If you love flats, then you should probably just give yourself a little gift.  TGIF…go for it.  I own a pair that I bought on Gilt.com and I loooove them.  Classy, well-made, and comfy!  The shoes are on the pricey side, so grab them at a discount while you can.  The Bloch sale begins at noon EST, and sizes sell out fast.  Gilt.com is free to join.

Last summer, my phone went off with a text early one morning.  It wasn’t making sense to me.  I was so confused to be waking up to those words.  Trying to understand what was happening, I reached out for answers, he wrote right back.  I put my head down and cried.

My friend unexpectedly lost his precious little girl.  He doesn’t live 5 minutes from me anymore; he lives hundreds of miles away, but over the days, weeks, and months that followed I tried to make sure I was there when he wanted to talk.  When I think about his wife and 2 other kids, I look at my own and remind myself to see little Tori’s sparkling eyes.  I did not have the pleasure of meeting her, but I have listened to her father talk about her, and I have read the  stories loved ones have written about her.  In her 2 years, she made a remarkable impression on those around her.

Tori’s death was ruled Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood {SUDC}. I was familiar with SIDS from worrying about it when my kids were newborns, but I was not aware of SUDC.  It is defined as “the sudden and unexpected death of a child over the age of 12 months. ”

They are having an event on 7.20.13 at the North Suburban YMCA in Illinois to celebrate her life.  If you cannot attend, consider making a donation.  Every little bit helps.  Please take a moment to pop over to the Tori Wilensky Foundation page, then LIKE the Moves Like Tori Facebook page.  Read about her.  Read about how much joy she gave others.  Look at her pictures, and give your own children an extra hug today…for Tori.

What can we do to help?  We should all donate, and we should ALL strive to help others in our everyday life, not just after tragedies.  Be the GOOD!

Some of you may remember when I blogged about a fabulous local artist from Etsy.  She sells cool prints and is donating 100% of the proceeds of Boston word art prints  to The One Fund, set up by Massachusetts Governor Patrick and Boston Mayor Menino.

ReStudios – Jessica Harrington

What are you favorite sunscreens to slather on?  I need to do some research…AGAIN.   My kid’s bike helmets won’t work for them this year so I started looking into some.  I am leaning towards Bell.  Good reviews, cool designs, and I read they come a little lower down the skull in the back, plus these are multi-sport.  What do you think?

Bell Fraction Multi-Sport Helmet 

And now onto girl sandals!  I despise the sandals without any traction, or any bend in the sole.  So many companies put out cutesy options, however, the construction is awful.  I like them to have some give.  I didn’t buy this brand yet, but I have my eye on the silver or gold ones.  They go with more outfits, but my eyes keep gravitating towards these bright yellow ones :)

Salt-Water Sweetheart Sandal

(there are a bunch of different styles & colors in this brand, so poke around. pricing is different for each color/size)

I think you need a purse organizer in your life!  You are a girl on the go, right?

And for you shutterbugs, you should own a fab camera strap cover!  I still have a lot to learn about my camera, but I hate the uncomfortable strap.  Snagged me the gray chevron with Kelly green on the inside. Sweet! Very Jane is free to join, and you will love it!

Click below to peek at all of the deals!

Feast your eyes on these…

Am I right???  I want the dress one in my room :)  There are so many other options, so please go on over.  Add her shop to your favorites because one day you will be trying to think of the perfect baby shower or birthday gift…and there it is! Also,  each piece can be customized to your color and theme needed {how fab is that}.  When {not if} you decide to place an order, send her a message about getting the 10% off from Things I Fancy and she will get you what you need at the discounted price!

The room is about 1/2 done, but so far I am loving my purchases.  Everything I bought was on sale, with the exception of a couple of things on Etsy.  I spray painted some ledges and picture frames that I already had, and now we have to decide if we are going to do the floors over.  I love the idea of ledges because you can change out accents and pictures easily, so we ran out to Ikea and bought 2 long white ones.  {45 1/4 inch for $14.99 – click pic to learn more}

I think I might need an Etsy intervention.  I have spent hours each night looking at such creativity.  When some of my wall art arrives, I will post links to the shops.  In the meantime, stay tuned for the CUTEST Etsy shop!!!!!!!  I will post what I found later today or tomorrow!

{photo from Cricut site}

And my daughter is going to bring in these I DIG YOU ones. I posted about them last year HERE.  I was able to find multi-color shovels on Ebay, and we will use regular M&M’s instead of the Valentine’s mix.

{photo from Fry Family}

How is 2013 treating you so far? Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and I see crafts and cutesy ideas popping up EVERYWHERE.  It gets a little overwhelming sometimes, doesn’t it?  I am sick again, so I was up throughout the night trying to breathe through my nose.  Was I cursing? Sure was!

Naturally, I whipped out my iPhone and found this cute tutorial by Michelle Phan.  I just tried it on myself and my daughter.  She thinks it is the best thing ever.  It took me a few tries to get it done, but that could be because I am extra lame at following directions.  I think I need thicker band-aids because mine were super adhesive and a real b!tch to separate from the backing.

Good Morning!  You need one of these in your life.  I can’t seem to take mine off!  Grab your Fleece Hoodie over at Very Jane ASAP because they WILL sell out. These are comfy and long, with a hood and front pocket. Perfect with leggings or jeans. Currently, they have S,M,L in Peach, White, Turquoise, and Black

Click here Very Jane