Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

      Woohoo!  I love winning things.  When I was a little girl my Mom always encouraged me to put my name in raffles and drawings.  She always told me I was lucky.  I started to believe it.  I don't win all the time.  I wouldn't even say I win things a lot, but even if the win is a pen I'm on cloud nine.  I think the excitement of being chosen is so much fun.  I like the randomness of random drawings and I love when I can show off my mad skills of remembering dumb little things that most people have let slip from their brains ages ago.  I am certain that my knowledge of the name of a branch of the Russian Secret Police (the Oprichniki) is going to land me a prize someday.  I'm even more certain of this because when asked the question "name a branch of the Russian Secret Police" on my Principles of Democracy exam in tenth grade I sloppily wrote "Zagnut" and received full credit.  I was partially testing my teacher's ability to grade exams, and also I couldn't remember one and I had just seen the movie Beetlejuice.  Now I will never forget it, so obviously it is necessary information!

      At the end of April our local branch of Chik-fil-A had a small appreciation event for Mother's Day.  They called it ladies' night out and invited local small business owners to come and set up in their booths to host a little area where you could shop for Mother's Day.  My friend Kathy was there promoting her business (A SpecialTea Place) and I went to visit her and lend my support.  Long story short - there was a raffle - I dropped in an entry form and I won this...

   
    ...An awesome gift basket that was filled with cool stuff from all of the vendors at the event.  I was so excited when they called me I might have whooped a little, but no one gave me any funny looks because I was at work on my lunch break and people there expect me to be a little bit weird.  I found it really encouraging.  It was also filled with all kinds of stuff that I love - makeup, free food and tea (thanks for the tea Kathy!) and house goods too.  Additionally there were some great gift certificates which I have already made use of.

      Just after I won this I started having all kinds of good luck come my way.  I won a $30 Fandango gift card from an AT&T instant win game, and Oasis face hydration product from the company H2O+ in their online Under the Surface Game, and I was one of the first 300 folks to sign up for and win a free wedding bag from an online store called Boncy Boutique.  This is what it looked like:

   
The stuff in it is jewelry of my Mom's and I am using the photo to enter yet another awesome little contest from them.  They asked all of the winners to show how you were using your bag and the person who gets the most likes on their image will win some free jewelry from them.  If you want to vote for me, visit the Boncy Boutique Facebook page and like the photo above that appears on their wall.  While you're at it wish me luck!

      Instant win games are easy to find.  Companies sponsor them on their Facebook pages a lot.  Also you can find lists of active games on sites like Free Samples to Fill Up Your Mailbox and if you go to their site (or link to it from their Facebook page of the same name) you can click on "Instant Win Games" at the top of the page to go to a whole list of active games including the H2O+ Under the Surface promotion.  Most of the times you just have to give your name and email and click a button to spin a wheel or try to reveal a prize.  Bic markers is currently having a giveaway on their Facebook page too and it is pretty easy to win that one since they are giving away 100 an hour.  Remember what I said about being happy just to win a pen?  I scored a new Bic Mark It marker in a fashionable summer color.  Yeah baby!

      Another way you can win things is by being one of the first X amount of responses.  The Boncy bag was something I won like this.  I was one of the first 300 people to click at 9pm on a certain night.  You need lightning fast fingers to fill out your forms and auto fill helps if you have it enabled.  I am usually pretty bad at things like this unless there are at least 1000 being given away.  In the last few weeks I won a free coupon for a full size Dickenson's facial care product, and a cooler (like an insulated lunch box) from Friggo cheese products.  These little games pop up all the time if you are on any of the free product alert Facebook pages. There seem to be a lot of them in the early afternoon, right when I get home and I'm online anyway.  Sometimes if there is a specific time a company is going to be giving away free samples or products they will post reminders so you can be there to try and catch the deal.  I have received free samples of Crystal Light and Garnier shampoo this way.

      I hope that you are excited and encouraged that you can win.  Half the excitement comes from the anticipation!  I love the feeling of waiting for a name to be announced.  I think that most drumrolls must surely be meant for me!  Just knowing that I might win is often really fun.  The next best thing about winning is forgetting that you won a prize and then having UPS show up at your door with a package.  I love getting these mystery boxes - when I open them and look at the little wonders popping up in my day, I am filled with glee!

      Much love and many winning moments is my wish for you today!