Julie's Journal

With today’s economy it’s hard to find the money to take a vacation, but that isn’t stopping some of the more popular travel destinations from giving away wonderful vacations for the whole family. The most recent one I can across is several vacation packages to Kissimmee Florida.

There are many things to do in Kissimmee including luxury shopping and dining, golfing, and of course the theme parks where you might run into a celebrity or two like Mickey Mouse or Tiger Woods. Sign up for your chance to win one of these prize packages today. Drawings will be held on or around 6/1/09.

Grand Prize Winners Kissimmee Week Long Vacations Contest #1

• 7 days/6 nights for four people at the Omni ChampionsGate Resort
• Dinner in one of five unique onsite restaurants.
• Daily breakfast.
• A couple’s massage at the Omni ChampionsGate Resort’s European-style spa.
• Camp Omni Kids’ escape for two.
• A one-day Cabana rental.
• A round of golf for two at the ChampionsGate Golf Club.
• Enter here.
• Drawings will be held on or around 6/1/09.

Grand Prize Winners Kissimmee Week Long Vacations Contest #2

• 6-night stay in a 5-star vacation home compliments of All Star Vacation Homes with private pool, spa, game room, home theater, and more.
• Enter here.
• Drawings will be held on or around 6/1/09.

Three First Prize Kissimmee Weekend Getaways Contest

• 3-night stay in a luxury one-bedroom villa at the Ginn Reunion Resort and one round of golf.
• Enter here.
• Drawings will be held on or around 6/1/09.

I don’t know about you, but a spa day that includes chocolate sounds like heaven on earth to me, so I entered the Girlfriend Getaway Contest. It’s a celebration of friendship created by Lorrie Morgan Ferrero, Shannon Cherry and Joanie Winberg. All three of their lives have been filled with challenges and they turned to each other for support when they needed it the most. Now they have created this great contest to give back to you and your BFF!

Chocolate Spa Getaway Contest Prize:

• Chocolate Spa Weekend Getaway at the Hotel Hershey from May 15-17, 2009.
• Air fare
• Limo service to and from the hotel
• A poolside room for three (3) days/two (2) nights at the Hotel Hershey in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
• Over $400 (four hundred) worth of Spa Treatments, including a Swedish Massage, a Facial, a Chocolate Wrap and Lunch in the Oasis- a lite lunch of salads, soups and wraps at the spa in your robe and sandals.
• Admission to the Hershey Gardens.
• Gourmet Dining in the restaurant of your chose.

Chocolate Spa Getaway Contest Rules:

• Tell us in 300 words or less why YOUR FRIEND deserves a Chocolate Spa Getaway Weekend. (For example has she had some extenuating circumstances, struggles, challenges, or just plain needs a break?)
• The contest is for all women- married, single or single again.
• Then COPY and PASTE your essay into an email (sorry, no attachments accepted) and send it off to us at chocolatespacontest@gmail.com by midnight April 17th.
• Winners will be announced April 24.
• Over a $3000 value.

Additional sponsor prizes include:

• Transition Resources Inc.
• author Katherine Woodward Thomas, MA, MFT
• NiteSweatz
• Cabot Cheese

So get to writing your story and good luck! This weekend getaway sounds just like something I need!

Times are tough, and not too many people are even thinking about going on vacation this summer let alone planning one. Here’s a chance to win a trip to Kissimmee Florida. Kissimmee is located in Central Florida and just a few miles away from Orlando.

There is a lot to do in Kissimmee like golfing, fine dining, shopping, or visiting a water park, but more importantly there is a lot of things to do in Kissimmee that are free! For a nature buff like me, I would like to hit up some of these free parks and hiking trails.

• Lake Lizzie Nature Preserve
• Osceola County Environmental Center
• Bull Creek
• Prairie Lakes
• Three Lakes
• Triple N Ranch
• Lake Tohopekaliga
• East Lake Toho

Make sure to enter the Kissimmee Freedom to Enjoy Sweepstakes for a chance to win one of three (3) weekend getaways (3 days/2 nights) for two (2); and two (2) weeklong vacations for four (4). Drawings will be held on or around 4/1/09, 5/1/09 and 6/1/09. I just entered and I would love to win a trip. I really need a vacation. Who’s going with me?

I’m still thinking a lot about my trip to Orlando in October and all the things I want to see and do. The one thing I am really excited about is going to Discovery Cove at Sea World to see the dolphins do their bubble show.

I was poking around on the SeaWorld Dolphin Bubbles Blog again as they have added new post and pictures today. They still feature the cute dolphin bubbles video and pictures, but I wanted to point out how you can share your Sea World experience with them, and possibly have it featured as an article on their blog.

All you need to do is email them a story, with pictures if you like, of your vacation to Discovery Cove at Sea World, and your story could be featured on their next blog post! I will definitely submit my story to them, you know…when I have one to submit I also want to do the whole Discovery Cove swim with the dolphins thing to. Have any of you ever did that? Is it just awesome or what? I would love to write an article with my pictures and submit it to the blog for the whole world to see!

We all get spam in our email everyday, but have you ever been bombarded with spam while you are out driving? This is what I saw when I was driving the other day, and I call it Traffic Spam.

(Another great example of how useful my Xshot is. You need one, really!)