Robot Animation by Cassie Grace

Cassie seriously rocks my socks! I can't get enough of this girl!
Just look at what she did the other day.

Robot Bonk! from Cassie Grace on Vimeo.

My first ever animation. Yahooo! Its pretty rough around the edges, but it was a great experiment and learning experience. I can't wait to do more!!!

The power of Doodling!

Love this TED talk about doodling. I may have to work harder at doodling : )

New Facebook timeline

The best part of my new Facebook Timeline...

What is your part in changing the world?

At the 1992 Earth Summit 12 year old Severn Suzuki shared how she felt about the state of the world and what she expects from the world's leaders. What she says is still 100% applicable. It's interesting to me that later in life she says,

"Real Change does not happen at international conferences"

If real change doesn't happen at international conferences then where does it take place and what part do you play in that change?

I love it when my wife calls me on Skype

I love it when my awesome wife calls me on Skype while I am at work.

Pizza Night... In a SKILLET!!!!????

So when I think of pizza, I think of of ham armed men tossing dough and those big paddle things delivering the pizzas into great big ovens. I do not think of making it from scratch in my tiny kitchen. I waited for Mike to get home before I started, so he could take pictures. Well.... he got home a little later than usual and I discover than my dough needs at least an hour to rise (I was sooo not waiting that long) and a mixer with blades. I call my sister who suggests using butter knives to "cut the dough" or mix it.

With the dough conquered I made the sauce, which was insanely easy. After I molded the dough, I put it in the skillet and heaped the sauce and cheese on it. On the stove top, the dough was lightly browned. I decorated the misshapen thing with pepperoni and olives. The recipe instructed that I then put the pizza skillet and all in the oven for a few minutes and it was done! How easy is that? Well... relatively, considering I only have about a foot and a half of work space.

It tasted fresh and full. I am now ruined for chain store Pizza or even worse, frozen pizza from the store. On one hand, I'm thinking: Thanks a lot America's Test Kitchen! Now I can never go out to eat again! and being delighted that Mike loves it and only wishes I had made this on a Monday so he could take the left over to work and make everyone else jealous.

Garfield's Dream Night

Skillet Lasagna. Since my move to Texas, my kitchen is down to bare minimum. I've got a skillet and a small sauce pan to cool with. This is an easy recipe, but I burned it a little because my stove it super crappy and I got distracted by some TED.com videos (very inspiring). It all worked out though. It tasted great despite the slight burnt flavor. The garlic bread was with FRESH garlic! Yum!! 

Tofu Night

Tofu. Most people think "eeeww!", but Mike thinks of his good times in Japan. Since he's already put it in our smoothies, I figured it was safe enough. So with my handy dandy new recipe book American Test Kichen Skillet Dinners, I set out to make Fried Tofu. Tofu is a little weird. It comes in a square package, but the tofu is sitting in a ton of this brownish colored water. So I drain it and as per instructions cut the tofu and let it air dry on paper towels. Having it dry with help it fry properly. Meanwhile I prep the homemade sauce. This all going swimmingly until I start to fry the tofu. The first batch is fine, but he second is determined to spit at me! So rude. Eventually all is golden brown and we devour the stuff. It has a creamy interior texture with a crunchy outer. Since tofu doesn't have a lot of favor the sauce does all the talkin' and boy is it tasty. We finished the whole plate! I made glazed carrots afterwards, but we were too full to eat them, so we just had them for lunch the next day. 

You Can Do It!

Cassie showed this to me. Very inspiring in many ways.

Wholeheartedness

Notes from Dr Brene Brown's TEDx talk on Wholeheartedness

Connection. Connection is why we are here and it gives purpose in our lives. What makes a person that feels happy and loved different than a person that feels ashamed and lacking love and acceptance?

Principles

• Shame, the fear of disconnection, unravels connection.
• the people that have a strong sense of love and belonging believe they are worthy of love and belonging.
• Vulnerability is the core of shame, fear, and our struggle for worthiness.
• Vulnerability is the birthplace for joy, creativity, belonging and love.
• We numb vulnerability
• We are the most in debt, obese, addicted, and medicated adult cohort in history
• You can't selectively numb emotion.
• When we numb the unwanted emotions, we also numb all our other joyful emotions.
• There's no discourse in politics any more, just blame.
• We pretend that what we do doesn't have an effect on other people.

Action points

• Think about why and how we numb our emotions.
• Everything we do has an impact on others.
• Let yourself be deeply seen
• Love with your whole heart even though there is no guarantee
• Practice gratitude and joy
• Don't focus on the bad that might happen, be grateful
• Believe that we are enough
• Stop screaming and start listening

Original video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4Qm9cGRub0

Our favorite videos http://family.michaelgrace.org/search/label/favorite%20videos

Celebrating 10!

At work we are going to have a celebration of 10 soon and so was able to get my parents to send me over some photos from when I was 10 years old. Check it out! Don't I look awesome?! Oh man! You should have seen the ladies falling for me ; ) I have really great memories of growing up and being young. My parents have always been awesome and cool and I thank them for that. Thanks Mom and Dad! I love you!