Breast Cancer Research Benefitted From The Generosity of Friends

Well, it's almost over - NO...not the political campaigns thing...those fools will be back again in the spring for the primaries. BUT the BlingMYBra campaign is in it's final phase for this year. We've got 85 bras up for auction and one website for sale.   

We've (we being Kat...did I tell you she does all the work? She does) already sent a couple of thousand dollars in donations in to eBay Giving Works to benefit the Susan G Komen for the Cure program already.  We're hoping someone makes a last ditch offer for that gorgeous website http://www.cozykidbedtime.com/

http://www.cozykidsbedtime.com/

- which is turnkey. It was donated by the Cowie family and is all set up and ready to go, with training to be offered by Shawna Siegel and her crew at 1Choice4YourStore.com.  Visit here to see all the details and make an offer!  YOU could be up and running by November 15th if you buy and pay immediately. Take advantage of the Christmas Shopping season to get it off to a great start!
 
But..back to the BMB story-  Kat Simpson of katskloset, took over the reins this year and has personally listed every single one of the 180 - 200 bras donated by amazing folks all over the continent.  eBay and non-eBay sellers and eBay employees "blinged" bras. People had parties, people worked in silence, people worked in memory of friends and family who have suffered and in the hope that no more will suffer as we'll find a cure sooner. Kat videoed them all, did most of the photography, and all of the listing single-handedly.
 
Christy Librizzi of KayCee Studios kept our eBay store organized and magnificient. Karen Locker tweeted and promoted and ran our CAUSE page on Facebook as well as helping adminsiter the Facebook fan page which was created and optimized by  Dany Byrne of Ghostleg Media and Cindy Shebley of Clovercity Sells made and ran our website and set up the fan page all while maintaining their own businesses and the WebsellersCircle.com.
 
eBetsy and Jon Monjott helped - eBetsy and Danni Ackerman of UdderlyGoodstuff   wrote all our press releases and distributed them.
 
Bev England of Grandma Bev's Stuff on eBay helped on Facebook and with wrangling bras and finding our amazing BRA ARTIST VAL who sewed so many of the celebrity bras
 
AS for the BRA ARTISTS?? I can't begin to keep them all straight. If you haven't visited our blog, please do = BLINGMYBRA and see all the bras and all of Kat's amazing videos. There are sooooo many generous people who donated including (but never limited to) the folks at Hydes' Cafe in Texas who held two "BlingMyBra parties" and gave Melinda Jackson of Galleria Gifts, 40+ bras to bring back to us, the folks in Colorado who were not to be outdone by Texas and who  had their own Bling My Bra party and then got the bra autographed by the founder of Susan G Komen for the Cure - Nancy Brinker (that one is listed right now -quick run over and bid...).
 
There's the indefatiguable Melinda Jackson of GalleriaGifts and TheRiverTheRanchAndTheBay podcast who not only went to Hydes to bling a bra and pick up all of them but went to the Dallas Cowboys and got a signed bra (which believe me, I will hold over the head of the Phila Eagles Wives organization which never responded to my letter...frownie face here...)
 
Marlene Gavens who helped us by doing a fantastic Owl Bra (her logo is a Wise Owl and her business is The-Savvy-Seller.com and she also went the distance and make the bra for John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing.
 
A special thanks to Lee Mirabal of EBRN radio - which produced the eBay Radio Show for allowing us to takeover whole segments of her shows to talk "Blinged Bras" and continued prayers for her husband John. (he had a horrible health problem last month and is just  coming home this weekend (last of October 2010).
 
When I started BlingMyBra last year, I never envisioned it getting this big or reaching so far. I thought it was wonderful we got 40 bras which came  from my friends, relatives and listeners to the podcast kat & I started - The River The Ranch and The Bay. . I still do. And this year, I'm just in awe of what Kat and her crew have done.  I'm so proud to know the people who organized this year's campaign and who've pushed it so much further than I ever thought it could possibly go.  Look at these...aren't they amazing?  BLINGMYBRA GALLERY
 
THANK YOU ALL - now go bid...BLINGMYBRA isn't over quite yet!!
THANK YOU for reaffirming my faith and confidence in people..
Beth Cherkowsky
http://www.depressionglasswarehouse.com/

October Photo Challenge: Autumn

This month's DSR photo challenge was "Autumn". This is from the woodsy section of my yard. I'm not sure what this plant is, but when I saw it - the fruit on it reminded me of dried grapes.

Autumn in Maryland

My Other Favorite Holiday - Halloween!



Stars and Moon Pumpkin Courtesy of Taryn



Regurgitatin Pumpkin - Mike



Cannibal Pumpkin - Mike

Please visit our website Depression Glass Warehouse for great Holiday Gifts!

Happy Face Pumpkin - I think Taryn did this one too!

This would be me!

  

The Woods in Illinois in Autumns Photo Blog

Eastern NC in the Fall

Two colorful trees in my yards. These are pretty representative of what the fall season in eastern NC is all about.

BlingMyBra Campaign

October is a very busy selling month for any online entrepreneurs and this October is even busier for our OBS Group. Last year Beth started a Bling My Bra campaign to donate money for Breast Cancer since October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. She and many others made and donated bras and worked tirelessly to promote and get bids on these bras to donate money to Breast Cancer Research.

It is again that time of year when our campaign is now headed by Kat of KatsKloset and a great board of Directors. Bling My Bra has taken off and has it's own  Facebook Page  and BlingMyBra Twitter account.

So if you are looking for a fun way to donate to Breast Cancer Research please check out a wide variety of bras on Ebay on and let's all do our part to raise awareness for Breast Cancer.

My Barefoot Adventure in NYC

This week Janelle Elms took NYC by storm... (where do you think the rain came from?? She brought it all the way from Seattle for us parched East Coasters). And in her generous way, she managed to set aside one day to meet with some of her raving fanatics for lunch and chatting.

I've been a member of her OSI Rock Stars group for a year and a half now and because I didn't get to go to any of the eBay on Location, Amazon, Bonanzle, eBay Radio or ECMTA events, when she said she'd have time for a meetup with some of us locally, I knew I was going.

Now, I'm old, I have bad knees and so I dressed comfortably, changed shoes 3 times to find the ones that wouldn't bother me and would be comfortable for a day of trekking on the train and thru NY, sometimes by foot.

So, how then did I end up in NY in this lovely boutique hotel with my shoes disintegrating rapidly all over their lobby you ask? Danged if I know. The shoes were fine when I left home. Fine on the trip up on the train. Got off and starting looking for the other folks we were meeting (Oh I had a traveling companion for the train part of my trip. Kristin J Bowen-Hudson, a fellow rock star, came to my house and my husband chauffered us both to the train). As we started walking to meet the other 2 Rock Stars, Marlene Gavens and Janet Zeh so we could taxi to Janelle's hotel, my shoes started falling apart. Literally - actually - the tops seperated from the soles, right foot first. Then the rubber soles, the reason I chose to wear those, because it makes them incredibly comfortable to walk in, started distintegrating. By the time we arrived in the hotel lobby, big chunks and lots of itty bitty pieces were falling off all over the place.

First we met Wendy Siegel and got to chat with her while we waited for Janelle and then, all of a sudden, there was Janelle! Janelle met us in her lobby and while we all chatted and took pictures, the shoes kept disintegrating. I mean it's disconcerting to feel them breaking apart while you sit there...and I felt bad to be "shedding" all over this lovely lobby, the poor Door Man kept trying to sweep up the pieces and more kept falling apart. He finally gave up til I left.

Before Janelle went off to do her weekly internet radio show, Ask Janelle on www.wsradio.com (1 PM EST every Wednesday), she pointed me towards Broadway and Filene's basement and the other Rock Stars charitabily agreed to go shopping too.

Once outside on the sidewalk I realized, NO WAY were the reminients of my once comfortable Clarks going to make it two more blocks, walking.

look at the edges in the middle - where the big chunks feel off! OMG!

What's a girl too do?? Well I behaved like a bumpkin, took off the shoe parts left and walked barefoot to Filenes. 2 blocks on the sidewalks of NY. Wendy, being a native New Yorker thought I was nuts, and kept worrying that I'd lose a foot or catch something deadly before the 2 blocks were up! But I managed it and we arrived quickly at Broadway.

Where I put the rest of the shoes back on, schlepped down to the shoe dept and bought a pair of walking shoes on clearance! ($59.95 regularly - 45% off... so even my Budget Manager couldn't complain too much).

The rest of the day was spent in comfort. We ate lunch at Isabella's where for some reason, they couldn't remember that Kristin wanted COKE...not DIET COKE and catsup and they assumed that Janelle and Marlene could somehow eat soup with no spoon. The food was ok, nothing to write home about and surely not quite worth what they charged but we'll forgive them for all that for two reasons:

1 - they left us alone for 3 hours while we talked and chatted and laughed (and kept asking for COKE and Catsup)

2. they went and found me a sharpie so Janelle could autograph the SUPER Bra that Kristin is making for the BlingMyBra campaign on eBay. So Kristin's bra is now autographed by the Superwoman herself, Janelle Elms (and they were both so gracious to do that. THANK You!! You ladies ROCK!!) and thanks to Janet and Marlene for great pictures (Marlene made the owl bra last year and if you're a fan of her podcasts, The Savvy Seller or website of the same name, YOU can bid on it this year again! It's really cute!

We abandoned Janelle outside the restaurant, to grab a cab and head back to Penn Station, where Kristin and I took the NEXT train home... Thank you Kristin for the great company all the way up and back. I'm amazed by your creativity and energy!

ME?? I'm still tired but I had a good time so who cares about that. I have no incredible garnets of ecommerce intel to divulge to you from my trip except that "class shows" as my mom always said and those 5 women prove that! Next time I'll come home with "The Commandments According to Janelle" I promise. Meanwhile I'm still in awe of how smart she is and what a bundle of energy.

How are they gonna keep me down in Philly after I've seen NYC (and Janelle even scoped out a Flea Market up there for me?)...not hard, my shoes never fell apart walking in Philly..