Which one?

This week is apparently doppelganger week on facebook. I have heard that I look like a ridiculous amount of people, and I really don't see it...with any of them. So I'm investing your help. Which celebrity do I look like? One of these or someone else?

Me...


I've heard:

Sandra Bullock


Brooke Shields


Anne Hathaway


Anna Popplewell

Tuesday Tribute: Joyful Heart Foundation

I don't have any idea where the idea for "Tuesday Tribute" came from (if someone does...please inform me), but I love the idea. I've done it a couple times before, but still don't know where it came from.

Tuesday Tribute is a day when you make a post for someone or something greater than yourself: basically, it's a way to highlight a problem or organization (or both) and show what you stand for. I've decided to start doing these again, at least once a month.

As a disclaimer, I will tell you that I will never blog about something I don't care about. However, I care about a lot of things, so these ones are the things I care about most.

Today, my Tuesday Tribute is for A Joyful Heart Foundation.



There are other organizations like this with the same purpose, but for today it's just JHF.

This Foundation was started by Mariska Hargitay (I may or may not like SVU, but I didn't really care about who the actors were until I found this out) a few years after she started working on SVU. JHF is basically a foundation that helps all survivors of any kind of abuse: childhood, sexual, and domestic.

According to the site:

"The vision of the Joyful Heart Foundation is a community that:
1. is empowered with knowledge, courage and compassion to help survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse heal mind, body and spirit;
2. values and dedicates resources to individuals and families that have been impacted by these issues; and
3. seeks to ignite and foster an open dialogue about how to collaboratively end the cycle of violence and abuse."

They have a multitude of programs to "heal," "educate," and "empower," including week long retreats, local and urban retreats, and community events. And the site itself offers many online and phone resources for survivors.

In the US, every 2 minutes a woman is sexually assaulted, every 15 seconds a woman is battered, and everyday 4 children are killed as a result of child abuse. About 17.9% of women have or will survive a rape or attempted rape in their lifetime, that's 1 in 6 women. It's a great cause, and it's really important to people who have lived through things like this--many times it's easier to fly halfway across the world for a week retreat with total strangers than discuss things with those closest to you.

Check it out and pass it on. You can even buy things at their shop to help support--boxes of chocolates, necklaces, lotion, a really fuzzy blanket.

Plus, Joyful Heart Foundation is in the running for a funding of $250,000 from the Pepsi Refresh project. And you should go vote for it right quick here.

I love when celebrities have heart!

Snow Here. Gone. Here.

This weekend it was in the high 50's. The snow was gone. I (and Brady, sporting them here for me) needed these all weekend in the never-ending rain..



But today it was in the low 30's. Flurried a tiny bit this morning. And then we had a 10 minute whiteout at 6 this evening.

Guess what?



It's back!

Wiggity Whack.

(Now Part of Talk to Me Tuesday at TipJunkie)

I started my new teaching placement today. It's awesome. I love it already. Even though I haven't met my teacher, because he was absent today, the teacher I observed was awesome. I'm not much for these placements, to be honest...I feel like one+student teaching is sufficient, and that three+student teaching is way overkill, but so far I'm not anti this placement. Even though I get up at 5 to get there at 730. Because it's in another state, and a good 45min+ away. But hey...that's what caffeine is for.

I was kind of looking at my schedule for these next coming months, and...well, it's "fun"...ahem. Other than working, and weekend lake exposure starting the end of May-September, this is basically what my coming up schedule looks like:

March 6-14: Spring Break
March 7: Bridal Shower (my family)
March 14: Bridal Shower (B's family)
Last Week in March: Wyoming (tentative)
First Week in May: Exams.
May 15th: Wedding.
June 5th: Maine for Jay's graduation (...still tentative, as well)
June 6th-11th: New England Traveling, NYC, and others.
June 12th: Back home for B's Commissioning.
July: Start summer classes

And...I don't know how it happened...but it's looking like there's an attempt to go to Haiti sometime in the summer. I've somehow ended up working with a dean in my department at Devil U who had originally planned a trip to Haiti for March. I had spoken to her about it (wayy before the earthquake), and informed her there was no way I could afford to go, even though I would have loved too. This has not changed, and the trip was formally canceled, but she's talking to me about setting one up for the summer. I still can't afford to go, but should she decide to do this I'll be taking huge part in planning it. Should a ridiculous amount of fundraising be done, I'll attend--assuming it will fit into my insanity that is summer.

I actually don't mind being busy, in all honesty, but I'm assuming around the end of March/Early April I'll be ready to be done with the busy ;)

Whose Wedding?

Just a quick update on all things wedding! We took a decent month+ break from the planning for holidays and such--it's hard to do anything over holidays, let alone while working full-time and taking classes! But now we're back to it!

We registered on Monday! Left the house at 1030, got back at 7. Came home with 3 registries (mostly) done, and a couch. Not too shabby! We did most of our stuff at Bed Bath and Beyond, then Target, and lastly Macy's--although it's mostly big-ticket stuff at Macy's (mostly because B's aunt works for them and she requested we register there, and she can be a very terrifying woman). How did you guys do your pre-registration plans?

I basically did this while planning at Starbucks one night:


This would be our spare room and our living room. No, we don't know what our place will look like yet, but I just decided we'd have square rooms. ...I feel pretty safe with that decision. But this helped me at least a bit with decoration registrations! As far as furniture goes, now that we bought a sofa...we don't have much more we need. We have a daybed w/trundle for the spare room, but we still need a desk and a dresser for B that room :). For our master bedroom, we are taking my furniture...as long as when we go to move my bed we can actually get it out of the house. Living room...we still need a TV stand, TV, an ottoman or table (prefer the ottoman, because we found one that matches and it has storage...which is awesome), a couple end tables, and probably a recliner (versus a loveseat, since we don't know how much room we'll have). But the big stuff we basically have, so that's good.

What? You want to know our color schemes? Okay!

Kitchen:
source

Living Room:
source

Bathroom:
source

Spare Room:
source

Because the spare room has two beds, the second bed is just a brown comforter. But it's on clearance, so we hope someone buys it! Didn't see much point in getting another whole bed set for it when we didn't need have the stuff in it, and the sheets are crap anyway.

Other than that...

Meeting with the deacon to do the test survey Thursday.
Meeting with ceremony music woman Thursday.

Next up:
Choose songs.
Book photobooth. Edit: done.
Redo cake contract and pay for it.
Choose invitation wording and design.
Choose ceremony music.
Set reserved seating arrangement.

Tidbits.

This is just kind of a quick recap of what's been going on around here. In small increments. There is a wedding planning update post coming soon..ish...so be ready!

-I got my car back. It now starts (read: my cousin attached the wires to the starter he forgot to attach the first time). It also decided that it's going to shift again. I feel in less danger of melting the engine...again.

-My uncle had a heart attack a couple weekends ago. It was massive, and he was home and recovering, but now he's back in the ICU with blood clots, aneurysm, and other complications and I can't even begin to recite. Surgeries have been planned and canceled, and no one really knows what's going down at this point.

-My great aunt is flying in from OK tomorrow. My mom and I are very happy about this, because my grandma is not having a good time dealing with my Uncle's situation, but she's in a great mood when her sister is here, and that helps me and my mom out tremendously.

-We bought a sofa yesterday. It was cheap. It is cheap. But it's pretty for now, and will work for a few years. And it's freaking comfortable.



-B and I went to dinner at a gorgeous and delicious restaurant downtown last Thursday. A great Italian joint. I love it. And it has the best view of the city. It was lovely.


-My computer and I have been fighting this week. I don't know what's going on with it, but it's been slow and freezing and...not nice. So if I disappear from your comment sections for awhile, don't take it personal!

-Also found out I'm going to be teaching an hour away from my home this semester. My 17mpg vehicle will be sucking me dry in the money department. I'm so excited! (note sarcasm).

-Made a plan to go check out our new city at the end of March. Have no idea if I'll actually be able to go. There is one week in which I absolutely CANNOT miss at my placement, or I will fail--problem is that we don't know what week that is yet. But I'm betting it's that week.

-Sometime over the last week my bedroom turned into a creative mind's disaster workshop. I had a window project, painting project, and photo project all going at the same time. I made myself less crazy and put all but the photo project away somewhere yesterday. Sadly, that means I won't see the other ones again for some months...BUT the chaos is gone, and focus is back! :)

Hole in Haiti

I'm stuck in a blogging hole. No, not a rut. A hole. One big enough to get stuck in...apparently.

There are a million things I could blog about. There are some things I want to blog about. But I cannot bring myself to devote much time to any of them.

I'm really caught up in this Haitian earthquake business. I've been watching the coverage every night. I attempted to apply for disaster relief aid, and found out they are only excepting people with at least 10 years of disaster relief experience.

Did you hear about the students from the University in Florida? 14 students and 2 staff, I believe, went to Haiti on Monday to disperse aid before the earthquake hit. All the students parents were told that their children were safe and were to meet them at an airport. When they got there, 4 sets of parents failed to see their children--there was an error, and those four college kids still haven't been found. What a rollercoaster. I can't even imagine that.

And it's the same way for hundreds of thousands of Haitian's. It's been over 5 days since the quake struck. There are barely any communication lines. There's no food, no water, and the people who are still stuck alive under the rubble are nearing the end--they won't be able to survive much longer. Bodies are in piles, being burned, or being buried in mass graves. This is the tsunami all over again--thousands of people have no idea if their loved ones are dead, or if they just can't get in contact with them, and they may never know. Even some Katrina survivors are facing that issues. And aid can't get there. There is some, but with the roads blocked and the airport inaccessible and how desperate hungry people are getting for the basic essentials...it's a nightmare. And it's only going to get worse before it gets better.

The country already barely had the essentials. Now it doesn't even have that.

The biggest way to help that I have seen so far is through the Red Cross. There are other organizations that are absolutely great to donate too, but we've been cautioned against scams. Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, UNICEF...organizations you know will always be safe.

And now donating is easier than ever. If you have a major carrier (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, etc.), your company is probably taking part in a texting service with the Red Cross. If you text the word "HAITI" to 90999, your will donate $10 to the RedCross. This $10 is added to your next phone bill, and your provider does not profit at all. I did in it all of 1 minute today. It's the only way I know of that I can personally help. Or, if your provider is not doing it, then you can always go to RedCross.org and donate online.

I don't know the current numbers of how much has been raised this way. I know in all of 2009 they raised $3Million. I also know that as of 11am on Friday morning, in 2 and a half days, they raised $9Million.

This is not something that's going to be fixed tomorrow. Or next week. Or next month. Or next year. This is an ongoing fight. New Orleans is still not back up to where it was before, and that was five years ago...and we're a very well-off country compared to Haiti.

We won't hear as much about it next month. And as the year goes on, there will be less and less news information coming to us. But we have to remember that, just because we don't hear about, doesn't mean it's not there. They need help. Thankfully, they're getting it!

The Bachelor: Your Plane Just Scandaled

It's time for the Bachelor again! It started last week, of course, but one week is not enough drama for me to inspire a recap post. I mean, come on...only two hours of the worst, cheesiest pick-up lines ever being recited? Yea right...not nearly enough.

So, this year the bachelor is Jake.



And, I mean, I am the first to admit that he is one of the most attractive people...ever. I loved his face on the bachelorette last season, and it hasn't changed--it's still undeniably gorgeous. And, if we never had to talk...ever...you could slap a wedding dress on me right now--I'm yours, Jake. But talking? Pfft. No way. Jake is an attractive, plane flying, motorcycle riding, rockhardabs having, ridiculously boring human. But, since all of these girls "love him and know he is their soulmate" before even talking to him, that point is apparently moot.

So moving on.

My pick is Ali. I said it last week, and it's still true this week, but I think Ali will win. She's the most down-to-earth, most real, least barbie blonde of the entire group. She's sweet, like she could be your sister.


I also like Corrie and Tenley...but their pictures are unimportant because they won't win. Corrie is pretty, and Tenley is honest...but Tenley is also kind of like dating a 10 year old. Ali will win.

But that doesn't mean we should ignore the other drama filled chicks...

Like Michelle, for instance. Michelle is insane. Literally, certifiably insane. I'm fairly certain Jake is keeping her around only because he's afraid of her...or because the producers are nagging him too. After the show ends, she will be arrested for stalking Jake. You just wait.


Then we have Rozlyn. Or, rather, we don't...because she slept with a crew member and was kicked off the show. I guess she really was ready for love...she just couldn't wait!


Mostly, I'm interested in what happens with Elizabeth. Elizabeth is very forward, annoyingly so, and her jeans are too tight to fit a 4X6 folded piece of paper into. And, she told Jake she doesn't want him to kiss her. And then he gave her a rose.


My main assumption is that she will ditch this request like...next week and kiss him. And then he will be all "well if you can't follow your own rule then why should I trust you" and eventually get rid of her. Or she will keep the rule, and he will be all "well I never got to kiss you and see if we were intimately connected" and get rid of her.

Either way, I expect she'll make a scene. And possibly beat another girl up.

Sleep on it for a week ;)

What IS May 15, 2010?

It's Armed Forces Day.

It's the date that Monica and Chandler got married (Chanandaler Bong, anyone?).

It's the 3rd anniversary of the last Gilmore Girls episode (thanks to my cousin for being creepily knowledgeable about such things).

It's the 80th anniversary of the first airline stewardess, who worked a flight from San Fran to Cheyenne, WY (which is now referred to as our Cheyenne, as if we own it).

Oh yea...

And it happens to be the day I'm marrying the love of my life.



:D

The Snow has Come

They closed all the schools last night before 1 flake even fell. That would have never happened when I was a kid. Pansy kids these days ;D

But it came today. All of it. Turns out they were right for once. Perfect time to take some lovely photos with my new camera!

Laser Chase

This is my dog, Chase.


He hates hats.

But I rolled into PetSmart tonight and purchased a lovely laser device, conveniently called "Laser Chase."

Best $7 I've ever spent.

Chase is hilarious following that thing around. B thought he'd be funny and pointed it at the fish tank. Turns out when you are semi-close to the tank, the fish follow it too. Move about five feet further back, and they run from it.

It's awesome. Seriously.

Bamboo: Craft?

Have you heard of these? Bamboo Craft?

They are like little tablets you connect to your computer. You can draw on them in all types of mediums, do scrapbooking, and other fun things.

Anyone know anything about them? I'm thinking of getting one, but I'm not sure if I realllly want/need it ;)


OH. And. Who are you, Cincinnati, OH? Using a mac and browsing with safari. Do I know you? You are on here more than I am!

20,000 (BC)

20,000 hits exactly. Well..plus all those that happened before I put the counter on, but I really like seeing such a fantastically even number ;)

20,000 BC ((B)e(C)ause it's awesome).

Cake Pops for the New Year!

These looked cute when I saw them on My Charming Kids. I decided to try them.

I'm positive there is some kind of trick I'm missing, but these were almost as big of pain as those stained glass cookies were. They taste good from what others have told me, but they took forever to make!

I'm not going to give you the whole "how to" because you can find it on Bakerella, but I'll give you the gist of it:

The inside of chocolate cake mixed with cream cheese frosting.
The outside is melted and colored white chocolate.

...the outside is where the issue came in for me because we weren't really able to "dip" them in the melted chocolate :( It could have been the type of chocolate we used, and probably was, but out of 60 rolled cake balls, only about 30 made it off the pan, was iced, and made it to the styrofoam block.



But, it was worth it, because they are adorable. And, as my grandmother points out, "If it's weird, you will find it and make it."



Next baking adventure? Rainbow cake. To happen after the next pay day. ;)