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  • More details about the fundraiser in memory of Shannon McNamara: http://tinyurl.com/a32lhr 5 hrs ago
  • Save the date for the 8th Annual Shannon McNamara fundraiser in Chicago on Friday March 13th at Slugger's! 11 hrs ago
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On this Thanksgiving Day, I am…

So thankful to tears that Andrew (my brother) is home safe from Iraq.  So grateful to my family and my in-laws for being supportive of me always, despite my recent nose piercing.  (Sorry Dad!)  So blessed to have mentors, coaches and muses in my work life who are constantly pushing me in the right direction. So inspired at how many strong people I have met at colleges, conferences and random airports over the past 7 years.  So thankful for an angel on my shoulder named Shannon.  So happy to have a husband who cooks, cleans and welcomes me home with open arms after weeks of traveling, with a waggily pug in tow.  So lucky to be living right here, right now, at this very exciting time in the shift of the world.  So overwhelmed with gratitude at the doors the universe has opened, just at the chance I might walk through them.  John F. Kennedy once said, “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”  May we move beyond Thanksgiving Day doing just that.

• Looking at lots of sites today for the 1st Annual GFB Training Camp this summer. Can’t decide between Denver and Boulder. Thoughts? #
• I’m thinking about getting a nose ring. Just a cute, tiny diamond stud. Is that crazy? #
• Big day tomorrow…getting my nose pierced! Super nervous. Wish me luck. http://www.twistedsol.com/ts_main.html #

• The theme of today is meetings…the good kind. #
• Girls Fight Back is hiring…need a jobby job? Warning: this is not your usual job posting: http://denver.craigslist.org/mar/931036567.html #

There are many things I should be doing and thinking about right now.  I need to send out the GFB e-newsletter with a full Fall Tour re-cap and photo tour.  I have to look at a bunch of potential sites for the first ever GFB Training Camp, happening in July ‘09.  I have a laundry basket filled to the rim with unopened mail from my months on the road.  And maybe I should start getting ready for Thanksgiving in Chicago later this week.  But am I focusing on any of that?  No.  Because I can’t stop thinking about getting a nose ring.  Not the creepy bull-like ring, but a sweet, tiny diamond stud in my left nostril.  Strange.

Thanks to Peter Zabierek at for pointing out the facts about sending holiday cards to recovering soldiers this holiday season.  Do not send holiday cards to the address below; they won’t be delivered. Read why at MSNBC.com.

A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue,NW
Washington , D.C. 20307-5001

Advice from the MSNBC article…
Walter Reed suggests visiting the “American Supports You” Web site where you can make a donation to one of the more than 300 non-profit organizations dedicated to helping U.S. troops and their families.

Other resources:

• The Postal Service Web site lists ways to support our troops.
• You can post greetings on the “To Our Soldiers” message board.
• You can donate a USO Care package via the USO site.

• Today holds laundry, hot yoga and a Warren Miller film in Denver. A very good day… #
• A trailer about the Warren Miller film I’m seeing tonight, “Children of Winter” - http://www.skinet.com/warrenmiller/ #
• Amazing carribean dinner at 8 Rivers. Now at packed Warren Miller film. Stoked! #

Last night I had the awesome opportunity to attend a Warren Miller film in Denver, thanks to Mark & Chris Lacis.  Thanks guys!  For those of you who aren’t familiar with his films, they are basically crazy snow stunts, outrageousness on skis and snowboarding ridiculousness…all set to blaring rock music. For us snow-bunnies, Warren Miller films are the events that kick our excitement for the ski season into overdrive.  For me last night, I also made the decision to start boarding this year.  Click here to watch movie trailers to see what I’m talking about.  Beware, adrenaline and a yearning to hit the slopes will likely follow.

As many of you know, I have been traveling like a fool since August and my blog has been severely neglected.  I plan to kick things up a few notches next week, including a full photo re-cap of the Fall speaking tour and some major GFB announcements.  I will also start doing a lot more writing about social entrepreneurship, business and marketing good causes.  But for now, it’s still the weekend…meaning it’s time to hit the kitchen to start preparing for my dinner party this evening.  Ta ta for now…

• It’s office moving day! #

• Today is Day 13 on the road, with final event on the Fall Tour tonight. It’s been a wild ride! #
• Working on the GFB e-newsletter to be sent out Dec 1st w/ some big announcements. Sign up: http://tinyurl.com/6b4d45 #
• Does a pug get any cuter than this? Can’t wait to squish her tomorrow! http://tinyurl.com/6nrddp #
• Last gig of the Fall Tour tonight at University of Albany. What a long strange trip it’s been… #
• At a karaoke bar watching a Japanese tourist sing Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” Ambitious! #

One of the big reasons I’m so excited to finally go home tomorrow…

• About to go live on the radio in Columbus WCKX with the Power Morning Crew. #
• Awesome radio interview this morning on WCKX in Columbus. One of the show hosts, Misty, is coming to Camp GFB this summer! #
• Congrats to Ann Dunwoody, first woman to become a four star general in the US Military http://twxr.us/1w2 #

• In Columbus to do a featured session at the BACCHUS General Assembly. Come visit the Girls Fight Back booth in the exhibit hall. #
• About to go live on the radio in Columbus WCKX with the Power Morning Crew. #
• Awesome radio interview this morning on WCKX in Columbus. One of the show hosts, Misty, is coming to Camp GFB this summer! #
• Congrats to Ann Dunwoody, first woman to become a four star general in the US Military http://twxr.us/1w2 #

• Threw down children of the corn style with my new friends at University of Northern Iowa tonight. #
• Day 6 on the road. 8 more to go. Started drinking caffeine again today. #
• Delayed in Dubuque. #
• Running to catch my connecting flight at O’Hare. #
• Wow, actually made my flight to Columbus, OH. #

• Just met with the staff of Alpha Phi International in Evanston. Now going to speak at Lake Forest College. #
• Having a frothy one with my siblings in Chicago. #
• Flappin’ my wings to Iowa. #
• Pulled over for speeding in middle of nowhere Iowa. Awesome. #
• Totally got pinched doing 84 mph in a 65 mph zone. Doh! My bad. #

• Back on campus at good ol’ EIU. Speaking to 500 women tonight then chillin’ at the A-Phi house. #
• EIU rocks like Spock. Special thanks to the A-Phis…thx for snacks afterwards. Join the GFB group on Facebook for more info about the camp! #
• En route to Chicago to speak at Alpha Phi headquarters. #
• Just did a phone interview with the EIU yearbook, The Warbler. What the heck is a Warbler anyways? #
• Feeling especially grateful to my brother’s safe return from Iraq on this Veteran’s Day. #
• Turbulence on plane resulted in beverage cart debacle. I look like I wet my pants. #
• Hailing in Chi-town. Doh! #

Tonight I spoke to a lovely crowd of my alma mater, Eastern Illinois University.  It’s always a bitter-sweet place for me to go, given it’s been the host of both my greatest and also most difficult times.  I was so lucky to have true friends, great professors and a sorority (Alpha Phi) that was the essence of sisterhood.  But Charleston was also the place of the murder scene of my dear friend, Shannon McNamara.  And as dark as that may be, it’s forever etched in my memory.

Tonight I felt some nostalgia. I drove a bit around campus, remembering old times and marveling at all the impressive new construction.  But I didn’t drive by Shannon’s apartment on 4th Street…that’s one site I have successfully avoided for many years and returns to EIU.  I also avoided the court house, the place I spent close to two weeks during her murder trial in 2003. It’s the place where I got a deeper understanding about violence and the person who could take such a sweetheart from this earth, in a way I had never wanted to know.

I was talking to Shannon’s mom, Cindy, recently.  We spoke of our simultaneous love and dread of Charleston.  Together we made a pact to not hold our painful experiences of this place against Charleston as a whole.  We chose to love it despite the bad memories and to give it the credit which is due. We opted to cling to the good times.  That place gave me some wonderful friends, my bridesmaids, true leadership experience…and a pretty inspiring angel.  And I guess that’s the silver lining in all of this…

• Just flew from Philly to St Louis with two army men who arrived home from Iraq. They had their awesome dogs too. Thankful for our troops! #

• Nothing says “winner” like spending Friday night alone in a Philadelphia Hampton Inn. #
• Off to speak at a major financial firm in PA. #
• Great program today in PA. Spoke to a very diverse crowd in age, race and religion. All were inspiring girlfighters. #
• Adios rainy Philadelphia. About to catch a flight to St. Louis. #

• Just got an email from a journalist wanting to do a story on me, because I have an “abnormal career path.” I guess you could say that… #
• Embarking on a 14 day trip. Miss my dog and man already! En route to Philly. #

• Full day o’ meetings in Denver. #

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