Author: areliscintron
It’s not too late to join a @RelayForLife event in your community. Help end cancer once and for all. Sign up today! http://t.co/Q1IpGHERIK
— American Cancer Soc (@AmericanCancer) May 27, 2014
This year I got to attend the 16th Birthday of Nick Lucas. Nick is Daniel’s little cousin. Family and friends gathered together for this milestone in this young man’s life. When he blew out the candles on his cake we were all a little teary eyed. But this was no ordinary birthday party. The happy tears that dampened our eye that night reminded us of the miracle that life truly is. Nick was diagnosed with Stage 4 Cancer in 2009.
Today Nick’s mom shares their story with us:
Hello Friends,
I am reaching out to you for your treasured and respected support. Our son was diagnosed with two forms of Leukemia on September 14th, 2009. He underwent a bone marrow transplant in Boston on February 5th, 2010. As a family we knew we had to show Nick that not only his family supported him but the community at large was giving him support, motivation, drive, and most importantly – hope. We joined the American Cancer Society Relay For Life of Monroe & Trumbull in June 2010. This is where Nicolas took his first lap around the track as a cancer survivor with numerous other survivors. He celebrated, remembered, and fought back with so many other community members! Nicolas was on daily chemo at the time and continued to be on chemo for two years. In the year 2000, the drug Gleevac was introduced for CML patients. My son was put on that drug and it is what got him to remission. Getting Nicolas into remission was the key to his bone marrow transplant success. It is why we as TEAM NICK continue to fight and will continue our fight when we relay every year. This year’s Relay event takes place June 6 to June 7, 2014 at Trumbull High School.
We are reaching out to you to expand our support system to make a difference in our fight against cancer, not only for Nicolas – but for every child with cancer and every adult with cancer. Any dollar amount will get us to our goal of $5000.00. We have big dreams as a team to continue our fight. We would love your help in order to make this dream a reality for our survivors.
Again thank you from my family and TEAM NICK!
–Seleste, Joao and Nicolas Lucas
This year I am joining Team Nick raise money for the Relay for Life Event at Trumbull High School on June 6th. I had the opportunity to attend last year’s relay and it was an experience and a half. As I was making a lap around the school cafeteria, I felt like my grandfather was walking with me. He passed away in 1995 from Lung Cancer. I recently had a scare with Breast Cancer myself. Cancer is real but we can fight against it.
I
f you’re able and willing please consider making a donation to Team Nick by going here or clicking the donate button.
For more information about the American Cancer Society, please visit their website, Like their Facebook Page and follow them on Twitter or Google Plus. For more information about cancer go here. For more information on Relay for Life events and how to donate go here.
Are you a survivor? Did you just get the news? Has someone close to you been touched by cancer? Have you participated in a charity event to honor yourself or a loved one? Share with us below!
Until then,
When was the last time you had a Moms’ Night Out? If you’re looking for a movie that anyone can identify with then you’re in luck. Moms’ Night Out has a cast of character’s that the entire family can relate to! Have you seen it yet? No? Keep reading to see my thoughts in this movie review!
I’m not a real zombie! I swear! It’s just been a rough couple of months! No really. No one bit me that was zombie-esque. Although, that would explain a lot. You see what had happened was . . .
I am beyond proud of my future husband! Not only did Daniel figure out how to get fit for our wedding but he’s raising money for charity too! Did you ever think of doing a race, a competition or an event to get fit for your wedding? I have heard of
Here ye Here ye: I can happily say that most of the bigger expenses for our wedding have been handled! YAY As of late, Daniel and I have been visiting DIY Wedding Ideas to save us money on our overall wedding budget. I can’t believe our wedding is a little over 5 months away! Actually its 165 Days, 5 hours and 3 minutes until I skip down the aisle, but who’s counting. Have you tried any DIY projects to save money?
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The Cost of Getting Married.
Do you know what the cost is of getting married? Daniel and I had an idea. To aid us on our wedding planning we talked to friends before setting up a rough budget. We hoped to get tips for shopping for vendors and the smaller ticket items for our big day. We found that it really helped knowing who was going to pay for what up front! Do you know who’s paying for your wedding?
You’re not going to believe what the average cost of getting married is!
Gather information from friends and family.
One of the first things we did as we began envisioning our wedding was to ask how much other’s paid. Who do you know that just got married? The more recent, the fresher the numbers are in their mind. The easier it will also be for them to find contact information. Tip: Carry around a small notebook to jot all these conversations down because once you walk away from them you won’t remember. Trust!
Looking at how much couples spent on venues, food, flowers, and favors helped us:
- Figure out where a bulk of our money would be spent based on feedback, food
- Get an average cost of what we might expect when we started looking for vendors.
- Get tips on how to save on different components of the wedding day
- To create certain looks that we liked at their wedding and would like to duplicate at ours.
- Figure out where to shop and where NOT to shop. Your friends and family just went through the process and they will gladly share with you the vendors they loved, why they went with the ones they did and why they didn’t go with others.
Use the information you gather to set up a rough budget.
Using the information we gathered from friends and family we were able to throw numbers into an excel sheet for various categories. It helped when we asked around for prices on photographers to see how much other’s had paid. We kept asking for quotes until we found a happy medium. Tip: If a vendor is way out of your price range, tell them. They might create a custom package for you in your budget. OR They could refer you to someone they know who might fit your budget better. It says a lot about a vendor if they can refer you to others if they are not a good fit. Be prepared to get tons of emails. You’ll find that some vendors will send you short answers to your questions and never bother you again. While other vendors can send you a dozen emails asking if you’re interested if you haven’t responded back. A simple thanks, I’ll get back to you, if they are a contender, goes a long way.
What is your money getting you? If your package price quote is a lot lower than you were expecting why is that? Are they included tax and gratuity? Can the package be tailored if what you want isn’t included? Does the vendor do multiple services? When we researched Photo Booths, we saw that many companies gave better pricing when you booked their DJ or added Uplighting to create a package. We had a DJ booked already, so we inquired about how much it would cost with the Photo booth and Uplighting together. Separately both were out of our budget, but when we asked for a package deal it became a definite option. If you don’t see custom packages on their site, ask! The answer is always no, until you ask!
What is your absolute max you want to spend?
Knowing how much we didn’t want to pay total helped in our overall selection of vendors. From our research we knew food would be a good chunk of our budget. No one likes going to a wedding where the food sucks. If the food sucks people will not eat. If people do not eat they will not dance because they are hungry. If they do not dance they will leave early. If they leave early they will tell everyone how much your wedding sucked because there was nothing to eat. Don’t skimp on the food.
After deciding on our max budget and seeing how much we had begun spending for the venue, caterer and music, we revisited our vision board. We began crossing off the things we wanted but didn’t really need. Our masquerade balled theme was reevaluated after estimating the cost of masks for our guests. We decided that our day would still be great without it. Be flexible when planning your wedding to avoid spending money you don’t have!
When one of our friends told us they spent over $30,000 we couldn’t believe it.
Tip: If you haven’t already, figure out who’s paying for what before you start contacting vendors. Some vendors will require you to sign a contract to lock in your date. This may include leaving a deposit or the entire fee.
Did you stay within budget? Did you get tips from friends and family members? What can you add to help those who are planning a wedding?
Until then,