Tag Archives: contest

Scared Speechless (or A Book Giveaway!)

Posted on March 31, 2016 | Comments Off on Scared Speechless (or A Book Giveaway!)

I’m doing another giveaway! I know I still have my “Once Upon A Time: The Rock Opera” giveaway going on, but this is another amazing giveaway that I think you will all love! So I had no choice but to run 2 giveaways at the same time! You can enter both of them and I really hope that you do!

I met Steve Rohr when I was at the Entertainment New Media Network Conference last year. He was so amazing when he spoke to the group that I had to talk to him immediately after he spoke and pitched him to be on the Inside Acting Podcast. I’m glad he said yes because I absolutely loved his episodes! The stories and knowledge that he shared is amazing and I know how lucky we are that he was willing to speak with us. And I’ve been fortunate that Steve has stayed in touch with me because he’s a seriously awesome person (beside everything else he does, he’s the publicist for the Oscars!).

Steve recently shared with me that he and his friend Dr. Shirley Impellizzeri wrote a book called “Scared Speechless”. It’s all about taking the fear away from public speaking and how to become the best public speaker you can be. He offered to send me a copy and of course I said yes! While I don’t do much public speaking, I figure that any help I can get to be less nervous when I speak would be good plus I love reading self-help books!

I was so excited when it arrived at my doorstep and loved that Steve and Shirley signed it for me!

Scared Speechless Signed Copy

I immediately started to read it. I read it so quickly that I was done within 2 days and would have put this post up sooner except that I wanted to read it again before blogging about it! I felt like I read it so quickly that a second reading was needed to I could digest everything I was learning and make sure that I didn’t miss any lessons.

This is such a wonderful book! Obviously, it’s great for people who have to do public speaking or presentations at work or school. But so much of this book is perfect for actors who are nervous about auditions. It discusses some of the science behind fear and how to overcome them. It shares ideas for speeches and how to write different types of speeches like presentations, toasts, eulogies, and commencement speeches. And it has a great list of speeches you can watch or read to be inspired and to help you with whatever you may need to come up with.

What I love so much about this book is how it is broken up. Each chapter could be viewed as a standalone article. You could read just what you need to or read the entire book and still get a lot of information out of it. Each chapter starts with a chapter focus (listed on the first page of the chapter) so you know what you will be reading about. Then toward the end of the chapter there is homework or ideas to try to help work on the lessons that the chapter discussed. And finally at the end of each chapter there are key notes from what you just read in the chapter. It’s almost like someone already wrote notes on the book so you can make sure you didn’t miss anything and you know exactly what you should have gotten out of that chapter.

I read a lot of non-fiction books and I have to say that this one is one of the easiest books that I’ve read in a long time. It is very clearly written and the chapters are split up nicely so it doesn’t feel confusing or like it is repeating itself (which is a common issue I see in non-fiction books). I think that this really is relatable and anyone could find something in the book that connects to them and their public speaking (or auditioning) issues. This may be the first non-fiction book that I honestly think everyone no matter what should read.

You can go online and buy the book in paperback or on your Kindle now, but I have a signed copy to giveaway! There are a ton of ways you can enter. You can follow people on twitter, visit different fan pages on Facebook, comment on this post, or tweet out a message (and you can tweet out a message every day for extra entries!).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I can’t wait for you all to read this book. It really is incredible and I have a feeling that this will be a book that I come back to from time to time to help me with my auditions and any public speaking moments I might have in my life.

Good luck and I can’t wait to announce the winner!

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

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“The Wisdom Of Walt” (or Time To Win An Amazing Book!)

Posted on September 17, 2015 | 18 comments

I’ve covered almost everything from the Entertainment New Media Network Conference in my past two posts. But I did skip talking about one of the speakers. And it’s not because I didn’t enjoy it. It’s because it was my favorite speaker of the entire event!

Jeffrey A. Barnes is a professor, an author, and a Disney fanatic. And as a fellow Disney fan, I was super excited to hear what he was going to talk about.

Without giving away a ton of Jeffrey’s story, he had always dreamed about writing a book about Walt Disney and Disneyland. Then he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He put off having surgery for a while because he was teaching a college class on Disneyland (where was that class when I was in school?!?). After having the tumor removed, he had mentioned that he had the life regret of never writing his book. His wife told him that he still had plenty of life to live and encouraged him to write the book he always wanted to.

The book “The Wisdom Of Walt” was written as both a story about the history of Disneyland as well as leadership and self-help through the lessons that Walt Disney went through while building his park.

The Wisdom Of Walt

When Jeffrey was speaking at ENMNCon, he talked about how we needed to be the hero in our own stories. Every story needs a hero who is willing to fail, willing to act, and willing to dream. And to get your dreams accomplished nobody can be that hero except for you.

His talk really connected with me. I try not to be the victim in my story, but sometimes that’s tough. I need to focus as much as possible on being my own hero and making sure that my dreams are my priorities.

Obviously as soon as the conference was done, I bought “The Wisdom of Walt”. To say that I’m devouring the book is an understatement! I’m putting off watching my favorite TV shows to read more and more of the book! I’m getting close to the end of it and I’m already planning on re-reading it because I know that there is so much to absorb in the book.

I love the history of Disneyland parts. I do know a lot of Disney history but I’m still learning new things. And I love the lessons that are in each chapter. The book is such a great mix of learning Disney history and leadership skills with fun facts about the parks.

Why am I sharing this all with you? Because Jeffrey A. Barnes is super amazing and is giving away a copy of “The Wisdom Of Walt” on my blog! Not only is he giving away a copy, the winner will have their copy signed and personalized!

All you have to do is enter at the bottom of this post. There are a bunch of ways to enter including commenting on here, following me on twitter/Facebook/Instagram, and tweeting out the contest (you can do that every day and earn extra entries!). The contest goes until midnight on Thursday September 24th so you have lots of time to enter and earn extra entries!

And if you don’t want to enter (or if you enter but don’t win), Jeffrey has decided to give all readers of Finding My Inner Bombshell $5 off his book if you order it through his website! All the books ordered through his website will be signed (just not personalized) and if you enter the code “blog” in the notes, you will get a $5 refund after purchase! If you would prefer the Kindle version, you can get that on Amazon (but no discount and obviously it won’t be signed).

Good luck to everyone who enters! And I hope that even if you don’t win, you get this book because it is truly amazing!

Please make sure you enter through the Rafflecopter below even if you just enter by writing a comment. I will be selecting the winner randomly from the Rafflecopter entries on Friday the 26th!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Posted in Celebrations, Food, Shopping

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Westside Wonderland (or Hanging Out At The Mall)

Posted on December 10, 2014 | Comments Off on Westside Wonderland (or Hanging Out At The Mall)

A fellow blogger had posted a giveaway that they were doing for an event at a mall near my house. I entered, but since I never win much, I didn’t pay too much attention to the details. A few days later, I got an email saying that I won, so I decided to do a bit more research to see what I had gotten myself into.

The event was Westside Wonderland, a shopping evening with food, drinks and entertainment.

Westside Wonderland

The contest I won was for 2 tickets, so I texted my friend Rayshell to see if she was free and wanted to come along. She could, so on Sunday she met me over at my house and we headed over to the event together.

We got there a little early, but we were able to check in and get our wristbands. We had a few shopping errands that we both wanted to run, so we went and did our shopping first. Then we decided to see what sort of offerings there were at the event.

There was a jewelry store that had some veggies, brownies, and sparkling cider so we hung out there for a bit (the jewelry was pretty awesome too but neither of us had the money to spend on it). There was also a photo booth set up and a DJ in the middle of the mall.

Then we noticed a crowd toward the other end of the mall so we headed there.

We knew that there would be food, but we had no idea that it would be like this.

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Fill R Up was there making these amazing savoy (and some sweet) Brioche donuts that were filled with savory foam and topped with lots of yummy things. Then, they were torched right there in front of us to be cooked!

It was so cool to watch, and everyone wanted a bite. We tried the Filly Tank (a Philly cheesecake style donut) and the Caprese Tank (which tasted like a pizza to me). Then we got some dessert with the Campfire Tank which was like a deconstructed s’more.

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We hung out at that food station for a while, but it was so good that we kept wanting to try more!

After that, we decided to head back toward where we started to see what other things were going on. We were both getting a little tired and didn’t have a lot of money to spend. So we were thinking that we were getting ready to leave soon.

Back near the entrance of the mall, there was a lounge area set up for attendees of the event (the mall was open to regular customers while we were there, so that’s why we needed the wristbands).

In the lounge area, Fleurish was there to help us all make our own flower arrangements. I had never heard of Fleurish before, but it’s such a cool idea! You get to make your own arrangements with the help of the employees in their studio and you can even take classes to be able to make arrangements at home!

Rayshell and I both wanted to make a little arrangement. And with some help from a Fleurish employee, I think we both did a pretty awesome job!

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After making our flower arrangements, it was time for us to head out. While we didn’t stay a long time at the event, we both had an awesome time and we got some shopping done and got some wonderful things to eat!

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Posted in Celebrations, Crafts, Food, Fun Stuff, Shopping

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Back To Basics (or How A Win At My Day Job Can Help My Acting Career)

Posted on August 1, 2013 | Comments Off on Back To Basics (or How A Win At My Day Job Can Help My Acting Career)

Yesterday at my day job, we had a little awards ceremony. I think calling it an awards ceremony was a bit of a stretch, but my boss decorated our break room and brought in Chinese food for us for lunch. And, as any awards ceremony would have, there were prizes.

From the time we came back to work in April until the end of the fiscal year in the beginning of July, there were a couple of contests going on. They were most number of memberships, most amount raised by memberships, most number of tickets sold, and most amount raised in ticket sales. We had similar contests last year, but I didn’t win any of them.

This year, the winners would get a Visa gift card and free tickets for shows coming up in our season. I wanted the free tickets because my dad is going to come back for another show this year and I wanted to treat him. And Visa gift cards are always nice for anything (like my Disneyland pass).

After the lunch portion, my boss first gave iTunes gift cards for those who didn’t win (at least everyone got something). Then, he awarded the person who got second place in memberships a gift card and 4 pairs of tickets to shows of their choice.

Then he announced that I actually won all four contests. I honestly wasn’t expecting that at all! I knew I had a chance at one, but who knew I’d get all four! So I got a very nice gift card and 8 pairs of tickets to shows in our upcoming season!

There’s a lot that I could use that gift card for. I wish I could use it to put toward my credit card, but you can’t do that (I checked). So what I’ve decided to do is to use it for some improv classes.

I’ve talked about how getting back into acting classes was one of my goals for this year. I need to get some more prestigious classes on my acting resume. Casting directors don’t really care unless you have improv training from one of the big schools. So I’ve decided that I want to go to UCB.

The gift card I got will pay for over half of my tuition for level 1. And it’s looking like I might be unemployed again in the fall, so I could take their intensive class and get the first level done in 2 weeks instead of 8. Then I could decide if I want to move on and then take those classes on the regular once a week schedule when I’m back at work.

I’m starting to get excited about this. The classes for the fall aren’t online yet, so I’ll keep checking until it is. But I think that I really am making the right move right now. While I’d love to use this gift card for next year’s Disneyland pass, maybe by taking this new improv class I can book an acting job that will pay for one.

I love when things fall into place for me like this!

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Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Fun Stuff, Work

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200 Posts! (or My 1st Giveaway!)

Posted on April 19, 2013 | 9 comments

I can’t believe I made it to 200 posts! That’s so amazing! And thank you everyone who has read at least some of those 200 posts!

And to celebrate, I have something for you. A while ago, I ordered a DVD of one of my favorite TV shows. It got lost in the mail, I had a new one sent to me, and then weeks later the original one showed up on my door. I asked the company if they wanted me to send it back, but they told me to keep it.

And I’ve decided to pass on that DVD to you!

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It’s season 3 of “Cougar Town”, which in my opinion is one of the funniest shows on tv right now. If you haven’t seen the show before, you should totally check it out. Here’s the extended preview of the 3rd season which aired last year.

So, what do you have to do to win this DVD? It’s really easy. All you have to do is comment on this blog post with either your favorite “Cougar Town” episode or if you’ve never seen the show, your favorite TV show. Make sure to include your email address so I can contact you if you win (it stays hidden and only I can see it). You have until midnight April 25th to enter. And on April 26th, I’ll be announcing the winner (which I will choose by using random.org). That’s it! (US residents only.)

This contest is being paid by me. I was not paid or sponsored to do this. I just wanted to share something with a reader, because you guys keep me going on this blog. I’d probably still write a little if nobody read it, but to do this 5 days a week for 200 posts is a lot!

So thank you for being on the journey I’ve gone on for the last 200 posts! And here’s to the next 200!

Update: Congrats to Erin who won the DVD!!

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Chocolate Heaven (or Happy Birthday Nestle Crunch!)

Posted on March 29, 2013 | Comments Off on Chocolate Heaven (or Happy Birthday Nestle Crunch!)

Warning, this is a picture heavy post because of all the delicious treats! Do not read on an empty stomach!

I was invited to the kick off party for the Nestle Crunch 75th Birthday Showdown (that’s a mouthful isn’t it?).

I wasn’t too sure what to expect, but I did know that I would be tasting some desert items that were made with Nestle Crunch bars.

I got to the party when it started at 1pm.

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As soon as I walked in, I saw Lynn from The Actor’s Diet and Jennie from Garlic My Soul. I was nice to see familiar faces especially since the bakery the event was being held at (Sweet E’s) was extremely crowded and at first it seemed a bit disorganized.

We got to check out the samples of all the different treats that we available to try.

A Crunch Peanut Butter Brownie from Sweet E’s.

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A Crunch Chocolate Royalty Cupcake from Casey’s Cupcakes.

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A Candied Bacon Ice Cream Cookie from CoolHaus.

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And a Crumbs Crunch Cupcake from Crumbs Bake Shop.

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While we were checking out the awesome desserts, we had no idea if we were allowed to try them yet. So Lynn decided to be the brave one and took one off a plate.

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After we were there for about an hour, there was a little presentation with all the bakers, and they each explained their desserts.

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Then, finally, we got to try some!

I tried a little bit of each one, but those cupcakes were huge! My favorite was the ice cream. The candied bacon in it was delicious!

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As we were leaving, we all got a gift bag.

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Inside were samples of all the desserts we tried (except the ice cream which I got a gift card for). All the cupcakes are now in my freezer for when I have a sugar craving (although I promised to save some for my mom too).

If you want to check out all the desserts in the showdown, you can go here. There is voting for your favorite dessert until April 21st. The top three bakeries will compete in a final baking competition to declare the winner! If you want to try some of the desserts, all the bakeries competing in the contest are giving away samples of their entries (I highly encourage trying some of them).

I’m so excited that I got to attend this event, but I’m still on a bit of a sugar high from all the delicious treats!

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