It's Simple. Be Kind

We all know right from wrong. We all know what we should be doing. Why is it so hard sometimes? Here I am creating a huge push for bully prevention and trying to inspire people to be kind to one another. Yet I find it difficult to ALWAYS do the right thing as well. We sometimes say things we not always, truly believe in. Some of us agree just to be polite. We don't want to be seen as difficult or argumentative. We sometimes go along with the group in order not to offend. My point is even as adults we can be persuaded to sometimes go with the flow. Even if it's not what we feel is the "right" thing. We let things slide. We are so busy with our everyday lives we don't want to be bothered with extra stress or worries.  I know some of you are reading this right now and thinking - " Well speak for yourself. I ALWAYS speak my mind." And while that may be true for the most part, the majority of the people I personally speak with have issues deciding when to sp

I was so excited to be discussing bully prevention, awareness & inspiring kindness with the students from Haines Elementary School- and I brought my buddy Rainbow Rabbit! I visited 8 different class rooms ranging from ages k- 2nd grade.  This was the first time I would be introducing the story of the Rainbow Rabbit. I knew from reading it to my son the kids here would really enjoy it. From the moment I walked in each classroom the kids were so excited! They would run up to Rainbow Rabbit and touch him or say how pretty he was! Everyone wanted to hold him! Once the story began the kids were silent. Their eyes never left the pages. They loved how it rhymed and the bright colored illustrations. Every once in a while a child would react with "Oh no!" or "That's so sad!" during the parts where Rainbow Rabbit was being left out or was crying. They would cheer when there were happy parts, or when the princess helped him out- it was so sweet to see. They remained

This last month my husband and I were invited to speak as a dental team for career day at Haines Elementary School, here in downtown Chicago. I absolutely love that we work in the same field and that we had the opportunity to do something so fun together! We both love the field we work in, and to be able to share what we do with young people, and inspire them to maybe follow suit was really exciting for us both. Dentistry has a stigma that comes along with it, so any opportunity we have to change that we gladly take! So many advancements have been made in the field and I personally know a lot of clinicians, including both of us, do what we can to let people know their dental visits don't have to be a negative experience. Chris and I took turns describing what each of us do, how much schooling each of us had to complete and went through, step by step proper brushing and flossing technique. We especially had fun with the many, many questions we were asked. One of our favorites was &

I fell in love with the story of this organization and I think you will too! I am so proud to be included in Team Rainbow Rabbit - a family-based and family-run organization. To trust me with your message is an honor and I am so excited to share such a great story!! Rainbow Rabbit was the vision of Arthur Vallee, an animator for the Walt Disney Company back in the 1940's. It was his strong belief that this tale of inclusion and unity, along with the emphasis of belonging would capture the hearts of children and adults... I know it captured mine. Arthur passed away in 2010 at the age of 93 before he could realize the dream of having his book read in classrooms all of the world! His passion has not been forgotten, and the Rainbow Rabbit organization works continuously to spread this message of acceptance and tolerance within our communities near and far. I'm thrilled to be a part of this realization! Reading this amazing story to the youth of our world and watching them expe

I was so excited to be invited to Edgewood School in Woodridge Illinois to discuss Bully Prevention and Awareness! This was my very first class I presented my new program to. I was so excited! ( and maybe a little nervous ). I started with a short video and asked the kids how they felt about it. I was pleasantly surprised by the eagerness to participate! I designed the presentation to be interactive, to make sure I kept their attention. I asked a lot of questions and they had some very smart answers. Some of them were even brave enough to share their own stories of when they felt left out, were picked on for one reason or another, or even when people said things that hurt their feelings. I want to take this opportunity to say "Thank You" to the students that trusted me enough to share! I had so much fun and can't wait to check in to see what you all are up to!! You are all amazing and smart kids!

On October 15th I held my very first fundraiser! I decided to do this pretty much 5 weeks before the event date! I thought to myself - "Hey, how hard can it be??" I was so nervous, excited, and hopeful all at once! I decided to go with a casual happy hour event at a South Loop neighborhood restaurant called The Scout. Now,  I have attended MANY fundraising events in my life time, but never really stopped to think what actually went into planning and hosting one all by myself. I contacted a friend, who is pretty much the queen of fundraisers and charity events, and had her walk me through it. Once I made my to-do list it was all I thought about!! I wanted to make it fun, and something people actually wanted to attend. I wanted to make sure they saw how important this was to me, and most of all I wanted to make sure I brought awareness to the world wide problem of bullying. When I first began to build my personal platform I searched hours for an organization I felt I could

It's true. A song can't come on the radio that doesn't immediately remind me of a dance routine I have done in the past. After all, I have been doing routines to different songs pretty much since I was 3 years old. That's 30 + years of countless routines! My days spent dancing are some of the most amazing memories I have. Some of the best friendships and important life lessons have been created through my dancing. My professional career performing in the AFL and NBA spans over 10 years! It's amazing I can still bend my knees! None the less, I am extremely proud of all my time spent on every team with which I have had the opportunity to perform. Being a part of sports and dancing growing up was undoubtedly one of the best things my parents could have done for me. No matter what was going on at school, I was able to forget about it for a while and concentrate on what I loved. I think this is a very important part of the puzzle to help a child that may feel differ

WOW! This has been a busy month for me. The outpour of support from family and friends has been positively overwhelming as I do what I know I was meant to do: spread awareness and fight to help others who may not be ready to fight for themselves.  What started out as me "getting involved" has turned into so much more. I have received many letters from friends and friends-of-friends all telling me their stories of heart break, embarrassment, and shame. One thing we all seem to have in common is apologizing for who we are and who we were meant to be. Yes we were very different as children, but the theme I keep seeing is we were targeted for things that made us who we were. Maybe we were targeted because of  sexual orientation, weight- too skinny or over-weight, poor growing up. Things we couldn't always help. Even POSITIVE things made people targets! Good grades, successful in athletics, being picked for homecoming court, or because they wouldn't drink at parties.  It&#

I used to hate that old saying, we all know it, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." I used to think to myself something must be wrong with me because words definitely hurt and they hurt bad. When you are younger and you scrape your knee or fall, you pretty much forget about it after a few minutes and you move on. But words- those were different for me. Things people said to me stuck with me. To this day I can remember things that were said to me- and I also remember how they made me feel. Especially if an adult was the one saying it to me. For example, when I was younger, I was a cheerleader- big surprise right? I was very proud of what I did. I was very proud of being involved with a group and all the hard work we put into our routines and cheers. I was so proud of my uniform and my clean white shoes, and I was even more proud when we got to wear our uniforms to school! Now I am talking grade school- I was in 4th grade at the time, our unif

My son is turning one this month! That sentence has yet to completely sink in. I have been watching him walk around our living room these past two weeks, but not like I usually do - not necessarily on alert to shoo him away from the occasional uncovered outlet, or kick him out the utility room to stop him from eating his occasional snack of cat food- but just watching him. Taking it all in. He has his own very busy agenda these days- and it's absolutely amazing to me. There is no way he will ever know the joy he brings to my life, or the powerful love I have for him- that is until he has his own child himself. He'll never know the happiness I feel when he stumbles up to me with his arms open to give me a hug, or when he aggressively gives me one of his open mouth kisses on my cheek. I could literally sit and watch him learn and play all day long. It's so beautiful to me. And please tell me I am not the only one that will sit in the car and let my child finish his nap?? OK.

I absolutely LOVE seeing my Facebook feed flooded with all of your children's “first day of school” photos. They are so happy, proud, and excited.  I think to myself:  “Wow, I remember my first day of school with their mom or dad!! Wasn’t that just 5 years ago?? OK maybe maybe it was more like 25 years ago...but who's counting?  We all have such high hopes as we send our children off to begin a life long journey of learning.  I would imagine no one sends their kid to school and thinks, “I hope he has a hard time making friends this year.” In fact, we all hope the exact opposite: “I hope my kids have fun today,” “I hope they like their teacher!” or “I wonder what subjects my kids will love”  maybe even “I’m pretty sure my son will be homecoming king by the end of the week." You get the idea. :)  As I personally reflect on future hopes for my son, I would like to add "I hope my son is a good friend." I hope he gives others that are different from him a chance.

This is so exciting for me! I'm officially a "blogger"! I'm not sure that is even the correct term?? Please forgive me - I'm learning as I go! I am so excited to share with you, a day in the life of me! I promise to keep it fun and interesting! I have a 10 month old son, and a husband of 1 year...how can life NOT be interesting? Between the toilet locks, the obstacle course of Lego's all over the carpet, and my husbands protein powder mess, I think I can manage to come up with a few things here and there. I'm excited to share our adventures and my simple message to "Be Kind. Make a Difference"- It's simple right?