Socal Mom by Donna Schwartz Mills

SoCal Mom Giveaway: Night at the Museum 2

Entries for the Night at the Museum giveaway are closed. Congratulations to Elise Crane Derby for submitting the winning entry. Thank you to everyone who submitted such terrific museum selections! My list of places I absolutely MUST VISIT has grown tremendously.

In honor of my birthday this week (YES, I am turning fifty-effing-THREE - and I'd rather not talk about it)...

...I am giving away a "Night at the Museum 2" gift basket, consisting of:

• Family 4 pack of IMAX tickets to Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
• $25 McDonald’s Arch Card
• Night at the Museum Battle of the Smithsonian IMAX movie posters
• Glow-in-the-dark Character Stickers, Balsa Wood Airplane Glider and Mini-flashlights for the kids!

DISCLOSURE: I have not yet seen this movie, but am receiving two tickets to view it at our local IMAX after it opens on May 22nd. I am happy to promote it, because Megan and I both LOVED the original and this was already on our short list of films we just HAD to see this summer.

The original movie took place at New York's famed Museum of Natural History (which our family had the pleasure of visiting three years ago, when we went to Manhattan to celebrate my (cough cough!) 50th birthday.

The sequel - which again stars Ben Stiller and features many of the same characters who were so delightful in the original (Owen Wilson, Robin Williams, etc), is set in the Smithsonian Institute, and includes new historical characters played by major film stars (like Amy Adams as Amelia Earhart).

To enter: I want to know about YOUR favorite museum for an outing with your kids (or grandkids, or just for you!) Leave a comment on this post naming your museum, where it is and why it's your favorite - or link to a post of your own - and you'll be entered in a random drawing for the basket.

NOTE: The new version of Typepad Comments does not give me a way to email commenters to notify them that they may have won the prize! PLEASE follow up your comment with a direct email to me at socalmom a socalmom dot net. (And please do so if you are one of the 14 people who has already left a comment. THANK YOU.)

The film opens on Friday, May 22nd - so I'll only be taking entries until then and will announce the winner over the weekend.

Taking Care of Business: Contests, Reviews & Evacuations

I know I said I would announce a winner today in the "Baby, You Can Drive My Car" drawing for tickets to the LA Car Show...

...but I got somewhat sidetracked by Saturday's "Sayre Fire," which I wrote about here. I'd planned to do a lot of work over the weekend, but it didn't happen because it turned out we WERE in the evacuation zone.

I have to say how amazed and grateful I am to know so many kind people through this blog and Twitter. Several of the LA Mom Bloggers invited us to come stay with them -- which was really nice and more than I would do (not that I wouldn't want them -- but unless a disaster occurs right after I've done some miracle cleaning, my house is usually not fit for guests). You guys all rock.

Anyway, I'm a day behind on my postings, so I won't be drawing the winner until tomorrow (which means you still have time to enter).

Do come back tomorrow... because once I announce the winner of the tickets, I'll begin ANOTHER contest (details to be revealed then).

In the meantime, I've got another review up of a beautiful new printer...

And if you live anywhere near Pasadena, join me on Thursday morning at Whole Foods Market, where I'll be participating in a Supermarket Sweep in honor of the launch of Nintendo's new Personal Chef game (yes, I'll be posting a review of that soon, too).

Contest: Baby, You Can Drive My Car

This month, I'm kicking off a new series of posts here at SoCal Mom and at my review site, SoCal Stuff.

The occasion: The imminent end of the lease on my beloved Volvo C60. I have until the end of June to make a decision to either purchase the Volvo -- or move into another vehicle.

Overall, I've been happy with the Swedish car -- but I'm not certain I want to keep it for another five years (at least)... Not when there are so many new autos on the market, with new features to choose from (like hybrid engines, natural gas powered engines, and more).

A lot of innovations have been brought to the automobile world since I took out my 3-year lease. Toyota and Honda are no longer the only makes offering hybrid engines -- you can find them from just about every one of the major auto makers (notably General Motors, which manufactures hybrid models for eight of its vehicles).

However, the last time I looked, the Prius was still the leader in hybrid gas mileage. But I recently read an article that stated that the Scion xB (with internal combustion engine) was a better choice for the environment, due to a combination of mileage and the kind of materials used to build it Honda makes a version of the Civic that runs on natural gas. And the tiny Smart car gets such good mileage that it doesn't need to be a hybrid (although I hear they've got one coming out, too).

I also want to take another long, hard look at the offerings from American car companies - although I realize that there's a lot of intermingling between auto makers these days. That Toyota you're looking at could have been built right here in the U.S. And that Volvo I've been driving for the last two and one half years was made by a company owned by Ford.

Making a decision is going to be hard. That's why I'm beginning my research at the Los Angeles Auto Show, which opens November 21 at the LA Convention Center.

Our family enjoys going to the show every year: It's a lot of fun to see all the displays and get up close to some of the vehicles that one can only dream of driving some day. But in a year when we actually have to purchase a new car, it's the most convenient way to see EVERYTHING on the market, all in one place.

Sounds like fun, huh? Wanna come? I'm giving away a family FOUR-PACK of tickets and an official LA Auto Show Messenger bag. You can enter my random drawing by leaving a comment on this post, telling me what you'd most like to see at the show. (For inspiration, visit their official website, here.)

The winner will be announced on this blog next Monday, November 17th.

Road Trip!

Don't have much for you today. I am in major need of a recharge...

...so I'm off on a short road trip -- which means that tomorrow's post will actually be about travel!

And in the meantime, I have a new post up at LA Moms Blog.

I did want to remind you that you still have one week to enter my Summer Road Trip contest over at my review blog, SoCal Stuff. First prize is a Nintendo DS handheld game system plus a Crosswords DS game to play on it!

Last Week of School - On with the Hectic Summer

In four more days, my daughter will be finished with this crazy, stressful, transitional first year of middle school.

No one is more excited about this than I.

We will have about two weeks before she gets right into her crazy, stressful, transitional ummer of gymnastics. This will be her fourth summer of training for Fall competition... but when her level 6 "compulsory" season ends in November, she will be moving right on to level 7, which is the first of the "optional" levels.

Explanation: Compulsory gymnasts all perform the same routines with the same skills on the four women's events - vault, bars, beam and floor. When they hit the optional levels, they create their own routines and can pick and choose among the skills -- it is their option.

So for the last three summers, Megan has trained for 25 hours per week. But because she will need to be ready to go in January with her brand new optional routines, the head coach wants her to work for an additional 10 hours each week during the summer. I know - that's like having a full time job. And she's not exactly thrilled with the idea of having so little time this summer for play...

...so we are doing what we can do have some fun. We are leaving next week on not just one, but TWO road trips. We will also be returning to San Diego for a rare summer gymnastics meet. All of these trips will be chronicled here on the blog. YES! Travel posts again!!

And to kick off all this summer travel in style, I am holding a contest over at SoCal Stuff: First prize is a Crosswords DS game -- and a spanking new Nintendo DS to play it on! I am also giving away a road trip kit with products that will help make your drive go smoothly. Click here for contest details and to enter.

You Can't Win if You Don't Play

I've been busy web surfing, researching material for this blog's new focus on travel -- after all, as a SAHM without a trust fund, it would bankrupt me to try to keep this thing populated just with accounts of my own journeys...

... which is why I've found myself attracted to the numerous contests and promotions that offer a dream vacation as a grand prize. Here are just a few of them:

Mastercard Summer Promotion

Every time you purchase something with a Mastercard in July or August, you are entered in their big summer sweepstakes: Grand prize is 500 airline tickets - for use by you, your family, and/or friends. And if that card is branded with American Airlines, Continental, US Air, Frontier or Midwest Airlines, every charge enters you in the contest twice. You also get double entries for booking a flight on any of the above-mentioned airlines.

Hotels.com's Hotels For Life Sweepstakes

Grand prize is a six night stay in a three-star or more hotel every year for the next 25 years. You may enter once a day by playing a trivia contest (easy questions PLUS they give you hints). Also, a instant winner prize of a $25 pre-paid Visa card is awarded once every hour. This promotion ends on August 28, 2006.

Sheraton's Sherabration

By submitting your own travel story and photo, you're entered in a random drawing to win the following Grand Prize:

• 5 rooms for 5 nights in any Sheraton in the world!
• round-trip airfare for 5
• $5000 fun money for you to spend
• 5 digital cameras to capture the whole thing

You may enter up to five times, and you can earn more entries by passing the information on to up to four of your friends (who then will have to submit their own entries). The catch, of course, is that your friends' email addresses will be added to Sheraton's list -- so you may want to ask their permission before you do this. You will be granting Sheraton the right to use your story and likeness on their website. This contest ends August 31, 2006.

Marriott's Dream Destinations Contest

First prize: Three MILLION Marriott points or frequent flyer miles from your choice of participating airlines (American, United, Delta, Northwest and Hawaiian Air) -- which should buy you a LOT of travel. Approximate value: $45,000.

But don't hold your breath -- this contest has been running for a year and won't end until October 2007 (!) so it will be a while before you find out if you're the lucky random winner... and in the meantime, you can expect to be contacted a lot about Marriott Vacation Club timeshares.

Of course, none of these companies is offering these prizes out of the goodness of their hard little corporate hearts. Besides the promotional value of getting more visitors to their sites (where they will have the opportunity to sell you on something else), they are gathering your information to use for other marketing purposes. If you can live with that, go ahead and enter away!