LOTUS Ladies Night for CARE RING

All goodies pictured above (and much, much more) available at LOTUS (photos: me)

Tomorrow night at LOTUS (Charlotte, NC in The Met) it's Laaaaadies Night!!! Whoop! Whoop!! Gather your favorite girlfriends, meet up after work and head to LOTUS. We are popping champagne, bumping music through the speakers, and shopping (from 6-9pm)! What could be better you ask? Well, maybe if we partnered with a non-profit to give back a portion of our proceeds...which we ARE!! LOTUS is partnering with CARE RING, a Charlotte non-profit dedicated to assisting the uninsured or underinsured. Care Ring's mission is universal, it speaks to everyone and it's services are needed now more than ever. It is not new news that staggering amounts of people are unemployed or underemployed these days. Families are doing whatever they can to get by, and a lot of times this means accepting whatever job(s) they can. Many of which do not offer medical/dental benefits. Single-moms raising children on their own, married couples scraping by, domestic partners wondering how they are going to pay their mortgages, and single people praying that they don't get sick because they can't afford care, or to take the time off of work. This past summer I was consulting at my corporate job. I was transitioning to a full-time, fully-insured employee in a few weeks, then BAM I got sick, out of nowhere. Really sick. Out of the blue. Suddenly I was at Urgent Care, then rushed to a stand-alone emergency room down the road, and within an hour I was in an ambulance being transported to a hospital (where I stayed for what seemed like forever). There were all sorts of scans, IV's, prescriptions, procedures, you name it. I was uninsured....so even though I was in a debilitating amount of pain, all I could think of were dollar signs. How much was all of this going to cost?? I have a mortgage, student loan payments, a car note, utility bills, and the list goes on. I was out of work for 8 weeks! Luckily, I was okay and completely back to normal at the end of it all. And the ironic part...the very DAY I returned to work I singed all of the paperwork granting me full-time employment and benefits. I am not complaining; I am blessed beyond measure. I am just pointing out how all of that could have been paralyzing for a family. If that was your child that got sick, and you had no choice but to take off work for 2 months to take care of him/her. You could lose your job even, and once all of those bills come flooding in you have no way to live day to day and stay on top of everything. It's sickening to think about. Wow...I just caught myself rambling. Sorry about that. Anyway... think about it, donate, and if you can... come out tomorrow to hang out with some lovely ladies who LOVE life. Help us celebrate the little pretty things that make us happy, and recognize and give back to an organization that is committed to the really BIG, really important things in life.
(Side Note: I just noticed that I spelled "reversible" wrong on the first photo...opps...not a big deal, just thought I'd call myself out before one of you smarty-pants did;)