izeafest

I’m sick and I might not be able to go to IZEAFest and that SUCKS

September 27, 2009 · by Elizabeth · 2 Comments

Cough & Cold Germs - Image by RobertFrancis via Flickr

Last Thursday morning, I heard Kaitlyn cough. Just a quick, dry cough, so I didn’t worry about it.

Then she came and sat on my lap and her nose was running. And she coughed that dry cough again.

You see where this is going, right?

Friday night my throat felt sore. I took two Tylenol and went to bed.

Yesterday I woke up with a dry, wheezy cough, a runny nose, plugged-up ears, and a sore throat.

There was some swearing.

I’m supposed to fly to Orlando on Thursday for IZEAFest. My plane ticket is paid for, I booked a car service to pick me and my roommate up from the airport, and I paid my roommate for my half of the room charge ahead of time.

I’ve been looking forward to this trip for months. Some of the biggest names in blogging are going to be there, plus a bunch of the people I’ve known since my PayPerPost days but have never met. There’s a trip to Busch Gardens, to Icebar, to SEAWORLD.

But I have to be responsible here. If there’s even a chance that I could still be coughing on that plane, spraying miniscule droplets of cold germs in a closed environment, it just would not be right of me to go. Besides the fact that I hardly have the energy for running around Busch Gardens and SeaWorld at this point. I spent all of yesterday on the couch under a blanket clutching tissues and Cloraseptic throat spray and Sudafed.

I should mention that I have chronic bronchitis, so the cough is not a surprise. Compared to previous years, this is actually a pretty mild case of it, knock on wood. For me, a simple cold can very easily turn into bronchitis. One of the boys probably brought it home from school, gave it to Kaitlyn who gave it to me.

I’m giving myself until Tuesday, and then if I’m still coughing, I’ll have to call my roommate and the car service and the airline. There is, however, one thing that would make not going to Orlando okay – Ryan’s birthday is next Friday. His THIRTEENTH birthday. I was going to miss it, which was okay with him, but if I’m here, I can wish him happy birthday in person on his special day.

I still wish I wasn’t sick though. Dang it.

Filed Under: Health, Personal · Tagged: bronchitis, cold, Cough, izeafest, ryans birthday

IZEAFest Winners

August 31, 2009 · by Elizabeth · 4 Comments

I’m so excited to have my four winners of the free passes to IZEAFest! I used Random.org to randomize the total number of comments four times, and these are the four people who win free passes:

Commenter #10, Adrienne from Adrienne’s House, who I met at BlogHer in July. Glad we’ll be hanging out again!

Commenter #4, Quatro Mama from 4tunate, who has QUADRUPLETS, people. I’ve been a reader of her blog for I think a year now, popping over from time to time to see the latest photo of her four handsome boys. I’m glad she’s getting this chance to get away and hang out with grownups! lol

Commenter #24, 1stopmom whom I haven’t met, but she’s a stay at home Mom of four so I’m sure we’ll have plenty of stories to swap!

Commenter #22, Patrick O’ Keefe, who tweeted the giveaway link every single day, therefore greatly increasing his chances to win. Thanks, Patrick!

For those of you who were not chosen, I hope you do find a way to come to the conference anyway. It sounds like it’s going to not only be crazy fun, but also extremely informative. Thanks everyone who entered and as always, watch the top of the left sidebar for new giveaways!

Filed Under: Contests and Giveaways · Tagged: blogging conference, giveaway, izeafest

IZEAFest Conference Free Pass Giveaway- 4 Winners

August 25, 2009 · by Elizabeth ·

This giveaway is closed.

How would YOU like a free pass to the IZEAFest Conference taking place at SeaWorld Orlando in October? One of the perks of my position as an IZEA Insider is getting to give away 4 free passes to THE Social Media Conference of the year.

IZEFest takes place on Friday, October 2nd and Saturday, October 3rd at the Renaissance Orlando Hotel at SeaWorld. The free pass you can win includes a special event on Thursday, October 1st, Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens, and another special event on Sunday, October 4th, Blogger Takeover Day at SeaWorld! That’s right, win one of the four free passes I’m giving away, and you’ll get a trip to Busch Gardens, a two day conference, AND a ticket to SeaWorld! Plus you get to participate in IZEAHunt, a scavenger hunt like no other, AND you get to meet ME and my fellow IZEA Insiders!. Pretty freaking awesome.

The Keynote Speakers for the conference are Ted Murphy, CEO of IZEA, and Aaron Brazell, who owns the social media analysis site Technosailor. Leading the session discussions are some names you might recognize- Brian Clark of Copyblogger, blogger/publisher Chris Brogan of ChrisBrogan.com, social media strategist Chris Heuer of ChrisHeuer.com, word of mouth marketer David Binkowski, George Smith from Crocs.com, Lucretia Pruitt from GeekMommy.net, and Wendy Piersall from Sparkplugging. Talk about learning from industry experts! Here’s a video sneak-peek:

So, before I get into the details of the giveaway, I want to make sure I’m clear- this giveaway is ONLY for a free conference pass good for IZEAFest, which includes sessions, a free t-shirt, lunch both days, cocktail receptions Friday and Saturday evenings, as well as the IZEAHunt, Howl-O-Scream event and Sunday at SeaWorld. The winners will be responsible for transportation including airfare, their hotel stay, additional meals, and personal expenses. The hotel rate is $99 a night, it’s lower if you are a member of AAA and possibly other groups as well. I’ll have a link the winners can use to book their hotel at the IZEAFest rate.

So, let’s get this giveaway started! Here’s how to enter:

WIN IT: For your main entry, leave a comment on this post telling me why you want to go to IZEAFest. Is it to learn from blogging and marketing experts? Meet fellow bloggers? Feed dolphins at SeaWorld? All of the above? lol

RULES: Enter by Tuesday, September 1st at 9:00 AM EST. Your main entry MUST be a comment telling me why you want to go to IZEAFest. Comments that say “I want to go” or “thanks” or anything like that will be DELETED at my discretion. When filling in the comment field, you must use a REAL FIRST NAME or the name of your blog. Comments left with keywords instead of names will be DELETED. I know your Mom didn’t name you “seo master” or “real estate arizona”, so just don’t even try. Winners will be contacted by email and given a code that gives them 100% off registration. Open to anyone available to attend the conference 18 years and older.

BONUS ENTRIES: You can earn additional entries for each of the following that you do or have done. Leave a separate comment for each:

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