The Frugal Lawyer

My Second Giveaway

So, the second giveaway is ... not picking up steam.  To quote my father, it's going over like an egg salad fart in church.  I asked Robin and she said that I made it too complicated.  I was all, dude, you just have to throw some juice and maybe soda together and give it a name and you can potential win hundreds of dollars worth of stuff.  Do you hear that?  That is a lot of stuff. 

In an attempt to make it easier, I will accept the following:  for the name of the mocktail, you may call it, "here's your damn mocktail, Danielle."  Right now, I don't care if you tell me your favorite cocktail.  Just make up a mocktail recipe.  And right now, I'm sort of thirsty, so I'm looking forward to seeing your responses.

I am also extending it until Friday, March 5 to see if we can get a few more people.  I will not, I repeat, will not consider my father's repeated attempts to poison and kill me as real entries.  (If you are new to the party, Walmart Romeo is my father.  He's now going to change it up and enter one as Guy Fieri's Evil Twin.  He will threaten me with nuns, trash cans, whatever he thinks will work.) 

Please do enter.  These are good prizes.  Here is the link again.  Enter there.

Please forward to anyone you know who may be interested.  Much appreciated.  Oh, and if this sounds like begging - it is.  We're going to random.org for the next giveaway, which is beauty themed.

Win TurboTax from Robin

Haven't done your taxes yet?  Mine are done and I am already enjoying having my refund in hand.  What are you waiting for?  Oh, you don't want to go out and buy the software?  Fine. 

Robin is giving it away.  You should probably go enter immediately because her contest ends soon. 

The Contents of the Mystery Box

I received confirmation from Mandy that she received her Mystery Box today.  So I will now post a few photos and you can determine your level of jealousy. 

All prizes were obtained at my favorite local store, Tokyo Discount.  There are delightful Japanese gum in bizzare flavors and some strange candys.  A giraffe bottle opener.  Hello Kitty cloth napkins.  Hello Kitty chopsticks.  Origami paper (some of which is pictured below.)  I LOVE lucky cats, so there were two.  Gold lucky cats represent financial luck.  Right paw up represents money, so that little guy is all sorts of money good luck.  And Domo is just cool.  And a 2010 calendar that small is just rad. 

 

Welcome to The Frugal Lawyer's Cocktail Party!

It's time for our second giveaway.  You have until Midnight (PST) on March 3, 2010 to submit your entry.  For this contest, there are three prizes and new rules.  First, we'll review the rules and then we'll take a look at the prizes.

Rules:

This contest is all about cocktails.  So, we're having a creative cocktail party in the comments.  There's just one thing:  your guest of honor - ME - doesn't drink alcohol.  To enter to win one of these lovely prizes, create a mocktail recipe in the comments just for me.  If you think I'd like an old school mocktail, like a Shirley Temple, feel free to include that, but I want you to list the ingredients.  (You don't have to put how much of each ingredient though.)  Remember, no alcohol.  Tell me if you want to serve it in a cocktail glass, a highball, a tumbler, etc.  Is it on the rocks, frozen, warm?  Is there a garnish?  Get creative.  But also remember who you are dealing with.  I've been known to be a little bit picky and there are certain things that I cannot have in my diet...  (Although for purposes of this contest, let's pretend that I can have sugar.)  

Your comment must include:

1.  Your favorite cocktail/mocktail
2.  The recipe for the mocktail that you have created for me
3.  The name of the mocktail that you have created for me (again, if it is old school, that's fine, just tell me what it is)

At the end of the contest, I will pick my three favorite mocktails and rank them.  Then they will be awarded first through third prize. 

Prizes:

Let's work our way up.  Here's Third Prize:

  

 

Third place includes a baby cocktail shaker from Pottery Barn.  The larger shaker is from parts unknown and is a little cloudy because it has been run through the dishwasher on the rare occasion that it was used.  This includes the Margarita Mix CD from Pottery Barn.  The jewel case has some wear.  Mr. Boston's has every drink recipe on earth, but it also has a smudged, slightly imperfect cover.  There is also a set of four cute modern designed dessert plates from Pier One.

Here's Second Place:

 

Alrighty.  We've got two funky blue cocktail glasses.  Two cocktail recipe books.  Be warned that Atomic cocktails, while it is awesome, it has a few crinkled pages at the back that got wet.  This also includes Pottery Barn's Tiki Rhythms CD.  The Cocktail Shaker is yellow glass with a plastic top.  It has a few scratches because I used it for display in years gone by.  I do not wish to remember the exact amount, but it was not inexpensive.  This includes a set of 8 dessert plates by Pottery Barn.  Each includes a classic drink recipe.  The basic design is pictured.  Very cute. 

Now for first prize. 

 
   

I know!  First prize kicks ass.  Two very lovely cocktail glasses.  Four glass stirrers from either Pier One or Pottery Barn.  Two cocktail theme books by Shag (Josh Agle) for the art buffs.  A copy of I Like You:  Hospitality under the Influence by Amy Sedaris.  A classic Pottery Barn cocktail Shaker.  Welcome to Ultra-Lounge CD complete with fuzzy leopard cover.  A set of 8 cocktail-themed dessert plates from pottery barn.  Each plate has a small picture representing a specific drink in the center (i.e., a screwdriver, a grasshopper, etc.) and then the ingredients are written around the edge.

Announcing the Winner of the First Giveaway: Mandy

First, I want to thank everyone for entering the first giveaway for the Mystery Box.

In a few days (after it's shipped), I will post photos, so you can see if you are jealous or not.  The winner of the contest is Mandy.  Mandy's alphabetical list blew me away.  Here is her entire list.

A Ask Pal was the begining of it all. I found him on Tivo.
B Bellini loves Tiki
C Cash Commons
D Debt Management Plan
E Entitlement Spending
F Forbearance is over and student loans suck
G Gilt.com is evil and you have learned
H Honda Insight, aka Wind Up Spaceship
I It’s not About the Money
J Jewlery redesign is money well spent & perfect
K Kohl’s should be added to the Evil Trinity
L Libraries are sexy
M Money Coach will delve into financial Hell for you
N Naked Juice Watermelon Chill is a cheap way to indulge
O Others would have given up, you have gotten stronger
P Paid off CitiBank!!
Q Quick! Payoff Discover!!
R Real estate value sucks
S Selling things on eBay has worked out well
T Tiki loves Bellini
U Unicorns on a CitiBank card can’t even make it pretty
V Various saving strategies keep you on budget
W West Elm is part of the Evil Trinity
X Xtreame measures to be on good behavior in DSW
Y Yuppy Whining happens
Z Zen comes with financial freedom

What sealed the deal was N.  I wrote about my obsession with Naked Watermelon Chill and assumed no one read the damn post.  It is the elixir of the gods.  It is glorious nectar.  And I want it right now.  But now that I loved all your entries were fantastic and I cannot wait to see what you come up with for the next contest that starts on Friday.  

Several of you were VERY close.  I did not have an easy time making the decision.  Now I see why people use random comments.  But that's just not how I roll. 

Friday's contest will have not one but THREE (first, second and third) fabulous prizes that you will get to see and admire in advance so you know exactly what you are going for.  Everything in this giveaway revolves around cocktails.  This will also have a very different set of rules on what you'll need to do to enter. 

Last Day To Enter The First Giveaway!

You must enter here.

More Fun with Giveaways

One of my favorite money sites, A Gai Shan Life is also hosting a giveaway.  First, there's a free upgraded one-year upgraded online subscription to PearBudget.  Second, there are 500 business cards from Uprinting.  Go here and checkout the details.

Reminder: Get your entries in for the TFL's First Giveaway

You must submit your entry here by February 16, 2010 to be considered for the first TFL giveaway.  Don't forget to enter.  Trust me, you want the Mystery Box of Joy!

More on TFL's Giveaways

Yay!  Thanks to everyone who has entered my first giveaway.  Fear not, there is still time to enter for the awesome mystery box. 

As we have discussed before, I've got a lot of stuff.  So I have decided to do one to two giveaways per month.  Occasionally, we will do something like the mystery box, but I will typically announce what you are going for.  For example, once we finish with the mystery box, we have a great cocktail themed giveaway with tons of fun elements. Like most of my stuff, if I have used it, it's probably been used once or twice and thrown in a cabinet. 

So we'll keep doing this, as long as everyone is interested.  This is way more fun for me than trying to sell stuff on eBay that people don't want.  But look, it's a Pottery Barn Cocktail Shaker and cocktail themed dessert plates (also from Pottery Barn). 

Thanks for playing.  The rules will vary as we advance.  Perhaps we'll start with some TFL trivia.  Something fun.  I don't do random stuff because I think it's boring.  So what other ways do you think will be fun to pick winners?

The Frugal Lawyer's First Giveaway!

I'm having a CONTEST with a PRIZE.  Here is how it works.  I picked the most delightful prize and I make the rules.  I do not play like other blogs.  I am not giving this to a random commenter because this is not a prize coming from a company.  I purchased it out of my random stuff budget for February because I want to have fun with my readers. 

The Prize:  It's a mystery box.  All items are brand new and I assure you that they are sufficiently AWESOME.  I mean, they are AMAZING.  I do not give away things that I would not want for myself.  Once the contest is done, I will post a photo of the contents so that you can all be sufficiently jealous.  It is a gender neutral prize.  Approximate value of items in mystery box:  $45.

The Contest:  You have to leave a comment on the blog.  (FB Fan Page comments do not count.)  Describe why you want the mystery box.  It's that simple.  Be creative.  Or don't.  You can tell me you've had a shitty week.  You can tell me that I am awesome.  (Kissing my ass has never hurt, but if everyone tells me I have pretty hair, you are going to have to come up with something better.  But really, non-stop compliments have nothing to do with why you want the mystery box anyway.)  You can do it in a haiku, because you know I love haiku.  You can write a sonnet, but I will check for proper form.  You can say whatever you want.

You have from today until the end of 2/16/2010.  Just enter the comment on this thread.  Feel free to pass it along to everyone you know.