.e. I was free to write a positive, negative or neutral review). For the time and/or expense involved in hosting a playdate, I would be provided with an honorarium.

Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be sharing LeapFrog toy reviews with you, as written by friends and neighbours who’ve agreed to test them. I’ve picked a group of testers with children of different ages, genders, dispositions and learning preferences so that you would get a more broad review of these toys than just that of my own family.

I hope that these reviews can help you along with your Christmas shopping. If you’re like me and can’t stand being in a mall, you’ll be happy to know that LeapFrog toys can be bought online from Toys R Us. I’ve used the online Toys R Us shopping — it’s convenient and you can usually wrangle yourself some free shipping. The other convenient option is Loblaws, which also carries LeapFrog toys.

Toy Donation to Charity
So, to help us get in the real spirit of Christmas — do you have a charity that is close to your heart?

As part of my agreement with LeapFrog, they will donate 5 Tag Junior toys (a value of approx $200) to a charitable organization of my choice. The Tag Junior is a reading system for children aged 2-4. I’d really love it if you could provide your suggestion for an organization that is really in need of toys and that could benefit from this kind of donation. And if you have a relationship with this organization, I would be happy to have the donation made in your name.

I will donate these toys to a suitable organization that receives the most votes via the comments by Thursday, December 3rd at noon.

About Tag Junior
tag_junior_images.Par.83315.Image.350[1]

 

You can learn all about the Tag Junior by reading my friend Kelly’s review here.

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