Today's Leisure Time

Before technology took over our society, leisure time was a way of clearing our heads. It allowed us to separate ourselves from the world and take a break. Today, leisure time isn't quite the same. In chapter six of Hamlet's Blackberry the author discusses how his leisure time has evolved into him watching filmed concerts on his computer, rather than taking a walk outside or doing any sort of physical activity. After reading this, I thought about how not that long ago people didn't have the option to spend their leisure time with their eyes glued to a screen. Everything in life was simple.

Simplicity is a rare thing to find in today's society. We are consistently surrounded by technology, even if we attempt to escape it. Clearing our heads is nearly impossible with out being distracted. One thing I have always thought to be a way to clear my head is going for a jog. When I get ready to go on a run the first thing I do is update my playlist on my iphone. I then set up my nike gps app so I can calculate how far I've run. Every mile my app will tell me my pace and a few other statistics. Usually through out my run I'll get a few text messages and usually some emails. Until I read this chapter, I never realized just how much distraction I have during what I think is my leisure time. I never thought twice about running with out music or my phone. It made me realize my generation and the younger ones probably don't know what true leisure time is. What we think is leisure time is simply us using less of our technology for a short period of time.

The Joy of Quiet – The New York Times

The article, The Joy of Quiet, discusses a very noticeable change in today’s society. Today, our lives are surrounded by technology; almost everything we do is based around some sort of electronic. Instead of going outside to play a sports game, younger generations are choosing to sit inside and play a game online or watch television. Our minds are wrapped up in this technological world and we easily forget the important things in life.

Through this article we are able to understand that as technology improves, so does advertising and marketing. Everyday we are thrown into a world of advertising. We may not notice it all the time because of how use to it we have become. Just walking down the sidewalk people may find advertisements painted into the cement or coupons hanging from the handle of front doors. In order to escape our technological world we have to eliminate ourselves completely from society. When we are able to remove ourselves, we begin to realize and understand the important things in life.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/opinion/sunday/the-joy-of-quiet.html?pagewanted=all?src=tp

The events have begun!

I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. So far the spring is flying by, I can’t believe it’s almost April. The events supporting the Make-A-Wish Foundation have finally begun, which means things are about to get even busier. Yesterday was the kick off of events, starting with the Race for Wishes. A group of friends and I attended the race in Irving and had an absolute blast! They had a huge turnout and raised just over $162, 903, so needless to say it was a success. There was live music, tons of food, a kids zone, and beautiful weather so it was a great way to spend a Saturday morning. Several of the “wish” kids were also there and participated in the race, which was awesome to see. Their faces were full of excitement and hope, and according to the foundation this was the most successful race they’ve ever had. My friends and I agree that we should make it a tradition to go every year; you have a great time while supporting one of the best foundations.

The race for wishes in Irving isn’t the only successful thing going on for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of North Texas, recently the foundation just named SMU’s head football coach, June Jones, as the honorary chair for the 15^th annual Wish Night. Wish night is one of the foundations biggest events; overall the event has raised more than $8.5 million dollars to grant wishes in North Texas. Jones was quoted saying, “I’m really happy to be helping The Make-A-Wish Foundation of North Texas, the foundation does so many great things and we just hope that we can create some wonderful opportunities for these children and their families.” With the addition of June Jones to the event, hopefully it can be even more successful. In an earlier post I wrote a little bit about Wish Night but just to refresh your memory the event will feature silent and live auctions and guests will enjoy dinner, dancing and performances by some of North Texas’ very own wish kids. The foundation has set a goal to raise $700,000 at this years Wish Night. Hopefully, with the support of the community that won’t be a problem!

The Make-A-Wish Foundation has created such an impact in children’s and families lives and will continue to do so over the next several years. Each year they raise more and more money, hopefully they will continue this pattern. I’m looking forward to the next event, Wishes & Crawfishes, and hopefully you all are too!

Wishes & Crawfishes or Wish Apon A Par!

I hope that everyone has enjoyed their spring break, now it’s time to get back into the swing of things! The Make-A-Wish Foundation of North Texas has just released four more event opportunities for April and May. The events range from spending a morning playing golf to enjoying an afternoon boiling crawfish or spending the evening making candy, so needless to say they all sound like a pretty good deal. The events are called Wishes & Crawfishes, Wish Apon A Par, Wish Night 2011, and Delicious Wishes. Below are all the details for each event!

Wishes and Crawfishes will be held Sunday April 10^th at 12 p.m. in Dallas. The event will be presented by the Crew, the young leaders of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of North Texas, and will take place at the Ginger Man located at 2718 Boll Street. Tickets are $30 for crew members and $40 for non members, there will also be a raffle for the opportunity to win awesome prizes, one of the prizes being a pair of Southwest Airline tickets! To purchase tickets please go to the link posted below!Wishes & Crawfishes Information

The second event taking place is Wish Apon A Par. Wish Apon A Par will be held Monday April 11^th at 11 a.m. The event will take place at Hawks Creek Golf Club, 6520 White Settlement Road, in Fort Worth. This is the first year The Make-A-Wish Foundation is hosting a golf tournament so they are hoping for a great outcome so they can create a new tradition. Registration begins at 11 a.m. lunch will be served at noon and tee off will be at 1:30 p.m. But don’t forget about the wine tasting after a round of golf! It is $250 per player so if you are interested in signing up please contact Emilie Peloubet at epeloubet@northtexaswish.org

The third event, Wish Night 2011, will take place May 14^th in Dallas. Wish Night is a night dedicated for wish kids to sing, dance and just have a great time sharing their stories of hope with each other and everyone else there. The event is held at the Hilton Anatole at 2201 Stemmons Freeway. The room will be filled with fun candy, and bright colors to bring joy to all the kids. It is set to have a Willy Wonka theme. This event is still in the works but more information should be coming to their website soon! If you are interested in learning more or attending please email Elissa Mittendorf at emittendorf@northtexaswish.org

Last but not least is the Delicious Wishes event! Delicious Wishes will take place May 19^th from 7:00- 10:00 p.m. at the Benbrook Stable, 10001 Benbrook Blvd. in Benbrook, Texas. Come enjoy a night experiencing the food from some of Fort Worth’s favorite chefs, including twenty chefs from all over the Fort Worth area and live music from Fort Worth’s own Hudson Moore. Cooking and music won’t be the only thing going on, there will also be a live auction featuring one-of-a kind fabulous food experiences and a silent auction featuring priceless “Wish Art.” Tickets to enjoy this spectacular night are $100 per person. For more information about the event please email Emilie Peloubet  epeloubet@northtexaswish.org.

Hopefully one of these events grabs your attention and encourages you to participate!

Skeet Shooting or Wine Tasting...You Choose.

While we anticipate the next few weeks before all of our upcoming events, I happened to come across a few other events that are specifically in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. So if you ever need something to do on a weekend or weekday and want to support a good cause, you should check these out.

For those of you who are into hunting, shooting and all of those fun outdoor activities, this event might be just for you! 

On Saturday April 2^nd the “Shooting Stars Sporting Clays” event will take place in Gladewater, Texas. The event will be held at the Prairie Creek Sporting Clays, one of the premier full service shooting facilities in East Texas. The event will consists of a full and thrilling day of shooting games, lunch and dinner. Prizes will also be give out! So why not get a groupd of buddies and spend the day shooting sporting clays! Sponsorship opportunities are available, if you are interested please contact Holly Leiferman at 903-597-9474 or email her at hleiferman@northtexaswish.org

If hunting and the outdoors isn’t your thing, then don’t worry there are more options! 

On Wednesday March 23^rd Morton’s Steakhouse in Dallas is hosting a wine and dine night to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The night will start with exploring the fine vintages of the Charles Krug Winery of Napa Valley and having an arrangement of appetizers ranging from jumbo lump crab cakes to Belgian endive with blue cheese at 6:30 then dinner will be served at 7. Dinner will include a mixed field greens salad, a choice of an entre and chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. It is $150 per guest, tax and gratuity included. To add to the special event, Peter Mondavi, Jr. will be inviting you to bid on an exclusive 27-Liter bottle of Charles Krug, Vintage Selection, Cabernet Sauvignon, 2006. The Make-A-Wish Foundation will receive 100 percent of the winning auction bid. So if you are interested in enjoying this fine evening at Morton’s please call Lise Lang at 214-741-2277 or email her at lise_lang@mortons.com.

So whether spending the day outdoors at a shooting range is your thing or spending a nice quiet evening wine tasting is what you like, you should consider both of these events! For more information about each event go to www.northtexas.wish.org

4 weeks until Race for Wishes!

 For those of you who were in Fort Worth today, you might have seen quite a few runners out and about. Today was the annual cow town race. The race includes a marathon, half marathon, ultra marathon, 10k, 5k, and also a children’s 5k race. So needless to say it was a very busy day in Fort Worth. The cow town race is held every year in order to raise health awareness for children not only in the Fort Worth community but also all over the United States. The race goes toward a good cause and also the course is pretty interesting, all the races start and finish at the Will Rogers Memorial Center, which is in the heart of the cultural district in Fort Worth. Around the area include the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens, So7 urban neighborhood, Trinity Park, and the UNT Health Science campus, so it is a pretty interesting run. The race was a huge success today and actually the reason why I brought up the cow town race in my blog was to keep you updated about The Race for Wishes.

         

The Race for Wishes that will be held in the DFW area this year will be here before we know it! It is still marked down for Saturday March 26^th. I’ve checked out their website and they have more details posted about the race. I couldn’t believe all the sponsors they have! This year the race is sponsored by Briggs Equipment, Pappas Bros. Steakhouse, Cooks Children’s, AllianceData, KPMG, Flowserve, Dave and Buster’s, Park Place Lexus, Centennial Fine Wine & Spirits, BokaPowell Dallas, BokaPowell Fort Worth, Run On, Jay Johnson’s Bootcamp Fitness, Studio Movie Grill, TIAA Creff, and lastly ThermoServe. The amount of sponsors Make-A-Wish is able to have is huge. I also saw on the website that there will be awards given out at the end of the race. Awards will be given to: the top fundraising team, the largest team, the top individual fundraiser, the overall female finisher, the overall male finisher and also the top three males and female finishers starting with 14 and under, and then in five year groups up to age 75 and older. They have also recently posted the times of all the races, opening ceremonies will begin at 8:15 a.m. Jay’s Bootcamp warm-up will begin at 8:20 a.m. the fun run/walk will begin at 8:40 a.m. the 5k will begin at 9 a.m. and all the post event activities will begin at 10 a.m.

        

         The more and more I hear about the Race for Wishes, the more I’m looking forward to attending it. I hope this encourages everyone to at least check out the website for the Race for Wishes, which I posted in a previous post. And also at the end is a little video clip to give you an idea of what the day of the race is like!

Bieber Fever

While everything is still falling into place for Frats-At-Bat and the Make-A-Wish team is just waiting for a few more approvals before everything is set in stone, I thought I would write about a wish that was recently granted.

Over the past few weeks I’ve heard non stop talk about Justin Bieber, whether it’s from the news, magazines, strangers and even some of my friends. Apparently this so called “Bieber Fever” is quite popular, I’ve heard girls from age 3 to 20 express their love for Justin Bieber. Not only have I heard so much about him through the media but also, I recently just learned that he granted a wish for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Monroe, a 5-year-old girl, struggling through cancer had one wish, and that was to meet Justin Bieber. Much to Monroe’s surprise, her wish came true. Monroe and her family were picked up by a limo and taken to Justin’s concert. But it was far more than just a typical concert experience; Monroe was given a backstage escort to meet her favorite popstar. The minute Justin met Monroe he gave her a huge hug and invited Monroe and her family to make themselves at home in his private trailer, they all sat down and talked about whatever was one their mind. Monroe couldn’t believe the excitement that was going on. There were fans everywhere, but she was the only one that was truly backstage! After chatting, Justin gave both Monroe and her sister autographed t-shirts and hats. They were both so excited about everything they could barely sit still! As the concert was about to begin Justin had one more thing to do. He presented a brand-new autographed Gibson guitar, just like the one he uses during his shows, to Monroe. Monroe thought this had been the best day in her whole life and the concert hadn’t even started yet! The show began and her adventure was topped off by a great show. Monroe was so thankful of the Make-A-Wish Foundation and of Justin Bieber for making her wish come true.

Next week I hope to update you all on more of the planning process for Frats-At-Bat! It’s looking like it will be a great weekend!