Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

It's official.  I'm no longer allowed to say I'm one of those people that "never wins stuff."  In the past, I have been that person.  In fact, I was that person for almost three decades.  If there was luck involved in a contest, I had no chance.  (However, I did win several talent-based contests.  High School Poetry Contest Grand Prize Winner, thankyouverymuch).

So I was pretty happy when I married a guy that, on occasion, wins a contest or two!  The second we got anything resembling raffle tickets, I'd hand them straight over.  "You don't want to put your name on it, honey?" he'd say.

"No, darling, I'd prefer to think we'd have a chance," I'd reply.  (Yes, we're that charming and debonair)  We never won anything big.  The flat-screen TV's and 3-day cruises passed us by.  But the $25 Olive Garden gift cards and neon orange Super Soakers?  All ours, baby.  I had my low-level lucky charm by my side, and life was grand.

However, my luck started to change last Christmas.  No, not this past one. The one before.  Yes, 2011.  We went to our apartment complex's Christmas party, and I somehow ended up with the raffle tickets.  It was complete oversight on my part, my husband had to run after a (then two-year-old) Dragon, and I completely forgot to stuff the ticket in his pants pocket on his way by.  So imagine my surprise when, while I held the ticket, we won $25 off our next month's rent!  Small potatoes, sure, but it was $25 that stayed in our bank account!

I was even more surprised when the very next night, at our church's Ladies' Holiday Dinner, I won a door prize! It was an adorable serving platter.  I used it this year to hold candy  (The "Hand-Painted" sticker on the back made me a bit leery of putting anything on it that didn't come pre-wrapped).  And that was it for a whole year.  No prizes, no raffle wins, nada.  I had almost forgot those two beautiful, shining days when I... was a winner.

So imagine my surprise when, just a few weeks after launching my blog, I won the Cravebox Blog Review Challenge!  On my VERY FIRST blog review, no less!  I did use one of the Craveboxes I won as my first blog giveaway (you all remember that, right?  I'd be a bit concerned if you didn't... it was only a few weeks ago) but the thrill was BACK!

(EDIT:  I just found out that the awesome chica that won the Cravebox Giveaway did posted about it on her blog, Only Average Mom!  Check out the review here!  Also, she won another contest from Beauty Army yesterday!  Hooray, winning is contagious!)

Next, I found out that I won a Starlooks box through a contest on MakeupTalk.com.  "What?" I said.  "But I never win stuff!"  I got the February box, and I will absolutely be reviewing it soon for you, my lovely readers.  *Spoiler Alert* It's amazing!

And a few days after that?  I got an email from the online education course I took last year.  They sent me a survey at the end of the course, and I let them know exactly how I felt.  For example, I was happy to enlighten them that there were spelling and grammar errors during the "Grammar" section of the course.  I was shocked when I learned that I won a $100 AmEx gift card for taking the survey!  I guess they appreciated my honesty!

And finally, just last night, I got an email that I will be receiving the Sweet 'n' Spicy Voxbox from Influenster! Ok, so this isn't actually a contest.  Influenster is a social networking program that will occasionally send out products to review.  But hey, it's my first Voxbox, and anytime I get a box of free stuff in the mail, I'm gonna say that I won SOMETHING!

So, has my luck changed?  Can I expect more of these wins? (oh, I hope so!)  Maybe.  Maybe not.  But in the meantime...

Hi, I'm Leigh.  Wife, mom, blogger... and WINNER! Yay!

Love, Leigh