Chicago, IL (PRWEB) January 01, 2012

FurnitureForPatio.com is bringing in the New Year with a sale that offers free shipping on all patio furniture. For one week only customer’s can save big with free shipping with any purchase. The beginning of a new year is a great time to buy patio furniture because manufacturers are releasing new collections and factories are in the off season. Since the order volume is low, factories are able produce custom ordered furniture in 2-3 weeks. During peak ordering season’s custom patio furniture is usually delivered in 4-6 weeks. The quick turnaround times are an advantage to ordering early in the year, rather than waiting for the spring rush. FurnitureForPatio.com is excited to introduce new furniture and offer customer’s free shipping on all orders. The New Year Free Shipping Sale is available from January 1, 2012 until January 8, 2012.

FurnitureForPatio.com is constantly adding to their great collection of patio furniture and outdoor decorations for the home. Shopping and buying patio furniture has never been easier for customers at FurnitureForPatio.com. Today, patio furniture manufactures are offering their products with a variety of different personalization options. When shopping for patio furniture at FurnitureForPatio.com, customers can view and order from a variety of different frame and fabric options. For example, the Telescope Casual Momentum collection is available in 10 different powder coat frame options and 70+ different fabric options for the deep seating cushions.

Patio sectionals were a popular item for the 2011 season and will continue to into the 2012 season. Patio sectionals are now available in variety of different materials and styles. Wicker patio sectionals are a great option when choosing an outdoor sofa. Today’s outdoor wicker furniture is constructed with a resin material that is resistant to cracking, fading, and burring. Curved or crescent sectionals are a popular new piece of furniture that people are using for an outdoor living area. The deep seating cushions and contour of the sofa make them a great solution for outdoor seating around the fire pit. FurnitureForPatio.com offers one of the largest collections of patio sectionals that are available with free shipping during the New Year Sale.

Outdoor club chairs are another trend that manufacturers are targeting for the 2012 season. New 2012, outdoor club chairs compete with the quality and comfort of interior club chairs. Outdoor club chairs are great for creating a comfortable lounge area on any patio. The oversized frames and deep seating cushions allow for ultimate comfort while relaxing in a summer breeze. Custom ordered outdoor grade designer fabrics allow for customers to personalize the club chair, so that it can match the exterior décor of their home. Adding an ottoman to a club chair is a great idea to enhance the comfort and style of the chair. FurnitureForPatio.com offers club chairs available with wicker, resin, and cast frames.

FurnitureForPatio.com is a one stop shop for decorating the patio of your home. Customers can shop from patio sets, chairs, tables, sectionals, sofas, barstools, umbrellas and other outdoor decorations. The New Year Patio Furniture Sale allows consumers to save on popular outdoor furniture from brands like Lloyd Flanders, Telescope Casual, Polywood, North Cape, and Caluco. FurnitureForPatio.com is quickly becoming one of the most popular stores to buy patio furniture and outdoor decorations for your home. The store features an expansive collection of patio furniture that can be purchased online and delivered to anywhere in the USA.

Read the full story at prweb.com/releases/new-year-2012/patio-furniture-sale/prweb9071586.htm

<a href="http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/536023tag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/536023Sun, 01 Jan 2012 12:09:36 GMT”>New Year Sale on All Patio Furniture

Longtime LGBT community ally Merry Mary, aka Mary Featherston, died Dec. 30 after a short battle with cancer. Born Jan. 4, 1934, Mary was 77 years old when she died.

Mary was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame as a Friend of the Community in 2005. The honor was based on her dedication as a volunteer to numerous LGBT health and cultural groups, starting in 1979.

Mary was especially passionate about the city’s two gay choruses, Windy City Gay Chorus ( under the umbrella of Windy City Performing Arts, or WCPA ) and Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus ( CGMC ) , and the Chi-Town Squares. Other groups that benefited from her volunteer work included Howard Brown Health Center, the NAMES Project, Unison, Dignity/Chicago, Archdiocesan Gay and Lesbian Outreach, Little Brothers-Friends of the Elderly and Vital Bridges’ GroceryLand Pantry.

Her first volunteer work in the community was in 1979 with what was then known as Howard Brown Memorial Clinic. In 1987, she was honored with HBMC’s Friend for Life award and in February 2005 the clinic honored her for 25 years of volunteering.

Mary’s volunteer work for the NAMES Project stemmed from her own personal loss of friends she met during her community volunteerism. She created panels for gay men who died, and then gave her time when the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt first was displayed in Chicago, at Navy Pier in 1988.

Her biggest time commitment was helping work events, and attending rehearsals, for the choral and square dancing groups. Her closest friends seem to have come from those times.

“No one has attended or heard more chorus rehearsals and performances by both WCPA and CGMC than Merry Mary,” said CGMC’s Danny Kopelson. “For nearly 30 years, I knew I’d see her every Sunday at CGMC rehearsals at the money table. She would always cut articles out of the paper for me and others that she knew we’d be interested in reading and would be collecting and folding bags for Vital Bridges North Side Pantry. She was there for the choruses when members who were sick and losing their lives to HIV/AIDS. As an LGBT Hall of Fame ‘Friend f the Community’ Mary was a critical part of Chicago’s LGBT history and certainly the gay choruses. Wherever Mary was, she shared her love. She was loved back and will be greatly missed by many.”

One summer day in the 1970s, Mary took her children to a parade near her Lakeview home. Coming from a fairly sheltered Catholic upbringing, Mary was surprised to realize that she was watching Chicago’s gay Pride Parade. Nobody, least of all Mary herself, would have guessed that she would eventually become one of the gay community’s most devoted friends and supporters.

People unfamiliar with the name Mary Featherston are far more likely to recognize “Merry Mary,” the moniker by which she was known in gay and lesbian circles across the city. After becoming involved in the community, Mary began to patronize North Side gay bars; a favorite hangout was B.J.’s, located at 3231 N. Clark ( it later became the restaurant Orange, and is now called Kanela ) . After establishing herself as a regular and making friends with everyone—in her customary fashion—Mary would walk into B.J.’s and would be greeted by one of the other regulars calling out, “It’s Merry Mary!” The nickname stuck.

A lifelong Chicagoan, Mary was born in the Wicker Park neighborhood and lived for the first six years of her life at 1327 N. Oakley. Her family then moved to Lakeview, and she remained in the same neighborhood near Addison and Southport for the rest of her life. She attended St. Alverna Catholic High School.

Mary’s involvement with the gay community began when her children were still in school. One of the other parents did volunteer work at Howard Brown ( then located on Halsted near Diversey ) , and one day he invited Mary to come along. She wound up volunteering with Howard Brown for 31 years.

At about this same time, another friend invited Mary to attend the inaugural performance of the newly formed Windy City Gay Chorus in December 1979. Mary began volunteering with WCPA, and when a faction later broke off and formed the Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus in 1983, Mary volunteered with them as well. She remained an integral and valued part of both choruses until the end of her life—staffing the money table, sitting in on the weekly rehearsals, and attending the concerts. Chorus members looking out into the audience of the Athenaeum Theater knew they could always find Mary in her spot in the upper balcony center.

Mary was diagnosed with terminal cancer in the fall. During her final weeks at St. Joseph’s Hospital, the steady stream of visitors to Mary’s room was a veritable “Who’s Who” of prominent figures in Chicago’s LGBT community. But despite her popularity, Mary was a modest person who avoided the spotlight, preferring to serve and to enrich other people’s lives—in a variety of different ways—behind the scenes.

Bruce Besley knew Mary from her earliest days with WCPA. “We’d go out to the bars together. She used to have a 4th of July party in Wrigleyville, in her big side yard. She was unique, and she had her own bar stool at Cellblock. She was wonderful woman, involved in so many things. She was at every Windy City Gay Chorus concert, up until the last one in December,” Besley said.

Bob Tuscher also fondly remembered his friend of 30 years. He’s not sure where they met originally, but it could have been when they worked for AT&T, or when they both volunteered for HBMC when it was on Halsted. Mary worked more than 20 years at AT&T, including as an information operator, and later worked as a clerk for a credit union and as a vault attendant at Central Savings Bank.

“We would talk on the phone all the time,” said Tuscher. “Her influence was far and wide. It is a very sad thing. She had an incredible impact on Windy City Gay Chorus and CGMC. She was always there as a guiding hand, and she kept meticulous records. Windy City gave her a lifetime membership a few years ago, and she didn’t even want to take it. She always talked to anyone, and made them feel welcome. She helped so much around the AIDS crisis—it’s so painful to remember how many people were cut down in their prime. So many friends disappeared overnight.

“She was like a sister. I don’t remember a time when I didn’t know her. … She added stability to us, in a difficult time, and everyone she came into contact with her held her in such high regard. She was very low-key, yet she cut a powerful and dynamic swath through the city. … My parents would come to chorus concerts, and Mary and my mom hit it off. When my mom said they came because they were like parents to a lot of the guys whose parents rejected them, Mary said that was how she felt, too. She felt like a mom. She was giving that love and support even when they didn’t know they needed it.”

“Merry Mary was a very early ally and supporter back in 1993 when we were forming the LGBT employee resource group ( GLEAM ) at Ameritech. She was such a force for good,” said Kasey Reese, a former Chicagoan now living in Vancouver. [ SBC acquired Ameritech then later acquired AT&T and took on the AT&T name. ]

<a href="http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=35468tag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=35468Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:12:29 GMT”>PASSAGES Community ally Merry Mary dies

<a href="http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/leisure/latest/9430093.PubSpy_awards_the_best_and_worst_pubs_of_the_year/tag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/leisure/latest/9430093.PubSpy_awards_the_best_and_worst_pubs_of_the_year/Wed, 28 Dec 2011 10:05:28 GMT”>2011: Year of filth and golden glory

We’ve seen it all this year, and sometimes we’ve seen too much. That’s what reality TV does to you. When we weren’t horrified by the lengths people will go to for fame, or the way talent shows bring out the crazy in people, we were enjoying these top five reality TV moments in 2011. After all, it’s just meant to be a bit of fun, isn’t it?

1. The Tortoiseshell Stomach

Celebrity Big Brother returned in August and, with it, came a motley bunch of ‘famous’ people doing their very best to make the headlines. Including wacky twins Jedward, who shaved each others’ faces, TOWIE star Amy Childs, who pranced around in a bikini, former Baywatch babe Pamela Bach, who talked about her ex-hubby the Hoff, reality TV staple Kerry Katona, who tried to nab herself toyboy Lucien Laviscount, and Sally Bercow, the wife of the Speaker of the House of Commons, who generally embarrassed parliament by being there.

There were plenty of memorable moments from the show, which found its new home on Channel 5 – Childs offering Bercow a vajazzle was just one of them. But the best moment of all, the defining moment of our Celebrity Big Brother experience ‘11 was when Darryn Lyons, aka Mr Paparazzi, the man who made a fortune from taking pictures of celebs’ fake body parts, revealed his own tortoiseshell stomach.

Washboard it wasn’t. In preparation for his entry to the microscopic exposure of the Big Brother house, the 46-year-old showbiz paparazzo had undertaken a surgical procedure known as ‘contouring’ to achieve his rippling abdomen, however, we’re assured no tortoises were harmed in this production.

2. Kelly Rowland Confuses The Nation

“Who knew you were doing uptempo owwww”, “gawd dog woman, you put it down!” and “happy frickin xmas, I love your jumpers” – just some of the gems that came out of Kelly Rowland’s beautiful mouth during the X Factor. The Destiny’s Child singer took to her judging role like only Beyonce’s best mate could, bringing with her the best feedback the talent contest’s hopefuls could have hoped for. Who needs smarmy Simon dissing your vocals when you can have Kelly commenting on your face, jumper or butts y’all?

3. Give Me A Scarf!!!

It was inevitable – put an eighties Hollywood TV star in a jungle with a glamour model who doesn’t know where Chile is and Mark Wright from TOWIE and she’s going to flip out about something.

Stefanie Powers became a highlight of I’m A Celebrity 2011 when she snapped over sun cream and scarfs. With a genuine rage in her eyes, the Hart To Hart star said: “People will call up the show and say there is a dead person on the programme, it has white zinc oxide in the cream and it makes me look like a cadaver, I need one with a tint, it looks like I’m dead. I really need to have some help here, the more I wipe it, the whiter it gets.”

She then stormed into the Bush Telegraph and demanded a scarf, claiming: “I’d like a scarf, every time I put something out to dry it disappears, I need a scarf!… This is a f***ing TV show! Let’s just get this straight! Jesus Christ! We smell, we’re tired, we’re cranky and we’re bored.” Yes Stephanie, we could tell.

4. Entertainment From The Astrologer

Who’d have thought Russell Grant would become the highlight of Strictly 2011? Not only did the astrologer get to return to his favoured spot in the limelight, claiming: “I’m back doing what I really love to do,” but viewers were also given the most gloriously camp contestant the ballroom’s ever seen. Whether cuddling a teddy bear, riding a bucking bronco, swishing in white satin after emerging from a giant pink seashell, or being shot out of a glitter cannon, Grant made the series with his darling behaviour.

5. TOWIE’s Innocent Side

Once upon a time, Mother Teresa comforted sick men. In Essex they have bubbly Gemma Collins. Arriving with a wicker basket of goodies, Gemma came to the rescue of Greek twin Dino, who was laid up unwell on the sofa – with his top off of course, because that’s what men do when they’re sick, right? Gemma unpacked her basket and proved that she knows what a Greek man needs – forget Lemsip, they like humus, tzatziki and pitta bread. The time Gemma turned nurse was one of The Only Way Is Essex’s more innocent moments, slotted nicely in between the plastic surgery chats, scheming nightclub chats and that massive slanging match between Lauren Goodger and Sam Faiers.

‘; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, ‘top’, {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: ‘clear-overlay’}); });

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/12/19/the-top-5-reality-tv-moments-2011_n_1158271.html?ref=uktag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/12/19/the-top-5-reality-tv-moments-2011_n_1158271.html?ref=ukSun, 25 Dec 2011 10:37:31 GMT”>Top 5 Reality TV Moments Of 2011