6footsix

welcome trek!!!

Welcome Trek!!!

I am so excited and honored to announce Trek as a major sponsor for my BIG Green Road Trip!  (See BIG Green Road Trip blog below.)  Trek has agreed to build a customized bicycle for me to ride from various campsites to volleyball events across the United States next season.  I spoke with Michael Leighton, industrial designer and Eric Bjorling, marketing director, today to discuss the super-size bicycle plans.

Trek sells bicycles to everyone.  From world class athletes like Lance Armstrong to little kids that ride tricycles, Trek can design and build a bicycle for riders of all sizes and needs.  They are excited to take on the task of building a bicycle for me for a couple of reasons.  First of all and most obvious, I am not shaped like the average rider or even the average athlete.  I have a 40 inch inseam which presents a challenge for Michael and Trek’s engineers to design a longer frame.  Fit is extremely important for the efficiency of the bicycle as well as the comfort of the rider. Trek was moved by my story since my BIG Green Road Trip fits in with their own green project titled “1 World, 2 Wheels.”  We are going to work together in inspiring more people to use bicycles as transportation vehicles.  Michael and Eric also mentioned their excitement to use new and experimental green practices when building this particular bike since it will be a major vehicle in the BIG Green Road Trip.

What work goes into customizing a bicycle?  First, measurements must be taken.  Thanks to Paul at Cycle Werks here in Costa Mesa, Trek now has their starting point.  Now it is time for Michael to connect with Trek’s engineers to draw a diagram using the measurements in order to get a visual of what the bike is going to look like.  From the diagram, parts are ordered and a prototype bicycle is made.  Once the prototype is measured to the rider, small adjustments are made and the construction of the actual Trek bicycle comes together.  Trek has brilliant artists that customize the paint to match the rider’s style.  

Thank you Michael, Eric, and Trek for taking on this challenge!

coming next season: the BIG green roadtrip

I do my best to encourage people to live their lives passionately while taking the Earth’s needs into consideration.  Do you want to climb Mt. Everest?  DO IT!  Do you want to completely change careers and become your own boss?  DO IT!

I want to travel across the United States for one entire volleyball season (6 months) and I am going to DO IT next year.  But how can I achieve this goal while honoring my promise to make choices that effect the Earth positively?  Most road trips include lots of gas fill-ups, numerous hotel stays and quite an impact on the Earth for the traveler’s personal pleasure and vacation.  

Introducing the BIG Green Road Trip.  With help from a few key sponsors, (Trek already holding one position and single donators helping out along the way,) I plan to drive a vehicle fueled by biodiesel to a camp site near a volleyball event, camp out overnight and then ride my awesome custom made Trek bicycle to the volleyball events.  This plan is not only honoring my promise to the Earth, but allowing me to live my dream, accomplish personal goals and live more financially free of expensive airline tickets and hotel room stays.  

My two pups, Daisy Mae and Zula have made the commitment too and are going to help me spread my message along the way.   

Stay tuned for BIG Green Road Trip updates!  

spreading green!

This past week while my mom was in town, she helped me make the entrance to my house look inviting.  Since I live in a place that does not get a lot of rain, We decided to plant a succulent garden.  Chiggity check it out!

I also took my mom to Santa Monica while she was in town.  S.M. is one of my favorite places to hang out because the people are very friendly and there is a bit more environmental awareness than most other places.  It is also home to one of the biggest community gardens I have ever seen.  Have you ever seen a sunflower so big???  Shopping in S.M. is also fun because many of their stores use only organic material to make their garments.  Patagonia is one of these places.  Their mission statement says it all: 

“Our definition of quality includes a mandate for building products and working with processes that cause the least harm to the environment. We evaluate raw materials, invest in innovative technologies, rigorously police our waste and use a portion of our sales to support groups working to make a real difference. We acknowledge that the wild world we love best is disappearing. That is why those of us who work here share a strong commitment to protecting undomesticated lands and waters. We believe in using business to inspire solutions to the environmental crisis.” 

While at Patagonia, I bought a t-shirt whose proceeds will go to supporting their current environmental cause: Freedom to Roam.  The goal is to create, protect and restore pathways between wildlife habitats so that the animals can survive.  I also bought a long sleeve shirt that is ideal for working out in cold weather.  It keeps me dry and warm on the beach during the winter months. 

I applaud and fully support the efforts and practices of Patagonia and encourage others to support them as well.  Individuals can make big differences by making small environmental decisions in their lives, as well as by supporting the businesses that operate under environmental ethics.

my journey so far ...

I want to take an opportunity to break down for you the inter-workings of my sport from my perspective. By explaining my past volley journey to you, I am hoping you can better understand what lies in the future, what opportunities I can create, and the darn situations that I just have to learn to accept.  

The AVP is the ultra professional league which in fact stands for the Association of Volleyball Professionals.  My aim is to play in this league during the entire beach volleyball season which spans from March to September every year.  Unfortunately, this is not something I can just go out and do.  The AVP selects the teams to play in the “main draw” or top 24 teams by a system of points.  The more AVP sanctioned tournaments I play in, the more points the I incur.  My points are combined with my teammate’s points and we are seeded in tournaments based on the total of our last six AVP sanctioned tournaments.  For every match a team wins, the more points they add to their total. 

In the beginning, it’s hard.  Three years ago I was at the bottom of the totem pole with zero points.  This meant that I had to find a partner and play in an AVP qualifier.  At this point, you might be thinking, “no problem.  I’m sure at 6’6” Colleen can just go out there and start dominating.”  I held this same confidence until I stepped onto the sand.  Have you ever tried running in sand?  It feels like running in place while becoming exhausted with every step that goes nowhere.  On top of that, I was transitioning from an indoor player (where there are six people on a team) to a beach player (two people on a team.)  Now that is a lot of court to cover!

Now, not to boast, but I was considered a good volleyball player in college and beyond. I was an All American (an award given to 24 collegiate players) at Texas Tech in 2000. I played in one of the most competitive professional leagues in the world (Italy A1) from 2002-2003  (good luck reading Italian,) and continued on to play professionally overseas for three more seasons In Holland, Puerto Rico and Indonesia.

When I stepped onto the San Diego sand to play for the first time in December of 2005, I felt like Bambi learning to walk.  For every four frustrating days of playing, I would have one positive day.  It was these small interspersions of progression that kept me from giving up.  Many players move out to California to live the beach volleyball dream, and many move away financially and emotionally spent.  

I spent the season of 2006 getting acquainted with the game.  A lot of the girls that had been playing the beach game for a while did not want to play with me because I was still learning.  I played in a couple of qualifiers and my best finish was 41^st place in an AVP tournament, 17 spots away from the goal of top 24.  The following season, I decided to hit the ground running.  I was good friends with another volleyball player who owned an Airstream motorhome and traveled to all the events in it.  I jumped on board and played in 13 AVP events from Phoenix to New York to Chicago to Louisville.  Aside from completely spending all of my savings and then some, I finally qualified for an AVP main draw In Coney Island, NY at the end of the 2007 season.  Matched up against a couple of veterans, Angie Akers and Brooke Hanson, I was handed my first loss as an official professional beach player.  My teammate and I finished 25th, and with $250 in our pockets, we headed back to California to train for the next season.  

2008 was a tough season.  By this time, I was living in Huntington Beach and had a lot of friends in the LA circle that were telling me I should pursue modeling.  Since I was not making the money I had hoped to make with volleyball, I decided to pursue sports modeling to supplement my income.  I signed with a sports talent agency and they provided me with auditions for different jobs.  I was turned down by Samsung for a commercial in which I would have swung a golf club, turned down by CBS’s “According to Jim” for a part in which I would have played a lumberjack woman, but then accepted by ABC for a spot on their game show Wipeout.  (here is the video)  I was told this was a game show in which the contestants run through a tricky obstacle course.  The winner would receive $50,000.  $50,000?  For running an obstacle course?  No Problem.  I attacked those giant red balls with guts of glory, but it was the topple towers that truly took me down

My extreme contusion kept me out of the beach season for the rest of the year and it was not until October of 2008 that I really started training again for volleyball.  I terminated my contract with the sports talent agency.  I was not again going to let the dangling of some cash get in the way of pursuing my beach volleyball dream.  

I got together with Justin Frandson of  athleticism and he put me through his program.  The program consists of a strong core inside and out.  I learned that strengthening the mind is just as important as strengthening the body.  Now when I play, I am a P.R.O.: Present in the moment, Ready for the play, and Open to every challenge.  When I make a mistake, I quickly make it right in my mind, then let it go to where it belongs: in the past.  

The 2009 season has arrived.  I played in my first AVP event last Thursday.  AVP qualifiers are single elimination events.  Laryssa and I knew we had to play flawless all day to get into the main event.  My team was seeded 19^th in the qualifier and faced the #14 seed of Leilani Kamahoahoa and Dana Kabashima.  We had trained against this team in the past and knew they would be tough.  I entered the match for the first time in an AVP event with a calm and controlled confidence and played one of the best matches of my life.  We beat them in two games: 21-19, 21-19.  This meant we had one more team to take down to get into the main draw.  We faced the #3 seed of Lauren Mills and Kelly Weiss from San Diego.  We went at them with the same aggressive play that we won the previous match with and took the early lead.  An automatic timeout is taken when the sum of the two scores equals 21.  After the timeout, we found that we were playing a different team.  They were playing us with a new strategy that we struggled to beat.  We ended up losing 21-15, 21-13.

<--- Laryssa

I have processed the ups and downs of the tournament and am using them to fuel my fire for the next challenge.  My team is playing in a couple semi-professional tournaments in the next couple of weeks to prepare for our next AVP challenge which will take place at my residence beach of Huntington on May 21.  Since there are not many opportunities for us to qualify, we have to take our preparation tournaments very seriously and figure out how to beat a variety of different teams.  

I am taking with me to these tournaments my measuring stick and some green ribbon to mark at the 1-meter line on different people.  As I am tying the ribbon, I ask them to make a pledge to the Earth by stating: ”I promise to love the Earth and think of it first while living my life with passion.”  Upon their arrival to their home, I am asking them to tie the ribbon in their house in a place where they will remember the promise they made to the Earth.  

My mission as I embark upon the volley world is to live my life without boundaries, to appreciate this wonderful planet since it gives me the opportunity every day to live my boundless adventure and to encourage others to do the same.

As always I love to hear your questions and comments and your wonderful green ideas!

long beach and garden starts

Hello volley-fans!

Laryssa and I took on the sun, sand, wind and competitors in Long Beach this weekend for an AVP sanctioned, 2 day, double elimination tournament.  With a pre-tournament seed of 17th, we felt confident that we would finish higher than expected. We faced the very tough team of Cayley Thurby (pictured below blocking) and her partner Sydney Donahue, (16th seed) at the start of the day on Saturday and lost in 3: 21-18, 17-21, 15-13.  It was a heart breaker, but we weren't going to let the loss keep us down.  We played two more matches on Saturday and won them both.

Bright and early Sunday morning (7am!!!) we faced my former partner, Laura Ratto and her partner Tarin Keith (8th seed) and won convincingly in 2 sets.  Next we played a team from New York.  We did not know much about this team before hand, just that they had to be ballers since they were seeded 4th and travelled across the country to play in a tournament comprised mainly of teams from my beautiful state of California.  We struggled early in the first game and were not able to catch up until game two.  Unfortunately we lost that one also, 21-18.  We finished 9th overall out of 42 teams and we're excited to train this week for the AVP qualifier which we will play on Thursday in Riverside.

On a domestic note, I planted my garden last weekend.  I have a small area that I share with my neighbors that I would like to eventually convert in it's entirety to a mini community garden.  For now, I am using about a third of the space to grow tomatoes, beets, eggplant, cantelope, pumpkin and banana peppers.  My friend George came over and helped me clear the area of weeds and start a compost pile, then later, my friend Meghan helped me cultivate the soil and plant the seeds and starter

 plants.  The doggies were as monumental in little garden helpers as the mimosas were in refreshment. 

 Check out the album to see the transformation.

the 2009 schedule!

Volleyball season has finally arrived and Colleen's Green Team is staying local this year in preparation for next year's big green road trip.  I am starting the season with a very talented player named Laryssa Mereszczak.  Try saying her name 3 times fast!  She is a superior athlete in all they ways that I am not.  We compliment each other well being that there is a whole foot between us in height, as you can see in the picture.  

In regards to my green goals, my favorite internet video is Where's Matt.  It is extremely moving and I am so inspired every time I watch it.  My Green Team mission this season is to compile a slide of photographs of all the people that I interact with while spreading my green mission.  I am measuring all of my little (and big) greenies with a ribbon which I will measure on their body at 1 meter, signifying the rise of the sea level due to global warming.  I am then asking them to tie the green ribbon in their home or vehicle in a place which they will see everyday reminding them to make good green choices.

Thank you to all of my contributors this year and stay tuned for more fun stuff!

    

April 11-12 Belmont Shores in Long Beach, CA

April 16-17 Riverside, CA AVP

April 26 Dockweiler Beach, CA

May 2 Manhattan Beach, CA

May 17 Ocean Beach in San Diego, CA

May 21-22 Huntington Beach, CA AVP

May 30 Pacific Palisades, CA

June 7 Ocean Park in Santa Monica, CA

June 13 Manhattan Beach, CA

June 20 Manhattan Beach, CA

June 27 Marina Green Park in Long Beach, CA

July 2-3 Coney Island, NY

July 11 San Diego, CA

July 16-17 Manhattan Beach, CA AVP

July 25 TBA (Santa Monica or Pacific Palisades)

August 6-7 Hermosa Beach, CA AVP

August 15 Manhattan Beach, CA

August 22 Santa Cruz, CA

August 27-28 Chicago, IL

September 5 Manhattan Beach, CA

September 12 Santa Monica, CA

walk and bike your way to a healthier body

A guest post by Steve

Colleen and I have been talking about some of the goals for her Green Team Project.  Not only is protecting the Earth important, but increasing our physical activity by walking or biking when we can.  Not only will you lower your greenhouse gas emissions, but you'll get more physically fit and this can be great for your health.

A trip to a European city sends the message that people tend to be much fitter.  For short trips Europeans are much more likely to walk or ride a bike than Americans.  Lack of physical activity is not the only cause for obesity, but it is interesting to look at physical activity and obesity in various countries.  

The chart plots the percentage of obese adults in several countries along with the percentage of adults who walk or take a bicycle for short trips.  Obesity is defined as a body mass index greater than thirty.  Recent surveys show over thirty four percent of American adults are obese, compared to numbers in the high single digits or low teens in Europe.  Americas were much lighter, on average, forty years ago and activity levels were significantly higher than now.  It should be stressed that lack of activity alone does not cause obesity, but there is a correlation.  This chart is meant to spur thought. (a more conventional plot appears on my blog)

As Spring breaks out around the country, think about taking a walk at lunch rather than sitting in a cafeteria.  Take that old bike in for an overhaul and ride it to work, school, or to the store.  You don't have to do it every day and for every trip, but it can make a big difference and your strength will improve the more you do it.    

Perhaps it is time to visit a bike store and make an investment in your own health as well as the planet's.  You might be surprised to learn there are practical bikes with comfortable riding positions that aren't made for winning bike races or riding down mountains.  Bikes that are made for errands, commuting and just staying in shape rather than being a bicycle athlete. 

Kids can do this too.  How many of you wait for your parents to cart you around?  Jump on a bike and just do it.  Those of you who are interested in looking good, maybe even sexy, should think about what exercise does for your body.  

If you don't bike, consider walking more.  I walk a fair amount and have come to love that time of the day.  I use an iPod in areas that are boring and take a close look at nature in the woods. You have a different outlook on life when you witness nature and change every day for an hour at a time.  I even had a vulture following me for a few months and the local coyote knows me.  People can be good company, but nature is full of surprises.

bike and walk!

do it for the Earth 

do it for your health

do it to look great!

Colleen will have much more to say on the subject, her project focuses on getting people more active - stay tuned!

___

note: only about one percent of short trips in America use a bike, the rest shown here are walking.   twenty five percent of short trips in the Netherlands use bikes and twenty two percent are walking.

first tourney of the season!

I survived the first tournament of the season!  It was a cloudy beach day as you can see in the pictures, but all players and fans were in good spirits because we were all so excited that the first tourney had finally arrived. This tourney was not like most: it was specifically a ProAm tourney, meaning one player on the team is a professional and the other is an amateur.  My amateur partner was Patty Silva and she is no amateur in my eyes.  This Brazilian is a super stud on defense and can pass the toughest jump serves.

Speaking of tough jump serves, we faced April Ross in pool play and remained the only team throughout the day to beat her.  For those of you unfamiliar with Miss Ross, she is one of the top pro's in the United States and known as a top player in the world.  We advanced on from pool play and lost to a very good team in the quarter finals.  Patty and I were very happy with our success.  We finished top 5 in the tourney, just out of the money and prizes, but the fun of the day was enough of a prize for us.

Big thank you's to my fans for supporting me throughout the day and also to those of you who couldn't be there that keep up with my blog.  I will be in a city near you soon.  Stay tuned to find out where...

finding your own magical path through life

A guest post by Sukie:

Which would you rather do:  have an adventure or buy yourself something?  

How happy are you long term afterward?

A new study  has been released which indicates that people get more lasting reward from purchased experiences than from purchased items.

Purchased experiences provide memory capital," Ryan Howell, assistant professor of psychology at San Francisco State University in San Francisco, Calif., was quoted as saying. "We don’t tend to get bored of happy memories like we do with a material object.

It is even possible to have some of those experiences for free and while helping others by providing free labor. 

Tips:

1. Donate some time in a field that you don't use for your everyday job.  When you get to learn something new that is even more of a win.

2. Volunteer at places like museums, libraries, schools, volunteer public services, etc.  They need the help, you will meet wonderful people, and you'll come away feeling good about yourself while helping others.

3. Join groups that do things which interest you such as acting or doing make-up for amateur theater groups, reading for the blind or for children, helping at animal shelters, building homes for the poor, and so on.

4.  Plant a garden for yourself or for a community shelter.  Helping something grow is very rewarding.

5. Break routine. That is important.  An experience is even more of a mini-vacation if it is very different from your daily life.

Too often finding temporary relaxation through purchases can create a nasty cycle of having to work your tail off to afford those belongings while having less time to relax.  Living more modestly but comfortably can instead give you time to enjoy the experiences which matter to you, and to treasure those memories for your lifetime.

Experience life!

image cc by spunkinator

and then ringing like steel on steel

 

(a guest post from Steve after watching a thunderstorm)

thunderstorms are such amazingly beautiful things.

a flash 

   

a pause  

 

a crack of thunder that sometimes rings like steel on steel.

...  so much beautiful variation from storm to storm.  there aren't many in southern california so they are even more amazing when they happen.

john muir wrote this about thunderstorms in the sierra 

The weather of spring and summer in the middle region of the Sierra is
usually well flecked with rains and light dustings of snow, most of
which are far too obviously joyful and life-giving to be regarded as
storms; and in the picturesque beauty and clearness of outlines of their
clouds they offer striking contrasts to those boundless, all-embracing
cloud-mantles of the storms of winter. The smallest and most perfectly
individualized specimens present a richly modeled cumulous cloud rising
above the dark woods, about 11 A.M., swelling with a visible motion
straight up into the calm, sunny sky to a height of 12,000 to 14,000
feet above the sea, its white, pearly bosses relieved by gray and pale
purple shadows in the hollows, and showing outlines as keenly defined as
those of the glacier-polished domes. In less than an hour it attains
full development and stands poised in the blazing sunshine like some
colossal mountain, as beautiful in form and finish as if it were to
become a permanent addition to the landscape. Presently a thunderbolt
crashes through the crisp air, ringing like steel on steel, sharp and
clear, its startling detonation breaking into a spray of echoes against
the cliffs and cañon walls. Then down comes a cataract of rain. The big
drops sift through the pine-needles, plash and patter on the granite
pavements, and pour down the sides of ridges and domes in a network of
gray, bubbling rills. In a few minutes the cloud withers to a mesh of
dim filaments and disappears, leaving the sky perfectly clear and
bright, every dust-particle wiped and washed out of it. Everything is
refreshed and invigorated, a steam of fragrance rises, and the storm is
finished--one cloud, one lightning-stroke, and one dash of rain. This is
the Sierra mid-summer thunder-storm reduced to its lowest terms. But
some of them attain much larger proportions, and assume a grandeur and
energy of expression hardly surpassed by those bred in the depths of
winter, producing those sudden floods called "cloud-bursts," which are
local, and to a considerable extent periodical, for they appear nearly
every day about the same time for weeks, usually about eleven o'clock,
and lasting from five minutes to an hour or two. One soon becomes so
accustomed to see them that the noon sky seems empty and abandoned
without them, as if Nature were forgetting something. When the glorious
pearl and alabaster clouds of these noonday storms are being built I
never give attention to anything else. No mountain or mountain-range,
however divinely clothed with light, has a more enduring charm than
those fleeting mountains of the sky--floating fountains bearing water
for every well, the angels of the streams and lakes; brooding in the
deep azure, or sweeping softly along the ground over ridge and dome,
over meadow, over forest, over garden and grove; lingering with cooling
shadows, refreshing every flower, and soothing rugged rock-brows with a
gentleness of touch and gesture wholly divine.

The most beautiful and imposing of the summer storms rise just above the
upper edge of the Silver Fir zone, and all are so beautiful that it is
not easy to choose any one for particular description. The one that I
remember best fell on the mountains near Yosemite Valley, July 19, 1869,
while I was encamped in the Silver Fir woods. A range of bossy cumuli
took possession of the sky, huge domes and peaks rising one beyond
another with deep cañons between them, bending this way and that in long
curves and reaches, interrupted here and there with white upboiling
masses that looked like the spray of waterfalls. Zigzag lances of
lightning followed each other in quick succession, and the thunder was
so gloriously loud and massive it seemed as if surely an entire mountain
was being shattered at every stroke. Only the trees were touched,
however, so far as I could see,--a few firs 200 feet high, perhaps, and
five to six feet in diameter, were split into long rails and slivers
from top to bottom and scattered to all points of the compass. Then came
the rain in a hearty flood, covering the ground and making it shine with
a continuous sheet of water that, like a transparent film or skin,
fitted closely down over all the rugged anatomy of the landscape.

from The Mountains of California 1894.  (full text)

thankyou!!!

To my friends, family and generous contributors.

Thank you all for your support for my green team throughout 2008.  It is a new year and I have new goals driving me to the top of the beach volleyball tour and new challenges for my readers to better green their lives.

My "serious" training has started back up in the volleyball world.  I am now training 5-7 times a week with 2 off days so that my body can recover and be refreshed for the next workout.  My workouts consist of 3-5 workouts on the beach doing drills or playing against other athletes and 1-2 workouts in the gym.  During the last 3 months of 2008, I was spending 4-5 days in the gym doing speed training, joint stability, ambidexterity training, strength workouts and core strengthening, building a base for the rigorous training that started at the new year.  I got an unexpected morning off today due to rain, so I will get an extra core workout in.  Heaven forbid I take an extra day off!

I am already seeing huge improvements in my quickness on the court.  It is not easy to get 80 inches of leg up under me to hit a ball after diving and digging it out of the sand, but this is so much easier for me than it was last season thanks to my strength trainer and sponsor, Justin Frandson of Athleticism.  Through my multi-aspect training at Athleticism, my body is so much more prepared for the season as it has ever been.  I am stronger, more athletic, quicker, and am using both sides of my body to maximize my performance.  In addition to the physical training, Justin and others in his circle have taught me a new way of thinking and approaching my game mentally; a way that puts my mind solely in the present and places errors in a category of my brain that views them as positive learning experiences instead of mistakes to dwell on and effect my current experience.  A new, more confident Colleen is forming and I am very excited to tackle the 2009 season. 

Daisy Mae and Zula have been training too and asked to wish you all a Happy New Year.  They are staying warm throughout the winter in the parkas they got for Christmas and are very excited about the country's current events and ask you all to wag more and bark less!   

More green challenges are coming as well as volleyball updates so stay tuned.

Happy New Year!

we have parkas!

daisy mae and i are really excited that we got parkas for christmas.  funny thing is, mom tried to make them for us first out of socks!  when we were puppies, we visited our grandma in the mountains of new mexico.  mom made really warm sweaters for us out of socks and it worked because we were so small.  she tried to do it again this year but it was not quite the success it was when we were small. 

 

here i am modeling mom's creation.

thank goodness for petsmart

the colors of nature

Have you ever taken the time to appreciate how beautiful the colors of nature are? There is so much subtlety and the contrast with the colors of  things people make can be jarring. Take a walk today and see what I mean! 

and there are the trees....

so beautiful!

You can get on your back and just gaze up for the longest time. Colors, sounds, motion .. Squirrels run around and birds work on their nests. You feel small, but also part of it and that is beautiful.   

merry christmas and all of the other holidays!

 Merry Christmas!!

 It is the time of year when candles and stars are up against the darkness.  There are many holidays that come with the shortest days so enjoy those that are part of your life.

Be close to yours and enjoy the food, the stories and especially the love! Zula and Daisy Mae remind you to think about your animal friends too!

build or fix something today

Today is Black Friday when everyone goes to the malls for the sales. 

Here is another idea 

Why don't you spend some time repairing what you have or making something with your own hands. Homemade things make wonderful gifts from the heart and fixing stuff means it isn't going to the dump and you save. 

This is really good if you are a kid. Show 'em how creative you are! Zula and Daisy Mae would do it if they could, but you can't imagine how dangerous they are with power tools.

(image is cc geishaboy500)