Announcements

Hi Babes! It's almost time for Patients for a Moment, a blog carnival BY patients and FOR patients. I would love to have your participation! If you're blogging about living with illness, please join us! The instructions are simple. Deadline for submitting posts: NOON (CST) on MONDAY, NOV. 16. Read on for the instructions...

Posted: 11/14/2009 in Announcements

Invisible Illness Week starts tomorrow, and there are TONS of ways to participate and learn. You can hear all the speakers LIVE at BlogTalkRadio (and ask questions) but even if you can't make it LIVE, you can listen to archived presentations later. We've got the full schedule of speakers...check out the official website for all the scoop!

Posted: 9/13/2009 in Announcements  |  Also posted in: Inspiration

From our pal Lisa Copen, founder of Rest Ministries and Invisible Illness Awareness Week: We are getting closer to Invisible Illness Awareness Week and our goal is to make sure as many people as possible are informed about our cool "virtual" conference which will be held online (for free) Sept 14-18, 2009. Workshops will be at 9 am, noon, 3 and 5:30 pm Pacific time each day (live via Blog Talk Radio). You can even call in and ask questions! And we are giving away lots of prizes too! To help us reach the 133 million people living with chronic illness I've put together a list: "6 Ways You Can Make a Difference on Facebook" to help us out!

Posted: 8/30/2009 in Announcements

ChronicBabe.com is a co-sponsor of Invisible Illness Awareness Week 2009, and we're starting promotion today! There will be a TON of things to learn, speakers to hear, prizes to win and more. There are many ways to get involved. This message from lead organizer Lisa Copen of Rest Ministries will get you started.

Posted: 7/15/2009 in Announcements

Babes, we've been so busy these past few weeks, and you're starting to see the fruits of our labors! Today we announce the ChronicBabe Forum, a place where you can join the discussion about life as a young woman with chronic illness.

Posted: 7/13/2009 in Announcements

Our pal Jennifer Jaff of Advocacy for Chronic Illness Patients, Inc. is letting us reprint a terrific newsletter article that offers her perspective on the current health care reform discussion.

From Jennifer: Over the next two months, the Senate Finance Committee, Senate Health Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP Committee), and the three Committees in the House of Representatives with jurisdiction over health care are expected to mark-up (discuss, amend, refine) their various proposals before they are debated by the full Senate and House of Representatives. Luckily for you, we have reviewed the more than 1,500 pages of proposals that are available to the public, so we can give you the broad outlines.

Posted: 7/9/2009 in Announcements

Have you always wished that you could tell your health care story and help others? Here’s your chance. Advocacy for Patients with Chronic Illness, Inc. and the University of Michigan Center for Managing Chronic Disease have been awarded a grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the obstacles facing the chronically ill and caregivers, interventions that do and do not work to surmount those obstacles, and ways in which the work done by the NIH, (including research and clinical trials) may be helpful to patients with chronic illnesses.

Posted: 6/25/2009 in Announcements

We're SO EXCITED to tell you the ChronicBabe Podcast is coming soon! The first episode is produced, and there more are in production right now, including interviews with Laurie Edwards of A Chronic Dose and Rosalind Joffe of Keep Working Girlfriend!

Posted: 5/7/2009 in Announcements

She's done it again: Purse-maker extraordinaire Cinnamon Cooper of Poise has created a new ChronicBabe bag, one that you're sure to love for years to come.

Editrix Jenni loves running around the city with her stripey ChronicBabe bags, and this cute little number is the latest addition to the club. Order yours today and we get 50% of the price to help run our site!

Posted: 4/13/2009 in Announcements

There's been a lot of hubbub tonight about Wellsphere: the selling of the company to HealthCentral (reported by our pals at the Wall Street Journal Health Blog) for one, and Wellsphere's use of blogger's RSS feeds to fill its content well. Twitterers across the globe went berserk (check out this search to see the fallout) and lots of readers and fellow health writers checked in with me, especially since ChronicBabe is up for one of the sites People's Health Blogger Awards.

So it's late, I'm pooped, but I thought I'd offer a few thoughts. First, read Dr. Val's nice overview of the situation, and consider listening to Dr. Anonymous's show tomorrow night for what I'm sure will be a robust discussion of the situation. Second, if you're a health blogger who gave Wellsphere your RSS feed, please don't think I'm peeing in your pool here—I'm just throwing out a few opinions and hoping current and aspiring writers will be inspired to learn more beyond what I have to say so they can protect themselves, as we all have a right to do. P.S. After much thought and discussion, I am withdrawing from the People's Health Blogger Awards and pulling my Wellsphere account. I just can't support an organization that's causing so much dischord in the health blogging community.

Posted: 1/28/2009 in Announcements

We LOVE hosting Grand Rounds, the weekly traveling collection of the best medical web writing, so we're excited to host for the third time on January 27, 2009! Read on for more details...

Posted: 1/23/2009 in Announcements

Blog carnivals are a terrific way to spread the word about both new and established health bloggers, and we get so much fun out of participating in Grand Rounds each week we started to wonder: Would ChronicBabe readers enjoy reading—or participating in—a woman-focused health blogging blog carnival? Take the 5-minute ChronicBabe blog carnival survey and tell us what you think. Thanks!

Posted: 1/23/2009 in Announcements

Our pal Tawra Kellam at Living on a Dime are having a big sale through January 7, where you can get 50% to 63% off their terrific books: Dining on a Dime, Dig Out of Debt and Penny Pinchin' Mama.

But even bigger than that: Tawra's letting us give away a copy of Dining on a Dime, which includes more than 1,200 tips on saving cash when grocery shopping and cooking (including tons of helpful recipes). Read on for rules...

Posted: 1/1/2009 in Announcements

Our pal Kimberly Soenen has created "a project dedicated to exposing fraud and criminal mistreatment in the U.S. health care system." Project Sin Alma features debate and discussion related to the human rights abuses and injustices imposed on residents of the United States by the private health insurance industry, the pharmaceutical lobby and the HMO system. And you can be a part of it:

Posted: 12/16/2008 in Announcements

Editrix Jenni broke her wrist and is on a short-term leave while she learns Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred voice recognition software. Read for more...

Posted: 10/30/2008 in Announcements

This is just a quick note to let you know about a presentation I'm giving tomorrow as part of National Invisible Illness Awareness Week 2008. Read on for instructions on how to listen and call in with questions. It's tomorrow, Babes—don't miss it! (OK, if you do, the recording is archived.)

Posted: 9/9/2008 in Announcements  |  Also posted in: Coping

Invisible Illness Week is Sept. 8-14, 2008, and ChronicBabe is a big participant. Editrix Jenni Prokopy is a featured speaker on Wednesday, Sept. 10 at 2pm Central time (call-in details to come)...we've donated t-shirts to be given away as prizes...and we'll be blogging about what it's like to live with invisible illness all week.

Posted: 8/31/2008 in Announcements  |  Also posted in: Coping

Wow, what a wonderful contest this was! It filled my heart with joy to read all of your wonderful essays (nearly 50 in all) and it was really tough to pick the winners. And truly—you're all winners, because you care enough about yourselves to learn new ways to live full lives in spite of chronic illness. (And because everyone who entered wins some nifty ChronicBabe buttons to wear and share!) The top prize went to Michelle Traub, who wrote a terrific essay that brought tears to my eyes (plus, she got extra points for creativity). Read on for her essay and all the other winners...

Posted: 8/1/2008 in Announcements

That's right: ChronicBabe.com is three years old this summer, and we're celebrating—but you're getting the presents! To kick off the summer's festivities, we're hosting an essay contest for all our fabulous Babes. Winners will get a free ChronicBabe t-shirt, stickers, buttons and more. Every reader who submits an entry by July 9 gets a little something free, so read on for contest details...

Posted: 6/23/2008 in Announcements

Happy Fibromyalgia Awareness Day, Babes! Editrix Jenni is a FibroBabe, and we know many of you are, too. You've probably got the basics down, but just in case, here are some resources useful for beginners and experts alike. And if you have more to offer, please email us!

Posted: 5/12/2008 in Announcements  |  Also posted in: Cool Tools

It's not too late! You can still join our team by visiting the WOMAN Challenge web site and registering, then joining the ChronicBabes Team (we're listed geographically under Illinois) and participating. We're going to get more fit together, and it's gonna rock!

Posted: 5/10/2008 in Announcements

Editrix Jenni has joined the WOMAN Challenge, that is, the Women and Girls Out Moving Across the Nation Challenge sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office on Women's Health. It kicks off on May 11 and ends July 5. We're going to travel as a team cross-country (virtually) and achieve an improvement in our health. By working together, we can encourage each other to get more fit, at our own pace. And we've got a nifty Facebook group to keep you motivated and in touch with team members.

Posted: 4/28/2008 in Announcements

We know, not the most uplifting headline. But there are TONS of people who live well in spite of type 1 diabetes and today's a great day for you to learn how they do it, and more.

Posted: 4/14/2008 in Announcements

Editrix Jenni has been dreaming of podcasts for a while now. But before we dive in, we want to test the water. So tell us: Would you listen to a ChronicBabe podcast? What kinds of things and people would you like to hear? Let us know: Take the 3-minute ChronicBabe podcast survey. Thanks in advance, Babes!

Posted: 3/31/2008 in Announcements

Even though Editrix Jenni is not working for a few days during her move, she's still taking submissions for the March 4 Grand Rounds. The theme: New Beginnings. Please send your submission through our contact page, and include a direct link to your post plus a one-to two-sentence description of it. Include the words "Grand Rounds" in the subject line of your message. DEADLINE: 10pm CST Sunday, March 2 - no exceptions. Thanks!

Posted: 2/23/2008 in Announcements

It's official: ChronicBabe was voted the Best Patient's Blog in the 2007 Medical Blog Awards, sponsored by MedGadget. Yes! Thanks to everyone who voted, and encouraged their friends to vote, too. We love our readers!

Posted: 1/28/2008 in Announcements

We've updated the Help Desk to include almost 450 Editrix-approved resources just for ChronicBabe readers!

If you've never visited the Help Desk before, it's the place to go for hundreds of coping tips, links to disease-related web sites, guidance from advocacy groups, help finding cute medical gear and apparel and much more.

Posted: 11/15/2007 in Announcements

Hi folks, I know it's been quiet, and that's probably been frustrating for many of you. But we're back at it starting today! Here's what's been happening, and what we have in store for you.

Posted: 9/26/2007 in Announcements

We sent out the Goodie Bags yesterday and received an overwhelming positive response - tons of great messages of support and advice. Thank you, Babes! But...as always, there were a couple of naysayers in the bunch. We want to address their concerns quickly so Editrix Jenni can go back to getting ready to move into temporary housing.

Posted: 9/5/2007 in Announcements

If you've seen the site recently, you know that Jenni and her husband have essentially lost their home in a freak storm last week. Here's a quick update. And here are some photos.

Posted: 8/29/2007 in Announcements

Yes, you read that headline right. A tornado (or microburst, whatever) has swept through Chicago - specifically hitting the North Side, where Editrix Jenni and her hubby Steve live.

Posted: 8/23/2007 in Announcements

Editrix Jenni's childhood favorite, Ranch-Style Beans (formerly known as Husband-Pleasin' Beans), are finally available for sale at Amazon.com. Yay! Buy some today, or buy anything from Amazon through our affiliate links and search boxes, and you'll be helping keep ChronicBabe strong.

Posted: 8/22/2007 in Announcements

Amy Mercer of Dreaming of Water (a blog about women and diabetes) recently presented ChronicBabe with the Thinking Blogger Award, and challenged us to recognize five other blogs that make US think. Here's our list of five favorites. (Though, of course, we could list dozens!)

Posted: 8/20/2007 in Announcements  |  Also posted in: Cool Tools

Can you believe ChronicBabe is two years old? We've been offering support for young women with chronic illness for two years—celebrate with us!

Posted: 8/1/2007 in Announcements

Health magazine has created a new project, the The Face of Health, and invites women to participate in this organic photo essay of sorts.

Posted: 6/5/2007 in Announcements  |  Also posted in: Crafty

We have five winners! Thanks to everyone who entered our contest—we had lots of inspirational stories to consider. Here are our five winners, and their stories. This is an article worth taking the time to enjoy in full!

Posted: 5/21/2007 in Announcements  |  Also posted in: Inspiration

If you're a ChronicBabe fan, you simply must sign up for our new news feed. It's the easiest way to keep up with what's new at the site and get alerts about contests, give-aways, breaking news and more.

Posted: 5/17/2007 in Announcements

ChronicBabe.com is giving away 5 copies of Lisa J. Copen's great book Beyond Casseroles: 505 Ways to Encourage a Chronically Ill Friend.

Posted: 5/9/2007 in Announcements  |  Also posted in: Cool Tools

Did you get your free eBook, How to Be a ChronicBabe: A Beginner's Toolkit, today? If you're a subscriber to our eNewsletter, Goodie Bag, you should have received an email with a link to the freebie. If not, please let us know and we'll forward it along. And if you're not a subscriber, get on it! This won't be the last time we send out free goodies, and we'd hate for you to miss out.

Posted: 4/26/2007 in Announcements

As we grow close to launching a new-and-improved site, Editrix Jenni and the gang here at ChronicBabe HQ are collecting "testimonials" - short statements from people we've worked with regarding our project and its value to them. We would also love to hear from you, dear readers!

Posted: 3/23/2007 in Announcements

Here at ChronicBabe, we've made it our mission to share hundreds of cool tips and resources to help you live a fulfilling, sexy and successful life in spite of chronic illness. So we're super excited about a bundle of new offerings we'll roll out in coming weeks. What's the best way to keep up with all the resources we have to offer? Sign up for Goodie Bag, our free e-newsletter delivered every other Tuesday. Not only do readers get tons of helpful (and fun) information, but starting in March, new subscribers* will also get free stuff! We don't want to give away the surprise yet, but trust us - you'll love what we've got to offer. In just a few months we've grown to more than 700 Goodie Bag subscribers, with many more newbies joining each day. So sign up now and join the hundreds (soon to be thousands!) of people who get an e-newsletter they actually love to read - one that helps them feel better with each issue. *Don't worry, long-time Goodie Bag readers - you'll get the free stuff too!

Posted: 2/26/2007 in Announcements

The date: February 13, Valentine's Day Eve. The Deadline: Sunday, February 11 at midnight Central time - no exceptions! This Babe has chronic hands and needs all day Monday to put Grand Rounds together. The Theme: Give Me Some Sugar.

Posted: 2/5/2007 in Announcements

Support ChronicBabe.com! Shop Amazon via our Retail Therapy area (we just added a bunch of new items) or search in the Amazon search boxes anywhere on this site, and ChronicBabe.com will receive at least 5% of the purchase price of everything you buy. That's right -- EVERYTHING. So if you're a ChronicBabe, or you love a ChronicBabe, support our site and do all your Amazon shopping through us!

Posted: 11/29/2006 in Announcements

Tune in this saturday morning, Aug. 19, at 9am to hear Editrix Jenni on "Live from the Heartland" - broadcasting on WLUW 88.7 FM from the lovely and delicious Heartland Cafe in Rogers Park. We'll be chatting about "convergence media" - using multiple media (especially online) to spread a message on the cheap.

Posted: 8/18/2006 in Announcements

ChronicBabe is growing, and we're looking for more of your stories to tell. If you love to write and want to share an experience that could help another Babe, check out our article submission guidelines.

Posted: 8/3/2006 in Announcements  |  Also posted in: Inspiration

Support ChronicBabe.com! Shop Amazon via our Retail Therapy area (we just added a bunch of new items) or search in the Amazon search boxes anywhere on this site, and ChronicBabe.com will receive at least 5% of the purchase price of everything you buy. That's right -- EVERYTHING. So if you're a ChronicBabe, or you love a ChronicBabe, support our site and do all your Amazon shopping through us!

Posted: 7/31/2006 in Announcements

Don't miss ChronicBabe Editrix Jenni Prokopy's live TV debut this Monday, July 24, at 6:30 pm on Chicago's CAN-TV - Channel 21.

Posted: 7/20/2006 in Announcements

Regular readers know we luv Grand Rounds, the weekly rotating carnival of the best of the medical blogosphere. We luv it so much, in fact, that we're hosting it on July 18, and you're invited to participate!

Posted: 7/7/2006 in Announcements  |  Also posted in: Cool Tools

We've had a lot of interest lately in reprints of ChronicBabe articles, and we're thrilled that folks want to spread the message. But we've also seen a bunch of our stuff reprinted without permission all over the web, which is a big no-no. So here are some rules to remember when reprinting anything from ChronicBabe.

Posted: 6/16/2006 in Announcements

We've added some new goodies to our Retail Therapy shop.

Posted: 3/20/2006 in Announcements

That is, according to her pal Dee, who nominated her for the Real Hot 100 award. The awards are an answer to Maxim magazine's annual Hot 100 feature in which it ranks women solely for beauty; the Real Hot 100 is hunting for women who are making a difference in the world. The Editrix is incredibly flattered to be in such great company!

Posted: 1/18/2006 in Announcements

Hi y'all! The Editrix here to assure you that the recent quiet phase over here at ChronicBabe HQ is not bad news - we've just been enjoying a well-earned holiday break. But we're back at it now, and have a ton of new goodies in the pipeline: an e-newsletter starting up in a couple weeks which will offer unique stories and opportunities to connect with some of our favorite people, places and things; a series of e-books on planning chronically cool parties, making the most of every day (even the worst ones), and steps to follow to build your support team; more columns on cooking, sex and crafts (is there anything else, really?); regular features on other young women writing great stuff on the Chronic life...and so much more!

Posted: 12/28/2005 in Announcements

Playing Santa this year? Do the Babe a favor and shop Amazon.com through our Associates links - we get at least 5% of the purchase price, which adds up fast and helps us grow! Click through one of the handy links all over our site every time you place a new order and we'll get credit. It's like you're giving two gifts!

Posted: 11/23/2005 in Announcements

In the coming weeks, residents of the Gulf Coast area will need all of our help. We don't often do this, but here at ChronicBabe we're asking all of our readers to make donations to the American Red Cross Hurricane 2005 Relief fund to assist in rebuilding our neighbors to the south.

Posted: 8/31/2005 in Announcements

Usually Babes ask us questions, and we do our best to answer them. Today, the Babe needs to ask a question herself! Do you -- or anyone you know -- use voice recognition software?

Posted: 8/26/2005 in Announcements  |  Also posted in: Cool Tools

Jenni Prokopy, ChronicBabe's founder and Editrix, appeared this morning on Chicago's own WLUW 88.78 FM's "Live from the Heartland."In case you missed it, she compiled some handy facts about chronic pain. Click here to download the PDF file. Enjoy!

Posted: 8/6/2005 in Announcements

ChronicBabe Founder and Editrix Jenni Prokopy will be speaking on "Live from the Heartland" this Saturday morning, August 6, between 9 and 10 am, on Chicago's WLUW 88.7 FM. The show is broadcast live each Saturday morning from the stage of the Heartland Cafe, 7000 N. Glenwood in the city's Rogers Park neighborhood. If you don't live in Chicago (or you live on the South Side - come on, this is community radio!), you can hear the show stream live from the station's web site.

Posted: 8/3/2005 in Announcements

Shop the Babe! Today we opened our own CafePress shop, where you can pick from almost 30 different ChronicBabe goodies.

Posted: 7/29/2005 in Announcements  |  Also posted in: Cool Tools

As we continue to grow and seek out ways to become self-sufficient, we're experimenting with the Amazon Associates program. By shopping Amazon.com through our links, you're helping to support ChronicBabe.com!

Posted: 7/22/2005 in Announcements

Since we launched a few days ago, many women have written the Babe to ask about contributing articles. Of course, we welcome new voices to the site! Here are some guidelines for submitting articles.

Posted: 7/21/2005 in Announcements

Once again, it's time for the ChronicBabe Gift Guide. The 2009 edition includes products and services we've tried out, and others we've heard are awesome. We run the gamut from home to work, travel to hermitting, food to drink...you name it, we cover it. If you think we left something super awesome off the list, just let me know and we'll add it!

Posted: 11/30/2009 in Cool Tools  |  Also posted in: Announcements

Call us biased, but we think chicks rule. There's a ton of health information on the 'net, but often, medical research and reporting focus more on men—so we thought it was high time the ladies got a little attention in Grand Rounds, a showcase for the best health and medical writing on the web. This week: 35 different bloggers address pregnancy, advocacy, self-esteem and body image, mental health, diet, love and romance, experimental treatments, lost tampons, primary care, lawsuits, headaches and so much more.

Posted: 1/27/2009 in Cool Tools  |  Also posted in: Announcements

Special alert: Tina Sprigg of Beadin' Beagle - creator of gorgeous jewelry for your medical alert tags - has generously offered to provide ChronicBabe readers with a whopping 15% discount on their wares. Simply type "Chronic" (without quotes) in the customer code at checkout and the discount will be applied. Thanks, Tina!

Posted: 11/29/2007 in Fashion  |  Also posted in: Announcements

From dLife, we bring you an exclusive interview of Soprano’s Star Aida Turturro talking about her battle with diabetes for the first time on television. Enjoy!

Posted: 4/26/2007 in Inspiration  |  Also posted in: Announcements

Hey, everyone! I am so excited I'm about to burst. Good pal Cinnamon, purse maker extraordinaire, has created a ChronicBabe Tote. It's gorgeous!

Posted: 7/7/2005 in Fashion  |  Also posted in: Announcements