Mark Your Calendar: @GreatBigShow Returns to @IXCenter! Enter to Win #HappyinCLE #Sponsored

I have been provided with tickets to The Great Big Home and Garden Expo to facilitate this review.  Opinions are my own and I have not received any other compensation for this review and giveaway.

It is that time of year again.  I look forward each year to get a glimpse of spring and summer thanks to The Great Big Home and Garden Expo and it will be in Cleveland February 8 - 16, 2014.

It is hard to imagine anything pretty in Cleveland right now.  If we are not covered in snow then we are looking at grey, rainy skies.  Just when it looks the bleakest I get a friendly email inviting me to explore the wonders of home improvement, cooking, DIY and so much more.  It's also a place I can bring the kids and they have something to do at the Home Depot Kid’s Workshop and Playground World's Kid Zone.

This year I am pleasantly surprised that the theme of this year's gardens is International and they have partnered with local restaurants like Fahrenheit, Great Lake Brewing Company, Sushi Rock, Hodges, and Shooters to  .  Check out the complete list here.

Besides the amazing landscape designers, homes and gardens, there is a long list of celebrity guests including:

• Host of DIY Network and HGTV's Yard Crashers and Turf War, Ahmed Hassan
• Frank Fritz, co-star of History Channel’s hit show American Pickers
• Food Network’s Next Food Network Star and Cupcake Wars, Emily Ellyn
• And Cleveland's own Stefanie Paganini

Stefanie is so sweet and wonderful on camera (see her segment on rotisserie chicken) I can't wait to see her demonstrations in person!

Chef Instructor Stefanie Paganini is here to show us how to put together two quick and easy dishes using rotisserie chicken meat: apple chicken salad and chicken stir-fry! Contact Info: Loretta Paganini School of Cooking * Chesterland * 440-729-1110 WKYC-TV 

Experience a live demonstrations in Xtend Technologies' Home Theater while relaxing in leather, power-reclining home theater seats. 

I am also looking forward to checking out the dream basement - 2,000 square feet to help inspire us with something to do with our basements besides laundry and storage. This basement has a wet bar, wine cellar, game room, exercise room and bath with a steam shower.

You can buy tickets online (I even have a coupon code for you - INAP), at the door, or you can enter to win two tickets to this exciting event in Cleveland.  Just tell me in the comments what you are looking forward to seeing at the Great Big Home and Garden Expo and enter on the rafflecopter form.  You can also earn more entries by following the Great Big Home and Garden Expo on Twitter, Facebook or sharing this post.

Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway For more events in Northeast Ohio click here or follow me on Pinterest:   Follow Mary Johnson's board Northeast Ohio Bucket List on Pinterest.

Word(less) Wednesday: @GreatBigShow Flashback + Discount Code

I have been so sick the last week and a half and I have not been able to go to this years Big Home and Garden Show, so I thought I would share a few photos from last year plus some more highlights that will be at this year's show.

Highlights include:

• The Playground World’s KidZone, where kids can have fun on swings, slides, a new fully-enclosed Springfree™ Trampoline and more, while parents can sign-up to win their choice of three high-quality products that kids can enjoy for years!

• U.S. landmark-themed gardens (such as “Great Wild West,” “Wrigley Field” and “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum”) created by Northeast Ohio’s top landscapers in the Garden Showcase. Have your kids vote for their favorite garden in the People’s Choice Awards!

• The 4,000-square-foot Idea Home features a kitchen that meets any home entertainer’s dream with an island that seats eight and walk-in butler’s pantry. The Tuscan-styled ranch also includes three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a mud room with a walk-in closet and lockers, three-car garage, laundry room, large front porch and home office.

• The 2,000-square-foot Dream Basement meets the desires of the entire family, complete with a game room, exercise room, wet bar, wine cellar and more. Families can also sit back and enjoy live demonstrations in the home theater room.

• The Loretta Paganini Cooking Stage will host a variety of local culinary experts with themed demonstrations, some of which include: “Weeknight Dinner Ideas” with LouAnn Colaric of Dinner at Six Chef on Feb. 6^th.

• The Petitti Gardening Stage will feature daily gardening seminars such as “Simple Seed Starting for All Ages” with Noelle Akin of Petitti Garden Centers (today is the last day for this!)

Plus, ticket holders can mingle with celebrity chefs such as Matt Fish and Chris Crary and  check out cute and furry friends on The Main Stage during the Q104 Four-Legged Fashion Show on Feb. 9.

Buy tickets on The Great Big Home + Garden Show’s website to receive $3 off and use INAP discount code for an addition $1 off if you buy tickets! 

The Great Big Home & Garden Expo is returning to the @IXCenter! Tickets for the @GreatBigShow can be yours!

February in Cleveland can be sunny and warmish or it could be freezing, you just never know what to expect but I can tell you one thing for sure - The Great Big Home and Garden Show will certainly be the way I plan on defrosting from this year’s frost!

The kids and I went last year and had so much fun browsing the gardens and playing in the Playground World exhibit. Sure, we spent more time at Playground World but it was fantastic to see signs of life in the middle of winter.

The gardens were breath taking and the ideas for our home were just brilliant! I learned more about landscaping than I would have done on my own. I might not have put them to use last year but I am more resolved than ever to do more with our little backyard and I know I will find the information I need at The Great Big Home and Garden Show.

Sure the show is for home improvement but there will also be some famous foodies there to share their knowledge. My plan is to catch Matt Fish, Owner and Chef of Melt Bar and Grilled presenting Classic Comfort Food at its Best because he’s the owner of Melt which is hands down one of my absolute favorite places to eat! I also want to try catch Chef Chris Crary, Bravo's "Top Chef" Season 9 and luckily they will be presenting on the same day!

If food is not your thing, take a look at the complete list of events there will be celebrity guests, landscape designers, homes and gardens - it is really a BIG show!

For 9 days only, February 2 – 10, 2013, The Great Big Home and Garden Show will be back at the I-X Center and I get to give away two tickets! Of course, if you would like to purchase tickets, order them online and save $3!  As a bonus using promotion code INAP will get you another $1 off your tickets. 

Enter to win your tickets via rafflecopter below (refresh if it does not appear).
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wordless Wednesday: @GreatBigShow Cleveland's Great Big Home and Garden Expo

How we spent our Saturday at the The Great Big Home and Garden Expo...

In case you were wondering - It's in Cleveland until February 12!

Get Two Tickets to the #Cle @GreatBigShow this February atthe @IXCenter (or donate them to RMH).

I started planning my day at The Great Big Home and Garden Expo, have you? The Great Big Home and Garden Expo will be in town from February 4 - 12 and it is so hard to decided which day to go and each day has something new to offer! I might have to go more then one day!

Chip Wade of HGTV’s Curb Appeal will be at the The Great Big Home and Garden Expo and Cleveland's own Chef Rocco Whalen of Fahrenheit Restaurant will be there, too.

I'm taking the kids with me so that they can make use of Playground World's KidZone (which you can enter to win a set of your own). Ohio Mobile Gaming will be there and adjacent to the KidZone. What is it you ask? It's a truck gaming theater! A mobile game room. We sure have come a long way from PowerPlay and boardwalk games! I can't wait to share the pictures from this!

I think what I am looking forward to most is the Garden Showcase Representing Classic TV Shows featuring 18 of Northeast Ohio's top landscaper designers inspired by TV shows such as Cheers!, Gilligan's Island, Flipper and Green Acres. Can't help it. I love old TV shows.

You can get your tickets online here and by ordering online you get $3 off the price of admission. Use the coupon code PLAYDATE and take an addition $1 off the ticket price! That is a $4 savings by ordering online here!

I am sure you are wondering how to get two free tickets to the Great Big Home and Garden Expo? Enter the rafflecopter contest below! Not from Cleveland? Enter any way and I will make sure that a family from the Ronald McDonald House gets them to use. The tickets are good for any one day you choose!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Great Big Home & Garden Expo is coming to the @IXCenter in February! Get Inspired at the @GreatBigShow

It’s coming, it’s coming, it’s coming!

The Great Big Home and Garden Expo is coming to Cleveland, OH!

I am a home improvement fanatic! I love watching HGTV for all the home improvement shows. I love browsing through catalogs for what my dream home will look like and I have been pinning my favorites on Pintrest since I enjoyed. I love Ty Pennington, who won’t be in Cleveland, but none the less, love him!!!

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t know a hammer from a screwdriver but I love admiring the end result, which is why I am super excited about The Great Big Home and Garden Expo coming to the I-X Center February 4 – 12. I get to browse row after row of the latest tips and trends in home décor, entertaining, home remodeling and cooking.

There are also several kid friendly events such as The Playground World’s KidZone, classic television show-themed gardens (such as “Batman,” “The Flintstones” and “The Yogi Bear Show”) created by Northeast Ohio’s top landscapers in the Garden Showcase and two highly-efficient log cabin homes where attendees will be able experience cabin life.

I know that my six year old will have a blast trying out the swings, slides and a new fully-enclosed Springfee™ Trampoline but he is just as excited to see the “Baking with Kids” live demonstration with Anna Weisend of The Grand Finale.

Besides the wonderfully, obscene amount of exhibitors, there will be celebrity guests, landscape designers, homes and gardens - it is really a BIG show! You can buy tickets online, at the door (I even have a coupon code for you), or you can enter to win! I will be giving away two tickets to this exciting event in Cleveland. Not for Cleveland? Enter anyway because I will give the tickets to the Ronald McDonald House for them to give to a family.

Go ahead and like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter now so that you will be enter the Rafflecopter contest form faster.  Contest coming soon!

Follow @GreatBigShow