Graduation and Birthdays

Catching up - a couple weeks ago, we attended Corinne's pre-school graduation which was pretty darn cute.  She was very proud and I can't wait to post these graduation pictures next to her high school and college graduation pictures too.  Actually, I can wait. I adore her at this age!

Proud grad with her grandpa.

My birthday is coming up and this last night, 9 of my girlfriends helped me celebrate with cupcakes and drinks!  I have some very talented friends in the mix!

One of Sara's cupcakes didn't make it to decorating.

Thank you for a great night  and birthday, friends!

And for the world goal... My Impact Factory Committee members and I had a gift exchange to celebrate the end of a very successful year.  I gave silk beads from a sex trade survivor from Cambodia at www.somaly.org, one of my first and favorite organizations dealing with human trafficking.  And I received this scarf from the Denver Zoo, made in Peru by women raising money and awareness for the conservation of a rare kind of frog found at Lake Titicaca. 

So that brings my countries up to:




Peru
Cambodia
India
Kenya
Ecuador
Romania

Sleep Over Survival

I survived last night's sleepover with the kids, though Connor was exhausted today and Corinne is sick, so apparently I'm the one that came out on top.  I never would have guessed that by how tired I am today. 

The kids made signs for my veggie garden, and some of our mustaches made it onto the signs. 

Corinne was wide awake at 2:00 am, wondering when it would be time for  us to get up and play.  I think she must have tried to play with Connor because I heard his very sleepy, and annoyed, reply - "no thank you.  NO THANKYOU."

We had a great time, and the kitties survived too - update of my girls: Nikko and Vindaloo

This month's philanthropic country effort goes to Romania.  I had ordered lemonade from this adorable and inspirational little 8 year old at Make A Stand Lemonade for a party for my Impact Factory committee members this Friday, but unfortunately the lemonade won't make it in time.  Sigh.  All of the money goes to fighting human trafficking around the world through Not For Sale and so this month, I can check Romania off my list, bringing my tally up to:

India
Kenya
Ecuador (where the purchase of my Kenyan Rafiki Water Chain helped purchase clean, safe, water)
Romania

Hopefully I'll be able to report on the taste of the lemonade in a few weeks. 

Happy Mother's Day Here...at the zoo.

Happy Mother's Day!

I spent the morning with Ryan, Serenity, and the kids at the zoo.  It's always a good day with them, though I don't remember much about the animals each time we go.

We did drive a tuk-tuk.

And tried on some ginormous ears!

We saw the rhino, and the hippo.

And we made sure to be back at the penguins in time to see their feeding.  Corinne was especially interested.

Corinne and I tied in the carousel race while Connor rode the train with his mommy. 

And the kids checked out the covered wagon. I swear our zoo does have more animals.

This evening I gave Mom and Serenity their Rafiki Water Chains from Free the Children.  They can be worn as a bracelet or necklace, and the purchase of one of them buys safe, clean water for a person for a year.  This was the Kenya project I couldn't mention earlier, but here's May's Kenya goal. 

Happy Mother's Day to all the great mother's I know, especially my one!

Happy Mother's Day in Kenya

Continuing on with my goal from March to do a good deed for a different country - or state - every month until I've covered them all.  April's good deed goes to Kenya directly,  and other countries that need clean water though I'm not sure which ones.   Trouble is, I can't tell you until after Mother's Day, since my mom is one of the 4 people that read my blog and this good deed happens to be part of her Mother's Day present.

More to present on this later!

So far checked off:

India
Kenya
Ecuador (in conjunction with Kenya).

Happy Birthday Dad - oh and Happy Easter too!

Today is Dad's birthday and we all had a great day today - in this beautiful weather!

Delicious dinner, followed by Easter egg hunts with lots of laughs.  I thought Corinne was being a great sharer, giving Connor some eggs when she'd get to them first.  Turns out she was shaking them first and if they were empty, those were the ones she'd hand over!

After a jellybean break, Corinne tried to hide the eggs for us.  We were supposed to have our eyes clothes but a couple of us were peeking (not setting a great example, I know) and saw Corinne put an egg down.  Then Connor in all sincerity exclaimed "Oh! I found one!" And then Corinne - "No Connor, those are not for you to find."  He didn't quite get it but it was fun nonetheless. 

Dad made Corinne and Connor laugh and laugh by directing his birthday Beethoven symphonies, and he tried to get Serenity to drink his Chinese Pu Er Tea (dirty fish-tank water). 

We had a great day together, and I hope all of you had wonderful days too!

In the meantime, I'm figuring out what country or state I'll be focusing on this month.  The problem as of yet is not finding an issue, it's narrowing it down. Stay tuned!

A New Goal

Mom and I went away on her Women's Retreat this weekend and had a lot of fun! Our guest speaker shared her recent travels on a pilgrimage on the Camino in Spain, and a very recent (last week) trip to India. 

While listening to her tales of her travels, I was thinking about my recently renewed passport and my goals for travel.  I was also thinking of all the amazing organizations I've learned about this weekend and got to thinking...(watch out!)...what if I combined my love of travel with my desire to participate in some way in all these amazing causes and... WAPOW! New goal for this year (and many years to come because it's going to take a while):  Help every country in the world, and all 50 states, in some way. 

I'm going to need some guidelines, and I'm fully aware that as I undertake this challenge I will learn - and possibly grow - and redefine my guidelines.  But for now:

* I will research the causes and organizations I'm interested in before giving.
* There will be no willy-nilly giving.  The cause/org. must be something I'm passionate about or interested in.
* If a country - or state - does not have an organization that does not inspire and/or isn't safe and secure to make a donation, I will give to another country of my choice on that country's 'behalf'. 
* I will give at least once a month, but try to find creative ways to give besides simply donating. 

For the first country this month, I get to check India off the list.  Our guest speaker at the retreat, Terri Todd, told us about a family in Namakkal in India, who need a new home.  They are about to be evicted from the home they are currently renting because in India, the law says that if a person rents for long enough the house can become theirs.  Their village is so small that there is no where else to go, and it costs about $5,000 U.S. to build a house, a sum that is very much out of their range.  The two little girls in the family have to walk a half mile just to use a toilet, and that walk is not safe for little girls about to reach puberty.  I can proudly say that in one night, the 65 women at our retreat were moved to give over $1,200 toward the house. 

I got an extra bonus this weekend too.  Terri brought back some beautiful scarves made by women involved in OneMother.org.  Women that are HIV positive and therefore untouchable, and/or part of the sex trade for lack of any other choice are given the opportunity to make products to sell for an income that gets them out of the sex trade.  I won this beautiful scarf in the silent auction, and when I looked up the organization, I discovered they're based out of Centennial, Colorado! Hooray for hometown helping!

They also have gorgeous quilts and placemats for sale too. 

So there's my new endeavor! I appreciate your support as I take on the world.  India, check!

A Day In Denver

My cousins Greg and Liz were in town this week from Baltimore, and I got them for a full day on Saturday.  We had a great day, starting with lunch at the Old Mill Brewery, and then on to a bigger brewery - Breckenridge, downtown - for a tour.  The beer is great (they even have a chocolate stout which I like, surprise!) and the tour was really informational! I learned something and I hadn't planned to.

From there we went to The Tattered Cover, downtown, where we lost ourselves in the bookshelves for awhile.  Of course we had to see the Blue Bear, and dance with the aliens outside the Denver Center for Performing Arts, and Greg and Liz had sips from the artesian water fountains in the Brown Palace. 

Then we got about 6 cupcakes of different flavors from The Shoppe, and thai food from Swing Thai, and headed home to indulge in dinner, cupcakes and beers from the brewery in our PJ's while watching a movie.  Do I know how to show out-of-towners a good time or what!?

This morning we stopped to visit Grandma on our way down to see the rest of the family for lunch - in the middle of a blizzard.

We had a great time and I can't wait to see them again.  Maybe in Baltimore next time!