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Patricia Sands

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celebrating women

Believe in the beauty of your dreams~BOAW2015

February 23, 2015 by Patricia Sands 36 Comments

Artwork by the fabulously beautiful Renée Schuls-Jacobson
Artwork by the beautifully talented Renée Schuls-Jacobson

Here we come again!

It’s the fourth anniversary of the Beauty Of A Woman blogfest hosted by the talented women’s activist, journalist and writer, August McLaughlin. I hope you will find a quiet time in the next little while to visit all of the participating blogs. The messages are inspirational, informative, entertaining and … well … beautiful. You might even be enticed to join us next year! Bonus: check out the beautiful prize list too!

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
Eleanor Roosevelt

This year’s BOAW challenge has me focusing on my 5-year-old granddaughter who is a real girly-girl with long strawberry blond hair and stunning turquoise eyes. She is also smart, feisty, strong-willed and curious.

I worry about the world today, where the media focus is more frequently on stereotypes that deliver a skewed vision of “beauty” to fertile young minds. I want my granddaughter, and all girls, to grow up in a world that is safe. A world that gives the right messages. I want girls to grow up proud, confident, educated, and kind-hearted, with a strong social conscience. Why not? I want them to understand that beauty exists in many forms. I want them to listen to Eleanor’s words and believe in the beauty of their dreams.

It gives me hope to know there is a girl raising her voice and making a difference in the world. A girl who can be the best kind of role model for all girls and an inspiration to women of all ages. She’s a girl who believes in the beauty of her dreams: Malala Yousafzai.

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Today I want to dedicate my post to the beauty of Malala’s dreams, along with some organizations that work tirelessly to end violence against women. The dedicated people behind these organizations deserve to be recognized and supported for all they do to improve the lives of women and girls. Their messages underline the beauty and importance of the strength and potential of every single female. They truly work to bring about change so that every girl and woman may know she is safe and have the opportunity to believe in the beauty of her dreams.

It’s heartbreaking to think of the countless numbers of young girls and women in tragic situations around the world who struggle just to get through a day. We should never let up on our efforts to bring change to their lives.

Let’s all do our part to support the dreams of the future..

Because I Am A Girl

Canadian Women’s Foundation

Bring Back Our Girls

Vday.org 

#OneBillionRising

Each year I am simply blown away by the variety of perspectives, opinions and beautiful words found on all of the participating websites. You can link to all of them right here. Fest away!

It’s been a pleasure to take part in the BOAW blogfest all four years. May I be candid here? I know I can with you … I’ve loved each of my BOAW posts because August’s challenge to us has caused me to look at certain aspects of life in ways I might never have written about on my website. Thanks, August!

BOAW 2012 ~ You’re Beautiful Just The Way You Are

BOAW 201 ~ She Walks In Beauty

BOAW 2014 ~ Hear Us Roar

~~~~~

Thanks for joining me today. If you like today’s post, please use the share buttons below. It all helps!

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Filed Under: Blog, Social issues Tagged With: #OneBillionRising, August McLaughlin, Beauty of a Woman Blogfest, Because I Am A Girl, BOAW 2015, celebrating women, girls, Vday, Women

Ta daaaaa – we have a winner!

May 10, 2013 by Patricia Sands Leave a Comment

If it’s Friday, it must be France …

As promised, today I am thrilled to announce that the winner of my giveaway prize, the book entitled The Most Beautiful Country Towns of Provence, is Lynn Rettig. CONGRATULATIONS!

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The name of each person who contributed a comment to my post about girlfriends was entered into Random.Org and Lynn’s name was in first place when the results were generated.

The winner of the iPad Mini from the Rafflecopter draw was Linda Hendrickson, so congratulations to her as well. Check out each participating website to see who won the other special gifts and we will be contacting the winners of the free books shortly to see which titles they would like.

Thanks so much to everyone who participated. We had an amazing number of entrants and such positive comments all around. It truly was wonderful to read the thoughts expressed by all of you and the meaningful way you spoke of  the influence and importance of special women in your life.

Your enthusiasm was contagious and you might have convinced us to do it again some time!

Click on the links here to connect with our other HerBooks/Celebrating Women authors: Christine Nolfi, Bette Lee Crosby, Karla Darcy, Rachel Thompson and Steena Holmes.

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Filed Under: Blog, France, If it is France... Tagged With: books, celebrating women, giveaway, her best books, Her Books

And the winner is …

May 3, 2013 by Patricia Sands Leave a Comment

If it’s Friday, it must be France …

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Just a reminder that the book shown below is the prize to be won by one lucky person who leaves a comment about friendship on my blog this week!  All the comments will be numbered and entered into random.org and … voilà … we will have a winner. I’ll make the announcement in next Friday’s post.

If you haven’t already done so, just go to this link and see all the great books and other prizes including an iPad Mini in our fabulous Celebrating Women event. This is where you need to leave your comment for me. Just do it!

You have  three more days … I mean, who wouldn’t want to win this beauty?

You can see a little more info about the book by clicking here.

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Filed Under: Blog, Contests, If it is France..., News Tagged With: celebrating women, France, giveaway, Patricia Sands, Provence, The Promise of Provence, women's literature

Celebrating Women

March 6, 2011 by Patricia Sands 1 Comment

 

For the past 100 years, International Women’s Day (IWD) has been celebrated around the world on March 8. Hundreds of events occur not just on this day but throughout March to mark the economic, political and social achievements of women.

Organisations, governments and women’s groups around the world choose different themes each year that reflect global and local gender issues. I decided my blog should have a theme for IWD as well so I’m going to begin a series of interviews with some amazing women I have met during the eight months since my novel was published. It’s been quite a ride! One of the best parts of this journey is discovering the fabulous community of women involved in the world of writing and publishing and all the other aspects that revolve around the literary arts. (Not to discriminate, there are terrific men involved too … but this is about the ladies.) The supportive, collaborative, welcoming spirit one finds within this world of words is a joy to discover. I’ll post the first interview in the next few days.

Click here to read more about International Women’s Day.

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Filed Under: Blog, Social issues Tagged With: celebrating women, friendship, International Women's Day, The Bridge Club, women author interviews

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