Monday, May 12, 2008

The Great Coloring Book Giveaway!

Win a free autographed copy!

This past week I had a great time with Katy and Emily (pictured on the left), who were in Los Angeles for a short, but lovely visit. They are very dear friends from the old middle school days on Maui, Hawaii. And now we're all grown up, stepping into adulthood together!

Also, Katy just so happens to be an amazing artist by the name of Renee K. Coates, whose Hawaii-influenced artwork can be found at her website here. Among her many creative endeavors, she recently published a coloring book! Isn't that cool? The Road to Hana tells the story of a family who explores the little town of Hana-Maui during their vacation in Hawaii. It is filled with gorgeous illustrations, and makes a perfect gift for anyone! The coloring book is available for purchase at amazon.com here. I am so proud of my friend, and thrilled that our shared background of Hawaiian life and culture is such a foundational part of her art.

Here is the good news for you, readers. Renee wants to give away a free autographed copy to one of you! That's right - you have the opportunity to receive your own copy of The Road to Hana (retailed at $11.99), sent directly from the author. Pretty much as good as winning an actual trip to Hawaii, if you ask me.

So without further ado, The Great Coloring Book Giveaway!

How can you put your name into the running for the prize? Simple! Answer the question below, either in a comment, or via email to larissalmarks (at) gmail (dot) com. Comments will close at 12pm PST on Friday, May 16th. A winner will be chosen at random, and announced here on the blog on Saturday, May 17th. Make sure you leave your name and a way to contact you if you win. And feel free to pass on the word about this, and let others know about the contest!

Here is the contest question (in the spirit of Hawaii), which you may answer however you want:

What would be your ultimate dream vacation? Where would you go, who would you take, what would you do?

Good luck!

31 comments:

  1. I'd love to visit Mexico someday. : )

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  2. My dream vacation would be to go to Europe with my family!

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  3. I'm doing my dream vacation in June. A 7 day Alaskan cruise with my family.

    dolls123[at]gmail[dot]com

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  4. My dream vacation would be Orlando, FL with tons of funds to do EVERYTHING we wanted to do there. Ok, so it's a fantasy vacation. :D

    thanks!

    daniela6968(at)gmail(dot)com

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  5. I'd go to Ireland, I'd stay at least a week, two if I could, I would see the past, embrace the present (in the pubs) and dream the future with all the folks I could meet. I would take hubby because he too would enjoy seeing all that Ireland has to offer in terms of history, customs and scenery.

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  6. This is like asking me what my last meal would be. Stressful, haha!

    If I could pick anything though? I'd pick a backpacking trip through South America. I'd take my friend Frankie, because he'd appreciate it and because I know I'd have an incredible time with him.

    This coloring book looks really lovely. If I win, I'm going to share it with my roommate's 5 year old daughter Desiree, who is Ecuadorian and Mexican and just gorgeous.

    I love contests/blog posts that support other people! Particularly other people's art! Yay :)

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  7. My dream vacation would be to the muldive islands in the Indian Ocean. So peaceful, beautiful, serene. Thanks for the contest, the coloring book looks really great!!

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  8. YAy! The road to Hana was so much fun when we went!

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  9. What a cool giveaway - and also fantastic talent coming from Katy!

    Just popped on over after reading your comment on the asparagus, only to be posed with the question of a dream trip, which in my case, would be a 4-week adventure to Patagonia. That will happen in time, as soon as we can save up 6 G's in euros!

    rowena(at)hawaiistories(dot)com

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  10. There are so many! But I had to answer this because Hawaii is where I leave my heart. I visited for the first time when I was 10 with my parents and have been back 3 times. Most recently, twice last year, once for my wedding and again for Christmas.

    so my dream would be to go back again with my family and not have to worry about money. Also, not have to leave ;)

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  11. I would def go backpacking through Europe. I would take my boyfriend or my best friend. I want to see it all. :)

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  12. Ooh, great question.

    Right now, my dream vacation is a month-long trip to Italy, Greece and Turkey. Plenty of culture plus time to lay on some beautiful beaches. Also, excellent food!

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  13. As of now, my dream vacation is in the planning stages! My boyfriend and I are planning on a 3 month tour through India in 2010! We love traveling and he's already spent a good deal of time in India before.

    (You don't have to enter me into the Giveaway since I'm in Korea. Kind of a bummer I don't get to be a part of fun things like this, but it's still awesome to be part of things this way! I teach English here in Seoul and one of my coworkers is from Hawaii! My boyfriend is Korean and he always says the only fair place for us to finally settle down is Hawaii because it is 12 hours from Korea and 12 hours from TN. I would be totally cool with that!)

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  14. She is just lovely, and so is her artwork! love it!

    My dream vacation has been Paris since I was about 10... I better not have taken 4 years of French for nothing! Hubby better deliver on one of our upcoming anniversaries. :)

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  15. My semi-cop-out, semi-serious answer for the IV Campus minister: Je-sus?

    The ultimate dream vacation would be.....HEAVEN! No, seriously. For me, the ideal vacation would be both restful AND exciting. What better place is the perfection of each? It'd be tight to fly there with a new set of wings - in the pf flyer variety. Currently, I'm trying to get all my homies (and my not-so-homies to come with me). Some keep being flaky though, which is always frustrating when planning a vacation. Once there though, I wanna schedule in some marshmellow-cloud eating time for sure, but other than that, it also seems like a good place to just be spontaneous. Fo' real doe.
    *end preaching*
    *end cheeziness*

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  16. My dream vacation would be Italy. I cannot remember the city off the top of my head but there is a university and church I'd love to visit. I'm a HUGE anatomy and cadaver fan. The university I'm talking about is a place where they had some of the first live/public autopsies. You can still see the room they took place in. As for the church, the walls are lined with bones from priests. I think it would be an amazing trip for the science geek in me as well as the adventurer and food junkie in me :) I don't know who I would take. They'd have to be okay with me talking about cadavers and anatomy throughout the whole trip. Perhaps my mom!

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  17. I would love to visit Paris, simply for the fact that I want to visit The Lourve. I've never ever been there, and it's definitely a place I want to visit before I die. I would take my future husband with me. :)

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  18. My dream vacation:

    I of course would want Sam to go, but I think it would also be fun to have another couple along. More to talk about. That couple is dependent on who could take the time off, ditch their kids and come with us.

    6 months exploring Europe via railways, taxis, bikes. I would start in England tour castles, see Big Ben, experience the culture for a week, then go on to Norway. Norway we would hike and take photos for a couple weeks. Plus visit the town of EBNET where Sam and I would be hailed as rock-stars.

    We would then travel into Sweden for a few days. From there take the train into Denmark and onto Germany where we would stay at the Ebnet hotel. From there go into Czech Republic and into Slovakia where my people are from. In particular check out my great grandma's house that is still standing in Strezenice. On thru Austria and Switzerland into France. We would bike thru France, to truly experience the country side, wine, cheese and community life. Then travel down into Italy where we would eat and drink merrily .

    Most of all I don't want to feel rush, just take our time. If we hear of something new to see, then see it. I want to go thru many memory cards of photos, and spend enough time not to feel like a tourist. If we had time left over then Ireland and Scotland would be added, although we could return another time to visit there.

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  19. Love the illustration on the front cover. I'm sure the inside is just as pretty. :)

    My dream vacation would be to Japan with just my husband. We'd visit some of his family. And knowing us the vacation would be revolved around eating. We're serious foodies.

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  20. I would love to go to Greece. My husband is half Greek and his family celebrates the Greek holidays. I didn't grow up with any culture in my family and I love the fact that my daughter gets to have that experience. I would love to take her and show her where she is "from".

    rbmmom@yahoo.com

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  21. This is like picking my favorite food- hard to pick just one. But I think it would be awesome to take two weeks to explore either Ireland or South Africa (yes- I realize they are vastly different :) ) with a bunch of my best girlfriends.

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  22. I'd love to take a family vacation to the Australia Zoo.

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  23. I would go back to Lanai and go snorkelling again. I think that was the most amazing and relaxing two hours of my whole life.

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  24. a very cute blog you have here : ) just came by via dolce. i will be back soon!

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  25. I'd love to go to Maldives again, with my hubby, and i would love to go scuba diving.

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  26. oOOoO fun question!

    I think I'd have to say a road trip from Portugal and then around Spain would be my ultimate dream vacation. I LOVE Spain, but I've only really spent time in Madrid and Marbella. I'd start in Portugal and then go to Grenada, Sevilla, Malaga, Madrid again, and Barcelona. (Obviously in the order that would make most sense...haha) I'd eat tapas and drink sangria and it'd be glorious. Oh, and of course explore the art - the picasso section was under renovation when i was at the museum sofia reina in madrid! sad.

    As for who I'd want to be there with...my future husband! lol

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  27. I'd go to Tulsa.

    No, seriously. All four of my grandparents are still living, and they're are within about a three-mile radius of Tulsa, Oklahoma. The two weeks I used to spend there every summer qualify me to say that it's not a great vacation spot; but now, as an adult who kind of misses forced time with extended family, I feel like I want to go back. Like there's a lot to learn there. Like I'll have time for the tropics and the sea coast later, but the door to my past through them is closing, faster than I like.

    If I could suspend age and time, I'd take them with me somewhere exotic. But I think I'd be satisfied just to fit into their daily routine for a few weeks, and learn and love all I could.

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  28. The Lake District in Northern England! Sheep, streams, stone walls, pastures, ferries, William Wordsworth's church and tomb, Beatrix Potter's house, a gingerbread factory, delightful forest creatures, and lakes! I would go with my husband, who would recite bucolic poetry to me as we wandered through little wooden gates from field to field. (And he'd also by me lots of souveneirs.)

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  29. I just wanted to say that you look great in this pic and I want your top!

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  30. I'm so glad I got a chance to see you and Katy. Old friends are something special. I'm proud of how my friends have turned out--such lovely ladies!

    I know I missed the drawing--but right now my dream vacation is to backpack on the Na Pali coast on Kauai.

    Or maybe a beach town in Mexico--I'm so close now and it is good to experience new cultures.

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