Pirate Baby Shower Party Fun

Here's a fun list of food for the Pirate Party or Baby Shower -
*Cupcakes
*Spinach dip with a sign saying Seaweed dip
*Sandwich wraps called Seaweed wraps
*Fruit with spear sticks called fruit swords
*Big pretzels called driftwood
*Carrot sticks called crab legs
*White cheese called shark teeth
*Yellow cheese called pirates gold
*Deviled eggs called yolk boats
*7up/limeade punch and call it blue Lagoon punch

Pictures:

Baby Shower Pirate Invitations

I made these baby shower invites for my sweet friend M's baby shower. Her little boys room is going to be pirate themed, so we decided to throw her a pirate shower. So excited to meet her new little boy!

The River

The River by Jessica Faulkner Chase, July 2014

Creeping in steadily, I shiver as the cool water chills my skin.

The shiver slowly becomes a comforted rush of Mother Nature's soothing touch. Plunging deep in the abyss I am renewed, refreshed - baptized for a new day, for a new moment of peace. 

Lying back with my legs and arms outstretched, my hair flows through the current, my cheeks feel the cool river water rushing against them. 

I stare at the blue sky with giant cumulonimbus clouds bordering the horizon. 

The trees sway, the birds chirp, the cotton flies through the air, and my heart is content. 

In this moment I feel full of life and gratitude for all this universe has to offer. Let go of the struggle against the current. The river will take you through the serene abundance of life if you surrender. Abundance surrounds me. 

The Raw Truth About Equal Rights

All my life I've studied about all types of fear and segregation. Whether it's the the Holocaust or The Civil Rights Movement or Women's Rights...we've all been told not to speak of these things on our blogs or we won't get hired for jobs, or won't be accepted by our families/religions. There are a lot of fear-based suggestions of why we should not express our true thoughts and opinions. God forbid anyone stand up for what's right - right? Can you imagine if there weren't people that stood up for what is right in our history? We would live in a scary, scary world. Would our world and the people in it even exist?

Fact is, I am not black, or gay - but I am a woman, so I have felt some segregation and intolerance in my life. In the grand scheme of things, however, I haven't been discriminated against nearly as much as many people in this world are, and I am grateful for that.  All labels aside, I am human. And as a human, I have a duty to stand up for other humans regardless of age, rage, gender, religion, sexual orientation etc.  I don't know a lot of things for sure, but I do know that making other humans feel less than equal is WRONG at a fundamental level.

I recently had the opportunity to walk for an organization called The Trevor Project at the local Gay Pride Parade. The Trevor Project is the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning young people ages 13-24.

Did you know that suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death among young people ages 10 to 24? Did you know that LGB youth are 4 times more likely, and questioning youth are 3 times more likely, to attempt suicide as their straight peers? Did you know that LGB youth who come from highly rejecting families are 8.4 times as likely to have attempted suicide as LGB peers who reported no or low levels of family rejection?

How is this happening? Why are we allowing this to happen to our fellow humans?

I thought about this today because I watched a movie called "The Normal Heart" about the 1980s timeframe when American's in New York were trying to identify the cause of the aids virus. It is a heart-wrenching story about a gay community that is dying off in New York. They created an activist group that keeps encouraging the government to find an answer on what the virus is and help with treatment. The amount of time and effort it took these people to get any bit of reaction from the government is baffling to me. There were roomers that the government created the virus to "kill off gay people" and the government wasn't denying it. Sound like the Holocaust at all to you? Granted, that was a rumor, but who knows what really happened. It was such a sad time, and it makes me happy for how much progress has been made since then.

We still have a long way to go so SPEAK UP and STAND UP for the underdog. That's the only way we are going to make progress as humans.

If you are a believer in equal rights, this movie is a must see. Here are just a few reviews about the play that won Tony Award and the movie from Wikipedia - "In the New York Daily News, Liz Smith said, 'An astounding drama . . . a damning indictment of a nation in the middle of an epidemic with its head in the sand. It will make your hair stand on end even as the tears spurt from your eyes.' Rex Reed stated, 'No one who cares about the future of the human race can afford to miss The Normal Heart,' while director Harold Prince commented, 'I haven't been this involved – upset – in too damn long. Kramer honors us with this stormy, articulate theatrical work.'"

Also, some great quotes from the movie, "Weakness scares the shit out of me. My father was weak and I'm afraid I'll be like him. His life didn't stand for anything and then it was over. So I fight constantly. And if I can do it, I can't understand why everyone else can't do it too." - Ned Weeks, Gay Activist

"I scare the shit out of people. The holy terror in a wheel chair. Learn how to use it, you don't need everybody's love and approval." -Dr. Emma Brookner, a physician and survivor of polio who helped with the virus research with little to no government funding.

And a quote, that, of course, I love -
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." -The Declaration of Independence

Peace and love,

Jess*

2-Year-Old SJ

SJ is 2-years-old and he loves singing the ABC's and can count to 15 or so. He loves telling knock-knock jokes and loves his grandparents very much. He likes playing with cars and ninja turtles and loves Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse, Elmo, Yo Gabba Gabba. He also loves singing along to those shows. We regularly catch SJ walking around the house singing "Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh..." to himself in his cute little singing voice. 

 SJ is in pre-school two days a week and no longer uses a bottle. He has a big boy bed, but he doesn't sleep in it very well. We are working on that. He knows his colors and his animals well. He loves farms and singing and talking about animals. He loves singing "Old McDonald Had a Farm" and loves jumping on the trampoline. He also loves putting coins in his piggy bank. His favorite book right now is "Brown Bear, Brown Bear - What Do You See?" and he has already been to Disneyland TWICE!! 

We love him so much and he is the greatest joy in our lives. Thank you universe!

Marketplace 3.0

Marketplace 3.0: Rewriting the Rules of Borderless Business by Hiroshi Mikitani
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Favorite quotes:
"Global business is not just a way to make money; it is a way to remake the interaction between companies and marketplaces."
"Myself of today will triumph over myself of yesterday."
"No matter what you do, if you do it well and with passion, you will achieve success and happiness."
"The only way workers will fully pursue experiments is if they feel assured that they will not be punished for an unsuccessful outcome."
"The key is not to take a defensive stance and build a wall around your business, but to reach out and make positive connections that create a better experience for all involved."
"Vendors on the more rigid platform conform to the template. This is efficient, to be sure. It saves money and time. But is it fun? Is it entertaining? Does it inspire the customer to spend time browsing? Not really."
"A great goal can generate unprecedented speed."
"Action is what speeds improvement."
"Take the intuition you have and investigate it in terms of hard numbers. How many people pass by your bus stop? What are the sales of nearby stores? How many people visit bookstores at the next bus stop? What are their profits? What are the rents in your neighborhood? What are the bookstore personnel costs like? Gather all this and other figures and begin to calculate the profits your bookstore might generate."
"Intuition is a great asset to business. But it comes to its highest purpose only when coupled with metrics. Measurement takes dreams and moves them toward reality."
"We need to realize that even when we leave our office, our roles as leaders remain intact."

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There's beauty in the breakdown.

Sometimes you have to break down to find peace. 

Wake up!

The days I wake up lazy and unmotivated yet push myself to wake up, get energized and experience life end up being the most rewarding days.