Summer 2009 is over — you’ll never be able to go back. Do you have any regrets? Something you wish you’d done differently? Well too bad! Those hot, lazy summer days are behind you now. No more sexy ladies in bikinis. No more poolside margaritas. 
No more hipster girls in plaid shirts riding a mechanical bull straight into the future! It’s time to set your sights on candy corn and crunchy leaves, pumpkins and pea coats! I look so adorable in a pea coat, you guys. For real.
But wait! Before you pack up your two-piece and gain five lbs, let’s commemorate our sizzling summer of awesome with a contest!
The Autostraddle End-of-Summer Scavenger Hunt!
Here’s how it works. We’ve made a list of 20 Summer Activities. Your job is to pick three of these scenes — that’s right, just three! We’re so nice to you! — and photograph them, and then email your photos to green at autostraddle dot com by 5:00 p.m. PST on Monday, August 31. You will be entered to win one of nine prize paks!
Winners will be announced Thursday, September 3. Eight winners will be chosen from a hat (a fedora, to be exact) and one additional lucky winner will get BEST IN SHOW for our personally favorite photo, which is totally subjective.
We have three very special prizes — one for dog-lovers, one for bicycle-lovers, and and one for book-lovers — which you can win only if you send in the corresponding photograph. These photograph scenes are marked with a * below.
Rules: You must be in every picture! Ok, that’s a little too strict. You may photograph your friends or siblings or enemies but LISTEN UP — we’re trusting that you won’t steal images from the internet because stealing is cheating and everyone knows that cheating is for total losers.
For every three pictures you send, your name will be entered into the magical fedora one time. So if you email six pictures of your smiling face, your name will be in my hat twice! Get it? If you send in all 20 pictures, your name will be entered seven times because I like to round up. Also, sending pictures of all 20 scenes will mean that you had the Best Summer Ever, so go ahead and give yourself a pat on the back!
Winning photos will be posted on Autostraddle for all the world to see! (Unless you tell us not to). This contest is open to Autostraddle readers & family members of all 283746827 sexes! I’ll even allow stuffed animals to enter, provided they’re as well-groomed and articulate as Tinkerbell.
Choose at least three of these Summer Activities To Photograph:
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1. Attending a Pride Event
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2. Being on a bicycle *One Less Car* entry!
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3. Going back-to-school shopping!
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4. Rolling down a hill
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5. Attending an outdoor function at which food cooked on a grill is the main source of nourishment
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6. Walking/playing with your dog *Love me, Love my Dog* entry!+
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7. Visiting an amusement park
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8. Going on a picnic
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9. Washing your car in a bikini
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10. Reading a book near water *Print is Not Dead* entry!
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11. Visiting a national park or monument
12. Wearing swimwear
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13. Eating ice cream or popsicles
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14. Camping
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15. Being sunburned
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16. Drinking beer from a cooler while sitting in a lawn chair or the back of a pickup truck
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17. Flip-flop tan lines
18. Turning your shirt into a bikini top by tucking the bottom of it into the top of it you know what I’m talking about
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19. Enjoying the 4th of July
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20. Attending a music festival
Prizes for our End-of-Summer Scavenger Hunt have been generously provided by…
Growkids, an Earth-friendly fundraising company dedicated to achieving prosperity for schools and organizations through the sale of sustainable, natural products.
“[Our] vision is to nurture and raise awareness for the Earth and to help consumers realize that the choices we make impact our environment and, ultimately, the quality of each of our lives. Growkids promotes products that are produced organically, are made from recycled materials and serve an environmental purpose.”
Microcosm Publishing is an independent publisher and distributor of zines, books, pamphlets, stickers, mini-buttons, patches, t-shirts, posters, films, and more.
“We hope to add credibility to zine writers and their ethics, teach self empowerment, show hidden history, and nurture people’s creative side.”
Carissa Halston is a writer and word-lover whose literary performance tour, Portraiture, kicks off next month in New York City [click here for a complete list of cities and dates]. Look for the review of Carissa’s book, A Girl Named Charlie Lester, in the September issue of Curve, which is out now!
Cheryl R., my “roommate,” watches the Food Network and a ton of documentaries. When she’s awake, she can usually be found knitting or crocheting. Cheryl enjoys ginger snaps and Southern Comfort, though not simultaneously. Her lifelong dream is to live on a sheep farm and hand-dye her own yarn.
Prizes!
- these are only a few of the lovely things you can auto-win!
Prize Paks include Long-sleeve and short-sleeved Growkids t-shirts, notebooks, canvas grocery bags, green totebags, vegetable, herb & aromatherapy seed packs, hand soap, thank you cards, vegetable washes and SO! MUCH! MORE!
Our very special prize paks include:
*Love me, love my dog!* Prize Pak: Long-Sleeved T-Shirt, Pet Shampoo, Pet Collar and Pet Leash
*one less car!* Prize Pak: Short-sleeved GrowKids shirt, a Camelbak Better Bottle with handmade crocheted cozie, a set of bike-themed patches from Microcosm Publishing, 1 lip balm that I wanted to steal but didn’t
*print is not dead!* Prize Pak: 1 copy of Sick, 1 copy of Dwelling Portably 1990 – 1999, 1 set of stickers from Microcosm Publishing, 1 copy of A Girl Named Charlie Lester
I AM DRINKING RIGHT NOW ON A LAWN CHAIR ALL CAPS
GRRRL TAKE A PICKSHUR
i would but i don’t want to totally intimidate THE COMPETITION IN MY FUCKIN PICK UP TRUCK
laneia you are magic. this is going to be so very exciting.
I facebook like this contest. I would even unlike it just so I could like it a second time.
HOW UNFORTUNATE THAT I DIDN’T TAKE ANY PICTURES THIS SUMMER [and those that I did are on film and I don’t have money to get them developed]!! TIME TO SCRAMBLE!
I’ve only done one of those things on the whole damn list. And here I thought I had a decent summer…
it’s rolling down a hill, isn’t it? it’s rolling down a hillllll!
actually there is still time to do these things! there is like 11 days!
lol. I actually use to live on a hill and we really did roll down it, skate down it and bicycle down it.. Ah…youth..
I makes me want to go jump on the trampoline no one has used in years. Except rust+my weight=hospital.
omg can we only pick three!!!! ive done alot of these. does my student ID suburnt picture count as a sunburn? i mean… its embarrassing!! cant wait!!!!
OMG Riese, the photo I sent you (from me and @hheeiiddii) has me with 12, 15, 17, half of 16 and 6 (yes my dog was also on the boat) in it. O yeah and does being on a boat in the middle of the sea in Spain get me any extra points?
I’M SO EXCITED
AND I JUST CAN’T HIDE IT
I’M ABOUT TO LOSE CONTROL
AND I THINK I LIKE IT
I’m so excited about this!!!
hello! hello beautiful people of the internet! i’ve edited the rules a bit to include the following information: for every three pictures you send in, your name goes in the hat once! so if you send in six pictures, your name will be entered twice! 9 = 3! get it? yayyyy!
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now go get drunk in a lawn chair by the pool w/ a book but don’t wear sunscreen! oh lookie there — you’ve just checked off three scenes!
So Laneia, say one were to jump the gun on the contest and sent in their pics the second they read about it. Then say one saw the changes to the contest after the fact. Could one email multiple times, or has one missed out on sending more than three pics and ruined their chances of winning the contest?
Just asking, you know, for a friend…
you can send in as many pictures as you please from now until monday!
At this very moment, I am drinking beer in the back of a uhaul. Dressed like Michelle rodriguez in girlfight. A picture of this could be the gayest thing ever- do I get an extra third of a point?
I can’t speak as to the actual rules of the contest, but you have my deepest respect, admiration, and jealousy. Go girl go
What about us southern hemisphere lasses who are just gearing up for summer?!?!
I think you should take the same photos but in winter environments. like reading a book by an ice rink. or drinking beer on a lawn chair in the cold. however i am not in charge of this contest, i just think that would be funny! do it to it!
Haha, that would be cool, but I live in Australia so no ice rinks (outside) here!
Although I did spend last winter in Toronto, maybe I can get some pics from there…hmm
No pics of being on a boat??!
C’mon! This summer was just asking for it. Whether literally or metaphorically (erh, right, I don’t know what it means to be metaphorically on a boat.. But just roll with it), all I know is that there were way too many people out there screaming “I’m on a boat!!!” for it not to have a part in the contest.
Tsk tsk
we must have a bunch of landlocked team members/interns b/c i solicited help in creating the list and none of us thought of boats!
what a sadly missed opportunity :(
I would just like to say that rolling down a hill is fun when you’re a kid but even more fun when you’re a drunk adult
I’m wondering if one would get props for doing these activities in a brandy new green “Really, Papi, really?” T while plastered with AUtostraddle stickers?
Just a thought?
We had a picnic in the park last weekend in NYC and Carly took a picture of the french frie mountain. My leg is in the picture, does that count?
What if I was to roll down a hill, in a bikini, with my dog, at a picnic, right outside Yellowstone, with the slightest resemblance of a tomato (aka sunburn)?
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Ok… just kidding. I’m not that talented. Sheesh, I leave for Toronto for a week and look at all this cool stuff! All the Tim Horton’s coffee in the world couldn’t beat autostraddle.
I feel like the interns want to know if a picture of themselves reading a book in the bathtub counts as “near water”.
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Also, this contest is biased to those who live in hill challenged states. There are NO hills in Florida.
I feel like the understudies need to know whether a photo of themselves perusing a electric induction hob book in the bathtub considers “close water”.