Official Winner's Announcements PLUS . . .ROCK THE VOTE!

**We have two winners!**

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - *'racergirl1313' is our Satya Jewelry Breast Cancer Awareness Giveaway Winner, she will receive the Cherry Quartz 'Om' Bracelet (ARV $48) Congrats!

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - *'Kimberly W' is our Plenty of Dresses Giveaway Winner, she will receive any item of her choice from Plenty of Dresses, (ARV is based on which item she chooses!) Congrats!

Congratulations to our lucky winners!

Ascending Butterfly would like to thank our friends at Satya Jewelry and at Plenty of Dresses for sponsoring such amazing giveaways! We hope to work with you again soon!

Active Giveaways! Hurry Enter NOW!

1) Ends 11/02 (Hurry this one ends at 3pm EST TODAY!) - Dunkin Donuts Flavored Coffee - Review and Giveaway! Enter HERE

2) Ends 11/08 - 3 Baskets for 3 Winners! Review and Giveaway with 1800baskets.com! Enter HERE

3) Coming Soon: Don't forget the Holiday Buying Guide will be launching in November (11/15), and our Book Club returns too!

ROCK THE VOTE:

Today is Election Day! It is very important you get out to the polls and vote today! And for women even more so, we had to fight very hard to get the right to vote, now that we have it, let's be sure to take full advantage by electing the candidates that will truly make changes that will benefit our families! Change is in YOUR hands today!

And while we are all in the voting spirit, please remember to vote for me daily in my NatureMade contest, it's a super easy, one click, no registration, no captcha code, just press the word vote here: http://www.sam-e.com/job/entries/645

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** We post our winner usernames instead of full names to protect privacy

Today's Words of Inspiration - How can I be the change if nothing ever changes?

credit @littlebuddhadesign

How can I be the change if nothing ever changes?

I know what you are thinking: Million Dollar Question, Right?

As cliche as it may sound, 'the change' that you are waiting for, be it a new job, house, mate, friend, car or lifestyle, starts and ends with you.

If nothing around you is changing, it's because you are doing the same things over and over again, and hoping for a new result. That is defined as insanity. A label that may be a bit harsh, but is certainly rooted in some truth. If your routine is the same now as it was 10 years ago, you can't wonder why things have stayed the same.

When does 'The Change' Happen?

Simply put change happens with or without us. With or without our consent and with or without us being ready, but it happens faster, when YOU get fed up. When you are tired of not seeing the level of progress in your life that YOU measure success by. Notice I said YOU. Your friends, family, parents, partner can tell you where your life should be by now, but until you want it, I mean really want it, you won't get there. We put effort into something that we value. Until the change you want to make becomes something of genuine value to you, you won't make it.

Today's Challenge: Get Fed Up of Being Fed Up!

Use 'Today's Words of Inspiration' as a breathing meditation to still your mind, quiet your thoughts and bring in positive energy. As you inhale bring in only positive energy by saying in your mind, I breathe in positive energy (or you can say creative energy if that is what you wish to create more of) and as you exhale, Affirm out loud 'I affirm today that I will put in the effort necessary to cultivate the changes needed to reach my goals and find fulfillment!'

Spend some time each day enjoying focused breathing AND soul guided meditative visualization, in doing so, you can bring about profound and powerful changes in your life.

Visualize yourself manifesting something unique, guided by universal forces that emerge spontaneously from within your soul. Do this at least twice today and see how by taking a moment away from the hectic pace and breathing in positive energy and affirming what you wish to create, your thinking will become different.

Remember, attitude really does determine altitude.

It is OK to *Re-Tweet* the link to this post and You can find me (@Tracy_Iglesias) on Twitter here! Twitter love: re*tweet by copying and pasting the following into your update field:

@Tracy_Iglesias #ascendingbutterfly - Today's Words of #Inspiration and Great #Giveaways! - http://tiny.cc/n4Thx

Make this your best day ever, Bless and Be Blessed

Active Giveaways! Hurry Enter Now!

1) Ends 10/28 - Breast Cancer Awareness Giveaway with Satya Jewelry! Win the Cherry Quartz Om Bracelet (ARV $48)  HERE

2) Ends 10/31 - Plenty of Dresses Review and Giveaway - Win the Item of YOUR choice! Any Dress, Blouse/Top in any style, size or color! HERE

3) Coming Soon: A special giveaway with Smashbox (this was due to YOUR popular demand), Halloween/Fall Treats from 1-800Baskets and so much MORE! Don't forget the Holiday Buying Guide will be launching in November (11/15), and our book club returns too!

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Plenty of Dresses Review and Giveaway - Item of YOUR choice!

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This giveaway is now CLOSED. Thanks so much to our wonderful sponsor Plenty of Dresses! We look forward to working with you again! The winner has been notified and upon confirmation, follower name will be posted both here and on our homepage. Remember: There are great giveaways active on the upper right hand side of the page Where it reads “Today’s Butterfly! Win Here’!

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Plenty of Dresses, Where Fashionable Meets Affordable!

Now that the little one's are back in school, have you taken a moment to think about your wardrobe yet? Have you swapped out your summer clothes and started looking at your Fall clothes and sadly realized you've come up a bit short for yourself? Do you have a perfect outfit at the ready for Thanksgiving, for office holiday parties and family festivities?

I am currently in the process of clearing out closets, and getting my home and wardrobe and ready for the new season.

I have to start by apologizing, this review is way overdue, and I want to thank Plenty of Dresses for their patience!

I connected with Plenty of Dresses earlier this year and as I am a butterfly lover, I was sent a variety of butterfly themed items to review. Two very special blouses, that I absolutely adore and a pair of super cute butterfly earrings that were thrown in by the owner, which I thought was extremely thoughtful!

I wore the first blouse and the earrings on my smooth jazz cruise this summer and received numerous compliments! I absolutely love this blouse, it has washed very well, no pills, and no fade out in the silver butterfly design. It looks fab on it's own as I paired it with Black Pants, and also super cute under a jacket for a quick change for evening. I posted the picture of me wearing it earlier this summer, but I just thought I'd show it to you again:

It runs true to size, and I can report it is super comfortable. If you'd like to grab one, it's still in stock, it's called Blue With Butterfly if you can't wait and want to order it now! (And I couldn't blame you!) The other two items don't appear to be in stock (including the butterfly earrings I am wearing in the photo), but there are a wide variety of butterfly themed and non-butterfly themed fabulous clothing that are. And I'm very excited to share that Plenty of Dresses has an excellent variety of Plus Sized items in stock as well. Sometimes when it comes to plus sizing you end up feeling cheated because the selection isn't normally as varied as smaller sizes, but not at Plenty of Dresses! I find it a time saver that I can shop by size and find something super cute that is in stock and available in my size!

I love to get a behind the scenes of brands I work with, and when I'm allowed a glimpse of the person behind the brand I jump at the chance. Plenty of Dresses is a one woman show, that began as a retail location in Canada, the owners, sisters, grew the shop that started with jewelry and accessories, one sister married and moved abroad and the sister that remained expanded the store slowly. She added clothing in a variety of styles, and it took off! Customers responded enthusiastically, and she experienced increased sales and steady growth. And eventually an online shop was formed, that is how Plenty of Dresses was born!

The owner, is the most down-to-earth, approachable person ever (and she's super patient too!) and when I asked her for a bio and more about her she shared her story, but something she wrote really stood out with me, she said:

I'm just a small town girl trying to make it big ~ Corinne, Plenty of Dresses

I honestly don't know how she manages to juggle the demands of a brick and mortar store and running an online shop simultaneously! But with her drive, ambition and perserverance I have no doubt in my mind her quote above will come to pass! I know I make it a personal choice to be sure I think of woman owned businesses first when I shop, I can tell you that having had the chance to try out two pieces from this shop that I fully intend to return to Plenty of Dresses again! As a matter of fact I was thinking of this next:

What do you think? I love purple and the silver accent detail gives it that extra something for evening! OK, I'll be nice and share the direct link to this top, but please don't order them all because I want one! Purple Plus Size Top With Silver Accent

WIN IT! - Ascending Butterfly and our friends at Plenty of Dresses would like to provide 1 Ascending Butterfly Follower with your choice of any in-stock item, shirt, dress, the choice is YOURS!

Don't you just ♥ Plenty of Dresses? (I know I Do!)

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - How to Win: (1) You must be a PUBLIC follower of Ascending Butterfly to be eligible for this and all giveaways. Indicate in your entry that you follow (if your 'comment name/user id' differs from your profile id, please let me know what name you follow under) and Mandatory Entry: (2) Visit Plenty of Dresses and Share a link to the item you would pick if you won! (Remember it can't be the giveaway item, or the other items mentioned! Be careful if you link to the review item your entry will be disqualified!) (3) You must also leave your email address somewhere in your comment. (You can format it this way for security, example: ascendingbutterfly AT mail host DOT com). (If your email is clearly visible in your profile, you can just say so, that's OK!) Please follow the easy 1, 2, 3 steps to winning (or in this case, the A,B,C’s of winning!) This giveaway is open to USA + Canada residents who are 18 years of age or older. No PO Boxes.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Please follow directions or you will be disqualified! All comments are moderated, they may not appear on the site right away (comments like "I want this" or "I want to win" will not be entered). You have from Saturday, October 23, 2010 until Sunday, October 31, 2010 at 03:00 PM (EST) to comment and be entered for a chance to win. You will have 48 hours to confirm if we do not hear from you we will be forced to move on to an alternate. (We only notify winners DIRECTLY via email, so if your profile or your comment does not have an email your entry will not be processed)

EXTRA CREDIT:

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Blog about this giveaway, linking to this giveaway post. Leave the URL in a comment. (If your blog post contains more than just a pic and link you'll get 5 extra credit entries!)

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Grab our Button and put it on your Blog. Leave the URL where we can see it in a comment (if you already have our button, just let us know, you will still get extra credit!)

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Follow @Tracy_Iglesias on Twitter (this is ascendingbutterfly’s editor) and give me your twitter ID in a comment

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Tweet this:

Ok to RT Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ  #ascendingbutterfly + @plentyofdresses  #win clothing item of YOUR choice #Giveaway! - http://tinyurl.com/2756a3o

(Leave a comment with the tweet’s url so you can get a valid entry (click on the time your tweet was sent to get the direct URL and then copy and paste it here). You can Tweet TWICE per DAY. If you Tweet more than that, that entry will be disqualified.)

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - ‘Like’ (and don't forget to write on their wall that Ascending Butterfly sent you!) Plenty of Dresses on Facebook HERE

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Follow @plentyofdresses on Twitter HERE

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Digg about this giveaway and leave your digg username in your comment

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Fave this blog on Technorati and leave your Technorati user name in your comment

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Follow Ascending Butterfly on Facebook HERE

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Follow Ascending Butterfly on Networked Blogs HERE

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Join Ascending Butterfly's NEW Community/Real Time Chat, Group HERE

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Vote for Ascending Butterfly on: Fuel My Blog

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Have you entered another giveaway on Ascending Butterfly? Let me know which one and you’ll get more extra credit!

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Have you commented on a non-giveaway entry? Let me know which one here and you’ll get more extra credit!

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Ascending Butterfly needs your votes! I really want to be NatureMade's Good Mood Blogger, please rock the vote for me daily here:

Good Mood Gig from SAM-e

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Ascending Butterfly is a nominee for the Bloggers Choice ’10 Awards in the ‘Best Blog About Stuff’ Category - You can press the button below to go straight to the page where Ascending Butterfly has been nominated!

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Press the button below and join, you get an extra entry for this giveaway and a shot at more great prizes, lets win together! (one time extra credit, will be verified before entry can be accepted)

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FTC Disclosure Info for this Giveaway: This is not a paid insertion. This is a non-compensated post and all opinions regarding Plenty of Dresses are my own experiences. I was provided product to facilitate the review & giveaway. The sponsor is fulfilling directly to prize winner(s), this in no way influenced my opinion of the product. Once a winner is selected and their information has been forwarded to the sponsor, the responsibility of prize fulfillment rests with the sponsor.