An infomercial, brain tumor style

I love shopping, and tis the season for shopping.  Well, and family and love and celebrating holidays and recognizing what we have to be thankful for, but let's put all that aside for the moment.  ;)  I recently stumbled across a couple wonderful things for sale whose proceeds (or a portion of proceeds) go towards brain tumor and brain cancer research and support.  Plus, they're items that you'd actually want to buy!  I can't think of much I'd rather spend my money on.  (Well, maybe a trip around the world, but let's start slowly.)

Bracelets For A Cause by EvelynJay on Etsy sells really beautiful beaded leather bracelets, and a portion of the proceeds are donated to the National Brain Tumor Society.  You know, the organization that my team helped raise over $8,500 for earlier this year?  I'd love to help them out even a little bit more.  Plus you get a super cute bracelet!  She even takes special orders.

Triple-wrap loveliness

Darren Tieste, photographer extraordinaire, very recently published a coffee table book of celebrity photography called The Beauty Book for Brain Cancer.  It is over 300 pages of photos he's taken of some little-known celebrities like Justin Timberlake, Jessica Alba, Ryan Phillippe, and (my personal favorite) Jojo.  They're no big deal.  Proceeds from this book go to brain cancer organizations Sydney Neuro-Oncology Group (SNOG) and Headrush.

She kind of looks like Badass Brain Tumor-Kicking Barbie, don't you think?

I have the triple-wrap gray and silver bracelet and this book on my wish list this year, and will be making purchases shortly.  In all seriousness, if you have someone on your list to buy for that would like one of these products, please consider making a purchase.  Your money will go even farther than at the shopping mall!

Sara, What and Huh?

Some of my loyal readers (ha!) out there know what the title of my blog is referencing, and other people just look at me with a confused face when I mention the name or if they check it out for the first time.  So, those of you NOT in the know, allow me to explain.

When I was in elementary school, one of the main required readings was a book called "Sarah, Plain and Tall" by Patricia MacLachlan.  It is a "novel is set in the western United States during the late 19th century.  Jacob Witting, a widowed farmer who is still saddened by the death of his wife during childbirth several years earlier finds that the task of taking care of his farm and two children, Anna and Caleb, is too difficult to handle alone.  He writes an ad in the newspaper for a mail-order bride. Sarah, from Maine, answers his ad and travels out to become his wife."  (Thanks, Wikipedia.)

Like the Harry Potter of 1986... NOT

The book was adapted into a made-for-TV movie, starring the lovely Glenn Close as Sarah.  It also starred Christopher Walken as Jacob, which actually kind of makes me want to rewatch the film again...  But anyway...

Truth be told, I did NOT like the book OR the movie.  The book was award-winning though!  And who doesn't like movies with Christopher Walken?!  Well friends, I have always been very tall, the tallest in my class.  So with the name Sara (3rd graders don't differentiate between Sarah and Sara, those amateurs) and being VERY tall, I totally got "Sara, Plain and Tall" all the time from my classmates.  And NO girl likes to be called plain.  So was the book good?  Probably.  The movie heart-warming?  Probably.  But I was anti.

For people my age though, "Sarah, Plain and Tall" is a book/movie that we remember.  So when I was thinking about a name for this blog, I wanted to play off of the name, since I thought it was quite recognizable and clever, and putting "brain" just sort of fit.  So if you want to kick it like in 3rd grade, read/watch on the Hallmark Channel to your heart's content.  And no, mail-order bride-ing it is NOT in my future.  (Yet.)