Respect My Vote

I’ve been a little inspired of late. I unexpectedly launched an Etsy Shop as a side hustle to sell some T-Shirt designs and other items that I have come up with along with my boys. It’s been a nice creative outlet and I am no graphic designer, but if you have an idea, there are programs out there to help you get your words out…literally, which is why I’m writing this post.

Respect My Vote Unisex Jersey Tee with blue lettering and red check mark vote design

Respect My Vote. It sounds like an easy enough concept, right? I’ve never really though of my right to vote being “disrespected,” but sadly, in today’s current political and social climates, I do feel like my vote is a bit threatened. So, I put it on a shirt.

First, I do believe in the power of voting and having your voice heard. Both of my parents were immigrants to the U.S. and they took voting seriously, I recall election days as a young girl, waiting in long lines in my neighborhood so that they could vote. I always thought it was an interesting process to go into someone’s house in my neighborhood (polling place), where there would be a steady stream of people patiently waiting their turn to submit their ballot. All that to say, the act of voting was a big deal for my parents and the house I grew up in, so I take advantage of my right to vote.

Second, all this talk about mail in ballots and voter fraud, totally rubs me the wrong way! I have been voting absentee, which essentially is a form of mail-in voting and until this year, I have never questioned if my ballot was going to get hijacked on the way to being counted at an Election’s Office. I use the right ink for the bubbles, I seal it, sign it and put the right amount of postage or drop in the ballot box near me. I have great faith in the U.S. Postal Service and their ability to get my mail and packages delivered on time and in one piece. Is the the Postal Service perfect? No, but I tend to prefer the USPS over UPS or Fed-Ex…just saying! I respect the hard work the mail carriers and sorters put in, and I trust them to deliver my vote, if additional funding, mail sorting machines and blue post office boxes are taken away, and I have seen photos that suggest this…I find that disrespectful. Never in my life would I have ever thought that would be a thing.

Thirdly, tensions are high, we all know that. People are on polar extremes fighting and arguing for beliefs along party lines. Life is completely uncertain in a pandemic and unemployment, mental health issues creeping up on all of us and here in California, my world is literally on fire. The upcoming Election Day should be the one thing in our control. We have the opportunity to vote, we can choose who we want to vote for, and we should be able to vote using whatever method we feel safe doing so…and the way I choose to submit my vote, needs to be RESPECTED! I’m not going to tell you who to vote for or what to believe in, but I can tell you registering to vote is the right thing to do, it’s part of your civic duty and it’s one ( meaningful) way to enact real change in your community.

Respect My Vote T-Shirt Design

This is why, I was inspired and motivated to create the “Respect My Vote” T-Shirt. I plan to wear mine as we count down to November 3, 2020, and if you want to support me and order an election day shirt of your own, head over to my Shop 53 Weeks Etsy Shop! To see all my shirt designs click here. Also, you can use promo code SHOP20 until the end of August to save 20%. BTW, shirts are available Unisex or a Women’s Jersey Tee, if you prefer something more fitted. There are also two subtle design differences, one has the lettering in all blue with a red vote box check mark, and the other has blue and red lettering with the red vote check mark. But if you do anything, make sure you’re registered to vote.

Respect My Vote Ladies Tee with blue + red lettering and red check mark design

Hosting Happy Hour Online

Before the pandemic, I had heard of zoom and I knew you could do these old school “party line,” style FaceTime calls, etc… but I never made time to do them or participate in them. Well, the past couple weeks, me and zoom have made fast friends, and these virtual meet-ups with my family and friends are now something I look forward to. I love the creativity in how people are connecting and being engaged with each other, and this includes celebrating “happy hour” too!

Lifestyle expert Paul Zahn joined me virtually to talk about his ideas for how to plan a virtual happy hour! He talked about using items you already have at home, picking a theme and designating a host. It’s that easy, so go, be social and have a great virtual happy hour!

Warriors “Get Fit” Event

I recently got a chance to host an event with the Golden State Warriors.

The event was part of the Warriors “Back-to-School in the Bay” campaign, and in partnership with Kaiser Permanente they hosted the Get Fit Time-Out event at Willie L. Brown Jr. Middle School in San Francisco’s Bayview neighborhood. The event was aimed toward promoting the importance of physical activity, mindfulness and good nutrition.

Golden State Warriors Damian Jones joined us for the fun event and did a Q&A with me to let the kids know about his fitness and eating habits, before interacting with students from the Beacon after school program. Students were then treated to an interactive education session focused on eating nutritious foods, exercising daily and training the mind to be resilient.

There were 3 activity stations, including an instructional basketball clinic, nutrition lesson and mindfulness workshop.

All in all, the events was so much fun and I can’t wait to work with the Dubs again!

WATCH the video highlights here >> https://www.nba.com/warriors/video/teams/warriors/2018/09/26/2268083/1537920777167-stuftbget-fit20180917v1-2268083

Disneyland Memories

When I think about my early visits to Disneyland when I was a child, the Main Street Electrical Parade is one of the first things that comes to mind, after Mickey and Minnie. In fact, if I’m being honest, I never even realized it went away….there definitely was a time lapse between my childhood, to now being a parent where I hadn’t visited Disneyland in YEARS!

Last year when I took my boys to Anaheim and Disneyland for the first time, I didn’t realize the night parade was not the same one I was accustomed to seeing during my visits as a kid. And, while the parade(s) we saw were awesome in their own right, it was very exciting for me to hear that the Main Street Electrical Parade is lighting up Disneyland once again!!!

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There sure is something about it that’s very nostalgic to me, and being able to share that experience with the kids is very cool, not to mention maybe I won’t feel so “dated,” as the characters and visuals that amused me as a child will have the same effect on them today! All this being said, I got to do an interview about this excited (limited time) event at Disneyland. I spoke to Disneyland spokesman Eddy Collins and the man mouse himself, MICKEY MOUSE even dropped in on the interview I did for Bay Area LIFE.

If you want to see it and “relive” that childhood experience or maybe see it for the very first time, be sure to visit Disneyland Resort by June 18!!

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Repost from 53 Weeks

Women Sports Film Festival

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This past week I was lucky enough to host the inaugural Women Sports Film Festival in Oakland at The New Parkway theater. It was an incredibly fun vibe and I had the pleasure of introducing and moderating the post-screening Q&A sessions for 2 of the films.

The festival’s mission is this:

Using the power of documentary film we celebrate female athletes and the filmmakers who bring their stories to the screen.

Kudos to the women who put this event together and I can only see much more success in their future, now that they’ve tapped into a genre and market that’s shine is long overdue.

The opening night documentary was “TRex: Her Fight for Gold,” the story of Flint, Michigan’s Claressa Shields and her journey to an Olympic Gold medal in London 2012. She is now seeking to defend her gold in Rio. It will premiere on PBS, Tuesday, August 2, 2016 s part of the Independent Lens series by ITVS.

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The other documentary screening I hosted was “Althea,” about tennis champion Althea Gibson. She was the first African-American to play at Wimbledon and Forest Hills. Both of these documentaries are well worth the watch!

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Now, I can’t wait to do it all again next year!

My Super Bowl Week in the City

The Bay Area Super Bowl has come and gone…and the reality is we probably won’t see it again here anytime soon. Locals are glad the traffic is gone and city life will return to “normal.” I’m glad that it came through the Bay and I was lucky enough to attend some of the events and fanfare leading up to it. No, I didn’t go to the game, lots of people kept asking me if I was going, but I’m more of the mindset that if my team’s not in it, I’m better off watching from the convenience of my couch. I did however attend some of the preceding week’s pre-game soirees around town. I’ve posted some of my favorite snaps from my Super Bowl week in the City below…

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KaBoom! I Helped Build a Playground

There are so many events happening around the Bay Area this week related to Super Bowl 50, and while I will do my part to socialize and network at the various parties around town, I also took some time out to lend a hand in a KaBoom playground build in San Jose. I got involved, since ESPN invited some of the Disney (parent company) affiliates to pitch in, including ABC7 where I work part time. Also in the mix were other local community members and members of the Raiders and 49ers organizations too.

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What brought this experience even closer to home is that fact that it was happening in my hometown San Jose. To have the opportunity to construct a playground for kids that are growing up among the same streets I did, made it all the more special. Not to mention that these days as a Mom, I spend A LOT of time hanging out at neighborhood playgrounds with my kiddos. I can’t wait to bring them by this one to show off what I did! 🙂

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At any rate, I didn’t really know what to expect. I’m not particularly strong and while I was my Daddy’s little helper in construction projects growing up…my handy-ness is limited to the “basics.” Anyhow, this is how it went down, all the volunteers, showed up bright and early and we were divided into groups with a team leader. Each group was responsible for  a specific component of the playground.

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The group I was assigned to was in charge of 2 directional sign posts. We had to paint arrows and think of what we were going to write on them. We decided on one post carrying “location” tags and the other would have inspirational “directions.”

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I was fortunate not to be mixing and pouring concrete aka “getting dirty,” (although I did some, to secure our post in the ground), and other groups were assembling the play equipment, painting a mural, erecting gazebos and sitting areas, etc…

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And, I think my assignment was extra special because I got to work with some of the kids who live in the community and took the initiative to volunteer to help make it happen. I was impressed at the efforts by these young men.

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The whole playground was constructed in about 6 hours. I mean of course they will properly inspect it and make sure it is sound for youngsters to start using it, but I was truly in awe of how quickly it all came together. It was a great day of teamwork and community service.

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