Shutterfly Contest!

Long Live Summer!


Wouldn't that be awesome? Endless summer. Ah . . . one can dream. Or move to San Diego. 


If, like me, you're not moving anywhere anytime soon, you can get some summer perks from the Shutterfly Long Live Summer Facebook Photo Contest. Right now, Shutterfly is running a multi-week summer themed contest with instant prizes AND a grand prize of a trip for four to the Bahamas!


To enter, all you need to do is upload your favorite photo, along with a caption, based on the theme of the week. But you have to hurry -- we're in week 3 right now! Check out the themes:


Week 3 (7/23): Water Fun
Week 4 (7/30): Sports & Activities
Week 5 (8/6): Parties & Celebrations


Want to enter your photo? Head over to contest page:  http://bit.ly/sweepS


Oh, and here's the cool prizes that you can win!


PRIZES

•       Instant win prizes just for submitting a photo!

•       Weekly prizes (contestants can enter one time/week)

•       Weekly featured photos: up to 5 weekly entries will be selected from the gallery and featured on the Facebook fan page.

•       Grand prize: trip for 4 to Bahamas, 4 nights, family photo shoot

•       Shutterfly Sweepstakes - Official Rules

Good luck!

Disclosure: This is a compensated post but the opinions expressed are entirely my own.

A little tour

Ah, the guilt of being a lax blogger.. this summer is rather busy. Not only am I trying to keep up with magazine deadlines and the weekly radio show, but the manuscript for my 2nd book is due in 5 weeks! Yikes!! That means my lovely summer days are spent working madly on my computer and the garden has suffered tremendously. Firstly, the deer have been making nightly pilgrimages to the garden.. my beloved beans have been desiccated. Secondly, the dry weather has made the soil like dust. We did finally get a rain 2 nights ago, but when I snuck up to plant some leek seedlings yesterday morning, the soil was still dry 3 inches down.

I knew that this would be a busy summer, so I tried to plan ahead and choose plants that wouldn't need me so much - tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, pole beans (damn deer, sniff), kale and such. The heat has been kind to the tomatoes, which are over 6 feet tall, but my lack of time means that they are inadequately staked. Oops! Maybe this weekend I can get out there and do a bit of work. I did find time to start some fresh trays of seedlings indoors for fall/winter though. I have more kale, broccoli, kohlrabi, endive, lettuces, swiss chard and a few other tidbits coming nicely under the grow lights. Soon, they'll be moved into the garden.

And I also sowed two beds of winter carrots. I still need to tidy up the cold frames and get them enriched for the late season crops, but again, it's on my list!

Lettuces, endive, Swiss chard and more - 1 1/2 weeks old!

One part of the garden that I'm thrilled with is the high bush blueberry patch. The plants are 3 years old now and bearing their first heavy crop of super delicious berries. Last year we harvested about a cup from each bush. Now, they're 4 feet tall and we've gotten 2 cups from each already with many more to come. The staggered ripening process means daily handfuls of the berries and I already have plans to greatly expand that bed next spring.

Next season - no book deadlines (or so I tell myself) as I want to get back to the pleasure of gardening and not 'speedy gardening', where both the crops and the gardener suffer!! :)

I promise to be a better blogger! Thanks for hanging in.. much appreciated!

Five types of kale, 2 quick maturing cabbage and kohlrabi

The new face of gluten free.

Udi's Gluten Free is changing their look. To help launch their look, they are searching for 10 people to become the new face of Udi's Gluten Free.

Do you live a gluten-free life? Then maybe you could become one of the lucky 10! Here's what you could win:

10 grand prize winners will receive:

Trip for 2 to Colorado + Cash!
Exclusive VIP Party with Udi's
A Year's Worth of Udi's GF Goodies
Brand Advisory Council Membership

Additionally, 1,000 people will be randomly selected to receive an Udi's Gluten Free T-shirt.

Want to enter? Visit the JoyFull Gallery on Facebook and follow the entry instructions.

Good luck!

Want to read more from The Happy Runner? Stop over at the Happy Runner blog for more giveaways, reviews, and running- and parenting-related posts.  

Organic deals!

Visit MamboSprouts now to download rare, high-value coupons for Organic Valley products. I clipped a coupon for $1.50 off two half gallons of Organic Valley milk, and there are coupons for other Organic Valley products, along with other organic and "green" products.

Enjoy!

Free Starbucks Refreshers.

On Friday, July 13th, you can get a FREE Starbucks Refreshers drink from noon to 3pm!

These new drinks look pretty tasty -- I hope I can get a chance to stop by my local Starbucks to get one!

Enjoy!