Yes We Can...

this video makes me cry. i am sooo hopeful for change in this country...

http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/videoyeswecan

here is another webpage by will.i.am ... it shows the video again, but he explains why he wanted to do this. awesome.

http://www.dipdive.com/

Goodreads...how do i love thee?

Goodreads. It's an obsession, but I think it's a healthy obsession since it's all about books, right? RIGHT??!?!?

The idea is...you set up 'shelves' and you keep track of the books you've read, the books you intend to read, and each book can be placed on multiple shelves. It's fun to be able to go look at the books I've read that take place in Ireland...and I've also put books on this shelf that I intend to read about my favorite place on earth!

So, shelving my own books is quite exciting...BUT...the best part? Friends on Goodreads! It started out with several of my friends that are actually in my life already. Then I started getting invitations from people I didn't even know...from all over the world!! And I've invited several people into my Goodreads world as well based on their reading selections.

I also get daily email updates of what my friends have read and how they've rated their books. Love it! I have added way too many books to my 'to read' shelf. Oy! How will I ever get through them all??

My goal for this year is to read 52 books...and listen to as many audio books as I can in addition to the 52! EEK! Kind of a lofty goal, but I think I can do it!! I've been trying to get to bed earlier in the evenings so I can rest & read...it's kinda nice not watching TV every night until 11!!!

Happy reading!

2007

from the mayfly project

passage ceremony. pinehurst. 10th relay. DC. myrtle beach. boone. baltimore. minneapolis. food allergies. feel much better. elijah. oak island. 59 books. movies (lots). nephews.

Blog game
Based on an exercise developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. If you participate in this blog game, PLEASE acknowledge their copyright. BOLD WHICH APPLY TO YOU:

* Father went to college

* Father finished college

* Mother went to college

* Mother finished college

* Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor

* Were the same or higher socio-economic class than your high school teachers

* Had more than 50 books in your childhood home

* Had more than 500 books in your childhood home

* Were read children's books by a parent

* Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18

* The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively

* Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18 ('rents wanted me to get a little used to it before I went to college)

* Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs

* Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs

* Went to a private high school

* Went to summer camp

* Family vacations involved staying at hotels

* Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18

* There was original art in your house when you were a child (not sure about this)

* You and your family lived in a single family house

* Your parent(s) owned their own house(s) or apartment before you left home

* You had your own room as a child

* You had a phone in your room before you turned 18 (I even had my own line! I paid for it myself! Thanks Bojangles & Lynn's Hallmark!!)

* Participated in an SAT/ACT prep course

* Had your own TV in your room in High School

* Owned a mutual fund or IRA in High School or College

* Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16

* Went on a cruise with your family

* Went on more than one cruise with your family

* Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up (i think mostly on vacations and such)

* You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family

Drag Bingo

Want a night out that is fun AND raises money for a great cause? Drag Bingo is held once a month at the Durham Armory and raises money for Alliance AIDS Services Carolina (AASC). I went with a group of girlfriends and had a blast! We played bingo, watched several drag queens perform, ate yummy food and laughed, laughed & laughed more! The crowd was very diverse...it was great to see so many people out for a night of fun supporting such an important cause. Speaking of so many people...you need to get there early to get a seat. We got there right after 6pm when the doors opened and we barely got enough seats for our whole group!

AASC's mission is to serve people living with HIV/AIDS, their loved ones, caregivers, and communities at large, through compassionate and non-judgmental care, prevention, education, and advocacy.

I actually heard about Drag Bingo last year when several AASC employees came to speak at my church. The organization does wonderful things, and the folks that hold Drag Bingo every month say they vow to play Drag Bingo until the HIV/AIDS crisis is over.

SO...I highly recommend you check out this fun event. The night we went, they raised $12,000 (I think that is right amount).

Blue Man Group

I had never seen the Blue Man Group live, and I really didn't know much about them. I had heard rave reviews from lots of people...and now I can add my own raving to that list. What a FUN show! The theme of this tour is How To Be A Megastar Tour 2.0. The audience is taken on a journey through the "manual" on how to put on a great rock concert. We learned about "Rock Concert Movements" such as "#78 - Fake Ending" where the band leaves the stage, only to return for such an unexpected encore. And "#1 - Basic Head Bob and #2 - One Armed Fist Pump." I think "#6 - Two Arm Upward Thrust with Yell" was my favorite!!

The show is basically a big ole spoof of a typical rock concert. Very funny and they are incredibly talented.

The opening act was Mike Relm. I don't really know how to describe him. I suppose he's a DJ who uses video. He was scratchin' and such...but instead of just music, we were watching videoes that he was manipulating. Very cool! I would go to a show of his as the main act!!

List O' Books!

I'm stealing from Laurie again (who stole it from someone else)! :) I have several books I'll be adding to my 'books i want to read list'. :)

Look at the list of books below. Bold the ones you've read, italicize the ones you want to read, cross out the ones you won't touch with a 10 foot pole (i don't know how to strike through, os i'm underlining) , put a cross (+) in front of the ones on your book shelf, and asterisk (*) the ones you've never heard of...

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride & Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. *A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. +A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Rowling)
17. *Fall on Your Knees(Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King) SCARY!!! LOL!
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. +The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. +Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. +East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. +Tuesdays with Morrie(Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. +The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. *The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. *The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True(Wally Lamb)
39. +The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. +The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. +The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. +Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela's Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She's Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. +The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. *The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller's Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. *The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. *Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones' Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. *The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. *The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)
81. *Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. *Wizard's First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. *The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. *Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. *In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth(Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)