My latest haul...

This will be a rather random post.

I'm going to share with you a few of the things I "hauled" these last few months.

Do you remember my post on Sevenly?  

Again, it is no secret that Sevenly.org quickly became one of my newly found "loves".

I got my shirt in the mail and cannot be more proud of this company.  

This particular Tee was to support Somaly Mam Foundation, in helping sex-trafficking survivors.

This cause will earn a separate blog post in the future...  It's been tugging my heart.

Here's a video of me opening my package... I was so excited!

I will proudly rock this one around... 
Each week Sevenly launches a new Tee, to support a New Cause. 
Check Out This Week's Cause Tee - Now at Sevenly.org

Around Valentine's Day, I treated myself to one of these...

Can you guess where it came from?

None other than Starbucks, baby!

And have you heard of Julep Maven?

A few days ago I got my March Julep Maven box in the mail.  

March  Julep Maven Box

If you know me, you KNOW I love a pretty bottle of nail polish... and polish on my nails.

I found out about Julep through a YouTube beauty guru, and got hooked.

American Beauty Box (Moroccan Argan Oil 1oz., Emma & Kelly polishes)

Jennifer & Brooke

It's a Seattle-based salon, which decided to branch out and offer these monthly Julep Maven program boxes to polish-lovers like me, with a monthly membership fee.  They ask you to complete a profile questionnaire, to determine your style, and they send you a suggested selection of polishes each month.  Each box contains, on average, $40-60 worth of products, for $19.99/month.  What I like about this program is that I can choose to "skip" a monthly box, or choose to receive a different selection.  
If you use the code COLOR1012 at checkout, you'll get your first box for $0.01 (A PENNY!).  
Click HERE and check them out!

Anyway, I LOVE getting these boxes in the mail.  

And last, BUT NOT LEAST...

What about Swagbucks?  
To review, go back to my blog post on Swagbucks.

I was able to "swag" enough "swagbucks" to get myself $100 on Amazon.com!!!!  

WHAT????????

That's right!  

You probably already know about Swagbucks, but if you don't, click here to read my past post about Swagbucks and how I usually earn my "bucks".

I'm probably getting about 450 swagbucks (which you can redeem for a $5 Amazon gift card) every 3-4 weeks, JUST BY SEARCHING THE INTERNET.  

That's right!

If you use google or yahoo, or any other search engines, I would highly encourage you to start using Swagbucks' search engine.  You'll be able to quickly earn your "bucks" and redeem them for giftcards (or other goodies).

So, my goal since last Fall was to get enough Amazon credit to get a Kindle.  

More specifically, my goal has been (and will continue to be) to get a Kindle Fire without having to pay for it.  

I will keep you guys updated.  

I'm excited, though.

SO, if you haven't yet signed up for Swagbucks, SIGN UP now!!!  

So easy...

What about you?  

What have you hauled lately?

Autism... raise awareness through Sevenly!

Yes, it is NO SECRET...

I'm totally coming alongside Sevenly to raise awareness and help raise funds for another cause...

Check Out This Week's Cause Tee - Now at Sevenly.org

Autism.

Have YOU or a LOVED ONE been affected by it?

If so... what's your story?

National Human Trafficking Awareness Day... Where were you?

Yesterday, 01/11/12, was Human Trafficking Awareness Day.

I was SHOCKED (and somewhat not surprised) that I didn't hear a thing about it on the news, on the radio, or read it on the paper...  NOTHING.  

It was as if the world had silenced itself.

But I became aware of this very day by following two AMAZING organizations that are investing every minute, resource and personnel to bring the issue of Human Trafficking to the forefront of our minds.

Sevenly's Purpose is to 

" learn the issues that break God's heart, engage with the people who are called to the issue, and create awareness and a funding movement that supports them in their efforts."

For one entire week, Sevenly promotes a specific cause, such as hunger, poverty, lack of clean water, medical, slavery, and others, by selling t-shirts.  Amazing designed t-shirts, by the way.  $7 of each t-shirt sold (thus, the name Sevenly), goes directly to the organizations with which they're partnering during that specific week.

I've been rocking my Girls Not For Sale t-shirt since then...

 I was totally moved by the work that

Girls Educational and Mentoring Services (GEMS) are doing.  According to the GEMS Facebook page, GEMS is the nation's largest nonprofit organization specifically designed to empower commercially sexually exploited girls and young women, ages 12-24.  They're based in New York state.  In 2010 alone, they were able to provide counseling, job training, access to health care, and crisis housing to more than 328 young women, and outreach to over 1,000 youth.  Please check out their Facebook page for more information, links, pictures, etc.  

Well, but Sevenly did not stop there.  

THIS WEEK ONLY!!  

Sevenly is working together with the Somaly Mam Foundation, a nonprofit charity committed to ending modern day slavery in North America and around the world.  All t-shirt/hoodie purchases will provide water, nutritious meals, medical and psychological aid to sex-trafficking survivors staying in a shelter in Vietnam.  

Watch this video... it broke my heart.  

I don't consider myself a hardcore humanitarian.  

But I KNOW that when I see the injustice that's placed on young girls, my heart breaks and I get a glimpse of what righteous anger looks like.  I get angry.  Yes, I do.  I CANNOT image the pain, the nightmares, and the scars that these girls experience as a result of the dirty abuse.  

I call it SIN.  

And God sees it as SIN.  

As a parent of a young baby girl, I ache even more.  If such acts were placed upon my very own child, I could not find human strength or grace to deal with such injustice.  In God's eyes, how can He?  I know God's heart breaks... He weeps.  And my prayer is that I would begin to see and experience what's like to see the world and the people in it, as God sees and experiences.  

So, next time you see me, I might be rocking one of my new wardrobe pieces...  

which one will you be wearing??

Disclaimer:  I am not, in any way, being sponsored or asked to share the messages of any of these organizations.  I am sharing my own thoughts and opinions about them.  All images/video were taken from their website.