The Life of Bon: June 2012

Saturday, June 30, 2012

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

You want to sing me happy birthday?!?

Oh gosh, you shouldn't have.  Stop. Stop.  Oh, you're too kind!

Yep!  It's my birthday.  Holler holler holler!  Today I officially leave 25 behind FOREVER.  It was a good year and all, but HELLO, I am so ready for 26!  26 is so much more mature than 25, don't we all agree?

To celebrate my big day I have done two things:

1)  I dyed my hair.  The color is still uncertain.  Last night Hubs looked over at me and said, "So what color is your hair?"
I replied, "Blonde?"
"Well what color did the box say?"
"Blonde or something..."
"Did it say peach?"

No.  The hair dye box did not say peach.  But my hair's a little peach.  You caught me there.

2)  I am giving away a $50 gift card to Shabby Apple!  If you haven't looked around Shabby Apple, you really need to.  Adorable dresses and vintage swimsuits and all that good stuff.  As part of the giveaway I tried to convince Shabby Apple that they needed to give me a $50 gift card too.  I mean, it's MY birthday after all.  They didn't buy it.  Those folks at Shabby Apple really think they know something, don't they?!?




So here's the rules, chicas.

MANDATORY:
a)  Like Life of Bon on FACEBOOK.  It's not that hard... see the little box in the upper right hand corner of this blog?  Just click "Like".  Voila!
b)  Visit Shabby Apple and then leave a comment saying what you how you would spend the fifty bones.

EXTRA:
1) Follow Life of Bon on GFC
2) Like Shabby Apple on Facebook
3)  Follow Life of Bon via Bloglovin
4)  Follow @thelifeofbon on twitter

That's five entries total... leave a separate comment for each entry.  Giveaway closes on Thursday, July 5 at midnight.

May the best woman win!

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Let me tell you why I am upset

People, I am not happy.

Not happy at all.

I found out much to my dismay that THIS guy made a big appearance at a blogger get together on Tuesday night.



Not the baby.

THE MAN.

AKA JEF HOLM FROM THE BACHELORETTE.  Try to keep up.

All the bloggers are talking about it, you know?  "I saw Jef Holm today!"  "I took a picture with Jef Holm today!"  "Jef Holm asked me to marry him today!"  Okay maybe not that last one, but you get the picture.  Look at any Utah blogger's blog and you will see (like this one) what I am talking about.

Well guess who did NOT get invited to said blogger together?  

ME!

Is that rude or is that rude?

Excuse me, blogger masterminds, I would like to talk to you about this.  How did you invite Jef Holm to sponsor a blogger get together and then not invite me when you KNOW I am half in love with him?  How could you do this to me?

Hubs, obviously, doesn't approve.  I try to get him to watch The Bachelorette with me all sneaky and coy like, "Hubs, don't you want to see this nice boy from Utah go on a date?"  Well, I got news for you, Hubs ain't no dummy.  He replies, "Bonnie I will not watch this show with you because I don't like how much you like this guy."  Well, I don't like it either, Hubs, but we're too far in now, aren't we?!?

Sorry to cut this short, but I gotta run.  I got a plastic bag and a bunch of peroxide on my head (Yes, another hair dye!) and it's starting to burn my scalp.  Also, I gotta get looking hot because Hubs has got a huge comedy show tonight and you know I need to sit front row to cheer him on.  Although come to think of it, last time I sat in the front row at his show I got in trouble.  Apparently yelling out "Go Greg!" in the middle of his lines is not okay?  Why can't theater be more like sports?

Oh... and don't forget to stop by tomorrow.  It's my BIRTHDAY!!!!! (EEEEEKKK!!!!) and they'll be a special little something something for YOU.  Don't get your hopes up too high people, I ain't no millionaire.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Five Years


Five years ago today was the first day of my mission.  I entered three days shy of my 21st birthday, an eager girl, ready to take on the world and all its problems.

(LDS girls can choose to serve an 18 month mission when they are 21 or older.  They are assigned to an area of the world to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and serve the less fortunate.  I was assigned to Argentina, Resistencia.)

Serving a mission was never much of a choice for me.  I had always wanted to do it, and I always knew I would.   When my 21st birthday rolled around I said goodbye to my studies, my friends, and my boyfriend (I mean, come on, someone had to clear the path for Hubs!) and shipped out to Argy.  The months and weeks leading up to my departure I was stoked out of my mind.  I told everyone I wasn't scared.  Are you kidding?  Not me.  No way.  This is is the adventure of a lifetime, stop wasting my time with that sappy stuff!

it wasn't until I had said goodbye to my family that I realized I might be in over my head.  Suddenly I was afraid.  Afraid that I had made a commitment I couldn't keep.  I sobbed uncontrollably my first three nights.  Just crawled up in that bunk bed, and when I was sure the other girls were asleep I bawled into the loving arms of my pillow.  I was sure I had made a mistake.  A year and a half was just too long to go without seeing friends and family.  Who was I kidding?  Argentina?  Spanish?  Third world?  I was just some little blonde girl who thought she had a lot of spunk but was really no more than a lot of talk.  I remember wondering those first three nights if I'd made a terrible mistake.  Could I go back home now?  What would I say?  "Um... yah... I changed my mind.  Wasn't really working out..." 

The first few months of my mission I prayed so hard that time would go by quickly so that I could go home.  The only thing that seemed to console me was that I had never met a missionary who had been stuck on his mission forever.  Everyone I had ever known who had served a mission had come home from that mission.  Surely that meant I would come home too.

And then it was eighteen months later.  

The night before I left my last area, Christmas Eve 2008, I remember lying on the roof next to my companion (100+ degrees in December), watching the crazy Argentinian fireworks and trying to take it all in.  I thought of all the people I had met, the experiences I'd had, the lessons I'd learned.  What if I hadn't come at all?  What if that first night in my bunk I had called on home and said "Hey. I changed my mind. This isn't for me. If it's okay with you, I think I'd like to just go on living my life how it was- studying, hanging out with loser boys, having a constant party with my roommates."  

I was so thankful that night for 20 year old Bonnie.  The Bonnie who had wanted to go home but didn't.  The Bonnie that was scared and homesick and nervous and had absolutely no idea how great the next year and a half would be.  If 22 year old Bonnie could say anything to that weepy, 20 year old Bonnie it would be "Thank you. Thank you for staying."  And if 20 year old Bonnie could have any of the knowledge that 22 year old Bonnie had, I don't think 20 year old Bonnie would be crying.  Not a teardrop.

It makes me think about everything that God has in store for us in our lives.  How many things there are that we want to run away from, or that we don't understand, but that will hold for us countless blessings if we see them through.  Sometimes I want so badly to see the end from the beginning, to know what the purpose is of the trials, the work, the refining...  

And it makes me wonder... 

What does 31 year old Bonnie know?
What does 55 year old Bonnie know?
What does 72 year old Bonnie know?

The day I left on my mission.  I know I have pictures of the whole family saying goodbye to me, but I can't find them ANYWHERE!




















December 27, 2008.
Home.


***For more on Argy try these:  a post I wrote trying to adjust back to "first world" living, a post describing coming home after 18 months away from my family, and a post on how to be a white blonde and living in a Latin country.***

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Give me my Bachelorette!!!

ATTENTION:  LAST CALL FOR JULY SPONSORS FOR LIFE OF BON.   SHOOT ME AN EMAIL (lifeofbon@gmail.com) ASAP AND GET YOUR SPONSOR ON!!!

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Tuesday is typically a hard day for me.
Today is no different.  

This is because The Bachelorette airs on Monday nights and my girlfriends and I don't watch it until Tuesday night.  We can't stand commercials and none of us have Ti-Vo and Mondays are always busy so we have to watch it good old Hulu style on Tuesday.  We all agree that we can live waiting one extra day to witness our beloved Emily flaunt her wardrobe and make out with hotties (That woman had a $350,000 budget for her clothes.  With that kind of money, she BETTER look good!) but come Monday night/Tuesday I invariably regret my decision to wait.  It's hard not to turn on the TV from 7-9 on Monday- just to get a little peek at what's going on.  Tuesday is torture.  I have to stay away from all social media that might give a hint at who was kicked off.  Blogs are a definite no-no  because you never know what blogger might casually let it slip.  The afternoon hours drag on as I wait for my girlfriends to arrive to watch our show on my dinky laptop.
 
A little too obsessed with The Bachelorette?  Please, people, tell me something I don' know.
 
To pass the time while I wait for Bachelorette, and to ensure that this post doesn't turn in to nothing more than me rambling about the beauty of some lady from North Carolina that I've never met, I'm going to let Kristine take over from here.  Believe me, this girl has got this blogging thing going on!
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Hey there lovely Life of Bon Readers!! I'm Kristine!

I blog over at





 Over at our place I share and document our big and not so big adventures. You’ll also find my attempts at being a fun mom and wifey, being "fashionable", and being Susy Homemaker, ya know throwing in some sweets and some craftoons in the mix. As you can see I enjoy making up words too! We have a good time! I can be a wee bit sarcastic, but try not to
take offense mmmkay? We might not agree on some things, but no worries,
we can still be friends! I promise!



What you NEED to know, so we can be BFF's (wink).

I am {in love} with the Hubs.



I am {in love} with our M&M girls.



And I'm all about living life, and of course blogging about it!

Life should be a celebration, and we never need a reason to party! 


If that's your cup o' tea?
I would love it if you came over and partied it up with us!
Speaking of parties... I host a link up party every Sunday!
Anything goes, and I feature my favs on my networks, so you should link up and show off your awesome-ness!

What's a "partay" without farewell swag? A lame-one, jus sayin. So hop on over to the blog for a giveaway!  And don't forget to check out my etsy shop,  J&M's Eye Candy Shoppe!




Please note I ALWAYS offer FREE SHIPPING to my U.S. and Canada friends.

Thanks for hanging with me today and thanks to Bonnie for having me!

See you over in our neck of the woods, hopefully sooner than later! Be sure to let me know if I sent you, ha! Happy day lovelies!!

Photobucket


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Wow, does that sound like a deal or does that sound like a deal?!?  
Now, go pay Kristine a visit and show her the love I know you have inside of you while I FINALLY get to watch my Bachelorette.  HOLLER!

Monday, June 25, 2012

Sunburns, pirates, and dates with men who are not my husband

We got back late last night from a long weekend in St. George/ Satan's bedroom.  Let's just say it's a little toasty down there and I am rocking a healthy sunburn despite the globs and globs of sunblock I covered myself in.  Over our three day weekend, I learned a thing or two about Hubs.  We've been married for over a year now and sometimes that boy is still pulling out crazy things that just straight up shock me.

Things I learned about my husband from our weekend in St. George

1.  Hubs doesn't care if I go on dates with other boys.  Friday morning Hubs wanted to go golfing with three of his buddies.  I said Yep, sounds good, enjoy yourself in the 100 degree heat, sucker! Hubs friend, Dayley, was going rock climbing, but you see rock climbing is in the shade and it sounded a lot better than sitting around the house all morning.  So I tagged along.  Just me and Dayley.  Alone in the wild.  Rock climbing.  Hubs texted me throughout the date to make sure it wasn't getting too spicy, but really he didn't seem at all to care that I was out with another man.  AND we took Hubs car.  Now ain't that something?!?



I appear to be smiling in this picture.  It was fake.  My legs and arms were so exhausted and at this point I thought I was going to die from the pain of moving muscles that have never been moved.



A couple of things about rock climbing:  1.  It's harder than it looks to climb those rocks.  2.  It's harder than it looks to belay.  Dayley was lead climbing and I was at the bottom holding onto the ropes all legit like, naturally.  All of a sudden Dayley yelled down, "I'm going to fall, I'm going to fall!" and before I knew it, I was being yanked five feet off the ground while Dayley came tumbling down a good eight feet until he hit the next clip.  When I recovered I looked up to see Dayley hanging UPSIDE DOWN from the mountain.  UPSIDE DOWN, PEOPLE! Twas a frightening sight to see, I assure you.

And that is how I went on a date with another man and saved his life.

2.  The second thing I learned about Hubs this weekend is Hubs secretly would like to be a pirate.  While we were in St. George we had the chance to zip on down to Vegas one afternoon to check out "Pirates' Cove." (I am not filthy rich, nor to I know people who are filthy rich.  I do, however, know people who know people who know people who are filthy rich, so that works too, I guess.)  This is the personal vacation home to the man who owns NuSkin.  It's a 22,000 foot, 20 bedroom, 25 bathroom, 3 pool mansion.  There's a basketball court, a raquetball court, a full on gym, and garages full of expensive cars, boats, and jet skiis.  There are not words to describe this kind of wealth.  Half of me was completely in awe and the other half of me was completely nauseous.  Pictures of the poverty I witnessed in Argentina came flashing back to me as I examined the decadent bathrooms, the luxurious rugs, and the multiple twenty thousand dollar statues.  How many families in Argentina could this feed?  It was a once in a lifetime experience, no doubt.  I couldn't help but think about God and the way he works.  Why he gives some so little, and others so obscenely much.  Does it all even out in the end?  In some ways I think it is just as valuable to see extreme wealth as it is to see extreme poverty, but I'm not totally sure on this theory.  Give me a few days to mull it over...

ANYWAY... after an hour long tour of the place, we finally got to swim.  It was 100+ degrees and we were dying so the water felt oh, so good.  We jumped off of crow's nests, zipped down water slides, and forgot that such a thing as work exists in this world.  And Hubs, well Hubs, started thinking he was a bonafide pirate.  He started talking in pirate talk, got his brother to join in with him in pirate song, and started daydreaming about the day when we could have our own $40 million pirate vacation spot.

Probably never, Hubs.

For your own two minute tour of Pirate Cove check out this bad boy.  It's only 2 minutes and it's worth it, I promise!  Just examine the obscene amount of wealth... I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this.  If you've got this amount of money is it okay to build something like this?


And now, for a disgusting amount of pictures...


Does this look like a total "Bachelor" set up to anyone else?

Can you see Hubs up there getting ready to jump?  HINT:  Look by the trees!








3. Hubs is committed. He had to be up to Saratoga Springs for a film shoot on Saturday morning. He woke up at 6 am on Saturday, drove four hours to be to his shoot by 10 am, filed for six hours, drove four hours back to be in St. George for some evening volleyball and late night Mafia. I realized three things when he did this:
1. Hubs is extremely committed to his career and making his acting dreams successful 
2. Hubs is extremely committed to people that he cares about- his family, his friends, and... well... me! 
3. Hubs is a little crazy.

But  doesn't everyone secretly want a crazy husband?!?

To paranthesize


Alright, alright, I admit it, I got that quote off of pinterest!  But that doesn't mean I like pinterest and it doesn't mean I am joining pinterest, in fact I am still totally pinterest free! (If you REALLY want to know why I refuse to join pinterest you might want to read this.)  BUT... I found it on some else's blog.  And I liked it.  So there.  You got me.  (Confession:  In a moment of weakness I actually tried to get on pinterest.  Then they said I wasn't allowed but that I could request an invite.  So in a second moment of weakness, I requested said invite (You know how it is with moment of weaknesses don't you... one follows another! (I wonder how many paranthesis inside of paranthesis I can do (I don't know but this guy next to me at the library is chowing down on a stalk of celery and how weird is that?))) and you know what?  PINTEREST NEVER SENT ME THE INVITE!  Which just goes to show:  a) Pinterest is a brat and b) I was never meant to join.)

Can I get an Amen?!?

P.S. Extra credit if you can correctly identify how many individual paranthesis marks there were in this post.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Things that must go

Come one, Come all!
I am now accepting sponsors for June...

For more info go here.  Spots are going fast so gets yours ASAP.  It's a great bang for your buck.  Life of Bon has 500+ GFC followers, 250+ followers via twitter and facebook, and averages 10,000+ hits a month.  Plus, this bad boy is growing every day.  EVERY DAY, PEOPLE!

Email me at lifeofbon@gmail.com if you are interested in me.  Well, I mean, interested in sponsoring me.  Not interested in me that way.  That would be weird.  Although flattering, I must admit.

Hubs and I are off to St. George to roast in the 110 degree sun for a couple of days, so I'm going to keep this post short.  Also, I took a bit of a beating yesterday with my handicap parking confession so I'm still licking my wounds.  Too much typing hurts these bruises, you understand, don't you?

Before I leave you for the weekend I want to talk about a few things I've noticed lately.  Quite frankly, these are things that must go.  I don't want this to be a huge complaining post, mostly it's meant to be kind of funny and satiricial, but still hit on a few truths.  I'm thinking of doing a regular "Things that must go" thread, but am worried it might get too whiney and negative... anyway, I'll judge based on your reaction today if I keep doing it.  And please, be soft with your comments people- Bonnie's got feelings!  Even if she is a no good, horrible, lazy, classless person for parking handicapped when she's in a hurry, she's got feelings!

And now, without further ado...
THINGS THAT MUST GO:



1.  My voicemail inbox making me listen to my old messages every three weeks and resave them.  Hey, I said I want them saved, okay?  I didn't change my mind after three weeks, I want them saved!  I've got a lot of sweet messages saved on there, including messages from Hubs when we were very first dating... I certainly don't want those going anywhere.  However, I definitely don't have to relisten to them every three weeks and resave them.  Gmail doesn't make me read all my emails every three weeks and decide if I still want to keep them, does it?  Come on voicemail, why can't you be more like Gmail?!?  Is this only a Verizon thing, or is it all cell phones?  Verizon, fix this!  (Cody, I'm talking to you.  I know you have the power.)

2.  When people leave voicemails just to say "call me".  I think this is an older generation thing.  Do people not realize that I will see the missed call and just assume you want me to call you back?  Because I will.  If it's something important, shoot me a text!  Texts take .5 seconds to read and voicemails take 4 minutes to listen to.  Come on!

3.  I'm gonna say it, and some of you are going to call me out on it, but I just feel like I need to finally get this off of my back.  The moustache craze.  It's got to go.  I'm so sick of the moustache pictures, the moustace jewelry and the ever popular "I moustache you a question."  Can we be done with gross facial hair now?

4.  People who leave mean comments on blogs.

5.  People who leave anonymous comments on blogs.

6.  People who leave mean AND anonymous comments on blogs.  Like this on my post yesterday: (If you didn't read the post yesterday, you're going to want to- ESPECIALLY the comments.  I got dragged through the coals, my friends.)

Have to say its dishonest which puts on the level of LIAR! Having a parent who is actually handicapped and having seen people like you take the parking spot when lots are full, causing them to struggle in the farthest spot that does not have the extra room needed to remove and load a wheelchair, yeah I hate people who do that. Especially young able bodied people. Nice, real classy.

After I saw this comment, I deleted it. I didn't delete the comment because the author stated her opinion. I deleted it because it showed a complete lack of respect (like I say in my classroom, I don't care if you don't like me, I don't care if you disagree with me, but I do care that you respect me because that's what I deserve and that is what I give to you) AND because the author was hiding behind the safety of the ubiquitous "Anonymous" name. If you are going to say something that harsh I feel like you need to be willing to own up to it.  After I deleted the comment, "anonymous" would not back down.  She posted:

You deleted my comment. Did you not like me responding to your scale and saying that it's dishonest which make you the same as a liar? Or did you not like me saying that it shows no class and is rude to those who do need that extra space? Either way interesting of you to ask for feedback then delete it. To Jessi I agree with Mindy, yes some people abuse it does that mean you should?

Now... I realize that with my post yesterday I was asking for a little ridicule for so openly admitting something I have done that is wrong. (Also, just to get the record straight I feel like I need to say this is not something I do regularly.  I could count on one hand how many times I have parked in a handicapped stall.) I was not condoning the behavior, I was not justifying the behavior, I was asking readers to tell me how bad they thought it was.  I wanted readers to comment honestly.    HOWEVER... I was not expecting some to do it in such an unkind manner.  I felt like I was being honest by saying that parking in a handcapped stall wasn't something I understood the seriousness of and that I was willing to change.  I wanted readers' perspective on it.  Many people felt very strongly about the issue because they have people very close to them that are handicapped.  I appreciated those comments because it made me understand.  People who have never been in that type of situation (me) might not understand why someone could be so impassioned about it, and therefore need someone to explain it to them.  I understood the passion behind some of the comments because I am very sensitive about death. I think any kind of joke about someone dying is classless and immature and not at all funny.  Not in any way, shape, or form funny.  Because someone very close to me has died, I am extra sensitive and passionate on the subject.  Just like many of you may be on handicapped parking.  I DO NOT feel however, that such passion on the subject warrants calling someone classless, a liar, or lazy.  It was a simple lack of both understanding and empathy on my part. 

I would just offer this one piece to advice to anyone who leaves a comment on any blog/facebook/ media outlet: Don't say anything on the internet that you wouldn't say to someone face to face.  Be gentle with your critcism.  You can state your opinion without being blatantly rude.  Behind every blog there is a real person.  And words can hurt.

I know what you're thinking now.  Wasn't this post supposed to be a short post?  Yah, but it got kind of long on me.  So I guess I lied.  Which, I suppose, makes all the readers who called me a liar yesterday right. 

I'll be, we've come full circle, haven't we?!

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

To park or not to park

Today we have something very important and very exciting to talk about and that is handicapped parking. 

 
While we're on the subject, what is with the striped yellow lines?  They take up more space than the actual parking spot!  Which is worse, to park handicapped or park in the yellow lines?
And more importantly, which one has the lesser fee!?

Two years ago I parked in a handicapped parking spot at Wal-mart. (Yes, every bad story in my life involves Wal-mart.)  It was late at night, there were eight open handicapped spots, and all I needed was to run in real quick for some rocky road ice cream. I did NOT need to go on a fifteen minute hike.  So I parked in the handicapped spot, was in and out in less than ten minutes, and had a fat parking ticket on my corolla when I came running out.
Wanna know the damage?

100 bones.

ONE HUNDRED BONES!

I tried to fight it in court, got no sympathy whatsoever, (apparently the judge doesn't like rocky road ice cream, come on!) and had to pay the hundred bucks.  I vowed I had learned my lesson and I would never park in a handicapped parking spot again.

That was two years ago.

Lately I've started parking handicapped at my local grocery store.  I discoverd that it's really only Wal-mart who patrols their parking lot so intensely (they hire a cop 24-7 to take care of their paking lot which tells me two things:1. Wal-mart has too much money and 2. cops have got too much time on their hands.) 
My new handicap parking spot is totally totally safe because it doesn't have a sign that says it's handicapped; it's just painted on the ground.  My friend told me unless there's an acutal sign they can't ticket you.  Now, who knows if that's true, but I, personally, choose to believe it!  Optimism, people!

Today I was running in to the store real quick to grab a couple of ingredients for dinner.  Well, that parking lot was like a hot zoo.  People were behaving like wild animals, jamming their cars, screaming at each other, pouding their chests in fury.  You know the scene, don't you?  I noticed my special handicapped stall was available so I made a mad dash for it to avoid getting killed in the wild. 

I came out of the grocery store ten minutes later to discover no parking ticket.  No harm, no foul, right?

Wrong.  Upon pulling out, I noticed a very old man right next to my car staring in at me. He was putting his cart back and I tell you what, this old geiser could really give the stare down. At first I thought he was a nice man wanting to help me out, like the guy who helped me figure out how to go through a car wash.  But oh, no.  His stare was not a friendly stare.  It was an I-think-you-are-despicable-and-the-scum-of-all-the-earth stare.  For the life of me I couldn't figure out what had got this old mans panties in such a twist, and then I realized that he was alternating stares at me and at the painted handicapped sign visible on the pavement.  He was nonverbally chewing me out for parking in the handicapped stall.  Literally feet away from me, staring at me so ferociously... as if STARING INTO MY SOUL.  I could feel myself slowly melting into my seat, wanting desperately to run away and hide, to not be that terrible girl who is so selfish and socially unaware that she would actually park in handicapped parking.  I drove home feeling like scum.  Filth.  The whore of all the earth.

I've felt guilty ever since.  Is what I did really that wrong?  Hubs, who has the moral integrity of a nun, told me he thinks what I did is "morally wrong".  Naturally, I'm gonna need a few more opinions.  So.... on a scale of one to ten, how bad do you think it is to park in handicapped parking?

THE OFFICIAL SCALE OF AWFULNESS

1- I didn't brush my teeth before bed
2- I cheat at Monopoly
3- I said something rude behind someone's back
4- I don't tip my waitors at Sizzler
5- I trip people on purpose
6- I am a chronic liar
7- I drive drunk
8- I steal money, even from friends and family
9- I am physically abusive and I cheat on my wife
10- I murder babies  (Morbid, I know.  I had to think of something really bad!)

Your comments are important, people.  They WILL determine my future with handicapped parking.  Thank you for your time.  And your consideration.  I'm just gonna end this now.  It's getting weird.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Be Nice!

Sometimes I live in this world thinking that everyone is either an idiot or a jerk or a moron and how did I get stuck the only normal person on this whole big earth?

And then something happens that make me realize that most people are actually real nice and it goes and restores my faith in the whole human nation.

FOR EXAMPLE:

Late last week I arrived home from a hot afternoon of running errands.  My back was sweaty, my house was messy, and my diet coke was long gone.  I was in no mood to be reckoned with.  Sitting on my front door was a package.  It was addressed to me.  I had not ordered anything.  I was puzzled.  Naturally.

I tore into the package to discover several foot products, scrubs, exfoliators, (my spell check says this is spelled incorrectly but offers no alternatives.  HELP?!?) lotions and even cooling spray and cooling lotion for my poor, hot feet. HOLY AWESOME!  The package was from Annie, who I met through blogging several months ago.  We have corresponded via email and blog world but have never met in real life.  And yet Annie, out of the kindness of her heart, decided to send me something for my birthday coming up in a couple of weeks.  Just to be nice.

AND she gave me this nail polish.  LOVE IT!


I was reeling from shock.

Never, ever, ever in my life would I be so kind to think to send a birthday gift to someone I had only met via the internet.  Never would I make that big of an effort to make someone else's day so much better.  Heck, I hardly do that for those who are closest to me- I can't imagine the star treatment Annie's husband and kids get on the daily!

And the cooling spray?  It's my new best friend.  You better believe I carry that stuff in my purse and spray my little feet the second their temperature starts to rise.  HOLLER.

AND everything at Avon is super affordable and still such good quality.
AND all shipping in June is $.99.
AND I'm done now.  But seriously, from friend to friend, this Avon stuff is rocking my world.

There's someone else who is absolutely blowing my mind right now due to her total kindness.  That is this girl, Simone.  She works for a charity called sygif and they raise mon... who am I trying to kid.  She could explain this way better than I ever could... Take it away Simone!


1. Tell us a little about yourself first.  We want to get to know you, sexy girl!



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I'm a Public Relations major and French minor at Utah Valley University. I like to think I have a particularly lovable dose of sass, and I like to make people smile. I have a wonderful(ly hot) and hilarious boyfriend who makes my day every day. I love Pinterest, kittens, America's Funniest Home Videos, desserts, and laughing. My favorite color changes daily and I don't like the word "supple"... I just don't.

2.  How did your charity get started?



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Jd Tueller is a rarity and has a bigger heart than most anyone I know. At age 19, Jd decided that he wanted to figure out a way to make a big difference in the world with everyday people and small actions. I don't know many 19 year old dudes that dream of spending their lives helping other people. Now 26, Jd is working to make Sygif a revolutionary charity by utilizing clicks to involve people to take action. For example, Jd has devoted a month in China this summer to help children (he ventured off without a return ticket to America for goodness sakes!), and all we have to do is watch the videos he sends back, share posts with our friends on Facebook, and click to donate online - piece of cake!

(Bonnie commentary here:  Uh... is this JD guy married?  Because if not, you gotta take advantage of that, Simone!  I mean, I'm a happily married woman, but I know a catch when I see one.  Also, Hubs saw this picture and burst out: "ARE YOU SPONSORING DUDES NOW?!?")


3.  How did YOU personally get involved?

Jd is a good friend of mine, and often talked about Sygif as his little baby. He told me that he was looking for someone to keep up with all of the social media, and once I understood what Sygif was I practically begged him for the job. I'm a peta and Kony bandwagon-er but was particularly excited to be personally involved in something that is changing peoples' lives right before our eyes (Literally! Jd sent back footage as it happened!). I feel an inexplicable love for the kids we are helping and every time I see a donation I have a mini heart attack and erupt into dance. Donating to a charity can sometimes be discouraging, but with Sygif sending back instant updates and footage of the people being helped, it turns donating into a more rewarding experience.

4.  This all sounds so great!  How is the money used?




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100% of all donations (minus supply and shipping costs if you order a shirt) goes directly to the kids. This summer Jd visited with the kids we helped to see donations in action! On this trip (China, Vietnam, and Thailand!), Jd visited children whose education we are sponsoring and met children whose cleft lip and heart surgeries we funded (and hope to fund) to prepare them for adoption. We are totally transparent with all of the money given to us. You can even check out our transparency reports on our blog!


4.  How can I donate?


Easy Peasy! You can click here to donate. For those of you who are poor college students like me, or simply pinching pennies as it is, you can even help by spreading the word. We have sidebar buttons on the blog, and a pretty sweet Facebook page and YouTube channel you can share too! Sygif is a charity based on social media, so any way you connect with us and spread the word makes a difference! Our latest favorite thing is Instagram! Jd and other team members were able to show us in real time the things they were seeing and experiencing!




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5.  And now for the most important question, favorite flavor of otter pop?

Blue raspberry, duh.

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There you have it, my friends.  Just when you thought our world was full of liars, thieves, and ingrates.  A couple of people to restore your hope in humanity.  Feels good, doesn't it?