Cold Stone Creamery and Make-A-Wish Foundation-Sept 30 FREE Ice Cream and GIVEAWAY

CONGRATULATIONS TO #6 AS CHOSEN BY RANDOM.ORG! Please respond to my email within 72 hours. Thanks everyone for participating and look out for a new giveaway soon!
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While I've been training for the San Jose Half-Marathon and raising funds for Ullrich CMD research, I've been thinking a lot about kids who have life-threatening illnesses and how lucky I am that my boys are healthy. R was sick every day from month 1 to month 11 of his life with one infection after another. I remember being so frustrated and agonizing over what we could do to help him feel better. At one point the infection was so bad it spread throughout his upper respiratory tract and turned into pneumonia, for which he was hospitalized. Life finally got better for all of us when he had ear tubes surgery in month 11. When I think about what a big deal I made about it and compare it to what parents of really sick kids go through, I do feel a little ashamed of myself.

I found out about 11-year-old Kate at the Dinner’s On Us event sponsored by Bloganthropy.org and Child's Play Communications at the Blogher conference in New York last month. Kate has a life-threatening congenital spinal-cord condition. Her Make-A-Wish Foundation wish was to be the Cold Stone Tastemaster and she’s hoping ice cream lovers around the country will dig into the exclusive ice cream Creation that she developed. Cold Stone Creamery and the Make-A-Wish Foundation are inviting the country to help make Kate’s wish come true by participating in the “World’s Largest Ice Cream Social.” I had a chance to sample her creation and was amazed that the young chef could come up with such a flavorful Creation. I was also inspired by her making a wish, unlike a trip to Disneyland or another amusement park, that means part of Kate's life will always be a part of our national zeitgeist.  


Throughout September, every Cold Stone store nationwide will sell paper wish stars for $1 each. The month-long fundraiser will culminate in the ninth-annual “World’s Largest Ice Cream Social” this Thursday, Sept. 30. During the social, Cold Stone locations will give away three-ounce portions of Kate’s Creation from 5-8 p.m., while encouraging guests to make a donation to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Cold Stone Creamery has supported the Make-A-Wish Foundation since 2002, generating more than $3.6 million in donations.

Kate, who hails from Tampa, Fla., was inspired to become this year’s Cold Stone Creamery wish kid after she attended last year’s social. An ice cream connoisseur, Kate discovered that a wish kid has the responsibility of creating an exclusive Creation for the “World’s Largest Ice Cream Social.” When the Make-A-Wish Foundation asked Kate for her most heartfelt wish, she knew she was the perfect candidate for the position. In March, Kate traveled to the Cold Stone Creamery World Headquarters in Scottsdale, Ariz., to work with the Cold Stone Tastemaster to mix up this year’s Make-A-Wish Creation. Kate was named “Junior Tastemaster” and invented Kate’s Creation: caramel apple ice cream mixed with graham cracker pie crust, chocolate shavings and apple pie filling. Her exclusive Creation will be featured at Cold Stone locations throughout September. “My wish day at Cold Stone was the most delicious day of my life!” Kate exclaimed.

I hope Random Mommy ice cream lovers and supporters of the Make-A-Wish Foundation will be part of Kate’s wish and visit their local Cold Stone Creamery on Thursday, Sept. 30. You will get FREE ice cream this Thursday, and to help you continue to enjoy Cold Stone creations, Random Mommy is giving away one $10 Gift Card for future use!

HOW TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY: Contest period runs from Sunday, September 26, 2010 at 3:01 PM (Pacific) until Sunday, October 3, 2010 at 11:59 PM (Pacific). Enter by leaving the name of your favorite dessert, and leave your e-mail address OR sign in to comments using your Blogger ID, making sure your Blogger profile is public and includes your e-mail address.


Bonus Entries (leave a separate comment for each entry, it counts if you've done any of these so leave a comment for each one)

1) Follow me on Twitter
2) Tweet this contest and leave the tweet url
3) Follow my blog with Google Friend Connect by clicking on the sidebar

If you don't leave a qualifying comment and your e-mail address or public Blogger profile, your entry will be disqualified. I reserve the right to extend the contest period. At the end of the contest period, I will utilize Random.org to randomly choose the winner. The winner will be contacted by e-mail and will have 72 hours to respond to my e-mail. If the winner does not respond within 72 hours, the prize will go to the next place winner as decided by Random.org. This contest is open for US Residents only. A huge thank you and much appreciation to my friends at Cold Stone Creamery for their generosity! Good luck!

I did not receive compensation for this post. I received product samples at the Bloganthropy event to facilitate my review.

Cold Stone Creamery Facebook Contest-GIVEAWAY

CONGRATULATIONS TO #27, #17, AND #3 AS CHOSEN BY RANDOM.ORG. PLEASE REPLY TO MY EMAIL WITHIN 72 HOURS WITH YOUR MAILING ADDRESS. Thanks to everyone who entered. Another fun giveaway will be coming up shortly!

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I Scream, you scream, we all scream for ICE CREAM! As you know, my family eats ice cream on a daily basis. After all, with osteoporosis in the family you can't be too careful, and ice cream is a great source of calcium! Lately, I've been enjoying the Gold Cone collection at Cold Stone Creamery. Gold Cone flavors are ten flavors that have been and will continue to be unveiled throughout 2010. This summer Cold Stone Creamery is celebrating the Gold Cone collection with the Gold Cone Contest and three delicious fresh fruit flavors: Key Lime, Harvest Peach, and Blueberry. Starting today, fans can leave comments on Cold Stone Creamery's Facebook page about the featured summer flavors. Three lucky winners will be chosen to work with Cold Stone Creamery's Tastemaster in a flavor development competition during a three-day, two-night trip to the company's headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona. The winning flavor will be featured in stores nationwide in 2011. Additionally, three ice cream enthusiasts will win a free ice cream party for friends and family in their hometown. The contest starts today June 30 and will run through August 24, 2010.

Some of the different ways you can enjoy the Gold Cone flavors during the contest period are as follows:

Key Lime ice cream: a tangy meringue flavor packed with an extra burst of a tart key lime crunch

• Creation: Key to My Heart – Key Lime ice cream mixed with graham cracker pie crust, raspberries and whipped topping
• Pie: Key Lime Sunshine – Key Lime ice cream with graham cracker pie crust in a graham cracker pie crust with fluffy white frosting rosettes and sprinkled with Key Lime candy pieces
• Shake: Pineapple Key Lime Pucker – Key Lime ice cream with Pineapple

Harvest Peach ice cream: a refreshing taste of ripe, sun-kissed summer peaches as a cool creamy treat

• Creation: Peaches & Creamery – Harvest Peach ice cream mixed with graham cracker pie crust, peach pie filling and banana
• Pie: Sweet as a Peach – Harvest Peach ice cream with graham cracker pie crust in a graham cracker pie crust with fluffy white frosting rosettes and sprinkled with graham cracker pie crust
• Shake: What a Peach – Harvest Peach ice cream with graham cracker pie crust

Blueberry ice cream: a temptingly tart taste of fresh blueberries

• Creation: Blueberry Bliss– Blueberry ice cream mixed with graham cracker pie crust, blueberries and whipped topping
• Pie: Blueberry Crème – Blueberry ice cream with graham cracker pie crust in a graham cracker pie crust with fluffy white frosting rosettes and sprinkled with graham cracker pie crust
• Shake: Blueberry Natural – Blueberry ice cream with blueberries

Once you've tried the flavors, get on Cold Stone's Facebook page to enter. I can hear the Key Lime creation calling my name. I will definitely be entering the contest! To make it easy to enter, Cold Stone Creamery will give THREE lucky Random Mommy readers $20 gift cards so they can try the different renditions of the Gold Cone flavors.

HOW TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY:  Contest period runs from Wednesday, June 30, 2010 at 12:01 AM (Pacific) until Wednesday, July 7, 2010 at 11:59 PM (Pacific). Enter by leaving a comment on what is your favorite ice cream flavor/creation, and leave your e-mail address OR sign in to comments using your Blogger ID, making sure your Blogger profile is public and includes your e-mail address.

Bonus Entries (leave a separate comment for each entry, it counts if you've done any of these so leave a comment for each one)
1) Follow me on Twitter
2) Follow my blog with Google Friend Connect by clicking on the sidebar
3) Follow Cold Stone Creamery on Twitter
4) Become a fan of Cold Stone Creamery on Facebook
5) Enter the Gold Cone Contest on Facebook and leave a copy here of the comment you left on the Cold Stone wall

If you don't leave a qualifying comment and your e-mail address or public Blogger profile, your entry will be disqualified. I reserve the right to extend the contest period. At the end of the contest period, I will utilize Random.org to randomly choose the THREE winners. Winners will be contacted by e-mail. Winners have 72 hours to respond to my e-mail. If the winners do not respond within 72 hours, the prizes will go to the next place winner(s) as decided by Random.org. This contest is open for US Residents only. A huge thank you and much appreciation to Cold Stone Creamery for its generosity! Good luck!

I did not receive compensation for this post. I received a gift card to facilitate my review.

Cold Stone Creamery-Review and Father's Day Giveaway

CONGRATS TO WINNERS: 39-Michelle, 11-Parentingbydummies, 16-Thien-Kim, and 24-Amy@selfishmom!
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 I LOVE ice cream. So does everyone in my family, including my in-laws. My mother-in-law gained 5 lbs when she lived in Sweden because she ate ice cream everyday. When you start from a weight of 89 lbs, that's pretty significant. My sister was diagnosed with having too high a calcium level in her blood (didn't even think this was possible for women) so she stopped eating ice cream as meals. I think it's pretty telling when your sister-in-law expects you to have three different kinds in your freezer. And ever since the pediatrician said that ice cream is a good source of calcium (a cup has 20% RDA for kids), my kids have eaten it every day. R was below the 10th percentile for weight and refused to drink milk when this started so we were happy to find something fatty with calcium we could give him. If weight ever becomes an issue with the boys, we'll stop, don't worry!

Cold Stone Creamery was one of my favorite companies at the LA Mom Blogger Event in April, so I was thrilled when the opportunity came up to taste Chocolate Peanut Butter, the June flavor of Cold Stone's Gold Cone Collection, super-premium ice cream line. I half expected it to taste like the ice cream version of a certain chocolate peanut butter candy that comes in pieces, but it was much better. It actually tasted like chocolate and real peanut butter, yum! I love real peanut butter (the kind that has two ingredients: peanuts and salt) and that's the flavor that came through, which is pretty amazing scientifically since freezing peanut butter makes it too hard to eat. Then the oils separate upon thawing turning whatever you made into a goopy mess. I don't know how Cold Stone got around this problem, but whatever they did, they produced one delicious ice cream. Stewart and the boys loved it from first bite like I did so I had to hide it in the garage freezer so they wouldn't eat it all in one day. (If you didn't already know, every Korean family with space for one has a garage fridge to hold the dried anchovies and fish they bring back from trips to Korea.)

In honor of Father's Day, Cold Stone Creamery will give FOUR lucky Random Mommy readers $25 gift cards so they can have the chance to taste the June Cold Cone flavor (perhaps as the Chocolate Peanut Butter Creation pictured to the right, which is Chocolate Peanut Butter ice cream mixed with brownies, fudge and peanut butter) or maybe treat dad to the Cold Stone Father’s Day cake (which will be made with the Oreo Creme Filling ice cream I tried at the blogger event). In addition to the giveaway, everyone is a winner in June because E! Online is celebrating 20 years of E! with a coupon (available only for a limited time) for 20% off any Cold Stone purchase (scroll down to find the coupon link).

HOW TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY:  Contest period runs from Tuesday, June 1, 2010 at 12:01 AM (Pacific) until Monday, June 7, 2010 at 11:59 PM (Pacific). Enter by leaving a comment on why your husband/partner/father is a super dad, and leave your e-mail address OR sign in to comments using your Blogger ID, making sure your Blogger profile is public and includes your e-mail address.

Bonus Entries (leave a separate comment for each entry)
1) Follow me on Twitter (it counts if you're already a follower so leave a comment)
2) Tweet this contest (http://tinyurl.com/2bap2dp) and leave the tweet url
3) Follow Cold Stone Creamery on Twitter
4) Become a fan of Cold Stone Creamery on Facebook

If you don't leave a qualifying comment and your e-mail address or public Blogger profile, your entry will be disqualified. I reserve the right to extend the contest period. At the end of the contest period, I will utilize Random.org to randomly choose the FOUR winners. Winners will be contacted by e-mail. Winners have 72 hours to respond to my e-mail. If the winners do not respond within 72 hours, the prizes will go to the next place winner(s) as decided by Random.org. This contest is open for US Residents only. A huge thank you and much appreciation to Cold Stone Creamery for its generosity!

I did not receive compensation for this post. I received a product sample in order to facilitate my review.