Help us help Hurricane Sandy victims

I'm happy to announce that we will be doing our part to help Hurricane Sandy victims at our event this weekend. From 7am to 3pm on Saturday we will be peddling out wares at the Junk in the Trunk Vintage Market at Westworld in Scottsdale. A portion of our proceeds this weekend will go to benefit victims of Hurricane Sandy and especially those folks in the hard-hit Breezy Point. Here are some photos of Breezy point and the damage that was done. 

 This is extra special for me because my best friend Maggie grew up in Breezy Point and many of her neighbors and friends (see this interview with Maggie's neighbor) have lost their homes and everything in them. In addition to donating a portion of our proceeds from the event, we will also be donating clothing from our stash. Please come out and help us make a difference. Clothing donations are also welcome.

For those of you who are not local and would like to help, we will extend this to our online shop as well. For any purchases made on the online shop this week, we will donate to relief efforts. Thank you for helping!!

Facts About Arizona Summers [[Help Us Stay in Business]]

Fact: Arizona is hot as hell in the Summer.

It's so hot in Arizona in the Summer, you start sweating when you walk out the door first thing (like, before 7) in the morning, regularly burn yourself on the seatbelt clicker, get sunburned driving in your car, and can cook eggs on the street (not really- we tried it one time to no avail).

Angelina Rose Photography

Fact: It's way hot for at least 5 months out of the year.

May's Average High Temperature: 93

June's Average High Temperature: 103

July's Average High Temperature: 105

August's Average High Temperature: 103

September's Average High Temperature: 99

info source

Fact: The average summer high temperature is the hottest of any area in the United States after Death Valley, which is the hottest of any major city in the United States, and approaches those of cities such as Riyadh and Baghdad. The temperature reaches or exceeds 100°F(38°) on an average of 110 days during the year, including most days from late May through early September, and highs top 110 °F (43 °C) an average of 18 days during the year. On June 26, 1990, the temperature reached an all-time recorded high of 122 °F (50 °C). Thank you Wikipedia.

Fact: The GROWop has no air conditioning.

Fact: Without AC, we will be out of business until the weather cools down : (

Fact: A super special, amazing person donated a four ton AC unit! Now we need to raise money to get this little (big) baby installed! Anything will help! Got an extra nickle layin around? That's more than we had yesterday! Anything, I mean ANYTHING, would be such an amazing help. 

Fact: We are having a fundraiser. If you're local please stop by. It'll be fun, with local music, live painting, a dance floor, bonfire and more. Pretty please help us spread the word about this important event!

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY WEEK

In my family, we do Birthdays up real good. My momma grew up with a sick mom and with a super busy farming father. Naturally, there wasn't a big to-do around their home when it came to birthdays. When my mom and dad began their own little family, my mom began making all of our birthdays super special. That means we often spend the whole week celebrating.

So this week is my birthday week and I'm pretty excited. We are having a family dinner tomorrow evening and a big party with all my most special buds on Saturday (the real Birthday day). Should be super fun! I really wanna make a vegan cake (to stick with my resolutions, which, P.S. I've been doing pretty good on! I need the UH-MAZING Rikki Cupcake to show me the ropes : ) Anyways, to celebrate this week, I'm getting my hair done! It always so exciting. I am looking for a change! What are your thoughts friends??

 Maybe a change of color?

 Cute bangs, huh?

 I love her hair. It's so big.

 Awe Jenny. So Cute.

This might be my favorite.

I don't know. Ya see, I never prepare and always end up with the same thing (Ok or I get super cheap in the moment and flake on any heafty plans, lol) . Help! It's a new year and I need some spunk!

Self Promotion

Source

I just stumbled upon this post over at Hipstercrite about self promotion and blogging.

Gah! Self promotion has always been somewhat of a nightmare for me. I'm actually really a shy person so the idea of self promotion- even for my shop- gives me the shivers (even though I am aware that it is fully necessary). I'm not the kind of person who is going to comment on a blog post just to link back to my blog. If I don't have anything authentic to say I'd rather not comment at all. I fear that posting each new blog post of facebook makes people cringe! I don't generally promote myself or my business in daily conversations (maybe I should be?).

What are your thoughts on promoting your self, your blog, or your shop? What has worked for you? What has proven unsuccessful?

***Also- Check back later this afternoon for a GIVEAWAY!***

Life Lessons Part 1

A few weeks ago my lovely friend Danielle wrote this really fabulous and enlightening post called "10 Things I've Learned in My 20s". I had written in my journal quite some time ago life lessons I always wanted to remember and, since Danielle's post was so lovely, I thought it would be fun to share some of my lessons with you. Be sure to head over to Danielle's blog and read parts one and two. You will love it.

You are always stronger than you think. Sometimes things happen to us that we never could have imagined or planned for. These are the times when we surprise ourselves and realize our limitations aren't what we thought they were.

The world would be a boring place if we were all the same. My great grandpa always says this and it's one of my favorites. Its funny that we spend so much time growing up trying to be like everyone else. As we get older and more mature, I think we come to realize how powerful and exciting people's quirks can be! Though I am, of course, continually working on accepting and appreciating my own quirks, it has become clear to me that if we pretend to be something we are not, our lives will be filled with people who are not right for us; people who cannot build us up and help us become what we were meant to be.


Show gratitude in everything. This one can be pretty hard sometimes. Sometimes I find myself (Gah! I don't even want to admit this!) thinking oh poor me. I think, I am a good and hardworking person so why don't I have this, or why doesn't my life look like that, or I would be happier if... While everyone deserves to have a boohoo pity day once in a while, we can't expect good things to come to us if we are not grateful for the lives we already have.


Creating happiness for others creates happiness for yourself. Ok so I don't want to sounds like a  nostalgic old lady or go off on a rant but let's get real- now-a-days people are totally selfish. And I don't blame the individual person because that's just how things are. Culture and society have created this in us. While I do think that being selfish is good to a degree (read more about this tomorrow), back in the day communities thrived because folks were looking out for one another, they respected each other. Truth is, we need each other!  Helping others and making them happy not only spreads the love and makes the world a better place, it makes you happy too!