Penny's Song

Music has a way of moving my love for the world. Priscilla Ahn is my new favorite.

Check out her stuff:
priscillaahn.com

wii hope for keeping our kids entertained?

What's the opposite of mindful? Well, mind numbing video games and the new generation of video gaming machines... If I have to hear about another 6 year old that got a wii for Christmas, I'm going to move to Europe and go on bike rides and drink wine all day... oh, and get back into my love for oil paints.

walking and breathing in goodness

More people need to realize how fulfilling it feels to walk... it's such a great way to exercise your body & mind simultaneously. Feel your tension melt away, stop making a to-do list, listen to the birds... IN OTHER WORDS, be mindful.

I prefer to walk outside with the temperature right around 70 degrees. [this dream is hardly ever the case]

On occasion, I take my ipod with me on these walks, but really, I like to just take in the fresh air and breath deep.

halloween fun

scary movies, scary stories and scary costumes are not for everyone... but who doesn't like dipping apples in caramel?

try these toppings and taste the 4th dimension of deliciousness

~ dip chilled caramel apples in melted white chocolate, then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar
~ drizzle melted chocolate over caramel apples, then sprinkle with nuts
~ coat caramel apples in chocolate and then roll in your favorite candy or cookie…
   (chopped Oreos, Snickers, M&Ms)

Project Girl seeks change

did you ever open a magazine like Shape, In-Style, Teen or Seventeen and really look at the advertisements? i mean, really look.

now put yourself in the shoes of a 9 or 10 year old adolescent girl. how is she to process some of the images she sees? heavy on sex, body image, drinking, drugs, violence... the media targets the young so they can sell their products.

girls are influenced by these messages and they begin to be the ads. the media is changing our culture, there is no denying it.

there's an activist group based out of Madison, Wisconsin called Project Girl that leads workshops that teach adolescent (middle school age) girls to process these media messages so they begin to look differently at media and ask questions. they talk about the truth and discuss what real girl power means.

Project Girl vernacular...
un-mediafy your life
be suspicious
does buying things really make you happy?
the power of art to change the world.

projectgirl.org

thank you Project Girl for looking out for girls!

girls learn to process these media print advertisements with the help of Project Girl's curriculum.

life is beautiful, chose it

i know politics are the only thing people hear about these days and there's really only one thing i really care about--- i am PRO-LIFE. i was online and came across this website www.abortionno.com. they show a graphic video that truly made my heart sink. 

some of the statistics on the site were mind-numbing... 

Why women have abortions:
"1% of all abortions occur because of rape or incest; 6% of abortions occur because of potential health problems regarding either the mother or child, and 93% of all abortions occur for social reasons (i.e. the child is unwanted or inconvenient)."

at the end of the day, isn't life the most important thing? 

photo:  1 day old healthy infant girl