It’s Friday, so I’m giving you some gorgeous fashion via ShabbyApple.com. Many of you know that ShabbyApple.com sells gorgeous, vintage style dresses that are feminine and playful, yet modest and sexy. Believe me, I spend most of my days dressed in uber casual sub par yoga wear so I get pretty excited about clothing that makes me feel like a woman and not a house frau.
I’ve featured Shabby Apple in the past and I am thrilled to be featuring them again today and giving away a $100 gift certificate provided by ShabbyApple.com to two of my lucky readers so that they purchase their favorite dress. Ladies, conference and wedding season is among us. Who doesn’t want a gorgeous dress to wear, especially one that is not your run of the mill off the rack dress that everyone else might be wearing type?
The three dresses I chose to highlight today are ones that I own myself; the Belle de jour, Hydrangea and, my absolute favorite, Meant to Be. All three dresses are fully lined which is important to me since I am not 21 anymore and like to keep my goodies veiled in a light lining.
The Belle de Jour is a beautiful orange cream A-line dress, designed exclusively for Shabby Apple by Kacey Kalmar. It actually looks a little closer to a very soft pumpkin color, which I think is fantastic because it can parlay into a fall dress if you pair it with a light blazer or sweater. The dress is fully pleated. I am not normally a big fan of pleats because I have full hips but these pleats lay pleasantly flat and don’t seem to add any extra width where I least want it. The dress is 100% polyester with a charming attached ribbon and bow detail at the waist that adds just the right amount of fun.
Kacey Kalmar also designs the Hydrangea dress. It is light hydrangea blue with a ruched waistband, an A-line skirt and is made with 100% cotton so it is very lightweight for warm spring and summer days but weighted enough so that it won’t fly up at the first gust of wind and leave you exposed. I hate when that happens. Hydrangea is made in the USA and machine washable, which is always a plus in my book. I don’t have free time for hand washing these days.
The last dress, Meant to be, is my favorite. It is a Tiffany blue A-line dress with a full skirt and bow detail at natural waist. It is made of Polyester and Spandex with a 100% nylon lace shell. I love the way the lace drapes over the liner; it is very soft (not itchy as some lace can be) and gives you a very feminine silhouette. Bonus: it is machine washable! This dress is absolutely perfect for wearing to a summer wedding. It’s fresh, clean and beautiful.
Also, if you are in the market for a swimsuit this summer, ShabbyApple.com has beautiful vintage swimsuits that are sexy without being too revealing, perfect for those of us who want to show a little bit of skin yet keep it classy.My favorite is the Twirl bathing suit.
So what is your favorite ShappyApple.com dress? To enter to win one of the two $100 gift certificates just follow the Rafflecopter instructions. The contest will end at midnight next Friday, June 22, 2013. Mandatory entries include leaving a comment telling me your favorite Shabby Apple item and subscribing to The TRUTH about Motherhood , but you are already doing that anyways, right? This contest is open to readers over the age of 18 in the United States. Good luck to you all.
At the Truth about Motherhood everyone’s a winner so even if you don’t win, here is a discount code for 10% off any ShabbyApple.com dress in their fan favorite section. The code is fanfavorite10off.
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post written in partnership with the Anthem Foundation, however, all opinions are my own.
Did you know that one in every 10 babies born in the United States is born prematurely? In fact, I was born prematurely at just barely 7-months. I weighed 4 pounds and my dad said you could fit my entire stretched out body in the space between the crook of his elbow and his wrist. I was tiny. I was jaundiced and I wasn’t what anyone expected.
Babies born prematurely before 37-weeks gestation can face a host of issues like breathing problems, difficulty with feedings, cerebral palsy, developmental delays, vision and hearing impairments. I know first-hand that these are true because I myself have had chronic breathing related issues my entire life and live with a 15% hearing loss. I was sick a lot as a child, almost constantly in the early years and fun fact, my mom said when I was born I was covered in lanugo. That usually falls off before you are born, but when you are born prematurely, you’re simply not done gestating.
In the U.S., prematurity is the number one killer of babies, and those born just a few weeks early have higher rates of illness and hospitalization compared to full-term newborns. In addition to the stress and worry toll, it takes on parents, the cost of prematurely born babies is estimated at more than $26 billion annually by the National Academy of Medicine. No new parent needs that extra financial burden on top of trying to care for a premature newborn. The Anthem Foundation is investing in healthy maternal practices, giving more babies a healthy start in life.
Can you imagine? Being so excited for your brand new baby, waiting for months to hold her in your arms and then realizing she came too early before her little body was ready to be born; before she was fully formed and functional to live on the outside. My parents said the worry was constant in those first few months, especially since they were first-time parents to this tiny premature baby. But that was a long time ago and there have been significant advancements in prenatal care and the programs women have that provide them with more easily accessible information about pregnancy and their bodies.
Since 2010, the Anthem Foundation has provided more than $4.3 million in grant funding to the March of Dimes to scale up and implement several programs that encourage and facilitate first-trimester prenatal care and help at-risk mothers commit to behaviors that reduce the numbers of low-birthweight babies.
These programs include quality improvement initiatives related to the elimination of early elective deliveries, smoking cessation, Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait Community Programs® and a group prenatal care model called CenteringPregnancy® (CP). This last program brings together 8 to 10 women with similar due dates, and from all races, ages and socio-economic backgrounds. The women meet for nine sessions. In the last year, more than three thousand women were registered, of which 1,410 were Latinas. By 2020, the Census Bureau projects that there will be more than 13.8 million Hispanic women of childbearing age.
I 3 weeks ago just received this beauty from the awesome Ms.J @ https://boobiesbabiesblog.blogspot.com, who happens to be one of the most hardcore chickies I know. I have been so wrapped up with all the craziness that is my life my Mommy/wife duties that I completely forgot to post it and pass it on. Be rest assured, ~J, I am so honored to be the recipient of such an awesome award. Thank you for thinking I am , indeed, hardcore! I’d also like to thank my husband who has left me with this single mothering gig throughout the week, which is indeed making me more hardcore by the minute:) Thank you to my girls, without which this would be a blog about nothing. Most importantly,thank you to my readers…YOU are Hardcore and I love you all!!
The ‘rules’ of The Hardcore Award are going to be… Link and list 5 (or less) people who you think are awesome, amazing and rockin’ and then share a few things that you think make YOU awesome! I think that people are so used to being humble and don’t want to seem narcissistic but Mami thinks EVERYONE should think they are awesome and amazing and rockin’. Maybe your an amazing baker or you have a great butt…whatever it is…tell the world and feel good about it! Yeah! Oh and you need to let them know someway (a comment is prob easiest) that you have awarded them.”
What makes ME awesome? I think I excel at all that I do, when I am not overwhelmed and failing at it! I am an overachieving multitasker and a perfectionist. I am a big boobied hot mess who loves with all that she is, makes a fool of myself on a pretty regular basis to make those I love smile.I am honest to a fault, masters wielding intelligent , fashionista when I have the time and desire so not too often anymore, hardcore effin MOMMY, WIFE, FRIEND, and BLOGGER EXTRAORDINAIRE! Oh yeah, and I am Modest…very Modest!
I think if you read my blog-you must be hardcore-but I’m gonna adhere to Mami’s rules hook up a few specific people!
The Vegetable Assassin @https://vegetableassassin.blogspot.com/
I know its probably faux pas to give the award back to my giver but I just want to say, ~J @ https://boobiesbabiesblog.blogspot.com/ really is awesome. Please go check her out. Her blog will leave you in stitches and she always has great giveaways! Happy Mothering all!
This post was produced with support from Clean Air Moms Action. All opinions are, of course, my own.
It’s clear that the world has gone crazy. With the advancements in technology, you’d think it would give us more access to information to help make more informed and factual based decisions but it seems that is not the case. Technology means a penchant for instant gratification and as a side effect, rash decisions and willful denial of science for some. Case in point, global warming. It’s real and it exists.
My parents raised us in a place of high pollution with one basic concept in mind, be kind to the earth and the people of it and it will be kind to you or, at the very least, better. I do the same with my girls.
Since growing up in the Chicagoland area, a place where emission testing had to become a requirement when I was a small child because of all the pollution from local foundries and high traffic pollution it made me a more aware person. I have known for a long time that the harm we do to the planet is not without ramifications. We are expending our resources at an alarming rate. We are contributing to the massacre of our own race by refusing to contain our carbon footprint.
Since having children, I have become an active and vocal advocate for a better world for my children. I want a place where they can live long, healthy and happy lives. Therefore, I am 100% against government throwing up roadblocks at every turn that make it easier for our children to live in an unhealthy world. As a mom, it is my job to keep my kids healthy and if that means fighting for better laws or against bad laws to protect our children, I will.
But it goes beyond just teaching my kids to behave responsibly with their own carbon footprint. While that’s definitely a start in the right direction. I don’t have the luxury of just teaching my children to conserve electricity and water or to recycle, though we do all of those things and more.
The damage is so far gone that I have to be aggressive in my plight to protect my children from the willfully ignorant, who refuse to believe that such things as global warming even exist even though the signs are all there; even when glaciers are melting faster than ever in history, coral is bleaching and natural weather disasters are at an all-time record high.
Maybe you’re thinking, I’m a mom. I’m super busy chasing babies and driving ungrateful little people all over God’s green earth. Yes, we all are. But, I know you want to do something. You don’t want to just sit around and wait for the planet to disappear before your very eyes. I can’t live with the thought that maybe my great grandkids don’t get to live on this earth. I have a responsibility to do something while I’m here. I want to leave a positive legacy for my children.
We rely on our government to ensure so much is safe: The food we eat. The air we breathe. The toys our children play with—and so much more. But right now, legislation is moving through Congress that guts the crucial federal safety protections we rely on to ensure that what surrounds us isn’t putting us in danger or making us sick leaving us and our children vulnerable.
Two pieces of legislation, in particular, the Regulatory Accountability Act and the REINS Act—are direct and radical threats to public health that have broad, overreaching consequences. They will render agencies incapable of implementing and enforcing commonsense safety laws that have broad public support taking away the little safety net we have in place.
The REINS Act would require Congressional approval of rules, effectively giving either branch of Congress or powerful lobbying groups, a “pocket veto” on safeguards. Meaning the person with the most power makes all the rules. It may not necessarily have anything to do with what’s right, fair or best for our planet or our children.
The Regulatory Accountability Act (RAA) would create hurdles to rulemaking similar to the one that kept America from banning asbestos. These dangerous bills have either already passed the House (RAA) or were placed on Senate Legislative Calendar in just recent weeks (REINS).
Why You Should Care
It’s not political, it’s a matter of safety – these “reforms” will have a broad impact in hampering regulations in a number of areas, all of which pose a danger to our families. For example:
Halloween: Do you know what kind of toxins and chemicals are lurking in Halloween makeup and costumes? Do you know what’s in your kid’s candy? Is it scary to think that any safety regulations that currently exist may be gone?
Food safety: The RAA would make it difficult or impossible to enforce standards and keep the food in our kids’ lunch boxes safe. Efforts that have been put into place to label for allergens, reduce sodium, eliminate trans fats, remove arsenic and lead from baby food/juice, label GMOs, etc. are all on the chopping block.
Product safety: These bills would undermine product safety for nearly every item our children interact with by stalling or killing future protections
School safety: From asbestos in classrooms to lead in drinking water and even the safety of the school buses, the RAA and REINs Act would make it harder to keep our kids safe in school. Protections to safeguard our children from toxic chemicals would be difficult if impossible to implement under these bills.
Asbestos: “Asbestos, an issue that many of us thought to be resolved, continues to plague schools and pose a health threat in classrooms throughout the country.” If the school was built before 1980, it likely contains some. Do you know if your school has it? https://www.momscleanairforce.org/asbestos-schools/
Dirty air and water: The rise of asthma and other respiratory diseases are drastically increased by air pollution. These bills would make it harder to keep our air and water clean. As early as possible, it’s best to read how to test the water in your home to ensure the safety of your family.
Asthma: One in 10 US children has asthma, the most common chronic disease of childhood. Have air pollutants triggered an asthma attack for you or your child?
In fact, everyone in my family has seasonal allergies so it made me start to wonder if maybe something inside the house is off. Maybe they’re not seasonal, maybe there is something in our home making us all sick too.
Did you know that indoor allergens like dust mites, pet dander and molds are actually a cause for concern because not only do they affect allergy and asthma symptoms, they are present all year long in your own home and they only get worse when we are stuck indoors during the winter months?
With this in mind, anyone that’s allergy prone should be monitoring their indoor air quality year-round to make sure they can breathe easier. We’ve started using the Awair Air Quality Monitor. It’s the perfect solution, it allows us to keep track of dust, VOC levels and other toxins and chemicals in the air via the companion app, enabling us to make changes to our air quality and reduce indoor allergens. Think of it as a Fitbit for your air quality. It’s a small thing but it helps me to help my family in our own home.
Car safety: Would you know what to do if locked in the trunk of a car? Thanks to one survivor there is a glow in the dark safety pull inside trunks now, but this lifesaving consumer protection is now in jeopardy.
Toy/product safety: What would it mean if there were no protections in place making the toys, products like pacifiers and sippy cups, or furniture you buy for your family safe?
All of these things and more could be at risk of no longer being required and that would put our children in serious danger.
How We Can Stop It
Here’s how you and me and you (and you too, over there acting all shy in the corner) can make a difference. Mobilize to take action against the RAA & REINS Act by emailing your members of Congress via the click-to-email tool on cleanairmomsaction.org . That’s it. It takes a few minutes, even a busy mom can spare that for something so important.
As many of you know, I have been very lucky to have a relationship with the Chicago Shakespeare Theater at Navy Pier. I have been to many of their shows and it is always a brilliant time.We’ve been to family friendly shows for the entire family and romantic date nights for the Big Guy and I. No matter when or why we are there, it’s always an amazing time.We like to make it a day, or night out. Our girls love a show at CST, a nice lunch and some walking around and shopping or taking in the sites downtown. Or if you are doing a date night, the pier under the stars is a great follow up to watching a production with your special guy.
I couldn’t make it to this production myself due to some scheduling issues but I wish I could have. Macbeth is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays. But the good news is I have a family 4 pack to give away to one of my lucky readers! Yey, for you! It’s very easy. All I ask is that you click on the “more info” tab at the top right hand side top of my homepage and then become a GFC follower and then leave me a comment telling me how you would spend your day in the city or your favorite thing about the city! It’s that easy. I will randomly select a winner this Friday @ 10 pm EST. Good Luck!
Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) provides an introduction to William Shakespeare for all audiences with Short Shakespeare! Macbeth, a 75-minute abridged production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth adapted and directed by David H. Bell. A perfect outing for busy professionals and families, Short Shakespeare! Macbeth is performed Saturdays at 11 a.m. in CST’s Courtyard Theater as part of the CST Family Series, providing an opportunity for adults and young audiences alike to be introduced to Shakespeare’s masterpiece. Tickets for Short Shakespeare! Macbeth Saturdays at 11 a.m. from January 22 through March 5, 2011, in CST’s Courtyard Theater are $16–$20 with special discounts available for groups of 10 or more. All patrons receive a 40% parking discount at Navy Pier garages. Short Shakespeare! Macbeth is recommended for ages 10 and up. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s Box Office at 312.595.5600 or visit the Theater’s website at www.chicagoshakes.com.
Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s Short Shakespeare! productions give busy professionals, families and young audiences the chance to watch the magic of Shakespeare’s verse come alive, performed by a cast of professional artists—all in just 75 minutes. Immediately following each Saturday performance of Short Shakespeare! Macbeth, actors remain on stage for a discussion with the audience about the Macbeths’ quest for power and their own experiences stepping into Shakespeare’s iconic roles. After the discussion, audience members are invited to join the actors for one-on-one conversations and photo opportunities in Chicago Shakespeare’s lobbies, which provide stunning views of the Chicago skyline. CST patrons can make an afternoon of it on Navy Pier, with specially priced menus at the Pier’s most popular restaurants available by displaying their tickets day-of-show. Visit Chicago Shakespeare’s website at www.chicagoshakes.com for more information.
A theatrical, percussive world of swords, sound and the supernatural make Macbeth one of William Shakespeare’s most spellbinding plays—and CST’s 75-minute abridged production, Short Shakespeare! Macbeth, provides a perfect introduction to his work. When Macbeth and his wife hear of the haunting witches’ prophecy that they will soon rule the land, they move to plot the murder of the King. Greed, torment and evil pave the Macbeths’ path toward destruction, ultimately proving all of the witches’ divinations true.
Short Shakespeare! Macbeth is performed Saturdays at 11 a.m. from January 22 through March 5, 2011, in CST’s Courtyard Theater. Tickets are $16–$20 with special discounts available for groups of 10 or more. All patrons receive a 40% parking discount at Navy Pier garages. Short Shakespeare! Macbeth is recommended for ages 10 and up. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s Box Office at 312.595.5600 or visit the Theater’s website at www.chicagoshakes.com.
Disclosure: I was provided with tickets to giveaway for Macbeth by The Chicago Shakespeare Theater. The opinions I have given are mine and may differ from others but were NOT influenced by the Chicago Shakespeare Theater.
*Contest open to US readers only, 18 years old and older.Must be in or around the Chicago land area at time of performance. Contest ends 2/18/11 at 10 p.m. EST. Winner will be chosen randomly. Be sure to leave your email address in your comment unless it’s visible on your Blogger profile. (If I can’t contact you, a new winner will be drawn.) Winner will have 48 hours to respond to my email. If winner does not claim their prize in the 48 hour period, a new winner will be chosen at random.
*Subject to availability. Valid by phone or in person only. Not valid in combination with other promotions or on previously purchased tickets.
