Jam Sessions

Country music makes me happy. All the time. Especially Lady Antebellum. The below video of them during a jam session gives me one more good reason to love them.

Thought of the Day

What would you do if you knew you could not fail?

#BlackFriday

A few years ago I convinced myself to go shopping on Black Friday, partly to experience the craziness that comes with it. When the early morning came around, I was still in my Thanksgiving food state and hit the snooze button. I finally rolled out to the mall around 10 a.m., thinking the worst was over because it was certainly not 4 a.m. How wrong I was! We had to park a few blocks away and when we walked into Macy's, the shelves were disheveled and people were running from all directions. 

• List in hand. 
• Gym shoes on for competitive running to claim items. 
• Elbows up for the rush of the crowd through the open doors. 
• Enter me, determined to make it through the day.

After claiming all my necessary gift items, I was looking at a rack of clothes on sale when an old woman slowly walked up next to me and smiled. I remember thinking, "She better be careful today, people are nuts and may take advantage of her." Before I had time to react, she shoved me out of the way and grabbed the shirt I was looking at and ran toward the checkout line. As she looked back at me and laughed, I couldn't help but give her credit for the snag. The shirt wasn't on my list of things to buy for the day, but she clearly wanted it and won the battle I didn't realize was happening. 

Consumers spend so much time focusing on great deals, even if it means ripping it from the "enemy's" hand. With the advertising and commercial build-up of Black Friday deals, some starting as early as Halloween, companies have certainly made it easy for society to attain this level of thinking and they have gone so far as to push Black Friday up to late night Thursday. Big companies win again so long as there are people who get sucked into the frenzy. 

Has anyone put two and two together that the same people who are giving thanks for all they have one day are fighting each other the next for the must-have flat screen TV?

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I Hope You Fail

I hope you've failed a few times and that you've struggled in some way. I hope you have regrets. The reason being that progress, growth and new beginnings can't happen unless you've been at the bottom. The "American Dream" itself is based on overcoming challenges, making tough decisions and making mistakes to get where you need to be. I know how far I've come based on where I've been. 

I believe in extremes; I believe in black and white; I believe in gray areas; I believe in bright colors. I believe in making your life change if you want it to and learning from the times you messed up. I hope you fail so you can too.

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The Good Project: More Love Letters

Hi friends, 

As I wrote earlier in the year, the world needs more love letters. People are too caught up with their daily lives and constant "social" interaction on their multiple technological devices (cell phone, computer, iPad, etc), that they don't take the time to connect with someone via a handwritten note.

Imagine my joy when I came across "The World Needs More Love Letters," a site dedicated to sending snail mail to those who really need it. The idea behind this project is fantastic and I wish I had thought of it myself. The founder started the project after sending letters of encouragement to strangers and the concept took off. You can even send in a request for a letter to be sent to someone in need.

By signing up as a subscriber you can receive updates for requests that come in. Pending you have the interest and time, you can write your very own response letter to the person in need and your letter will be bundled with others' letters, thus giving the recipient a package of encouraging, supportive words.

Linger on the site for a while and read some fantastic, inspiring notes. Check out the TED Talk below and let me know what you think!

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