Friday Picture

Found image here

Cause of the Week

The Free Hugs campaign is the cause I wanted to highlight this week. The idea of the Free Hugs campaign is to give 'free hugs' and by doing so hopefully reach out to strangers and brighten someones day.

Free Hugs started when a man from Sydney returned home from living in London and all he had was a bag of items, no one to greet him, and nowhere to call home. While at the airport watching people being greeted by loved ones he wished he had someone there to greet him, hug him, and to be happy to see him. He decided after that to make a sign from cardboard and marker with the words "Free Hugs" written on it. He went to the busiest intersection in the city and held up the sign, waiting to give free hugs. No one stopped for 15 minutes, but then the first person he hugged told him that she had lost her only daughter in a car accident on year ago that day and that her dog died that morning. She felt very alone and said she needed a hug. Even if he could brighten someone's day for just a minute, it was worth it.

Now the Free Hugs campaign has expanded and has become a huge phenomenon. You can even hold "Hugathons" in your city. What a cool way to connect people and help some not feel alone, even just for a second. It would take a brave person to do this and I was so impressed by the story of the man who started the campaign. Maybe if we were all a little more like this man, our communities would be strengthened and maybe we would be more willing to help one another. And maybe, just maybe, we would all feel a little more like family.

Check out the Free Hugs website here

Now get your hug on! 

Spellbound

Bewitched with this song and video.

Jump on spidermonkey

As much as I enjoyed the Twilight books ( I can freely admit that because I have no shame) I am so sick of hearing about New Moon and everything Twilight I could scream.

Am I sounded dramatic enough yet?

The midnight showing was sold out in Logan 3 weeks in advance!! Seriously people? And now there are vampire shows all over TV and I just don't know what to do.  (More drama coming out)

I wish I could go back to that time where I read Twilight as a guilty pleasure that wasn't attached to a band wagon the size of Oprah's favorite things list. Where the movie Twilight didn't exist and ruin my view of Edward and the book. A time where Kristen Stewart wasn't in the media talking about how much she hates being famous and how she is just an actress that got caught in the mystical world of Twilight. A world where Twilight fans didn't make custom t-shirts to wear to the theater. A world where I didn't hear the latest Twilight news on every media outlet.

Pre-Twlight movie world, where have you gone?

What do you think of this Twilight craziness? Am I the only one who is ready to punch it in the face?

Small Talk

I realized that I haven't written about what I've been up to lately so here it is...

Been busy with school, work, an internship, and applying for grad schools (still).  So needless to say it has been crazy, but good.

The best news of all is that school is over in less than a month. I have 3 applications in and only two left! And I am getting closer and closer to graduating in May. As excited I am to graduate and hopefully go to grad school, I will miss Logan and Utah State and all those I will leave behind. It should be interesting to see how a small town girl fairs in the big bad city. I am sure you will hear some interesting stories WHEN (gotta stop saying IF) I move. Especially trying to explain to people that Mormons aren't polygamous anymore and that I don't have 5 moms. 

Other then the brief overview I don't really have an interesting tall tales to tell yet, but maybe next time.

What have all of you been up to?

Attitudes truly are contagious, and from time to time we need to ask ourselves, "Is mine worth catching?"
~Mac Anderson

Friday Picture

Cause of the Week

I have skipped this the last couple of weeks because I've been pretty busy, but this week it returns.

This cause of the week is a little different because it kind of doubles as a book review of sorts. I just finished reading the book Left To Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza. The book is about a women who survived the Holocaust in Rwanda in 1994. I can't say that I have read many other books more inspiring than this one. It is the kind of book you read that brings your perspective to reality, makes you realize that even on your worst day, it could never be this bad.

Much of what got Immaculee through this experience was her faith in God. She is an amazing and strong woman.

For those of you who don't know much about the Rwandan Holocaust (I still have a lot to learn) the video below summarizes well. In 1994 over 1 million people were killed in Rwanda in about 3 months. Most of those killed were from the Tutsi tribe. The Hutu tribe, who made up most of the population of the small country, killed many who they believed were of the lesser tribe, the tribe Immaculee and her family belonged to.

I can't explain it that well so to read a summary please go here

I just wanted to highlight this book because it truly inspired me greatly. And I think it is vital to learn about what has gone on in the world so that we can try and prevent things like that from ever happening again.

This was a VERY brief introduction to the whole topic and book, I don't want to tell you too much about Immaculee's story or I will give away too much of the book. Lets just say it is a miracle she survived.  I encourage you to all read it and  at least learn more about the Rwandan Genocide. And then whatever you learn let me know because I have a lot to learn!

New Look

I want to thank my friend Holly over at Mitchell Avenue Designs for designing my new header and button for my blog!! Hope you all add the cute button because it's cute and because you love me.

Go check out Holly's site and if you need a new look, cards, wedding announcements, baby announcements, logos, among other things, she is the woman to ask.

Thanks again Holly!

Again her website is http://www.mitchellavenue.com/