What Is Happening Today On Gather - Tuesday August 12 2008

It is really beginning to feel a lot like fall around here.  There is a definite nip to the air.  The leaves are oh so slightly beginning to turn colors. Fall is a beautiful time of year in my area with all the colors  showing themselves. What does the fall season look like in your area?

Congratulations to the first group of winners in the Invite-a-thon for August 11

Pam Johnston  has announced the first group of winners in the Invite-a-thon. Congratulations to all the winners. 

Sharon Lake (midnightstar.gather.com) and her friend Jeannette Montagu (persephone58.gather.com)

Raighne T. (rifmstr625.gather.com) and her friend Mari Silver (grammamari.gather.com)
 

Jan S. (jani417.gather.com) and her friend Jean Williams (jeansms.gather.com)
 

Bhawana (bhawana.gather.com) and her friend Blossom (blossy.gather.com)
 

Rae M. (ladym33.gather.com) and her friend Robert M. (thedaddym.gather.com)

To learn more you can read Pam's post here.

Gather's 1^st ever Invite-a-thon

Don't forget about Gather's 1^st ever Invite-a-thon!  You can read more about that here. 

 Here is a quick summery:

Aug 4: Invite-a-thon begins

Aug 4- Aug 15: Official invitation period

Aug 11- Aug 15: Five friend pairs announced daily @ 5pm ET in the Gather Picks section of the Explore page. Points will be distributed to winners by 5pm ET the following day.

Aug 15 - Gather announces Grand Prize Winners @ 5:30pm ET

Aug 15: Invite-a-thon ends

So invite those friends and you could win big time.

Several of the following contests end this week.  So make sure you enter them if they sound like something you are interested in?

ENDING SOON   - DO YOU WRITE POETRY?

As children, we all grew up playing with trains and many of us attached a kind of fondness to them. We envisioned ourselves riding the rails heading to our "special destination." Some of us may still hold on to those childhood destinations, while others have realized the practical use of trains. Whatever the reason you love trains, we want to give you the chance to share your affections in the All Aboard group and the "Next Stop" Poetry Contest.

You simply ell  why you love trains and where your train is taking you in a poem. The Gather community will vote to determine the 10 most creative and well-written poems. From there, the Gather Editorial Team will choose a Grand Prize Winner, who'll receive a $100 American Express Gift Card. Click here for all the details.Go here for all rules "Next Stop" Poetry Contest Rules & Regulations

All entries must be received by 11:59pm ET on August, 12, 2008.  Good luck to each of you.

What is Your Child's Favorite School Subject? Win a Subscription to StudyJams! and CDs!

All you have to do is leave a comment in this article by  Stefanie Plum, Gather Partner Team .  Leave your comment by August 13^th. Gather will  be drawing one member to win a year long subscription to StudyJams! and three members to receive StudyJams! Karaoke CDs!

YOU COULD WIN A BOOK JUST BY MAKING SOMETHING WITH YOUR CHILD.

Nancy Ellwood has submitted a discussion titled Make a Glam Bag from Old Pants - Tell Us About Your Projects for a Chance to Win "Make It!"  Will you set aside an hour during your day to complete this project with your child? She gives the directions on how to make this really cool bag from your old jeans.  Post your pictures of it to Parenting.gather.com.

Tell us what craft projects you've made from clothes by Thursday, August 14th. We'll choose two members to receive a free copy of Make It! from DK Publishing. Post your comments in the comment area of Nancy's post.  

Who's Your Favorite Star of the 70s? Win a Free DVD!

Do you remember the wonderful shows of the 70's.  Whatever happened to those cool shows? For a chance to win a DVD, answer the following question in the comment field of  the article that can be found here.

Who is your favorite movie star from the 1970s?

Responses must be posted by August 15^th. Gather will randomly select five members to win a copy of Starsky and Hutch.

HOW WOULD YOU LIKE A $200. AMERICAN EXPRESS CARD!!

The dinner table is a place where special family moments may happen. What memorable moments do you recall from a meal you had with your family?

Tell  about a moment that matters to you! Your story could earn you a $200 AMEX gift card that could be used towards purchasing your next set of groceries - and in turn, more dinnertime moments! Click here for all the details!

All entries must be received by 11:59pm ET on August, 15, 2008. The Gather Editorial Team will choose the Grand Prize Winner, who will receive a $200 American Express Gift Card.

 Jennifer Hodge, Member Experience  has submitted a very interesting post. Here at Gather, we love watching our developers play. We thought it would be fun to share some of their "sandbox" ideas with you. Some of the ideas you'll find here in the Gather Labs will be crazy, out-of-the-box, cutting edge... others will simply be ideas in progress. Some features may one day be available across the entire site, many will not. Either way, we thought you might enjoy seeing some of our creativity at work. You can read the entire post here.

ARE YOU THE NEXT WINNER?

 Are you going to be the next winner? Don't forget that you can have a chance to win 1000 points until Aug 31. Free points is just like free money!  Have you joined the Relax group yet? You are going to love this offer. You can win 1000 points. Yep, you heard me right. They are going to be giving away 1000 points each week.  All you have to do is be a member of the Relax group.  Christine M. Team Gather  has written an article with more details in it. Click here to read the article. This group is owned by Westin Hotels & Resorts . So if you want more points, hurry on over and join the group. This promotion will last  will run until August, 31.

Have you checked out the  group called Nourish Your Morning? They have this really cool contest going on right now.  

Heidi G., 3-A-Day  has published an article called Enter the "Start Your Day with Dairy" Contest for a Chance to Win a Cookbook!  All you have to do is Submit your best dairy breakfast recipe to win a customized Nourish Your Morning cookbook from TasteBook^TM, featuring recipes from 3-A-Day^TM of Dairy and YOU.  The open submission period for this contest ends Sept 30 2008 @ 11:59 PM  EST

YOU COULD GET 1,000 GATHER POINTS

Balanced Living is sponsoring a Balanced Living Journal.  It is so easy to participate. All you have to do is keep an online healthy living journal between August 12^th and August 20^th. You do have to submit this journal to the Balanced Living group.

At the end of the challenge, Gather will select five members who posted at least five journals between the specified dates to receive 1,000 Gather points.

To learn more- you can read Stefanie Plum, Gather Partner Team  post here.

Today's individual in the spotlight is sharon - mom to all is a wise woman.  Sharon was nominated by Peter Joseph Swanson,.  He had this to say about Sharon: "

I have to say that Sharon is a really nice lady.

Cogratulations Sharon!

TODAY ON GATHER ARTICLE INFORMATION

This article is a place where your opinions are always welcome and you will always find a friend. I have a place reserved just for you. I do read all comments and usually try to acknowledge those comments as well. Keyword being "try". There is always a place reserved just for you in the Gather Community. You need never be alone.

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Today On Gather article is published each weekday to the group Today On Gather and Gather Essentials: News .

You will find many more updates in past articles.