IMAGINE (peace) - Pentatonix

I love Pentatonix, and this is a beautiful rendition of Imagine. Listen:

July 20 = National Lollipop Day

With all the turmoil in the world, let's take a minute to enjoy something sweet.

That's right! July 20th is recognized as National Lollipop Day (a colorful, enjoyable, and unofficial U.S. holiday of sorts).


Here are a few interesting tidbits (according to my brief research) about the sweet treat:

In 2012 See's Candies made the world's largest lollipop weighing in at 7000 pounds.

The original lollipop machine manufactured 40 lollipops per minute while modern machines make nearly 6000 per minute.

The true origin of the candy on a stick is debatable, but many give credit to George Smith, who trademarked the name lollipop in 1931. It's believed he named the candy after a horse he admired.

There are some "adult only" lollipops that contain various ingredients such as alcohol, dietary aids, and INSECTS. Blech.

In 1939 the Wizard of Oz movie introduced us to the Lollipop Guild.

In 1969 Tootsie Roll gave us the commercial asking, "How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?"

But of course the best thing about National Lollipop Day is this video with Shirley Temple singing, "On the Good Ship Lollipop":

Happy Fourth of July!

Despite all the current political turmoil, we still live in a great country. My dad served in the navy and he was very protective of our country and the way in which people spoke about it. At his funeral, they played his all-time favorite patriotic song: Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA"

Here's a video clip of the song:

Happy Fourth of July.

Happy #Mother's Day from Hawaii

...

Not everyone has the blessing of being with their moms for Mother's Day, so BYU-Hawaii students decided to make a tribute for moms with kids who are far away to an arrangement of "Hey Mama" by Kanye West and "Just the Way You Are" by Bruno Mars.

My three kids are in three different states this year, but my sweet daughter is in the video above. I love her TONS and miss her a little. ;)

What Are You Waiting For?

We all have dreams and goals ... and yet, we procrastinate ... why? What are we waiting for? Watch this video. It really moves me, and I'm simply in love with this song:

Word Crimes

In case you missed it ... here's an awesome video to make you smile and laugh:

TRY!

You know ... whether it is writing, exercising, achieving any other goal, or overcoming a trial, we all have to TRY. I am a Pink fan, and her performance at the 2014 Grammys was impressive. She didn't even look out of breath by the end of the six minute performance.

Here's the video in case you missed it (worth viewing!):

Doing Things in the Proper Order

Well, according to our research, if you want to play sports at the college level, you need to do a LOT of prep work beginning no later than your junior year of high school. ha. oops.

Okay, so we are late bloomers. Plus, it's not my daughter's main goal to play volleyball. Her main goal is to get into the college of her choice. Playing volleyball would be an awesome fringe benefit.

We realize she's not 6'2" ... and we know she didn't play on expensive club teams that travelled the country ... but she just wants to play more volleyball. Possible? We'll see.

Here's the highlights video we made for her:

How Hard Are You Willing to Work to Achieve Your Goals?

My son is visually impaired, and so I often cringe when people say things like, "The blind leading the blind," or "Are you just blind?" I don't get offended. I know people don't mean anything bad (usually) by using these clichés, but I still just cringe, because people who say these things don't usually have any experience with being blind or having any sort of visual impairment, and as a result, their comparisons and comments are often poorly based.

With that said, here's a motivational video. I think it is more motivating if you do NOT listen to the spoken words (because the narrator uses a lot of "if you were blind" analogies). If you mute it and watch the video and ask yourself, "What am I willing to do to achieve my goals? How hard am I willing to work?" ... you may just be inspired.



But wait!

Then I found this video. If you REALLY want to be inspired to work harder to achieve your goals ... watch AND listen to this one. Simply awesome.

 

Which video did you like better?



Dads & Daughters

If you have a daughter ... this is a must watch video. Okay, even if you don't have a daughter, you can still watch it. I "made" my husband watch it, and he burst into tears. He said, "Thanks a lot, like it's not already gonna be hard enough ..." He's a good daddy.

So ... what did you think of it? ;)

WRONG! Lay versus Lie

After reading the comments from my last post, I decided to tackle the lay vs. lie issue; imagine my frustration when I visited the Grammar Girl's website and read this:

 

"... I love Eric Clapton, and his song Lay Down Sally can actually help you remember the difference between lay and lie ... because he's wrong. ... If you're more of a Bob Dylan fan, you can remember that "Lay Lady Lay" is also wrong.”

 

*sigh*

 

Yes, of COURSE, the website goes on to explain in great detail the difference between lay and lie; however, I felt it necessary to take a brief pause and listen to the songs that are "wrong":

 

 

So, now that we know what's wrong (??) come back on Wednesday, and we'll tackle what's right.

haha

 

Or you could just work hard to choose words other than lay and lie.

:)

Good Ol' NaNoWriMo

Okay - I totally snagged this video from Kathi Oram Peterson's blog: http://www.kathiswritingnook.com/2010/11/nanowrimo-fever.html

SO FUNNY!! :)