Philanthropist-In-Training

I have always told myself that when I had more money than sense that I would become a philanthropist. The allure of being able to fund organizations that I care about in a substantial way is something I've always wanted to do. 

One day at work, one of my co-workers told me about the mega-million jackpot and that she had bought a ticket. She made a pact with God, saying that if she won, she would take care of her family and do nothing but good with that money.

That immediately got me thinking. What is preventing me from donating from causes that I believe in right now? Why should I to wait until I had large amounts of money if I wasn’t doing good with the money that I already had? Would I really donate when I was rich if I didn’t have the practice with the money I had now?

There are so many opportunities to donate to causes that are close to my heart and that impact my local community. Right now, I can make a positive impact with just a few dollars. To my surprise, there was a company who made it really easy.

I found an organization that generates money for your charity through their search engine. Good Search is a company I found on a fluke, and is AWESOME. It’s very easy to join.

The charity I chose is SW Washington American Red Cross. They save so many lives every day with their humanitarian aid efforts and obviously with the blood that they collect. 

All I have to do is use www.goodsearch.com as my search engine. I’m pretty loyal to Google, but this is an easy, FREE way to earn money for causes that I love. There is a Firefox add-on listed on their website. And Yahoo! does a pretty good job as a search engine, even if it's so 2000 and late. 

There are many causes to choose from. Evergreen SD 114 was listed, SW Washington Humane Society, Boys and Girls Club, ARC, among the MANY others. Pick the organization you’re passionate about and start earning them money for FREE.

The other company that is partners with Good Search is Good Dining! This concept made me very excited. You sign up your credit card/debit card with the company. Then restaurants that you’d already be eating at will kick up to 6% of your bill to the charity of your choice! If this makes you a bit hesitant, they do have an A+ rating with the BBB. The privacy policy is on their website along with more specific details of how their program works.

There are 145 restaurants participating within a 10 mile radius of the zip code 98684. Lots of bars, family restaurants, fast food, etc. I’m sure you can find one that sponsors Good Dining!

Here are two organizations that require little effort to join, and benefit causes that you care about while you go about doing your normal activities. Which is something I totally can get on board with.

You can always donate directly to the website of your specific cause. Like I said before, I LOVE the American Red Cross.

Another cause that I’m really supportive of is one that my friend Kit coordinates for TransActive called In a Bind.

Quoted from the TransActive website: "In a Bind" is a project of TransActive's Community Education program. We collect pre-owned chest binders from guys who don't need them anymore and donate them to trans-masculine youth in need.

The queer community has a special place in my heart because of the wonderful LGBTQ friends I have. They have allowed me into their world that in turn has brightened my life and brought me such joy. And because of that, I am naturally inclined to support programs that give the queer community what they need to have a happy life too.

If you have more questions about this amazing program, you can check out the FAQ here, or their website or their Facebook page. I’ll post the links at the end of the post.

This is just a jumping off point. There are thousands of organizations that you can choose to donate your hard earned money/time to. ESPECIALLY TO LOCAL CAUSES, RIGHT HERE IN VANCOUVER. And it doesn’t have to be hundreds of dollars. If it is added to your budget, it's a nice expenditure every month that will go toward something that you believe in. Even if you can only give a small amount, it can be a game changer for an organization that you care about. And it feels good to give. 

I have so much to be thankful for. As I look around, I am overwhelmed with the things in my life that I've acquired that make me happy. The older I get, I'm finding that it's experiences that enhance life, not belongings. Creating experiences that benefit me and other people is fantastic in my book.

If there are any organizations you’d like to add to my list, I would appreciate it. Community LOVE!

Mahalo for reading!

Good Search

www.goodsearch.com

Good Dining

www.gooddining.com

American Red Cross

http://www.redcross.org/support

TransActive

http://www.transactiveonline.org/index.php

https://www.facebook.com/transactiveinabind?ref=ts&fref=ts

Golly, It's Been a While

Hello errybody!

I've been doing a whole lot of different things since we've last spoken. I left my full time job at Hearthwood searching for a different adventure.  I'm still doing in-home care for my girl, and I've picked up a few extra clients. I'm also now working full time at Shahala Middle School. Talk about a fun group of kiddos!

I've been working hard on a new novel (no, it's not anything like "Faster than the Speed of Love), and been dabbling in vocal training and learning about perfect pitch and relative pitch. Also throw some self discovery in there too. And exploring the great city of Vancouver.

I'm no longer in college, and I'm not in the choir anymore. I love to learn, I just don't know if I have the discipline to do it full time and in an institutional setting. And it's sort of a expensive mistake when you abruptly stop doing it because it stopped being fun, or you become bored with it.

So I'm out on my own, taking things slow and enjoying the simple pleasures of life. I've been making a conscious effort to hang out with my friends and to get out of my house. I am pretty fortunate to have such great people in my life.

Spring break was FABULOUS! I worked a couple of days, then went to the beach with my second family, the Remsings and a few stowaways...

We stayed in the cabins at the KOA in Astoria. They were all so terrified of rain, but I assured them that I had enough Universe power of goodness stored up that it wouldn't rain and ruin our trip.

 I'm seriously, the weather was this beautiful the WHOLE time.

We rented two cabins. I had to be the adult in one of them.

 They cook all of their meals over an open fire. It still boggles my mind.

We had fried chicken and it was fantastic!

 The Astoria Column. Lots of stairs of death.

 View from the top of the Column.

 It's a LONG way down.

I climbed to the top, conquering my fear of heights and the exertion from being fat the entire camping trip. The view was so worth it, and I'd do it again.

We played Apples to Apples (cause my adult friends are bored with this game. Apparently I didn't go to enough parties in high school when it was played. The new "hip" game is Cards Against Humanity which is a really fun game too.) both nights and stayed up late laughing. 

I didn't get enough time at the beach, but I know that I'll be back that way in June.

I've made some self discovery realizations too. I watched a special presentation on PBS by the philosopher and author Dr. Wayne Dyer called  "Wishes Fulfilled". 

I choose to live my life by Universe Theory, that we are creators of our own destiny, that by our own thoughts and words we decide how our life will be. I suppose that's the most simple and generalized version.

There were hundreds of insights I had while watching that program. The thing that stuck out was using the phrase "I am." How many times a day do we use this phrase to describe ourselves?

I am:

poor

fat

uneducated

unworthy

stupid

scared

ugly

And if you ascribe to the theory that we are creators in our own universe, can you imagine what you are attracting to yourself? I try to remember if I'm going in a downwards slump to replace negative thoughts and "I am" statements with positive "I am" phrases.

I am:

loved

clever

important

beautiful

Try this and feel the shift in your body. Your body immediately breathes a sigh of relief. Occasionally I even get a tingling in my stomach realizing the immense power I have inside of me. I bought a chalkboard at a thrift store for the specific purpose of writing daily "I am" statements to myself.

I did this because I need a reminder of the goodness I have. It's easy to forget sometimes.

I also came to a realization about two things one day. Deuce inspiration!

First, this is not a culture that is very forgiving of failure. Though we know many great things did not come to pass on the first try. I was talking to my sisters and father about this and their frustration of a culture that doesn't allow anyone to fail. I gently suggested if the climate for failure wasn't so harsh and allowed a safe place to land after small and large failures, we COULD have a comeback  of the word failure and not have it be such a devastating thing. To make mistakes and learn from them and to not feel like a soul-crushing disappointment to the people you love or respect would be quite refreshing.

The second one of that day was about love. Specifically for me, but I'm sure it applies to other people too.

I need to be accountable to someone. As of now, I'm accountable to no one. Sure, you could say I've got to be accountable to my boss, or to my family. But I'm not really. I could quit my job at the drop of a hat, lose a bit of street cred,  but still be fundamentally whole. And I'm not accountable to my parents because they have already raised me and have done their job. To me, being held accountable gives your life value. And to the people who rely on you and adore you, it's a grave and serious responsibility. While that has the potential to be restricting, I find it relieving. There is a quote from a pretty heavy episode of Family Guy when Stewie tells Brian, "I love you as one loves another person who one simply cannot do without. You give my life purpose and maybe, maybe that's enough." And being accountable doesn't mean that I'm completely dependent on you or even co-dependent. While I'm out in the world making thousands of choices I know that I will have to make them wisely because I will be held accountable for them. For how they will impact us.

My favorite thing to do recently is to stroll around Downtown Vancouver. I LOVE living in the City of Vancouver. Soon I'll post some events and other great places that I've visited and places you should visit too. 

I was frustrated with the statement that there is NOTHING TO DO in Vancouver. I'm happy to report what a BLUNT FACE LIE IT IS.  (I know that's not the actual saying, but it should be.)

I have also began a serious love affair with Fort Vancouver and Officer's Row.

 Two porches. I need this house!

 The community garden leading into the fort.

 You can still go inside of this!

Near the Land Bridge.

 Don't sit under the apple tree... 

It's the oldest apple tree in Vancouver!

This bird was fearless. Lots of people walking by on the waterfront.

I think the citizens of Vancouver are so incredibly fortunate to have such a historically significance piece of history in their town. I discover something new every time I go.

I suppose that's enough for now.

Mahalo for reading!

-Lauraborelious

Places mentioned in the post

Astoria/Warrenton KOA

http://www.astoriakoa.com/

Astoria Column

http://www.astoriacolumn.org/

Fort Vancouver

http://www.nps.gov/fova/index.htm

Officer's Row

http://www.fortvan.org/

Dr. Wayne Dyer's Wishes Fulfilled

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yJP9cuKNqI

Put the tea on, I have stories!

I don't know why now, but I've decided to go back to college. It's been gnawing at me for a year or so, and I've ignored it with some success. I came to the point where I felt stagnant again, and I didn't know what to do about it.

Really, what it was is, I've doubted my intelligence and felt that I was essentially letting my brain atrophy with useless knowledge. All of the things I'd been pretentious about since out of college seemed silly. And while I know that's not true, (I have a great deal of things to be pretentious about ie: political affiliation, morality and sense of humor, etc) I couldn't shake the feeling of uselessness and purpose of being on this planet.

After a few months of battle with Clark College (thanks for the tenacity check Universe AND the financial aid department at Clark), I was able to walk in Monday morning the first day of class and register for the math class that I really needed. There was another class that I really wanted to take too. I don't need it, but I wanted it.

Choir.

Anyone who knows me, knows I love to sing. It started when I was young. My father has an amazing voice. He always had a song for any situation, and was unashamed to break out in song anywhere, much to my embarrassment occasionally.

I don't have an operatic voice. It's more of a clear tone without any vibrato. Ripe for the picking of refinement with the right person, or group.

For the most part, I've been satisfied with it. Recently it has betrayed me. My voice would hurt when I'd sing, or I couldn't hit the pitch to match the song. It has made me furious and self-conscious of using it outside of a punch line for a joke, in the car (I have no shame there), or with the children I work with. My voice was something I could count on. Singing is one thing that without fail can always bring me true joy. I secretly prided myself on being able to stay on pitch without any formal training, and now, it was slipping away.

So instead of continuing to be angry (rest assured, I did go through the anger cycle with this one), I found as much information that I could online about vocal training, counting rhythm and printable sheet music. A while back, I had vocal lessons through Parks and Recreation at the Lupeke Center in Vancouver. I liked the teacher well enough, but I felt that I wasn't really going to do anything with my voice, so I discontinued taking lessons.

But now, I have an opportunity to train for a purpose. Clark College is now offering a evening choir class. It's as if the heavens opened up, and offered me this on a silver platter. I work a 9-5, then add a 5-8 on top of that Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. I don't begrudge it, it pays the bills and allows me to live the life I've become accustomed to. But you can see where the scheduling conflicts come into play.

Anyways, I called today and talked to the director. She asked me my experience, and really, it's been about two years since I've sung in an organized group. Perhaps it's been three years. She invited me to join the first half of class, and audition during the break. She's looking for a second soprano or alto. I told her that I was willing to do either.

So, it's time to pile on the crazy. 8 credits of school and two jobs. I'll be loving my weekend time. I'm excited. Whoo! Do you know who else is excited?

MY MOM!

Seriously, though. She is.

This morning when I was leaving my 7AM math class, I was feeling a little nostalgic of the days when I took classes with Josh at the crack of dawn.

Miss you Josh!

Mahalo for reading!

-Laura Borelious

Places or things mentioned in post:

Rhythm counter: http://www.philtulga.com/counter.html
Music theory: www.musictheory.net
Voice lessons thru parks and rec:
https://recconnect.cityofvancouver.us/econnect/Activities/ActivitiesAdvSearch.asp

Port Townsend Day 2

I'm so glad that I took so many pictures, or I would've forgotten about this little gem...

 Port Townsend Safeway

Christine and I decided that we didn't want to go to a restaurant two meals in a row. Since I brought a cooler, we decided to buy things to make sandwiches. I saw that the stoplight was flashing when we turned into the parking lot, but I didn't really pay it any mind. 

When we entered the store, I looked around and noticed that we had mood lighting. Half of the store was on auxiliary power. The refrigerated/freezer aisles were blocked off with shopping carts, but did not impede our shopping experience. 

 Point Wilson lighthouse

The second morning we went to Fort Worden. I HIGHLY recommend this state park. If I had an RV, I would stay here. They do have Officer's Row housing which is incredibly beautiful. They also rent out the barracks.

 View from the front of the lighthouse

 I find driftwood shanties quaint, because I don't live in one.

 Rock people, rock people!

 Beach at Fort Wordon

 This is for Andrea. 

 Marine Science Center!!!

 These sea critters are in WASHINGTON STATE OCEANS!

 Look in the right corner. That is a sunshine starfish!

I absolutely LOVED the marine science center. My mind was continuously blown looking at all of the brightly colored sea critters that live on OUR coast line. It was as if their mere presence was reassuring me that yes, I live in the best state ever. 

There were four or five tide pools where you were able to touch the animals. I wasn't really interested, because mostly I didn't want to hurt them. However, the scientist who worked there convinced me to touch the sunshine starfish, sea cucumber and the sea urchin(s). She said that the sea critters were used to being touched anyways.

 Random Victorian building

Another Victorian building

The long and short of it is... 3 days isn't enough time to explore the wonderful city of Port Townsend. I don't think there was anything about this city that I didn't like. There was ample FREE parking. A HUGE plus for me! Everything you could want was within walking distance of our bed and breakfast. The people in the town were friendly, and it seemed as if it was a happy town. I would highly recommend Port Townsend for a vacation spot for anybody who loves Victorian era architecture, with access to modern accommodations a few miles outside of town. I will be back next summer!

Links mentioned in post:

http://www.parks.wa.gov/fortworden/
http://www.ptmsc.org/

Mahalo for reading!

-Laura Borelious

Big Sexy: It's Anything But

I’ll admit, I’m a bit of a TLC junkie. Say Yes to the Dress, What Not to Wear, A Baby Story, and occasionally 19 Kids and Counting. It’s TV that doesn’t require much brain power, mildly entertaining and helps pass the time.

While watching one of the fine programs that TLC has to offer, they were spamming the commercial breaks with their “GROUNDBREAKING” new show “Big Sexy.” It’s a show that will be following the lives of five plus size women and their attempt to enter the fashion world as plus size models and/or designers.

Being “plus sized” myself, my interest was piqued.

I think you should to know that I don’t identify myself with the “girl power plus size” crew.  I don’t love the fact that I’m a plus sized woman, and I don’t hate it. I take it for what it is. The status of my body is due to years of emotional eating. I used food as my drug of choice to suppress my anxiety, sadness, anger, and even joy. I used it as a cop-out to not live a full life. Now that I’m aware of this, I am learning to treat my body with kindness, as often as I can remember I am taking ownership of my choices, and how my body has turned out is because of MY CHOICES.

I DON’T have a debilitating condition that requires me to be sedentary for long periods of time. I don’t take medications that made my weight balloon up. I’ve been fat my entire life. My brother and I like to call it being constant. We’ve been this way our entire lives, so it’s socially accepted among our friends and family.

One thing that really pissed me off was at the beginning of the show, one of the characters (and I say characters because all people on reality television are playing a role that is more likely than not scripted)

“All fat girls don’t wanna be skinny. Did I just blow your mind?”

 No, dear. You did not blow my mind. Because the insincerity behind that statement is written all over your countenance.

You give me one fat girl who wakes up in the morning and says, “Sweet! I get to carry around 300+ pounds around today.” Or a woman looks in their full length mirror with their cellulite and rolls staring back at them and thinks, “Damn, I look good. This is what men are attracted to!” And I’ll give you me that says you’re full of shit.

It’s your body. You own it. You should treat it with love and kindness. And when it’s not within its natural weight, it is a direct representation of what is going on inside of you. Which is not love. Or happiness. It cannot be.

Another thing I found fraudulent about this show was a scene where one of the women was getting dressed. She put on 3 types of body shapers.  Um, where is your confidence in you curves, ma’am?

Many plus sized women and regular sized women do wear girdles, shape wear, and an array of undergarments to smooth out their mid section, legs and back fat. It’s understandable why women do that and it can make clothing fit better.

I found it ironic, I suppose that these ladies would have any use for a garment that is used to mask or change their natural body shape.

Another scene in the show that aggravated me is when they went to a club, and were refused entrance for a period of time. Two skinny attractive women and some men were admitted in front of them. They were not required to pay the cover charge. The bouncers later returned to the plus sized ladies and requested that they pay a $30 cover charge. And they had the gall to be offended. Seriously, ladies?

I’m gonna say it.

Clubs are for young, attractive, skinny people.

And sometimes even young, attractive, FAMOUS skinny people aren’t admitted into a club. Exhibit A: Seth MacFarlane. (http://www.tmz.com/2008/11/15/seth-to-crown-bar-i-can-buy-you-b-ch/)

Why would you go to a place that will openly discriminate against you? It would be like me going to a Mason Lodge and demanding membership. It’s a fraternity. I’m not going to be admitted. I could scream and cry foul, but it is what it is. There are organizations for all types of people. Why make yourself a target? Unless of course, you crave the negative attention. Because even negative attention is attention.

It’s really frustrating to me how some people think they’re SPECIAL. And because they are SO special, they deserve to have whatever they want, when they want it. And when they don’t get it, IT’S A SOCIAL OUTRAGE!

Let me say this. You’re not special. Not anymore special than the person who rides his bike to work instead of driving. Or the person who spends Christmas morning feeding the homeless. You don’t deserve preferential treatment because you have an eating disorder. People need to get off their pretentious high horse and get back to their lives.

This show isn’t groundbreaking. It’s just like any other reality show. With fat chicks. They should be embarrassed.

Perhaps it’s the American dream for fatties and twigs alike to live stupid, artificial lives alongside each other.

 

I thank my intelligence and upbringing that I don’t have to belong to a special group to shape my identity and build my self confidence. That comes from knowledge, self love, healthy relationships (platonic and romantic) and joy.

So the next time that I see it on, I think I’ll pass.

Port Townsend, Day 1

A change of scenery is always nice.

Normally my vacations are spent in Rockaway Beach Oregon. It’s a beautiful town, small and unassuming with highway 101 dividing it into two.

A few things kept me going back there. It has a hotel a few miles outside of town for under $100 (during the off season) with two rooms, a kitchenette and full size refrigerator and gas fireplace, and partial ocean view. And they have a store in town that stays open till 10pm. That’s a big deal to me. Anyone who goes to the coast often, you know you have a window between 10am-5pm to do your shopping. That is of course if you want to drive all the way to Seaside for the 24hr Safeway.

It's in a central location, near Tillamook Oregon, (roughly 15 minutes away) and there is great thrift shopping in Rockaway itself, as well as in the surrounding beach towns.

It's also close to Hug Point State Park. If you've never been to Hug Point, I highly recommend it. You can see starfish and sea anemones hanging out in tide pools and clinging to the rocks right up close. There is also has a natural fresh water waterfall. It's truly a beautiful state park. One of my favorites.

However, I was ready for a change of scenery.  With the power of Google maps, I chose Port Townsend, Washington. It’s a coastal town, 3 ½ hours north of Vancouver. And to add a little flair, I decided to book a bed and breakfast. I’ve never experienced a B&B before.

Thanks to Google again, I found the lovely Blue Gull Inn. My sister Christine and I looked it over and decided that it seemed like a nice enough town to explore. She was looking for a small town to observe for her new book, and I wanted experience something new.

One of the nice things about the drive to Port Townsend is the straight shot up 1-5 to Tacoma. If you have more time, you can drive HWY 101 most of the way up there. The drive was beautiful. We were lucky with sunshine the entire trip. I feel I must mention that there is a long stretch of HWY 101 on the way to Port Townsend that is four lanes.  FOUR LANES. You can’t begin to fathom how much joy this brought me. Hwy 101 south of Washington can be horrendous, especially during warmer weather. We flew down the highway, keeping a steady speed over 60 mph!

Christine and I both had lunch at 123 Thai Food. Both of us were unsure of where we wanted to eat. And I knew wherever we stopped needed to have a vegetarian option. This place did not disappoint. I went with chicken slathered with peanut sauce. In retrospect, this picture does not make this meal look that appetizing. However, it was quite delicious. A few years ago after briefly being introduced to peanut sauce, I wanted to put it on everything. Imagine how my dream was realized when I saw this chicken peanut sauce-o-rama.

 It was good. I plan on trying to duplicate it!

 Christine's was a veggie tofu spicy, er... I don't remember.

Shortly after driving around for a bit, we saw a beautiful structure that was very Victorian looking. We had time before check-in, and went to find it. Christine is quite the navigator, which made it easy for me to rely on her.

This is Port Townsend's courthouse. As soon as we saw this building, I knew that we'd made the right choice.

 This is on the shoreline. Notice that it's rocks and not sand.

 Christine and I on the pier.

 Looking at the bay from the penthouse at the Swan.

 We'll take the mystery box!

Christine & Maude in front of Blue Gull Inn.

 The view from the bell tower.

 Everything was within walking distance.

 The post office. I took to calling it the Mailery.

 We saw so many deer! I believe we saw 4 all together.

 My bed. Christine was gracious to let me have the queen. She took the day bed.

Okay. I'd never seen toilet paper folded like this before. I was very excited, and told Christine to come in and check it out. My dad said that most nice hotels fold the toilet paper. Guess it means I need to get out more.

I'll post day two shortly.

Mahalo for reading!

-Laura Borelious

Places mentioned in post:

Surfside Hotel and Resort Rockaway Beach Oregon http://www.surfsideocean.com/

Larry’s Market Rockaway Beach Oregon http://tiny.cc/0hprd

Tillamook Oregon http://www.tillamook.com/

Hug Point Oregon http://www.oregonstateparks.org/park_191.php

123 Thai Food http://www.yelp.com/biz/1-2-3-thai-food-port-townsend-2

Blue Gull Inn http://bluegullinn.com

Directions from Vancouver WA http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=vl