School Fashion: April 2012

Happy birthday, Hammer!

Guess who this handsome guy is? His name is Hammer, and he's the reason LBR exists!! Auntie Sharon, LBR's fearless Pack Leader, adopted him when he was a little bitty puppy. He was the very first boxer she'd ever had, and because of him she fell in love with the breed and started to get active in boxer rescue. That led to her founding Legacy Boxer Rescue and saving hundreds of dogs, including yours truly!

And guess what?? Hammer turned 10 years old this weekend!

All of us at the Legacy Chronicles would like to wish the Hammster a very, very happy birthday, and our biggest, most sincere thanks for inspiring Auntie Sharon to found LBR. We love you!!

And just because she's pretty too, here's Hammer's sissy Ginger wishing him a very happy birthday -- and hoping he'll share his pupcake!

Mother's Day Gifts for the Fitness Mom

As you know, I am a fitness mom. I am a work in progress and can always use help in my quest to be in the best physical condition of my life. What you may not know is that for Mother's Day, I'd love fitness products and I honestly can say that a great number of wonderful gifts for me (and Moms like me who love fitness) can be found at Walmart! Don't believe me? Well, check it out with your own eyes as I give you a tour of the Walmart fitness aisle!

Disclosure: I am a Walmart mom and have received compensation for this post. As always all opinions are my own.

Olive Oil - so many uses!

I have long been a fan of Olive Oil. I generally use Extra Virgin Olive oil for my cooking, sometimes for dipping bread, but rarely for some of the other things I use it for. I make a simple salad dressing using extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar that is delicious and is pretty much the only salad dressing I ever use.

I use olive oil spray for cooking things like muffins. If you didn't know, olive oil is one of the "good fats" that is recommended in a heathy diet. I like the spray because I can use just a little and keep my baked goods from sticking.

You may be wondering - what can you use olive oil for besides cooking? Or as a dressing?

Oh my friend, olive oil is like magic! I use Olive oil as a moisturizer for my hair. Because EVO is expensive, I just use regular olive oil for my locs. I have extremely dry hair and a deep oil treatment with olive oil is perfect for it! I also am a fan of olive oil as a body moisturizer. If you haven't guessed, I have dry skin too. Although my preference is not to go around smelling like olive oil, I do add a few essential oils and olive oil to my bath to moisturize my skin. I can absolutely tell the difference!

Olive oil truly is my go to oil and if you aren't already a fan, try it. I know that you will love it too!

Disclosure: I am a Walmart Mom and was provided with compensation and/or product for this post. As usual, all opinions are my own.

Fighting Hunger Together

In May 2010, Walmart committed to $2 Billion to fight hunger in the United States through 2015. As part of this commitment, Walmart is engaging its employees and customers in the fight too. In 2010, I had the opportunity to work with Walmart volunteers at a foodbank in Washington, DC. Not only did this experience change me personally as I learned about the need for food by families in the United States, it also compelled me to support the local food bank in my community by donating food. Walmart is currently asking you to vote for communities you want to support in the fight against hunger. The community with the most votes will win $1 Million to fight hunger locally. Even if your community is not one of the 200 represented please vote, you can truly make a difference! Even if the community you support with your vote does not win, the next 20 with the highest number of votes will receive $50,000 to combat hunger locally! To vote simply like the Walmart Facebook page and launch the app That is it! Simple. Here is what the screen will look like.

You can vote daily until the end of this month. Let's fight hunger together!

Disclosure: I am a Walmart mom and have been compensated to spread the word about this campaign. As usual all opinions are 100% my own

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Dog of the Day: Alanna

Hey everybody, it's time for another Dog of the Day! And this time I have an extra special one for you. Say hello to ALANNA!

Isn't she just the prettiest thing? I love her to pieces. She's so sweet, and SUCH a good girl at our pet fairs. She has about a million foster brothers and sisters, and she gets along with them all!

Alanna is about 18 months old, and a petite little flashy fawn. She loves to curl up with her peoples or play with other dogs. She's good with kids, and she even ignores the kitty she lives with. Wow! She's a champion master snuggler, too.

Alanna just loooooves to play with her toys. And, well, we're not putting her on the show any time soon, but let's just say that there's a little "hoarding" involved! She tells me she just likes to make sure they're properly taken care of and doesn't trust those other dogs she lives with to treat them right.

Now, there's one thing about Alanna you probably didn't notice in all the earlier pictures. Well, she only has three legs! She came to LBR with a very badly broken leg, and after our vets worked on it, they said that they couldn't fix it and it would be better to just take the whole thing off instead. Yikes! I'd be so super scared if that happened to me, but Alanna just shrugged and said, "Whatever you say, Doc!" I know now that she wasn't scared because she knew she was still going to be an amazingly pawsome boxer even with only three legs. She runs and jumps and plays just like everyone else.

Wow, look at her go! She's a grreat boxer baby, and she wants a family of her own to love and snuggle. If you're interested, go check out her bio page at savetheboxers.com today. And she's even going to be at our Pet Fair tomorrow, so you can meet her yourself! Once you do, I know you'll love her just as much as her foster parents do. So fill out your application today and say you want an ALANNA to love!

Disney Social Media Moms 2012

If you have been watching my updates on facebook and/or twitter you already know that I am visiting Disney. I am so excited because the stars finally aligned and I am able to attend the Disney Social Media Moms Conference! For the past few years I've been unable to attend because of scheduling, money or both! But I'm here now with my family - Mom, Aunt Bev and Mekhi and so far we are having a ball!

I packed diligently last night and laid out my travel wear - my personalized Mickey ears, my Hanes sleeveless tee and a pair of comfy yoga pants. I drove this time around (in great time) so I needed to be as comfortable as possible!

We were up early to hit the road with smiles on our faces!

I packed for my son (sorry for the upside down photo) and of course he has his Mickey ears, Hanes boxer briefs, Hanes lanyard with a pin, and his personalized Hanes tee that we made on our visit to Disney last year with the Hanes comfort crew.

We were up early in the morning to hit the road with smiles on our faces!

We arrived at Disney's Yacht Club resort 6 hours and 15 minutes later. I stopped once for gas and kept things moving!

The rooms are nautical themed and so beautiful! I enjoyed pointing out all of the hidden Mickey's to Mekhi and we were warmly greeted by Beverly, the cast member in charge of keeping our room neat. She is so awesome and made a special elephant from towels for my son when we arrived!

Although I *thought* I'd get some rest after the drive, I decided to take Mekhi to the pool and we only explored one of the several on property. He loved every minute. Especially the sand bar smack dab in the middle!

There is more to share but I am off to bed. I'll post more photos later, but I must say that our evening ended with a Swashbuckling good time at the Pirate Party!

A thankless job

Momma came home early. I was trying to sort for recyclables, but she didn't understand. See if I ever help her do chores again!

Fight Hunger by purchasing products you love! Video post

Walmart has partnered with Kraft, General Mills, Kellogg's and Con Agra in the Fighting Hunger Together campaign. By purchased specially marked products and inputing codes on the specified websites, you will be donated food to your local food banks! This is easy as pie and a very simple way for us all to make a difference! Check out my video to see what some of the product labeling looks like. We can do this!

Disclosure: I am a Walmart mom and have been compensated for helping to spread the word about the Fighting Hunger campaign.

Sad news

I'm knocking my regularly scheduled post to tomorrow so I can bring you some very sad news. You may remember my post about LBR foster Boz, who was found without a tongue.We never did learn how it happened, but I don't think he was born with it because he was struggling really hard in his foster home. He could eat, but he had a very hard time drinking and couldn't stay hydrated or cool. Finally, yesterday, his foster parents and LBR management made the very difficult decision to help Boz to the Rainbow Bridge.

We'll miss you so much, Boz, but I'm not sad for you. Boxers are meant to give giant face-slurping kisses, clean up all those crumbs our humans drop, and lick peanut butter out of Kongs. You weren't able to do any of that, and I know it made you so very sad and confused. Now you're free and whole again, and you can do everything a boxer is supposed to. I'm so sorry we couldn't help you here on Earth, but you'll always be part of the Legacy family. We love you, Boz!

What?

"Sorry, was this your chair? Not anymore..."

LBR foster April May has made herself at home in her new foster home. Ha hah, good girl, April!

Earth Day Tips and #CoxConserves

Tomorrow is Earth Day, a day to raise awareness about doing our part to conserve Mother Earth - not only for us but for future generations. As a general rule, I try to do small things on a daily basis that over the long term will have a positive impact. I want to share with you five easy things that you can do too:

1. Turn off the water when brushing your teeth! This simple step can save up to
2. Use cruise control on your car (conserves gas, I love this one. I just started doing it after owning my car for 4 years!)
3. Reuse take out containers. I do this consistently.
4. Utilize reusable bags for grocery and all of your other shopping. Keep them in your car.
5. Turn off the lights when you are not in a room.

Five simple tips that you can implement today! You can find more tips from Cox Communications on their social media pages, including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

Last week I had the opportunity to learn more about the conservation efforts of Cox Communications at the Cox Blogger luncheon.

Launched in 2007, Cox Conserves is the company's national sustainability program that is designed to reduce Cox Enterprises' carbon footprint by 20 percent. Cox Conserves seeks to reduce Cox Enterprises' energy consumption by embracing alternative energy, conserving natural resources and inspiring eco-friendly behavior. The program engages each of the company's major subsidiaries (Cox Communications, Manheim, Cox Media Group and AutoTrader.com) and encourages Cox Enterprises' more than 50,000 employees and their families to engage in eco-friendly practices. For more information, visit: http://www.coxconserves.com/

Here is a round-up of tweets from the luncheon.

And here is an infographic highlighting the work of Cox Conserves.

This is a sponsored post, all opinions are my own.