Beach Blogging BINGO

OK, forgive me. I just had to share this news with you, my loyal and tortured readers! 😉 I was notified last week by the fine people at Marriot Resorts that I was selected as one of the top five finalists in their beach blogger contest! Yippeeee!

Feel free to cast your vote for me to make me a castaway in one of their posh Caribbean resorts. They say you can vote daily for about another week.

But garnering votes is really not the impetus for sharing this – though I don’t mind your support, certainly!  I am in illustrious and talented company as a finalist, and the fact that my silly Gina-style entry blurb captured their attention to move me to the next level makes me giddy!

See? I have experience here...

However, comma, there is another force in motion here, and that is this: The effusive love, cheers and  support I’ve received from friends online and off has been so heartwarming and bowl-overing that, at the risk of sounding trite (hey, I take risks), I feel a winningness inside that cannot be snuffed out. Yes, even if there were an announcement that the lobster-wielding dude is going in my stead.

Please don’t infer that I’m adopting a defeatist attitude.  Of course I’d love to go to a warm sandy beach and savor the delights so that I may share them with you!  In my true interactive travel spirit, I’d even accept umbrella drink suggestions 😉 I just thought I’d share the happy buzz I already have.  So, I felt a need to write this post to express my gratitude in more than little snippets on Facebook, or emails or 140-character-limited tweets.

Thank you all. Immensely! That is all.

P.S. I implore you in any comments you may leave, not to tease me and invoke the #Winning! mantra! heehee

All photos by G.Stark except where she is in them 😉