full hearts

{cred}

as much as i would love a couple of extra dollars this holiday-more important to me is doing a little bit for others.

i always 'adopt' someone for the holidays through the boulder housing community. it's a $75.00 maximum commitment per person. it is immensely eye opening to see what you can get someone for $75.00. especially after an overzealous trip to the mall for a holiday party dress. dumb.

this year, i shopped for the mother of the family our office was given. i got her dress pants, a top, dress shoes, a scarf and two pairs of gloves for less than $75! it is amazing. a small amount of money can provide so much happiness and gratitude.

i hope she loves all of her gifts, and her family has a wonderful holiday.
xoxo ashleycolean

kiva.org

recently i told you about kiva, a brilliant peer to peer lending site. i think what they are doing is phenomenal and contributing to them, and their members across the globe, makes me really happy.

to update you on the kiva front-i recently loaned to my TENTH person for kiva. i had some quick paybacks from my last post so was able to loan again pretty quickly. my tenth loan went to a woman named elma yadao in the philippines who needed the loan to buy livestock feed and vitamins for her hog farm.

c/o kiva.org

george eliot once said 'one must be poor to know the luxury of giving.'
and, although i'm not technically poor, my new spending habits lend themselves to exponentially more pride when i'm able to do for others. we all win.  to read more about kiva and the brilliant things they are doing, go here!!

go elma, go!
xoxo ashleycolean

i see, said the blind man

i posted last week that i was going to have to order some new glasses, and my great friend kir, came to the rescue with a trendy yet un-spendy solution!

warby parker is an online eye ware company with super great prescription specs for cheap! new glasses from wp will only ding you for $95.00-including your rx lenses! 

these are the ones i picked!

the site also lets you try them-by uploading a picture of your face, or using your web cam, you can see just how stylish you'd look in whichever pair you go for!

haha-see!

not only does warby parker give you a bangin' deal on your new glasses but, like toms, with every purchase they donate a pair of glasses to a person in need somewhere in the world. learn more about it here!! thanks kir, for the heads up on this great site! much love.

and oh so hipster.
xoxo ashleycolean

because a little good karma never hurt anyone

a couple of years ago i waws given a gift certificate to kiva.org, a website that allows people to give small business loans to people all over the world. i spent an hour agonizing over who to give my money to. how to pick? when will they get all the money they need? what if they never do?
after some observation i decided on hamis omary-a store owner in tanzania who needed $975 dollars to buy inventory to keep his little shop running.

this is a picture of hamis, who paid me (and his other loaners) back in full within 11 months.

the really cool thing about kiva is that once your money is paid back you can reloan. over the past few years i have added another $50 of my own money to the 'ashleycolean pot.' between the inital $75 investment and reloaning money i've been able to help 9 people! NINE!!

all images from kiva.org

these are a few of the folks i have loaned to through kiva. men, women, groups, and from all over the world.

it is such a wonderful thing....and i figure, who can't use a little extra good karma. :) cut a happy hour out of your budget and help someone.

i dare you.
xoxo ashleycolean