ReelAbilities: Houston Film & Art Festival is a city-wide event that celebrates the lives, stories, and talents of people with disabilities.  The festival is completely accessibly and free, making it easy for people like me and you to help promote inclusion and get cultured at the same time. Today’s the final day, with a showing of the “Case of the Three Sided Dream” at Edwards Greenway Grand Palace Stadium 24 at 4 p.m. and ReelMusic, an all-inclusive jazz and blues fest put on by people living with disabilities at the Secret Group.
White dresses, lush florals, remarkable photography—I can fill pages upon pages with the reasons why I love weddings. I’ve always adored the delicate details, whirlwind of emotions, and celebratory elements of a wedding. I know, I know…I’m not planning a wedding, but I do have a hefty Pinterest with my favorite ideas. If you’re a fan of this blog, you might know that I called off my own wedding four years ago…but before you cast me as a bashful bride with laced up tennis shoes, hear me out. Weddings are special relics of lifelong romance; they are ceremonies woven with the best intentions of two souls taking a leap in life together. When I heard about the I Do! Soiree, hosted by Weddings In Houston on Feb. 28, I KNEW I had to share it with you.
Hello lovely readers! I am so excited to share that I’ve been selected as a speaker at Houston Social Media Breakfast. If you’ve never been before, it’s a free and informative gathering held monthly at Canopy. Aside from eating the very best meal of the day with like-minded social media and communication folks, speakers from across Houston come to speak about topics they are experts in. Join me TOMORROW at 8:30 a.m. – it’ll be nice to have some familiar faces in the room!
Contrary to popular belief, you can be in a world bustling with seven billion people and still feel alone. Perhaps by primal default, we often pass through life in a bubble of our own stories, struggles, successes, and anxieties. We subconsciously look inward, seeing life through our singular set of prescription lenses—whether rose-colored or gray. After seeing injustice, it’s easy to laydown—perhaps that is what we’re expected to do. It isn’t until we remove the lenses that we acknowledge the 7 billion unique and colorful lives surround us, each with their stories, messages, and passions. The feeling of solitude dissipates when we wake up and realize that we are one voice in a dangerously beautiful ecosystem.
Via the Hutton HotelBelieve it or not, Tennessee has a special place in this city girl’s heart. My best friend, Heather, moved to Knoxville during my junior year of high school and it has always been a very foreign but familiar place. I’m not used to Tennessee living and can’t say that I truly know Knoxville like the back of my hand, but one of the most important women in my life lives there and that makes it home. I was so excited to travel to Tennessee with my boyfriend, Brian—he could FINALLY meet Heather and her adorable set of twins. Before we visited her, we knew we had to make one big visit to Nashville, the music capital of the country.
Community. That word grows in importance to me every day. This year more than ever, I desperately NEED that community – the reassurance that good, caring people walk among us. In a time where negative headlines and difficult news infiltrate our personal bubbles and magnify our echo chambers, it may feel like you need to hold a flashlight through the darkness to find something worth pursuing and contributing. Houston Via Colori® Street Painting Festival, a fundraiser for local nonprofit The Center for Hearing and Speech, brought 25,000 Houstonians together to raise $400,000 on Nov. 19-20. If you needed more reminding that there is good in the world, look no further.