Peek Into My Week

I am so happy that Friday is here! 

This week J was out of town for work and I also had an overnight trip to New Jersey.

Thankfully I had some amazing sunset views from the plane!

 I had some meetings at Toys R Us that went really well thankfully! 

Burnt orange and navy are my go-to colors lately...

I always love seeing the ATL skyline from the air!

My sweet parents watched Townes for the night I was out of town and then even let me hang out in their hot tub and bought me dinner. I got pretty lucky in the parent department (in-laws too)! 

It was such a lovely night catching up with my mom, dad, and brother. 

I love this picture my brother took of Townes and me. He's my shadow and best buddy!

 Last night, I had dinner (tofu and spinach curry with brown rice) at Tin Drum in Atlantic Station.  After dinner, I got to go to an advance showing of the new Cirque du Soleil, Amaluna, show. The tickets (3rd row seats!) were donated to Stand Up For Kids so we got to take the kids! 

Being able to share the experience with the teenagers was incredible...I don't think I'll ever forget their excitement or the looks of awe on their faces! Definitely a night for the books. It was so great to hang out with my mentee and her sister in such a unique setting - they are awesome!

The story line was all about women! It was an island of strong women and most of the acts were done by women (even the band was all women) so it was pretty awesome! If you're in ATL, the show opens tonight and goes through the end of November so make sure to go! Great date night idea!

So that was my week! I left out all of the work craziness, which sadly was a big part of my week.

It's not all hot tubs and amazing shows, but I'll take it when I can!

:)

xo

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday folks! 

The last 2 weeks have been INSANELY busy for me so I'm hoping for some down time this weekend. 

I definitely wouldn't mind spending down time in this amazing loft! I love the hammock (naturally) and the sunken living room area. Reminds me of California...pure magic!

Did you know that today is National Talk Like A Pirate Day? I kind of love this, but kind of hate it due to an inside joke about one of my coworkers calling me a pirate. Arrgghhh... :)

I think these various bacteria dishes are so cool! I love finding unexpectedly beautiful things. Who would have thought that bacteria would be so colorful and lovely?

I just got a new work phone (iPhone 5S) so I'm super stoked to finally be able to use this phone case that I got from J (accidentally) for my birthday.

The best part about the upcoming season? The changing colors of leaves! Check out these awesome Fall photos.

Loving this quote. I always strive to find the balance is the day-to-day and this is a perfect, simple reminder of that.

I'm hoping to go to Zumba Toning tonight (I miss my ladies!) and then tomorrow I have volunteer training all day (no seriously, it's from 9:30 AM - 5:30 PM). Although the training will be long, I'm really looking forward to it! I was supposed to go back in August after getting back from Europe, but I got really sick instead. On Sunday, I'm going with my sister, her boyfriend, and my niece Natalie to the Braves vs. Mets game. I can't wait!

What are your weekend plans? Whatever they are, I hope they are spectacular!

xo

Gifts That Give Back

This holiday season it is important to remember how lucky most of us are in our daily lives. 

Thankfully, J + I don't really need for anything. Sadly, that is not the case for all other people or animals. Try donating a gift or your time to charities this season (and always), because not only will you help out our world greatly, but your heart + soul will be rewarded. 

Below are some charities. initiatives* that are doing amazing things to help better our world:

1. Adopt A Gray Wolf - Wolves suffer not only from habitat loss, but they also endure revenge killings for attacks on wild stock.Your donation supports WWF's conservation efforts worldwide. You'll be helping fund scientific investigations, habitat preservation, and other programs to preserve many of the most endangered animals on Earth. 

2. Krochet Kids - Empowering the women of Northern Uganda and Peru with the assets, skills, and knowledge to lift themselves and their families out of poverty. The women make handmade crochet hats, scarves, stockings, etc. to improve their lives and communities. 

3. Farm Sanctuary - Help support Farm Sanctuary's efforts to end farm animal abuse through investigative, legislative and legal actions, public awareness and humane education projects and direct rescue and shelter of farm animals. Adopt an animal or go to one of their sanctuaries to take a vegan cooking class!

4. Water Partners - Provide a safe water supply for the more than 1 billion people in developing countries who wouldn’t have it otherwise. For every $1 spent on clean water and sanitation, another $8 in costs relating to unsafe water are avoided.

5. Soles4Souls - Collects new shoes to give relief to the victims of abject suffering and collects used shoes to support micro-business efforts to eradicate poverty. Soles4Souls has delivered over 19 million pairs of shoes in over 125 countries both for crisis relief and to support micro-enterprise projects (and in turn, kept more shoes out of the landfills).

*Before you donate to a charity, ensure that it is a group that deserves your gift and will spend it properly. Large charities should spend 80%+ of what they raise on their cause (not paychecks or overhead).

"Recognizing our shared humanity and our biological nature as beings whose happiness is dependent on others, we learn to open our hearts, and in so doing we gain a sense of purpose and a sense of connection with those around us" - Dalai Lama

♥

photo

everybody wins!

this year i was lucky enough to be connected to the everybody wins non-profit organization. when an email was sent out at work about needing volunteers, some coworkers and i signed up immediately and couldn't wait to get involved with the power lunch program at a local elementary school. power lunch is "a lunchtime literacy and mentoring program that brings groups of adult volunteers into low-income elementary schools for one-on-one read aloud sessions with students".

i got paired with a 5th grade boy and i would go each week during my lunch break to read books with him. the kids that are chosen for the program usually have to meet the following requirements: they need help with reading, they need to improve reading comprehension, and/ or they need a good mentor. my kid and i hit it off immediately and have had such a great time together. his reading has really improved and based on the smile on his face when he sees me (while trying to still act cool in front of his peers), i think the program was really successful for us both! since the year is almost up and he's a 5th grader, it's almost time to say goodbye which breaks my heart. tomorrow is the lunch to celebrate the end of the year and i really will miss him.

it shocked me to learn that most of the kids in the program had probably never had an adult sit with them and take time to read to them one-on-one. it is said that children are made readers on the lap of their parents. it's so easy to forget that not all kids have parents that can give them the attention and time to sit down and read. i don't even have any children yet but i have a huge children's book collection already (granted my best friend was a child's librarian for years)! my best friend was telling me a while back that there is a phenomenon where once children can read on his/her own, parents stop taking the time to sit down and read together which makes reading less fun so kids start to dislike reading. that makes me so sad. i hope that when we have kids, we always take time to read together (in living room forts preferably) and enjoy storytelling. this hopefully shouldn't be too hard since i enjoy reading so much and it is a big part of my life.

anyways, i hope that if there is a child in your life that you take the time to read with them. next year i'll be paired with a new child and hope that i can maybe brighten his/ her day and future through reading together. i really am going to miss kc - he's been an inspiration to me and i feel lucky to know him.

giving back

these days i can't help but feel so lucky: good health, stability, and love are so full around me. this time of year always reminds me just how lucky i am with a home to keep me warm, presents under the tree, and chances to brighten other peoples' days.

a few coworkers and i decided to adopt a family for the holidays - we actually decided on 2 different families. we worked together and were able to get lots of people from our company to help donate funds. with the money we raised, we were able to go shopping and buy some great gifts for these 2 families (7 people total) who may not have had a christmas this year. we ended up going through a nonprofit organization, families first, who was great to work with.


here is one of the piles of toys as we were delivering the gifts. my coworker was able to snap these few pictures - thanks jen!


i really hope that the families have a wonderful christmas and thanks to everyone who helped support this great cause! i can't wait to do it again next year. by the way, buying for all of the kids was so much fun! i wish we could see the kids' faces christmas morning!

how do you give back during the holidays? any annual charitable traditions that you share with your loved ones?

five years

can you believe that on sunday it will have been 5 years since hurricane katrina destroyed new orleans and numerous lives? it feels like just yesterday that i was in my women studies course and our professor told us that she was heading down to new orleans to see what she could do to help. her husband and her ended up bringing back 2 families to live with them until they were able to get enough money to start a new life. i've never forgotten that professor and she will always inspire me.

when i was in seattle a few years ago, j and i went with my best friend to volunteer for pasado's safe haven. she had organized a work event to go and volunteer and we were lucky enough to be able to join them! we helped them load up all of their equipment as they were about to drive all the way down to texas and louisana before hurricane gustav hit. they didn't know for sure if it'd hit louisana, but they were making the drive regardless to ensure that any abandoned, misplaced, or injured animals were taken care of. during katrina, they were the first rescue organization on site and rescued over 1200 animals! how amazing is that? they also have 85 acres which is home to hundreds of dogs, cats, cows, chickens, ducks, goats, turkeys, pigs, and donkeys (most were brought to pasado's due to abuse or neglect and now live out their lives in peace). after loading up the trucks, we got to drive an hour outside of seattle to see this sanctuary and it was so magical. all of the animals get to roam free and they have some incredible views!



here's the crew after a hard day's work!

see what i mean? anyways, if you are a huge animal lover and want to support an awesome organization, definitely check out pasado's.

sorry for the tangent, but as i was watching the today show this morning and they discussed katrina, it was ironically relevant considering i just finished reading "zeitoun" by dave eggers for our next book club meeting. it is a book that tells the story of the zeitoun family, a muslim family, before, during, and after hurricane katrina. although i've never been a huge dave eggers fan (actually i've always been anything but), i did actually really enjoy this book. it highlights how so many families stayed behind like they had done numerous times before with minimal damage. it is a story of heroism and horrible government injustices. i don't want to say too much since we haven't had a chance to discuss it yet in book club; however, i definitely recommend the book. plus it's so important that we don't forget the atrocities that occured 5 years ago and the book even ends with resources so that you can continue to help rebuild new orleans.


happy friday! have any fun things planned?
j and i may be having my niece over for a sleepover, but other wise we're going to take it easy. i just want to spend as much time together since i'll be traveling for work all of next week. hope you get to spend some time with your favorites this weekend!

♥