Six Degrees

So everyone has played the "game" six degrees of separation (from Kevin Bacon). Well, Kevin Bacon has decided to use this to promote charities. The whole philosophy is very similar to ours here at Try Change; It truly is a small world and everyone has the ability to make a difference. It's kind of funny in a way because there are several ways that Try Change is "connected" to the Six Degrees movement. We also use Hanes for many of our t-shirts and Volunteers of America is also on the Six Degrees charity list. There are a ton of different charities that you can donate to on this site as well as checking out what causes other people are involved in, celebrities and "regular" people alike. You can also create your very own badge to display and share to support your favorite charity. It's all about taking action, right? So this site is a very easy way to take a step forward.

Have a great night!

Chrissie

Lost

I was using StumbleUpon tonight looking for inspirational stories and I found an interesting "project". It's called LOST and basically it seems like a game that is testing how we connect with one another. Here is an excerpt from their website:

About the game:

This game is a student project that aims to show how 7 million people connect
and become the game with the most number of players ever. It's about finding new
ways of communicating an idea and crossing the boundary between the internet and
the real world. You can join the game if you find an invitation. An invitation
is an internet address that looks like this: www.lost.eu/example - but instead
of the word 'example' there are some random numbers and letters.There are
invitations written everywhere - from beaches in Mexico to train stations in
Poland - on the internet and in reality.

Since each person has to get an invite in order to sign into the "game" you have to have had some sort of connection to that person, whether it was through a website you found or a written message that was left somewhere in the "real" world. I just thought it was interesting to have a visualization of how we are all so connected. Especially in the last decade with the growing use of the Internet for communication and networking. I am always a little amazed when I'm on a site and realize that I've been "talking" to someone who is literally on the other side of the world. I'm not sure what exactly the intent is for inspiration from the creator(s) of this project but for me it is symbolic; Even though often times we feel lost and alone we really are all connected in some way and thereby we are never truly alone.

Here is a link to the visualization I was talking about:

http://www.lost.eu/lostnet/lostnet3d.php

When you click on one of the dots, it expands to show you who is connected to that player, then you can click on other dots and see other connections.

I'll try to think of a creative way to spread my invites like the game asks but for now here it is if any one wants to participate: www.lost.eu/62ff1

Have a great night!
Chrissie

Try Change Sponsors Bridge Walk

This evening was the sixth annual Springfield Bridge Walk and Try Change was a sponsor! This was the very first event that we've sponsored so its pretty exciting for us. The Bridge Walk is an annual event to commemorate the completion of the Memorial Bridge in Springfield as well as honor the areas Veterans. It is also a community event that celebrates the growth and revitalization that is happening in Springfield. The turn out was amazing! The boy scouts were there and several area politicians as well as many other community groups and citizens. I feel really proud to have been part of this . We hope to sponsor more events like this in the future because we do believe strongly in getting out there and supporting the communities that we live and work in.

And speaking of communities...please stop by and join one of our blogging communities or leave us a quick comment here on our blog. We would really love to hear about things going on in your own communities and how you are getting involved!

Thanks for stopping by!

Chrissie

Are You Willing to Fail?

Crazy question right? Well some say, and I agree, that's what it takes to succeed. The willingness to fail, the willingness to take the leap of faith with an idea that you are passionate about that you feel will be successful and want it so bad that you are not afraid to fail. That's what big ideas require; They require the individual to push the idea forward no matter how many times it may fail or how many people may say it will not work.

I leave with you tonight an example of one individual who had a bright idea that failed many times. In fact this idea failed more than a thousand times. When asked how did you feel when you failed more than a thousand times, he replied "I did not fail a thousand times. I learned a thousand ways that it would not work". If this man would have quit at 999 attempts it is highly likely that you would not be reading this blog right now. This gentleman who failed at this invention over a thousand times was none other than Thomas Edison. The invention was the light bulb.

This was one the many topics covered in a book I recently read: How to Master the Art of Selling by Tom Hopkins.

So how many times would you be willing to fail?

Vince

Boys Night

Well tonight was sort of a boys night...I went to the Fantasy Football Draft at the Waterford because Vince couldn't be there. It was alot of fun! There wasn't quite as much ripping on each other as I had expected so I felt I pretty much held my own. There was one other girl there, thank goodness. And I think I did okay. I didn't get many absolutely stellar picks but I think we'll have a solid team. And I got Chris Coolie! Wooowhoo! Sorry Vince, I had to do it :-)

A big thank you to Keith, Tim and everyone at the Waterford for hosting the draft! They really went all out. The set up was awesome, the food amazing and it was really a great time!

It's getting late and I have to get ready to get back to real life (& work)...I hope everyone had a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by :-)

Chrissie

Art Inspires Life

Jonathan by Spar

I always get that quote mixed up...Is it Art Inspires Life or Life Inspires Art? Maybe its both. Today was an art inspired day for me. I spent the morning watching more tutorial videos on Lynda.com. This is an amazing website for learning just about any type of web related software. Then I had a training session up at the library. We actually did a website from story boarding to actual testing in Explorer. It was very cool to be able to be creative and artistic but at the same time technical and analytical. A mesh of art and science :) I guess I'm a little giddy about it because its so new to me but there just seems to be such endless possibilities to be creative. It made me think about how art so often touches our every day lives. Think about it...someone had to design the furniture we sit in, the fabric in the drapes, that crazy cool handbag that just had to be bought. What about the pictures that you have on your walls? We have Cafe at Night in our dining room and I just love the colors and the mood of it. Even though it wasn't something that I made it some how seems to reflex my personality.

Vince shared a website with me this evening that I found to be just amazing. The art work is something you could just get lost it. The website is: http://www.sparstreet.com/ . And the artist is Spar, his parents wanted to give him a strong name. Vince actually was able to met him today; another way that art has touched our lives today.

Do you have a favorite piece of art that inspires you? I would love to hear about it!

Chrissie

Financing Change

I was flipping through one of my magazines this evening and found a great story about a woman named Roshaneh Zafar. She is a Pakistani woman from a well to do family that decided to take her Yale education and attempt to change the culture of her home country. Small amounts of money are able to help women in extreme poverty start their own businesses. They there by improve there lives and the lives of their children. They are able to send their children to school and in doing so change the future for their children and possibly the next generation.

Now through the Grameen Foundation they are spreading this concept through out the world, including the US, Africa, and Asia. Here is a link to just one of the many success stories on their website: Yuli's story

One person striving to make a difference can turn into a collaboration of many people changing a generation.

Have a great night!

Chrissie

Ideas

A few posts ago Vince had talked about crazy ideas...How sometimes even the craziest ideas can be successful, especially if the person or people behind the idea are passionate about it. TED is a conference that is held to inspire and share ideas. It stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. Their mission is to spread ideas and by spreading these ideas, change attitudes and lives. I originally found the above video on another blog and did a google search to find out what TED is all about. There are literally over 100 other videos and bios of other speakers from these conferences. They are all free and they are all meant to inspire. So in the spirit of motivation, inspiration, and the general spreading of crazy ideas, I wanted to share this video and the website for your exploration...Have fun and may be you'll be inspired to start your own crazy idea!

Thanks for stopping by!

Chrissie

*I'd love to get your comments on your favorite speakers/videos!

Free Hugs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4

The Free Hugs Campaign was started by one person, Juan Mann. He was having a really bad day and was inspired to make a sign out of cardboard saying "Free Hugs". One person finally stopped, shared her story with him and gave him a hug. Now his Forum alone has more than 4500 members.

I found the Free Hugs Campaign while looking for inspirational stories one Saturday morning. The first time I watched the video I actually teared up. It's a wonderful story of how one person decided to take a chance and has ended up possibly changing peoples lives. Now there are groups of people all over the world participating in these "hugathons". They are out there trying to spread a positive message. A message that everyone could use a little light and happiness in their lives. That everyone gets lonely, everyone has a bad day and everyone could use a hug once in a while. It seems at times that we live very disconnected lives from one another. We are afraid to invade each other's space or to "interfere" when we could absolutely change someone's whole day just by expressing an interest in them and what they maybe going through. Instead we often, myself included, think that it's none of our business and just do nothing. What if just giving a person a smile or a hug changed their day? How much of a difference could we make?

Try change is dedicated to sharing inspirational stories. What's Your Story?

Chrissie

Community Participation

Sharing positive stories is contagious!

Today's subject comes from one of Try Change's Community members. Melissa is a friend and co-worker who has supported Try Change from the very beginning. Actually Melissa purchased the first Try Change shirt. On Monday Melissa submitted a story from nbc4.com that reported on a very interesting survey conducted by The Associated Press and MTV. The purpose of the survey was to find out who young Americans selected as their hero's. Twenty-nine percent choose their mothers, 21 percent chose their fathers and 16 percent picked their parents without indicating which one. Eleven percent chose their friends, 10 percent God, 8 percent their grandmother, 7 percent their brother and 5 percent their teacher or professor. Others mentioned were the U.S Military, police officers, firefighters and coaches. The most frequently mentioned historical figure mentioned was Martin Luther King with four percent. What makes young Americans happy? According to the survey - spending time with their families. Also about half of the respondents said religion and spirituality is very important. What a great survey!

As we get older we may at times feel the younger generation is totally wrapped up in "Sex , Drugs and Rock N' Roll" but according to this one survey there's more than meets the eye. This is an example of what we are all about at Try Change. To promote Peace, Diversity, Hope, Faith and Positive Change.

Thanks Melissa!

Vince & Chrissie

Please feel free to join our blog community .

Another Inspirational Story!

One of our goals at Try Change is to highlight individuals and organizations that are making a difference in our community. Tonight I share with you Mymamashouse an organization dedicated to assisting parents that have decided to use natural childhood development. Here's the description of their forum provided by MyMamashouse:

Natural Childhood is a board dedicated to bringing parents together who are looking to give the gift of a natural childhood to their children. We have over thirty forums for attachment parenting, Waldorf, Unschooling, Relaxed Homeschooling, natural health and healing, parents of children with special needs, and much much more!

At Try Change we love to discover organizations like Mymamashouse. Do you know of someone who is making a difference in your community? Please share them with us, we would really like to hear about them! You can read more about Mymamshouse by clicking on the feature story on our Try Change Home Page. In closing we invite you to explore Try Change at http://www.trychange.org/ or join one of our blog communities at MyBlogLog or BlogCatalog. We will continue to highlight people who are making a difference and share with you our progress with our goals and with our line of Try Change t shirts!

Thank you,

Vince

Fall is in the Air!

Hi there! It's Chrissie again :-) Vince said I could do the blog tonight...

So you know how I know its going to be fall soon? Football!! Whohooo! I love football! And this year I'm going to be going to the Waterford's fantasy football draft. Vince has other commitments so he won't be able to make it. Vince has been in the league a couple of years now and there's always been the joke that I'm really behind the scenes running things...so now I really am going to be "handling" the draft and I'm really nervous. I've always loved football (born and raised Redskin fan) and I've learned alot about the game the past couple of years since we've been involved in the fantasy thing but...What if I mess it up? We just put together a cheat sheet for me to use so I'm sure I'll be fine...As Vince would say I should just shake it off. Even if I pick all the wrong players it should still be fun :) And its just a game right?

Well, if any of you out there have any advise for me I'd truly appreciate it... I'm sure I'll get over the nervousness thing but if you have some killer pointers for the fantasy draft that would be very awesome! So far I know I want to try for Chris Cooley...Though Vince may have a fit about that if I get him being that he's a Cowboy fan, but its all about winning right! Football season around here is always very interesting...Redskins vs. Cowboys...the fight goes on!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!
Chrissie

Recognition

In our initial roll out I mentioned that we submitted Try Change to Legal Zoom to be considered for their Spotlight program. This program recognizes new businesses that have used their services. I am proud to announce that our company was selected. Here is the link to the our Legal Zoom Spotlight page. This is yet another step in the right direction for Try Change!

Have a great weekend!

Vince

Small Steps

Tonight was a good night for Try Change. I received word that the Potomac News will put our Press Release in the Pulse this Friday! This is very good news since the release will be next to a article on back to school fashion. I attended our chamber of commerce mixer tonight and was informed that the Springfield Times will mention that out Try Change shirts are available at the 2Excess store in the Springfield Mall as well as on line. As each week passes I see more and more that this is going to be grass roots effort. Each week someone or some organization steps up to assist me in getting the word out. Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read the Try Change Blog. It seems each day a new person signs into our blogging communities; MyBlogLog and BlogCatalog and we join others as well. Tonight I will close with a little market research, if anyone has the time would you please go to the Try Change website and check out our store and give us feedback on the t-shirts we have available. You can email us back with your thoughts and partake in our t-shirt poll to the right. As I said, this is really a grass roots effort and I feel Try Change will continue it's early success with the help of everyone. Help us spread the word and remember a portion of all profits is donated to Volunteers of America!

Vince

www.trychange.org

The Art of Winning

This past weekend I had the pleasure of watching Tiger Woods win his 13th Major Golf Tournament. Let me tell you that Tiger is one of the rare athletes that can alter to the plans you have for the weekend. It was a perfectly sunny day and there I was sitting on the couch watching him instead of being outside enjoying the fantastic weather. I'm not a big golf fan but I like to watch Tiger not only for what he brings to the game but for his work ethic as well. After winning a tournament last year he said that "You have to finish the race". It's not enough just to show but you must do what is necessary to finish whatever your involved with. You must see it through. This weekend after he won he spoke about the art of winning. He believes winning is an art that can come only from putting yourself in the position to win over and over again. A reporter asked him if he felt any pressure when he realized that one of the golfers was only one two strokes behind him. His reply was that he knew what he had to do because the countless times he's been in that very position during his amateur playing days as well as his professional career. Listening to him made me think about this; how can we put ourselves in a position to win? Maybe we should have certain practices, habits or behaviors that put us in place to win. Do we surround ourselves with winners, people who are striving to succeed while at the same time helping others? Do we practice this certain philosophy until we get it right then practice it some more. During one of Tiger's holes the announcer said that "Tiger is getting the breaks today" the the other announcer quickly replied "Yeah it reminds me of the old saying-The more I practice the luckier I get".

Get lucky.

Vince

Community

Tonight I would like to share a inspirational story of a group of people making a positive change in the communities that they live. The Verde Coalition is a nonprofit group based out of Los Angeles California. They started the Community Living Room project that turns neglected lots of land such as street medians, bus stops and neglected parks into outdoor living rooms. These living rooms provide as a escape to the hustle and bustle of of city life. As of this moment twelve community living rooms have been developed with a possible move by the City of Los Angeles to fund 1,000 more outdoor living rooms. Maybe there's neglected areas in your community that are in need of attention. Why not use the Verde Coalition as a template of what you can do in your community. Learn more about the Verde Coalition at: http://www.livableplaces.org/policy/parks.html

Together we can make a difference.

Vince

By the way we are trying to grow our blogging communities...Please join us at MyBlogLog & BlogCatalog.

Try Diversity

When I started Try Change little did I realize that someday (and it came quick) I would have to respond to someone's feelings that we (our local community) is pandering to the African American community. What? -let me explain. As someone who has chosen to get involved in issues that effect local businesses and residents of the area in which I live and work, from time to time my name may appear in the local newspaper. Some time ago there was an article written about me detailing my place of birth, interests and goals for the future. Today I was notified that someone had mailed the article to a local organization asking why is the paper once again recognizing black residents when there are other nationalities that make up the community. They went on to say that what is worse is that I'm not even from the area which I currently live and work in. They felt that surely there are many worthy non-black, life-long residents that can be written about. For the record the newspaper in question highlights individuals who have contributed to the community, it just so happens that two African Americans were highlighted over the last several months. Instead of reading the paper and taking pride in local citizens doing their part to make their neighborhood a better place this particular person decided to harp on the color of one's skin and where they originated from (New Jersey). Go figure.

So how does this make me feel?

Excited! Why? Because it just proves to me that I'm right on point with Try Change. The comments made by this individual just makes it clearer for me that we need to keep promoting hope, peace, faith, diversity and change. The saddest part of their comments was when they wrote "This is why I cant wait to get out of this area" I would just like to say it's not the area. Wherever you go there will be people of different backgrounds and nationalities; wherever you go there will be individuals that move into an area and want to contribute and most of all:

Wherever you go you take you with you!

Join us at Try Change as we try to make our world a better place.

Vince

Can't Escape...

So Vince has let me take over the blog again tonight. It's been a good weekend so far except for the traffic...seems like its one thing that we just can't seem to get away from. I'm pretty lucky; I work out in Manassas. My commute is 30 mins but I usually don't have to deal with much real traffic. Unlike Vince and the rest of you that have to commute in closer to DC. So I am continually surprised at the traffic issues that we have on the weekends. It took me over 20 mins to get down to Dumfries this afternoon...that's less that 4 miles away. And last weekend it took me close to 2 hours to get the 25 miles to Fredericksburg to see my cousin. I guess it's just one of those things that you just can't escape.

Speaking of escaping...We went to see the new Bourne movie tonight. It was pretty awesome :) I don't want to give anything away but I really liked the movie. It was violent, exciting, explosive...everything a good action flick is supposed to be. I think its very interesting to see who is becoming our new action heroes. It used to be Arnold & Sly (oh and don't forget Bruce Willis but he seems to still be going pretty strong with the new Die Hard) in all the action movies and now we have Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg. Slightly different types of action heroes. Still a lot of explosions and bone breaking though :)

Ummm....I guess maybe we can really escape. If only for a two hour movie :)

Oh and I've been doing a little exploring on MyBlogLog and BlogCatalog the past couple of days and I've found some really interesting blogs. There's a blog about just about anything you'd want to read about not to mention all of the art blogs and photography blogs... I could just spend hours looking around (even though I probably should be designing t-shirts or something :-).) If you get a chance, come stop by and join one of our communities!

Have a great weekend!

Chrissie

Fantastic Friday!

Today was another good day for Try Change. I was interviewed for Voices the newsletter for Volunteers of America. I thought it went pretty well, it took about a half hour to complete it. I discussed my experience with shelter that Volunteers of America manages and how we are trying to spread the message of hope, faith, peace, diversity and positive change through our web page and t-shirts. I was also able to share how our blog is helping us gain new friends and contacts in the Internet community. I was able to get in touch with Robert from Conscious Eyes Designs he may be able to assist Chrissie and I in creating some new t-shirt designs. The icing on the cake was when I went to the 2excess store in the Springfield Mall and saw our Try Change shirts actually on racks for sale. It's something to see how a concept came to be a reality in six short weeks. We also joined a couple of blogging communities tonight and hopefully this weekend we'll finish up a couple of Press Kits. Who knows maybe one day our blog postings will serve as a template for a book on the success of Try Change t-shirts. You never know, hey someone thought up radioactive sewer turtles. Who would ever thought such a crazy idea would end up being a cartoon series, action figures and a movie.

Here's to crazy ideas! Have a great night!

Vince

The Power of Networking

Today was a fantastic day for me and for Try Change. As the President of the local chamber of commerce I get the opportunity to meet business men and women from various backgrounds who manage or own companies ranging from website development to investment groups. Today I met with Sally Galloway a Natural Health Counselor with the Center for Health & Harmony

The center assists individuals in leading healthier and happier lives through proper nutrition and exercise. Sally is a chamber member who heard about Try Change and wanted to know what she could do to help me get the word out. She gave me the names of several VIP's in another organization who have inspirational stories of their own that they may want to share with Try Change members. I asked Sally is there anything that the chamber could do as well to help promote her business, this is what networking is all about. Today I also received word that Volunteers of America Chesapeake has contacted a reporter/ writer to conduct an interview with me tomorrow to tell them about my efforts with Try Change. As you may know a portion of the profits from Try Change t-shirts is donated back to the Volunteers of America Chesapeake. The article will appear in their newsletter, Voices and on their website. Talk about the power of networking . Since it's inception about 30 days ago Try Change has appeared on the front page of the Springfield Times, Buyers Guide and now in Voices all on a marketing budget of $50.00 a month. This could not have been possible without networking with positive people that are willing to be part of something bigger than themselves. In closing I ask you to join Try Change by joining our blog community or purchase a shirt to help spread the word. Remember a portion of all profits are donated back to VOA.

Vince

Balance

Last week was a very busy week for me. We had several visits from the corporate office , a chamber of commerce event and some last minute Try Change work to be done in the evening. So last Friday night I made it my goal to have a very balanced if not restful week this week. So far so good! Ive been able to plow through some assignments at work, hit the gym 3 times over the last 5 days and get to bed at a decent hour. I even found time to go to the movies over the weekend. I believe finding that balance between work, play and rest is essential to success. I try to always find time to do the things that are not only beneficial to my financial well being but also for my spiritual and physical being as well. Is there an area in your life that is out of balance? If so take the time to refocus and find that balance between work, play and rest. Recommit to going to the gym, reading that book or get that 8 hours of sleep you promised yourself you would get today.

In keeping with this theme I will say -Goodnight :-)

Vince

Seeing Is Believing

Today I had the opportunity to see our Try Change ad in The Buyers Guide, which is a local publication with a distribution of 55,000 homes. Throughout out my career I have placed well over a hundred ads in local as well as national newspapers, magazines and websites but to see my Try Change ad in the paper was a little special. Since this is something that Chrissie and I have started on our own there is really no huge marketing campaign to support Try Change. Everything is being done on a small scale through word of mouth, local new stories, our blog, Goggle Ad Words and the support of our Try Change friends out there. So our ad in the Buyers Guide personifies what were about. We were able to put the ad in at a discount due to the fact that the owners of The Buyers Guide believes in what were trying to do. The ad is not very large but it is effective. It makes me think of "the little engine that could" story. I have to tell you even though starting Try Change has been time consuming it's sure a bunch of fun!

Vince

What Would You Do?

I had an interesting conversation today with someone from the gym. I noticed the gentlemen wearing a religious t- shirts and although Try Change is not a religious organization we do promote hope, faith, diversity , peace and positive change so I asked him where did he get the shirt. Well we spoke for a few minutes , he told me where he bought his shirt and I told him about Try Change and I shared my article on Try Change that was written in the Springfield Times. At the end of the conversation he thanked me for inquiring about the shirt. He said he was not a bumper sticker kind of guy and did not want to offend anyone with too strong a message. That made me think what would everyone do if they were not afraid of being judge or singled out?. I'm not talking about doing something to harm others or that would break the law but something that you have kept to yourself that may seem crazy. Maybe it's writing that book that you have inside you. Maybe it's going back to school, taking up Scuba Diving or a trip to an exotic land. For me it was starting Try Change. I have a great career, no large sums of debt and no kids so I could probably just sit back and be comfortable but I desire to do more. To give back on some level to a community and country that has given so much to me.

What would you do?

Vince

CRAZY IDEA?

I know some people may say that my idea of selling Try Change t-shirts is a crazy idea. How can one person really make a difference selling t shirts in his spare time?. At times when things go a little slower than I want I also question if the campaign will be successful or not. I consider myself an optimists though and I keep pushing onward. I believe in what we are trying to do and even if we help just one person it's all worth it. And I believe we have already helped people through our articles & stories and since we have sold some shirts we already have a donation going for Volunteers of America Chesapeake...So I guess from that prospective we are already successful! For those of you who think Try Change is a crazy idea or an idea you may have is crazy, let me share a story with you out of Good Magazine. In the article "Dirt Bag", Good Magazine tells the story of Pat Burke and Alan Jenkins who sell bags of dirt for $15.00. The dirt is from Ireland. People with a passion for Ireland or a family bond buy the dirt to have a little piece of home here in the states. Since it's inception in November of 2006 the Auld Sod Export Company has shipped about $2 million worth of soil throughout the world.

What's your crazy idea?

Vince

STUFF

Earlier this evening I reached into the kitchen cabinet to pull out a plate to place my hamburger on however we have so many plates that three more nearly came out and crashed on the floor. I know this may get me in a little trouble at home (sorry Chrissie) but how many dishes does a couple need. It got me thinking on how we as a nation spend our time accumulating STUFF. Think about it we buy so much stuff that we rent out storage units just to keep the stuff in them because all our closets are full of stuff that we never get to use because we cant get to them. We worry about if our stuff is newer than the neighbors stuff (cars) , is our stuff shinier than the driver next to us (rims) is our stuff as loud as the next guys stuff (speaker systems). Is our stuff bigger, fuller, less wrinkled or fat than the others persons stuff (Plastic Surgery)? Right now in my dresser drawer I have five cell phones that I purchased over the last four years just because I had to have the latest stuff. How many times have you've come home from shopping and had to throw out food to make room for the new food you just purchased. It seems were in this crazy game where the person with the most stuff at the ends wins. Sometimes I think we try to fill this hole that we have at a particular time with stuff. Some people go shopping, some eat some even drink. Maybe if we donated some of this stuff to people who really need them we then could fill the hole in ourselves with something more important than cars, rims, speakers and Plastic Surgery. Maybe we could fill it with gratitude for what we have and the joy of helping another human being. You don't need a storage unit for that.

Join us in the Try Change Community.

Vince

One more step forward...

Hi! It's Chrissie again...I know, the second time in one week; Vince must be slacking right? He's actually away at a golf tournament for work. Even when he's playing he's working :) So since I actually do have some news to share I thought I'd fill in.

It's not totally official yet but I re-applied at NVCC (Northern Virginia Community College). I'm going to try to meet with a counselor on Monday to get a game plan together. I don't think I really have that many classes left to take but I could be delusional. I need to sit down and take a look at all of the classes I've take over the years and see what would apply to my degree. I was at Old Dominion for two semesters, then at NVCC, and then at Strayer. So it feels like I've taken alot of classes but I not entirely sure what all transfers over. About six months ago I was considering going back to Strayer to finish my degree because they offer bachelor degrees but was told by one of the counselors that many of my credits from ODU and NVCC didn't transfer so I'll give it a go at NVCC and see what happens. In any case its one more step forward and I have to get a move on it. I'm 30 for goodness sake and I've been taking classes here & there since I was 18. It's really sad :) So please wish me luck!

Oh and one little thing on the jewelry making side of my life...Me and a friend are going to try to do a "holiday" craft show in November. We're just waiting to get word back on the application she sent in. It will be my first show so I'm a little nervous but it should be fun too.

Here's a necklace I did for my mom. It was a vintage necklace that was falling apart so I re-designed it, did some wire work and turned it into a set.

So I guess this seems a little off topic from Try Change but really it is what we are about. Making positive changes in our lives. Taking something that was broken and making it into something new and positive that makes you or someone else happy; Taking steps forward in your life; refusing to be still and settle; Always striving to do better and be better and to help inspire others to do the same! And realizing that its sometimes the little steps that we take every day that will one day move us forward to the place we want to be.

Thanks for letting me share my little step forward :)

Goodnight and have a fabulous weekend!

Chrissie

Oh, a little something I found while using Stumble tonight...in the spirit of using our brains:
http://www.mentalrobics.com/mind/574/read-it-backwards.html

We Are Role Models

I guess you cannot turn on a TV , Radio or flip through the newspapers these days without seeing or reading about some celebrity or sports figure making a fool of themselves. Often you hear some of these individuals state that they are not role models, however they are role models. If they were not role models none of the sports and entertainment companies would pay them one penny in endorsement money. These companies know that these celebrities have an effect on the purchasing decisions of consumers that's why they pay them to endorse products that I'm sure some of them never even use. That being said the real role models are everyday people like you and I that go about our lives hopefully setting good examples and trying to make the world that we live in a better place. We as individuals can have the greatest impact on our children , relatives and community just by setting a good example. Although we may look at the news with disgust at the latest celebrity drama we cannot at the same time just sit back and not participate in helping make the world a better place. We all can do something; I feel we cannot just sit back and say " If I had his or her money I would ....." There are many things we can do that cost only our time. We don't have to wait till the holiday season to give to others. Have you ever been in a tough spot , feeling as though nothing is going your way and all of a sudden someone or something comes through that gets you out of a jam? If you have ( like I have) you may have walked away with a new sense of belief ( it does not have to be a religious or spiritual belief) but a belief none the less that things will work out. I'm here to say that we can be someones new sense of belief , we can inspire others through volunteering or just taking the time to listen to someone who's going through a tough time.

Yes, celebrities and athletes are role models but more importantly so are we.

Join us at Try Change,

Vince