Why I love Celebrities

My hero of the month, and probably lifetime, is the lovely Ms. Jenna Ushkowitz.  Yes, I know, I am much too obsessed with Glee for a 26 year old.  But let’s be honest, I was a teeny bopper back in the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC days, and I will probably never grow out of it. 

So why do I have the utmost respect for Jenna?  Besides the fact that she’s a gorgeous Asian woman with a not so Asian name (I’m about to be Kim Conner).  For her birthday she wished for people to donate to Oceana, a nonprofit fighting for cleaner oceans and abundant wildlife in the sea.  Come on, you know you get excited when you’re at the beach and you see dolphins in the water and Finding Nemo is one of the best movies ever made!  How else would you know how to speak whale?!?  And because of her, I now know of this website http://wishes.causes.com/ where you can “use the special moments of your life to raise money for a good cause.”  It’s just genius and everything I hope and wish for out of this blog.  I definitely know what I’ll be asking for, for my birthday next year, and with my birthday being right around Christmas the same rule always applies…no joint gifts! (donate twice…wink wink)  Until then, I’m going to have to narrow down the many charities I want to help out in life.  I don’t think it will be too much to ask, considering most people my age have gatherings at the bar for their birthday, why don’t you donate the price of a beer to a great cause for my birthday!

I just love celebrities who use their fame and generous paychecks to bring awareness and donate their time and money to all sorts of charities.  I mean I couldn’t get even a handful of people to “Like” Apple & Eve on Facebook so that $1 would be donated to VH1 save the music, but that won't stop me from doing what I want to do with this blog.  As a transplant patient, I have fought for my life, and I will always fight for what I believe in!!  Anyways, once a celebrity tweets about a nonprofit, I can imagine the traffic funneled to that charity’s website and funds their fans are donating are through the roof.  So Bravo Jenna and all celebs that are using their fame towards a better world….kind of like super heroes!

Check out Jenna’s Birthday wish here http://wishes.causes.com/wishes/276972Soon

Shop to make a difference

David and I have been working hard to look our best for our wedding, which is exactly one month from today!  We both have been hitting the gym every day and have changed our diets.  This past weekend, we steered off course and treated ourselves to a well-deserved dessert.  He often calls me the sweet tooth monster; I truly believe I could survive off baked goods for the rest of my life, so you could imagine my excitement for our treat!  Being the sweet tooth monster I am I have completely fallen into the cupcake craze that has hit America.  So, I insisted we try Crumbs, a cupcake bakery that began in Manhattan and is now bi-coastal.  I’ve been to a few cupcake bakeries before, and the one thing I instantly noticed when I walked into Crumbs were the generous portions (larger cupcakes than most) and they had a much larger variety of flavors readily available. 

The case was pretty much like the holy grail of cupcakes, my head was spinning trying to decide on which flavor to get.  Another customer admiring the case mentioned how delicious “Cherry Blossom” was.  I have to admit, it probably wouldn’t have been the first flavor I would have picked, but once the employee told us that 15% of the proceeds would be donated to the Red Cross towards the Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami Fund I had to buy it!  It was delicious, and ended up being David’s favorite of all the flavors we got.  The cupcake is a delicious vanilla cake filled with cherry preserves and the frosting was a sweet, not over powering, vanilla cherry cream cheese. 

Unfortunately, this cupcake of the month was only featured until April 10.  Since they aren’t available anymore, what’s the moral of the story you may ask?  Why not purchase something because it may help a great cause?  Even if it’s not your number one brand or flavor, you may be pleasantly surprised!  I’m going to make more of an effort to keep my eye out to purchase more goods from socially conscious companies, and I hope you would do the same.  

http://www.crumbs.com/

"Like" Apple & Eve

Here's my first attempt to get more people involved in helping others.  This one is easy and takes no time at all!  If you search "Apple & Eve" on Facebook, simply "Like" them and they will donate $1 to the VH1 Save the Music Foundation, up to $50,000.  VH1 Save the Music Foundation is a non-profit that raises awareness and donates musical instruments to schools all across the United Sates, promoting the importance of instrumental music education. 


Do this soon, it's only going on until 8/31/2011.  As of now they have 9,404, they have quite a ways to go to hit the maximum, I mean who doesn't Like juice?? 

http://www.vh1savethemusic.com/

Who, What, Why....

David and I at the Liver Life Walk

Me with my biggest supporter, my dad.

Everyone’s journey through life shapes their individual characteristics, inspires their passions, and encourages their actions.  I was lucky enough to receive a second chance at life when I got a liver transplant on September 27, 2010.  If you had met me 10 years ago when I found out I had a liver disease, you definitely would not be encountering the person I am today.  I struggled with the news and illness through high school and early college; in fact I was a pain in the kisser, to my doctors, due to the name calling and denial.  It wasn’t until I met my fiancé, David, that I began to accept the disease.  Thanks to him and the support of my family and friends I was able to be the only 22 year old not spending every weekend and dollar at the bar, and became much nicer and pleasant to my doctors and nurses. 

I experienced the most proud moment in my life when I signed up for the 2009 Northern Virginia Liver Life Walk with the Liver Foundation of America.  My personal fundraising page earned me an adorable little trophy for being “Top Individual Fundraiser.”  Don’t get me wrong the trophy was wonderful, but the best part was that I genuinely felt incredible inside and full of joy and pride for my surpassing my monetary fundraising goal for a cause that was so close to my heart!  It was a thrill to see my family, friends, and friends of friends donating to a cause that I was passionate about and supporting me.  I will never forget that day, the experience was amazing.    When I was recovering in the hospital I made it my goal to always be happy and cheerful towards all of the amazing nurses and doctors who took care of me.  I also told myself, and everyone I met, that after I recovered I wanted to put more of my time and energy into more fundraising and volunteer work. 

I hope to use this blog as a journal to document the great memories and happy feelings that will come as I set out to accomplish my goal of becoming a philanthropist.  Sharing stories and pictures of events I will be participating in or attending.  I also hope that as you follow me on my journey, I can show you how fun and easy volunteering and fundraising can be, and inspire you to do the same.  If I can get readers to volunteer for a charity for a day, or attend a fundraising event at least once a year, imagine the big changes that will be made in peoples’ lives and/or in the communities that benefit from these charities.  I will try to highlight and promote great charities, fun events, and share ideas on the small steps you can take to help others.  Please email me with anything you would like for me to share at loveshareity@gmail.com!