Sunday, June 7, 2009
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Happy New Year! A Time For Resolutions
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!
May the year ahead bring you health of body, mind & spirit.
I thought this might be a fun topic to bring up on this New Years Day.
What's your resolution for 2008 and does it start today or tomorrow?
I have a couple that I will mention:
* I will to lose the weight I had promised myself I would not gain since the summer of 2006 when I was diagnosed with a chronic illness (MS). I won't let that be an excuse! (this one starts tomorrow! :D )
* I will to take our company, Chronique Couture and our new social networking community for Divas with chronic illness, Cafe Chronique to new heights. Chronique Couture is "my baby", I am proud of it and it feeds my soul. The joy CC gives other gals with chronic illness is better medicine for me than any MD could ever prescribe. Any time the inevitable stresses of running my own Whimsy Businesses weigh on me - I will remember the "warm fuzzies" it gives to others and work even harder. (this one is ongoing)
What are your 2008 resolutions?
Be Well,
Kimberly
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Kudos For Chronique Couture
Allie shared with her readers:
I was visiting my MySpace account and was approving friend request and as I usually do, I look at the pages of people who want to be my friends and inspect their friends. Through this process I came upon the page for Chronique Couture and just knew I had to write about this company on Wardrobe Oxygen.
Read the rest of Allie's rave review!
Chronique Couture will have some exciting new products soon after the first of the year, and we are upgrading our store software for an even better customer experience. We look forward to seeing you all soon at Chronique Couture!
Thanks again, Allie!
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Who Hates to Hear They Look Great?
Be Well,
Kimberly
Chronique Couture
Who Hates to Hear They Look Great? Over Half of the Chronically Ill!
SAN DIEGO – JULY 2007 — In a recent survey of 611 chronically ill
individuals, done by the National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week committee, 53.27% of the respondents said that the most frustrating or annoying comment people make about their illness is “But you look so good!”
“Although telling someone they look good is often seen as a compliment,” says Lisa Copen, founder of National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week “it feels like an invalidation of the physical pain or seriousness of one’s illness and the suffering they cope with daily.”According to Copen, author of “Beyond Casseroles: 505 Ways to
Encourage a Chronically Ill Friend,” statistics show that nearly 1 in 2
people in the USA have a chronic condition and 96% of it is invisible.National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week held September 10-16 for
2007, is an outreach to increase awareness that living with an invisible illness
can be emotional challenge—as well as physical—and that more people than we
would imagine are suffering silently.Respondents answered the survey at http://www.invisibleillness.com/ and
reported the following other annoying comments people tend to make:* “Your illness is caused by stress.” (14.22%)
* “If you stopped thinking about it and went back to work…” (12.42%)
* “You can’t be in that much pain. Maybe you just want attention.” (10.95%)
* “Just pray harder.” (9.15%)
Carmen Leal, creator of SomeOne Cares Christian Caregiver Conference and author of The Twenty-Third Psalm for Caregivers says, “When someone appears physically
normal people are less likely to show understanding and compassion. National
Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week is an important opportunity to help
families, businesses, churches, and communities understand that conditions
without an outward sign are just as debilitating as other more visible illnesses
and disabilities.”Copen, 38, who has live with rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia for fifteen years agrees. “We know that 75% of marriages impacted by illness end in divorce and 70% of suicides have uncontrollable physical pain as a factor.* There are hundreds of invisible illness such as diabetes, cancer, myasthenia gravis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and Crohn’s disease as well as mental illness and conditions such as bulimia or migraines. Regardless of one’s illness or level of pain, feeling isolated and misunderstood can be emotionally devastating. We are each responsible for learning how to effectively show compassion and understanding to those we can about, including the chronically ill.”
National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week’s web site has articles, resources and will feature twenty online seminars during Sept 10-14, 2007. Guests include Maureen Pratt, author of “Peace in the Storm: Meditations on Chronic Pain and Illness” and Jenni Prokopy, founder of ChronicBabe.com. Outreach
materials include t-shirts, silicone awareness bracelets and rack cards,
appropriate for support groups or the work place state what to say and not say
to a chronically ill person.The theme for 2007’s invisible illness week
campaign is “Living with invisible illness is a roller coaster. Help a friend
hold on!”
For more information see http://www.invisibleillness.com/or
call 888-651-7378. National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week is
sponsored by Rest Ministries,
http://www.restministries.org/, a
Christian organization that serves the chronically ill and HopeKeepers Magazine.
_________________________
* Sources: National Health Interview Survey /
Mackenzie TB, Popkin MK: "Suicide in the medical patient.". Intl J Psych in Med
17:3-22, 1987
# # #
SUMMARY:
Nearly 1 in 2 people in the USA has a
chronic condition and 96% of it is invisible. A new survey reveals that over
half of the chronically ill get annoyed when someone says, "You look so good!”
because it invalidates their illness and suffering. National Invisible Chronic
Illness Awareness Week strives to create awareness for invisible illness.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Ehlers-Danlos in August's Chronique Spotlight
What is Ehlers-Danlos?Individuals with the Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) have a defect in their connective tissue, the tissue that provides support to many body parts such as the skin, muscles, ligaments, and organs. The six major types of EDS are classified according to their manifestations of signs and symptoms, such as stretching skin, unstable joints, and tissue fragility (in organs and blood vessels). Unfortunately there is no current cure for EDS so many folks live in constant pain, are disabled, or die prematurely from ruptured aneurysms.
To learn more about EDS, you can checkout the foundation's website at www.ednf.org , contact EDNF by phone at 213-368-3800, or attend the 2008 EDS Learning Conference, July 31–August 2, 2008 in Houston, Texas.
Visit our Chronique Spotlight page. 10% of each sale that we make in the month of August will be donated to EDNF.*
Be Well!
*All over our county and around the world, there are men & women that work tirelessly to offer new drugs, cures for diseases for which there are none & hope for people everywhere whose lives are touched by illness. Chronique Couture wants to do our part too! 10% of each sale that we make will be given back to our monthly Chronique Spotlight organization. As our monthly sales grow, with the support of our customers, so will our monthly gift. As fun as it is to pimp out our Chroniqueness, the preference would always be to not need some of the items we must use to medicate or stay comfortable. Chronique Couture will focus on keeping it cute, while offering our small part to those working for cures.
Friday, July 27, 2007
An Activist In The Making
Simply put - with me out of work and facing Cobra for insurance coverage, my sister, roomie and Chronique Couture co-owner Allyson asked HR at her "day job" about having me added to her health insurance. Since Allyson and I are blood relatives, this is a no-can-do. If we were say...lesbian lovers, we would be hooked up. I have NOTHING against the lifestyles of lesbians, and gay men, and I am really glad that the gay community can enjoy this benefit where it's available - (and it should always be available) - I would never begrudge them their right..... but I find it down right frustrating that my sister and I contribute to society, pay taxes, and have a "solid relationship" that has gone on for oh...31 years. We have lived together now for about 6 years, I guess. Longer than many relationships last (unfortunately) gay or straight. As previously mentioned, I am about to have to start paying Cobra to the tune of $550 a month for insurance. (I should have already, I just keep putting it off!)
Don't get me wrong. I know guidelines would have to be put in place to cut down on abuse of the system if health benefits became available to blood relatives or long time roomates and couples who are not gay. If people have lived together for a week.... sure, maybe they wait a bit. There should be min period of time before they can benefit from the others insurance. But our 6 years would meet any guideline, I am sure?!
Click the link to see some pretty common language describing a same sex domestic parntership. It's an affidavit used by Ball State University, but it looks a lot like the one we saw from my sister's company, NNN. (Not picking on BSU, just came up in a Google search) :)
I just think there is something very wrong with the system and I wish I knew where to start to try to change it. I get tired going to the grocery store sometimes, let alone taking on Capitol Hill! :)
Maybe this will change one day. Maybe if we make changes now, people in the same situation that come down the pike will not have to struggle and will not have to be descriminated against when it comes to healthcare if they are single, living with a friend and not gay. Not to say these benefits are available to gay couples everywhere, they should be, but where they are, I think some changes need to be made to make the system fair.
Perhaps it's time for me to write my congressman. :)
Be well!
Monday, May 14, 2007
Chronique Couture ~ Now Open!
This "running your own business" thing is tough work! I am used to being "the sales girl" or "the phone girl" or "the marketing girl", etc. Well, now I, along with my partners Allyson & Lisa - we are all wearing a variety of hats! From the IT hat to the advertising hat....the last 6 months or so has been a real education. All of the hard work put in to Chronique Couture makes it that much more satisfying now to open the doors.
If you have read the updates here before, you know what the concept of our store is. The tag line is Tres Chic for the Chronically Unique and that says a mouth full! We feel strongly that a chronic disease or illness should not rob a woman of her "girlyness". It's important to hold onto our sense of self; keep it in tact as it was before our diagnosis.
We hope Chronique Couture can add a pleasant twist to otherwise not-so-pleasant circumstances. Know how beautiful you are and pamper yourself - because you deserve it.
Be sure to visit our message board - Cafe Chronique. Super cute!
I am going to make a real effort to utilize this blog for updates regarding Chronique Couture, but also to use it as a diary of sorts for thoughts and feelings I have currently and have had along the way before and since my diagnosis of MS back in June 2006.
Be well!