I'm Thankful for Family and Friends

Just a short post today to say how thankful I am for phones and email that let me keep in touch with my far-away family. And for close-by friends who have become my second family.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I'm Thankful for Water

Living in the Pacific Northwest, it's so easy to forget that there are places that don't spend 6 months practically drowning in rain. I can take warm showers for as long as I want. This weekend I washed a new red shirt with only one other piece of clothing for fear of the colors running. All I have to do to get clean, safe drinking water is walk to the kitchen and turn on the tap.

H2O Africa states, "Our objective is to increase awareness of the African situation, empower people to action, and create sustainable alliances between people who want to help, the best organizations in the field to make it happen, and some of the amazing communities of Africa that have no clean water." Matt Damon has partnered with this organization to help raise awareness. He became interested when he was in Africa and met a young girl who, when asked what she wanted to be, smiled and said she wanted to move to the city and become a nurse. He realized the only reason she could even have this dream was because she didn't have to spend her days walking long distances to provide water for her family. Her village has a well.

H2O Africa partners with numerous NGOs and features over a hundred projects. You can donate in general or to a specific project. Even better, thanks to their partnerships, every donation is matched. And if your office has a matching donation program, it could be tripled.

I'm Thankful for Food

This Thursday I will sit down to a table so laden with food it's probably one casserole away from collapsing. That puts me in a very small minority.

Did you see the David Letterman interview with Josette Sheeran, Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme? It was almost 2 months ago, but is still fresh on my mind.

The most alarming and yet hopeful thing she says it that it would cost $3 billion a year to say no kid goes hungry. And then David Letterman says that Wall Street bonuses were $36 billion.

• WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency
  
• In 2007, they provided 3.3 million tons of food for 86.1 million
  
• people
  
• This year they plan to feed around 90 million people in 80 countries
  
• At any moment WFP has 30 ships at sea, 70 aircraft in the sky and 5,000 trucks on the ground
  
• The agency relies entirely on voluntary contributions
  
• More than 90 percent of funding goes on food or delivery costs

Right now money is tight for everyone, the economy is bad, it's the holidays. But if you can, please consider helping.

Music Monday - 11/24/08

Thanksgiving songs to celebrate the season

Download the mix

Pumpkin - The Starlight Mints
Thanksgiving Moon - DM Stith
Casserole - Jason Loewenstein
Thanksgiving (for Elliott Smith) - The Boy Bathing
Sweet Potato - Cracker
The Thanksgiving Song - Adam Sandler
Linger - The Cranberries
Turkey Gotta Gobble - Reverend Horton Heat

Music Monday - 11/17/08

You know how every so often you actually watch TV right as it's happening, not on tape or DVR. And just when you were bemoaning the fact you are stuck watching commercials, one comes on with a song you love, it gets stuck in your head, it must be yours, but you have no idea who sings it. Well SplendAd.com can help. Search alphabetically by brand and find the commercial. They even include links to iTunes and Amazon to buy the song or album.

Bundles of Joy

I guess this is my week of self-referential posts. Remember those clothes yesterday from People Will Always Need Plates? Turns out, they are made in partnership with clothkits. Again, it's a UK site but if you pay them enough, they will ship to their fans in the US or other international locations. Clothkits sends you not only gorgeous fabric but also buttons, thread, zippers, instructions, and whatever else you need to finish the project, all in one cute bundle. And there are no patterns, the cutting lines are printed right on the fabric, so easy! Look at the kits for bags, dolls, and cute kids' clothes.


As if that wasn't enough, look at this! They have skirts that are silkscreened with an amazing papercut design by mister rob!


This site may just turn you into someone's favorite seamstress. If so, remember to ask for these coasters.

Blue Plate Special

They say that People Will Always Need Plates. I say that's True True True! Remember those beautiful plates from yesterday? Well the people responsible for them have lots of other plate designs and things you will want. Trouble is, they only ship to the UK. They do have a list of stockists where you might be able to find more of their products. Because look at what else they have:

Architectural plates in gold and black

Pillows


Buttons


And my absolute favorite, clothes. Adorable frocks for kids and skirts for adults.

Eden & Eden - Almost Paradise

Eden & Eden is a self-proclaimed "cosy yet contemporary shop for people who appreciate unique design, excellent quality, and goodies that they love and want in their lives." They carry clothes, jewelry, and bags. But the goodies I want the most are in their home section.

Look at these architectural kitchen goodies! I'm not sure I could ever actually eat off of this plate or mug. I can't imagine drying dishes with that gorgeous towel. But I can definitely imagine hanging a few of these plates on a wall.


And wouldn't these coasters be the perfect gift for your favorite seamstress?

New Dresses

I'm way behind the times and only a few weeks ago did I finally try footless leggings with a dress. I loved it and am now ready to try low-heeled knee high boots with a dress. So I'm still looking for the right dresses. What do you think of these?

Ruched Shift


T-shirt Sash Dress


Pocket Sweater Dress

Music Monday - 11/10/08

Since I'm trying to avoid sharing actual mp3 files right now, I thought I could share a great performance. Last week, David Letterman had Jenny Lewis on as the musical guest, and she had a guest too, Elvis Costello! So good!


And, just when I was thinking I might not really need cable, the short interview with Elvis Costello made me want to upgrade and get the Sundance channel. Maybe what I don't really need is a savings account...

Need Another Reason to Vote?

Choosing our next president is absolutely reason enough but just in case you need another reason, here you go.

If you vote in the morning, you could swing by Krispy Kreme for a free star shaped donut with patriotic sprinkles. Run by Ben & Jerry's for an afternoon free scoop. And Starbucks will help you stay up late to find out who won with a free cup of coffee.

And I bet they will give these to anyone who voted, even if you voted for the wrong person.



Looking for more ideas of things to do tonight, after you vote of course? My roommate, Lizzy, has lots of ideas.

Music Monday - 11/3/08

I thought musicals were supposed to be happy. Well this Music Monday is more of a drama or maybe even a tragedy. Last week, after my post about The Pretenders, I got a email from Blogger saying that they had been notified of a copyright infringement and took down the post. I'm not sure exactly what will happen to Music Mondays in light of this. So I thought I would turn to the professionals, some college friends of mine who only share legal downloads. There really are a lot of them out there so maybe I can dig a bit deeper and find more to share with you, until then enjoy 3Hive.