Fine Arts Retreat – Come One, Come All!

The Annual Fine Arts Retreat will take place on the weekend of April 25-27, 2008, at Samish Island Campgrounds in Bow, WA.

Cost: $100/adult, $50/child, $250/family
Cost includes two nights and four gourmet meals.

I have gone to the past 8 out of 9 retreats and always have a GREAT experience.

There will be optional classes, children’s classes, a few opportunities to share your talents, and impromptu jam sessions.

Some of the classes this year are geared towards weaving, playing the ukulele, beginning guitar, vocal jazz ensemble, swing band, swing guitar, Tai Chi, Yoga, and Drawing.

To register please send the information below to Chris Phelps via email at fineartsretreat@gmail.com or phone (604) 530-2515:
> Names of those attending
> Ages of any children attending
> Any special dietary concerns
> Feel free to contact us with any questions you have about this event.

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE! It is sure to be a FANTASTIC retreat!

Some Blog/Websites to Recommend

Just wanted to make a post recommending some sites to my readers.

BLOGSITES

First, two of my friends recently started their own blogs! They are:

Patti at The Peppermint Papers and
Pam at Preacher’s Kid

Check ‘em out!

WEBSITES

I attended a young adult retreat this past weekend and the guest minister told us about a website during one of her classes. It is called The Hunger Site! This website is designed to make it easy for you to help somebody else out! Just go to the Hunger Website and click on “Click Here to Give – It’s FREE!”. You can also freely give to Breast Cancer, Rainforest, Child Health, etc. You can click on each of the causes one time a day. This is simple and gives you an opportunity to give without actually dipping into your pocket books. Bookmark it as a favorite and go there daily. It is that simple!

Second, some friend of mine recently started a non-profit organization after doing some work in Africa. The organization is called Orphans Africa. Check it out! They are planning an informational benefit this May for the organization!

Freeganism

Oprah devoted part of her show today to a report on Freeganism. I found it interesting, disgusting, fascinating, and commendable all at the same time.

“Freeganism is an anti-consumerism lifestyle whereby people employ alternative living strategies based on “limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources. Freegans embrace community, generosity, social concern, freedom, cooperation, and sharing in opposition to a society based on materialism, moral apathy, competition, conformity, and greed.”[1] The lifestyle involves salvaging discarded, unspoiled food from supermarket dumpsters that have passed their sell by date, but are still edible and nutritious. They salvage the food not because they are poor or homeless, but as a political statement.” – from wikipedia.com

To read more about it on Wikipedia go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeganism.

The show interviewed and followed the life of lady who had a 6 figure income and then quit her job to live the Freegan lifestyle. She now uses her time to support different organizations. She said that she collects enough good food for her and her husband from dumpsters, etc. that she only has to spend about 10-20 dollars a week on food. She hasn’t boughten new clothes in three years.

Then she interviewed a young couple also living the same lifestyle. They get food from dumpsters as well as an ab workout device, desk, table, sheets, etc.

So, I don’t see me living a freegan lifestyle but I think that those who do should be commended. What a selfless thing to do to give back to the world. They said on the show today that approximately 30 billion dollars worth of food is thrown away every year from the grocery stores. This could feed nations of oppressed people. Really sad when you think about it. So, who is going to start dumpster diving?

Web Surfing Suggestion

I was going through my old e-mails today and noticed this e-mail that I received from a friend this past summer.

He writes:

If you do a lot of web surfing, might I suggest using www.goodsearch.com, instead of Google. It will give money to your favorite charity for each search. I am sending my search money to Outreach International, but there are 100’s of charities that can use this.

Thought some of you might like to see and use this!