Girls on the Run

Girls on the Run is a really great organization that teaches young girls self esteem, confidence, and how to be healthy from the inside out. Through the power of running as well as the lessons and values taught throughout the program, the organization empowers girls to take on the challenges that come their way. The program is not about being the fastest or the best in the group, its about putting one foot in front of the other.

Watch the video >

A chapter is underway in Hamilton County and will be starting up this fall.
Click here to donate $10 to help them get started!

The Most Beautiful Invitations

Matt and Jordyn's wedding invitations are in the mail and they are SO beautiful. The vintage postage stamps look amazing. Lovely attention to detail. And that handwriting on the envelopes sure looks familiar...Enjoy!

Don't Quit

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up, though the pace seems slow -
You might succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor's cup.
And he learned too late, when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out -
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt -
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit -
It's when things seem worst that you mustn't quit.

- Unknown -

Creativity awaits

I am so excited! Above is a photo of my new work bench!

A Day at the Office

Oh my goodness this really cracks me up. How goofy.

5 Minutes + 5 Web cams = 1MM views.

Artist: Ok Go

A new amazingly creative video from Ok Go. Pretty impressive.

Apparently the band and its hired geniuses spent three months building the two-story tall madness machine in a vacant Los Angeles warehouse.

Kulash wrote: “My band is famous for music videos. We direct them ourselves or with the help of friends, we shoot them on shoestring budgets and, like our songs, albums and concerts, we see them as creative works and not as our record company’s marketing tool.”

And of course, an oldie but a goodie, I just love this video. So creative.

Artist: Rebecca Ward

Tape Installations by Rebecca Ward
Rebecca lives and works in Austin, Texas
+

Distant Dreamer

Although you think I cope,
my head is filled with hope...
of some place other than here.

Although you think I smile,
inside all the while...
I'm wondering about my destiny.

I'm thinking about,
all the things,
I'd like to do in my life.

I'm a dreamer,
a distant dreamer,
dreaming for hope, from today.

Even when you see me frown,
my heart won't let me down,
because I know there's better things to come.

- - - - - - - - -

Today what are you dreaming about?

Morning

From the East comes the sun,
Bringing a new and unspoiled day.
It has already circled the Earth and
Looked upon distant lands and
Far-away peoples.

It has passed over mountain ranges and
The waters of the seven seas.
It has shown upon laborers in the fields,
Into the windows of homes,
And shops, and factories.

It has beheld cities with gleaming towers,
And also the hovels of the poor.
It has been witness to both good and evil,
The works of honest men and women and
The conspiracy of knaves.

It has seen marching armies, bomb-blasted villages
And "the destruction that wasteth at noonday."
Now, unsullied from its tireless journey,
It comes to us,
Messenger of the morning.
Harbinger of a new day.

Clinton Lee Scott

+ Solve Sundsbo

Band of Outsiders

It may be snowing outside, but these Polaroids from Band of Outsiders Spring/Summer 2010 Lookbook is how I'm feeling inside.

Dear Spring,

I know you are doing your best to come, and I'm really trying my best to be patient, but I feel my patience is really being tested. I've run 3 days in the snow this week and I feel that's really asking a lot. Maybe you could at least lend some of your sunshine to Winter? Looking forward to seeing you soon.

With eager anticipation,
Lacey

rockie nolan +

Vintage Typewriters

i tweet

@LaceyxLynch

Bonefish House Salad

A few weeks ago we went to Bonefish for dinner. It had been awhile since we'd been there and I had forgotten how much I LOVE their house salad. I've been craving it since. This week I found the recipe for the Bonefish house dressing and recreated the salad. Super easy...super delicious!

If you want to create the Bonefish salad, use romaine, cherry tomatoes, heart of palm, kalamata olives, sunflower seeds and toasted pine nuts. YUM!

Bonefish Grill Citrus Herb Vinaigrette

2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup sugar (could use splenda)
3 tablespoons water (I added a bit more water after tasting it)
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
4 teaspoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon Grey Poupon Dijon Mustard
2 teaspoons lime juice
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons fresh parsley, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Whisk everything in a bowl
Microwave for a minute
Whisk for one minute
Cover and chill for one hour before serving.

Bon appetit and Bon weekend!

A few thoughts about success

“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.”
- Herman Cain

“Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be”
- George Sheehan

"You are the embodiment of the information you choose to accept and act upon. To change your circumstances you need to change your thinking and subsequent actions.”
- Adlin Sinclair

“The first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you first find yourself.”
- Mark Caine

“For success, attitude is equally as important as ability.”
- Harry F. Banks

“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.”
- Colin Powell

Feed My Starving Children

This weekend we had the opportunity to volunteer with a great organization. Feed My Starving Children was started by a Minnesota businessman after he saw devastating hunger on a mission trip to Honduras. Initially he simply organized food donations to send to areas in need, but quickly realized many of the processed American foods being donated were unhealthy for the children that needed help. The current formula of soy, rice, vegetables, as well as the vitamin and mineral vegetarian chicken flavoring mix was designed by food scientists at Cargill and General Mills. Each meal has 20 different vitamins and minerals that are specifically tailored to meet a child’s nutritional needs for one day. Each meal costs only 17 cents.

The part of of the experience that impacted me most was seeing the before and after pictures of the children. The photo of a baby left to die in an outhouse, nearly a skeleton covered in sewage, and then the baby after 3 months on the food, and 6 months on the food, to a perfectly happy, healthy and smiling baby.

Perhaps it was my naivety, but every time I saw a "feed the children" type commercial, I always thought the photos of the children were of starving babies, infants. I was shocked to find out that one of the photos we were shown of a little 17 pound child...was a 17 pound 8 year old. An 8 year old child who weighed as little as a tiny baby. It was shocking. After only a few months on the food, the 8 year old had gained 70 pounds and looked like a happy and healthy boy. What an incredible story.

It is amazing to me what little effort or donation on our part, can completely change the lives of others. It can take a person, eating rocks for nourishment, and transform them into a student, a doctor, a preacher, a teacher.




The foods we shipped will go directly to the children and families of those devastated in Haiti. Click below to find out more about the Haiti relief effort as well as the Feed My Starving Children organization.

Haiti Earthquake Response +
Volunteer +
Donate Now +