So, in my last post, I told you all about this crazy business I just launched, and today, I’m going to tell you how you can get something(s) FREE without hosting a party. Because we all love free, right, and even if you can’t use the freebie, you probably know someone who can and it will save you from buying them a gift later.

One of the friends I feel so blessed to have met through blogging is Cher. Cher is just awesome, and my favorite thing about her is that you NEVER have to wonder where you stand with her-she’s not that backstabby kind of friend that we all get suckered into caring about at some point in our lives. She’s the REAL DEAL. You need her, she’s there. She’s smart and funny and bluntly honest. <3

Cher talked to me about how complimentary so many of the products in the line I am selling work perfectly with the swimsuit line, SwimsuitsForAll, that she is repping over on THE BOOK. And she is SO right! Imagine, you are poolside soaking up the rays in a swimsuit you feel amazing in, and instead of spending a perfectly oiled up arm and leg for a drink from the cabana boy or just shlepping in the kitchen to grab one from the fridge, you just reach into the Thermal Tote at your side and pull out a chilled beverage or fruit. Imagine you are on the beach showing off that new suit, getting hungry, and instead of having to go spend your life savings feeding your crew from a vendor or eating warm sandwiches from your beach bag, you pull out your Market Tote and everyone is refreshed!

So, we are collaborating in a fun giveaway! SwimsuitsForAll runs a fun Friday Night Trivia contest every week on Facebook where they give away gift certificates and other items from collaborations like ours. This week you can win a super cute URU Thermal Tote in the limited pattern Pink Parisian Pop!  But while you are trying to win that adorable lunch tote, please check out SwimsuitsForAll, and see for yourself that they really do have something to flatter REAL size 8+ bodies…not just larger cuts for slim bodies. They realize that your body shape changes as your accumulate more of it, or else all us plus size girls would just be exaggerated hourglasses rather than the wide variety of shapes we actually are. If you have chub around the middle that you want to camouflage, check out THIS SUIT. If your bottom end has seen better days like mine, THIS SUIT is my fave! And? Did you notice that you can pick different sizes for the top and bottom? Angels are singing! With a FOURTEEN inch difference between my waist and my hips, that is so important to me! So, Friday night, please enjoy some trivia with SwimsuitsForAll on Facebook and try your hand at winning some goodies! I’ll be checking in from my niece’s graduation in Tennessee to see who wins!

URU Thermal Tote <3

PS This Thermal Tote is a little bit special because Thirty-One donates 31 cents from each URU item sold to programs that empower women and girls to reach their full potential. You can learn more about Thirty-One Gives HERE.

I think that bloggers tend to represent a more aware segment of the population than most.  We are often right on top of technological advances.  We discuss current events both on our own platforms and those of others.  We break news to each other and spread the word on things we feel people need to know about.  And one of the biggest interesting things I have noted is how eager we are to help others.  I tend to circulate in ‘mommyblogger” social circles, but I am happy to have some lifeblogger pals, too.  Regardless of the segment we feel the need to place ourselves in, or the ones others feel they need to compartmentalize us as, I find that when someone, anyone-not just other bloggers, is in need, the community rallies to help.

My family is of limited means. Like most other people out there right now, the money we have doesn’t go as far as it did even a year ago, and as my kids grow, so do their expenses.  As an employee at a non-profit organization, I am not getting a raise this year, as our funding contracts just don’t allow for raises for any employee in our organization.  Honestly, with budget cuts falling all around us, we are lucky to still have our jobs at all.  The point is, it’s hard for us to find corners to cut so we can give.  We do give some time in lieu of money, but the one area we think we can make the most impact on others with as little impact on our own budget as possible is to be more selective about choosing what companies we support with our spending dollars.

That was one of the first things that attracted me to HairZing, my sponsor for BlogHer09.  I am a member of the forums at NaturallyCurly.com and I heard about the HairZing there for the first time.  Everybody seemed to adore these beautiful accessories that did not damage delicate and typically dry curls, so I did what I always do and started looking the company up online.  I was obviously impressed by the vast variety of styles, and also by how many hairstyles you can use them to create, but what took it beyond “Oh, how cool” to “I have to get some!” was the social philosophy of the company.

See, Hairzings are all individually handmade.  There are no mass production factories with laborers barely making enough to eat each day.  That’s not how they roll.  Instead, they reached out to women in depressed economies in China and Kenya who struggle to find jobs where they slave away, often far from their families for much of the year.  Education is rarely even an option for these women, and female entrepreneurs are few and far between.  They gave the women in China the opportunity to become artisans, crafting HairZings for fair wages, often at home where they can be with their families.  They provided the funding as well as marketing and management support for a female-owned and operated beading cooperative in Kenya where the women of the Maasai tribe, which has long been celebrated for its beading skill, can support their families as well as learn the skills necessary to launch whatever small business they can dream of in the future.

By creating a framework for these economically disadvantaged women to become independent and self-sufficient, HairZing has contributed to a global shift toward a more stable world economy, but more important, in my eyes, is the contribution toward women’s rights.  By empowering women in China, where women are still sold into marriages, female infants are many times abandoned or murdered, and 70% of the illiterate are women, strides are being made toward equality.  Giving women in Kenya, where female circumcision is still practiced, a girl as young as 10 can be married off for a dowry in the low hundreds, and there is an illiteracy rate of 80% among the Maasai women, the opportunity to learn how to establish and grow their own businesses is an unbelievable step in the right direction for the future of those women, as well as every woman they meet and the daughters they will raise up with the expectation that they can do more than they ever dreamed of before.

I plan on buying hair accessories anyway.  I have curls I finally love, and I like to dress them up.  I have two daughters, one with thick, heavy hair and one with fine waves.  I love to have fun embellishing their already adorable looks.  So, for me, finding a beautiful product with so many ways to be worn, and that supports the status of women not only here in the US by being founded by women who have been friends for years, but across the globe, was a no-brainer.  That’s why I love them so much, and why I approached them about representing them at BlogHer.  I know that my sister bloggers will love these products, but even more so, I know they will love supporting a company that with socially responsible practices.

Be sure to visit them at www.HairZing.com, right now there is a Buy One Get One Special going on, and if you enter the promo code “Angel” at checkout, you’ll get free shipping, as well.  Find me at Blogher to grab a sample, if you want to check them out first-I know you’ll be as in love with them as I am once you do!

So, we are just about a month away from the conference that has come to be known as THE conference for blogging women, BlogHer.  Last year I was new to blogging, and I wanted to go SO FREAKING BAD that I tried for days to rearrange my finances to allow me to go.  Unsuccessfully, I might add. *chuckle*  But I told the Huz back then that I *would* get to this year’s conference, and it looks like all systems are go!  I would not be able to attend, however, without the generous sponsorship of my favorite hair accessory, HairZing!

I’m going to be telling you more about this versatile product in the coming days and weeks, and probably months because I have to tell you, I use it almost DAILY.  I’ve worn it to staff meetings, home visits, doctor appointments, playdates, the beach, the Renaissance Festival-just about everywhere, and it always stays in, always looks like I spent a lot more time and money on my hair than I actually did, and it always, always garners compliments.  It is versatile enough to dress up those days you must be perfectly coifed, to hold your hair back when you work out, or to hide slept on hair if you have to run out of the house quickly.  Seriously, if I could only have one hair accessory for the rest of my life-HairZing would be it!

I’m going to have some samples to trade for business cards at BlogHer, as well as hosting some giveaways here for those of you who can’t join us in Chicago.  I’ll be posting some videos to show you just how easy HairZing is to use, and to share some of the ways my girls and I use them.  I know if you have hair, you will LOVE this product!

PS If you use the promo code ANGEL at checkout, your shipping will be “sponsored,” too!

If you are a blogger and you aren’t a part of One2One Network, you seriously need to sign up, like NOW.  The coolest opportunities come up, and for an example, I am going to see Yanni Voices in concert, in Tampa, and I get to tell you all about it!  Which is killer, but the best part?

I get to give away a set of tickets, too!

The show is this Saturday at 7:30pm in Tampa, so if you are a local, leave me a message and I’ll announce the winner Thursday which means there are only two days to enter-chances of winning are HIGH, so drop your name in the bucket and let’s go enjoy Yanni’s amazing compositions enhanced with the gorgeous vocals of four fresh young talented upcoming stars!

“She” from She Became a Butterfly is our Wii winner!

PS I’m a dumbass.  I posted a big ol winning post and hit *save* instead of *publish* so this is so late its ridiculous.  But I needed a few days to process last weekend’s craziness anyway, and after looking over the bulk of my saved, not published, post, I’m kind of glad I didn’t publish it.  Except the “She’s a winner” part!

So I am still going strong with the Wii Fit, yay!  I even bought a few additional games on eBay to keep me from being bored.  After having the advanced boxing on the Fit kick my ass, I bought a boxing game.  I was shocked at how boxing got my heart rate up!  I tried the run for the first time yesterday, too, and I barely made it half way, lol.  But, in my defense, running without a bra, even in place, SUCKS. I’m really proud of myself for not letting the craptastic week get in the way of my commitment to just get moving every day.  In the midst of Emergency Rooms and all the other nonsense, I took twenty minute for myself every single day.  It seems so simple, and yet it is vital to our outlook that we give something to ourselves.  We have to work on us before we can give to others. I haven’t lost any weight-in fact I gained a couple, but considering that I have been enjoying my favorite foods that I won’t be able to have when I start the low GI diet on Monday, I actually expected that.  I think I have PCOS, or PolyCystic Ovarian Disorder, and everything I’ve read says that women with PCOS benefit greatly from keeping to the foods on the low and lower moderate end of the glycemic index.  The disorder tends to be accompanied by insulin resistance, and a myriad of other symptoms I have just dealt with for *years*.  Including having a very difficult time losing weight, which explains why when I was working out more faithfully than my friends and eating healthier, I was losing half as much. In any case, in celebration of my 10th day loving the Wii Fit, I am giving away a Wii game!  Nintendo’s Disney Princess: Enchanted Forest has entertained my two little girls well, and I’d like to pass on the fun to someone else so I have another factory sealed game to give away. (It’s a $19.99 value according to Best Buy!)

By cheekysweetie

From Best Buy: