I may not be writing on here, but I am writing!!

Here's the most recent article published to our site, on the I Am Not For Sale Tour. I am unofficially the tour manager for our Academy World Tour, and although I don't book the shows with The Wrecking, it is very much at the forefront of what we do. I not-so-secretly enjoy having articles published (something tangible!) and I even made that sweet collage!!

My Week Four fellowship blog post, on stories of hope and what inspires me to keep doing what I'm doing. We were given a little vacation (President's Day) for Week 5, and my Week 6 post will be published soon.. stay tuned!

A story on our newest project in Amsterdam. I am so excited about this!!

I'll have another one out on Thailand soon, so keep reading and sending to all of your friends :)

If there were words to describe watching this, I'd be more eloquent here. There just isn't enough to say. I feel like I watched this girl grow up, from going to choir camps together to seeing her play at a tiny coffee shop in Belmar (Coffee Blue, anyone?) to going on the road with her on her first ever tour. Not only is Jessie an amazing person, inside and out, she's so passionate and works so hard at what she wants that she's never ceased to amaze me. I cried when I watched this episode and I'm so excited to see what she has in store for her. Nothing but love, girl.

For Jake!

Saskia is an amazing writer and I am thankful to be able to say that I met her for coffee and a bagel one morning while she was flying between Canada, San Fran, and back to Amsterdam. She is working with Not For Sale on an amazing project that I would love to be a part of (More info here.) Until then, I'll skype with her as she helps me write the international articles (my first one was posted below!) and I'll follow her blog, as she writes about the hard, overwhelming, incredibly amazing thing we are both doing. For the first time, I'm comfortable saying that I'm finally working to end modern-day slavery. Saskia's last post just might get me out of bed in the morning.

I have become one of those people. Those stressed out workaholics. Sometimes I love being one of those people. Sometimes I thrive on always having something to do and somewhere to be. And sometimes I feel like I'll never catch up and I'll never have a second to catch my breath or finish a project or talk to the people I love. I hate that second person.

Amber Rae's last post just made me take a second to slow down. De-stress. Think. It wasn't actually about this, but I don't want to loose sight of why I'm here, what I'm doing, what I want to do. I'm going to try to take an hour every night for myself. Personal emails, catching up on reading, writing. It's not a lot, and it's going to be hard. I live with six people and will always have work to catch up and something else to read and lots of noise and things to do. I also need to wake up earlier to go running, as tired as I might be, I need to do it. There are a lot of people out there who work longer and harder than me and I just have to adjust. So I'm going to.

My favorite part of Amber's post was thinking about what type of environment I want to be living in and asking myself what steps I can take today towards where I want to be - imagine yourself there now and feel like that every day. How awesome does that sound? BE HAPPY NOW. Duh.

Other random ramblings....

If you're in Boston, I probably miss you a lot. If you have an adorable little girl who definitely already forgets who I am already, can you show her a picture of me and then read her the book I bought and then send me something sparkly? If you're in my favorite band, will you send me some of your new songs? If you're Marisa, will you bake me something delicious? Am I being too needy? :)

I know some really awesome people. Like my fellow fellows. My friend Tim in the Peace Corps in Africa. My girl Jessie, who auditioned for the Voice. My birthday/name twin, who just happens to be the STAR of this video. My friends are all over the world and they're amazing. I'm blown away by their dedication and passion and I'm so lucky to know them.

Happiness comes from the intersection of what you love, what you're good at, and what the world needs. What big problems are you trying to solve?

I wrote this! I'll be starting quite a good portfolio, which I'm pretty happy about.

Loved this piece for so many reasons. I loved Moneyball, and I love how our boss made everyone read it and still uses it as an every day metaphor to good business. I think my old boss would have done exactly the same thing. We don't care as much about the failures or successes, but we want you to get on base. I also love that article for the honesty it brings out regarding the asian american culture and the expectations stowed upon them. Will definitely try to keep up with Lin in the news.

I love this. So much. Because life is an unreasonable affair.

“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” – Robert F Kennedy.

Check out my week three post! Inspired by another NFSer (a blog I link to in my story) I talk about how people in this movement need to have hope, we need to make the conscious decision to focus on hope every single day. This movement is bigger than ourselves and we cannot loose focus on the fact that we are making a real difference here. Inspiration!! If you have time, check out the other fellows posts too. I'm working with a really fantastic group of people.

And, another news story on just one of the amazing things we are doing abroad. Keep an eye out- soon I'll be writing some of these press releases myself!

“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” – Robert F Kennedy.

Check out my week three post! Inspired by another NFSer (a blog I link to in my story) I talk about how people in this movement need to have hope, we need to make the conscious decision to focus on hope every single day. This movement is bigger than ourselves and we cannot loose focus on the fact that we are making a real difference here. Inspiration!! If you have time, check out the other fellows posts too. I'm working with a really fantastic group of people.

And, another news story on just one of the amazing things we are doing abroad. Keep an eye out- soon I'll be writing some of these press releases myself!

I think a lot of people could benefit from being reminded that you don't need to be sorry for doing what you need to do for yourself. A lot of people made me feel bad or guilty for leaving. But I did what I had to do for my own growth and my own sanity. And even though it's going to have its hard moments, it was the right thing to do. And I'm better for it. And the people that know me the best, the people that will always be a part of my life no matter where in the world I am and send me emails and pictures and remind me that I'm still a part of their lives, they're the ones that will look out for you and let you do what you need to do. You will always have those people, and you shouldn't spend your time worrying about the rest. Que to quote Dr. Seuss? Yes.

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."

And, because everyone says what I need to hear at the exact right time, more on the power of closing the wrong doors.

___

Loving acoustic Jesse J lately. Girl can sing.

Trying to work this one out.

"Living fully in the present moment means not looking back at what was, or forward to what might be; it means clearly seeing the brilliant shininess of what is -- and giving yourself permission to explore it."

We've got some really great things happening over here. It's so refreshing working with and for people who are so passionate. If only more companies and organizations could have the kind of gusto Not For Sale has, it would be amazing what we'd all be capable of.

Awesome #1

Awesome #2

Awesome #3

One of my main projects can be found here. Yup, just one. I've got my hands full but I'm loving every second of it.

"And that is how change happens. One gesture. One person. One moment at a time." - Libba Bray