Boardwalk Fresh Burgers and Fries is coming to Red Bank!  Be there this weekend or be square!  Check out what it's all about!

This blog was also published via Patch Media at the above links.

PRESS RELEASE: Middletown, NJ (November 21st, 2012) – On Sunday, December 2nd, 2012 starting at 5:00 p.m. the Middletown Arts Center (MAC), located on 36 Church Street in Middletown, NJ, will host its “Holiday Extravaganza”. The day’s FREE art activities and entertainment will be enjoyed by hundreds of local families, and features New Jersey’s only TubaChristmas performance, tree lighting, visit from Santa, carols, children’s crafts, and a 50/50 raffle. Holiday refreshments will be provided by the American Antiques Company. Funded and managed by the Middletown Township Cultural and Arts Council, a volunteer non-profit
organization established in 2001 to promote the arts throughout Middletown, the Middletown Arts Center offers affordable classes and free programming and events to more than 40,000 visitors annually.

The Holiday Extravaganza will begin at 5:00 p.m. with caroling and Middletown’s traditional tree lighting on the MAC grounds. During the tree lighting, Santa will arrive by fire truck, and then proceed to his secret workshop in the MAC where he will pose for pictures with the children. Parents are requested to bring their own camera, as a photographer will not be present to take photos. At 6:00 p.m., TubaChristmas, an exciting ensemble of tuba and euphonium players from across the community, will perform traditional holiday songs in the MAC theatre. The MAC’s TubaChristmas performance, conducted by Joseph Lawlor, is New Jersey’s only TubaChristmas event and one of over 200 concerts across the country. The event is a tribute to the late artist/teacher William J. Bell, born on Christmas Day 1902. Tuba and euphonium players of all ages are invited to perform in TubaChristmas. Contact Maggie O’Brien at 732-706-4100 for more information. Guests will also enjoy a tap performance by Miss Deena and the MACettes in the theatre at 6:30 p.m.

“The Middletown Arts Center is honored to host Middletown’s annual “Holiday Extravaganza”. The event has become a holiday tradition for hundreds of local families. Meet our talented instructors and enjoy an exciting day of free art activities and entertainment,” said Maggie O’Brien, Executive Director.

Tickets to the Middletown Arts Center’s 50/50 raffle fundraiser will be on sale for $5 each throughout the evening. Jolly Santa himself will pull the winning ticket at the end of the evening.  Visit
www.middletownarts.org or call 732-706-4100 for more information.

About the Middletown Arts Center The Middletown Arts Center (MAC) is an award winning, state-of-the-art facility run by the nonprofit Middletown Township Cultural and Arts Council and dedicated to bringing quality arts programming and events to Middletown and surrounding communities. The MAC offers enrichment programs and entertainment for all ages and abilities. Visit www.middletownarts.org for more information. The MAC can also be found on Facebook at Middletown Arts Center and Twitter @MiddletownArts.

It’s back for its annual appearance by popular demand!  Looking for a lusciously delicious body butter?  Want to add another lip gloss to your collection? If you can’t get enough glam gorgeousness, check out 2012’s Beauty’s Best recommended by The Lady in Red.

I love trying new cosmetics.  Admittedly, I have a lip gloss addiction and own just too many to count.  But you know… you need that pink sparkly one, and then the less pink one over there without the sparkles, and what if you have a red moment?  Sometimes I feel more magenta, or I’m in a neutral mood.  This one smells like peppermint; that one tastes like strawberry.  While I’d like a new sports car to match my every mood and outfit, make-up is much more affordable.

Last year I combed through the shelves of Sephora and a few other stores, and I came up with a list of my beauty favorites in 2011.  It was a lot of fun. This year, I thought I’d do it all over again. The encore was partially inspired because my favorite eyeliner - tarte EmphasEYES™ Aqua-Gel Eyeliner (in both brown and black) was discontinued!  How dare they!  So, I was on a quest for a replacement product – and I found one – but we’ll get to that in a minute. 

That said, beauty boxes became all the rage this year, and I’ve tried many for months.  It’s so cool to get something in the mail that isn’t a bill and makes you beautiful!  I finally settled on my favorite – ipsy’s glam bag for $10 a month delivers quality color cosmetics to my door time after time.  Some products in the box are full-size, and some are sample size; brand names; and well-worth every penny. 

I’m not one to really go gaga over travel size shampoos and pouches of skin cream.  If I’m going to take the time to try a product, I want to really see it make a difference right away, introduce me to a new color or quality brand, and last long enough for me to try it more than once.  I love to experiment with new colors and trends, too.  Beyond the beauty box blog, I also tried Allure magazine’s Beauty Bar Sample Society, The Look Bag, and Beauty Army, but they just didn’t blow me away like ipsy does.  I’m open to trying new box brands; but if you are new to the beauty box world, give ipsy a go first, and I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

If you know me, I never go by what magazines recommend or celebs say when they pick their products.  There are too many advertising dollars backing their brands.  Some of these products I discovered on my own (without any compensation from companies) were included in beauty boxes; and others I found while skimming catalogues or browsing stores.  No one twisted my arm to tout these.  I just let temptation lead my way and lucked out with these finds.

So, without further ado, here are my favorite fashionable finds for pampering, colorizing, and beautifying yourself in 2012.

I’m a sucker for a great body butter.  There’s one major qualification, though – it can’t sting my legs after I shave them.  If it does, it promptly hits the trash.  I’m not into long-lasting burning and stinging.  I’m also a stickler when it comes to its scent.  It can’t conflict with my perfume, and must be delicious enough to eat if you could.  My fussbudget rant is not over.  It also has to moisturize my skin thoroughly enough where that feeling lasts all day.  But!  It can’t be greasy! That said, I drift towards body creams on the thicker side, that might be a bit more costly, but to me are worth the decadence.  My favorite is LaLicious Coconut Cream Body Butter.  It smells like a real coconut cream pie – or a day at the beach – depending on your mindset.  (I can’t stand those artificial scents that try to be something they’re not.  Most vanilla scents are the worst offenders, I feel. Blech!)  Anyway, LaLicious Coconut Cream Body Butter goes on thick and rich, and absorbs without rubbing it into your skin for five hours.  It smells so good you might want to eat the tub for twenty-five dollars, but I don’t advise it! (Hah!)  Whether you are into make-up or not, you’ll love this luxury.

Why you will like it:

• You will want to eat it – it smells THAT good.
• Anyone who gets close enough to you to smell it will want to lick you.  (Well, that can be good or bad, I suppose, depending on who it is! *hee hee*)
• Your skin stays moisturized all day
• Doesn’t sting your legs after shaving

Next….

Chanel Illusion D’Ombre long wear luminous eyeshadow (cream-to-powder formula) in shade 83 – Illusoire  sells for $36 -  but is such a go-to color with the perfect blendable formula, it’s worth every penny.  I saw this on a vlog.  The gal sporting the color blended it effortlessly on her lids and didn’t even need other contouring and contrasting colors to accentuate how beautiful this eye shadow really is.  The shade is a mix of grey, charcoal, smoky purple and a touch of brown.  If you wear it with complementary colors, you can make it work with neutrals, violets, browns, or blacks.  It has a light, whipped texture that is not powdery, yet not puddly.  I can’t compare it to anything I’ve felt before.  Let’s just say it’s a space age formula that is a bit spongy when you pat your fingertip on it.

Illusoire is very blendable with your finger tips, and for more precise application it comes with a small eyeliner brush, which you can use for contouring the shape of your eyes or lining your lids.  There’s a bit of sparkle to this shade, but not too much mica, so you can definitely sport this for a daytime look. I like using it as an accent color in the outer corner of my eye, blending in towards the center; but it looks equally stunning on the eyelid when you only want to apply one color to add some drama and dimension.

Why you will like it:

• It doesn’t gunk up when you apply it over (or with) other powder eye shadows.
• It’s not too sparkly, and you won’t look like a disco ball when you leave the house.
• It goes with everything – from charcoal, neutral, brown, to violet color collections.
• Being a high-end brand like Chanel, it’s hypoallergenic and made of quality stuff.  Don’t worry about irritated eyes.
• It smudges when and where you want it to, then dries to a non-budgeable finish.

be a bombshell eyeliner in onyx – is the bomb!  I got this in a beauty box and although it’s not a gel liner nor a replacement for my favorite tarte discontinued eyeliners, there’s a place in my cosmetics arsenal for this cool “crayon”.  Well, it’s not a crayon – I’d like to call it an eye marker.  It glides on somewhat like a marker, and has a firm-but-thin graduated tip so you can finally get those winged-out cat eyes that you’ve been wanting.  I’ve tried eyeliner brushes, and liquid liners with a brush tip, and smudging crayons, and pencil liners that you sharpen and some that you don’t.  I always wind up drawing the line too thick or too thin, or just wiggly-squiggly and plain wrong.  The tip on this eye liner is thin and allows you to get close to your lash line, and you can backtrack over the line to make it slightly thicker if you wish.  Just pull the outer corner of your eyelid taught when you get to the edge and you’ll be winging out with the pros.  This is also really easy to use on the water line or lower lash line of your eyes, too.

You might be a bit intimidated thinking that this may be like a permanent marker, but it’s surprisingly easy to remove with eye makeup remover, and it lasts all day without smudging.  I tested it.  My eyes tear naturally in the cold winter wind, and there wasn’t a smudge to be seen.  It costs $14 and does not dry out easily if you keep it covered with its cap.  If you are into thicker lines just hold the liner at a slight angle and you’re good to go. This is cool.  Get one.

Why you will like it:

• Glides on smooth
• Gives you the perfect cat’s eye (It’s idiot proof.)
• Doesn’t smudge
• Doesn’t dry out fast.

I saw a picture of Smashbox’s Proof Cream Eye Liner Palette in an email I got from Sephora. It looked cute.  At first glance I couldn’t tell how big it was and expected it to be about as big as most blushes or eye shadow palettes out there.  I was curious about the colors, but at the same time a little afraid.  When I saw that 2 out of the 10 shades were what looked like a light tan and a sparkly silver, I immediately thought that there was no way I’d wear those.  But, I bit the bullet anyway because I was ready to give the other 8 more “normal” looking shades a serious try.  If I like 80% of what’s in a pre-assembled palette I feel I’m doing pretty darn good. 

When this arrived at my house I was pleasantly surprised.  It’s the size of a credit card and about the width of 4 stacked on top of each other.  It’s so teeny it can fit in your pocket or the tiniest clutch.  It wasn’t going to suck up too much room in one of my 5 make-up bags forcing me to part with a product from the past.  So far, it got a thumbs up from me. 

Over about two weeks I was determined to try every color in the kit.  I started out slow with Caviar which is a brown-black – a very safe color, I thought.  It went on as smooth as a gel liner without snagging my skin.  The flat-as-a-pancake (actually flatter than that), thin brush applied the line expertly, and the color was divine.  It was the color of a coffee bean and I liked it!  Then I ventured over to Midnight Brown, Midnight Green, and Midnight Purple as the days went on.  I was a bit scared that the Midnight Purple would go on like a blue – and blues look very scary on me.  (Take my word for it. No, I will not post a picture!)  However, Midnight Purple is a black-violet that is totally wearable and not just your boring basic black! 

Every. Single. Shade. Including the silvery-sparkly Lava, the tan-looking Putty, and the grayish-tan Thunder had depth and dimension and went on darker than it looks to define my eyes. That’s what liners are supposed to do; not wash out your lids and lashes!  This is my favorite product of 2012, hands down.  I hope they keep making it *knock on wood* because as far as lasting liners go, I don’t just WANT this Smashbox wonder, I NEED it.  ‘Nuff said.

Why you will like it:

• Lots of colors all in one place – so you don’t have to go searching for individual eye pencils
• No sharpening required
• Glides on smooth
• Doesn’t smudge
• The colors go on darker than they appear, which means they are very wearable colors that you can walk out of the house sporting and not feel like you are a color experiment gone bad.

Let’s talk about Sephora by OPI Trend Tips Real Lacquer Nail Strips – I tried it in “Feathers”. 

I’m a perfectionist.  I need nice nails.  When I see someone with scraggly nails, bitten or broken, I want to hand them a file.  I go beyond that, though, and love my colors, designs, and patterns on my manicure.  Press-on polish has been around for several years now but I never really got into it.  The color choices were always too limited for my tastes.  But then I saw that Sephora by OPI came out with patterns you could place on your nails. I’m sure there are nail artists out there who are capable of painting animal prints, lace, and amazing designs, but that takes a long time and I certainly can’t do it myself.  Sometimes I want a quick color change, and I want it to look “Wow!”  I also hate the drying time involved between coats. 

I thought these nail strips came in cool colors and combinations. They also had that razzle-dazzle factor.  It was something different.  If you have a nice nail shape, you can press these strips on your nails, smooth them out, and have a really cool design, all done, without enduring drying time.  Regular ol’ nail polish remover takes them off.  I don’t know the chemistry involved in their creation, but something in them allows for the color to last for over a week as well, too, without chipping or peeling.

Why you will like it:

• The patterns are just so cool. You can’t do this with real nail polish.
• No drying time.
• Comes off with regular nail polish remover.
• Lasts longer than regular nail polish.

I will admit that I like Skintimate Signature Scents Moisturizing Shave Gel in Flirty Mango – (sold for between $3 and $4 at most drugstores).  Being and feeling beautiful doesn’t have to break your bank.  Everyone has to shave.  (Ok, if you don’t – you should.)  So you might as well enjoy the scent of the shaving cream you use. 

When I was a teen and started shaving my legs I just soaped them up.  I didn’t know any better and got nicks and scrapes from the razor because it wasn’t gliding over my skin as it should.  Then one day I borrowed a friend’s shaving cream in college and what a difference!  The razor gave me a closer shave and my legs were silky not scathed with scrapes.  Since that day, I use shaving cream and won’t ever go back to the ways of my youth. 

My one problem with shaving creams and gels is that most seem to be scented for men. I don’t like that medicine-y, menthol, or manly fragrance. I want to smell like a girl.  I’ve tried many shave gels and I like ones that give a good lather and also smell delicious.  Flirty Mango is my fave.  I tend to find it stocked in stores more in the summer months, but you can also buy it in bulk at amazon.com if you are determined to get it like me.  Hey, it’s shaving cream – it doesn’t go bad, so why not stock up?


Why you will like it:

• Smells awesome
• Gives you a really smooth shave
• Inexpensive

Whish Three Whishes Body Butter in pomegranate is my choice for a less-thick body butter or just when I want a break from smelling like the beach (or a yummy coconut cream pie).  I like to change my fragrances, so it follows accordingly that I get bored with just one body butter and like to switch it up sometimes.  This is not as thick as the LaLicious Coconut Cream Body Butter I love, but it moisturizes just as well.  It has a barely-there pomegranate scent, so there’s no worries about conflicting with your perfume selection.

Why you will like it:

• It moisturizes all day
• Absorbs quickly into your skin
• Doesn’t sting your legs after shaving
• It has organic and natural ingredients

I saved the best for last.  Smashbox is scoring big with me this year.  Now you know I just had to recommend a luscious lip gloss given my propensity for not passing up a liquid lip color!  If you can only add one to your wardrobe, make it Smashbox’s Lip Enhancing Gloss Sheer Color in Radiant.  It’s a sparkly medium-raspberry color with a cookie scent/taste.  It gives your lips a barely-bitten color (but doesn’t wash them out so they blend into your face).  If you layer this over your lipstick, the subtle sparkles add some dimension to your pinkish pout.  The tube is thin, long, and allows you to grab the wand easily.  It has a traditional “swab-like” applicator.  This gloss is not sticky, but rather smooth.  It’s also not one of those horrid “lip plumpers” that sting the bejesus out of your lips. Yay Smashbox!  I got mine at Sephora. You can, too.

Why you will like it:

• Excellent color suitable for all skin tones
• Adds life to your lips
• Tastes/smells delicious, not nauseating
• Doesn’t sting your lips

Happy shopping!  Don’t let those beauty books and ads fool you!  It’s always best to try before you buy and make your own choices not based on brand!

With the holidays coming up, I thought I’d do a twist on a contest.  Let me explain.  Submit your photo (it has to be your OWN photo), of your pet, your neighbor’s pet, your BFF’s pet, or a random pet doing something “holiday-ish” on The Lady in Red Blog’s Facebook page (or tweet it to her @LadyinRedBlog) for a chance to win a $25 American Express gift card. 

The twist is, for every entry The Lady in Red receives, she will donate $1 to Best Friends Animal Society (up to $100).  Best Friends Animal Society has a no kill philosophy, and they help rescue and take in pets from all over the country.  So let’s get goin’ and give some gifts to them!  The favorite fuzzy one wins. Contest closes for entries December 23, and the winner will be announced after Christmas.

Have fun!  Merry mistletoe!  Maybe you’ve got a cat that climbs chimneys, or a dog that gets dressed up?  They can deck the halls, be cozy and cuddly with Christmas, or make a mess of the menorah.  Just capture them in a holiday situation and send it in.  Tweet it or post it, and they’ll go up in the gallery!

This blog was also published via Patch Media at the above links and went national on The Vine.

Superstorm Sandy.  Hurricane Sandy.  I don’t care what you call it, but this collaboration of storms and weather fronts shared her perspective, jammed it down our throats, and shined some light on the true colors of human nature.

What a bitch.

I live in New Jersey, one of the most greatly affected areas by this natural disaster.

When I saw the eye of the storm, predicted to head towards my town on weather maps, two days prior to its touchdown, I was nervous; and when I’m nervous, I joke.  I add sarcasm to my realm.  I guess it’s a coping mechanism that I have.  Some may relate.  Some make take offense.  However, beneath that façade of humor, I never once lost touch with reality and the seriousness of the situation.  And in this case, the seriousness couldn’t have been painted on my wall with stronger colors.  If God decided to draw a bulls-eye on my town, he couldn’t have drawn the eye of the hurricane with more accuracy.

On Monday night, as I sat on the living room floor with my 7 year-old daughter listening to the winds howl and the sheering of shingles as they flew off my roof in candlelight after losing power, I was scared.  When she  asked, “What’s that?” with wide eyes and a fearful tremble in her voice, I said “That’s just the wind.  It will be ok,”  - and in my mind I knew that the shingles weren’t the only thing ripping off my roof, and Tyvek was flapping in the breeze, I put on my brave face and reassured her that all would be fine. 

Parents do that.  Parents swallow the bad; they swallow the real, and they make everything ok.

I worried.  But worry doesn’t stop a storm.

The next morning I awoke to silent winds but I was afraid to look out my window.  I had no power since the evening before.  The house was cold.  No power = no heat.  I shivered, but my body and brain could not separate if it were because of the chill in the air or because of the chill in my bones.

I turned on my cell phone which I silenced the night before – because I knew that I didn’t have power and the only way I could count on charging my phone was by the grace of my car.  It beeped.  It was a sign of life.  But – I had no phone signal.  And, the battery charge was pretty low.

I got out of bed, in my not-so-designer pj’s, (and definitely not designer heels – shocker!) and told my sleepy-eyed daughter to put on her coat.  We were going for a drive.  Not a scenic drive.  I wanted to charge my phone and get a phone signal.  I wanted to find out what happened around me.  Were roads open?  How badly were they flooded? My mind raced as I thought about who to call first – the insurance company to tell them I needed a roof yesterday, or PSE&G to find out when I could expect to regain power.

I dialed numbers and got dropped calls.  I aimed my phone out my car window in the residual rain and prayed for one extra bar of signal.  I drove a half a block down and saw a gentleman dragging part of a fallen tree from his front yard.  Instinct jumped out of my mouth and asked “Are you ok?”.  He turned to me and said “We don’t have power.”  I replied, “I don’t either.”  He then gave me a dismissive look and said “Good luck” with a sarcastic tone and half slit eyes and then turned away. 

He couldn’t even look me in the eye.

I was speechless.  Here I was, instinctively asking if he needed anything. What did I have to offer?  A woman, with a child – A dry car?  A ½ a bar phone signal?  A few bottles of water?  I had no power. Heck, I didn’t even have a leak-proof roof over my head.  And he, wished me, a mouthful of sarcastic “Good luck”.

If his child needed water, I would have given him a bottle.  If that tree had crashed through his living room window, I was prepared to offer some semblance of shelter.  I didn’t think about it.  I just FELT I would be there for someone in need.

His every-man-for-himself reaction shocked me.  Maybe I’m naïve.  Maybe most people don’t walk forth with their hearts set front and center. Maybe I should have expected his heartless remark.

I drove on past uprooted trees and debris. 

A few doors down a family whom I did not know was standing outside snapping photos of the chimney that separated from their home.  I think my mouth just dropped open in disbelief of what I saw as they stared at a pile of rubble formerly known as their home which now lie on the grass in their yard.   I rolled down my car window as tears rolled down my cheeks and asked if they were ok.  They replied that they were.  Then, despite their misfortune, asked me, a total stranger, if I was ok, too. 

In less than five minutes my faith was restored in humanity.  Here was a family without power.  With a very damaged house – asking me if I was ok.

I guess it takes a natural disaster of catastrophic proportions to display the true colors of people.  Maybe in retrospect it’s better to know who has a softer shade of heart and who sports a hardened hue of hate.

           With downed power lines in the cold, where thousands
           of people shiver as they sleep;

           with houses surrounded by waters that have pervasively
           permeated their premises destroying decades of delight
           with damage along the Jersey Shore;

           how is it possible that the human response can be anything 
           other than heartfelt sympathy and a willingness to help?

The iconic Atlantic City boardwalk – no more. 

Seaside Heights boardwalk of summer memories are days of yesteryear.

Roads are impassible because of high waters and remaining sand.

How can there be those who have no sympathy for the devastation left behind?  They hoard their generator borne power because ? - it costs them nothing to give the gift of kindness to a neighbor and warm a child’s body while she sleeps? 

I hear stories of looters by boat and by foot - preying upon those empty homes belonging to people who have had to evacuate to save their own lives.

There are selfish souls who have generators, too stingy to invite over their fellow man to sleep on their floor so they have some warmth as they sleep.

People starting fights at gas stations.  Dirty looks exchanged over the last pack of batteries in a store.

I’m sickened by these selfish actions.

In times like these, we see the bones of the soul bared.  We are indebted to those generous people who are giving of the little that they have for the many; and we feel the barbs of the arrows shot from the eyes who selfishly satisfy themselves and do not share a smidgen of sympathy for those who would be most grateful to receive even a glimmer of a gift of grace.

The simplest acts of kindness never go forgotten.  They are remembered most fondly and appreciated magnanimously.

Thank you to the woman with the damaged house who looked upon us with her heart.  Thank you to my wonderful neighbors who offered a hot meal and their home for a few hours.  Thank you to the man and his son who brought coolers filled with bags of ice to my doorstep so I could try to preserve my food for a few days.  Thank you to my wonderful friends and even strangers who reached out with concern and compassion near and far, from here to all the way around the world.

You will never be forgotten.

Those who are able to contact The Red Cross or Governor Christie’s office in New Jersey, or any organizations that are trying to coordinate efforts to help all of us in the North East affected by the storm, from my point of view looking at the world from the inside out we need:

·         Volunteers who can haul debris away in trucks

·         Gas powered chain saws

·         Gas for generators, chain saws, and cars

·         Warm, dry clothing in all sizes for men and women

·         Blankets

·         Roofers, carpenters, electricians (especially those who can work with the power companies to restore power)

·         Generators (for heat and light – it’s cold here)

·         Dump trucks for hauling debris, trees, fallen houses

·         Heavy machinery for plowing sand off roads and getting it back on the shoreline

·         Roofing supplies, wood to board up windows and doors, nails, hammers

·         Bottled water

·         Dog food and cat food

·         Non electric can openers

·         Paper plates, cups, plastic cups, disposable utensils, paper towels, toiletries, paper products, garbage bags

·         Clean towels

·         Ice

·         Flashlights, batteries, candles, lighters

·         Heavy duty and regular extension cords and power strips to hook up to generators

·         Non-perishable food and drink that does NOT need to be cooked, refrigerated or opened with can openers.  Think nutritious food – juices, granola bars, pop tarts, non-refrigerated milk, cereals, and fruit in containers

·         Portable hot spots for Wi-Fi

I have sporadic internet access and unfortunately do not have phone numbers or  contact names of organizations in the area who are coordinating rescue and rebuild efforts.  I do not know where to send the supplies right now with a specific address.  If anyone has that information, please post it here in the comments so those who want to help have a point of contact.  The list of what is needed is NOT a complete or comprehensive list of supplies and efforts, but it is what I have noticed is necessary from my personal point of view.   

Additionally, if you cannot get in touch with an official organization coordinating rescue and rebuild efforts, please remember, even if you drive here with one generator and remove one tree from someone’s yard or supply one house with electricity you have made a difference.

Driving around is not allowed in all affected areas yet as of November 1st.  There are downed power lines, debris and trees blocking roads. Flooding  is still in parts. Gas is hard to come by so you need to have a route planned and a few alternate routes as back-up plans and maybe bring extra gas with you.  Bring sleeping bags, tents, and don’t plan on getting hotel rooms. Many hotels do not have power and the ones that do are booked solid.  Be prepared to “rough it”, bring winter coats, blankets, flashlights, and candles.

We may not be able to offer much in return right now, but please know that the thousands of us are thankful from the bottom of our hearts.  There are people with much greater devastation than I have experienced or seen.  So many have lost their homes.  My heart goes out to them and when I’m back on my feet, I’m going to put my money where my mouth is and do what I can to help one person at a time.

(Personally, I will be ok.  I have friends and family that I have been in contact with and we are pooling food, supplies, and opening our homes to each other.  Love to all – The Lady in Red)

https://sandynjrelieffund.org/index.html is the official charitable fund established by The First Lady of New Jersey where all funds donated will go directly to the efforts to help those impacted by Hurricane Sandy.


Need help in the wake of Hurricane Sandy? Looking to help someone? Go here: http://shorehelpers.com/

Want to help the animals affected by Hurricane Sandy by donating pet supplies or money? Go here: http://www.theyonlyliveonce.org/#!home/mainPage