Mister Rogers Neighborhood

Remember Mr. Rogers? "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor...would you be mine, could you be mine..."

Saturday, March 20th, is Mr. Roger's birthday, and had he been alive today he would have celebrated his 82nd birthday. I remember having a phone conversation with my dear friend, Jeana, and the two of us literally crying that Mr. Rogers was gone the day we found out he had passed away...her daughters way too young to remember much, and mine...well, mine will never see it unless I buy videos. I am seriously considering it...

I guess I am now opening up on giving out how old I really am, considering I grew up on Mr. Rogers, so yes, I am "old" according to some. But I won't forget Mr. Rogers and his sweaters, his changing of shoes - flipping them in the air as he did to come and go - and his constant attitude of accepting others, loving others, and being kind to others.

So I share what has been going on in Pittsburgh for some time, and is slowly reaching others...and hopefully the nation...in what has grown from "Sweater Day" in remembrance of him, to a national day of volunteerism. It began in partnership with the United Way of Allegheny County where the show "Mr. Rogers" was made, but as they say in Allegheny, "You have to start small. Fred would want that to happen. He wanted to help others."

Even the smallest things, like returning a shopping cart to the store, to opening a door for someone, to working with any facility in need...it is an effort in love and in giving. It only takes a little bit, but a little bit goes a long way.

You don't need a title to do for others. It does open doors, it does aid in a lot. But it does not ever make you the only person who can help and it never defines you. So crown or not...crown others in love and service. Will I be posting what I do for others tomorrow? No. Actually, I am choosing not to for the sake of this not being about me, or about being Mrs. Illinois, but rather that I draw attention to the needs of others out there, how much there is, and what we can all do.

Matthew 6:2 "So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth they have received their reward in full"

There is nothing wrong with letting others know what you do for the sake of furthering a cause or getting others involved. Sometimes, though, it is good to remain silent about what we do, to show another side of ourselves and of service, focusing on the need rather than us and our works.

Please think about it being a beautiful day in your neighborhood and what you can do to make it so. Whatever it is...God bless!

More photos from Dancing with Chicago Celebrities

Note the ShutterBox...our photos were showcased a lot! I'll have to scan and load those photos we took for later viewing! We had way too much fun with that!

Dancing with Chicago Celebrities 2010

Saturday night was a huge success for Susan G Komen thanks to the hard work of the folks at Arthur Murray Chicago, celebrity dancers, and patrons of the event held at the Hyatt Regency Chicago's Crystal Ball Room.

http://www.chicagoregency.hyatt.com/

This was the 5th anniversary for Dancing with Chicago Celebrities, and by far their most successful. During the live auction, over $8,000 alone was raised for just one of the prize packages offered by Chicago's own Chef Rick Bayless, a former celebrity dancer himself, winning in the inaugural year as well as continuing to serve and entertain.

http://www.rickbayless.com/

Valerie Warner of WGN was our celebrity dance winner of the evening this year and completely deserving...although she had a lot of "close seconds"! ;) DC Crenshaw was our celebrity winner for raising the most funds for SGK as part of their competition. I applaud each and every one of them for doing an amazing job both on and off the dance floor.

It was great getting to see and visit with Kathi, visit with Ruth - congratulations, my dear! - and also congratulate "little sister" Miss Illinois America on a job well done. She is an exquisite dancer!

I was very fortunate to be accompanied by the lovely Kaili Harding, former Mrs. Illinois. She is always a joy to be with and a huge support. Thank you, Kaili, for giving of your time (and doesn't she look as lovely as ever, if not more so?!)!

This was an opportunity of a lifetime for me to witness and be apart of. I close sharing some great, inspiring words from NBC's Ginger Zee, former celebrity dancer and breast cancer survivor, "You don't choose cancer. It chooses you. But you can choose to fight, have a great attitude, and do all you can to live." I can not stress enough to live today like it were to be your last. No one is ever guaranteed tomorrow. No one is ever guaranteed health, wealth or happiness. All we get is right now. What we do with it is up to us.

God Bless, and thank you to everyone who participates in some form of breast cancer support. Whatever it may be. Thank you.

Food Wars...it's on, Baby!

You know that little thing, that was kind of a big thing, back in December that I couldn't share? Well, now I can...at least...SOME of it!

Watch tomorrow night at 10:30 pm EST (9:30pm Chicago time) on the Travel Channel to see Chicago's Competition Segment on "Food Wars." I appear as a guest judge on the panel to choose the best beef sandwich in Chicago!

You can watch a sneak peak right here at:

www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Food_Wars?refcd=GO329T88013s_travel_channel_food

First clip is of the Chicago taping - can you guess who won?!?! Stay tuned and find out tomorrow night!

Pictures are of some of the judges, with our fabulous host Camille Ford, with some of the patrons, and with camera crew for post-interview!

Special thanks to Jason Pawlowski for spending hours downtown - literally - to get some shots of the event for me. Thank you, Jason, for everything! And special thanks to Sharp Entertainment for their invitation to be a part of the event as well as the staff of Sharp for being AMAZING!

Share Our Strength Benefit Fashion Show

Saturday, March 6th, was spent at the Ashton Place in Willowbrook, Illinois as part of the fashion show in conjunction with the luncheon, raffle and silent auction for Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital of Downer's Grove benefitting Share Babies.

Share is AGSH's perinatal support program for families coping with high-risk pregnancies, premature births, sick infants or the loss of a child due to miscarriage, stillbirth, or neonatal death.

A really touching part of the fashion show is the children's portion because all of our "models" are either children cared for and saved by this program, or siblings of "angels gone home". My favorite part of being there was getting to talk to a lot of these little ones, take pictures and get hugs from these little miracles.

Special thanks to Tracey and Abby of Zzazz Productions for coordinating the fashion show and having Mrs. Illinois be a part of events like these. To her staff for making everything run so smoothly (and this one especially, since we had to run up and down stairs for each change of wardrobe!). And to Marcie and Julie Aceto for taking the time to come to the event as well as Julie taking pictures for me.

http://www.advocatehealth.com/

http://www.zzazzproductions.com/

Dancing with Celebrities Kick-Off Party Success!

Tuesday evening was spent at Rockit Bar & Grill as the setting for the official Kick-off Party for Dancing with Celebrities before the main event March 12th. Patrons and guests were treating to "Pink Drinks" and dining discounts for donations, and we had an awesome raffle ticket sales all benefiting Susan G. Komen.

I got the opportunity to "work the room" with Matt Rodewald of NBC 5 and his dance partner Amy for ticket sales, and was really excited about that since Matt and I worked together once before at Six Flags for the V Factory performance and music competition event. I met Amy at our last committee meeting at Arthur Murray as she was one of the first people to sit down and greet me...she was also ready to sell me on dance lessons! She has an awesome personality, so I may have to say that I have a bit of a bias toward their win...but really, guys, I love you all for your dedication so everyone is a winner to me! :)

Also on hand to introduce the event: Mr. D.C. Crenshaw, host of Game Time Dine, Mai Martinez of CBS 2, and DWCC alum Ginger Zee of NBC. I am so impressed with these people, not only for their gift of time and hard work raising funds for breast cancer, but that they are so genuinely personable, relatable, and REAL! They made everyone feel special, they were thankful to everyone for their attendance and support, and never acted like the celebrities they are, for this event or in real life. I applaud each one of them for their character.

We had a terrific turnout and had fabulous raffle prizes won...but there's still more to be won!!! There are even more, even bigger prizes at the actual event to be held March 12th! Just $10.00 a ticket, or $50.00 for 6, puts entries in the running for some great things, and all proceeds go to Susan G. Komen! You do not have to be present to win!!!

My thanks to Rockit Bar for their generous donation of the room for the event, to Hum Spirits for donating the "Pink Drinks" to our guests (I heard they were really good!), again to our dancing celebrities for taking the time out to be there last night, to Cara Belvin of SGK and the rest of the committee for your hard work, and to Jill DeMarlo owner of Arthur Murray Dance Center Chicago and the founder of Chicago's Dancing with Celebrities for her continuous efforts for SGK. Congratulations to a fifth year running...may it be the best yet, and even more to come! And of course to all our supporters...your time and financial support all goes to saving lives!!!

Pictures:

-Matt, Amy and I after our raffle sales

-Jill and D.C. struttin' their stuff...just a hint of what you're going to see next week, folks!

-WGN spotlighting the event

-Matt, Mai, D.C. and Ginger

-Matt and Jill announcing our raffle winners


http://www.komenchicago.org/

http://www.dancingwithchicagocelebrities.org/

http://www.rockitbarandgrill.com/