Help Me Fundraise For NATIONAL WEAR RED DAY

A week ago, I posted a blog titled 1 Year Ago, My Mom Died & Lived. Going through this experience with my mom was an eye opening experience. I've lost nearly 40 lbs this year alone. I've started eating healthier. I go for walks, not just for exercise. I've been doing what I can to take care of myself. In addition, I've gotten involved with the American Heart Association.

National Wear Red Day is February 3, 2012. And I will proudly be wearing red to bring awareness to this disease. In addition, I have decided to fundraise for this amazing organization. Heart disease is the number one killer in women. 8 million women in the US are living with heart disease.435,000 American women have heart attacks annually. 267,000 women die each year from heart attacks: 6 times as many as breast cancer. With the advancements being made, and awareness spreading every single day, there is no reason those numbers can't drop dramatically.

I have set a fundraising goal of $150 by February 3. That's 125 days from now. If one person donates $1-2 per day, I will easily reach that. If 100 people donate $5, that's $500.

Anyone who donates $10 or more will receive a free wristband! Anyone who donates $25 will receive an entry into a drawing for a FREE customized doll (winner drawn on 2/4/2012, 1 entry for each $25).

So please, if you have even $1 to spare, please donate to this amazing cause. It has changed our lives, and I'm sure it has changed yours as well.

Click the graphic to donate at my personal fundraising page (http://bit.ly/iwearred)

Need your votes to win a headshot!

So I did something a bit odd for me. I entered a headshot contest. Yep! But this one's different. I'm in a contest to WIN a headshot! http://on.fb.me/voteforheather4

Why enter you may ask? My charity craft business, BriannesBasics.com, is growing by leaps and bounds. That means, more orders, more exposure, and most importantly more charity work. I think having a professional headshot would definitely be a good thing.

So PLEASE, take a minute and vote for me at http://on.fb.me/voteforheather4 I used this picture, and I'm the 4th photo. You have to leave a comment for your vote to count.

Thank you so much!!!

WELCOME

Welcome to my website! From here you can go on to any of my websites:

Brianne's Basics (my charity craft business. We donate 100% of our profits to various charities and events. Over $1000 donated in 2010 between sales, plus personal and friend/family donations!)
Mikk's Kid Krusaders: my family's charity group! Started by my eight year old son and I, we participate in various charity events. Our fall 2010 project is a troop support drive, benefiting Operation Gratitude.
About.Me: The cliff notes on me
Tumblr: I have a Tumblr for all the fabulous randomness in my life!
YouTube: See hilarious videos of our family!
Inspired Grace: my charity group! Our mission is to provide words of encouragement, support, and hope to those who are in need. We send cards to those who need positivity.

Don't forget! You can now connect with me on Google Friend Connect! I'll be sending out weekly emails about everything I'm involved in.

My 3 Days At The "Gangster Squad" Set

The past 3 nights, I've been at the set of Gangster Squad in Bellflower. I stumbled upon it by chance on Tuesday, on my way to work! I asked the guards what was filming, they told me, I googled it & said "Holy cow! This is BIG!" I let my mom know, who naturally wanted to go over & check it out. And boy did we have adventures!

The first day we got to walk around up front at look at the "storefronts" up close. Some of them are actual businesses, but the building for Slapsy Maxie's has been vacant for a long time. (Can you tell my mom's excited LOL)

And naturally KnitWit wanted to get in on the adventures!

Tuesday night, it was only me, Mom, and three of ladies. We actually got to chat with Emma Stone, and we met and got autographs from Ryan Gosling! We saw Sean Penn lots of times, but he never stopped, just walked by and waved. But RYAN GOSLING! He walked up, and my first thought was "oh wow he really IS that cute!" And my second thought was "Wow he's tall!" He's a full head taller than me LOL He came up, shook all of our hands, thanked all of us for coming out, and was just the nicest person ever. You could tell he really appreciates his fans. He laughed when we said we were coming to the big filming night on Thursday to test out Mom's new heart.

Wednesday night, there were a whopping 8 of us. No autographs that night, though we did randomly see David Spade! He was also incredibly nice and sweet.

On Wednesday, the Long Beach Press Telegram posted about the filming on Thursday night. We knew it was going to be PACKED, and sure enough when we arrived at 630pm there were hundreds of people there! All of us who had been all week decided to come back later, and we met up around 10pm.

On this night we actually got to see them film. The other nights were interior scenes, so we didn't see much, except for the costumes. Oh, the costumes! They were gorgeous! My mom was drooling over them LOL And see the kid with the shoeshine box? That's Ryan next to him.

The ONLY downside to the past few nights was that I got trapped last night! We went down to see if we could spot the actors at lunch, and they shut down the sidewalk. I couldn't get to my car! An hour later, a PA escorted me through the set to my car, finally LOL

Overall, it was a crazy and fun week! We might be going back tonight, just for a few more pictures. If so, I'll post those tomorrow. I've been sitting on those autograph pics since Tuesday, because we didn't want the set mobbed! But the cat's out of the bag! If you go tonight, dress warm! Every night at midnight, it drops like 10 degrees. We were freezing!

Happy celeb watching!

1 Year Ago, My Mom Died & Lived

One year ago today, at this very moment, I was sitting in a waiting room with my Uncle Mike. My mom was lying on an operating room table, technically dead. She was having double bypass and valve replacement surgery.

One minute I was preparing myself for the worst. The next minute I was convincing myself for the best. My mom and I have a very close relationship. It was just us my whole life. She's my mommy, my rock, my support, my best friend, my everything. Two days earlier, she had gone in for an angiogram, which was supposed to give us a clearer picture on whether her surgery would be in 3 months, or 6 months. That doctor told us he was admitting her immediately and it was a miracle she was alive.

So on the day of her surgery, I was there early to comfort her before she went in. On that day, I had to be the "mom". We sat there for 4 hours, and got the phone call that she made it. We got to see her an hour after that, but I almost wished I hadn't. She looked dead. She was white. I held her hand, stroked her hair, kissed her cheeks. I don't know if she was aware of my presence on any level. She didn't wake up til 3am that night, and I stayed up until her nurse called me and told me that.

When I saw her the next day, she was still groggy. Her and pain meds don't mix :-) She doesn't even take Tylenol! But every day she got stronger, sat up longer, and walked a little farther. 5 days post surgery, she came home. Once she was home, she continued getting even stronger.

My mom is amazing. She's strong, supportive, and just a fighter. She amazes me every day. She's a miracle, just like I was a miracle baby. She was unable to have kids, but I came along 16 years later. And 32 years after that, she became my miracle.

A year may seem like an eternity, or a minute. But I've learned to not take any second for granted. Every second of your life is a miracle.

Do me a favor. Kiss your loved ones today. Tell them you're grateful for them, that you love them. Don't lose a second with them.

Public Speaking: One Of My Biggest Loves & Fears

I received this prompt from Mama Katt's Writer's Workshop.

I absolutely love speaking to individuals & groups about my passion for charity, & even crafts. However, my massive fear of public speaking coupled with my OCD has made it a huge challenge. Whether I'm speaking to a group of children about charity work or a celebrity about The IndiExhibit, my stomach does flips every time. The most terrifying, & rewarding, speech was for the Long Beach Giving Project.

I received an email that I was chosen as a semi-finalist, which brought a huge sense of accomplishment & elation. Then I realized I works have to give a 2 minute speech. Which brought a huge wave of nausea.

My submitted idea was two parts: first, to donate baby clothes to the Food Pantry & Clothes Closet at my church, Lakewood First United Methodist; & second, to make & donate fleece blankets to Miller Children's Hospital as part of Layers Of Love.

I wrote my speech. Then rewrote it four more times. And then I wrote an outline.

Then big night came, & my mom & oldest son Michael accompanied me. I take Michael with me to every charity event I can. He is starting to become more interested in volunteerism, & I want to foster that sense of giving as much as possible. I could barely enjoy the dinner, I was so nervous! I spent all evening reading my speech over & over.

When my name was called, I honestly thought I was going to faint. I walked onto the stage on autopilot. When I got up there, my speech went out the window. I covered all the points in my outline, but my heart took over. My passion for charity shined that night.

All semifinalists were called onstage. When my name was called, I nearly fell over once again. Justin Rudd, the amazing coordinator, had collected four large bags of clothes for the Clothes Closet! In addition, ALL of the semifinalists received a $200 minigrant for their charities.

I was beyond scared. I was convinced I couldn't get up there & do my speech. I was petrified that I would mess up my speech. However, once I was up there, my heart just took over. My passion, my soul, my heart just shown through. I believed in my idea, & I believed in my charity work. And that's the key. Believing in you, & your topic. If you do that, your words will shine. And so will you.

Swoop's World Radio Interview

On October 5, I had the complete honor of being a guest on Swoop's World, an online radio show based out of Long Beach. These guys have been such amazing supporters and fans of my work, and this was my second appearance on the show. Once again, I had a great time. We chatted about Brianne's Basics, The IndiExhibit, my charity work, and even Glee!

You can listen to the archived broadcast here: http://www.swoopsworld.com/2011/heather-nelson-and-acidic-on-late-night/

And watch the video here! http://www.stickam.com/viewMedia.do?mId=192251469

Listen To Me On Swoop's World 10/5

This Wednesday, October 5, I will a guest on Swoop's World, an awesome Long Beach based radio show! You can listen online, chat, or call in!

I'll be discussing my charity craft businesses Brianne's Basics, my involvement with The IndiExhibit, & my charity work! http://www.swoopsworld.com/2011/heather-nelson-and-acidic-on-late-night/
The show will be on at 8pm PST/ 11pm EST.

They broadcast on multiple stations and there are several ways to listen live to the show.
http://bit.ly/swoopslive is the direct link to our listen live page on our website. This player has the best sound quality. http://bit.ly/swooptv and http://bit.ly/watchsw are two places to watch us when we are using our live video stream.

Swoop's World is broadcast live and then the show will be archived online and available for download from iTunes.

The show will be archived on their site http://www.swoopsworld.com, http://www.blogtalkradio.com/swoopsworld, iTunes, and various podcast directories.
Our show also streams live on the iPhone using the Talk Stream Live iPhone app http://bit.ly/fMiCEI or the Yourmuze.fm app http://bit.ly/m3jERg , which works with all smartphones, and Norbex Radio Companion app for Android or BlackBerry http://www.nobexrc.com/Stations.aspx

Some apps list by station name while others list show name. If you're using the Norbex or Yourmuze apps we are listed as TalkStory Radio Network. On The Talk Stream Live app we are listed as Swoop's World.

All episodes can be downloaded from iTunes free of charge http://bit.ly/dTpVN9

PS. Be sure to like their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/swoopsworld and friend them too https://www.facebook.com/swoop.swoopsworld