Spring has finally Sprung!

Spring has finally sprung in Huntington Beach. Although, according to Google, it only went to 79 today, it felt much warmer. We are hoping to visit the Bolsa Chica Wetlands tomorrow as all the little baby birds have been born and are out tweeting - no not on Twitter! To celebrate Spring, if you are reading this blog, please feel free to use or share this special coupon. Type in "spring" at check out, and your entire order will be reduced by 10%. This coupon is good until May 31, 2011 - perfect time to shop for your Mother's & Father's Day presents. We just found out that we are in the upper third of all websites in the world and with an overall score of 89%, we are only 8 points behind the biggies, like Red Envelope. Not bad for a small, woman-owned and operated business! As you know, I am very involved with local charities. This is a very busy time of year for me. Working Wardrobes is gearing up for its Women's Day of Self-Esteem (http://www.workingwardrobes.org/). I am on the Planning Committee, and I am a Success Coach for this event (as well as for the Men's Day of Self-Esteem). As a Success Coach, we spend the 5 weeks before the event, helping women become more job-ready with sessions including how to write a resume and how to interview. The Duck-A-Thon is happening on the weekend of May 13, 14 & 15. This is the biggest fundraiser for Alta Med's Huntington Beach Community Clinic where thousands of uninsured and medically underserved are treated every year (http://www.duckathon.org/). And, our Soroptimist Club is having its first annual Making a Difference for Women Walk on June 18. If you want to know more about this and/or want to walk (if you live in Huntington Beach or nearby) or sponsor me, please email me at terry@giftsfromadistance.com. Funds raised from this walk will be distributed to charities like Collette's Home, Working Wardrobes, Project Self-Sufficiency and others, both local and international. If you want to know more about our club, go to http://www.soroptimisthuntingtonbeach.org/. If you want to know more about Soroptimist, go to http://www.soroptimist.org/. For those of you who don't know, Soroptimist is the only international organization dedicated to issues affecting women and girls, like trafficking. Thank you for supporting us and for your generosity in helping others. As Mother Teresa once said, "We cannot do great things on this Earth, only small things with great love." Until I blog again...Namaste, terry

We live in Huntington Beach, CA. My step-daughter called yesterday to see if we were okay. My best friend just landed in Hawaii two nights ago for a vacation with her husband - the first in many years - they were evacuated. She called me yesterday to let me know she was ok. No one can predict a natural disaster but, when one strikes, I feel that we can all help. We, at Gifts from a Distance, believe in "giving back." We donate a portion of our proceeds to charitable organizations, we donate goods for auctions that those organizations to help them raise money in order to sustain their humanitarian or environmental efforts, and we believe in promoting those organizations. Today, we are promoting AmeriCares (http://www.americares.org/). AmeriCares is a nonprofit disaster relief and humanitarian aid organization which provides immediate response to emergency medical needs – and supports long-term humanitarian assistance programs – for all people around the world, irrespective of race, creed or political persuasion. We sent them a donation to help the victims of the tsunami in Japan. Since their founding in 1982, AmeriCares has provided more than $10 Billion of aid to 147 countries. If you would like to know more about AmeriCares, please click on the link above.

It's been awhile since I blogged. I will try to be better about it in the future. It is a great way to provide information about what is going on a giftsfromadistance.com as well as other things.

Namaste,
Terry

It's Back To School Time

I don't know about you but, the summer just flew by for me. We are adding many new, fun, practical and collectible items at www.giftsfromadistance.com like the ever-so-popular, Wally Washers. I have stepped up my charitable activities too! Aside from being a member of the Huntington Beach Soroptimist Club, on its board and Vice President of Service Programs this year, I am also the Desert Coast District 2 representative on the Women's Opportunity Award Committee for the next 2 years. It is my responsibility to make sure our district has 100% participation in this award. Whew! And...Working Wardrobes' Men's Day of Self-Esteem is just around the corner, too. I am on the Planning Committee again plus I am a Success Coach again - so excited about that. Working Wardrobes (www.workingwardrobe.org) has been selected as one of the charities in the Pepsi Challenge that will be going on during the month of September. As soon as I receive the link, I will post it. Please go out and support Working Wardrobes. It is a phenomenal charitable organization that assists men, women and emancipated teens to enter or re-renter the workforce with dignity and self-esteem. So, to honor you, I offer you this coupon good through September 30th. Shop at www.giftsfromadistance.com. Type in "bts" at checkout and your entire order will be reduced by 10%. That is our way of thanking you for supporting us. Our charitable contribution this month will be going to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah. To learn more about them, go to www.bestfriends.org. And last but not least, if you know anyone at Harpo Entertainment, I have been trying on and off for 14 years to get Jerri Rosen, the Founder and CEO at Working Wardrobes on her show. I am going to be sending 2 videos but, if you know Oprah or someone at Harpo and can put in a good word, that would be a blessing for me. Jerri is truly a modern day angel.

For now...namaste....Terry

Memorial Day and New at gifts from a distance

I need to be a better blogger...I need to update Facebook, Twitter and Linked In more frequently...I need another me...an organized me. Ok, where to begin. Saw Harry Brown - disturbing but excellent film. Saw the last Shrek in 3-D - don't pay extra for the glasses/not worth it. Cute and entertaining but, it has reached the end. Added a bunch of new pottery to our Art for the Home section, all made in the USA by Double Creek Pottery. Check it out at http://www.giftsfromadistance.com/ceramics___pottery_art_for_the_home. Best thing this weekend...well, it's a tie: 1) Replanted plants in the backyard - turns out Jack, not River, is the master digger so, we will have to keep an eye on Jack (our good dog - ha ha) now and 2) (which actually takes the prize), reconnected with family friends that I haven't seen in many many years compliments of Facebook. Social media sites like Facebook and Linked In have certainly made the world a whole lot smaller.

Well, the long weekend is over. Time to hit the warehouse - we took the whole weekend off - amazing. Next weekend we are off to ACRE, the wholesale crafts expo in Las Vegas. Hope to have more to report after that.

Namaste and Hugs (and say a prayer for Dana who just had a tumor removed from her abdomen),

terry

terry

Stars and their stupid acts

I read People.com every morning on my Google homepage (as well as the NY Times headlines and other more intellectual things). I must admit I was surprised and yet sad at the headlines today - Sandra Bullock (and for the most part, Jesse James) adopted a little baby boy....Sandra Bullock files for divorce. So many thoughts in my head...It's hard to be faithful to only one person for many in this world - that's why there are so many divorces period but...even harder when your life is under the public microscope all the time. Tiger Woods and Jesse James were just "plain dumb". They had to know in the back of their little brains that some fame seeker would leek the news that they had slept with them - come on, how dumb can they be? It leads me to believe they really wanted to get caught. And Jesse, you have this wonderful, beautiful adoring wife and you pick a woman who, in my mind, does not look pretty on the outside or seem pretty on the inside - that's certainly thinking with the wrong part of your body! Because you and Sandra Bullock seemed so different, I almost felt as though you could make it but...I guess when I think about the fact that you have been married before, maybe that wasn't to be the case. And yes, you hurt those closest to you but, since you are in the public eye, you also disappointed your fan base. It's too late to go back but, hopefully this will be something you think about in the future....and because, I am a romantic optimist, do I hope you and Sandra will someday put your collective lives back together - yes, in a way I do.

On a different note, when it comes to babies, we are getting more and more organic and natural products for babies and toddlers at www.giftsfromadistance.com. You will see our Babies, Toddlers and Kids of All Ages expanding in the next few weeks. Be on the lookout for a special coupon....and Sandra - Happy Mother's Day! Enjoy your little boy!

Al Gore, where is the global warming? I am cold!

With all this talk about global warming, I am cold...and I live in southern CA. I am concerned with the fact that the earth has changed its axis by milliseconds and combined with global warming, that may be changing our climate in strange ways. This morning when we walked our dogs I could see my breath...and it is almost MAY.

From an article called Climate Changes Due to Global Warming by Nathanial Fiset in 2007: "How global warming brings climate change and what it means to us The earth's climate has always been changing, although not at an abrupt rate. There had been periods of warming and cooling in the earth's 4.65 billion-year history. Strange as it may sound to some, this is the reason why life became possible on this planet millions of years ago. Unfortunately, not all of the changes in climate brought about by global warming may be beneficial to many of us." And he goes on to say, "Spring may be experienced earlier and temperatures during night time and in winter will rise. The world will experience a more humid atmosphere since sea water will have a higher rate of evaporation. With greater humidity, rainfall is expected to increase on average.
Storms will also occur with more frequency and intensity. Ironically, water in the soil will evaporate faster, causing dryness between rains. Regions that are already considered dry will experience more dryness. Some semi-arid regions in the African continent, for example, may suffer more while areas that depend on their region's mountain snow packs for irrigation will not benefit from earlier melting between growing seasons.
With warmer weather, some hurricanes will be more severe and winds are expected to blow stronger. It is also possible that wind patterns may shift. Extremely cold periods may be experienced as well." (Maybe that explains our weather!!)

Is there a way to get our good weather back? If you have any ideas, I would love to hear them.

On a different note, we are running a Mother's Day coupon at http://www.giftsfromadistance.com/ this month. Type in "mom" at checkout and receive a 10% discount on your entire order.

Have a great day today!!

terry

I hope Spring has finally sprung

We live in southern California...sunny, warm southern California...well...not quite....March came in like a lion and went out the same way - what happened to the lamb? And...so on to April....We experienced a decent, rolling earthquake last weekend - always a good wake up call. My baby car was rear-ended, not once but twice by the same truck and went into the body shop for the first time in its 14-year lifespan....That was definitely a bummer and another good wake up call! I connected with a good friend of mine whom I hadn't talked to for years. The daughter of another friend of mine was married in Mexico. I remember Sam when she was 4 1/2 yrs old. Our wireless network at our warehouse for www.giftsfromadistance.com went down for almost an entire day this past Monday definitely putting the brakes on all of our shipping for that day....and so, after a minor spill, I fill my cup half full again and express gratitude to my husband, Hal, for his patience - my step-daughter, Sandy, for working part-time for me and allowing me to get some other things done and to my customers who make having an online gift business worth all the time and energy it takes to keep it going. With that being said, we are gearing up for Mother's Day and have created a wonderful, little coupon at www.giftsfromadistance.com. Type in "mom" at checkout and see what your discount will be! It's a surprise, and it will be on your entire order!

Well, on to get ready to get the carpet cleaned~

Namaste and hugs for all,

Terry