Sweeps and Contest Wins and Thank Yous!

The Elkhorn Inn and Dan's Sunflower Meadow

It's now January 2020, and I'm finally posting my annual "Sweeps and Contest Thank You Post" for 2019, which has become an annual tradition! While I didn't win a trip last year- or a vehicle (vehicles have so far eluded me...) I did win some lovely and fun things, and learned about a lot of new companies and great, indie products, and I want to thank the people and companies who made all this fun possible! "Sweeping" is my late-night guilty pleasure, and it has provided Chef Dan and I with 6 amazing vacations (to Israel, Vietnam, Chile, California, Virginia, and Arizona), and a lot of other fabulous and fun things that we definitely would not have been able to enjoy otherwise! As I tell my friends, it certainly beats Candy Crush and playing Solitaire for late-night fun! And yes, my friends all laughed at me- until I started winning trips with plane tickets! I've encouraged a few friends to take up this "silly" hobby, and several have won things, as well- my BFF won two cruises and a trip to Las Vegas!
Companies run sweepstakes and contests to get business and publicity- we have hosted two contests for our Inn on Facebook- and so when the holidays & birthdays roll around and it's time to buy gifts, I try to buy as much as possible from the companies that I've won things from- especially from the small, independent businesses, many of whom I wouldn't have even known about, if not for sweeping!

Steam Train, Sichuan, China

This year I had the pleasure of having three of my photos (of the Elkhorn Inn and Dan's Suflower Meadow above, the Steam Train we rode in Sichuan, China, and our Honeymoon Dragon Junk in Vietnam)  included in the FujiFilm Print Life Exhibition at Grand Central Station in New York City, and the BEST part of it was that my two BFFs in NYC went to the show, found my photos, and took pictures!! NO, there wasn't any money- just glory and fame!! :-D  For details on the exhibition: 
https://www.grandcentralterminal.com/event/fujifilm-printlife-photo-exhibition-2019/  YouTube: https://youtu.be/Co1Crd2EFOs and https://youtu.be/AzMqY69NCs4

Dragon Junk, Halong Bay, Vietnam

My BFF Cindy with my photos at the show!

FujiFilm Print Life Exhibition, NYC

The biggest, most fab fashionista win I had this year was a $1300 collection of beautiful clothes and accessories on Instagram! The prize included a beautiful, raw silk jumpsuit from  Ozma, a magnificent hat and hand-made tote from Tio e Tia , a truly gorgeous leather handbag from LOQ, a lovely, handmade porcelain incense ashtray from Milk And Clay , skin care from  LESSE , fun CBD products from Gossamer , and a subscription to Gossamer magazine!

Cosmetics from LESSE and Gossamer

Beautiful ashtray from Milk And Clark

hat & Tote from Tio e Tia

LOQ handbag

Silk Jumpsuit from Ozma

My English Porter Brewing Kit from Ballast Point!

I think the funnest win was a $200 gift certificate from Ballast Point Brewing, which enabled me to get a 5 Gallon Beer Making Kit (I added a bit for bottles and caps...), and Chef Dan and I are planning to make English Porter with it with Elkhorn Inn guests!

I won more foodie goodness from Colavita: a HUGE bottle of their truly excellent Extra Virgin Olive Oil for Chef Dan- and we used every drop!!

Colavita Olive Oil!

I won two cartons of delicious Tazo Teas:

Tazo Teas

And a great Passover "Got Matzoh?" mug from Judaica Place which made our Passover perfect! I use that mug ALL the time!

My Passover Mug from Judaica Place! 

Barecat Serum

Back in "fashionista" mode, I won Barecat's Gold Edition Daily Facial Serum, which I had been wanting to try!
I also won a totally fabulous Sephora Pro Makeup Palette from Dave Lackie, the Canadian Beauty Blogger, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/davelackie - he does THE best beauty giveaways, and he is SO nice!

Sephora Pro Palette from Dave Lackie

I won a bottle of Innersense Organic Beauty Color Radiance Daily Conditioner from the Clean Fresh Beauty blog  @cleanfreshbeauty: 

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And Peach and Lily , known for an outstanding selection of K-Beauty- Korean beauty- products- sent me their "Original Glow Sheet Mask, which, as you can see I used- and really liked it!

Two other cool beauty gifts I won were a set of makeup brushes from Zoeva:

Zoeva makeup brushes

 And a tooth whitener from Snow, which I have been wanting to try!

SNOW tooth whitener

One of THE  best prizes I won this year was a $2000 check from a chain of regional newspapers! That incredible win came about a week after I won their $100 gift card prize, and got us a French Press coffee maker, grinder, and coffee!

One of the best things I won for the Elkhorn Inn was a $125 gift certificate for gorgeous new "Elite" switch plates from TOP GREENER , which I won by posting a photo of a horrible, cracked, old switch plate on Twitter- I obviously have absolutely No Shame! LOL Their switch plates are so beautiful that I added money to the gift card and bought enough plates and switches to be able to put the Dark Bronze ones throughout the Inn's first floor, and do the 3rd floor Pink Bathroom, too!

Crappy Old Switch Plate...

Fabulous NEW Switch Plates!

Another lovely thing I won for the Elkhorn Inn was a Bird Feeder, Garden Plaque, and tee-shirt from Droll Yankees, and the sign and feeder are right outside the Inn's side door for the birds to enjoy!

Droll Yankees Bird Feeder prize!

As you may realize, sweepers don't always win the Grand Prize... sometimes you don't win the trip to Italy from Riunite... you win Wine Glasses! (Actually it was two pairs of sunnies and a beach towel!)

Riunite Wine Glasses!

My Tito's Tailgating Chair!

And sometimes you don't win the Grand Prize from Tito's Handmade Vodka, you win... the cool Tailgating Chair!

And sometimes you don't win the Entire Kitchen Remodel from Ragu, you win... a Veggie Spiralizer!

Ragu Veggie Spiralizer

And there was also the plastic cup from 19 Crimes Wine: 

My Official 19 Crimes Plastic Wine Glass

But the holiday pièce de résistance had to be the totally fabulous blown-glass sausage ornament from Jimmy Dean: 

EVERYONE needs a glass sausage ornament!

 And this year I actually won something for DIY Dan that he is actually using: A screwdriver set from Stanley Tools!

All of these companies have really excellent products, as you can see, and I encourage you to click on the links and check them out, and buy from them if something strikes your fancy!

Do you enter sweepstakes and contests?   What have you won? Tell me in the comments!