Amy Purdy, Swag and a Giveaway!

Hello, my lovelies! I'm excited to announce my annual "All You Need is Love" giveaway.  Last year we were still small in the number of followers on le instagram, but this year I am upping my game.  I've decided to run the giveaway through the blog and thank heavens for Rafflecopter.  Nothing makes me happier than a free app that keeps me organized.  Can I get an amen, hallelujah from the congregation?

This year's giveaway is the incredible memoir by the double amputee American Winter Olympian, Amy Purdy.  If you're not familiar with her story you are truly missing out on an inspiring tale of great magnitude.  To read more and more check out her website here.  I first heard about her when she was the celebrity dance partner for Derek Hough (be still my heart) on ABC's Dancing With The Stars.  She blew my mind with her dedication and attention to detail against all odds.  It was by far one of the best seasons ever.  The best part was her ability she push Derek, a decorated and talented choreographer, to new heights by forcing him to create dance routines that accommodated her lack of nerve function in the feet.  Every week she came out and did more and more and more.  Oh and did I mention she's a kick ass snow boarder????  Um ya.  She's created a sport of its own (as if it needed to be any cooler) and has developed a technique through her ability to adapt to boarding with bionic legs. 

As I've been reading the book I have shed tears and laughed and cried again.  A lot of her story is a very spiritual one and her journey through losing her legs because of Meningitis when she was 19.  She also talks about her dad and his greatest sacrifice of donating a kidney for his daughter.  Just this week she started a new campaign with Toyota and talked about her dad.  It is the coolest ad.  Take a look by following this link.  Are you crying yet?  If you recall I wrote a blog post about my daddy, my hero, and this ad made me think of him.  He has always been SO good to his daughters and loved us just the way we were which is a tid bit crazy (we get it from our mother) and was a good sport about watching chick flicks and letting us do his hair.  He also was such a champ when we would come home and tell him about the latest cute boy that we were destined to marry.  Oh wait...that might still happen a little for this daughter.  It doesn't happen as often as high school, but there have been a few lads that my daddy definitely heard the WHOLE STORY about long before my mother.  He's always been our sentimental rock and for that I love and appreciate him so much.

As soon as I started reading the book, I knew I wanted to have it be my main giveaway this year.  February is going to be the month of LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE yourself (the good kind, not the selfish kind) and we are going to talk about embracing the body God blessed you with by rocking the COLOR in your fashion choices.  I will have fun photos from my photo shoot with Kel-Z Photography and we will talk color and pattern and a lot of other fun things.  Additionally, I'm going to spotlight my dear friend D'Arcy's wonderful store, Chic Style.  She has been such a blessing as a friend and confidant, in addition to feeding my fashion fetish and it's time to talk about why and in more detail than I have in the past.  One of the secret swag bag items is a beautiful pendant from a local Ogden Valley artist named Ashley Bennett Stoddard that Chic Style sells.  This is one of my favorite pendants that she's designed and it is a pewter snowboard.  BUT!  The fabulous thing is you don't need to be a boarder to enjoy it because she has incorporated nature into the pendent and it is a gorgeous piece to wear with just about everything.  Check it out here.  I also have a few other items in the works for the swag bag, but I'm going to keep them a secret, but they are going to rock.

I am so excited to share this book with you.  I have lived through some pretty dark days in my adult life, but NOTHING compares to what Amy Purdy has been through and she does it with such grace and poise and faith.  We can all draw such hope from reading her story and re-read it on the really BAD days.  In conclusion I want to share the following video with you from Amy's time on Dancing With The Stars.  Watch and be amazed, my lovelies. 

The moral of the story:  Even against all odds, we too can have bionic super powers and shred through life with a heart full of faith and determination!

Until next time, my lovelies!
-R

a Rafflecopter giveaway