A few things you’ve gotta try

Bloggers love lists.

So, I decided to join the list craze.

Here are five things you gotta try:

1.  pinterest.com

Sara introduced me to this website this summer and my life has never been the same.

Okay, that’s an overstatement.

But, saying it’s my go-to place for great ideas is 100 percent right.

Really.

It’s a lot more fun than Facebook because you can search for what interests you.

Fair warning:  it is addictive.

I told my niece about it and she called me one night

and said her family stayed up until 2 a.m. looking at Pinterest boards.

“I’m never buying a magazine again!” she said.  “Pinterest is so much better.”

Need to discover some great entertaining ideas? Pinterest.

Want to find a great new outfit? Pinterest.

How about a holiday craft or ideas for decorating your home?  Pinterest.

 Imagine thumbing through a colorful magazine full of beautiful pictures to inspire you.

Instead of tearing out the pages

and pinning them on your bulletin board at home,

you pin them on virtual boards and give each board a theme.

Give it a try.

Just go there with a purpose and then get out

or you’ll be stuck forever in the pinterest land of cuteness.

Number 2 –A Visit to the Newseum

Sara and I went before she returned to college.

It’s probably because I’m a journalist at heart but it’s my favorite museum.

It’s expensive, but worth it.

If you want to see the impact of news in our lives, this is the place to visit.

Critics complain that it glorifies the press too much, but I love the stories behind the stories.

The 9-11 Exhibit is powerful, and moving.

I loved seeing Tim Russert’s office in all its messiness and character.

USA Today photo

It’s worth a trip.  If you’re clever and thrifty, you can go one day,

then hand off your ticket to your friend for the next day and split the cost.

(Each ticket is a two-day pass but I doubt anybody spends two entire days there.)

Wear your professional clothes for your live shot in front of the Capitol!

3. The Beach in October.

The locals at the Outer Banks say it’s their best kept secret.  October is delightful at the beach.

The hurricanes have settled down.  Tourists have gone home.  Kids are back in school.

And the beach is tranquil, and the weather divine.

I went to the beach alone last fall to get some writing done.

I’d love to do it again.  And the bonus?  The snow cone shack is still open!

4. Modern Family

I don’t know what it is about this sitcom, but it is laugh-out-loud funny to me.

Gloria is my favorite character, and this clip cracks me up.

Check it out on ABC.

5. Feed the Hungry

It surprised me to find out how many people in our community need food.

My friend, Keary, helped organize a “snack pack” program at Clearview Elementary School

to send food home with children for the weekend.

They noticed that on Fridays, some of the children didn’t eat their lunches.

They saved their food and put it in their backpacks for the weekend.

Apparently this is a problem in many of the schools in the area.

According to the principal, thirty percent of the students at Clearview live in poverty.

The school counselor noticed that students were showing up to school on Mondays

having had only two meals over the weekend.

Their primary meals come from breakfast and lunch at the school.

Keary organized members of our church to donate food and assemble “snack packs”

to slip discreetly into their backpacks for the weekend.

We also recently volunteered for the LINK food pantry run by a community of local churches.

http://linkagainsthunger.org/donate.html

I loved carrying bags of groceries into a family with five hungry children waiting on the porch,

all eager to see what food they’d been given to fill their empty cupboards.

Who knew we were surrounded by such need?

One afternoon when I came out of the public library,

there was a long line in front of the building and a police officer directing people.

I asked one of the women why they were waiting in line.

“Free food!” she said.

Here we are in one of the most affluent areas of the country,

and we have people starving.

We are probably one of the least hit areas of the country in terms of the recession.

Yet we have families in our communities without food.

If you can help, do it.

Don’t wait until Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Find a food pantry, a school, a family in need, and share your abundance.

These are just a few things I love.  Stay tuned.  I’m sure I’ll share more.