Saturday, February 5, 2011

Zach Wahls Speaks About Family

I believe that any two people in love deserve the right to marry. So does Zach Wahls. No matter what your thoughts are on marriage, and how it is defined, you should listen to him speak.



From IowaHouseDemocrats | February 01, 2011
"Zach Wahls, a 19-year-old University of Iowa student spoke about the strength of his family during a public forum on House Joint Resolution 6 in the Iowa House of Representatives. Wahls has two mothers, and came to oppose House Joint Resolution 6 which would end civil unions in Iowa. The fight to to keep marriage equality in Iowa continues, help us support Iowans like Zach. http://www.oneiowa.org/donate/donate-now"

Sigh, I'm a catholic who believes in marriage equality. Talk about being conflicted! The Catholic faith is such a big part of my family heritage, and therefore very important to me. So many of my childhood memories of my grandparents are wrapped up in religion. There are many Catholic values that I agree with and believe in. However, when my liberal views conflict with the Catholic faith I'm not sure how to define myself. Can one be a liberal Catholic? Appreciate the Catholic faith and yet wholeheartedly disagree with some Catholic views, rules & decisions? Well, I know that it 'can' happen; that's me. I supposed for now I'll continue to define myself as a conflicted Catholic. Someone who despite her church's views believes that straight or gay everyone deserves to publicly declare their love and commitment to one another...and to have that declaration legitimized by their government.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Online shopping 'clubs' & emails

Until I added in a long commute to my life I wasn't an online shopper. Now, the last thing I want to do is stop by the mall for clothes or gifts. Luckily, or dangerously, I have discovered some online shopping sites. Most of them are like online fancy versions of TJ Maxx -- heavily discounted designer brands.


 My newest discovery? ShoeDazzle. Everything on ShoeDazzle is $40 and you save an extra 20% off your first purchase. Shoes, bags & jewelry sets. The catch for this one is you have to log in once a month and shop or "skip" the month or you'll be charged $40/month and rack up a stack of credits. Luckily you get email reminders and clicking 'skip' is easy. If you skip the month you're not charged a thing. But, with deals like this how bad could having credits be? Even these awesome knee-high boots are just $40. Should I buy them? I just might...  This site, unlike many others, is knock offs not the designer brands.

What other shopping deals go I get delivered to my inbox?

Rue la la
This is my all time favorite deal site because it's a mix of designer and more affordable brands. I've purchased from them many times for myself & gifts.  Best deal I scored? A pair of Rock & Republic Jeans. New deals start every day at 11am with 'city' deals emailed around 8am. City deals are mostly restaurants & salons but worth checking out too.

Guilt Group
Here I have a best deal tie. $14 for a pair of movie tickets. OR jewelry for my sister's birthday gift. Guilt deals are mailed at noon, and like Rue la la Guilt also has a city deals page. If you're looking for the most high fashion brands, than this is the deal site for you.

Haute Look
I got the BEST green platter for my mom. She loved it. Score! This site tends to be less designer brands and more middle-of-the-road brands. The good news is that this means most clothing deals are super cheap.

Swirl by Daily Candy
From the same people who send you a daily email of what's trendy, now they too offer a shopping deal site. I got an american apparel dress, the kind you can tie a bunch of different ways, for $20. See the shirt dress on the left? That's a deal today for only $29. As Anthony says when I tell him about a good deal...you'd be losing money if you didn't buy it! This site has the quickest shipping of them all. Once you score a great deal there is nothing better than getting it FAST.

Afraid that it won't fit? Unless it says otherwise these sites offer returns/exchanges. They even provide the return shipping label. Also, most times if you take a website credit the return shipping is free. Or you pay return shipping and receive your money back. Seriously, this is way easier than braving a crowded mall.

I also LOVE the restaurant deal sites...but that's a post for another day! You might be wondering, why the fashion post again? I thought you were a wedding blogger & foodie. Well, I noticed that my post 'How to tie a scarf" was one of my reader favorites. Hmmm...who knew? So, if you like that, I hope you like this too! Happy shopping.

*Photos are not my own, they are from the online shopping pages. I did not receive compensation from any of the above sites for this post it is purely my opinion.