nakate (and my little-blogspot-lover's first giveaway ever).

i've never done a giveaway here before because it never felt like it was quite time. but when shanley, a one woman wonder who's changing the world, came to me with her new project nakate, i was in. 

"I went to Uganda this past summer to document the work of an aid organization in the Luwero district, which is off the main highway running through Uganda to southern Sudan. I spent several days focusing on Kakooge, a village almost completely wiped out by AIDS in the past few decades. The families left are struggling intensely: many mothers left alone with children, wrecked by polygamy, without hope, many fathers that openly wept when speaking to me, saying that they could not feed their children, that they were too weak from the disease to work. 

I discovered, while there, that there was no market for wares in the village. Even those who were strong enough to work couldn't find sustainable occupations. I struggled, especially, with the way the women in the village were fighting to feed their families and were often brutally mistreated or taken advantage of in the process.

I had heard that people that had traveled to Uganda on medical missions had brought back beads from Kakooge, and I sought out the women who made them with my guide. I found that many of them were depending on the beads to pay their children's school fees, their rent, buy food, etc. but that sales were sporadic, and couldn't be counted on. I brought back a huge bag of beads intending to make sales more regular, and met Emily, who was finished up her MBA and had a heart for helping the impoverished. Together, we set up the Nakate Project, which sells the necklaces online, and at parties held by volunteers in our area. We pay the women back three times what they could make within the country, and use the rest of the money to invest in business opportunities for them in Kakooge, in effort to bring a sustainable market back in the area."

one lucky blog reader will receive the kaunna necklace. 

in order to enter please visit nakate and leave a comment below. 

for more chances to win, tweet or blog about the project and then leave an additional comment letting me know. the giveaway will close thursday at midnight--i will choose a winner at random on friday morning. 


i hope you all are as excited as i am--it's for such a great and worthy cause! happy monday!

second listening.

when i was in high school the dixie chicks did a cover of landslide that was all over the radio. i remember i'd hear it driving to and from school and i didn't particularly care for it.

but listening to this today. to the slow melody and simplicity it of it, i hear it all so differently. i understand the words--both their heartbreak and hope. and in hearing it differently i am aware of how i am different--changed, more expansive.

how funny (or perhaps fitting) it is that something like a song can be a touchstone in our life. illuminating the space between and all the path already traversed.

thoughts for a friday.

whatever does not pretend at all has style enough. booth tarkington. 



the very first moment i beheld him, my heart was irrevocably gone. jane austen.



you don't love people at their best, sweetheart. you just love them because you can't help it. amy lane.




we can never judge the lives of others, because each person knows only their own pain and renunciation. it's one thing to feel that you are on the right path, but it's another to think that your's is the only path. paulo coelho. 



i am only responsible for my own heart, you offered yours up for the smashing my darling. only a fool would give out such a vital organ. anais nin.



any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves. albert einstein. 




photos.
(post in the style of una bella vita).


on monday: a giveaway--the first! prepare yourself...

FED: it's all in the family.

the other night when i called home i was chatting away with my mother when she suddenly became distracted.

your father's throwing acai berries at me, she explained.

i love this for so many reasons. for the fact that my parents still have fun together--think of it, flying food as proof of love!--and also because they were actually eating acai berries--oh how far we've all come since the days of oreos after dinner.

when i first began to uproot my eating patterns--cutting out meat, eating goji berries and mulberries, seeking out fair-trade foods and eco-concious restaurants--my meat and potato parents viewed this all a little wearily--or, at least, i feared they would.

(let me be clear: as a child i ate white bread. i pitied those forced to endure whole-wheat--oh the deprived childhoods they must lead, i thought.)

there's nothing harder than totally changing your eating habits and not having the support of those around you--so calling home and knowing my parents were eating chocolate covered acai berries--knowing that they're not just supportive in their words but in their actions--that is not lost on me. i realize that's not the norm. and i feel so unbelievably lucky.

in other (but related) news: i finally pulled out my babycakes cookbook and whipped up some vegan/gluten-free/sugar-free (it's sweetened with agave) banana bread. while finding some of the ingredients in whole foods proved tricker than usual, actually putting it all together was a breeze. and it was good--moist and good. and quickly eaten up when i offered it up to our version of craft-services on my last day of shooting.

book club (vlog follow-up) .

book club selection: the guernsey literary and potato peel pie society. 

my reasoning: i've actually read this book before i adored it in every possible way. it's a quick and easy read that both charms and moves. i find it perfectly fitting since it deals with a book club and the power of words--and lordy i can't wait till we sit down and talk about the power of words!

a note about the book club: if you haven't read the book--i still want you to come. but if you are so inclined to read it, please do (i promise it's lovely). this book club is meant to be a way to meet people (and know that on my first draft of this i spelled meet, meat. really?), stir-up discussion (and not just that pertaining to whatever we've just read). i have found in my nearly seven years in this city that it can be difficult to meet people--especially when they fall out of our normal circle of work or school or some such. so as long as you bring a smile (even if you're secretly terrified), then that's all i care about.

if you've emailed me: (and i haven't emailed back...) all of the emails are in a specific folder in my inbox and as soon as i figure out a location then you will be getting an email with details and a hop-stop direction guide!

let the discussion begin! this is what i had to say about the book last go round.