*****

You don’t have to start a charity or donate hours upon hours of your time to make a difference in your community. Just try cleaning out your closet! This is something that most of us do anyhow, and you can make the most of it by making sure that your gently used garments go to a thrift store or charity that benefits your local community.

Here in Pittsburgh, where I live, I have worked closely with the thrift and consignment stores owned by the National Council of Jewish Women, Pittsburgh Section. Their thrift stores accept all kinds of thrifty goods such as clothing, furniture and home accessories and at their upscale consignment store you will find women’s clothing, shoes and accessories with an exclusive pedigree. Donating items to these stores allows the NCJW to raise money for their many local projects such as Suit Yourself, which provides free business clothing to people re-entering the workforce, and Children’s Rooms in the Courts, which provides ano-cost place for kids to play rather than listening to their parents battle it out in court.

Working with the NCJW, I found that the way to really help them raise money goes beyond donating items, they need you to shop with them for new things! This is how the stores make money and the organization can continue to do good work locally. So if you want to have a cause filled summer, get out and shop for a cause!
Resale stores are not all outdated and unwanted items. I have found some of my greatest finds there. Actually, much of the wardrobe for Sloane Berrent’s Cause It’s My Birthday! tour was sourced from local resale shops that invest in the community. Discounted items were good for her pocket, and she was able to dress in style.

To find a resale shop near you check out the National Association of Resale Professionals. However, this site does not list if stores are charity-geared, so please call ahead to check.

If you are not in the mood to shop, there are many options for donating to charities where you know the pieces will be worn and loved by someone. You are never going to wear that prom dress or bridesmaid dress again and there are thousands of high school girls around the country who cannot afford a new prom dress. Try doing a search on DonateMyDress.org for a gown drop off near you. Rather than piling up in a thrift store, where your dress may be selected as a Halloween costume, the charities listed on Donate My Dress give the gowns to young girls who need them. This a great self confidence booster and can make such a difference in someone’s life.

There are many other options for how to donate your unwanted clothes and accessories in a meaningful way. What I really wanted to convey here is that giving back to your community can be as easy as cleaning out your closet, everyone can do it and it is a small amount of effort to make a big difference in the lives of those around you.

On top of all the goodwill that recycling your clothes will create, also consider the green aspect. If we all shopped more at resale shops, rather than buying new every time, there would be far fewer pesticides and less energy used to produce new fabrics and garments. The ultimate eco-friendly fashion is reusing existing items. Try hemming a vintage dress to mini-skirt length, or dying a yellowed white blouse hot pink to refresh pre-loved items.  Vintage items also tend to be better made and will last longer than fast fashion finds.

*****

Tori Mistick has been recognized as one of the top young professionals in Pittsburgh.  She has worked for a lifestyle magazine, an eco-friendly fashion accessories company, a national high-end retailer and for an ad agency as the in-house Social Media expert. Tori holds a Certificate in Fashion Promotion from London College of Fashion and a Bachelors degree in Integrated Marketing Communications from Duquesne University. Combing these two specialties and passions, Tori recently started her own eponymous company doing social media marketing consulting for small businesses and boutiques.

Tori believes the worst crime of fashion is to blend in, and vies to be unique in everything she does for herself and her clients. In addition to managing social media for a variety of clients, Tori can often be found in the city’s parks with her chocolate lab or putting the finishing touches on one of her own fashion designs.  She is continually inspired to use existing items in new ways, especially when it comes to fashion. Check out her blog Eco-Fashionista for eco-friendly fashion news and ideas. If you are up for it, also visit Tori’s other blog Free Fashion Advice for the ugly truth on Pittsburgh style.

But too often, in the day to day of life, we get weighed down by responsibility and it’s hard, just plain hard to make it through. It’s one thing after another and our very best intentions (whatever they may be) fall to the side as we struggle just to get through the day.

I’m no different. Even in my cause-filled living way of life, I often find myself not doing as much as I want to when I think about giving back. It’s the Lance Armstrong effect. He gets on a bike and goes 50 miles without batting an eye. He must feel like he should do more training, step up his game, be the best he can be every day. That very best is more than most people could ever hope for, yet for him, those 50 miles don’t seem like enough.

I’m no Lance Armstrong, but I feel the same effect. I give a piece of me every day to the world, and yet at night, I often feel like I should be doing more. My sense of giving has been normalized and I need more. In 2010, I decided, I would find a way to incorporate a more structured giving campaign into my life and share those details on my blog. That structure means a number of hours volunteered, money donated, in-kind donations, everything.

This May, I’d like to introduce The Giving Project. The Giving Project is where I partner with one nonprofit for a set period of time to help them, to lend them my skills, my contacts, my network and create a customized program that matches both their needs and wants with my skills.

My first partner is the St. Bernard Project. I was first introduced to them last year when I was in New Orleans volunteering. I loved their passion, their business savvy in a nonprofit world and their desire to ultimately “put themselves out of business.” Their mission is to create housing opportunities so that Hurricane Katrina survivors can return to their homes and communities.

The St. Bernard Project, a nonprofit, community-based organization that carries out its mission through three primary programs: Rebuilding Program, Center for Wellness and Mental Health and Senior Housing Program. Over 900 families are still without their homes in St. Bernard and I want to do every little bit I can do to help get that number to ZERO.

In partnering with them here is what I’m doing:

• They have a Women’s Rebuild Week May 24th-29th. I am working on helping with sponsorships.
• I hosted a Women’s Only Happy Hour through NOLAlicious to bring together women in New Orleans to learn about their organization and the Women’s Rebuild Week.
• I’m leading a Rebuild Day, again through NOLAlicious (and my whole NOLAlicious family), where anyone (COED y’all) in New Orleans can come out and join us for a fun day of giving back, rebuilding a house, networking and meeting cool people and helping provide housing for members of St. Bernard Parish.
• I’m attending their Hammer to Heels Fundraiser Friday night. If you’re in town, you should too!
• Social media assistance – I’m helping their team create a plan to maximize their social media efforts.
• Promotion – Creating blog posts like this. Creating content like photos and videos, having them top of mind and telling everyone about their. Being an evangelist for all of the work they do.

I’m working with the founder Liz McCartney and staff on more ways I can get involved. Then what? I’m going to be growing this project, reporting back on what works and what needs tweaking and ultimately, creating a guide for YOU to create a Giving Project of your own.

Do you have anything like this you already do? Can you share with me how you decide where to give and how you get involved?

Thank you to everyone who tuned into last night’s Vokle live chat with Stacey Monk, Jen Consalvo and Susan McPherson to talk about To Mama With Love, Epic Change and nonprofit fundraising online. From my post yesterday, Give Your Mom The Gift Of Giving Back: ToMamaWithLove.Org I heard so much from people how much they loved this campaign, which was also apparent last night. The chat made the homepage of Vokle and we had a robust conversation not only about this campaign and others we had been a part of, but the larger issues at hand within social media around fundraising and doing good.

I wanted to give a list of tweets that have been sent out with #ToMamaWithLove to show the support the campaign has been getting. If you haven’t yet, please make a donation to YOUR mom, build a heartspace (I DID), and retweet one of the messages below.

To all those mom’s out there, thank you.

RT @romioliverio Txs! Saving it for mother’s day present. Moved to
tears by this massive wave of love #ToMamaWithLove is creating.

RT @momsdaily: mothers day is right around the corner, do something
special for your mom, http://bit.ly/cLUqYh #tomamawithlove

RT @josephdee: There’s a new movement. Love. We’ll complete what the
peace movement started. Awesome: www.ToMamaWithLove.org
#ToMamaWithLove

RT @eunice_gerald: I love my mom because she love me. #Tomamawithlove.
(one of the twitterkids of tz)

RT @phineas_peter: Happy Mothers Day @MamaLucy#ToMamaWithLove (one of
the twitterkids of tz)

RT @christuttle: I luv my Mama b/c she’d luv this tweet raised $ for
good! Share your love & tweet to help: www.ToMamaWithLove.org

RT @LisaSaline: i luv my Mama b/c she has the biggest ears and softest
shoulders around. Happy mother’s day: #ToMamaWithLove

RT @christuttle: See How Much I Love My Mama! Enough To Change The
World #tomamawithlove http://www.tomamawithlove.org/heartspaces/2241

RT @ehon: Finally created a heartspace for my mum this Mother’s Day.
http://ht.ly/1I8xc #ToMamaWithLove

RT @1800flowers: We luv all Mamas b/c they’re always there for us!
Share your love this Mother’s Day: www.ToMamaWithLove.org
#ToMamaWithLove

RT @BonnieKoenig: For Mother’s Day to honor your mother & mothers
everywhere go NOW to www.ToMamaWithLove.org via @StaceyMonk &
@EpicChange

RT @dougsky: Great thoughts on #ToMamaWithLove webcast tonight @Ehon.
You never, ever cease to inspire me and take my brain to new places.

RT @Alucas9: 5 Mother’s Day Gifts We Spend Billions On http://bit.ly/dotjKz
#tomamawithlove www.tomamawithlove.org

Photo courtesy of Ken Yeung

Big thank you to the author of the post, Halle Tecco for being a big supporter of mine. I simply can’t wait to see where we all are a few years from now and Halle certainly deserves to be on the list in addition to authoring it.

From the introduction:

Research from the Harvard Business Review last year showed that women get less love on Twitter than men. While the random sample of 300,000 Twitter users showed that men and women follow a similar number of Twitter users, men have 15% more followers. “This is intriguing,” the authors noted, given that there are more women than men Twitter users: 55% to 45%. Further, men are almost twice more likely to follow another man than a woman while women are 25% more likely to follow a man than a woman.

What can be done about this? We can start by seeking out and following more women on Twitter and other social networks. Below are 20 absolutely inspirational women who are tweeting up a female storm.

In celebration, I created a Twitter List featuring them all that you can follow HERE.

And of course, the birthday wish interviews have been running daily for two weeks. Huge thank you to all who participated. I have a few more to post next week and the BIG news is I also have a delivery date for my own Cause It’s My Birthday campaign for malaria nets in Ghana. So stay tuned, much more in the birthday sphere to come. Plus actionable tips to do a birthday fundraiser of your own!

The Shelley Cohen Birthday Wish Interview:

1) Tell me about your birthday and fundraising campaign. When was your birthday? Was it a milestone? What was your inspiration? What nonprofit did you partner with? Did you tell them in advance? What was your fundraising goal (if you had one) and did you reach it?

FOR MY 40TH BIRTHDAY (MARCH 2, 2008), I HAD A HUGE PARTY AT A LOCAL HOTEL CALLED 15 RIA. IN LIEU OF GIFTS, I ASKED PEOPLE TO DONATE TO VOICES OF UGANDA. I PUBLICIZED IT VERY WELL AS PART OF THE EVITE, AND INCLUDED LINKS. I WAS NOT ON FB AT THIS TIME. I DID NOT HAVE A FUNDRAISING GOAL, BUT I PROMISED TO MATCH WHAT WAS RAISED. THE PARTY RAISED ABOUT $1000, AND I MATCHED IT!

FOR MY DAUGHTER SIENNA’S FIRST BIRTHDAY ON MAY 29, 2009, WE ASKED THAT PEOPLE BRING FOOD ITEMS FOR THE DC CENTRAL KITCHEN IN LIEU OF FOOD ITEMS. WE COLLECTED 5 HUGE BOXES FULL OF FOOD!

2) Did you use online tools? Did you have a birthday party in person? What was your way to connect with people and tell them about this?

FOR THE 40TH BIRTHDAY, I JUST USED CONSTANT CONTACT (I SENT MY INVITE SEPARATELY)! NOT ON FACEBOOK THEN. FOR SIENNA’S BIRTHDAY, I USED EVITE.

3) What have you done for past birthdays?

HADN’T DONE SPECIFIC FUNDRAISERS FOR BIRTHDAYS BEFORE.

4) Would you do a fundraiser for your birthday again? Was it easier or harder than you thought it would be?

ABSOLUTELY. IT IS SO EASY TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS. I REALLY WANT TO INSTILL IN SIENNA A SENSE OF GIVING TO OTHERS. I PLAN ON DOING FUNDRAISER EVENTS FOR ALL OF HER BIRTHDAY’S (SHE GETS ENOUGH GIFTS FROM THE GRANDPARENTS/PARENTS). I ATTACHED SOME PICTURES OF ME AND SIENNA WITH THE FOOD DONATIONS AND DROPPING OFF THE FOOD AT THE DC CENTRAL KITCHEN (MY FRIEND AIMEE HELPED US. I TRY TOO HAVE A SOCIAL COMPONENT TO ALL MY PARTIES!

ONE PLUS/MINUS…. THERE WERE PEOPLE WHO GAVE TO A CHARITY IN MY NAME…. BUT NOT TO VOICES! I APPRECIATED THE GIFT, BUT REALLY WANTED PEOPLE TO SUPPORT VOICES OF UGANDA.

5) What was the best part? Did you connect with someone you had lost contact with? Any one story you’d like to share?

THE BEST PART WAS KNOWING THAT I DID SOMETHING TO HELP SOMEONE IN NEED. THE STORY THAT TOUCHED ME THE MOST WAS AFTER SIENNA’S BIRTHDAY, WE TOOK ALL OF THE FOOD TO THE DC CENTRAL KITCHEN. A BUNCH OF PEOPLE MET US TO HELP UNLOAD THE FOOD AND THEY WERE SO APPRECIATIVE OF THE FOOD. IT WAS AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE AND I LOVED BEING ABLE TO SHARE IT WITH SIENNA. SHE WILL LIKELY NOT REMEMBER THIS, BUT HOPEFULLY SOME DAY, SHE WILL GET AS MUCH SATISFACTION OUT OF GIVING AS HER MAMA DOES!

6) What advice would you give to someone else who wanted to throw a fundraiser but didn’t know where to start?

* PICK SOMETHING YOU ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT (IT IS MUCH EASIER TO ‘SELL’ TO YOUR GUESTS)
* DO NOT BE INTIMIDATED
* KEEP IT SIMPLE AND MAKE IT EASY FOR PEOPLE TO GIVE. IF THEY HAVE TO SEARCH A WEBSITE FOR A DONATE BUTTON, YOU MIGHT LOSE THE PERSON’S INTEREST!
* SEND REMINDERS! PEOPLE WANT TO GIVE, BUT EMAILS GET BURIED.
* PREPARE… HAVE INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR CHARITY AVAILABLE, AND TRY TO GET A SPEAKER TO COME TO YOUR PARTY (SEE MY PICTURE OF MELISSA TALKING ABOUT VOICES OF UGANDA)
* EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED! THE MOST GENEROUS PEOPLE WILL SURPRISE YOU!

Related posts:
TGIF Video: Conservation International
Power Shift 2009 – When Things Just Come Together
This Is Just To Say

Here we go, big thanks to Shercole for participating in the birthday interviews.

1) Tell me about your birthday and fundraising campaign. When was your birthday? Was it a milestone? What was your inspiration? What nonprofit did you partner with? Did you tell them in advance? What was your fundraising goal (if you had one) and did you reach it?

My birthday was December 4th. Not really a milestone, I made 27. My inspiration was the fact that I have everything I want and need for the most part and I just wanted to help others. I felt this was a great way to do it. The nonprofit I partnered with was New Orleans Women’s Shelter. No, I didn’t tell them in advance just went on a spur and started it up. My fundraising goals was just $270. I reached my goals, I actually exceeded I was excited. In the end I made it to $320.

2) Did you use online tools? Did you have a birthday party in person? What was your way to connect with people and tell them about this?

Yes, I used online tools. I used Facebook Causes, my Facebook profile, and my twitter accounts. No, didn’t have a birthday party. I mainly connected with my friends via social networking encouraging them to help out with this cause.

3) What have you done for past birthdays?

Past birthdays, I haven’t done much. This was my first birthday doing a fundraising cause.

4) Would you do a fundraiser for your birthday again? Was it easier or harder than you thought it would be?

Yes, I would definitely do another fundraiser. It was truly easier than I thought.

5) What was the best part? Did you connect with someone you had lost contact with? Any one story you’d like to share?

I exceeded my goals. I was shocked and excited! I wasn’t sure I would even meet my goals in the beginning. The best part is knowing my small contribution is going to help women in my area create a better life. Yes, I actually connected with friends from high school I haven’t talk to in forever through my cause.

The greatest thing about this because of me doing a birthday cause, two other friends started one for projects they believe in. I was truly touched by that and excited to see individuals help fund and bring awareness to projects they are passionate about.

6) What advice would you give to someone else who wanted to throw a fundraiser but didn’t know where to start?

If you set a goal anything is possible. People want to help and contribute, just a lot of times they don’t know how. Set an example and not only get individuals to donate money bring awareness to a cause which is one of the most important things. Use your social media tools and reach individuals you never expected to actually donate!

Another fundraising campaign I’m truly proud of was Making Strides Against Breast Cancer in October, which I raised $250 dollars from. My goal was $100. I used the Making Strides fundraising tools, as well as Facebook, Twitter, and my websites to get donations. My whole team, Nola Darlings (Champ Superstar, Sheri, Kyna, Kimberly, Karen, and Darayell) had a goal of $500 and we achieved $850.

Amazing! Thanks again. Stay tuned for more birthday interviews all week, and as always your feedback on (birthday) fundraising campaigns or others that you’ve done, give me a shout out and tell me about them!

If you liked this post, you might like:
TGIF Video: The Girl Effect
Power of the blog, a short history
MFI Profile: Ahon sa Hirap, Inc. (ASHI)

Last month I started a series called “$5 or 5 minutes = 1 Way to Make a Difference” and I got an incredible response. It seems like there are a lot of way to give back online that are SIMPLE and EASY, but it can be hard to find them. So here’s my helping hand with 6 “Look, there’s a quick and easy way I can make a difference TODAY.” I present you with the 2nd edition of how you can give back either with a donation, your time or the click of a button. Simple yet meaningful.

I could say, “In the spirit of the holidays” but I think you and I both know this kind of behavior – getting into the habit of helping others – doesn’t have an expiration date or time or year, it’s evergreen.

Some of the opportunities below do expire, so act today!

1) VOTE. L’Oreal’s Women of Worth campaign highlights women in the community making a difference. In addition to all of the finalists having $5,000 donated in their name to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund, the nominee with the MOST votes by end of day Tuesday, November 24th, will receive $25,000 for their nonprofit of choice.

I voted for Halle Tecco, an amazing woman who was a Kiva intern this summer and I met at my Kiva Fellowship training. She started a nonprofit called Yoga Bear that provides yoga mats and studio time for cancer patients and survivors. All of the women nominated are worthy of the grand prize, but if you want my recommendation, vote for Halle & Yoga Bear HERE.

2) TEXT. DONATE via your cell phone: text FEED to 90999 and your phone company will donate $5.00 to Feeding America! Your donation will provide 35 meals. Feeding America’s provides food to more than 25 million low-income people facing hunger in the United States every year, including more than 9 million children and nearly 3 million seniors. With a network of over 200 food banks serving all 50 states, more than 2.5 billion pounds of food and grocery products are distributed annually.

*UPDATE – An anonymous donor is MATCHING all texts to YOUR TEXT is now worth 70 meals!*

Great campaign by MashCast. See their flash mob to raise awareness at the top of this post. Follow @mashcast on Twitter for more information about this campaign which runs through the holidays. Make any additional donations HERE.

3) SHOP FOR GOOD. I’ll be writing more about gifts this holiday season with a purpose and attached to a cause. One I’d like to highlight today is Macy’s Path 2 Peace program. A collective of Rwandan women, they weave baskets and bracelets to earn money for their families. After the genocide in Rwanda, the population was almost 70% women, weaving, as an ancient tradition brought them hope and also provided a means to earn an income. This Macy’s campaign first launched in 2005 and now employees thousands of women. You can follow the campaign on Twitter at #Path2Peace and buy the products HERE.

4) STAY HOME. I know what you’re thinking, “But you just told us to buy something!” Listen, it’s not all black and white here. We do buy gifts at the holidays and we like doing it. But please, for a minimum of 5 minutes or for the whole day on Black Friday – think about how you’re spending your money this holiday season (and let’s face it, in general). The constant acquisition of STUFF has to STOP, but it won’t unless you think “Hey, do I need this? Do I need to buy that?” Enter BUY NOTHING DAY. It’s a boycott of Black Friday and it’s an opportunity to consider your purchasing power and reevaluate your list of “wants” and the list of wants from your loved ones. Look at #bnd09 on Twitter for more ways people are choosing to buy nothing this Friday.

5) DONATE $3. 9th Ward Field of Dreams is a nonprofit in New Orleans that is in the FINAL fundraising stage to build a football field in the 9th ward of New Orleans, an area still recovering from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. This field will be the ONLY public field in the 9th ward and provide a state-of-the-art facility to the entire community. The passion and drive of the founder, Brian Bordainick is contagious and this final push is looking for 250,000 people to donate $3. Simple, easy, do it TODAY.

Donate $3 (or more) today to help them reach their goal. Follow 9th Ward Field of Dreams on Twitter HERE or see their website to make a donation.

BONUS:
6) HASHTAG #TWEETSGIVING. I wrote about Tweetsgiving last week, the campaign runs 48 hours starting at 10AM Tuesday the 24th. By tweeting what you’re thankful for using the #tweetsgiving hashtag, attending a Tweetsgiving party in your area or making a donation, you are helping Epic Change change the lives of children in Tanzania by directly proving support to build a school, an orphanage, or provide educational supplies.

More details about Tweetsgiving can be found HERE.

There you go! I hope you enjoy. And if you have suggestions of campaigns to include in future editions of this series, send me an email at sloane@thecausemopolitan.com.

If you liked this post, you might like:
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While meeting and visiting borrowers during my fellowship with Kiva, I came across Sabiano Nido who just had the cutest story about her and her husband that I wanted to share in this outtake. I’m looking through many many videos that I have yet to post and I’m flooded with emotion over how much I miss the Philippines, the women, the people and the feeling like I was giving back all day, every day.

You could call it delayed reverse culture shock. I’ll write more about that to come. In the meantime, here’s a little video that makes me smile.

If you liked this post, you might like:
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Main Entry: spon·ta·ne·ous
Pronunciation: \spän-ˈtā-nē-əs\
Function: adjective
Etymology: Late Latin spontaneus, from Latin sponte of one’s free will, voluntarily
Date: 1653

1 : proceeding from natural feeling or native tendency without external constraint
2 : arising from a momentary impulse
3 : controlled and directed internally : self-acting
4 : produced without being planted or without human labor : indigenous
5 : developing or occurring without apparent external influence, force, cause, or treatment
6 : not apparently contrived or manipulated : natural

The day after the Cause It’s My Birthday finale in Los Angeles, a good girlfriend of mine hosted 8 ladies for brunch at her place in the Hollywood Hills. All fabulous, professional, intelligent, gorgeous and tremendous ladies I’m privileged to call friends. Most of them NOT on twitter, not reading my blog, not super in social media. From a lawyer to interior designer, MBA candidate to nonprofit, water resource management to public relations, we all just sat around and caught up on each others’ lives. That included job and boys and professional goals and it was crazy because to some extent, I’m really used to friends in the digital and online space knowing a lot about me. That can be from my blog, to Flickr, to YouTube, Facebook and Twitter – part of my whole “deal” during my Kiva Fellowship was to share and make everyone feel like they were involved and knew what was going on and so to sit around a group of girls and kinda have to start from scratch was interesting and fun and challenging in a way too to recall so many memories but condense them succinctly – after all 9 is a LOT of girls and a lot of talking we had to fit in. In the back of my mind was the fact that I now only get to see these girls once every few months and that a few of them are some of my best friends. The friendships we both work hard at, the ones I cherish, the ones that don’t come along every day.

So we sit there and we laugh and gossip and flow from one topic to another the way girls do. My one very close friend had an exciting announcement. She said she had been asked, and said YES, to go on a spontaneous trip to Paris that upcoming week with a guy she had met once. To keep the story short (and get to the point of where I’m going with this post) I’ll just say they met on a plane about 5 months ago, he had just recently ended an engagement, she was ending a very serious relationship and they just sort of started emailing. (This is not a secret story about me, I swear). And emailing some more. He lives in Europe mostly, she lives in Los Angeles and it wasn’t an intense amount of communication, but enough. He had called her the week before about maybe going to Italy to do something or another and she thought about it and suggested Paris.

Why? She had never been. Just about a month ago, finally broken up with her epic boyfriend of her 20’s and moving forward with her life she had heard a quote that stuck with her. It was “MAYBE YOU’RE EXACTLY WHERE YOU SHOULD BE RIGHT NOW.” As in, stop looking forward and stop looking back and just be. She thought about what she wanted in the now and what she wanted was an adventure. To visit Paris. To do something spontaneous.

Turning to us, she asked, “Is this crazy? I mean should I really go?”

We all had tons of comments. I mean how exciting! Paris! In the fall! It’s such a romantic city all the time, but in October when the air is crisp and it’s just cold enough to hold onto the person you’re walking with but not too cold, there might be nothing more romantic. But then again how much did she really know about this guy? Was she worried at all? What did her gut tell her? After talk and discussion – us of the “have passport will travel” well…It was unanimous. DO IT! Live a little. Her boss was going to give her the days off. She found a great fare. The guy could only be there for the weekend and we all know another girl who moved there last year that she could stay with for a few additional days. I mean what’s a weekend? She was confident in her decision and of, in a way, creating the reality from an intention she had set the month before.

But after the brunch, as she graciously agreed to drive me back to The Brewery where I was staying, she turned to me one-to-one and said, “Sloane, I trust you. Tell me really, is this crazy?”

Who am I to say what’s crazy? I don’t even have an apartment of my own! I’m in a new city all the time and I’m always up for adventure and for travel. Still, I looked at her said, “Honestly, he could have asked you to go to Omaha and I would say do it.”

She looked at me and laughed, “Omaha? Really?”

“Here’s the thing,” I said. “It’s not about WHERE you go, though Paris is lovely. And it’s not even a whole ton about who you go with, though that’s an added bonus. It’s about YOU making the most out of an opportunity and turning in into an experience and then into a wonderful memory. It’s about the fact that you’ve always wanted to go to this place and you’re going into the situation without huge expectations and without asking for anything in return.

You’re doing it to do it. And in the grand scheme of things, you never know. On one hand, it could be the most incredible trip ever and the start of something truly wonderful. A new and exciting chapter in your life. On the other hand, the guy might only be ok, the weather might suck, you might be there and barely over jetlag by the time you have to turn around. But think about it. How many people would love to say once when they were young they jumped on a plane to meet someone they barely knew in a city they had never been to?

You’ll be in a new city to explore and to soak in and to step away from your daily life. You can examine the type of person you are, you’ve been, and where you want to go. You can make this trip as much about YOU as about Paris or about this guy you’re going there with. Paris is the location sure.

But Paris is a symbol for you wanting to take charge of your life and be the kind of person that gets on the plane. That jumps at opportunity. That trusts your instincts enough to know that it is going to be ok and this is something you’re confident about. You trust yourself to make the right decision.”

She looked at me, inhaled and exhaled deeply and said, “I do want to be that kind of person. I’m not sure I was before, but I want to be now.”

Don’t most of us want to say we were brave enough to take a spontaneous trip to Paris? That we loved ourselves enough to cross something off our life to-do list and willed ourselves to be so outrageously excited about something that we didn’t know the outcome of? Something that has so many variables in the unknown category that it’s hard to say which are known?

What’s YOUR trip to Paris?

Maybe your Paris is to finally redo that home office you’ve been talking about for years (so you can write that book you’ve been talking about for equally as long). Maybe your Paris is setting off on foot in your neighborhood on a Saturday without a destination and seeing where the wind takes you. Picking up a new instrument or language or skill. Making yourself uncomfortable in an unknown situation but working through that fear to realize it’s all going to be ok. Maybe your Paris is damn Paris.

I just would like to challenge you to think about what your “Paris” is and then what is stopping you. We only have this one wild and wondrous life and it goes by in the blink of an eye.

***If you liked this post and are going to be in the New Orleans area next weekend, I encourage you to come to TribeCon, a conference about community happening within the Voodoo Experience. I’ll be speaking on a panel with Taylor Davidson and Carl Nelson called “Make Yourself Uncomfortable: How to Rawk a New Community” where we’ll be talking more about community than say PARIS, but you get the general idea.

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My Daydream

“I know, I know. I have a URL. I just haven’t set it all up yet.” I answered. See, I have blogged before. A lot actually. I was a blogger and then Lifestyle Editor for LAist from 2004-2008. I understood how a blog gains traffic and builds an audience. I also had for a long time wanted my own place on the web. I just was overwhelmed with a full-time job at a startup where I was online all the time anyway, LAist on the side, friends, boyfriend, yoga, hiking, dog, LIFE and when was I really going to blog? I journaled. Almost every night in my moleskin. Wasn’t that enough?

“No,” Erica said, “You really should just do it.” It just so happened Jonathan Dingman was also sitting around that breakfast table and said, “I can help. I can set it up for you. I can do whatever you want.” In addition to be a SEO wunder-kind and Wordpress guru, J. also has a few blogs of his own like GInside and I really knew that in order to get myself off the ground, I would need help from friends. I’m savvy, but I don’t know how to set up a blog. Once set up and running, I’m a little better, but I admit hand-holding was required.

“Pick a theme. We can customize it. Pick your content, put some sample posts together. It’s simple.” Jonathan said to me.

Well simple? I mean it’s simple to press the GO button. It’s hard to keep going at it. But you know what? I looked at Erica with all her fabulousness and Jonathan with all his kindness and generosity and I said to myself, “Today’s the day.” So I did. I did pick a theme. And Jonathan did help me set it up. He does help with plugins and things I need from time to time. He’s an amazing friend to do that for me and I can’t thank him enough because I know we’re all busy, but just think this blog might never have been without him making it seem just so easy to start.

Now, 7 1/2 months later, I know that was the moment. The Causemopolitan was born. I don’t have the same responsibilities I had a year ago, I do have time to write and blog and I do have things that I want to say. So I started with that. With my very first post on my very own blog, It’s About Time. Yes I had a Tumblr, yes I had dabbled in other blogs, but this one was going to be different! This was going to be my voice online.

So here’s what I would like to say: My life is forever changed for taking that leap of faith and starting to trust myself enough to push the “publish” button. A blog is one in a million right? Just a small post-it note on a HUGE wall of post-its. But my little post it, my little spot, has come to mean the world to me. It brings validation to what I do, it gives me a voice to fundraise for projects I believe in (like my Kiva Fellowship and Cause It’s My Birthday), it gives me a platform to share pictures and videos and stories from my travels. Most of all, it connects me with YOU. And that’s huge. I have made a whole new circle of friends, of people that reach out to me, of people in the cause space, based on taking the time to sit down and write out my thoughts in more than 140 and putting them together with some semblance of syntax and proper grammar and pushing publish. It’s amazing.

I’ve had fun with it. I’ve written what I wanted. And that’s been big for me. I haven’t put too much pressure on the content, because I want to get to where I actually find myself now – needing to share, to write, to express something going on. I really truly enjoy being here in the Wordpress backend typing away, or typing in Word to put into a post, or jotting notes in a notebook and writing about them later. It’s become, and maybe not forever, but for this moment in time, very much a part of me.

It was my first time at Blog World Expo this past week in Vegas (I’ll be writing a post tomorrow about my takeaways from there) and I didn’t make it to a ton of panels. I caught up with old friends. I met new friends. I met people who read my blog. I met people who came up to me and said, “Happy Birthday!” or “How was Kiva?” or “I loved your essay on being 30.” And as it happened again and again, I just thought to myself, I’ve got something here. I’ve worked to build a community and to reach people and it’s working. Eyeballs are coming here. Not a million, but more than a few. My numbers are climbing. My motivation to write good content and tell stories and share adventures is growing. All of those things are happening and it all started with one February morning when I was with two friends and said, “Today is the day.”

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