Where to begin?

I feel like I have a million and one things on my mind this morning - lots of stuff I want to share.

Here's the list:

1. Did you see this? How awesome.

2. Regarding donations to Autism Speaks through the 6degrees badge on the right and the new goal:  here it is and it is a BIG ONE:

1000 donations by March 31

We can do this...you can do this...and the goal needs to be big. The minimum donation is $10. Remember, every person counts in this effort -  the contest to receive the $10,000 grant for Autism Speaks is based on the number of donations not the total amount. Also, you may want to check with your employer (or your spouse/partner) and find out if they make matching donations based on your charitable contribution (thanks Lourdes for bringing that one up to me). Please and thank you. 

3. I got a bunch of emails this past weekend regarding Autism being all over the news. If you are online, if you looked at a newspaper or turned on the news it is highly likely that you saw the new numbers: 1 in 150. 1 in 150 kids in the United States have autism. Here is a link to the Wall Street Journal Article  and Autism Speaks. This is SO NOT OK. In some areas of the country it is likely that those numbers are even worse. Why is this happening? What is the cause? So many factors are unknown...and now...how do we as a society help all these kids?

4. Paper Source (just check out their home page - it is visually inspiring in and of itself). Shopped there in Georgetown last weekend. Sigh. Happy paper place. Happy. Picked up lots of wonderful little goodies this year including some letterpress thank you notes, and Valentine's for Simon's classmates. While walking around the store I noticed a display that talked about how they are participating in something called The Campaign for Love and Forgiveness - thought that was pretty darn cool. More on the campaign can be found here.

5. Photos and commentary from the White House and the monuments will have to be a whole other post.

6. Some people were requesting additional information on that metal A hanging above my board from one of my posts from last week. I am pretty sure that came to me as a gift at some point over the last two years so I am not positive where it came from. If anyone has any info on it can you email me and I will post it. In general, my collection of A's come from antique/junk stores and generous students who come across them and bring them to me at classes.

7. The winners were announced for the Two Peas In A Bucket Why I Scrapbook contest. I did the judging on this one - what a challenge and a privilege to go through all these personal pages and choose just a couple winners - as you can see, I couldn't choose just a couple. So many of those pages spoke to me for so many different reasons, whether design, journaling, technique, etc. In the Honorable Mention section you can see where I designated (in a word or phrase) why I wanted it included in the list of ones that really stood out for me. You can view all the entries here.

8. Reading all those creative manifestos as they come in - wow - super cool.

9. Another way to do something good: goodsearch.com.

I know there is more. There is always more. Happy Monday. Look for those photos from DC either tonight or tomorrow. Peace.