sweet home alabama

Well what a couple of weeks we have been having! The royal wedding, the draft, the tornados, and now Osama. Seriously, if anyone can handle all of this... we can! It has kind of been hard to fall asleep with lots of things running through my brain. It was really hard for me at first with the news of the tornados in Alabama and the surrounding areas. Seeing all of the videos and photos of the biggest tornado EVER plowing through Tuscaloosa, was absolutely heart wrenching. I lived 5 years of my life there. So being that i'm now in California, it was quite a helpless feeling to want to help all the people who have lost so much. I must say though, how impressed I am at the strength of the people there who have all pulled together so amazingly to help one another. It is a beautiful thing. The people of the state of Alabama should be proud - people have always said that it is a good place to raise your kids... and those kids turn into good people. It is showing.

To turn my helpless feeling into something good, i have started collecting clothes at my office. We always have lots of samples and extra stuff around, so I am hoping to be able to send as much as I can afford to ship.

If you want to do something, here are some other great ways that you can make a donation.

Online: go to www.alredcross.org and click on the "donate now" link on

the homepage

Call: 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767) and you will be prompted to a menu that includes financial donations

Text: REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10 to the American Red Cross.

After your confirm your donation, you will receive a text and will be offered the option to specify your gift to support Disaster Relief to help people affected by disasters like the recent tornadoes

OR donate to:

TEAM RUBICON, a hybrid team of veterans and firefighters to respond domestically to natural disasters.

http://teamrubiconusa.org/2011/04/28/team-rubicon-activates-east-coast-team-for-bama-tornado-disaster/

Check out these cool T-shirts designed by Maggie Crisler in Florence, AL. All proceeds go to the Red Cross. Help Maggie reach her goal to donate $1000.

http://www.maggiecrisler.com/tornadorelief.html