Mar5
Feb27
Spring Into Self-Revelation; Photo Shoot Giveaway & The Reveal 365 Project
ShutterCal Prints
Though snow still blankets our yard, I swear today I can see it melting away at the edges. The earth that is peaking through is soggy and brown. Combined with the bare trees the first glimpse of spring is cast in a grey nudity. Not totally unlike how I looked last week on the beach as we escaped to the sun on our family vacation. The clothing layers were stripped off to expose my pale winter body, and let’s just say I was not quite “beach ready”. Despite this I was surprised to find that I kind of cared, but really I didn’t.
The ShutterCal Storage Box
I think the comfort and ease of stripping off my outer layers of clothing might have something to do with the fact that I’ve been stripping away at emotional layers this winter by taking part in a really cool project called Reveal 365. Reveal 365 is an online photo and journal workshop that prompts you to dig deep. The process was inspired by the women behind The Revelation Project, where your inner beauty is captured in photo portraits combined with self discovery. (which one of my lucky readers has the chance to win by entering below!) The Revelation Project teamed up with ShutterCal to create a unique digital photo/journaling workshop where you continue to stay in tune with what really matters to you all year long. This is acheived through personal journaling, daily photos, and the tools created by Reveal 365 to guide participants through the journey of self-discovery. Life-coach prompts and topics of discussion challenge members to document, and therefore discover their passions, fears, and inspirations.
“Reveal 365 is about unleashing the brilliance of women, documenting our revelations along the way, and lighting up the world with positive action, passion, and inspiration,”
-The Revelation Project (TRP) co-founder, Monica Rodgers
The daily photos can be printed out with the journal entry that coincides on the back and stored in the custom Project 365 photo box shown above. I always loved polaroids, especially ones I had written a note on the bottom of, and I feel like this is a modern day version of those treasures. For someone who can’t remember what I did last week, I love looking back at my ShutterCal to pinpoint the special moment that I’ve captured in each day. In this way I have also been able to look back and notice patterns in what I’ve been drawn to photograph, revealing what feeds my soul.
Having been prompted daily for the past few months to think about words like inspiration, reveal, power, motivation, and celebrate in the context of my life, to expose my winter body in public had become a silly non-issue to me.
Now I love a good snowstorm as much as the next New Englander, probably more, and my feeling in the winter is that if it is going to be cold, it might as well snow. I want it to be beautiful and cold. We are possibly expecting even more snow this week, so I’m not disillusioned that winter is over, but I swear there was something of spring in the air today. Something that gave me that hopeful and expectant feeling of coming change. If you are feeling the same way, that sense or readiness for spring rebirth or renewal the reveal 365 Project is a perfect way to celebrate that process. You can sign up for the Spring Session now.
You can follow Reveal 365 on Pinterest & Twitter & Enter below to win a professional photo EXPERIENCE from The Revelation Project!
I was given a free 3 month trial membership of Reveal 365 for the purpose of this review, as always all of the opinions expressed here are my own, and not influenced in any way. This is truly a unique experience and I am signing up to continue on my own for the next session I like it so much!
Feb25
Ensuring Every Baby Survives It’s #FirstDay ; Save The Children’s Report on Newborn Health
When my first baby was born and handed to me all cleaned, and swaddled I looked up to my Doctor to ask “can I kiss her?” He laughed and said, “yes, she’s yours, you get to take her home”. Suddenly I was responsible for a life! Just like that!
Each time as a mother giving birth I was on edge waiting to know that everything is going to be o.k. Even for baby number four, probably more so for baby number four, since I was of “advanced maternal age”, I was worried. That was here. In the USA, with modern medicine and an ambulance at the end of a 911 call. You might be surprised to learn that despite all that we still fall behind 68 other countries in newborn deaths the first day of life. Pretty shocking, isn’t it? In developing countries however the numbers are far worse. Too many mothers are not getting the pre-natal care they need, and often birthing alone in unsanitary conditions.
The first 24 hours of a babies life are the most critical, and while advances in preventing child mortality have cut that number in half according to a new report out today from Save The Children, Newborn health still continues to lag behind in progress. The report states that nearly half of all deaths of children under five are newborns. The greatest tragedy is that most of these deaths are preventable.
In many rural communities there is a shortage of healthcare workers to aid in safe delivery. With community based healthcare workers in place, with the knowledge to resuscitate a newborn who is not breathing, and teach new mothers techniques such as breastfeeding and kangaroo care, newborn lives could be saved.
Save The Children is calling on both world leaders and private sector partners to join in what is being called the Five Point Newborn Promise in 2014 to save newborn lives. This plan calls to:
- Issue a defining and accountable declaration to end all preventable newborn mortality, saving 2 million newborn lives a year and stopping the 1.2 million stillbirths during labor
- Ensure that by 2025 every birth is attended by trained and equipped health workers who can deliver essential newborn health interventions
- Increase expenditure on health to at least the WHO minimum of US$60 per person
- To pay for the training, equipping and support of health workers, and remove user fees for all maternal, newborn and child health services, including emergency obstetric care
- The private sector, including pharmaceutical companies, should help address unmet needs by developing innovative solutions and increasing availability for the poorest to new and existing products for maternal, newborn and child health.
The new report, “Ending Newborn Deaths,” shows one half of first day deaths around the world could be prevented if the mother and baby had access to free health care and a skilled midwife.
The Save The Children “Ending Newborn Deaths” Report
Read the full report and find out more about how you can be a part of the change by visiting the Save The Children to get involved.
I wrote this post as part of The Global Team of 200, a highly specialized group of members of Mom Bloggers for Social Good that concentrates on issues involving women and girls, children, world hunger and maternal health.
Our Motto: Individually we are all powerful. Together we can change the world. We believe in the power of collective action to help others and believe in ourselves to make this world a better place for our children and the world’s children.
Feb18
Ava Anderson; How A 14 yr Old Is Revolutionizing The Cosmetics Industry
GUEST POST BY LISA DAVIS
About 5 years ago I started hearing about Ava Anderson, a 14-year-old girl who at the time lived right in my town of Barrington, RI. She, along with her parents, created a skincare line called Ava Anderson Non-Toxic. The reason Ava decided to make these products herself was that everything she was finding on the market contained harmful chemicals that were unsafe to use.
I recently spoke with Ava’s mom, Kim, and asked her a few questions about Ava and the history of the company. Kim imparted to me the story of how Ava watched a news segment one night in 2009 that exposed how many toxic chemicals are in teenage girls’ bodies from the products and makeup they use (there were hundreds). Ava was so horrified by what she saw that she immediately went through her home and threw out all of her personal care products. When Kim realized everything had been thrown out, she said to her daughter, “I support you in this, but I cannot leave the house without lipstick and deodorant!”
Ava even started a blog that soon had a thousand followers, in an attempt to recommend safer products for people to use. But to her dismay, there were almost no safe products on the market. Everything contained chemicals of concern. And why were 1,342 toxic chemicals banned in Europe and only 9 banned in the US?
Ava decided to create her own line of safe skincare that contained no harmful chemicals. After the skincare line, they added the body care, hair care, and home cleaning lines as well. Now, the company is growing exponentially because people are becoming much more aware of and concerned about their exposure to toxins in their environment. Their mission is not just to sell products, but to share the message of needed changes in chemical policy in the United States.
Personally, the more I learned about the dangers of what we put on our skin and in our bodies, the more upset I got. Coincidentally around the same time my own skin had become increasingly unmanageable. No amount of facials, medicine, or costly skincare seemed to improve its condition.
When I switched to Ava Anderson products (that contain only organic botanicals) my skin looked and felt SO much better. I started using more of the Ava Anderson line of products (home care, hair care, etc.). I love them, the company, and how good my skin looks. And I love that it is good for myself, my family, and the environment. I believe in the products so strongly that I even became a rep for the product line, and I love the message of living toxin-free. If you would like to learn how to lead a healthy, more toxic-free life or to check out Ava’s products, you can visit my website.
Lisa Davis is a Biologist with a MA in Creative Writing, and a mother of three. She was recently selected by the United Nations Foundation as a Shot@Life Champion.
Feb14
