December Wins & some of January.

It's more than half-way through January already!  Where does the time go? Well, as I said before I had a pretty good December.  With my brother & his girlfriend being here and all the traveling that we did, it was a really good time.  I'm glad they finally got to see snow!  What also made December great was all the wins that I managed to get even with entries dwindling off while my brother guys were here.  


In December, I started a separate Twitter account for sweepstakes.  Twitter has been VERY good to me sweepstakes-wise.  Here are my wins for December (a majority from Twitter) @ symbols denote Twitter wins and who they are from.

• 12/1 - $15 BestBuy GC - MCR
• 12/3 - Pantech Impact cell phone - @PantechUSA
• 12/4 - DJ Hero game XBOX 360 - MCR
• 12/4 -  $5 FYE GC - @fyeguy
• 12/7 - $100 GC - @Ticketmaster
• 12/12 - SRS iWOW Premium - @MyBellaMia
• 12/14 - $100 FYE GC - @fyeguy
• 12/14 - Avatar Thrill Pack - @McDonalds
• 12/15 - $50 NFLshop GC - @shopcybermonday
• 12/17-  Mario Kart Wii - @GamerHotline
• 12/23 - Official NFL Football - @SportsAuthority
• 12/29 - Swatch watch - @SwatchUS
• 12/30 - Dell Mini 10v Netbook - @ChaCha

The best part about Twitter wins?  They come SO fast!  I've already received everything EXCEPT my Ticketmaster win.  I need to check up on that and see what's up.  I figure I'll give them a month before I contact them again?  We'll see.


January started off really slow for me sweeps-wise, but it finally started picking up last week!  In less than a week I managed to win 2 iPod Touches (!!!).  I know, I've won all my iPods (and I got the one I won replaced less than 6 months ago with a brand new one for free!) .. someone loves me up there ^^^ really.


Anyhow, I was REALLY stoked to find out I won an iPod via @SRSLabs on Friday.  It was a random drawing so that was cool.  BUT I was already entering another iPod contest via @FIRE_Music.  I felt I had a really good chance at it.  They mentioned to *be creative* about WHY you should win and also hinted that giving them ideas for album names may have something to do with you winning (they have since deleted that Tweet though.. lol). I took it to heart & provided album names for them everyday until closing day.  I came up with 70+ album name ideas, wrote haiku poems.  I even downloaded their album and have been listening to it since.  


I thought people would catch on to what I was doing.  I figure if they really wanted to win they would get creative.  No one really did.  I just kept seeing my "original" tweets regurgitated all over the Twitterverse.  I had a good feeling about my chances of winning once they started following me.  They even replied at the same exact time I sent them a message (it was really strange. our msg's matched so well I thought they replied to me REALLY quickly) ... could it be fate?!  Haha.  Anyway, I spent HOURS thinking & researching possible album names.  I got a lot of my ideas from previous bible lessons I've had & just knowledge I already possessed.  I'm hoping they were able to get some ideas. It would be even cooler if they used one for their next album!


Overall, I felt it was a well deserved win & I really don't care what the others thought.  I saw messages being posted & then deleted.  Silly people.  It's funny how petty people can be.  They never said it was going to be random, dears.  They blatantly asked, "why do you deserve to win?"  Haha. Take your haterade and move along.


My hard work paid off and above all, I found a Christian band that I really honestly do enjoy listening to.  I took the time to visit their website, listen to their music, & do my research.  I know I'll continue to listen to them and I'll even sing one of their songs at Church this summer :)  [take note, I am not a singer].  I'm really excited to receive their signed CD (!!) and the iPod Touch.  It'll be an upgrade at the very least :)  


So, thank you FIRE for the CD & iPod and allowing my creative juices to get going.  It really hasn't been used in a long time.  I needed that.  Also, thank you for your music and spreading His message.  I watched your video, don't worry, you've definitely found a fan :)


Check out FIRE!

• Download FREE album: http://www.rockyourfaceoffforjesus.com
• Website: http://www.firefules.com
• Myspace: http://myspace.com/fireyouthrules
• Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/FIRE_Music

Winners Circle.

I took a break from sweepstakes & contests when my life started going haywire and I basically lost interest due to all the background noise (drama) going on.  I got back into it end of September-ish and I'm glad that I did!  I've had a steady stream of wins and it's pretty amazing.  Just a recap of what I've won over the 2 months:

those that I won under peter's name are in red.

10/13 - Snow White Blu-Ray Deluxe Edition - Fandango.com
10/17 - Snow White Blu-Ray Deluxe Edition - thedvdlounge.com

10/24 - 2 movie tickets - Coke
10/30 - NCAA Football '10 game Xbox 360 - Wendys
11/4 - Michael Jackson PEOPLE Tribute Book - People Mag
11/13 - DodgeTag toy - @FamilyFun
11/13 - Madden Football '10 game Xbox 360 - KFC
11/13 - Adidas Superstar shoes - Dew Green Label Gear
11/16 - Bayonetta Demo Early Access Code - Sega
11/17 - $10 BestBuy GC - MyCokeRewards.com
11/21 - $10 HomeDepot GC - Wendys
11/22 - NBA Live '10 game PS3 - GamingShogun.com
11/23 - New Era Hat - Dew Green Label Gear
11/24 - $25 Pizza GC - @ComcastSports
11/24 - $5 Home Depot GC - Wendy's
11/26 - CSI Drawstring Backpack - deadlyintentgame.com
11/26 - 2 oz soy-based candle - Glade
11/26 - $10 HomeDepot GC - Wendys
11/26 - $15 Best Buy GC - MCR
11/28 - 200 Microsoft Points - @getxboxcodes
11/29 - $25 BeautyTicket.com GC - @stylebakeryteen
11/29 - South Park XBL Download - @Xtival09
11/29 - 600 Microsoft Points - Doritos
12/1 - $15 Best Buy GC - mycokerewards.com
12/3 - Pantech Impact smart cell phone - @PantechUSA
12/4 - DJ Hero game XBOX 360 - mycokerewards.com <3333
12/4 - $5 F.Y.E. GC - @fyeguy


I also won a box of Little Debbie's cupcakes and probably some random other things.  I am pretty damn super stoked to start receiving all of these things in the mail.  LOL.  DJ HERO!  You can't even imagine how stoked I am for that.  Man.. I hope I can get those video games in time for Christmas!  Peter is going to be so so happy.


I have been quite lucky indeed.  I am definitely blessed by The Man Above ^^... I won 2 big ticket items in the past 2 days.  WOW.  Is this what you call GOOD Karma?  Maybe I should go pick up more children's names off of the angel tree?  Haha, just kidding!  Here's to hoping December will bring lots of luck and blessings.  Tis the season :)


Oh & Lastly,  if any one of you could be so kind to do me a tiny favor:
Can you please vote for my photo (http://twitpic.com/s1zzs) @ http://bit.ly/50iJcA -- It is #13 London Shenanigans. I'd greatly appreciate it!

Twitter Contests

I've been transitioning into doing more Twitter contests.  They're rather easy to enter.  Though my friends probably don't enjoy all the messages that I send out.  "SPAM BOT" .. sure.  Most of my friends rarely ever use Twitter anyway except to lurk and update every so often.  In any case, I've made an account geared towards Twitter related giveaways.  The first day, I managed to win a DodgeTag toy from @FamilyFun.  It looks like a game Peter & I will enjoy.  


Currently, most of my focus is on winning Twilight related contests.  Hey, New Moon is coming out soon!  I have Twilight fever.  Nothing gets me going like a bunch of sexy vampires & werewolves ;) Here's some contests to check out:

• @twilightMOMs - New Moon Soundtrack Giveaway: http://bit.ly/4A1EXF (ends Today! 12PM PST)
• @twilightees - Free Twilight shirt w/ every 50 followers
• @Shakefire - Shirt worn on screen by Robert Pattinson or The complete TWILIGHT book series & Twilight BLU-RAY: http://twurl.nl/syvm1l

Twitter Name: @xriyah

32 Months & Counting

Happy 2 years and 8 months to Peter & I!  32 months, wow, where has all the time gone?  That's practically an eternity to be with a person... Hahah.  Seriously.  


Anyway, tonight I attempted my mom's Pork & Peas recipe.  I picked up a ~5lb bag of pork butt the other night for $5.50 so I made a big batch!  I'm always scared to try out new recipes, but so far so good.  I haven't experienced too many blunders and I am quite pleased with myself.  Considering the fact that my mom does not go off of cookbooks, she just tells me the ingredients & procedures with no precise measurements (lbs, tbsp, etc.), I'm getting better at guesstimating!  Now, my pork & peas didn't taste exactly like mi madre's, but it was quite similar.  Peter loved it and went back for seconds.  I'd say mission = success.  We also have enough left overs for a meal or two!  Yay.


Up next, I'll try my hand at Beef Mushroom.  I'm slowly building up my portfolio of dishes guys!


In other news, I received my tickets from TicketHorse.com today.  5 tix to Denver Nuggets vs. Dallas Mavericks in December!  I took advantage of the Family Night deal for when my family comes up for Christmas.  For a total of $110.00 I got:

• 5 game tickets - 3rd level, 2nd row seating
• 5 pepsis
• 5 meals: choice of hot dog, pizza, nacho deluxe, salad, philly cheese steak, hamburger, or chicken tenders w/ fries

I tried finding tix to a Broncos game as well, but getting 5 seated together at a decent price is nearly impossible!  Hopefully I'll win the Canon Sweepstakes and win 4 tix to a game & a camera!  I saw that camera last night at Best Buy and it is freakin` beautiful.  I wanted to cry.  15MP, IS lens, ahhh.  I want!

I've gotten myself back into sweepstakes this past week, so hopefully I'll be getting some decent wins in the near future :)  So far this month I've managed to snag some things here and there.

• 2 tix to a Denver Nuggets preseason game (but I never claimed them since I couldn't go)
• Dark Knight collector pin set
• Tale of the Despereaux lunch box
• Pink Super Bad trucker hat
• Shorts Frisbee
• Leather GHOST RIDER wallet with chain
• Speed Racer pins
• Random movie shirt
• Push Play hat
• The Ugly Truth wife beater (L)
• Back To The Future Blue Fanny Pack
• Snow White Blu-ray combo pack with DVD

I missed a package  yesterday when Peter & I went to watch "Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs."  (It's just an "OK" movie, btw.  I think I was expecting too much.  We should've watched Inglorious Basterds instead!)  I hope it's all my goodies from Shakefire!  We're planning on maybe going to the mountains tomorrow, but hopefully I don't miss it.

P.S.

Thank you Lord for all your blessings and being with my aunty today.  I could never fathom the depth of Your love.  Your love truly knows no boundaries.  (More on this later...)

First Snow.

I woke up today and found a text from Peter stating, "It's Snowing!! Love you."  It was freezing once I gathered the strength to get out of bed.  30 minutes passed since Peter initially texted me, but I was hopeful.  Unfortunately, I MISSED THE SNOW!  I was pretty disappointed.  Luckily, the snow gods decided to be gracious and granted me another snowfall later in the afternoon.  SO much snow was falling and in big chunks!  I managed to snap some photos, but they just didn't do the scene justice.  I really hoped it would just keep snowing and that the snow would stick to the ground.  Oh well, perhaps next time.  I just really want to make a snowman.  I have a huge front yard just waiting to college all that snowy goodness!


In other news, I posted on Twitter that I managed to tether my G1 phone to Peter's laptop in order to access the internet.  Essentially, I turned my G1 into a portable modem, which was nice!  I should've done that earlier and it was so simple!  The connection however wasn't THAT fast at all.  I thought it was normal at first, but after more research, things weren't adding up!  I finally figured out that my phone is connected to the EDGE network, not the higher speed 3G network.  UGH!  I checked T-mobile's coverage and I am well within range of the 3G network.  I played around with the settings, etc.  still on EDGE.  Now I am thinking it's my SIM.  Yes, old SIM works fine, I get internet, etc. etc. but not 3G.  I just never noticed since well, I broke the damn phone within 2 weeks of using it.  That's the only other possible factor I can think of since someone else had the same issue.  My SIM is about 7 (maybe 8) years old!  Definitely time for an upgrade.  I've been with T-mobile for almost 11 years.  Crazy!  My promo period is about to end with them in a couple of weeks... I'm itching to get the myTouch.  Maybe for Christmas?  Hehe.  Or I'll just try to win it :)


Speaking of sweepstakes.. I think I'm going to enter THIS sweep.  Considering NO ONE followed the rules/directions, I think I got pretty good chances at the prize(s)!  LOL.  I figure it'll be a fun way to present my photos from London anyhow.  It'll be like a coffee table book of sorts.  I just need to order the kit to get started.  I was chuckling the whole time while looking at the entries.  The sweep will be done at the end of the month, so chances are good!

Shakefire Rocks My Socks

I'm playing an all-night contest thing on Shakefire.com  ... I've won a bunch of super random things so far, so I want to keep track of what I've won so I know what I can look forward to.  Haha.  Here's the list so far.

• Dark Knight collector pin set
• Tale of the Despereaux lunch box
• Pink Super Bad trucker hat
• Shorts Frisbee
• Leather GHOST RIDER wallet with chain
  
• Speed Racer pins
• Random movie shirt
• Push Play hat
• The Ugly Truth wife beater (L)
• Back To The Future Blue Fanny Pack

-------------------------------------------------------------
Awww & the night ended prematurely :(  They were experiencing massive hits to the site and the server couldn't handle all the traffic. Darn!  I did manage to scoop up a decent amount of prizes though :)  I had a lot of fun playing!  Hehe.  Can't wait till they all get here!  I'm especially excited for my lunch box :D

Last night, Jared called me and asked if I wanted to accompany him to a 'Party' .. guess he didn't want to be the only old fart there.  Haha!  i didn't have anything planned so I agreed.  He picked me up and we hung out at Kara & KeiLyn's for a bit.  Brendan guys' met up with us there as well.  We just conversed over some drinks & a few shots before heading out to Marcus'.  Peter brought over the doggies while he was out running for a little bit.  They were so excited to be outside!  Haha.  After that we headed over to Marcus' and just chilled, smoked some hookah (love!), and caught up with some friends.  All in all, it was a pretty fun night.  The parties these days in good ol' Greeley simply just don't compare to the ragers of back in the day ;)

The noise outside woke me up bright and early this morning and I had a really hard time going back to sleep.  I didn't drink enough water last night, so I had a headache!  Sleep couldn't come soon enough.  Thankfully, I managed to sleep off any signs of a hangover.  I was so hungry this afternoon, I ended up cooking some pork adobo!  I must say, I think I'm actually getting the hang of cooking.  My mother always made it look so easy and made it SOUND easy as well.  Perhaps I was just never confident in my abilities to cook?  I did have quite a few disasters early on.. especially with things being WAY TOO SALTY!  Now, I think things have changed.  My adobo tasted fairly similar to hers!!  I couldn't be more happier.  I just need to get a few more ingredients to make it exact!  

Well.. now, I'm not quite sure what to do with myself.  Peter should be coming home soon, so I suppose I'll just bum around till then.  We'll be heading to the hot springs tomorrow!

My Bebes.

These two are the cutest little munchkins ever.  I love my little bears.  I'll be really sad when I have to leave them for a while :( :(  They're my bebes and I wont be able to see them for almost 2 months!! Lexi is going to be sooo sad :(  I've been with them 24/7 for the past year and awww I just love them to pieces.  I need to get them started on getting all the right shots, microchipped, blood tested etc. so that they can move to Hawaii without having to be quarantined for 180 days :)

Oh yeah, before I forget, I havent entered much sweepstakes lately, but I did manage to get a surprise win in the mail last week.  I got a Mountain Dew Voltage sweatshirt/hoodie.  Its HUGE though.  Haha.  I also got an e-mail yesterday that I won a $5 Jamba Juice gift certificate.  It'll be perfect for when I go home to Hawaii.  Jamba Juice is just down the road from my house :)  Considering how little I've been entering, I think May has been an OK month sweeps-wise.  Here's some earlier wins:

• 5/1 - 2 Movie Passes - Coke Twist-Txt-Get
  
• 5/1 - Monster Energy Drink x2 - Kawasaki
  
• 5/1 - 2 posters - SKYY Vodka
  
• 5/7, 5/11, 5/12 - $25 Gift Card - Coke Twist-Txt-Get