OPERATION: Free the Fleece...and Your Little Dog's Fleece Too

IN SUPPORT OF MY mission to prevent Snuggie world domination, I am offering a contest, an incentive of sorts, to free the world of Snuggie takeover, one Snuggie at a time. 

Two ways to play.  Here's how...

- $50 to the winner's charity of choice AND a $20 iTunes gift card for the winner of "The Most Creative Use Of" award for the person who most creatively re-purposes their Snuggie.  Winner will be chosen by vote (stay-tuned for voting entries soon).

- $20 iTunes gift card to a person chosen by random drawing from a pool of those who send me a photo and/or receipt as proof that you donated your Snuggie to a retirement or convalescent home.

Only two rules 1) Deadline for entries is midnight, March 31st and 2) HAVE FUN!  Winners will be announced on April 1st.

                                       

Why Operation FTF, you ask?  Simple.  I am driven by three external motivating factors and by three internal motivating factors...

EXTERNAL: 1) A lady on the bus was talking about personalizing Snuggies for each of her family members, with removable/re-usable different holiday decals throughout the year , 2) Last night I saw a lady using her Snuggie IN the movie theater, and 3) I never want to see a photo again of a family of four in their Snuggies on Super Bowl Sunday!

INTERNAL:  1) 5.6% because I find their commercials to be the most condescending and ridiculous attempt to appeal to smart people - a family of Snuggie wearers in the bleachers, for real?, 2) 2.6% because I LOVE blankets.  REAL blankets.  Cozy, soft, squishy blankets for snuggling or watching TV/movies.  Not blankets incognito, in a version that is essentially just a thin, fleece (definition: polyester made by reacting terephthalic acid, a petroleum derivative, with ethylene glycol, another petroleum derivative, commonly known as antifreeze), choir robe.  And who cares about the whole hands-free argument, I don't.  They look ridiculous, however you try to spin it, and 3) 91.8% because...I INVENTED the same darn thing when I was 10!  So, I'm jealous (there I said it), that I'm not the one raking in the dough, laughing all the way to the bank, while counting my Benjamin's from my third story St. Lucia vacation home balcony. 

FAQ's:

Q:  Do I have to be present to win?
A:  No, you only need be alive at the time of the announcement.

Q:  What if I don't use iTunes?
A:  No problem, I'll gladly substitute for another gift card of your choice (except for Walmart).

Q:  Can I enter more than once?
A:  YES, please do.  The more you help the cause, the better.  And each Snuggie entered is an additional entry into the drawing.

Q:  Do I have to be your Facebook friend to win?
A:  No, please spread the word.  If you have friends/family members/random strangers that you would like to share the contest with, please do.  Again, the more the merrier.  My email is with_honors_@yahoo.com and can also be found on my Facebook profile.

Q:  Is this a real contest or have you just lost your mind?
A:  Both!

Q:  Were you dropped on your head as a little girl?
A:  Yes, I think so...several times.

Q:  What if I have a Snuggie knock-off, does that qualify?

A:  YES. Take a "before" and "after" photo and that will work just fine.

Let the FUN begin!

Shiny Happy People

VOGUE.  PEOPLE.  COSMO(POLITAN).  You name the mag, they've got 'em - page after page of "Shiny Happy People".  I'll be the first to admit, I get sucked in and can't wait to get my "pretty people" fix.  Yahoo's omg! is my first place I go when I jump on the net, to flip through the latest celeb event digital photo albums.  But as much as I love the visual stimulation of those overglossed, underdressed shots, I have realized that my love for them is left there, on the page and on the screen.  Fantasy is not my fulfillment.  In the spirit of the poem known as "The Statue of Liberty" poem, the inpsiring famous words, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..." I say, "Give me your authentic, your honest, raw self.  Bring me all of who you are, ragged edges and all."  And so shall I.  Because THAT's what friendships and true connections are made of.  Behind the celeb's shiny, "happy", porcelain-veneered smiles and orchestrated press-line photos, are people.  Just like me.  Just like you.  And so, though I do appreciate the creative expression of an adorned body, the artistry of a masterfully make-up'd face, and crave the visual fireworks from perusing the pages of the newest fashion issue on the newstand, they are just that, an exhibition of beauty...not the substance of what is beautiful.  And I am reminded - beautiful on the outside means nothing if you are ugly on the inside...and beautiful on the inside can go a long way to compensate for ugly on the outside.    

Bugs, Beach & Bob's Big Boy

AH, THE SWEET reminiscent sound of my neighbor's teenage son's 1970's Volkswagen Bug rolling in at 2 am to bring back memories of my own sweet years as a curfew push'n girl. It is fantastic how a simple sound, smell or sight can immediately transport you back to a time remembered. The sound of the VW Bug takes me back to happy times of careless (but never reckless) abandon of a teenager. The smell of the beach takes me back to memories of bonfires, boogie boarding, football in the sand, first kisses, last kisses, barefoot walks along the water with rolled up Sergio Valente's, Hawaiian Tropic Suntan Oil - I sometimes now put it on my hands just to carry the smell with me throughout the day! As for a sight, I recall my last visit back to my hometown & seeing a Bob's Big Boy sticker & wow the memories that came rushing back. I was the oldest of six kids & on a modest middle-class income, our family rarely went out to eat at a restaurant. When we did, we knew it was a real treat & it was always to Bob's Big Boy. It had these really cool stainless steel tall ice cream cups & long ice cream spoons. I can still taste that chocolate milkshake today & hear that metal clanking down to the last spoonful. I can remember the restaurant layout...brown pleather waiting area benches & backless swivel counter stools, in front a super cool glass case which had super cool Bob's Big Boy comic books -fun times! I love that a simple sound, smell or sight can bring back such a rush of emotion. The smell of lavender makes me think of my son & his nightly baby baths followed by lavender baby lotion. The sound of "California Girls" makes me think of family roadtrips singing along with my dad to Beach Boys Greatest Hits. The sight of Chapstick "original" in the black tube brings back special memories of my grandpa (passed) who always had one in his pocket.  I can smell that distinct "original" smell even now! I hope my senses are always acute enough to be able to take a trip back in time every now & then.

Share with me what sounds, smells, sights transport you back to a favorite memory.

Pictured: 1970 Volkswagen Bug

Please Don't Stop the Music, Music Music...

I CAN'T GET the Rihanna song "Don't Stop the Music" out of my head & I don't even mind it being stuck there! Music simply is my soul's fuel. I cannot even imagine a day without music & frankly, my iPod changed my life by making it easier to get a "fill-up". I am grateful every day that I have a lifestyle that afforded me the opportunity to purchase an iPod (pricey at $300) & subsequently an iPhone (pricier still at $400) & both worth EVERY hard-earned cent! Not only do they provide great portability of a mass of tunes in a tiny pocket-sized wonder, a mini jukebox really, but they have taken accessibility to a whole new level. I was thrilled when in 1992 I was able to upgrade from a single CD stereo player to a 5 CD disc changer stereo. I thought, wow! Amazing! I will listen to so much more music now with the 5 CD option. Honestly, I rarely changed those 5 CD's & so there on the shelves sat 300 CD albums wanting desperately to be heard. When I purchased my iPod, I immediately downloaded all of my CD's (spent all Christmas vacation doing so) & then put the CD's away in sleeved binders for posterity - maybe they will be a collector's item someday. I now listen on my iPod through a growing list of over 7,000 songs, both ripped from my old CD's & newly acquired through iTunes & Amazon.com & this never would have been feasible on a CD player. I bow down to Apple (no, I'm not a Microsoft hater, but come on - Apple deserves props) for elevating music enjoyment to what could only have been imagined on an episode of the Jetsons 30 years ago. iPod, you sing me to sleep.  You're my alarm clock when time to wake.  You make my dreaded daily bus commute bearable & even now, at this very moment as I blog, you are in the background energizing me. You are ageless. You are a common language between me & my 16 year old stepson (we swap favs with each other) as well as my 7 year old son who is as obsessed with music as his mom. Forever a fan.

"I wanna take you away. Let's escape into
the music. DJ let it play. I just can't refuse it.
Like the way you do this. Keep on rockin' to it.
Please don't stop the, please don't stop the music".

The Road Not Taken

AS I REFLECT on my life it is clear that when I have taken the road less traveled, the road has usually been rockier, but undoubtedly has proven to be the most rewarding of the two. So why then do I not pick that road to begin with! Like Steven Covey says, "Begin with the end in mind". Knowing how rewarding the end will be, why do I still choose the more frequented path more often! As I venture out into singlehood again after choosing to end a 14 year marriage, I wonder how my life would have been had I only taken the road less traveled back then. At the ripe old age of 24, I felt I could conquer the world & thus nobody could tell me that I was making the biggest mistake of my life - well, they could have, but I wouldn't have listened. The adage, "Love is all that matters" (I'm laughing hysterically even writing that) how foolish a thought! Kiddos, hate to break it to you, but love is NOT enough...but that's a whole other post.  "Had I only"..."should have"..."If things had been"...all the things I have said over & over to make sense of the years I spent trodding down the wrong path...or was it? Perhaps it was the road I was supposed to take in order to arrive at the remarkable place I am at right now - to arrive back at the beginning with the chance to make a new choice. Dear Mr. Frost, I think your take has a loop-hole, an opportunity for a do-over, a Plan B. I am courageous, hopeful, observant, adventurous & do I dare say, happy & all this has come from my experiences on the frequented path of popular choice & only now am I again ready to take the road less traveled & the journey to here has made all the difference!

Click on the poem to read in full size.

Are We There Yet

I'M A FREAK for adventures &, like a dog & their bone, my tail-wag'n worthy bone is a roadtrip. Anytime, anyplace, anyone - well almost! People who smoke inside the car or hang their bare feet out the window, no go! An open highway, windows down, singing along to 80's music, always fashionable roof rack with more luggage than necessary & a small cooler with fruit that will get soggy before hour five - doesn't get much better than that! As early as age eight I remember roadtrip'n to visit family & friends. It is funny that, what to my parents seemed a most hideous & least desirable, but oh so necessary mode of transportation for a large family of eight on a middle class income, is MY preferred method of vacation transportation. Crazier still, this was all before iPods, DS's & portable DVD players. What DID six kids do to entertain ourselves through 15+ hour drives in a seatbeltless, faux wood-paneled station wagon & later in a green (think girl scout uniform) Travelall (nicknamed the Beast) with coordinating mommade green gingham curtains? Ahhhh sweet memories of...the license plate game that left us kids with bruised arms from punching points...the reminiscent sound of yet another semi-truck horn in relay to our pulling motion - though it may have been the twentieth time that HOUR, we still loved it as if it were the first...bottomless supply of cassette tapes (& even some 8 track tapes) since it was too painful to wait while one would rewind in order to listen to it again...mutiny against my dad in order to get bathroom relief...hostile takeovers from my mom for "sleep swerve close-call" number 82...hours of Mad Libs, Go Fish & those car books with the white pen/orange cap that would magically reveal the answers after rubbing the pen over a blank space. All this while six kids yelled out "ARE WE THERE YET" at least six times per hour (that would be once per kid, minimum). Love it! All of it! Crave it! Gotta have it! The blacktop is calling to me - ROADTRIP, ROADTRIP, ROADTRIP...

Pictured: Dylan Greco