I am so pleased to announce that Zuburbia has been named a CONSTANT CONTACT ALL STAR WINNER for the third year in a row!

Only 10% of Constant Contact customers reach All Star status each year and, since Zuburbia has managed to do so for three consecutive years, it makes this accomplishment even more noteworthy.

Why am I so particularly proud of this award?

Because I take my responsibility to my readers VERY seriously and this award is a validation that I am treating the most important people at Zuburbia — YOU, my readers — right!

Every time I attend a conference, exchange a business card with someone and suddenly find myself on their mailing list, I remember how many truly talented business people still aren’t aware of the myriad laws surrounding permission-based email marketing.

That conference attendee never received my permission to add me to their list — they just assumed they had my permission.

But that will NEVER happen here at Zuburbia.

And if you’ve ever tried to unsubscribe from a list and three weeks later found yourself having to unsubscribe AGAIN, you should rightly feel frustrated.

But in every Zuburbia email you receive, you’ll always find a simple one-click unsubscribe button to make it easy to manage your subscriptions.

And since qualifying for the All Star Award requires consistently high open rates (greater than 25%), high click-through rates AND low bounce rates, I must send a heartfelt THANK YOU to ALL OF YOU!

Please know that I will never, EVER share or sell your information with other companies, that you’re free to leave my lists easily at any time (although I’m always sad to see you go), and that I will only mail to readers who legitimately opt-in to my lists (unlike many, many other companies who are illegally scrubbing names from websites and blogs).

Thank you for allowing me to share my Zuburbia insights with you and please continue to share your thoughts with me via email (mkincaid at zuburbia.com), Facebook and Twitter.

ZOZOZO

(That’s hugs and kisses Zuburbia style!)

(To join Zuburbia’s email list, sign up here. Your information will never be sold or shared and you can easily unsubscribe at any time.)

I just wanted to toot my own horn for a moment and let everyone know that Zuburbia has been named a 2010 All-Star Award Winner by Constant Contact for the second year in a row.

I’m very proud of this award because it’s partially based on email open and click-through rates and it shows just how engaged all of my email readers are!

I’m also proud because it recogizes my commitment to all of you that I will never, EVER share or sell your information with other companies, I make it super-easy to unsubscribe from my lists at any time (although I’m always sad to see you go), and I only mail to readers who legitimately opt-in to my lists (unlike many, many other companies who are illegally scrubbing names from websites and blogs).

Thank you for allowing me to share my Zuburbian insights with you daily and please continue to share your thoughts with me via email, Facebook and Twitter.

ZOZOZO

(That’s hugs and kisses Zuburbia style!)

Kudos to the 2011 SAG awards which saved THREE TONS of paper this year by encouraging its members to cast their votes online. But that’s just the tip of the green iceberg.

This zero-waste event wined and dined its guests with locally sourced food and used eco-friendly plates, cups and utensils that were recycled at the night’s end. In addition, Hollywood’s talent were offered hybrid cars for transportation and the event was even prepared for an emergency power interruption with a backup biodeisel generator.

Plus it was so nice to see a few celebrities embracing the SAG Awards’ green spirit and donning vintage evening wear for their walk down the Red Carpet.

Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer) looked totally glam in her elegant vintage Thierry Mugler gown and Dianna Agron (Glee) glowed in her vintage Chanel cocktail dress.

And if any invitees to the upcoming Oscars are still tearing out their hair trying to decide what to wear, I offer today’s VPOD. This strapless vintage Ralph Lauren evening gown is ready and waiting to strut its stuff.

It’s an eco-friendly award night find for a vintage fashionista!

Available from Coquette at 1stdibs.com.

While most American teenage girls have heard the story of Cinderella, I suspect that for many of them, dreaming of fame and a walk down a Red Carpet trumps finding a handsome Prince Charming.

And certainly one 14-year-old had her dream come true this past weekend.

Hailee Steinfeld, star of the film True Grit, and reportedly a frontrunner for the lead role of Katniss in the upcoming film Hunger Games, wins my personal Best-Dressed Award at this year’s Golden Globes. I thought this young lady out-styled many older Red Carpet veterans, pulling off a look that was both chic and yet totally age appropriate. She looked young, fresh and utterly gorgeous in a gown designed by Prabal Gurung, perhaps a designer who is not as well-known to millions of armchair fashion critics as Versace or Armani but who is highly regarded among die-hard fashionistas, having already dressed the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Demi Moore, Michelle Obama and Zoe Saldana.

Little Miss Hailee glowed in her gown and she perfectly executed the Rule of KISS (Keep It Super Simple). She opted for a sleek ponytail instead of a sophisticated up-do. She nixed the idea of thousands of dollars worth of jewels and their accompanying security detail to accessorize with only a few well-selected coordinating pieces.

And while we can’t see her choice of footwear here, I’m betting they were just as tasteful and chic as the rest of her outfit.

After all, as any Cinderella-wannabe knows, it’s all about the shoes!

So here’s today’s VPOD: a glam pair of vintage 1950s silver and rhinestone heels by Herbert Levine that are a perfect wardrobe addition even if you don’t currently share a closet with your very own Prince Charming.

They’re a lovely evening find for a vintage fashionista!

Available at Hillbilly Filly Vintage.

(To receive the VPOD via email along with detailed size, price and purchase information, sign up for my growing email mailing list here. Your information will never be sold or shared and you can easily unsubscribe at any time.)

We’re so pleased to announce that Zuburbia has been named a 2009 Constant Contact All Star for 2009. Why should you care? Because it means that we take permission marketing seriously!

The award means we stay in touch with you—our dear readers—with regular communications. It means we never, ever, EVER email to anyone who hasn’t given us permission. It means we don’t troll the web looking for email addresses on blogs to add to our list. It means that the emails we send out get open and READ and we send links that are relevant to YOU because you’re clicking on them like crazy!

There are plenty of exciting things in the works over here at Zuburbia. In 2010 we’ll be expanding our coverage of the vintage clothing market for buyers—both casual and collectors—AND we’ll be expanding our reach to vintage sellers. This means we’ll be giving you more choices for just what type of information you want to receive from us so the only emails cluttering your in-box are the ones that you have decided are relevant to YOU.

But it can get lonely out her in cyberspace so please leave us a comment telling us just what we can do for you in 2010.

Everyone leaving a comment (yes, even you nasty spammers out there) will receive a 20% coupon to use at Zuburbia.com.