10 Day WE CAN DO THIS Countdown to 2011 - # 2 Trust Our Instincts

“Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instincts. And never hope more than you work.” -Rita Mae Brown

Since I have declared 2011 my year of deciding lots of decisions have already started coming up.

I sometimes find myself second guessing my original reaction and of course there are things that need some thoughtful contemplation before deciding, but I truly believe that since our subconscious is such a storehouse of remembered experiences and innate feelings that we need to learn to trust it.

(trusting our truest selves to have our back, so to speak)

I resolve to trust my instincts in keeping my decisions aligned with my truest intentions (and never hope more than I work - I love that one, too!).

*trust your instincts print by ashleyg

10 Day WE CAN DO THIS Countdown to 2011 - #1 Be Brave

"I am not afraid ... I was born to do this. " - Joan of Arc

After 9/11 we packed an emergency suitcase in the trunk of every car and had a plan that in the event of a national emergency all family members would drive west and meet up somewhere beyond Hershey, PA.

We had no specific destination, but thought when we reached an area where people were familiar with Skoal tobacco, GEDs and fishing with dynamite we would be safe.

We kind of pictured ourselves becoming the kind of survivalists we knew from the Discovery Channel, Eddie Bauer ads and Stephen King books; creating a new world order in some rarely visited national park - living on dandelions and mole crickets.

After a while some of these fears subsided a bit, but it did leave me with the certainty that being BRAVE is an extremely important attribute.

Fear keeps us from making decisions and creating change and if we wait for the fear to go away, we may always be left waiting.

So in 2011, I resolve to be BRAVE.

(note- this does not include my completely appropriate fear of stink bugs, closed shower curtains and cats that don't blink)

*fearless card by happytimesco

One Gift Into Two - doing more with less through charitable donations for the holidays

If you are still looking for a last minute gift- charitable donations in someone's name are an amazing way to turn 1 gift into 2!

For as little as $5.00 you can give a gift that helps a child grow out of gangs in Honduras.

For $12.00 you can provide 20 pounds of multi-purpose soap through oxfam.

$20.00 provides art and music supplies and instructions to an impoverished child through worldvision.

$25.00 lets you sponsor a No Mo Chemo party at St. Jude's!

$50.00 gets you 50 trees planted in Brazil's Atlantic Forest through the Nature Conservancy.

200 dictionaries for students in Africa can be donated for $75.00 through Books for Africa.

$100.00 gets a family's new home a kitchen sink through Habitat for Humanity.

Justgive gives you the opportunity to make your donation locally.

Charitychoice allows the recipient to choose the charity.

Lots of great charitable ideas instead of buying Uncle Elmer another tie for his tie drawer this year!

A Holiday Stack of Goodies!

1. giant gumball machine
2. etch a sketch ipad case
3. handmade leather football
4. native shoes
5. spool scarf
6. mumford & sons cd
7. best made first aid kit
8. fuji 3d camera
9. land carpet
10. photo day planner
11. balloon dog toy

An amazing holiday stack of goodies from my favorite wedding photog and stacker of all things stackable Kella MacPhee