A sponsored post about being Honest with your baby

What do you think of when you hold a baby in your arms?

The first thing that may come to mind is how innocent and dependent little ones are on others to feed and take care of them. I love to look into a baby’s eyes and wonder what he or she is thinking and how I can make a positive impact on the future...both in their lives and for the planet which we share.  

That being said, although I am personally not a mom, I am surrounded by friends and family who have children. Whether I am asked to change diapers or to feed and clothe one of the little ones, I wonder whether or not the products being used are truly safe, non-toxic and eco-friendly which will most surely have an impact on the baby’s long-term future.

Being a golf-fashionista, I also like baby products that I purchase to be both colorful and stylish…even diapers! It is conjectured that newborns can distinguish bright colors and shapes and, by eight months, color vision is mostly developed!

 

The Honest Company has found a solution to all of the above concerns for both mom and baby. Golden-Globe nominated actress Jessica Alba founded the company with her own two children in mind, “I created The Honest Company to help moms and to give all children a better, safer start."

Co-founder of The Honest Company and former CEO of Healthy Child Healthy World, Christopher Gavigan, was deeply concerned about the products that actually touched his baby’s skin.  

"Parents get a lot of advice about what to feed their children and how to baby-proof their home," Gavigan says, "but many are still completely unaware of the toxic risks posed by everyday basics, like diapers, home cleaners, body washes, and laundry soaps. There's growing consensus that some chemicals used in these products are linked to chronic diseases like asthma, ADHD, and even cancer."

The result of Gavigan and Alba's concerns is a company whose mission statement is an ideal: savvy style using the highest in health and sustainability standards. For your baby this means a reduction of toxins within the products by sourcing natural, organic, sustainably harvested, renewable, pure raw materials. For the environment, The Honest Company reduces toxics in all products and packaging, is committed to dramatically reducing petroleum-based plastic (virgin) in their packaging and uses 100% renewable and/or recycled materials in all products, packaging, shipping materials, and office materials.


While many companies rely on either one or the other facets, it is refreshing to see that The Honest Company is genuinely seeking a solution to potentially hazardous problems for both baby and the environment while also making the future brighter for the next generation of little ones!

For moms and for women like me who purchase products for babies, The Honest Company is guaranteeing that you won't find hazards like phthalates, sodium lauryl/laureth sulfates, PVC, parabens, benzene, chlorine, synthetic fragrances, triclosan, formaldehyde-based preserving agents, etc.,  in their products...if you can't pronounce these names, they can't be good to put near your baby's skin, can they?


The Honest Company partnership with non-profit Baby2Baby, supplying families in need with essential baby clothing and gear, is an awesome charity too, don't you think? Giving makes the world go 'round!

Here is Jessica Alba, honestly speaking about why she started the Honest Company:

Check out The Honest Company on Facebook and Twitter.



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Reputation management needed for Michelle Wie?

 In the span of a few days I received three press releases about LPGA golfers; two spoke about achievements in the sport and one, about Michelle Wie, offered insight into her “favorite things.”

 The achievements of the first two golfers, Lorena Ochoa and Paige MacKenzie, were self-explanatory. Ochoa is being honored with an EWGA Leadership award next month at the organization’s annual Golfpalooza gathering for her philanthropist efforts. MacKenzie is being appointed as sports ambassador for the National Association of Professional Women.

As for the press release regarding Michelle Wie, I concluded it to be a prime example of reputation management. Although Wie has shown herself to be a charitable sort thereby offering up a positive view of herself, some golf fans in a recent article referred to her as an overrated mishandled "has-been" with no clue how to win. (I didn’t say this folks. You can read comments here.)

The comments were in response to Michelle’s angry behavior demonstrated last week at the HSBC Women's Champions tournament in Singapore. Wie tossed her golf club and shouted an expletive (or two) after a mishit drive. Although she apologized after the round, her reaction did not go unnoticed by the media and by fans of the sport. The crowd was spurred on to criticize her most recent act while also reacting to her past seven years of unimpressive results and her flair for the dramatic.

A team from USGA, U.S. Women’s Open and Kohler immediately put together positive press to counter the growing resentment. Whether good or bad, isn't it important for women’s golf to get some publicity?

 Wie and Co. have created a money machine (Nike, Sony, McDonalds and Kia, to name a few of her sponsors) with her agents and parents very much in control of the purse strings.

The LPGA and women’s golf in general sorely need attention, good press rarely gets any visibility nowadays and Wie has always been a figure who is larger than life so why not utilize her to help get more eyes on the sport?

  

So, without further adieu, here are a few of Michelle Wie’s favorite things:

· Her dog, Lola

· Baking vegan cookies and muffins

· Painting and drawing

· Classic golf movies like “Caddyshack” and “Happy Gilmore”, as well as the “Harry Potter” and “Twilight” series

· Blogging and tweeting

· All kinds of music, from Justin Bieber to Lady Antebellum to The Jakes

And so, now Michelle Wie's positive side has been shown and we're all full of the "warm fuzzies". Which do you prefer to see and comment upon?

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photo credit: outcomemag.com

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Texan Holds ‘Em: Stanford’s HSBC Champions Win Ends 14-year American LPGA drought

Angela Stanford ended a wait of fourteen years and four months for an American victory in a LPGA golf event in Asia when she won a four-player play-off at the HSBC Women’s Champions at Singapore’s Tanah Merah Country Club. Tim Maitland reports.

 Stanford won with a par on the third play-off hole, finally knocking Korean teenager Jenny Shin out of the reckoning after Korea’s world number two Na Yeon Choi and China’s Shanshan Feng had been eliminated in two previous trips up the tough 18^th hole. All four had finished on 10-under-par 278 for the tournament.

SINGAPORE - FEBRUARY 26:  Angela Stanford of the USA with the winners trophy after the final round of the HSBC Women's Champions at the Tanah Merah Country Club on February 26, 2012 in Singapore.  (Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)

Amazingly, the last victory for a US player in the LPGA’s long history of staging tournaments in Asia was Juli Inkster’s win at the Samsung World Championship of Women’s Golf, from an invitational field of sixteen LPGA players, in Seoul, South Korea in October 1997. The 2012 HSBC Women’s Champions was the 39^th event in the region since then.

Of the six Asian events on the LPGA’s 2012 schedule, the last to boast an American champion was the Mizuno Classic in Japan which was won by Betsy King in 1993 when it was known as the Toray Japan Queens Cup. King’s win, at the Lions Country Club in Hyogo, was the last US victory against a larger field, over 18 years ago.

“I’m the first American to win in Singapore. That’s pretty cool!” said the thirty-four-year-old Texan, unaware at the time of how long her compatriots’ drought stretched back.

“It’s funny; sitting at the Pro-Am party (on the Wednesday before the tournament) I was thinking we haven’t had an American win this thing yet. Honestly, I thought, well, I’m an American. Might as well give it a go!”

Stanford, whose last win was in 2009, didn’t do it the easy way; only converting the fourth of the putts she had to win the tournament. The cruelest of those was in regulation play after a violent thunderstorm struck with the final group on the 18^th tee and all their rivals safely in the clubhouse. After a 90-minute delay, play resumed with nineteen-year-old Shin leading Stanford by one shot, but the young Korean found a water hazard off the tee and made double bogey, while Stanford’s first chance for victory went begging when she missed a par putt from around five feet.

Making pars throughout the play-off, Stanford adds her name to a roll of honour that consisted only of players to have been rated the best in the world game, from defending champion Karrie Webb through Ai Miyazato and Jiyai Shin to the winner of the inaugural event in 2008, Lorena Ochoa.

“I feel extremely honoured to be in that group of players and to be the first American to get a win is pretty special. Everybody knows this is one of the premier events on tour and always has the best players,” Stanford said.

For Shin, who won the US Girls Junior Championship as a thirteen-year old in 2006, there was the whole range of emotions.

“It’s a little bit of everything; I’m very excited but I’m very disappointed at the same time. The tee shot on the eighteenth was all from nervousness. In the play-off I wasn’t nervous at all. I was really comfortable in the play-off. I really feel like I can do this again. I’m very surprised about how well I did. I’m happy… kind of: happy-sad. I’m accepting it,” she revealed.

Shin’s wasn’t the only hard luck story. China’s Shanshan Feng fell a fraction short of becoming the first player from her country to win an LPGA event, the third time in her short career that she has had to settle for second place.

Current world number one Yani Tseng of Chinese Taipei, who was Jenny Shin’s main challenger for much of the day, finished one shot back in fifth place. She might have won had her approach shot to the 17^th hole gone in for eagle rather than catching the lip of the hole as it span back, leaving her a birdie putt that she missed.

“I do feel disappointed. I just needed a little more luck. I‘ve been very close for two years. Hopefully next year I won’t be disappointed,” said Tseng, who was aiming for back-to-back wins after her victory at the Honda LPGA Thailand the week before.

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Read about "China Golf Firsts"

SINGAPORE - FEBRUARY 22:  (L to R) In Kyung Kim of Korea, Michelle Wie of the USA, Morgan Pressel of the USA, Yani Tseng of Taiwan, Beatriz Recari of Spain, Melissa Reid of England, Suzann Pettersen of Norway, Se Ri Pak of Korea, Paula Creamer of the USA and Natalie Gulbis of the USA during a Welcome Reception Photo Call at the Raffles Hotel prior to the start of the HSBC Women's Champions at the Tanah Merah Country Club on February 22, 2012 in Singapore, Singapore  (Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images)

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