Chanukah, Christmas and My Birthday...

...Arrived today, set in a cooler of dry ice!

 

I'm not sure if delivery was via Hanukah Harry, Saint Nicholas or the FedEx truck, but I received a cooler of seven pints of the dairy free version of  Enlightened Ice Cream.  Enlightened is a favorite of mine and I haven't been able to find the new flavors anywhere in my grocery store wanderings around Manhattan.

 

Long time readers may remember my habit of entering sweepstakes. I had a long bout of insomnia for almost a decade. Watching television or reading in the middle of the night didn't work to put me back to sleep, but an hour or so at the computer in the middle of the night, worked best for me. I had a number of wins, but in the last few years I've both slept better and the contest website I had frequented had less contests of interest. Recently I found a number of contests on Facebook and Instagram and I started to enter them again. In October I won 24 containers of yogurt and last month I won this Facebook contest sponsored by Enlightened. I'm thrilled with this win, but my dream is still  a spa vacation win.

 

Looking at this cooler packed with yummy, my biggest question was which pint to try first. It was a difficult choice, but I guided by my buddy, Pep the Monkey, I went with Monkey Business, in the upper right corner. It's banana with swirls of peanut butter and chocolate chips. It was a great choice and I will be on the lookout for it in the future. Other flavors include Espresso Shot, Cookies & Mint and Candy Bar Crunch.

 

Thanks, friends at Enlightened! This ice cream lover is very happy tonight.

 

It's the usual busy end of the year and I'm trying to get all the little errands done that seem to pop up at this time of year and still enjoy New York at the holidays. I thought I had so much done, but I've got a lot of wrapping and card writing to do in the next week to avoid post office disaster. I haven't skipped some holiday sightseeing and I have photographs to share in the next few days. 

 

As ever, thanks for sharing and have a fabulous Friday! 

Youtube, Here I Come!

I've mentioned my hobby/part-time job of entering sweepstakes. Tonight I calculated that I enter approximately 5,000 contests a year. When I look at it in that perspective it is overwhelming and doesn't seem especially  worthwhile. But I can do my "sweeping" in fifteen minute increments, at most an hour a day. It can be 11:00 P.M. or a quick half hour on Sunday mornings and I'm usually wearing a t-shirt and shorts or my bathrobe. It's always dress-down Friday for sweeping. I've had some nice wins -- my cousins love the PS2 and the Garmin I won -- but the last few months have been much less stellar. I've continued sweeping, but haven't had a lot of motivation.

Last night, a medium sized package arrived, stamped fragile. I couldn't remember ordering anything and there was no discernible return address. Inside I found....

Flip Video...

I've started to read up, but I'm not even sure exactly what I can do with it. One of my colleagues has offered the assistance of his 11 year-old son to tutor me, and I know I will have a good instructor. I noted in the description that I can make my own videos for youtube and create still photos out of the videos that I take. I can use all the advice that I can get for my new treasure, and as ever, asking for my blog friends' experience. Does anyone have one of these? Any tips that you can recommend? Do you like it? Do you love it? I know I will get some great thoughts on using my new cute-as-a-button video camera. 

Thanks, blog friends, and wishes for a terrific Thursday!