I only have $10... Now what?

As a fundraiser, the most frustrating thing that has ever happened to me was someone taking back a nickel because it wasn't enough. In a charity, nothing is never enough, and every little bit helps.

CharlotteONE: recently started the BeONE campaign to raise money. The point is to have 40 people donate $10/month ($4800/year, for all of you math slackers). As you can see, this adds up quickly. Still, it isn't a ton of money towards the cause. But that's ok.

The point isn't necessarily that every $10 helps, although it does, it is more to get people on a regiment of giving. $10/month--$2.50/week--seems like nothing. Ok, I have one more teeeny bill, but compared to my $500/month in student loans, this seems like something I can handle. So, I start giving monthly. Well, then I realize that I can up my giving to $15/month with very little effort, and so on and so on, until finally that starts adding up to some major buck-a-roos.

At Bethlehem Center giving $50/month would put you amongst our top 10 individual donors. A fact that made my Board of Directors gasp when I told them. In all honesty, we can all afford $50/month. Truth is, you probably easily spend that on lunch in a week b/c you don't want to eat PB&J every day (ok, or am I just speaking about myself right now?).

I challenge every one reading this blog right now to find a cause and start out donating just $10/month. No fair with counting event ticket costs in that amount. Set up your bill pay or use their fundraising services. Let's see how much of an impact $10 can make, shall we?

What in the world has been going on??

Yes, "what in the world" is right. I haven't posted lately, due to a miriad of factors. Specifically, I haven't shot anything praise-worthy in a while, although I hope to shoot an engagement session for my friends who recently got engaged. This is the friend who was my first model when I got my camera. Poor guy.

Recently, I've been trying to find my passion, though. There were definitely a couple of days of me not wanting to get out of bed b/c I couldn't find the motivation to. To say that I need a change is an understatement. Don't get me wrong, there are things that I enjoy, but sometimes it's hard to remember those things.

Anyway, before I change this into a sob story, I wanted to update. I am still looking for study buddies for the GRE, since I haven't been doing a great job of staying on top of it. In the meantime, I have been looking for opportunities overseas to study economics hands on before I go back to school. This has not been easy. After all my searching, I found one fellowship overseas that is exactly the type of thing I'm looking for. I would be away for approximately 3-4 months, living and shadowing Kiva, an organization that pairs business owners in poverty with donors that can help them with their mission. It's an amazing organization doing something very similar to what I've already studied and talked about. I've also researched opportunities with their partners. Ideally, I would like to find something in the states that would give me the opportunity to travel overseas from time to time, but actually working and living overseas for a few months before I head back to school would also be a great opportunity.

Prayers are appreciated. I'm very much a believer in open and closed doors, so I trust that God has my ultimate good in mind. Still, I'm getting slightly impatient with his revealing of that plan to me!

High School Times

I haven't blogged in a while, and my next blog will be a "for real" blog, but for now I've stolen some questions from my friend Kevin's blog. Because, well, I'm not that creative, obviously.

1. What was your fondest high school memory?
Choraliers, hands down. It's the only high school memory that I would love to repeat. I was on the track team, and loved the bonding that we did as teammates, but to this date there is nothing quite like the adrenaline of getting on stage before a tremendous performance.

2. What was your most embarrassing high school moment?
Honestly, my most embarrassing high school moment is one that everyone at my high school knows of, but that I still do not feel comfortable putting here. It really shaped my junior and senior years, I'll put it that way. My second most embarrassing moment was senior class elections. A group of us had always been on student council, and we had pre-selected, basically, all the senior class officers. Jennifer was fun-loving and caring and good with people, so she would be Student Council President. Allison was a lot of the same, so she would be Senior Class President. I never wanted to be president, but was also very hard-working and dedicated, so I was selected as Senior Class VP, and Beth was phenomenal with numbers, so she would be treasurer. It came to election time, and although maybe the rest ran against people, they had it in the bag. Mine was not so easy. The captain of the cheerleading squad decided to run against me. Now, I was never nerdy by any means, and even sat at the "popular" table, but I also wasn't captain of the cheerleading squad. This girl had no experience, had never been on student council, and only just ran because she hated me. I decided that my speech had to be memorable, so I decided to talk about how similar Clover High was to Columbine. Big mistake. I had this big 70's outfit on with rose-colored glasses. I lost by a landslide. Very sad. But more so embarrassing.

3. Who was your favorite high school teacher and what did you liked about him/her?

Mrs. Richardson, our AP Calculus teacher. Let me start off by saying that although I was (and still am) extremely intelligent, I am also a big slacker when it comes to studying and reading. So, I had decided to drop down to CP Calculus (at Clover, AP was highest, then honors, then CPl) for my senior year. My Honors Algebra II teacher decided to convince me to do AP instead. He said that I had the intelligence to do it, but that I needed to make sure I did my homework. Just like the many years before, I didn't follow his instructions, never studied, and never did homework. Mrs. Richardson had this tradition of making tacos at her house for a mega study session right before the test. I went, and wouldn't you know it, after very rarely doing homework and almost never studying, I got a 4 on the exam. I'm still a little upset with myself b/c I probably could've gotten a 5 if I hadn't been a slacker, but a 4 was still a very good score.

4. If you could have nominated yourself for one senior superlative, what would it have been and why?
So, funny story. Similar to the elections, superlatives were usually in the bag before even voted on. Grady would be most likely to succeed (extremely intelligent football player), Marsi would be best dressed (her outfit for "tacky" day was a brown belt with black shoes... seriously), and I would be Biggest Flirt. Well, for some reason, that year they decided to do away with Biggest Flirt and Best Looking. So, no superlatives for me. But I definitely wanted Biggest Flirt. I did get a few votes for best dressed (I was always head to toe Gap, which was cool back then), but I knew I was no competition for Marsi.

5. Who of your high school friends are you still in touch with (and facebook stalking does not include being in touch with).
This is going to sound so random to those of you who knew me in high school, but our family is still pretty close to the Killians, and since we went to college together I still see Laura (Killian) and Mark Goddard about once or twice a year. Mark and Laura had their baby the same week as my nephew, and Ashley and Lucas live very close to my parents, now. Elizabeth Maroska and I used to meet up for drinks together, but that stopped a couple of years ago, and Paul Sutton is now dating one of my friends and I see him once or twice a month. Other than that, I still talk to people pretty often on facebook, but no real relationships.

6. What is one high school experience that was so exciting you would love to relive?
I have a lot of really fond memories of things that I did outside of high school, but absolutely loved going to Canada and going to New York City. Like I said before, though, being on stage with the Choraliers was amazing.

7. What is one high school moment you wish you could take back?
Two words: Josh Sharpe.

8. What was the wildest thing you did under the age of 18?
Pretty much everything I can think of is kind of lame. I made out with a guy on our chorus director's boat. I cussed and was sent to ISS (so lame). I went to high school parties. Mostly just normal kid stuff, though.

Free Ringtones

So, I have become recently OBSESSED with Slumdog Millionaire (best movie, ever!) and after lots of research, have finally found a site that has Salim's ringtone.

Free Ringtones

Check it out!

I had one of the best nights ever a couple of Saturday nights ago.  Not for any grandiose reason.  It was actually a pretty lame Saturday night on paper.  I went with two friends to a fish fry in Fort Mill, SC, and then to a fireworks show in Rock Hill.  For so many reasons, you would be shocked (assuming you know me) that this was what I would define as one of the best nights ever.  For one, it didn't include everyone I know... and everyone they know...  and everyone they...  OK, you get the picture.  For two, I do very well avoiding having fun in the city I live in.  And for 3 (and not meaning to go back to for 1) I very rarely have fun in small groups... unless that "small group" is 2, not 3.  If you get what I'm saying.

But on this rare occasion, I had such an amazing time.  It was two friends, one of which I have known for about a year, but never really talked to, and another one, that I had known about 2 weeks.  We spent time talking about everything.  From friendships, to religion, to jobs...  I learned more about these two people than I know about friends I've had in 3 years.

I remember last summer, meeting this guy.  We tried to date, for like a split second.  It didn't work.  I pictured him as someone else from the start.  But I appreciated what we had for that split second.  We stayed up until the sun rose talking.  Just talking.  What about, I have no idea, can't remember, but it was amazing.

I miss talking.  I miss those moments of enjoying someone.  And a couple of Saturdays ago, I got a taste of what it feels like.  And it was amazing.

Going home for Easter

I haven't for-real shot anything in a while, which is why my blog has all of the sudden gotten very boring. I'm looking forward to heading home and grabbing a few shots of the nephew, who is always my favorite subject.

Besides, life has been insanely busy. With volunteering with Engage and Club Red, my schedule has been so packed it has been crazy. My boss has let me know that he wants me to rearrange my schedule so that I'm actually getting two days off a week (crazy concept, I know!) so I'm really excited that I can start getting things organized around the house, work on the photography a little more, get my sanity back. Wow-za.

Because this is just too cool not to share...

I got a phone call last week.  This person wanted to talk to me about the Bethlehem Center and volunteering.  Pretty typical day in the Amy life (I get about 1-5 inquiries about volunteering now that the economy's down the crapper).  Well, as we're talking, I find out she's with Delta Zeta sorority.  I respond that I'm a Delta Gamma from USC, but that I had several DZ friends as well.  We compare notes, do the name game, etc...

So, we schedule and appointment, blah blah, and as we're closing up, she admits to me that my name is a little familiar.  She says, "Wait, do you have a blog?"  Why, yes I do.

Scroll down, and the phone call was from Sylvia, who commented on my last blog post.  Since then, she's given me advice about my situation, which I've figured out might need to be removed from the Internets (you obviously never know who's reading).  Such a cool fun time.  She's coming to my birthday party next week.  But we've never met.

On a side note, I went to the gym yesterday (A regular occurance, since I'm trying to drop 15 pounds before summer.  If you follow my Twitter you already know this).  I was meeting up for a guys/girls combo Bible study, so I went to the gym at 4:45 and showered there.  So, I'm standing in the shower, fully clothed, and my arm hits the handle.  Yup.  Full blown shower, while fully clothed.  Luckily, I had another shirt in my bag.  I think it was a sign that my J.Crew button down really WAS too wrinkly to wear!