Thoughts of the Week - Today

today I am:
adding things to my life list:
learn a choreographed dance routine
start a Love 146 task force in Orange County/Long Beach area
go on a mission trip somewhere
raise at least $1000/year for charitable causes
write a screenplay with my husband
go skinny dipping in my pool
stop regretting moving across the street from a school
throw my parents a big party for making it this far
organize a family reunion
learn to spin records (even digitally)

thanking God that I have a lot of very loving & generous people in my life.  I seriously have the best friends and family without a doubt.  And the best blog readers to boot!  We've helped to raise over $300 in just a little over 24 hours for Charity:Water and JDRF.  If you want to sponsor Four Flights next month, 100% of the proceeds will go to these 2 charities.  Read this post for the details :) 

wanting to tell you guys that there's always more that can be done, without sounding preachy.  I can always do more and I will do more, I promise myself that.  And if you want to do more, just do it!  Find a charity that speaks to you and just send out an email to friends and family and ask them to donate.  If they get weirded out by that, well that's their problem.  But I can pretty much guarantee you that people won't get weirded out.  In this last year with the several fundraisers and drives I have done, I have found that most people genuinely want to help and want to do good.  Sometimes we don't know what charities to sponsor, what to fund raise for.  Often they just need a friend they trust to point them in the right direction.  I know that's how I felt at the beginning of this year.  Remember when I had to ask you guys what charities you love and are passionate about?  It's because I didn't know!  I still don't know much, but I have found a lot of very worthwhile organizations to help this year and I hope to find more.  So just pick one, start something.  You may be surprised (or not), at just how awesome people are.

Finally, this morning I am looking through pictures and am happy knowing my kids don't have a fear of animals, that's for sure!  (picture above taken at Nana's annual Halloween party.  That lady sure knows how to throw a Halloween bash, this year hiring a reptile company to attend).

*If you're new here, Thoughts of the Week is a series I do almost weekly where I take time to reflect on events of  the week.  Sometimes it's silly things like asking for cookware advice, but often times it's where I dig a little deeper and get real.  A small sampling would be posts like these, where I talk about the anniversary of my brother's death, woman and friendships and the struggles of parenthood.  On Monday I usually get back to pretty things.