Hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend with your family and loved ones! I was actually going to put together a big sales post today (which, trust me, there are some amazing deals going on right now), but then, something happened to me recently that really struck a chord. A dear reader of my blog, after seeing a Snapchat post insinuating that I needed cheering up, sent me a sweet email letting me know they had donated to a Save the Children fund for Syrian Children, providing food, water, shelter and medical care to children still living both in Syria and those who are now refugees elsewhere and they had donated in my name.

It made my day. No month, really. And while I won't sit here to tell you just how bad things are around the world (because I think we're all actually painfully aware of it), I do think there are some actionable things we can do to help, big or small. So in lieu of posting yet another sales round up, I figured it might make you all feel better to either donate in your name or a loved one's name to a charity near and dear to your heart. Because 2016 did a number on us all. Let's kick it right back in a way that counts. In no particular order, here are some starting points:

Save the Children

St. Jude Children's Hospital

American Cancer Society

Natural Resources Defense Council 

United Nations Foundation

AmeriCares

The Rotary Foundation

Direct Relief

Planned Parenthood

ACLU

Magic Bus

Photos by Ashley Batz