July 23, 2010

Aloha Friday - Wedding Dresses

Welcome to this week’s edition of Aloha Friday. Every Friday (well, ok, almost every Friday) I ask a simple question for you to answer--nothing that requires a lengthy response. 

Here's my question....
Do you still have your wedding dress? If not, what did you do with it (Sell it? Donate it? Make it into a really fancy tablecloth?)

For married guys...Does your wife still have her wedding dress? For single ladies...Do you think you'ld keep your wedding dress or sell it after you got married? For single guys...uh...hmmm...I got nothing, sorry.

Please leave your answer in a comment below. 

For my answer to this question, go here (it's kinda a fun story).

If you have a blog and would like to post your own question you can leave your link at An Island Life.

July 19, 2010

Giving Away A Wedding Dress

I've been married for more than 10 years...very happily. And the weekend before last I finally let go of my wedding dress.

My dressw was beautiful and I felt beautiful in it...pearls and lace on the boddice, princess waist, buttons down the back leading to a cluster of rosettes above a full skirt, exactly what I had pictured as a little girl (minus the puffed sleaves).

But it didn't take long to decide that it was best to let it go. I knew how I felt when I was offered my mother's wedding dress (non-enthused). It was not my style and I felt sure that if I had a little girl that some day she would want her OWN dress too...not mine. Plus, we were short on closest space and money back then, and I thought this would help. I put up flyers in our apartment and advertised in on wedding classifieds. Got a few nibbles...but no bites.

So, the dress traveled with us through three more apartments, and the addition of three children...all boys. Every now and then I'd try to sell it with no luck, and it was too old to consign. We weren't poor newlyweds anymore...so money wasn't the issue. What bothered me now was the idea that my dress might just sit in our closest and never be worn again. So, when we had our garage sale I also put an add on Craigslist: "FREE WEDDING DRESS...come get it!"

The girl who took it home was young...if she was 20 I would have been surprized, but then, when I was 20 I looked like a junior higher, so she could have been older than she looked. I felt good as I watched her walk out of our garage with that that big froofy wedding dress under her arm, and hoped she would feel as beautiful in it as I had.

Do you still have your wedding dress? Are you ready to let go? If so, you can find places to donate it here...or just give it away on craigslist. *Smile*

July 2, 2010

Craft for a Cause

Do you like to knit, croquet, sew, craft?  You can use your DIY skills to help others.  Check out some cool charitable craft programs below.

Share a Square
Croquet a square for an afghan for a child at Camp Discovery

Knitted Knockers
Knit a breast prosthetic for a cancer survivor

Project Night Night
Project Night Night accepts donations of homemade blankets and quilts which they give to homeless children.

Craft for the Gulf
You can donate crafts to this Etsy shop raising money for Gulf Coast clean-up and relief

Craft for Haiti
You can donate crafts to these Etsy shops raising money to help the people of Haiti
Haiti by Hand
Hearts for Haiti

And many, many more...
I just discovered the list above on a blog about crafting for charity.  Much more complete list than this one!

July 1, 2010

A Realization and Some Blog Changes

I enjoy entering blog giveaways...they have been a fun way to "shop" and now and then I'd actually win something.  Lately I've been winning a lot of things, actually, because I've become good at finding giveaways without many comments which are easy to win (yes, I'll share how).  But here's the problem...it's become a very self-serving thing, and I feel like it's encouraging greed in my life.  It's making me focus on all the things I want in stead of being grateful for what I have and taking time away from things that are more meaningful.   I know that giveaways can promote good causes (I've tried to do that with the ones I've offered here), and they help small businesses get the word out about their products...but I just don't feel like it's good for me to spend so much time focused on this (even if I am winning enough to make it worth my time in a monetary sense).

So, while I will probably still continue to post giveaways for good and ways to give back I will be no longer be searching for easy wins to post, and will be posting less giveaways in general.  Thanks for understanding.

How I Find Low Comment Giveaways

Want to know how I find low comment giveaways?  Well, some I just stumble over, but there's ways to search for them.  Here's how:
  1. I search the Giveaways Ending Soon Section of Prizey.  I look for lower dollar items (things that probably cost under $20), and items like books and CDS that seem to attract less people.  I also look items with poor pictures, since this is often a sign of a blogger with less experience who might not be attracting as many entrants.  Because all of these giveaways are ending soon, I know that the amount of comments they have is about all they'll get--and avoid ones that are only low comment because they're just starting.

  2. Once I find a low comment giveaway I look on that blog to see what other items they might be giving away.  Often these will be low comment too.  Sometimes I save their URL to check later  (I've saved some of these here.).  The few $100 items I've found with less then 10 entrants were found this way.  I also find low comment giveaways at various blogs which post these (you can see a list on my sidebar.

  3. I also have found low comment giveaways searching for something specific.   For instance, while searching for CafePress giveaways I've stumbled on a few giveaways with less than 50 comments, even though CafePress giveaways usually bring hundreds of comments.  If there is a specific item you are especially wanting to win--lets say and Amazon Gift Card--you can go to Google blog search, click on advanced search, set the date range to one week, and search for "Amazon Giveaway."  The date limitation is important because otherwise you'll be sifting through all the ended giveaways and waste a lot of time.  If it's a less popular giveaway item you might try up to a month.