"We did not change as we grew older: we just became more clearly ourselves." - Lynn Hall
"Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could see all of our life as a gift?... take a breath and ask what is the gift here? -Alan Cohen-
Life from the center is a life of unhurried peace and power. It is simple. It is serene. It is amazing. It is triumphant. - Thomas R. Kelly
"Don't go for looks; they can deceive. Don't go for wealth: even that fades away. Go for someone who makes you smile because it takes only a smile to make a dark day seem bright. Find the one that makes your heart smile"
Have you ever seen someone having a bad day and you and you wish you could do something to make it better? You possibly could…with the smallest effort. Have you ever been shopping and saw something that would be perfect for someone you know? If you have a few extra dollars… buy it… give it to them… it may just make their day.
I truly believe that there are simple pleasures in life that can make a difference in someone’s day. If you have ever wanted to focus your life in a positive direction…If you just want to make someone’s day brighter… If you would like to receive the satisfaction of joyous smile or a simple thank you… I challenge you to take part in "LizaCorrine's Random Acts of Kindness Challenge". If you ever need inspiration for the simple things you can do for someone, watch children.
technically check in was not until 3:00 pm but service at the front desk was slow and annoying and YES I DO write customer reviews. They need to be better staffed. There were like 3 reunions, a Christian convention, and people who were visiting for the Tigers/White Sox games. Needless to say the hotel was PACKED! In the meantime trusty VZ Navigator took Kris, Daddy, and I to DTW to pick up Davida. When we returned everyone was trying to check in and the parents’ room was finally ready. We move all my parents, and grandmother’s luggage down to their floor and nap. Later that evening Kris and I were a little late for the family meet and greet at the firehouse across the street from the hotel. (IMPORTANT because we think we catch all details but miss some key ones ) . Kris and I then walk my mama and grandmother back across the street to the hotel and are off adventuring. We find a restaurant called Vistente Cuban Cuisine where we enjoyed tapas and a beautiful city view from our street side dining. While there we hear that they offer Salsa lessons Friday and Saturday evening and make plans to return for the following evening. We return the hotel where we meet musicians and engineers on the Angela Winbush tour. They were a lot of fun. Hope to get a video of Preiester showing my sister to play the drum he was carrying around on facebook later., but I may face some censorship from my sister.
Here are original pieces of crystal from the hotel remaining intact expected to be Waterford
Original War Issued Guns now lights around the Driskell Bar
Maximillion was sent to Mexico as the Ambassador when he arrived he called hiself emporer and was overthrown and killed in two months. He had the head of his new 17 year old bride skulted to the top of each mirror he had made in her honor
Liz Murray (born September 23, 1980 in The Bronx, New York) is an American whose success story has spread around the world. She is known for being the homeless girl wandering the slums of New York, who eventually turns her life around once she realizes she is not doomed to experience life on the streets. Determined and confident, she strives for and succeeds at becoming a student at Harvard University. Her story was told in an Emmy-nominated Lifetime TV movie Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story.
Murray, whose life was chronicled in the Lifetime television movie Homeless to Harvard, was the keynote speaker at Bryan's back-to-school convocation at Central Baptist Church.
"The greatest challenge really came not in my circumstances, but in believing in what I did," Murray told more than 6,000 Bryan school employees Friday. "No matter what the circumstances were, I had a choice."
By age 15, Murray's mother had died of AIDS and Liz was homeless - living on the streets, riding on the subway all night, and eating from the dumpsters. While a majority of us would have given up on life, amidst the pain, Murray always imagined the her life could be much better than it was.
"I started to grasp the value of the lessons learned while living on the streets. I knew, after overcoming those daily obstacles, that next to nothing could hold me down."
Determined to take charge of her life, Murray pulled herself together, enrolled in a charter school in New York and completed all four years of high school in just two years. This was all done while Murray was still homeless. At the encouragement of a mentor, she went on to earn a scholarship from the New York Times and entered Harvard University in 2000. Although she began her college career at Harvard, she eventually transferred to Columbia University to be closer to her father who is dying from AIDS.
Murray narrated how she and her older sister had lived in a trash-strewn, filthy apartment in the Bronx. Their parents were drug addicts, and when the welfare check came at the first of each month, the family of four would go to the "drug spot" and her parents would buy cocaine and heroin, Murray said.
To know more on the extraordinary story of Liz Murray and her movie " Homeless to Harvard , inlcuding Movie quotes . Click here
To read Liz Murray' inspiring message of truth in her own words,click here
Perhaps in Alia Sabur’s wildly advanced studies she came across a famous quote from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
“Knowing is not enough. We must apply,” the German writer once observed.
That could serve as explanation for what prompted the 19-year-old to become the youngest college professor in history.
Armed with prodigious wisdom, Sabur told TODAY’s Ann Curry on Wednesday that knowledge is power — especially when sharing it.
“I really enjoy teaching,” said Sabur. “It’s something where you can make a difference. It’s not just what you can do, but you can enable a lot of other people to make their changes.”
Sabur, from Northport, N.Y., has clearly been ahead of the learning curve since an early age.
She started talking and reading when she was just 8 months old. She had elementary school finished at age 5.
She made the jump to college at age 10. And by age 14, Sabur was earning a bachelor’s of science degree in applied mathematics summa cum laude from Stony Brook University — the youngest female in U.S. history to do so.
Her education continued at Drexel University, where she earned an M.S. and a Ph.D. in materials science and engineering.
With an unlimited future ahead of her, Sabur directed her first career choice to teaching. She was three days short of her 19th birthday in February when she was hired to become a professor at Konkuk University in Seoul, Korea.
This distinction made her the youngest college professor in history, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, beating the previous record held by Colin Maclaurin in 1717.
Maclaurin was a student of physicist Isaac Newton. Sabur said she is merely gravitating toward putting what she has learned to good use.
“I really feel I can help a lot of people,” she said.
At Konkuk University, Sabur said she will take part in classroom instruction, but will also focus on research into developing nanotubes for use as cellular probes that could help aid in cures for diseases.
Although she doesn’t start until next month, Sabur has taken up teaching math and physics courses at Southern University in New Orleans, which is still struggling from the devastation left in Hurricane Katrina’s wake in 2005.
“Some people come and they do Habitat for Humanity and they build houses, but I don’t think I would be very good,” she said. “So I tried to do what I’m good at. I was particularly interested in this university because they are still in trailers after Hurricane Katrina. And I thought it could be something I do to help.”
In New Orleans, Sabur is old enough to teach, but not to join her fellow professors in a bar after work. In Korea, where the drinking age is 20, she might have more luck. In traditional Korean culture, children are considered to be 1 year old when they are born, and add a year to their age every New Year instead of their actual birthday, so in Korea Sabur is considered 20.
Varied interests
On top of her unprecedented academic achievements, Sabur has a black belt in the Korean martial art of tae kwon do and is also a music prodigy. She has been playing clarinet with orchestras since her solo debut at age 11, playing with recording artists Lang Lang and Smash Mouth.
“You can reach a lot of people with music,” Sabur told Curry. “It’s never been really a hobby to me. It’s always been on equal par with my academics.”
So is there anything Sabur can’t do?
Well, apparently she struggles with basketball and with long writing and admits to sometimes being absentminded.
In fact, sometimes she forgets just how special she really is.
“Well, I know that what I’ve done is special and I think about it,” she said. “But sometimes I forget, because I’m used to it and I don’t think about it all the time. Actually, sometimes it takes other people to remind me a little bit.”
The Way to Happiness
Keep your heart free from hate,
your mind from worry.
Live simple, accept little, give much.
Fill your life with love.
Scatter sunchine, forget self, think of others
Do as you would be done
Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806) Raised on a farm in Maryland, Benjamin Banneker wanted to learn everything he could about the world around hi...
