Randoms, Questions, and a Giveaway!

Happy Monday. Today is a random sort of day, so bear with me.

* I am sure you heard about the BART strike. Luckily I was on vacation last week and I missed the entire fiasco, which, I have been assured, WAS a fiasco. I normally take the casual carpool, which means I wouldn't be affected by the BART directly, BUT...all the extra people on the road instead of on the BART means that I would have been affected. So, hurray for accidental beautifully timed vacations.

* You probably also heard about the flight at SFO. Crazy, right? Did you see the photos? I know that people were killed, but I am really surprised it wasn't worse, to be honest. That plane was really badly burned!

* I have a lot of things going on in my life but absolutely no brain power to explain anything. Hence the bullet points. Do you think there is a direct or inverse relationship between the two?

* I went to Oregon for a week. It's just like where I grew up; there are mountains, trees, lakes and rivers. There is hiking, swimming, biking and fishing. I had to drive ten hours to get there. Why is it we drive a long way to go to a place to enjoy ourselves when we have the same thing in our very own backyard?

* Chobani has NEW FLAVORS! They sent me a complimentary pack of their new flavors to taste and I am allowed to give one lucky reader a case of their very own! This is a one day giveaway and it will end tonight, July 8th at midnight Pacific Time. All you have to do to win is:

1. Leave a comment guessing what you think the new flavors are. If any of your guesses are right, +1
2. Leave a comment answering one of the above questions (re: inverse relationships / backyards). +1

A random drawing will be held tomorrow and a winner will be announced sometime this week. 

I hope you all had a great 4th of July and are not experiencing too much of a holiday hangover today!

In Running News

Happy Labor Day! I hope you get today off and are enjoying it! I have finally gotten some errands done that have been on my To Do list for ages! This weekend I also participated in the Mommy Run Fast Labor Day Virtual 5 and 10 mile race. Laura, of MRF, is a Texas runner, spin teacher and mom who has some great recipes! I especially love, and have made several times, her Garbanzo Brownies and her Apple Oat Cookies. You can find all of her recipes here.

On Saturday, I ran the 10 miler. I did two loops around the lake, which is a little over 3 miles. That, coupled with the 1.5 miles each way from my house to the lake equaled out to a nice round 10. I procrastinated this run and did not do it until about noon, but luckily the day was not too hot. However, the lake was crowded with people, which reminded me that I need to go earlier if that is where my route is. I finished this run with a time of 1:22:45, which is an 8:17 average. After the race, I went to a baseball game and ate nachos and beer. Post race carb loading is the best!

On Sunday, I ran the 5 miler. I went with a friend to the lake, walked around once with her for a warmup, then ran around once and then ran back home to complete 5 miles. I finished in 41:31, which is, you guessed it, an 8:17 average. You can't get much more consistent than that! I did not take any photos either day, which is too bad, because it was beautiful out!

Also, I found out my registration date for Boston. It's September 14th! Here's hoping that there are not already 25,000 people in line ahead of me. You probably already know how they do the registration, but in case you don't, they let people who qualified by 20 minutes or more go first, on the 10th. Then, those who met the standards by 10 minutes or more go on the 12th. Then on the 14th, anyone who met the standards by 5 minutes or more (me!) get a chance. If you qualified by :01 - 4:59, you get to register on the 17th. However, if all the slots are filled by your registration date, you don't get in. So, keep your fingers crossed for me that there were not a lot of really fast people this year.

Last but not least, the winner of the book giveaway is... Steph The Book Worm. Thanks everyone for participating! Steph, email me your address so I can send the book your way!

Fun With Photos...and a Giveaway!

I have always kept a scrapbook, ever since I was a little girl. But since the digital age, I have never really used a digital medium for doing scrapbooking. Luckily I recently won a giveaway and so I got a chance to play around a little. It's only been a couple of weeks so I haven't fully found out everything that can be done, but so far I am having fun. 

There are a bunch of scrapbook page layouts, which are really easy to use. 

And then there are tons of fun things that you could use to make a new blog header or buttons or whatever! I will definitely waste a lot of time have a lot of fun with this software! 

And now for the good part. My Memories has offered me one free copy of the My Memories Suite for one of my readers! All you have to do to win is this: 

Mandatory Entries: 

(+1)Be a GFC follower of this blog. Leave a comment letting me know that you are.

(+1)Visit www.MyMemories.com and choose your favorite digital paper pack or layout, then leave a comment telling me which one you like best!

Extra Entries (leave a separate comment for each):
(+1) Like MyMemories on Facebook
(+1) Follow MyMemories on Twitter
(+1) Like Travel Spot on Facebook

(+1) Tweet about this giveaway (make sure you include @travelspot06)

That's 6 ways to win!  

Also, even if you don't win....or if you DO win and you want MORE stuff, you can use THIS LINK and enter this code: STMMMS91971 to get $10 off the software and $10 off any digital scrapbooking products. 

This giveaway ends Sunday, October 16th at 9 pm Pacific Time. The winner will be drawn using Random.org on Monday, October 17th. Please make sure your email is enabled on your profile or if not, please leave it in the comments.

Happy Scrapping!

Argentina Rocks!

This is Argentina. 

Today , you can join me over at Women Rockin' The Road, where I am talking about being a vegetarian in Argentina, one of the beef capitals of the world.  

____________________________

Also, I have a winner to announce for the Back to The Books Giveaway Hop.

Drum roll please....

And the winner is....

Number drawn by random.org.
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Back to The Books Giveaway

Okay I have never done a giveaway before but I have a couple of fun books up for grabs! It's easy to win one! (if you live in the US) This giveaway is hosted by Kathy at I am a Reader, Not a Writer. After you have entered here, you can go to ANY of the other participants below and enter at their sites for many great book prizes! Enjoy!

Here they are:

If you want either or both of these books, you can enter in a few ways. 

One entry: In the comments below, tell me which book you would like (or both!) 

For additional entries you can: 

(1 entry) Follow me on GFC (and leave a comment below)

(1 entry) Follow me on FB (and leave a comment below)

(1 entry) Go to my Bookshelf and tell me which book I've read that you've liked! 

PLEASE make sure that you have your email enabled, or leave it in the comments so I can get a hold of you if you win! The winner will be drawn using random.org on September 8th!

That's it. Now get hopping!