What I’d Really Like to Do is Give Everyone a Nikon and a Cashmere Sweater

I’m holding a contest over on my new blog, and I’ll start by asking you this:

Do you know that feeling of having a party and thinking that no one, except maybe your best friend or mother, is going to show up?

That’s EXACTLY how I feel about doing a giveaway. (For the record I’m fine with others doing giveaways.)

I say I want to do something for my readers..

(I feel like a bit of an arse even referring to “my readers.”)

But assuming there are any. Readers.

Not that I’m assuming there are or anything.

What I’d like to do is give Nikons and cashmere sweaters

to everyone.

Does holding a giveaway make me a subscriber whore?

Goofy, and out-of-line?

Answers: Yes. Yes.

Apparently I want to be Oprah.

And I don’t like Oprah.

What’s with me?

Oh, sorry, I mean, “What’s with you?”

{I may not be giving away cashmere sweaters and Nikons, but I’ve got a gorgeous necklace from LuShae and a rolled canvas from Uprinting. And for each entry I’ll be making a donation to ECPAT/USA (End Child Prostitution and Trafficking)}

OMG, I just realized that this all sounds like Oprah.

So come on over and enter. Please.

Now for the next topic: The College Roadtrip

Dolly and I are going on a college roadtrip next week. The other night we made a list of colleges she’s seen that she’d likes, and a list of colleges she’s seen that she didn’t like. I noticed that I wasn’t there for the colleges she likes, and that I was there for the ones she didn’t like.

You don’t think these things are related, do you? Well,  just in case they are, I’ve decided that I’ll go to the information sessions with her where I’ve promised to sit on my hands and not ask questions, but not on the campus walking tours. This is fine with me – all those young people walking backwards make me nervous. Her enthusiasm in letting me know this is fine with her too, leaves me doubly convinced that aliens have indeed abducted my child from her body. If I close my eyes I can still feel her tiny hand in mine as we walked into our first day of pre-K.

I’m concerned I’m making all kinds of bad decisions. When figuring out what schools to visit next week, I ruled out one college because they had nature sounds playing on their website. I feel as if the past 17 or so years have been building up to this and now that I’m here, I’m behaving like someone else’s mother making decisions based on things like how  a student tour guide walks backwards and chirping birds. Like a mother who is crazy and thinks her child is in 10 years old because that’s about how many years it seems have gone by.

And yes folks, she’s only a junior. We’ve got at least a year of “they grow up so fast”/pre-empty nest syndrome posts ahead of us. (If the aliens are out there and can hear this, please let her know that we miss her dearly on her home planet and look forward to her safe return in a couple of years.)

Any advice? And did I tell you about the giveaway I’m hosting over on The Travel Belles?