Today I wear purple...

...to help bring even the tinest bit of awareness to those poor young kids who are killing themselves rather than deal with the trauma it is to be a human being who might just be a bit different from the main stream.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20020164-504083.html

NEW YORK (CBS) Wednesday Oct. 20 is Spirit Day, the day that the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation is asking people to "Go Purple" to call attention to the deaths of six teenagers who committed suicide after reportedly being taunted because they were gay.
The story of Tyler Clementi grabbed national headlines last month. Tyler was a freshman at Rutgers University whose roommate, Dharun Ravi, allegedly live-streamed Tyler having sex with another man online.
Tyler's belongings were found on the George Washington Bridge in New York the next day after he reportedly posted a goodbye note on his Facebook page.
Less than a week later Tyler's body was found floating in a nearby river.
Unfortunately, Tyler's story is not unique.
GLAAD says they hope the "Go Purple" event will show other lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered youth who face the same pressures and bullying that there is a vast community of people who support them, as well as give a chance to remember those who, like Tyler, have fallen victim to bullying and felt that suicide was their only way out.
One of those being remembered is Justin Aaberg, of Fridley, Minn., a Twin Cities suburb, who was 15 when he hung himself in his room July 9. His last Facebook post said, "If you really knew me, no one would like me," his mother, Tammy, told USA Today.
"We are losing too many kids. This has been kept silent for too long," says Aaberg, 36, who said that when she wears her purple T-shirt that says "End the Hate" on Wednesday, she'll be thinking of her son Justin, according to the paper.

GLAAD's website features a "Wear Purple" page allowing people to turn their profile pictures purple on Facebook or Twitter.
The color was selected because purple symbolizes "spirit" on the rainbow flag, a symbol for LGBT pride that was created by Gilbert Baker in 1978.

love letter in a bottle -- LOVE THIS!

I found this idea on another blog and totally fell in love with it. What a great party favor =)

To see more of Jen Pearson's designs, click here!

Items for the next house...

These are definitely going to be part of the new house...in one way or another, I will have these.

(They are made by Smarin Design.)

To buy in the US, we will have to contact these stores (Millie, you may have to go on an adventure for me soon):

U.S.A - BERKELEY - Lola Home - 2950 College Avenue

U.S.A - JOHNS CREEK, GA - OLOZOO Kids Home Store - 11035 Bell Road Suite 30

U.S.A - SAN DIEGO - Mixture - 2210 Kettner Blvd.

U.S.A - SAN FRANCISCO - Rose and Radish - 460 Gough Street

Favorite Sites...you probably know all about them though

Here are some of my favorite sites to visit when I am not in the mood to work.  You probably have been to all of them, but who cares, I'm going to share them anyway:

www.peopleofwalmart.com

www.passiveaggressivenotes.com

www.cakewrecks.com

And that is all.

Flora & fauna of the past weekend

Here are some pictures from the past weekend...enjoy =)

(If you would like to see the pictures in a larger format, just click on them)

The fields surrounding the house were FULL of wild flowers...

This is the river the flowed by the house...and the house in the distant background

The Ranch we stayed at

Mina having the time of her life

The house

Dave doing his sexy fisherman pose

Mina is guarding the bridge you must cross to get to the house

51 Places to see/things to do before I die...

This is a short list of some of the places I want to visit and some of the things I want to do before I die.  Some of these places I have been to before and most of them I haven't. Those places that I have been before, I want to go back and experience again now that I'm older and married. These are in mostly alphabetical order...

1. Alaska (preferably on a cruise with a bunch of our friends)

2. Amsterdam

3. Berlin

4. Boston

5. Branson, MO

6. Brazil, particularly Belo Horizonte to see Cici and Rio (I'll most likely go there for work, but to Sao Paulo)

7. Build our dream house in the Oregon forests
8. Catalina Island, CA

9. Check out the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame
10. Chicago (when I'm not working and in the spring/summer)

11. Costa Rica
12. Disney World
13. Dollywood

14. Drive on Route 66 for more than 50 miles
15. England
16. Fiji
17. Flordia Keys (Dave and I have been there together, but it was only an afternoon trip, so I would like to stay there for more time than just a few hours)
18. Get one of those crazy cakes that you see on those cake decorator shows for my birthday

19. Go on a hot air balloon ride over the Rockies

20. Go on the 40th birthday white trash road trip with Chole & Jerome

21. Graceland
22. Guam
23. Hawaii (the big island to see Vicki)
24. Help raise my friends and family's children to be good, honest, responsible and respectable
25. India
26. Ireland
27. Italian Riveira

28. Jamaica or somewhere in the Bahamas
29. Las Vegas -- with a big group of friends
30. Mt. Rushmore31. New Orleans (and stay in the French Quarter)

32. New York City

33. Norway (preferably to take mom so we can trace our family history)
34. Paris
35. Potenza, Italy (where Dave's family is from)
36. Puerto Rico
37. Rent a cabin on Mt. Hood
38. Rome
39. Russia (Moscow and St. Petersburg in particular)
40. San Francisco & The Golden Gate Park
41. Scotland
42. Show/teach our future children how to be good, honest, responsible and respectable
43. Sing karaoke in Nashville
45. Spain
46. The Stinking Rose in San Francisco


44. Skydive

47. Tokyo
48. Vancouver, BC
49. Venice
50. Washington DC
51. Help change the world in thinking that one religion is better than another, that we can all live in harmony and that good and evil do exist in the world, but it is all about balance...we need to help balance the world out, but I can't do it alone.

so interesting...

I can't even begin to tell you how engrossing this show is:

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/stephen-hawking/

I could sit and watch this for hours, trying to process even an eighth of the information provided in this Stephen Hawking show.  He is able to "dumb" the concepts down and explain them in a way that is so mind blowing that right from the beginning, we were totally sucked in.

I would try to focus on what was being presented to us, but my mind was all over the place with different personal theories I have about the universe, the world and the people in it.  I would share those theories with you, but as of right now they are so undeveloped that to even type them down would do them injustice. 

Not that I think I am a genius, but learning about the universe, how it was created, how we were created really made me focus on thoughts that have been in my mind for some time, but haven't had any coherent form to them.  Even now, if I wrote them out for you, I'm positive I would sound like a crazy person and I'm just not ready for that.

But please, check out his specials if you can.  The website listed above will give you snippets of his show.  It was truly amazing.