A food-loving, wine-drinking, large dog-having, proud military wife who is the luckiest chick on earth and gets to play with glue and paper for a living!
While the Christmas holidays seem to generate the biggest "push" for donating your time/money/stuff, over the past few weeks I've noticed a resurgence of "here is how you can change the world" articles and tv spots and emails. Spring is a time of rebirth and fresh starts and the feeling of renewal - so here are two ways (and I know there are a BAJILLION more) to make a change in the world this spring!
Earth Day - this year the Earth Day Network hopes to gather 1 billion pledges as part of its Billion Acts of Green initiative. Best of all - they aren't asking for money, they are asking for you to make one small change in your life (even if it is only for one day) to support the cause. This would be a great project to take on as a family - ask your kids to come up with some ideas!
kiva.org - My father was a banker who for many years worked to provide loans to cooperatives in developing countries, so this program has always been near and dear to my heart. Kiva is a non-profit agency that uses microloans to create opportunity for those who do not have access (or the means) to use traditional banking institutions. There are so many things that separate Kiva from other "charities" - the first being that your money is not donated, it is loaned. Kiva has an over 98% repayment rate, and the lender (you) can loan your repaid dollars to someone else or withdraw it. The second is that you choose exactly who and where you want the money to go. Want to empower a single mother? Do you come from a farming family and want to reach out to a similar family on the opposite side of the world? Looking to support someone in the arts? All of these choices are available to you through their Choose a Borrower search engine. You can receive updates on your borrower, and I can tell you from experience it is a thrill to receive your loan back and know that you have been even a small part of empowering someone else to create a better life for themselves.
We can ALL make a change in the world. Let's start today!
Now - let me be upfront and say that I have never participated in anything like this before...but I am so tickled she thought of me and I am always up for celebrating the creativity of others - so let's do this thing!
15 bloggers I admire/stalk/am proud to call friend/am inspired by:
Stephanie Howell - Stephanie and I have never met, but she is some sort of weird spirit guide who seems to share my brain. Not only is she super crafty, but we are both Ranger wives - and that is a very special (and sometimes scary) sisterhood to be in.
Tammy Caudell - is a member of the Xyron Design Team and quite possibly one of the nicest people on the planet.
Melissa Frances - I have said about 1000 times that I am obsessed with MF - this is 1001.
Karin Aguirre - Karin and I met on the set of the now infamous Xyron infommercial and became instant friends - until I discovered that she is on the Melissa Frances DT. Now I just stalk her out of jealousy! :)
Happy Home Fairy - I don't know who this chick is, but I want to move next door to her immediately and have her adopt me. Her kids craft projects make me so happy!
Ann Corbiere-Scott - is also a member of the Xyron DT, and when the two of us get together you better just step back, because we are going to have a creativity explosion and you won't get a word in edgewise!
Julie Thigpen - The upside of moving every few years is that with each new address you get a blank canvas with which to create a home. The downside is that you can't do anything too "permanent" because you know you won't be there forever (especially if you are renting)! Julie's blog lets me dream of my forever home where I can do anything my heart desires.
Better After - One of my great obsessions is renovating furniture. Don and I have a dream of owning a store when we retire - he will build/renovate furniture in the back and we will have an artist co-op in the front where all of my crafty friends can peddle their wares. This blog keeps my dream alive with their incredible before and after photos and ideas!
Christina Klauer - another member of the Xyron DT who inspires me not only with her talent, but with her strength in the midst of difficulties. Amazing.
Megan Klauer - Christina's sister. I mean seriously. Is it fair that one family has SO much talent? ;) I have gotten away from doing 12x12 scrapbook pages (I do Everyday Stories divided page protectors) but Megan keeps sucking me back in with her beautiful pages.
Maya Road - whenever I need inspiration my first stop is the MR blog. Their products are amazing, their story is fantastic, and they have brought my creativity to a whole new level. They actually have three blogs - the DT blog, the company blog and Caroline Lau's blog. Caroline is one of the owners of MR and I am proud to call her friend. What originally started as a "behind the scenes" blog has recently turned in to a love letter to her father and her family as they all gather around him in his last days. I encourage everyone to read her posts, and hope every family can face something like this with the love and dignity and peace and togetherness that Caroline and her family have shown us all.
Wendy Morris - I have known Wendy for...holy crap...going on 10 years almost! We were friends before blogs even existed I think - so I am grateful to have this way of still being inspired by her creativity even though we haven't seen each other "IRL" since I left the South (FYI - I don't consider Fayetteville the South).
Cathe Holden - I am a relatively new follower of hers - and love everything she does. She has great freebies, shares wonderful personal stories, and can re-purpose stuff like nobody's business!
Sweet Paul - the only dude (that I know of) in my line up. I keep telling myself I am going to subscribe to his magazine, because I LOVE his blog. He combines food and craftiness - and we all know how I feel about both of those things!
And now - to round out the VBA requirements - seven things about me! Enjoy!
I am OBSESSED with The Melting Pot. Every time I go home I make my parents take me, and Don and I once drove over an hour to one because that is where I wanted to go for my birthday. There is one less than five minutes away from Xyron, but no one will ever go with me. I think it is a conspiracy.
I do not drink coffee. Never have. I am a tea girl all the way. UNLESS - I need it to...ummm...poop. There - I said it. Am I the last person in the world to know that coffee makes you poop? Apparently so.
Don and I have moved 8 times in 11 years - Hawaii, Savannah, Virginia (for three months. THREE!), Columbus GA, Alaska, back to Columbus, Fayetteville NC - and we are moving to Kansas this summer.
I must have been an old man in my past life - because other than wine, the only other alcoholic beverages I drink are vodka gimlets and bloody marys. I even have this bloody mary mix shipped to our house by the case. Is that wrong?
I am the only one of my HSN friends who watches herself (or himself) obsessively - at least the only one who admits it. I record it on my DVR at home, and the first thing I do when I get back from Tampa is plop down in front of the TV and watch each airing at least twice, sometimes three times. Then when Don gets home I make him watch it, and THEN I will delete it. There is one thing I do that drives me CRAZY (and no - I'm not telling you what it is, because then you will notice it even more than I already think you do) and I will obsess about it for DAYS after watching the videos, and then by the next time I get to HSN I have forgotten all about it. I have been repeating this process (and continuing to do the annoying thing) for almost three years. Therapy anyone?
We have two of the biggest dogs in America. Beckett - our bloodhound/mastiff/lab mix:
and Bizzy - our six month old mastidane who is already as tall as Beckett - Heaven help us!
I watch Miami Vice reruns every morning (they are on Centric at 8am Eastern). If I am not home I record them and have been known to sit in front of the tv with my computer for hours on end, "working" and watching Miami Vice at the same time. In fact - that is what I'm doing right now!
Like many of you across the country - we are having weird weather. This time last week it was 50 degrees, this weekend it was 80. What does a girl do when the seasons start to change? Spring Cleaning! Not normal spring cleaning of course - I didn't get out a vacuum or dust rags or anything crazy like that! Instead I:
While this may seem a little less motivated than say - repainting a bathroom or replanting the front yard, these piddly projects actually ended up making a few changes of their own. Who knew?
Where the @#$% are all the Tupperware lids? This is a phrase I hear at least once a week from Don, usually about 5am, usually when I am still in bed and he thinks he is talking to himself. Don has started taking his lunch to work in recent months, which has helped us in a couple of ways. We save money, it encourages me to cook more and in bigger portions so we have leftovers, and it is much healthier than grabbing fast food or something out of a vending machine every day. Even though the cupboard where we keep the plastic tubs started out looking fabulously organized - this is what it looked like on Saturday.
It took us less than 10 minutes to get everything out, match tops to bottoms, toss out the mismatched pieces, and put it all back in the cupboard. While I'm sure it won't stay that way - it reminded us that it only takes a few minutes of working together to make life a little easier.
You're not in high school anymore (or needing to wear power suits). Don and I met my family Saturday night for dinner at Brasa in Raleigh. Incredible meal - wear elastic-waist pants and prepare to take a meat-induced nap afterwards. Anyhoo - I needed something "nice" to wear, and all of my warm weather clothes were in the guest room closet. I was dragging them out one by one - picking something out, trying it on, deciding it wasn't the right thing, dragging out another piece...I finally got so fed up that I pulled out EVERYTHING, took it in to our bedroom, plopped it on the bed, and tried on every single piece of summer clothing I own (including - ugh - bathing suits). I took a REAL look at each piece - did I wear it last summer? does it go with other stuff I own? do I feel comfortable in it? - and got rid of almost 20 items. I was so motivated that I went back through my winter clothes, tried on everything I hadn't worn in the last three months, and got rid of even more. The power suit I bought "just in case"? Gone. The skirt I've had since high school that is too tight in all the wrong places? Out the door. The sweater my MIL gave me that I would never wear but have held on to for three years? Donated. I thought long and hard about the "I plan to lose 10 pounds this year" story we all tell ourselves, and realized that keeping clothes that might fit "someday" just made me feel bad every time I went to get dressed. While it didn't always feel good to look in the mirror (my butt has gotten a little larger since last summer) - it DOES feel good to finally have a closet full of clothes I feel comfortable wearing out of the house. Getting dressed just got a whole lot easier - I even organized my closet by color!
Using Pinterest for good Jessica Turner (The Mom Creative) shared a great blog post last week about using Pinterest.
While I am already pretty good about tips #2-10, tip #1 really struck a chord with me. I use Pinterest as part of my job (how lucky am I?) but I only had six boards, so I spent a LOT of time looking for pins I needed and wishing I was more organized. I brought my ipad with me on our drive up to Raleigh and was able to organize about 90% of my pins in an hour and a half - and learned a LOT in those 90 minutes. A few tips in addition to Jessica's:
Organize your boards AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. I only have about 600 pins, but I still wish I had done it sooner. Don't feel like you need to do it all in one sitting - if we hadn't been driving up to Raleigh I would have done it gradually over time.
100 pins maximum per board is a good number. When I started this weekend my "I create" board had over 250 pins. I created some new boards and moved pins around, and when my I create board had about 100 pins remaining I was able to scroll through and feel like I had a good grasp of what it contained. Having no more than 100 pins also makes it easier to find (and delete) duplicate pins. I had this recipe pinned FIVE TIMES. Five!
Look through your board before you start moving pins around. I have a board called "food glorious food" - and I wanted to separate out sweet/dessert items from everything else. I had about 120 pins on my board and was almost halfway through moving my dessert pins over to a new board when I realized that more than HALF of my pins were desserts! It would have saved a LOT of time if I had just renamed the board "desserts" and moved the other pins somewhere else.
Be prepared to learn something about yourself. I'm not talking about life changing lessons here...but you never know what you might discover! Don and I love weekend breakfasts, and unless we have our nephews over (in which case we have pancakes) we ALWAYS make something savory. I never thought anything about it until I created a "breakfast" board - and all but two of the pins were for sweet foods! Looks like we might try something new next weekend!
Happy Spring to all - if you are on Pinterest I'd love to check out your boards! Share your link in the comments section here on on my FB page - let's inspire each other!
Looking for a fun and easy St. Patrick's Day crafts for the kiddos? A potato, some paint and paper, and a little creativity makes for the perfect project!
SUPPLIES potato knife white cardstock markers WRMK Crop-a-Dile (or hole punch) ribbon washable craft pain paper plate/bowl
Cut the potato in half, then carve your shape on the exposed edge (we used a chipboard heart for a template but you can also cut your shape freehand).
Use a bowl (or plate with raised sides) for the paint, so excess can be wiped off before stamping the potato on to the paper.
To create a clover - get paint on the potato, stamp the heart, then rotate 45 degrees for each leaf. The kids used their fingers to create the stems - their favorite part!
Working with younger kids? Don cut out a "handle" on one of the potatoes by cutting away the sides of the potato about halfway, then cutting a hole through the center.
To complete the project, let the kids write their names on the paper, then punch holes at the top, tie with ribbon, and set aside to dry. Happy St. Patrick's Day!
I have dealt with some big issues in my MAC Monday posts - and today I'm going to talk about something near and dear to my heart. FOOD! :)
When I first decided to start MAC Monday I created a list of things I wanted to change this year...and one of them was that I wanted to learn to eat cilantro. Don LOVES it (and loves to cook) - and for years he has omitted cilantro from recipes because he knows I don't like it, so I wanted to do it for him. I know it isn't a life changer, but love is made up of the little things, isn't it?
So without further ado - I give you Crock Pot Mexican Chicken from See Jane in the Kitchen! RIDICULOUSLY easy, INCREDIBLY tasty, and a happy first foray in to my new world of cilantro loving. Well...liking. Let's not get carried away.
If you are an "I love food but want it to be easy" gal like me...come join my on my Pinterest page. I am always on the look out for fabulous new recipes and love to share them! I'd love to hear about your favorites as well!
Enjoy!
Crock Pot Mexican Chicken 3lbs boneless/skinless chicken (I used all breast meat) 1 1/2 cups italian dressing 1 Tablespoon minced garlic 1 Tablespoon chili powder juice of 1 lime 1/4 cup cilantro
Place chicken in a 4-6 quart crock pot. Pour dressing over top and sprinkle with chili powder and garlic. Cover and cook for 7-8 hours on low or 3-4 hours on high. Remove chicken from crock pot, shred with a couple of forks, then put back in crock pot. Cover and cook an additional 30 minutes. Add lime juice and cilantro.
This is perfect for taco salads, quesadillas, nachos - or frankly, just eaten straight out of the crock pot with a fork!
That was what I said through teary eyes to Bruce Brereton - one of the co-hosts of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation's Celebration of Freedom Gala - as I hugged him goodnight on Saturday. I am rarely at a loss for words, but that phrase was all I could muster after two days of the most humbling, awe-inspiring events Don and I have ever experienced. I will try to organize my thoughts here, but let's all start off knowing that I will not even begin to capture the stories and the lives of the men I've met.
As I've mentioned on my FB page - Don and I were honored beyond words to be invited to the Gala at the Ronald Reagan Library last weekend. The Gala is an opportunity to celebrate living MoH recipients, remember the ones who have passed on, honor people who have made a difference in the lives of soldiers and their families, and raise awareness for the incredible programs the Foundation has created.
On Friday night there was a small luau-themed welcome dinner for the MoH recipients and their families, as well as a few other guests. Gary Sinise, one of the co-hosts of the event, was there - but what amazed and thrilled me throughout the weekend was that HE was not the celebrity. He was not being mobbed by people wanting photos, he wasn't the key speaker, he was just Gary. The real celebrities were the 36 MoH recipients and a young Australian named Ben Roberts-Smith who recently received the Victoria Cross (the British Empire's version of the MoH). The dinner was a reunion of old friends - Ben was welcomed as a brother and us "young'uns" (as we were called more than a few times) were treated like family.
with Ben and Emme Roberts-Smith
At our table were MoH recipients Harvey Barnum, who retired as an Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and Robert Ingram, who had to wait more than 30 years to receive his Medal because of...unbelievably...lost paperwork. We spent a good part of the evening talking to Robert Patterson - a MoH recipient who regaled us with crazy pick-up lines he used when trying to woo his "new bride" (of five years). At the table next to us was George Sakato, who - at 95 - is the oldest living MoH recipient but his sharp mind and sharper wit would make you think he is 30 years younger. Pvt Sakato joined the Army to avoid the internment camps and distinguished himself during WWII by charging an enemy position and taking command after his squad leader was killed, but he was not even considered for the MoH due to societal prejudices until 50 years later (he received the MoH in 2000). My favorite photo of the weekend was the one I snapped of our friend Kyle and Pvt Sakato. Kyle is a young Asian-American soldier whose great-uncle fought in the same unit as Pvt Sakato, and as I saw them sitting with their heads close together in conversation I was moved by how much the world has changed, but how much the brotherhood of soldiers remains the same - even across generations.
with Harvey Barnum
Kyle and George Sakato
I vowed to myself (and to Don) that I would not be a dork over the weekend snapping photos of celebrities at every opportunity - because that is not what the weekend is about. For the most part - I was good. HOWEVER - literally 30 seconds after we walked in to the Reagan Library, Oscar winner Jon Voight came up behind us to talk to Don's boss - and he could NOT have been nicer. I pulled out my camera and we took a photo, then he said "check to make sure it is a good one!" and stood there happily while we checked to make sure our eyes were open and I didn't have a double chin, and then he casually strolled down the hall with us as if we'd known each other all along.
with Jon Voight
There were lot of other celebrities (warning - if you are under the age of 40 most of these names might not ring a bell. There was a young woman sitting at our table who did not get ANY of my references to Jon Voight and his movies - it wasn't until I said "he is Angelina Jolie's father" that she had a clue.) - Ernest Borgnine, Powers Boothe, Connie Stevens (pictured below - Don's dad was in Vietnam and Connie was - according to one of the MoH recipients standing with us "every man's fantasy over there"), Mykelti Williamson, John Ratzenberger, Karri Turner (coolest chick EVER - loved her!), Joe Mantegna, Robert Forster, musicians, producers, directors and other Hollywood types who came out to celebrate the lives of this country's greatest heroes.
Don and Connie Stevens
While of course the setting was breathtaking (our table was less than 10 feet from Marine One and Air Force One hung overhead), the cermony itself was filled with laughter, tears, and the kind of genuine, heartfelt American pride that is rarely seen these days. Our Friday night friend George Sakato stood next to Sal Giunta (the youngest MoH recipient in attendance) and in a clear, strong voice led 600 proud Americans in the Pledge of Allegiance. The Azusa Pacific University Men's Chorale serenaded the crowd with beautiful renditions of patriotic songs throughout the event, and when they asked us all to join them in singing "God Bless America" at the end of the night, there was not a dry eye in the house. Politicians, celebrities, military leaders, billionaires, MoH receipients and their families, young soldiers - we all stood and sang with arms out and genuine pride in our voices - no one was worried about appearances or being off-key. I know in the future I will have days where Don is deployed and I am feeling alone and forgotten, and this memory will be the one I turn to to comfort me - Americans proudly celebrating the country they love.
Marine One and Air Force One from our dinner table
Joe Mantegna received the Bob Hope Award for Excellence in Entertainment for his dedication to soldiers and their families through his work with autism (ACT Today for Military Families) and his involvement with the National Memorial Day Concert. Admiral Mike Mullen (former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs) and his wife Deborah received the Distinguished Citizen Award and it was clear that for them - caring for soldiers and their families is not just part of the job, it is their passion. Former Secretary Robert Gates gave the funniest speech of the evening - with pointed barbs at Washington and fun, heartwarming stories about his former boss, Ronald Reagan. Don and I had the opportunity to meet with him privately for a few seconds before the dinner started, because when one of Don's men - CPL Benjamin Kopp - was buried at Arlington Cemetary in 2009, then Secretary Gates showed up at the ceremony with no pomp and circumstance, didn't give a speech, he just came to show his respects and honor Ben. It meant a great deal to us and to Ben's mother Jill, so we finally had a chance to thank him. It was just one more incredible moment.
It wasn't all solemnity and ceremony - you haven't lived until you've spent the evening in a hotel bar with a bunch of retired generals, billionaires, celebrities and Medal of Honor recipients singing karaoke and making jokes about the highly intoxicated hotel guest wandering around in her bathrobe. More than the memories though, more than the photos and the stories we will treasure forever, we left this weekend with a new mission - to spread the word about these incredible men.
hanging out with my new friend Karri Turner at the hotel bar
Over the past few weeks as I have been excitedly talking about going to the MoH gala, I was surprised and saddened at how many people had no idea what the Medal of Honor is. While America idolizes drug addicted celebrities, musicians who commit serious crimes, and athletes who behave like spoiled children - the stories of men like Tibor Rubin go untold. He survived a German concentration camp (where he lost his entire family) as a young boy, and was so awed by the American soldiers who liberated the camp that he moved to America and joined the Army, only to be captured during the Korean War and survive 30 months as a POW, and THEN be denied the MoH until 2005 because of blatant anti-semitism in his chain of command. Old age has weakened his body, but from his wheelchair he is still a dynamic, charming, fascinating storyteller and apparently quite a ladies man (he told my husband repeatedly "I'm going to steal your pretty wife before the night is over!"). This man - his love of this country, his dedication to his fellow soldiers, his faith and bravery and character and ability to overcome adversity - his name should be known by every American. If CMOH Foundation has their way - it will be.
One of the Foundation's programs is the Medal of Honor Character Development Program. Created to promote responsible citizenship and examine the ideals of courage and selfless service - the Foundation's goal is to see this program taught in every middle and high school across the country. Through videos, lesson plans, and opportunities for teleconferences and in-person visits with MoH recipients, this program gives students and teachers first hand accounts of some of the most important moments in our history, offered by real heroes - true role models whose stories are touching and inspiring. If you are a teacher or the parent of a school-age child, I ask you to spread the word about this amazing program. To quote Brian Williams, "these are the best Americans I've ever met". Let's share these great Americans with our children and grandchildren through the MoH Character Development Program. A teacher's resource can be found here - this video will give you just a glimpse in to the incredible gift that the CMOH Foundation is offering to the students of this country.
We are changed forever - Don and I. To be in the presence of these men is to see the very best of what this country has to offer, and to understand what its heroes have already given. Help us spread their stories through your schools, invite a MoH recipient to speak at your next community event, watch these videos with your children. Honor them in ways large and small - it will enrich your lives in ways you never thought possible. God Bless these incredible men - and God Bless America.
