Ann Ueno + Westin + Bright Pink + Giuliana Rancic = $5,000

Good morning friends and happy hump day!  I am super-duper excited to share big news on the professional and personal front.

Professionally, I have recently {and humbly} helped to create an innovative, meaningful cause marketing partnership between The Westin Chicago River North Hotel and Bright Pink, the only national non-profit organization focusing on the prevention and early detection of breast and ovarian cancer in young women.  It’s partnerships like these that make me love my job and feel honored to work with and for such inspiring and talented people.  And for me, this is big because what it means is that via my day job, I can not only help create a business partnership that benefits both parties, but that can potentially save lives.

And personally, as a result of this partnership and together with my colleagues, I am part of a fundraising team to raise $5,000 for Bright Pink’s annual fundraiser, FabFest, hosted by the amazing Giuliana Rancic at The Westin Chicago River North Hotel in my very own city of Chi-town!  I am so excited to come alongside amazing women (and men) to raise awareness for the organization.  More importantly, I am honored to support a dear friend, Lindsay Avner and her amazingness.

Lindsay, at the age of 23, was the youngest patient in the country to bravely opt for a risk-reducing double mastectomy with reconstruction.  She lost her grandmother and great-grandmother to breast cancer before she was born.  She had an 87% chance of getting breast cancer and a 54% chance of developing ovarian cancer.  She vowed to not let breast cancer strike and was proactive with her health.  And today, nearly a decade later, she is the founder of Bright Pink.

Lindsay is a walking inspiration every single day.  It’s people like her that make me want to do better.  To do something.  To do more.  To dream big.  And so, I am doing something small to make a big difference.  I am fundraising for this cause and I {humbly} need your help!

WHAT CAN YOU DO?  My ask of you is for a financial donation to help us hit our goal!  And one that feels right for you.  That could be $10 or $100, the amount doesn’t matter.  By supporting my FabFest fundraising page, you are helping empower women nationwide to advocate for their breast and ovarian health and supporting those at high risk.  Because of you, more women will detect breast and ovarian cancer earlier or prevent it all together.  That’s what matters most and therefore, every dollar counts so please click here to donate!

This is Addie, my colleague and co-captain and me at our Starwood offices in Chicago.  Help us hit our $5k goal!

Friday Round Up: Fashion, Food, Design and Saving the Earth, Of Course.

Probably like most of you, I am totally stimulated with visuals.  Like I am infatuated with visual language.  And this week I received my fair share of visuals and I am here to bring you the round up for your viewing and pinning to Pinterest pleasure.  Enjoy and make it a great weekend!

{Amy of Leopard and Lillies featured on In Honor of Design.  Love the comfy chic look!}

{Amelia from The Chicago Life Blog – I want every single thing she is wearing, especially that jacket and that amazing bun and tall skinny legs, please.}

{You know you want one of these Glazed & Infused donuts.  Yep, I had one and it tasted as good it looks.}

{Oh yeah, you know you want some of this red velvet deliciousness, too.  Well, you have to have a meeting at The Westin Edina Hotel in Minneapolis for that.  #lovemyjob}

{The West Elm Parson’s Desk continues to be a design phenomenon.  It’s simple.  It’s chic.  It’s classy.  It’s a steal.  And The Everygirl did a great feature on how to style this bad boy.}

{My current obsession is gold anything.  Gold lamps, vases, pillows, teeth.  Ewwww.  Okay not anything, but most things.  And Emily Henderson shared her find at the Rose Bowl Flea Market in LA.  And check out that fabric, too!  Ugh, want.}

{One of my favorite visual captures this week was chatting with a girl I met at a leadership conference who was chugging some good, tasty, earth-saving Project 7 water.  If you haven’t heard of this company, check them out STAT.  How could you not want to #savetheearth and #housethehomeless and #feedthehungry and #healthesick and #quenchthethirsty and #teachthemwell and #hopeforpeace by simply purchasing every day products?!}

Helping People Help People: How $100 Can Make a Difference.

This past Christmas, Rick and I tried something a little different as it related to giving gifts.  As we were thinking of what to give his parents, aunts, uncles and siblings, we stopped and asked the question, “Do they really need anything?”  And this led to the more important question, “How can we help more people this holiday season?”  And then it hit us.  Instead of sending gifts, let’s send each family a hundred-dollar bill and give them a challenge.  A challenge to take that $100 and pay it forward.  Give it to a family in need.  Give it to a friend.  Donate it to an organization of their choice.  Whatever way they chose was fine, it was more about replacing another “thing” with helping an organization or a person in need.  You know, a helping people help people sort of thing.

And now, I am here to share our first story which came from Rick’s mom and dad.  She typed this beautiful letter to us and I wanted to share it with you.  Perhaps for an upcoming birthday or holiday or even next Christmas, you will be inspired to give in a new, potentially more meaningful way!

Christmas Challenge for December 2012

This was such a fun challenge.  I knew immediately what I wanted to do.  There is an Ethiopian woman who works the front desk at the Yesler CC where I play pickle ball.  She is very conscientious and does an excellent job in my opinion.  Her name is Genet M. Woldeyesus, age 63.  She lost her husband to a stroke 14 years ago.  She has three sons still living in Ethiopia and one granddaughter who turned one years old today.

She and her husband had entered the DIV Lottery to come to the United States but then her husband had a stroke and died in three days.  As luck would have it after he died her name came up as a winner and she came to United States 11 years ago in 2000 by herself.   Genet has a younger sister and brother-in-law living in San Diego so she went there first.  Than in February 2002 she moved to Seattle.

Genet applied for a job through the Mayor’s office under the Title Five program for seniors over 62, which is a training program for seniors to earn minimum wage. She works for the City of Seattle under the Parks and Recreation Dept. but has only been able to work part-time for the past year and a half and having a tough time making ends meet.  She needs to work full-time but because of her age is having difficulty.

For Christmas her younger sister sent her a round trip airline ticket to visit her family in San Diego.  I knew she needed money so I have Genet an early Christmas gift before she left.  She was thrilled and so happy.

When I saw her this morning I told her of the idea and generous gift you and Rick had sent to Dad and me.  I told her my thoughts went immediately to her.  Whenever, Christmas comes around children are always remembered but I told her seniors also need to be remembered and I gave her the $100.00.  It was such a joy to see how grateful she was.  She said no one had ever done something like this for her.   What a blessing, thank you for giving us the opportunity to truly help someone in need!!!

Love, Mom and Dad

7 Ways to Give Back During the Holiday Season

Hi friends!  With the holiday season in full gear and bank accounts a bit less than they were last week (thanks Cyber Monday), I have been thinking about how to give back during this holiday season.  This time of year is so special for me and is such a great season to give thanks and give back.  Most of us are MORE THAN blessed and have more than we even know what to do with.  Others do not.  So why not stop and take some time this holiday season to give back?

Here are 7 ways to give back during the holiday season:

1. Adopt-a-Family:  Rick and I have done this for a couple years in a row now and plan to do so each year.  There are so many children and adults alike that do not have the means to have gifts at Christmas and chances are, by adopting a family, your gift(s) may be the only ones they will receive.  To help you get started, you can check out The Salvation Army Adopt-A-Family program.
2. Surprise and delight someone you know: this could be sending a gift card to a family in need or just buying a nice little gift for an old friend.  A dear friend of mine LOVES Frango peppermint coffee and she now lives in the D.C. area.  The minute I saw it on the shelves of Macy’s, I snatched it up and mailed it to her (loved thinking about the smile she would have drinking a hot cup of her favorite coffee!).  It’s all about the unexpected and  making someone’s season that much better.
3. Surprise and delight someone you don’t know: we have all heard the story of the nice women in line in front of you at Starbucks who paid for you coffee for no reason at all.  Be that person.
4. Partner with Toys for Tots:  Let’s be honest, so much of the joy of the season is watching little children open up gifts from Santa and be so happy about what they received!  Toys for Tots offers three ways to give back:  donate financially, donate toys or volunteering at a Toys for Tots event.  Either of these options are so generous and would certainly put more smiles on children’s faces on Christmas morning 🙂
5. Write a handwritten holiday card:  Write five handwritten holiday cards each week in the month of December to friends and family in your life to simply say hello, say happy holidays, say thank you, or to remind them why you love them.  Or,  write Cards for Hospitalized Kids.  This is such a special program and a fun activity to do with children.
6. Serve in your community:  Gather a group of friends together and plan a service event.  Make it a family outing.  Do it for date night.  Go alone.  No matter who you are with, taking the time to serve during the holiday season is a great way to give back.  This year, my bible study group and I are doing something a bit different.  We are choosing two families in need, getting together one night and pitching in $20 each and going grocery shopping.  Afterwards we are driving to the homes of the families and dropping off the groceries.  That’s just one idea.  I am sure your church, your synagogue and place of work have many opportunities as well.
7. Donate your clothes:  If you were too busy or didn’t get a chance to do a fall cleaning of your closet, it’s okay!  As we approach the end of the year, it’s a perfect time to purge your closet and go to a local Goodwill, Salvation Army or anywhere that accepts clothing donations.  Not only will you feel good starting the new year organized and simplified, you will also have helped families in need.  And if you need inspiration on how to purge your clothes, check out my blog on how to organize a closet.

What are some ways you give back during the holiday seasons?  Please share!

Best of Holiday Gift Guides

If you are like me and, um, the rest of the population, you may {already} be overwhelmed by the retail spam marketing during this time of year.  Listen, I am in marketing and I hate to say this, but gosh, the choices are endless and often leave me paralyzed and brain-warped.  I love the fact that the handy-dandy world wide web has given us so many resources, but sometimes I just want simple.  I want easy.  I want focus.  I just want to buy some holiday gifts without spending 30 hours searching (if you are like me, you get an email, you click through, you find a new blog, you Google the writer, you find cool images, you end up on Pinterest and the next thing you know 4 hours have gone by and you have done nothing).

Well, my fellow readers and dear friends, I thought I would try to help you out and share with you some of my personal favorite holiday gift guides.  Maybe, just maybe, you can buy a few gifts, feel productive and THEN spend 4 hours on Pinterest if you want.

1. IHOD Holiday Gift Guide –  Anna, the creative behind this blog and guide, shares with her readers her annual holiday guide and I have to say, I am impressed.  From unique finds on Etsy to Peppermint Truffles (yum) to great ideas for the gents, I love her online holiday gift catalog!
2. J.Crew 101 Gift Guide – of course, you knew I would feature this.  Here’s the deal.  It rocks.  Awesome gift ideas and ridiculous visual stimulation (that’s reason enough to visit the site), you will for sure find a gift for…her, him, for girls, for Ann Ueno, for boys.
3. Restoration Hardware Stocking Stuffer Guide – let me just say I was able to cover off a lot of kids in one fell swoop here.  The best part, however, is there are very unique gifts for everyone – your dad, co-worker, game-lover, your friend who is a magician, yourself, your friend who is a total tech geek…everyone!
4. Etsy Gift Ideas – I don’t need to explain myself here.  Supporting amazing artists, creators and designers is just plain awesome.  And you really will find one-of-a-kind gifts here for everyone on your shopping list.
5. Vogue’s Holiday Gift Guide – okay, let me be honest.  I probably won’t will never buy anything from this, but, it’s fun to look at and it’s Luxe with a capital L.  Hermes and Chanel and Gucci oh my!
6. JustGive.org Charity Gift Card – there are several companies out there that do this and kudos to all of them for creating a platform to give someone the gift of charity.  As it says on their website, “You choose the value of the cards; your recipient chooses the charity; their charity receives a donation—everyone wins.”  Awesome, right?  Talk about a gift that keeps on giving.
7. Dwell Holiday Gift Guide  – for the  music lover, wine enthusiast, chef, traveler, euro-obsessed and everyone in between, I love the creativity and unique aspects to the products Dwell offers.
8. Red Envelope Christmas Favorites – I have to say, I think Red Envelope has stepped up their game these days.  Specifically, I think their monogram and personalized gifts are far less cheesy and much more modern and classy.  So if you are looking for some personalized options, check them out.
9. World Market Gift Shop – truth be told, I shop here a lot.  I buy wine, wrapping paper and sometimes a giant container of peanut butter pretzels for my dad.  I recently bought really cool letters that spell out TRAVEL covered in a map for my office.  I buy unique picture frames here.  I buy bath towels here.  One year I bought an “Around the World” twelve-pack of brewskies for my brother-in-law.   I actually once had my sister buy like 10 bottles of wine not to drink, but to decorate with. I buy a lot of stuff from this store.  Maybe you should, too.