Pancake Art: This weekend, why not bring fun to food by bringing your kids' favorite artwork to life! I found this AMAZING blog of an artist/mama who uses pancakes to delight her children, animate bible stories, and celebrate holidays. We tried the non-artist/mama version this morning with the kids and even without serious skill, we had a blast making fairies, storm troopers, and Micheal Jordan (the kids: "who? oh, yeah the Nike shoe!") going up for a slam-dunk! The kids even got in on the fun by sketching quick outlines of their favorite animal or toy and then tried their hand at 'sketching' with pancake batter. The idea is simple: pour batter (that has all lumps whipped out of it) into squeeze bottles (I got mine at the dollar store), add food coloring and, voila! you're on your way!
Free Holiday Cards: I'm scurrying this week to whip up a family photo decent enough to send off to friends and family for Christmas. Once I have said masterpiece in hand, I'm sending it off to Paper Coterie for my 12 free holiday cards. The beautiful cut-out version in Chevy Stripe-gray or mustard or teal is the one I'm going for!
Cycle-In Cinema: Too far for me to bike to but for those of who are in or planning to travel to the UK, this idea for an audience pedal-powered movie showing is brilliant! Great way to burn calories while indulging in your favorite flicks. Just don't walk or run to see this, arriving on two wheels is a must!
Miss Canada: I stumbled across news of Tara Teng a few months ago and was awe struck at her bold courage to use her platform as beauty queen and voice as daughter of the King to bring freedom to women enslaved to prostitution. On a whim she entered a competition for Miss B.C. when in university and went on to win the provincial and national award. Weeks later I attended a fundraiser hosted by a dear friend for Ratanak House, a place of refuge for girls rescued from sex trafficking, where she was a guest speaker. Her blog is a great resource for learning how to engage with other organizations in bringing healing to others, the story of Timea E. Nagy and the inception of Walk With Me being one inspiring example. This is one beauty queen that is an inspiring example for young girls everywhere.
Untouchable Dalits of India: I first heard of this oppressed caste that is at the bottom of the social system within India through Tara Teng. To know that there are children growing up with the public moniker of "Unborn: it would be better if they had never been born", broke my heart. The good news is that Tara has launched a letter writing campaign that connects the outpouring of our love to these chilren. Simply have your kids (or you) write a letter and/or draw a picture to a child of Dalit and mail to: P.O. Box 45645, RPO Sunnyside Surrey BC V4A 9N3 Canada.