Link Love: Goodnews.com

As someone who surfs the internet a lot, I see a lot of discount offers. There are tons of programs that offer to send you local deals. All you have to do is submit some personal information.

This is my favourite of these offerings. Goodnews.com donates a portion of their proceeds to a local charity.


First, they are partnering with Edmonton Food Bank, who will receive 5% of all sales generated from January 25 to February 27, 2011.

Send your friends to the website, because the discounts only happen if enough people apply for them.

Goals for 2009

It's good to set goals for yourself, right? So here we go: in 2009 I will...

1. Post three times a week. I'll try for a combination of observations, product reviews and the thing I didn't post in 2008, Hollywood trivia.
2. Preparing the house for sale: getting rid of 30% of knick-knacks and souvenirs in the hospital, repairs to washrooms, upgrade lino flooring.
3. Get a dog. Sweetie says this is contingent on goal 2, so apart from the great feeling upgrading the house will give me, I'll finally have a dog again!
4. lose 10 inches by improving tone in arms, legs and waist. I'm not really sure what change this will cause in my weight, but it's the muscle tone I'm interested in.
5. Finish five courses in my Public Relations program. When I pass my current courses, I'll take two courses in the spring session and one in the autumn.
6. Increase my charitable donations. Not just our monetary donations, but my time and effort. I will make more clothing drives happen, and I will enter the MS Walk, which I haven't done for years.
   
7. Continue to develop the communications plan at work. Specifically, I want to develop and implement a recruitment communications plan and the overall communications plan. This is especially important with the recent drive to find new work, and will be challenging with the limitations we'll have on our resources.

What are your goals for 2009?

Sephora is carrying the limited-edition Smashbox palettes released in honour of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Young Survival Coalition, an international non-profit network of survivors and supporters dedicated to the issues unique to young women and the fight against breast cancer.

Get pretty for a good cause!!!

The Kit includes:

• Pink Power Eye Palette in Celebrate (ivory sheen/ pink champagne shimmer/ olive shimmer)
• Pink Power Lip Palette in Inspire (pink shimmer/ neutral pink shimmer/ pink beige shimmer)
• 1 dual ended eyeshadow applicator and 1 lip brush
  

Pink Bites: Oakley Ravishing & Enduring Sunglasses

I love glasses and sunnies, when they have good quality lenses. Oakley always has a lot of sweet colours and awesome looking, lightweight frames. They have released two special edition sunglasses to support the Young Survival Coalition’s mission of action, advocacy and awareness.


Oakley is donating US$20 from each sale of the special YSC breast cancer awareness edition sunglasses to the organization. The YSC’s core purpose is to improve the quality and quantity of life for all young women facing the challenges of breast cancer.

The special YSC breast cancer awareness edition Oakley Enduring™ and Oakley Ravishing™ sunglasses feature lush contours of lightweight O Matter® frame material that is accented with a pink ribbon design. The breast cancer awareness ribbon is also laser etched at the corner of the lens with Oakley’s pure Plutonite® lens material filtering out 100% of all UV rays.

Oakley’s High Definition Optics® takes clarity to the edge of a wide peripheral view with impact protection and is also available with Oakley authentic prescription lenses.

Enduring has a pearl white frame with pink temple sleeves and pink G20 wraparound lenses. The Unobtainium frame was designed for a woman's head, and the adjustable nosepad makes the fit even more comfortable.

Ravishing has a polished black frame with multicoloured print. The shape is a larger, Jackie-O style. The grey lens is perfect for medium to bright light.

Each pair of sunglasses comes with a specially designed pin, an eyewear case, plus a custom MICROCLEAR™ bag for lens cleaning and frame storage.

Oakley retails Ravishing for US$130 (CDN$155) and Enduring for US$160 (CDN$195). That is cheaper than the regular line sunglasses, and they donate $20 from the purchase to YSC.

Pink Bites: HBC Points Donation

In support of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, Hbc will donate your points to CBCF in the month of October.

Shop at The Bay, Zellers or Home Outfitters to buy products that make donations to breast cancer research and awareness. Then, donate your points!

I want to buy the Think Pink Umbrella ($15). You can never have too many umbrellas!

And since I've always wanted an HBC point blanket, I'm thinking about the Hbc Signature Pink Caribou Throw ($150).

Pink Bites: Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook-Pink Plaid

My favourite cookbook of all-time is the Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook. Everyone knows it as the red plaid cookbook, so named for the slammin' red plaid tablecloth-style cover. I learned to cook using this book under my Mom's instruction, so I naturally bought a copy for myself when I moved out on my own.

They released a new version now called the pink plaid in support of breast cancer. In support of the fight against breast cancer, Meredith Books will make a minimum $250,000 donation to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

It still has the basic cooking essentials for every aspiring chef: equivalencies tables, table settings, use of utensils and simple foundation recipes. It also has 64-page section devoted to living with breast cancer. I was thinking about buying a new one to get the newer chapters on low-fat cooking, 20-minute meals and slowcooker meals.

I'd held off before because it seemed silly to buy a book I already owned, but I felt completely justified because my purchase add to the $250,000 contribution to The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. The recipes are a mixture of the originals and new versions.

Pink Bites: Sony Pink Shopping Affair

Sony is da bomb, baby! I love their electronics, and have ever since my dad bought me my first Walkman that folded shut the same size as a cassette tape case.

Sony Style is proud to present The Pink Shopping Affair to fight breast cancer.

Beginning on October 1st until the 31st, proceeds from every pink purchase made on sonystyle.ca will support Breast Cancer research in Canada. As a token of our appreciation we will send you a Pink Ribbon Keychain with every pink purchase you make.

Some of the donations are quite decent in size:

Shop Sony Pink to find the cure!

Pink Bites: Aveda Hand Relief

During the month of October, the first 100 guests that mention sweetspot.ca at participating Aveda Experience Centres in Canada will receive a complimentary purse size sample of Aveda Hand Relief.

For Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Aveda is launching a limited edition pink ribbon Hand Relief.

It has an herbal fragrance that I love, and it's thick and rich. The Hub doesn't have this on his luv list, because he describes it as "stinky and greasy." I wouldn't go that far, but it does take a little while to really soak into your skin, but when it does it feels wonderful.

Pink Bites: Clinique Great Lips, Great Cause Lipstick Set

You may notice that I'm posting in pink all month in honour of October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Not only are there already lots of great pinks out there in Beauty Land, there are also special edition products that companies release, donating a portion of the proceeds to charities.

One of my favourites this season is Clinique Great Lips, Great Cause Lipstick ($17). The Colour Surge Butter Shine lipstick is a beautiful shade called Ribbon Pink, the case is a pink bamboo shape, and it comes in a nice silver package with a mirror in the lid. Exclusive to Sephora, $10 from each purchase is donated to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Sometimes with products like this, you read the fine print and find out the donation is going to "Bob's Charity" or the money all goes to administrative fees. BCRF is a good organization: at least 85% of donations goes to research and awareness campaigning, and this October they are awarding over $34 Million in research grants to 166 scientists. Take a look at their website to see some of the work they do and see all their corporate partners.

I'm picking up one for each of the special women in my life as an early Xmas stocking stuffer.