Today's Words of Inspiration: Keep The Dream Alive + Owe you some names!

@Greeting Card Universe

Today's Quote:

Your key to success today is to "keep the dream alive" no matter what obstacles you face. You may want to check in with yourself to see if you want to keep moving forward in the same direction, and if you have to change that direction, but don't give up if you feel challenged. Your feeling of your purpose or mission is likely to be stronger than usual today; heed that feeling.

Today's Challenge: Keep the Faith. The Faith in yourself, in your abilities, and in your Dreams. Let those dreams be the motivator to make the changes you need to make, to get what you want and deserve!

Today's Breathing Affirmation: Close your eyes, take a deep, slow breath in through your nose, and affirm "Today I will take action to move closer to making my dreams come true."

My apologies for the delay, but all the Dads N Grads Buying Guide Giveaways have finally been closed out, and winners have been drawn and notified. Once all winners confirm, I will post an official winners list for the ShenZhen Knives, SodaStream Genesis Soda Maker, Joya Shoes (5 winners!), as well as the Smooth Jazz NY Smooth Cruise Winners (2 winners!) Giveaways! If you haven't already done so, don't forget to enter our active giveaway for an Elliott Lucca Drawsting Crossbody Handbag in YOUR choice of color HERE.

If you haven't had a chance to read it, please make sure you check out the NY Women's Empowerment Summit 2011 Recap HERE. This is 16 of the most powerful and successful women in their fields who took time out of their busy schedules to help the Make A Wish Foundation who received the proceeds of the ticket sales, and to share their insights, wisdom and what inspires them! It was like having access to high power mentors, and the beauty of it is, that by reading the recap, you can get motivated to push aside your excuses to living the life you both want AND deserve.

I want all my Ascending Butterflies to feel empowered to reach for the stars! No matter what your goal is, I want you to come here everyday and find a new inspiration that helps you reach it!

What is your Dream? What star are you reaching for?

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{CLOSED} Help make Dad a cut above the rest with the Shenzhen Chefs Knife Giveaway! Ends 06/22!

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This giveaway is now CLOSED. Thanks so much to our wonderful sponsor Shenzhen! 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!

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Ascending Butterfly's Annual Dads N Grads Buying Guide Giveaway, brought to you by:

Is your dad a foodie? Whether Dad is a gourmet, foodie or  weekend griller the one thing that holds true is that he needs a Knife that can handle the job! I love to cook and so did my Dad, I have to admit I've been through my fair share of Knive Sets since I started cooking.

One of my favorites to prepare is seafood and fish, which I love to eat, but hate to skin. Removing the skin from fish is one of the best tests of a Knife as far as I'm concerned! And most of the knives I have just don't cut it, no pun intended.

I have been wanting to 'pimp my knives' and had been researching Ceramic Chef's Knives for awhile now, and discovered they are pretty pricey! Wouldn't it be great to get Chef's quality at a discount price?

Shenzhen Knives - The Affordable Ceramic Knife

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Price Advantage: Most ceramic knives after production, have passed through multiple layers of distributors (who add their own price mark-ups) prior to arriving at the retail distribution point. Shenzhen's Internet distribution model enables them to bring their ceramic knives DIRECTLY from the factory to YOU, at a significant price savings.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Ceramic Blade Advantage  - These ceramic knives are made of an advanced ceramic called zirconia, the second hardest material known to man next to diamond. The material's properties make it particularly resistant to wear and tear, which means that a ceramic blade can hold its edge much longer than a steel blade without the need for re-sharpening as often as steel knives.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Benefits -  Rust proof. Non-stick surface makes the ceramic blade easy to clean.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - No Interaction - No metallic taste or smell. Given the ceramic blade's characteristics, the ceramic knife will not interact with your food's taste.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Care - They do require a bit of care and know how, read HERE for more info.

My Take

I tried the 3 piece Chef's Set from Shenzhen and I really like them! It took some getting used to about being careful NOT to bend or force them which is what I normally do sometimes with my regular steel blades. While you can use Ceramic Knives on a daily basis, Shenzhen's website suggests that you should use them in addition or in conjunction to your favorite daily Steel Blades not as a complete replacement to Steel Blade Knives. I love that Shenzhen Knives do not interact with food, need sharpening less often, are durable and can handle my love of Fish and helps me to skin them with ease! And to be able to get Chef's Ceramic Knife Quality at direct to me discount pricing is an incredible added bonus!

DISCOUNTS:

FREE SHIPPING on Shenzhen 3 piece ceramic knife sets, and orders of $60 or more or:

You didn't think I'd forget about you right? Who loves you butterfly?

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - WIN IT! - Ascending Butterfly and our friends at Shenzhen have a very special surprise for 1 lucky winner! 1 winner will win a Ceramic Chef's Knife for their Dad, or to keep for themself!

Don't you just ♥ Shenzhen? 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 (2)MANDATORY entry- Tell us who this will be for, Will you give it to Dad, your Hubby, Brother, Uncle, or a Culinary School Grad (or will you keep this great Chef's Knife for yourself)? (And while we never make social media follows mandatory, I'd love it if you followed Shenzhen via Facebook or Twitter, see Extra Credit Section for more info and direct links). (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 residents who are 18 years of age or older. No PO Boxes. One entry per Household, see Ascending Butterfly Giveaway Rules and Disclosure Policy HERE.

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 Wednesday, June 15, 2011 until Wednesday, June 22, 2011 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 - Rock the VOTE - it's super easy and a ONE time only, Please vote for me, Tracy Iglesias (in red jacket)  - http://www.yourbestpose.com/competition/?id=1#6

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - You know how much I love finding us both win/wins right? Here's another one: Visit the Degree Women MotionSENSE App on Facebook and enter GetMoving031 in 'Enter Codes' HERE (you'll get an extra 5 MotionSENSE Miles which you can trade in for great prizes including trips!) Enter, share on your wall, and let me know you entered by linking me to where you shared it on your wall, by the way sharing also buys you extra MotionSENSE miles, win/win right? :)

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! Leave five entries.)

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - In the spirit of Father's Day Fun share with us your favorite advice that your dad has given you! (and yes, if you were not raised by your dad, you can share with us the best wisdom received by the person who did raise you! Uncles and Grandpas count too!)

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Grab our NEW Button and put it on your Blog. Leave the URL where we can see it in a comment (if you have our old one, please swap it out, our URL address has changed!)

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

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Follow @ShenzhenKnives on Twitter

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Follow @Ascending1 on Twitter (this is Ascending Butterfly's new account, we will soon be hosting twitter parties which necessitates having a second account so we can make updates throughout the entire party!)

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ -Tweet this:

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - @Ascending1 + @ShenzhenKnives Ceramic Chef Knife #Giveaway! Ends 06/22 Pls RT- http://tinyurl.com/3oojojd

(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 - 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 Shenzhen Knives and tell them Ascending Butterfly Sent You (I'm sure they'd love for you to tell them who you'd give this to and why also!) on Facebook HERE (Please post the link to your facebook comment, you can get that link the same way you get your link to your tweets!)

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Follow Ascending Butterfly on Networked Blogs HERE

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

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - One time only, NOT a daily: Vote for Ascending Butterfly on: Fuel My Blog

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Have you entered another active 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 - 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 the product and the sponsor are my own experiences. I was provided product to facilitate the review and giveaway. The sponsors are fulfilling directly to prize winner(s), this in no way influenced my opinion of the products. Once a winner is selected and their information has been forwarded to the sponsor, the responsibility of prize fulfillment rests with the sponsor.