Helzberg Diamonds has been kind enough to offer to give one complete set of the three pieces shown below to one lucky reader! To be eligible for the drawing, just click the Facebook “Like” button on the right side of this page and then post a comment here saying how you’ll be incorporating charitable giving in your Christmas and holiday gift giving this year. I’ll announce the winner shortly, along with the winner of the charity wine giveaway! (Sorry, no diamonds, but still a value of over $200 nonetheless!)
Some of my earliest and fondest memories are of Dorothy Hamill in the mid-1970’s skating perfect routine after perfect routine. I remember watching with my family as she accepted the gold medal for women’s singles in Innsbruck in 1976. Looking back, she was perhaps the last figure skater from a simpler time–before tire irons to the knees, tabloid headlines, and multi-million dollar contracts. She was just “American’s Sweetheart”.
In the years following her success as World Champion and Olympic Champion, Dorothy Hamill went on to skate professionally in shows and serve as a skating commentator and mentor to up-and-coming skaters. She’s achieved every plateau a figure skater can reach, having been inducted into the United States and the World Figure Skating Halls of Fame.
In 2008, she announced she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Happily, she has since made a full recovery.
Recently, a representative from Helzberg Diamonds contacted me to tell me about a new product line. It’s called the “Love, Help, & Hope” collection. It’s a collection of beautiful jewelry created by Dorothy Hamill herself after her own personal experience with the disease, and intended to bring awareness to breast cancer, which millions of woman still battle every day nationwide.
The collection is beautiful, and ranges in price from $79.99 for some elegant sterling silver pieces (pictured below) to $1999.99 for a stunning 1 carat total weight piece shaped like a heart with a ribbon inside. A portion of the proceeds from the “Love, Help & Hope” collection will be donated to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
Helzberg sent me a few samples of their $79.99 sterling silver and rhodium pieces. There’s a necklace shaped like a charity ribbon with a rhodium band that’s a pinkish, golden color on a delicate 18 inch box chain:
There’s also a beautiful pair of sterling silver earrings with the same charity ribbon pattern:
And finally, a beautiful ring with the charity ribbon.
The pieces were beautiful, brilliant, and solid. The designs were simple and elegant enough to complement just about any outfit. And of course, they serve as a powerful statement–that while breast cancer is still a scourge that affects 1 in 8 women nationwide, with early detection, regular mammograms, and the newest methods of treatment and support more and more women are beating it. But awareness and donations are critically needed more than ever.
You can view all the pieces (including the exquisite heart and diamond pendants) athttp://helzberg.com/dorothy. If you prefer, you can purchase any other item from Helzberg Diamonds, and add a $5 donation to your shopping cart from this page.
As Christmas shopping season gets underway, consider these pieces of jewelry. Not only are they stunningly beautiful, if they can remind one woman to get checked early, or remind one person of the importance of supporting charities looking for a cure for cancer, there aren’t many more meaningful gifts you can give.
Disclosure: We participate in the eBay Partner Network (EPN) meaning we may earn a commission when users click on links to eBay and make purchases.
On her recent (and final) “Favorite Things” show, Oprah highlighted the 2010 list of her “favorite things”.
There was one item on the list where the proceeds went to charity. It’s the DonorsChoose.org Giving Card – This is a gift card to DonorsChoose, a fantastic charity where teachers post things they desperately need in their classroom to help educate kids, and anyone can donate towards the purchase of those items. I donated last year to help a classroom in Boston buy a computer. The teacher was so grateful for the donation, and I was thrilled a few weeks later to receive an envelope full of wonderful hand-written thank-you notes from the kids.
While the rest of the items don’t donate to charity, I figured I’d include them for the curious. If you find this gift list helpful for your gift giving, consider a generous donation to one of Oprah’s favorite causes, which can be found here.
Its Advanced Jumbo acoustic design has a great balanced tone and which will improve with age and play. As with the original, you can play it acoustically or as an electric guitar with a unique EJ-160E Mini-Humbucker.
A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the BMI Foundation for the John Lennon Music Scholarship fund, which supports music education.
Let’s face it–“diaper changing bags” and “cool” don’t usually go in the same sentence together. The company 2 Red Hens changes all that.
The pictured 2 Red Hens Rooster Diaper Bag is a stylish and versatile bag which holds a laptop, files, or books and has plenty of interior and exterior pockets for your keys and cell phone, not to mention room for sippy cups, snacks, toys, and included make-up bag included.
Started by cervical cancer survivor Lori Burley, this Denver-based company will donate a portion of sales from each bag’s sales to cervical cancer research.
When visiting someone’s house for a dinner party this holiday season, there are few gifts that are both as practical and as meaningful as a good bottle of wine. There’s something about a bottle of wine that makes any dinner special. That 2-liter bottle of Coke doesn’t have nearly the story to tell as those grapes from far away that have been sitting in a oak barrel waiting years to be opened up and enjoyed. A good bottle of wine makes the heart happy. And when you pair the wine perfectly to the meal that’s being cooked, it just makes the evening complete.
The world seems to be split into two halves: those who know everything there is to know about wine and those who have no clue. I squarely in the latter half. I’ve been on wine tastings and I know the basics (swirl and sniff, red wine goes with red meat, and so on), but ask me what the difference between a Sauvignon Blanc and a Chardonnay and a Pinot Noir, and I’ll just smile and nod.
A few weeks ago, OneHOPE wine contacted me and told me about their products. They’re a company that partners with some of the best wineries in Northern California to produce their own wine label. They sell six varietals (Chardonnay, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Pinot Noir), each of which donates 50% of proceeds to a different charity (Breast cancer, AIDS, Conservation, the Troops, Autism, and Children’s Hospitals respectively).
Giving a random bottle of wine from the local Target is one thing. But when you give one of these wines, you’re not only assured a great, high-quality wine–you can also show your recipient how much you care about these importance causes, and bring awareness (and perhaps some good dinner conversation) about them.
White Wines:
Chardonnay: This is a California white with hints of fresh apple blossom and honeysuckle, with vibrant crisp pear and apple on your palette. This is a wine that is absolutely perfect when paired with broiled or grilled seafood, poultry dishes, and cheese. 50% of profits benefit the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
Sauvignon Blanc: This light, refreshing, crisp wine has a pale, golden color. You can taste subtle flavors of pink grapefruit and bright, grassy undertones. It’s perfect with salmon, halibut, light pasta dishes, fresh fruit, and cheese. 50% of profits benefit the American Forest Foundation, which works to protect the forests of the United States.
Pinot Noir: This wine comes from Force Canyon Vineyard in the Arroyo Seco Canyon, next to the cool breezes and bright sunshine of Monterrey Bay, which give it a very uniquely Californian flavor profile. It’s aged for seven months in French and American oak; sniffing the wine, you can sense aromas of raspberries, blackberries, and roses. Wonderful when paired with lean meats, dishes cooked with early flavors like truffles and mushrooms and mild, creamy cheeses such as brie and camembert. 50% of profits go to The Children’s Hospitals, which treat 17 million children each year.
Red Wines:
Merlot: This wine is an extremely diverse wine with a bright cherry color. It is very versatile as far as food pairings go–it goes well with poultry, pork, pastas, and salads. 50% of profits go to AIDS/Lifecycle, a bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles which brings education and awareness to fighting AIDS.
Zinfandel: This wine has an extremely rich red color with luscious dark flavors such as plum and black cherry. It pairs well with foods such as pizza, barbecue ribs, and lamb. 50% of profits go to Snowball Express, a great organization that supports families and children of those in the military who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.
Cabernet Sauvignon: This is the red wine that most people think of when they say “red wine”. It has a dark, ruby red color and rich flavors that evoke lush black cherry, cassis, and a hint of tobacco. It is fantastic with roasted and grilled meat, such as roast lamb, prime rib, or porterhouse steak. 50% of profits go to ACT Today, a fine organization which helps autistic children.
Are the wines really high quality? OneHOPE sent me a bottle of Chardonnay to sample. The bottle was beautiful, with a sleek black label and a ribbon emblem tied around the neck. The wine was fantastic. It was a beautiful gold color, and true to its description, had a light fruity feel about it, which would be fantastic with lobster or grilled chicken.
Bottom line, it’s a wonderful bottle of wine that makes a fantastic gift and helps some great causes.
OneHOPE has been kind enough to offer one lucky reader a $50 Gift Card to their online store! This is enough to buy at least two bottles of wine. To be eligible for the drawing, just click the brand new Facebook “Like” button on the right side of this page and then post a comment here saying which wine you’d choose and why. I’ll announce a winner in a few weeks!
This past month, Jupiter made its first closest approach to earth since 1963. The next time it’ll be this close is in 2022. Jupiter is in opposition, meaning that the planet has been nearly exactly opposite the sun. If you noticed what you thought was an unusually bright star in the sky, that’s what it was.
I took out my trusty Meade teleescope for the first time in about 10 years and focused it on that point in the sky. Now I live less than 20 miles from New York City, so there’s always light pollution in the sky–I’m usually lucky to see any stars at all. But when I focused on Jupiter, I literally gasped. I could see the sphere of Jupiter very clearly, surrounded by five specks of light neatly aligned in a row. I realized that those were five of Jupiter’s moons, also in opposition to the sun. One of the days in September there’s was another rare treat this week: Uranus was also in opposition and could be seen in the same part of the sky as Jupiter. It’s a rare treat that may not be seen again in our lifetimes.
If you missed the show, don’t despair. Since the earth is constantly rotating, it means that the night sky is always giving us treats like this. Every millisecond of every day and night, the planet and stars line up to give us a spectacular show, and no millisecond is the same.
Why am I mentioning this on Charitable Gift Giving? A few months ago I was contacted by David, the co-founder of a great company called Vapor Sky, LLC. They produce something called Stellar Portraits, which is artwork that, having seen it for myself, I can tell you is nothing less than stunning.
Specifically, it’s a portrait of the stars and planets overhead anywhere on the earth at any moment in time. The portrait is stylized so that brighter and larger objects in the sky appear more luminescent than smaller ones. The result is a portrait that’s both accurate (they include information on the stars, planets, and constellations in your unique portrait so you can identify them), as well as stunningly beautiful.
Since the alignment of the stars and planets are constantly moving, no two portraits are exactly the same. And in addition to that, they allow you to customize your portrait from 36 different styles of colors (you can also request custom colors).
I asked them if they could send me a portrait to write about, and they asked me to give them a date and a geographical location. I knew right away I wanted to surprise my girlfriend Lisa, so I told them her birthday, down to the year, date and time. Since her favorite color is blue, I chose a stunning deep blue color on black. Stellar Portraits usually asks for a city and state in the United States, but I thought I’d challenge them by giving them the longitude and latitude of the city in Taiwan that Lisa was born.
The portrait arrived in a sturdy box a few days later. When I took it out of the protective wrapping, I literally gasped. It was a beautiful large (20 inches by 30 inches) canvas. The canvas is matted (like a painting canvas), and about half an inch thick.
Here’s a picture of Lisa and me with the Stellar Portrait of what the stars looked like directly over the hospital in a city in Taiwan the exact minute she was born!
I wanted to take a couple pictures to show you how stunning the production quality of this piece is. This is a close-up of the canvas (click on the picture to further zoom in on the detail).
As you can see, it is literally museum-quality artwork. And because you can customize the colors, you can order a portrait that can fit into any decor or style. It fits into modern room design just as well as it does into a traditional one. Here’s another view of the canvas so you can see how vibrant the colors are, as well as the thickness of the canvas:
These portraits do cost what you’d expect to pay for high quality artwork (a 24″ x 18″ portrait like the one Lisa and I are holding costs $199, and you can get sizes up to 60″ x 40″). But when you think about how unique and individual this gift is, as well as its stunningly high quality, it’s well worth it. After all, anyone can give someone an iPod or a Kindle or a Wii for around the same price. But those things break down or fall into obsolescence quickly. People can send flowers or gifts from stores like Red Envelope or UncommonGoods, but at the end of the day gifts from those places aren’t really unique (ironically, it’s just the opposite–those companies make their money when thousands and thousands of people buy the same thing).
I can think of a lot of occasions where this portrait would make a perfect gift. It makes a fantastic wedding present–they offer the option of putting TWO star portraits on one canvas, so the sky the night the groom was born can be on one side and the sky the night the bride was born can be on the other side, each in a different color. Similarly, it makes aphenomenal anniversary gift, especially for a “milestone” anniversary like the 10th, 20th, 25th or 50th. I wish Vapor Sky had been around years ago when my brother, my sister, and I came up with the brilliant idea of pooling together our money to buy our parents a silver platter for their 25th anniversary (unbeknownst to us at the time, the Brady kids had already thought of it years before, although thankfully my siblings and I didn’t have to don track suits and go on TV).
And of course, it makes a great birthday gift. What better way to celebrate the day of their birth by giving them a portrait of the night of their birth? It also makes an absolutely wonderful gift for parents to commemorate the moment their children were born (the image pictured to the right is of three star patterns together).
It can also be used to commemorate any event associated with a specific date and place. Get a picture of the night sky on someone’s graduation day. Or the day they finished the New York Marathon. Or the day they passed the bar. Or the day they retired. Get a picture for your company founder to hang in his office to show the sky the night the company began. Or if you know a history buff, get a picture of the night sky on July 4, 1776 under Philadelphia. 🙂 You get the idea.
And of course, this makes a fantastic Christmas gift, especially for couples and families who could use great quality artwork in their homes.
Aside from having a stunningly beautiful and high-quality product, the company donates a portion of their profits each month to the charitable foundation A World Fit For Kids! (www.worldfitforkids.org).
A World Fit For Kids is a non-profit organization which helps underprivileged kids in inner city Los Angeles. If you read their Web site, you’ll see that both the program and its results have been phenomenal. They work with kids, many in high-crime or high-poverty areas who may not have many positive role models in their lives, providing them with positive physical activities such as sports, dance, and cultural enrichment, which helps build their self-esteem and a positive attitude, as well as prevent childhood obesity and Type 2 Diabetes.
In addition, they provide leadership training, mentoring and academic support, which has resulted in higher graduation rates and kids who can succeed and prosper in the work world, breaking the cycle of despair. Public funding for programs like this is woefully lacking, which means that it’s great charities like this which need your direct help to save lives. I’d definitely encourage you to look into this organization and to provide direct donations.
A World Fit For Kids’ spokesperson is good old Kevin Sorbo, TV’s Hercules and all around good guy! Here’s a short video that talks in more details of the great work this organization is doing:
My thanks to David and to Vapor Sky for contacting me and for a fantastic product!
Unless you’ve been under a rock the last few years, you know that one of the biggest phenomenons on TV has been the amazing Snuggie–the blanket that has sleeves.
Everywhere I go I see someone with one of these–in the airport, at the office, and in living rooms everywhere.
Reviews everywhere seems to always have the same theme–someone buys it as a gag gift, and it turns out to actually be functional.
If you’ve always wanted to get one, for real or for a joke, The Pink Snuggie is a great model to get. It’s pink (which adds to the snugginess) and part of the proceeds help breast cancer research.
For Breast Cancer Month 2010, Red Envelope is donating 10% of proceeds from its Pink Ribbon Collection to Susan G. Komen. The collection features jewelry, clothes, accessories, flowers, and more.
The Pink Eternity Ring Necklace (pictured) is a beautiful choice. My personal favorite are the Oprah-approved pink chocolate covered strawberries.
If you enter code REDTIER at checkout, you’ll enjoy 10% off your order, 15% off an order of $80 or more, and 20% off an orderof $125 or more.
So, with all the pink products out there, the man in your life may be feeling a little left out. After all, he probably wouldn’t want to fish with a pink fishing pole nor shoot hoops with a pink basketball.
Well, he’s in luck. Sears has a collection of Pink Ties that both support breast cancer awareness and are stylish to boot (as you know, pink is the new black, so click around to the other “All About Pink” ties and chances are you’ll find a style he’ll love.
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Let’s face it–“diaper changing bags” and “cool” don’t usually go in the same sentence together. The company 2 Red Hens changes all that.
