Sponsor Spotlight: Caitlyn

It's Wednesday! Which means it's the middle of the Week. Which means it's almost Friday(: I have one more Sponsor here to share her story about Cancer & how it's effected her. This girl, like myself is only twenty years old, but is aware of what a horrible thing cancer is. She's aware of how bad it can hurt somebodies life. Besides that, she's such a sweet girl! I'm so happy I got a chance to "meet" her. Give a warm welcome to Caitlyn (:

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Hey everyone! I’m Caitlyn, a photography major college student who blogs about her daily adventures and other random things over at Enigmatic Ambiance. If you were around me enough, you would know that even though I’m twenty, I often act as if I were five years old. Also, I think I’m fun to be around.

Something that isn’t fun to be around would be cancer. (Woah, I just completely changed the topic right there.)  Cancer is serious business.  About 564,800 Americans are expected to die of cancer this year.  That’s not even counting the rest of the world! I don’t know about you, but that seems like a lot, especially for something that we can help find the cure for.  

Earlier today, my friend mentioned “all of that money going to produce useless things that are going to break in a year or two could be going…to help cure cancer or something.” This is incredibly true.  Is it really necessary to have a new phone released every six months? What was wrong with the older one? Nothing at all. If we gave as much money to help fight cancer as we do to the cell phone market, that would make a huge impact and probably help save many, many lives.

“Why should you care about cancer? I don’t have it.” You might be thinking to yourself. While it’s true YOU may not have cancer, chances are you probably know someone who does.  Somebody very close to me beat skin cancer a few years ago.  I didn’t know that my grandfather had it at the time, because I was young and didn’t understand, but now when I think about it, if I had lost him, my world would be dramatically different.  I wouldn’t wake up in the morning to “Good morning, sunshine!” yelled across the house as I stumble across the house to get my orange juice at noon. I wouldn’t get to smile when I hear his complaints about the government or his weather reports. EVERYTHING would be different if I lost my grandpa.

I hope all of you realize how serious cancer is and how important it is to find a cure. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY wants to lose a loved one. Especially when there could have been a way to save them.

Sponsor Spotlight: Allie

Happy Tuesday ladies! There's only one more day until hump day, which is the halfway mark to the Weekend. I guess that's a way to look at it so the Weekend doesn't sound so far away! I'm excited to tell you that I have another guest today. Allie was the second person to make such a sweet donation! Allie is such a sweet girl - I can honestly see the start of a good bloggy friendship between us. As I do with my other sponsors. I honestly got lucky! <3

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Hey everybody, I'm Allie from A Day in A Joyful Life. I'm so honored to be here guest posting for Heather today. Normally I write about whatever is going on in my life, or just what pops into my head. Often it's random, sometimes it's frivolous, but today it's serious. I've just recently become acquainted with Heather and her lovely blog, and what drew me to her initially was her post on giving away ad space on her blog in return for sponsoring her participation in ACS's Relay for Life-- clearly this girl is awesome. Thank you so much for having me, Heather, and for asking me to write a bit about such an important topic.

Cancer is possibly the scariest word in the English language. Definitely in the top 5. It blows my mind to think about how many times that word has changed lives for the worse. One day you're going about your business, worrying about something that will soon seem trivial-- like the price of gas, or whether Kim and Kanye are the real deal-- and then just one word changes the way you view everything.

I'm almost hesitant to say that I've never personally been effected by cancer. I think it makes me almost abnormal, never to have had a family member or close friend be diagnosed. It scares me to voice that because the superstitious part of me is afraid that by putting that statement out into the world cancer will realize that it has "missed" someone and come hard at me or someone I love. It also scares me because I feel like I'm waiting for it. Waiting for a phone call letting me know that someone I care for, someone close to me has been diagnosed. Waiting for something else to add to my laundry list of my own health problems.

I hate cancer. I don't think anyone likes it, but I truly hate it. I hate the power it holds and the fear it causes. I hate it for the lives it's stolen; the parents, siblings, spouses, children, pets whose lives have been cut too short. It's for these reasons that raising awareness and funds for research is so important. We shouldn't have to live in fear of watching those we love suffer, or even worry about the possibility that they might.

Sponsor Spotlight: Karen

Hi ladies and gents, have I got a surprise for you! 

You know how I started taking October sponsors for a donation to My Relay page? Well, Karen here was the first to make a donation. When I logged on to my Relay for Life home page the morning after posting about my sponsorship, my heart filled with all the joy in the world. It makes me so happy to know there are people out there who want to put an end to cancer just as much as I do. Everybody give a warm welcome to my very first blog sponsor, Karen<3

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Hi, I'm Karen and I blog over at patching hearts.  I blog mainly about my family and kids; however, when Heather announced her sponsorship fundraiser for Relay for Life I knew I had to jump on board.  Cancer is a horrible disease that has touched my life dramatically in the past 5 years.  According to the American Cancer Society, 1,638,910 new cancer cases and 577,190 deaths due to cancer were projected for 2012.  That's a lot!  My family has been one of those "new" case statistics this year, and for the previous few years.  Here is our story.

In the summer of 2008, my Dad was suffering from terrible stomach pain.  My Dad, who avoids Doctors, finally agreed to go to the Emergency Room.  It was there that they discovered a blockage in his colon.  It was cancer.  He was taken back for immediate surgery and thankfully, the cancer was removed. 

Fast forward 1 year to the spring of 2009.  During a routine mammogram, the Doctor discovered a lump in my Mother-In Law's breast.  You guessed it....Breast Cancer.  That summer she received a lumpectomy followed by 6 weeks of radiation. 

In December of 2011, my Dad had a follow up Colonoscopy and yet again, they found more cancer.  A couple of weeks later, he had a subsequent surgery to remove more of his colon. 

Lastly, this past spring (2012) after some tests, it was discovered that my Father in Law had prostate cancer.  He has since had his prostate removed and is still recovering from a staff infection he got after the surgery which nearly killed him.

Cancer is an ugly disease that affects millions of people around the world.  We have been so fortunate that our parents are all currently doing well and are currently cancer free now.  Organizations like the American Cancer Society and Fundraisers like Relay for Life can help us someday find a cure for this horrible disease.  So jump on board and donate today!  Heather's Relay for Life team information is below.  Let's fight this together and help find a cure. 

October Sponsors to Fight Cancer

I never thought I would jump on this Sponsor thing, nor do I know who will sign up. But if you do, it's for a good cause. Please read.

I joined a Relay for Life team on Tuesday night. If you don't know what Relay for Life is, it's a "volunteer driven cancer fundraising event of the American Cancer Society".

I'll make this short and to the point. 

The teams are in the process of raising money for the American Cancer Society. I was up pretty late trying to think of different fundraisers I can do, then I came up with an idea of taking blog sponsors, because it would both benefit me, you, and of course the people fighting for their lives.

I have never done this before, but I promise you it will be worth it because: 

1. It's cheap. I'm only asking for a $10 donation to My Relay
2. Your blogs' ad will be featured on my blog for an until November!(if you don't have an ad, I will make you one)
3. You will get up to three individual posts on my blog
4. Your blog will be mentioned up to three times in my personal blog posts
5. If you donate, I will send you "I donated" goodies through the mail.
6. Every dollar counts towards saving the fight against cancer

Superficial Facts

• I have 365+ followers
• I've maintained 3000 page views a month
• In the next few days these numbers may start to sky rocket because I'm currently working on getting my blog more "out there"

Honestly, I'm willing to do whatever to make your Sponsoring experience amazing! I just really hope you donate. Any amount will be fully appreciated and rewarded with mailed "goodies" but for sponsorship I'm asking for a minimum of $10. After you donate please leave a comment and I will add your ad to my blog and send out your "I donated" goods!

Click on the image below - click "donate now" on the right - make your donation - leave a comment on this blog post. Thanks ladies.  

Cinco de Mayo

This is definitely not going to be a post about Cinco de mayo! But happy holiday to those celebrating. If I didn't have to work today, I would have found some recipes and made up some yummy Mexican food! That or gone to a Mexican restaurant. I've been craving it like crazy. 

so how about those rice cakes..

you're like WTH

 

RICE CAKES!!

I don't know.. But I do know for one their 35 calories for one - the pop corn flavor anyway! 35 calories for one kind of makes me happy because their a good size for nothing calories. 

Relay for life was pretty amazing. For a while instead of walking around the track, my friend and I decided to take picture which resulted in us being right in the center where all the candles were that spelled out "hope". The lights went off and we were in the spot light. This resulted in me falling to the floor and hiding because that's just embarrassing.

 LOL. My job had a tent set up so it was pretty cool to see coworkers participating! It was pretty.. different to see random coworkers I never see outside of work, outside of work. But at the same time it was nice. It felt like we knew each other. Some girl started singing that song by Martina Mcbride "I'm gonna love you through it" and it made me think of how amazing it is that all those people were there last night. It made me feel warm. It made me feel great that my coworkers had a tent set up in honor of cancer patients. It made me think of my dad not just being sick but actually having cancer. I'm glad I was somewhat involved last night, I tried to donate blood but my iron was too low. I still got a shirt though and two painful pricks in my finger. Ow. Getting involved for a cause is an amazing and rewarding feeling that I plan on doing more often. I seriously think getting involved for a cause is my cause. I'm going to look up more ways to get involved.