just for fun

I just found out about this site and wanted to share it with you.

 

Reach out and touch one of your friends by sending them a recording of you and Elvis singing Blue Christmas together!

 

Go to: www.SingWithTheKing.com to make your recording and send it as a free holiday Ecard. If you sing like me, it's guaranteed to bring a smile to your friend's face.

 

Irene

 

 

 

 

Congrats to the winner of the HURI HUMI Photo Contest: Alexis Moreno of New City, New York. Alexis' entry (she's top center) captured the joy of being surrounded by friends.

 

The second place winner was Judith Kirkwood of Madison, Wisconsin.

 

Thanks for entering and reading my blog. Your own HURI HUMI electronic friends and HURU HUMI tee shirts are on their way to you. May your holidays be filled with warmth and friendship!

 

 

This post is about artificial friends. (No, I don't mean the phony kind). Actually, I'm announcing my latest blog contest.

These electronic toys caught my eye because they seem like the season's perfect friendship gift for young women. When the prizes arrived, they were so cute that I was tempted to break into the tamperproof plastic to try one out myself. (I didn't.)

Huru HumisTM (which means ‘HU R U' and ‘HU M I" in text talk) are interactive, artificial high-school friends that talk back to you (or to each other) when you talk to them. The battery-operated dolls turn on and off at the flick of a switch. (If only we could do that with our real friends!)

The ability to be a good friend is something that every woman needs to acquire, and it is through play, that many young girls learn how to befriend. Each Huru Humi has a distinct appearance, style, personality, and voice. Warning: They aren't shy about expressing their opinions. But like all good friends they respect differences, are funny, and have mastered the art of good conversation.

As grown-ups just found out during this very prolonged and polarized election season, we don't necessarily agree with every woman we meet; we are more compatible with some than with others. But by being able to communicate with personalities that are both like and unlike their own, children can learn how to build solid friendships that can potentially enrich and expand their lives.

Huru Humis are intended for kids 10 and older (tweens). I have two prizes to award, Heidi and Sierra, for the best pictures of two childhood friends.

Contest rules:

• Enter your favorite picture of any two or more childhood friends (pictured together). It need not be recent---old pictures of childhood friends are welcome.

• With your entry, include the first name of each child shown in the picture and send your own name, snail mail address, and email address to me, so I can mail the prize to your home if you win.

• All pictures and accompanying information must be emailed to: IreneLevine@gmail.com. By submitting a picture you agree to allow me to use your photograph on blogs and/or in books about female friendships.

• All entries must be submitted by November 28th, 2008. The photos will be judged by a small committee of my best friends. Please enter the contest and email this contest announcement link to your friends. The two prize winners will be announced shortly after the photo deadline.

Do you have a great picture of you and your friends hanging out that you'd like to share? Good news: I have three awesome prizes to award.

 

The woes on Wall Street---and the slump on your street---may up the risk of fractured friendships. With the economic downturn, many of us are finding that we will need to work more and harder---just to maintain our current lifestyle. It is obvious each time we buy a container of milk, purchase toiletries, or fill up at the gas station. As a result, there's less money for eating out, taking girlfriend getaways, and visiting friends who live out-of-town.

 

We need to find creative ways to bring friends together on the cheap, to support one another and celebrate friendships. Whether it's organizing a pot-luck dinner, planning to watch a first-time-on-TV movie, or staging an informal get-together to catch up and gab, it's important for women to create and maintain rituals to nurture our friendships.

 

I'm delighted that Orville Redenbacher's Gourmet Popcorn has partnered with me to award prizes to 3 of my loyal blog readers who submit the best pictures of ‘A Girls' Night In.'

 

Each prize includes an Orville Redenbacher popcorn bowl; a supply of Orville Redenbacher's newest popcorn, Natural Lime & Salt popcorn (pairs well with margaritas), a picture frame and cocktail napkins: perfect ingredients for your next Girls' Night In.

 

Contest rules:

• Enter your best picture. It need not be recent---pictures of childhood friends welcome. Each entry must show two or more close friends enjoying each other's company, at home or away (after all, there was a day when we had more money to spend ☺.)

• With your entry, include the first name of each woman shown in the picture and send your own name, snail mail address, and email address to me, so Orville Reddenbacher can mail the prize to your home.

• All pictures and accompanying information must be emailed to: IreneLevine@gmail.com. By submitting a picture you agree to allow me to use your photograph on blogs and/or in books about female friendships.

• All entries must be submitted by November 9th, 2008. The photos will be judged by a small committee of my best friends. Please enter the contest and email this contest announcement link to your friends. The three prize winners will be announced on November 15th.

For additional tips on planning a Girls Night, visit Orville.com/girlsnightin

I rarely post anything commercial---unless it sounds like fun. If you like to enter sweepstakes and don’t mind giving State Farm your contact information (and possibly getting some mail), this sounds like a great weekend. If one of you is a winner, I hope you’ll invite me to join you! Here are the details:

State Farm will randomly select five women---and three of their friends each---for VIP treatment! Each of the 5 grand prize packages is valued at $12,000.

The prize package includes:

• Round trip airfare for winner and 3 guests
• Hotel accommodations for 3 days/2 nights
• 4 tickets to one of this year's hottest concerts (prior to December 31, 2008)
• Limo service to and from the concert for you and your guests
• $2,000 Visa gift card
• Ground transportation between airport and hotel for you and your guests

To read the official rules and enter, go to The State Farm® Ultimate Ladies Night Out Sweepstakes page at www.sfredlive.com/ The entry deadline is 10/10/08.

Good luck!

Do you have a BFF that you phone or text---more times a day than you can count?

Wish her a Happy Valentine’s Day on February 14th with FREE wallpaper for her cell. She’ll think of you each time she looks at her phone and sees all the hugs and kisses.

Go to the Hallmark beta site and take a peek. You don't pay for the download but you may have to pay for one or two text messages. I'll let you know when I get my bill :-)

 

 

No surprise. People on Facebook are consumed with friendship, BFFs, besties, and like to rank their friends. Hmmm….wonder how I got there?

An article in this week’s Australian PC World ranks Top Friends (developed by Slide) as the top Facebook application. Among 46 million active users on the site, more than 3 million have signed on to Top Friends as daily users. (That’s about 15% of the total Facebook user base)...