Girl Rising

My friend and I went to a movie screening a few weeks ago of a documentary called Girl Rising. It’s basically the story of 9 girls from around the world and their struggles with getting an education and just being girls. These aren’t just any girls though– they are extraordinary! Each of the nine girls was assigned a writer from her home country who then helped put the girl’s story into words.

The documentary includes voice performances from notable women such as Kerry Washington, Meryl Streep, Alicia Keys, Cate Blanchett, Selena Gomez; and notable men such as Liam Neeson. They girls all share a common thread– they have all had to fight their way through adversity because where they are from, females aren’t regarding as highly as males and in some cases they aren’t regarded at all, especially when it comes to education.

I highly recommend you see this doc if you have the opportunity; it made me truly appreciate and be grateful for the relatively easy time I have had getting an education! You can check the website for screenings or even sign up to captain a screening. (I was lucky enough that I could attend a screening captained by Kim “Cookie” Nguyen, who was kind enough to treat the whole theater to cookies!)

Mommy did you just run over a cat?

Kids say the darnedest thing…

Nick and I went to Austin over the weekend to see my niece Anwyn play soccer. We have previously watched her sister Addie and Autumn play games in their sports– Volleyball and Basketball– so I didn’t want to leave a niece out!

So Saturday at noon we watched Houston (Anwyn’s team) play against Vancouver or some other city named team. After the game we went and got burgers at a little join called Sandeez and then took the kids to get Frozy’s Shaved Ice.

Anwyn and Autumn had appointments for hair cuts later in the afternoon so I decided to tag along. After the hair cuts, we headed home, but first we had to make one last stop at the liquor store for a refreshing grapefruit vodka treat. I was seated in the front seat next to my sister and as she made a left hand turn to go to the store, I made this awful tire screeching noise, both to irritate her and just because it’s fun to makes noises. I guess my imitation of squealing tires wasn’t the best because one of the twins in the back seat pipes up and says “Mommy did you just run over a cat?”  Hahahaha… kids are so cute! We all had a good laugh when I explained that I had made the noise.  As we were leaving the store, turning back onto the main road from which he had come, the same twin (I think) said “It’s a good thing that cats have nine lives, even though this cat only has 7 now.”

“Seven?” I asked, thinking she had miscounted.

“Well yeah,” she said giggling. “We ran over it once coming into the parking lot, and again when we left.” OMG this kid is hilarious!

Bucket List

There seems to be a lot of death in the world lately; first at the Boston Marathon, then with the explosion in West. Late last week I found a high school classmate passed away from colon cancer. Sunday afternoon some girls that pledged my college sorority were killed in a car accident that killed an acquaintance from Dallas…

The point I’m getting to is that none of these people probably woke up and thought to themselves “today was my last sunrise.” That’s got me thinking about living life to the fullest and thinking about what I want to accomplish before I depart so I’ve started writing my Bucket List.

In no particular order, here are a few things I’ve thought of:

1. Ride a camel in Abu Dhabi

2. Go on an African safari and see Victoria Falls

3. Ride an elephant in Asia

4. Leave a lasting legacy

5. Hot air balloon ride

6. White water rafting through the Grand Canyon

7. Eat pizza at a sidewalk cafe in Italy

8. Scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef or at least visit

9. Summer weekend in the Hamptons

10. Hike part of the Appalachian Trail

and this one’s a maybe 11. Skydiving

Better get started on my list asap!