Monday, March 28, 2011

All Are Welcome

They're a good looking couple if I do say so myself!

This weekend Mom and Dad stopped by for a visit. Rolling up on Friday afternoon you'd think they lived a few minutes down the street... until you watched me move three loads of 'closet clean out items' from the trunk. I guess it is about time I collected the extra wedding decorations, my precious photo albums, and my George Foreman Grill. Little makes my mom happier than 'de-cluttering'.

We spent Saturday at the Botanical Garden and downtown taking in St. Patrick's, Times Square and $9.99 burgers and beer. Those two are fun to have around!

After church on Sunday we got outta dodge in the car. It's always amazing to see our city from above ground. Dominic and I make terrible navigators (Ok, Dom's not so bad). I didn't even realize the street we live on was one way. Fortunately we made it safe and sound to Oyster Bay and Roosevelt's home. We only had a couple hours, but took full advantage of the sunset to walk down to the sound and listen to the waves. Who knew we were so close to the water?!

There's something very special about spending time with our family. Thank you so much for coming to see us! Y'all come back now ya hear?

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Project Cicero

Project Cicero gives books to under-resourced NYC public schools, homeless shelters, juvenile detention facilities, community centers, and reading programs like the one where I volunteer each week.

Books come from an annual citywide book drive. It's a nice exchange from independent, public and parochial schools, organizations and corporations to the places mentioned above. In 2010, Project Cicero distributed 200,000 books.

Distribution. Enter Volunteer Sarah.

Today me and four of my closest volunteer buddies from the South Bronx brought empty suitcases to the Pennsylvania Hotel near Herald Square to collect as many books as we could carry. Unfortunately, we were on the wait list and the last session to collect, so we had slim pickins. Dr. Seuss was on my list, (along with 'how things work' books and Scholastic picture books with large letters for kindergartners) but Seuss must be popular because I missed the last of the books.

Regardless of the selection, you get 45 minutes to run back and forth from the book conference room to your luggage in the hallway. I must have carried four or five armloads. It was like being a kid in a free candy shop.

Thanks to Project Cicero our program library got five full suitcase loads of books for this year!