Sunshine Blog Award

One of my sweet, real life friends, who shares the love of blogging, has nominated me for the Sunshine Blog Award!  I'm so thrilled & truly honored that my blog has inspired others & left an impression..You can check out Gina's heartfelt, inspirational blog here.     You'll be so glad you stopped by and I know you'll go back.  I really feel that Gina has inspired me to write more and stay more current with my posts.  She introduced me to She Writes and really encourages me to be all that I can as a writer/blogger.  I honestly think she has lit a fire within me.    I'm eager to dig down deep and see what I can come up with.  (Gina, you know that I nominate you and you inspire me to the deepest definition of the word) -- But, I won't tag you below - as I know you've done this once already and are busy writing your next book! ♥

Here's a little bit about the award:

The Sunshine Blog Award is passed on by bloggers to other bloggers who “positively and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere.”  There are a few rules that every blogger nominated for this award have to follow:

1.       Acknowledge the nominating blogger with a link and post about your award.

2.      Share 10 random facts by answering the questions the nominating blogger has created for you.

3.       Pass on the Sunshine Blog Award to other bloggers (up to 10) of your choice and let them   know you nominated them.

4.       Post 10 questions for the bloggers you nominate to answer on their blog.

So, here are Gina's 10 questions to me -  Enjoy!   And don't forget to scroll down after reading, so you can see who I can nominated & my questions for those nominees.

1.       Why did you decide to create your blog?   I started this blog many moons ago.. I always wrote as a child and into my young adult years. I kept journals, diaries; anything I could record my thoughts in.  Good, bad, fears, hopes.... So when I learned about Blogger, I was eager to get started -  I find that typing my thoughts comes so much easier than actually writing.

2.       What do you enjoy most about blogging?     I find that keeping a blog is a way to record my memories and to express things that I might not be able to express in person... I like to share my experiences and read about others' life events & experiences as well.   It's a way to sit down and just let it all out.  When it's "YOUR" blog, you have all that control - and can be brutally honest and open when you want to.  (Not always without judgement, as we all know).    

3.       Tell us something about yourself that most of your fellow authors/bloggers do not know.
I think most of my followers might wonder if or why I don't have children to blog about yet. (I have envy when I see all those pictures and such)    I'm unable to have children - (on my own at least) - In all the 8 or so years I've had my blog, I only ever posted maybe twice about this. 

4.       At what time of the day do you do most of your writing?   I try not to do it at work, but I find some quiet time there.   My preference is at night, in bed, when all is quiet and my mind is at ease.

5.       What is your favorite cuisine?   Italian - Always has been and always will be.  Drove my mom crazy! Little ol' Irish mom.      I love a good chicken parm!   

6.       What are some of your favorite books?   I usually read 2 books at a time - One at home and one at work (lunch break) -  I enjoy Jodi Picoult, Emily Giffin, Nicholas Sparks - but I like to read non-fiction more, I think.   Alice Sebold's "Lucky" was an excellent read - as was Jeanette Walls "The Glass Castle" and I can't forget "Heaven is For Real", by Todd Burpo... Very enlightening.

7.       What are some of your favorite movies?  Save the Last Dance, The Notebook, Dirty Dancing, The Family Stone, anything with Robert DeNiro (especially Everybody's Fine)  anything with Ed Norton, (especially Primal Fear).  

8.       If you could travel anywhere right now, at this very moment, where would it be?  Why? 
       I guess I would say Ireland -  It looks so beautiful & picturesque - Something about it seems so peaceful.   I know it would be a serene place to visit for a week or two and just relax with my thoughts.

9.       If you could have an intimate dinner with six people who you will probably never meet in this lifetime, who would they be?  Why? (they could be celebrities, famous icons, bands, etc.)

        Pope Francis - I'd love to have a conversation with him.   Cesar Milan - I need help with my dog training.    Dr. Oz - I believe in his knowledge and advice.   Dr. Phil - to talk to him about a very personal matter.     Lady Gaga - She seems so unique and genuine.     Joel Osteen - I'd love a sit down with him, listening to his inspirational wisdom.

10.   What has been your best achievement to this date?    I found myself staring at the blank screen on this one.   I can't pin down what I think the best answer is to this.  I don't feel that I've made my best achievement yet... I'm proud of things that I have done thus far... Like helping the needy by forming my own food drives, organizing fundraisers, finding a great job that I'm actually happy with, having my (our) first home...

Now, please read below to see who I nominated for the SunShine Award and to see your questions!

I nominated: 

Brie:    http://www.abreezylife.com/   - I've been reading Brie's blog for a while now and only recently started commenting.  So I was 'lurking' I guess. HAH!   I enjoy Brie's blog because it's so damn honest and expressive.  She shares some of life's best and worst moments with her readers.   I appreciate her honesty and her fearless ability to share with us what most people can't or won't.   Brie's blog can be funny as hell, honest as hell, sad as hell.  It's well written and never loses my interest.   She writes about working on her marriage, her adorable little boy who has Autism, and life, as it happens.

     Marla:  http://www.luckfupus.com/   -  Marla happens to be Brie's sister!   I actually happened upon Marla's blog by way of Brie's blog.   Marla writes, candidly, about Lupus and the havoc is has wreaked on her life and her body.  It doesn't stop at Lupus, trust me.

   I love Marla's "tell it straight" approach.   Her blog is chock full of humor, facts, inspiration, she has said FUCK more times than an HBO comedy hour... and I love it!    I laugh, I cry, and I always go back for more.  

Sarah:    http://inmyblondelife.blogspot.com/     One of the first blogs I started following - I keep up with Sarah's posts and she is great about keeping current. (not that I know anything about that)...    Blogs like Sarah's are the milestone blogs, to me.   You can actually "go through" the different life events with some bloggers and I feel like I've been able to do that!   She always uses pictures in her posts whenever she can, which, as you know, really adds to the feel of the post!  I loved reading about wedding plans and now seeing all the updates and "stuff" going on as she starts married life.  I'm excited about the future baby posts already.  ??

        Insert name here:  (sorry I don't know her name,  I'm being tacky)   http://jer2911theplansihaveforyou.blogspot.com/     I want to say that I fell upon this blog by way of another friend's page.   I love reading this blog because it just MAKES ME HAPPY.    I can't really explain that but it's just full of happy things.  She blogs about her journey to adoption (she and her husband adopted 2 Russian children) .. It's such a wonderful story and even more exciting when you read about the phone call to bring home their 2nd bundle of pure joy.  Not every single post is all sunshine and lollipops; they've had their tribulations, but I just find it so wonderful to keep up with.   I think it might have been the first blog that ever made me actually sob.   The post where their beloved dog was dying and he must've known it.   I'm telling you:  sobbing, frog in the throat kind of stuff.  You have to read it.

    Insert another name here:  Same deal, I never saw or remember seeing her name.    http://catholicmomscorner.blogspot.com/       I found this blog when I was searching for information on a bible study we were doing at our church.   I really felt connected to her, through a lot of topics and we "discuss" different views and thoughts on things that center around Catholicism. Not just religion though, believe me.  It's a great read.
  I thought it was a very interesting story on how she came back to the church.  She's offered me a lot of wisdom and heartfelt advice on losing my mom, having lost her own mother a few years back.  I like her wit and her honesty and her style of writing.  She talks about work, marriage, her kids....

So, carry on and check out the questions below that I have for my fellow bloggers above!

Have fun...

1.)   If he/she knows, what does your spouse/other, have to say about the "blog thing"?

2.)  Have you ever met one of your readers? 

3.)  What do you find easiest AND most difficult about blogging?

4.)   Have you outed your blog on Facebook or other social media?  Why or why not?

5.)  You won the megamillions!  Very FIRST thing you'd purchase...

6.)  Name something you think we'd be surprised to hear about YOU.

7.)   Have you ever had a reader leave nasty/ridiculous comments on your blog?

8.)   How many months or years have you been blogging? 

9.)   Do you do any writing besides on blogger?  Magazines? Newspapers?

10.)   Favorite vacation or most memorable moment...

November

November is Lung Cancer Awareness month & truth be told, I was never AWARE of anything lung cancer until my mom was diagnosed this past January.    I hate that I knew so little before and even during her diagnosis/battle.  I hate that I dismissed her fears whenever she'd bring them to me... I hate that I didn't FORCE her to get that chest x-ray that Christmas when we were going shopping.   She just had a chest cold, right?  Doc was looking for pneumonia, right?   WRONG.   How stupid of me.  I knew nothing.....and I'm not ashamed to say so, just pissed off.

We never knew - 

I've always been the kind of gal that loves to capture the moment in pictures.  I have so many photo albums and loose pictures in photo boxes at home, my husband thinks I'm a pack rat.  I say I'm sentimental.    Pictures capture life in a way that's so amazing.   I rarely forget anything but if I do forget a special moment or event, it's not long before I land upon a photo that brings it all back.

Lately, I've been finding pictures of Mom all over the place. -  Most are ones that have always been out in the open, whether on Facebook or in my house in a frame... but it's the older ones that make me stop in my tracks. 

I find myself wondering, in all those photos, if Mom had lung cancer back then.    What we know of the type of lung cancer she did have, it was Non Small Cell, which doctors told us was the slower growing type.   That makes me believe that Mom had this lung cancer for years before it was detected.   And then, hearing it was inoperable, because it had invaded her chest wall, it really confirmed that this tumor had long set up camp years back.   So, yes, now I look at photos of Mom, through the past few years, and I study it, wondering if she had the beginnings of lung cancer back then and we never knew it. I literally ask myself EACH and EVERY time I see a photo now. And it's getting to the point of obsessing about it.
I have to know!  That bastard tumor was there, while we danced at my wedding, when my niece started kindergarten, when my sister graduated nursing school?  Fucker.   But she looked so healthy too... Makes no sense.

My stomach drops every time I see her in a photo at a party, or a dance recital, or a BBQ, and I realize that she'd already had lung cancer. 

All those months or years ago, it could have been detected.  But yet, it wasn't.   Mom never had any symptoms, other than what we thought might have been a cold, or the usual smoker's cough.   Nope, we found out all too late.  And not even because she was being checked for a lung condition.   She had been diagnosed with breast cancer, that we were confident she could beat, and it was during her pre-op testing that they found the lung tumor on a chest x-ray.   What the hell?    I still remember  the medical secretary from the breast surgeon's office calling me - she said I had to get Mom to the ER right then, because her chest x-ray results were "off the wall".   Kind of a strange play on words for a medical professional but I realized later that it was pretty alarming to see. (which I eventually did).      The tumor had literally consumed her left lung and had weighed it down.   Seeing the x-ray?   Bizarre.     

I can honestly say that I knew little to nothing about lung cancer until my mom was diagnosed.  I'm disgusted to find out that there is so little awareness for it and even less funding.   It sucks that, more often than not, lung cancer is found in the late stage(s).  By the time most people are diagnosed, the cancer is already advanced and the survival rates are so discouraging.   This has to change - We need to help make that change.    This month, shout it from the roof tops, post it all over social media ... Make your voice heard for everyone affected by lung cancer.   Talk to friends and family who smoke and even those who don't, but might be exhibiting some of the tell-tale symptoms.   Anyone can get lung cancer, not just smokers.   Yes, my mom did smoke, but she didn't deserve lung cancer.   She DID deserve to enjoy her grandchildren, to finally win at bingo, to enjoy more bonfires in my backyard, to see the fireworks on New Year's Eve.....

*I'm raising my voice this November & I want to be heard*  

Cozy toes!

As promised, I will continue to review the products that I received in my Rose Vox Box from Influenster.  I'm telling you, ladies, you have got to sign up on that website.  The great products that I received in my box were so AWESOME!  

So, now, I'll tell you about the Dr. Scholl's For Her Cozy Cushions.   No kidding...they REALLY feel like CUSHIONS.   When I first had the package in hand, I noticed there was a little window cut out so you can poke your finger in and feel the coziness.. and I couldn't wait to get my feet on them! I know my hands are jealous now that the Cozy Cushions are in my favorite boots, but it has made such a difference.  I don't like tired, sore feet.. and these are the answer to all my feet woes.  Yes, I have them.   I'm going to need these babies when I start Christmas shopping!

All of a sudden, the weather here has been ridiculously cold, so these could not have come at a better time. Not only are they warm but they really give my feet great support.
You have got to stop and check them out at the store - (use the tester window!) -

- Yes, they're that soft and comfy.

I put them right in my favorite boots that I tend to wear, A LOT, and I can't wait to put them on in the morning.    The great thing about it is that you can cut them to fit.. (I might have saved the excess)....

Girls, these Dr Scholl's For Her Cozy Cushions really ROCK.... Your feet will love you for it.

This is all my opinion of course, but here are the facts straight from the experts who perfected them:

Dr. Scholl's® For Her Cozy Cushions help keep feet warm and dry while providing all-day comfort. Their multi-layer design helps insulate the foot while two plush layers provide extra cushioning. Cozy Cushions help keep feet dry by absorbing perspiration and offer superior support on hard surfaces. 

• Helps keep feet warm and dry
• Provides support for any boot or casual shoe
• Offers superior support on hard surfaces

Now you and your friends can get all-day comfort for less – by saving $2 on any Dr. Scholl’s® For Her product today!

*** I received this product complimentary from Influenster ***

Rimmel Mascara Review!

So, as I stated before, with my recent post, I was lucky enough to a receive a VoxBox from Influenster.  In it were lots of goodies!  I can't say that I didn't shriek at every product I saw in there.
One of my favorite items had to be the Rimmel Retro Glam Mascara. Now, I'm one of those gals who always answers "mascara" when you're asked to name the one makeup item you couldn't live without.  I just feel like mascara would be the one thing to have in my bag, if I were only allowed ot have one makeup item.   I'm also picky with mascaras - I like to shop around and try out new ones but I'm also kind of cheap, so I find it hard spending a lot of money on a mascara, only to find out that it wasn't worth all the extra pennies.   Lately I've been sticking with Rimmel mascara because it hasn't disappointed me once.   And the price is wonderful! 
So, when I opened my VoxBox and saw a brand new mascara from Rimmel, I was elated!  I couldn't wait to try it and man was I glad I did.   It made my lashes longer than they have ever been.  I've always envied women who have long, beautiful lashes and are able to really exxagerate them with the right mascara.  Well, as soon as I started applying the Retro Glam from Rimmel, I was so impressed! It made my lashes look amazing!   They looked longer than I know they really are!  How awesome.
A few of the plus sides were that this mascara DOES not clump and it still is able to add volume without the weight of clumps or caked on mascara.  I have caked on mascara before, when the brand just wasn't working for me, and it's annoying to see that clump on your lash all day.  Right?
So, if you need a new mascara and even if you don't, you have got to try the new Retro Glam by Rimmel.. You won't be disappointed!  It's available in stores this month.. so check out the website and see where you can get it.   click here to find the BEST MASCARA around.

And when you do, come back and let me know what you thought!  I uploaded a picture, it looks a little funny, but it was just for you to see how great this procuct is!  I'll upload a better one later...

 

 

 

** I received the Retro Glam mascara, complimentary from Influenster, for testing purposes**