Have you and your best friend had a time to getaway from it all… and do something just the two of you?

Well, recently I had an amazing opportunity to getaway in Grand Rapids with some friends courtesy of Experience Grand Rapids. While I don’t live that far away in Holland — about a 30 minute drive — I was able to see and do things in Grand Rapids that I don’t normally get to do! It was so much fun!

My favorite part of the weekend was going to the Grand Rapids Art Museum… it’s been SO long since I’ve been – in fact I don’t think I had ever been in their new facility until now — and it is BEAUTIFUL! Open, airy, spacious… just a great place to feature the best art the area has to offer!

Right now, the Grand Rapids Art Museum has a really special exhibit happening until February 2011… “Diana: A Celebration”… and let me tell you, it is just as special as what I imagined it to be.

It was such an experience, really an emotional one, as you walked through the exhibit – seeing highlights of her childhood, courtship, wedding and then seeing everything she did to better the world around her. It was so incredibly touching and she felt so real yet today.

Here are some highlights…

In addition to seeing the Diana Exhibit, we were also able to see the winner of ArtPrize – an art competition held in Grand Rapids annually. This years winning piece by Chris La Porte, is  also featured in the museum for a limited time. It is an amazing work done solely in No. 2 pencil.

Seeing this piece really got me even more excited for ArtPrize 2011. The dates were just announced this past week… mark your calendars for September 21 – October 9, 2011 because you will not want to miss this!

It was such a highlight to be able to go to the museum with my friends… and you and your best friend can do this same thing!

Experience Grand Rapids is giving one of my lucky readers a 1-night stay at the Courtyard by Marriott at Plaza Towers and two tickets to the Grand Rapids Art Museum – along with admission to a special exhibit. Also included will be a gift bag tote containing an iPod Shuffle with the Grand Rapids Podcast and an Experience Grand Rapids Visitors Guide.

To win this incredible Grand Rapids Girlfriends Getaway Package, go check out Experience Grand Rapids and come back with a comment letting me know what you’d like to see or do in the Grand Rapids area. For extra entries (leave a SEPARATE comment for each):

• Follow Grand Rapids CVB on Twitter.
• Follow DutchBeingMe on Twitter.
• Subscribe to DutchBeingMe via Email or RSS.
• Tweet and/or share on Facebook about this contest – please include the link to the . (Example: “Win a #GrandRapids Girlfriends Getaway from @DutchBeingMe & @GrandRapidsCVB – http://ow.ly/3kiDE”)

*Giveaway open to residents of the US through Friday, December 10. Winner will be chosen via random.org and will receive notification via email.

As many of you know, I bought a new-t0-me car about 10 days ago. I love, love, love my car. Driving it is fun as well… especially on the recent roadtrip to Cleveland & back last week.

SO FUN!

So I am here to announce that it is time to name my car. I’ve never really named a car before, but I really want to have a little name to this one.

Here is my little car…

And here is me with my new ride…

So I see it as a girly car… meaning it needs a “girly” name.
It’s definitely not a boy car.

Anyway — I’d love to hear your suggestions… any and all of them! I’m all about creativity & originality.

So here’s the deal…

Submit a comment with the name that you think best fits my new car. The best name you got. (One entry per person)
All comments need to be submitted by 11:59pm ET on Sunday, May 2. As a thank you for your suggestion, I am giving away a $10 gift card to Starbucks.

Yes, you read that right!

The winner of the giftcard will be chosen (via Random.org) on Monday morning (May 3, when I wake up… LOL)  and will be announced here as well as on Twitter!

The name of the car will NOT be chosen by Random.org… because I’m a control freak like that. And well… the winner of the name I choose for the car will have bragging rights. That’s the best I can do.

*Open to US residents only.

For full disclosure, I have purchased this giftcard myself and in no way am affiliated with Starbucks Corp.