Happy Stories: Haiti

This whole Haiti mess has been really depressing. So much destruction! But in it all, I have read stories of people stepping up to the plate and really caring for their fellow humans. Enjoy some of this beauty:

LONDON - A young British schoolboy has raised more than 100,000 pounds ($160,000) Monday for Haiti's relief effort by cycling round his local park.

Seven-year-old Charlie Simpson was so upset by the images of Haiti's deadly earthquake that he asked his mother if she could help him set up a sponsored bicycle ride around a west London park.

Charlie originally hoped to raise 500 pounds (for UNICEF's Haiti appeal with Sunday's 5-mile (8-kilometer) bike ride, but his Internet page was flooded with donations.

LifeChurch Rescue: Ramon Crespo isn't leaving Port-au-Prince. Though the dozen children from the Rescue Children orphanage are safe in the countryside, he and six other men from his Pennsylvania church remain behind, helping their neighbors with food, water, medicine and shelter.

The small group plans to stay for at least another two weeks, said Randy Landis, the senior pastor of Lifechurch in Allentown, Pa. The church volunteers went down after the earthquake to safeguard the children they were responsible for. Most of the group, including Landis, is now back in the States.

But no help has arrived for their neighbors in the Santo neighborhood, one mile northeast of the airport in Port-au-Prince. So the intense Crespo, director of missions for the church, has stayed behind, setting up a distribution system for families living under tents.

In the countryside, the 12 Lifechurch children have settled in at the Love A Child orphanage in Fond Parisien, "We taught the children how to play kickball today, lots and lots of fun," Landis said in an update on his Facebook page (registration required: ). "We played kickball for four hours."

The successful trip for Lifechurch depended on the kindness of many strangers.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - It wasn't long after Tuesday's earthquake leveled nearly all of the houses next to Claude Surena's that neighbors started showing up at his doorstep.

For years, the 59-year old pediatrician had treated the sick at his two-story hillside home near the center of the Haitian capital.

Suddenly, he was running a triage center, treating more than 100 victims on his shaded, leafy patio with food and supplies salvaged from ruined homes.Meanwhile, he keeps everyone at his house because they have nowhere else to go. He sent three patients in urgent need of surgery to a hospital on the airport road Thursday, but he took them back in after they were refused admission.

SAG Awards

I have been told thirty million times that I look like Sandra Bullock, and it drives me crazy, because I think she's completely unattractive. Her style, too, is often terrible! So its with great pride that I canf finally put her on a best dressed list, and say she looks brilliant! Its an Alexander McQueen gown, it fits perfectly, and the electric blue lights up her face: Kate Hudson is just so pretty, I don't know if i'm just distracted by that.She's gorgeous! But this is an elegant, unique gown that I think she wears outstandingly:

Monique Lhuillier made a very lovely dress, but I hate Drew's makeup, so its hard for me to appreciate it. Still, ignore the face, check out the gown!!

Diane Kruger is quickly becoming the queen of the red carpet. Everyone is comparing this to Michelle William's Oscar gown (which, in my opinion, it doesn't even come close-that was as near to perfect as a look could be!). Still, its lovely, unique, and couture:

Can I be the girl that you met at the Coin Laundry?

Don't we all love silly little romantic fantasies?
This isone of the cutest, quirkiest one's i've seen in a long time.

Lisa Mitchell is only nineteen, and was discovered on Australian Idol a few years ago...
I hope you love this as much as I do!!

Coin Laundry

Don't be sad, the little boys are nice!

This may not be to some people's taste, both the music and the video direction is a little odd. But I find the little boy dancers absolutely enchanting, and there's something very rich in Fiona's voice.

This is the song Paper Bag, and the music video was directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, who recently got acclaim for directing the Oscar-winning movie There Will Be Blood. At the time of this music video, they were dating.

Perhaps this explains the video's slightly strange, but still pleasant, take on the song.

Fiona Apple

The Engagement Photo

See, it doesn't even matter that they're not as cute as the movie star couple, they have all the spunk and spirit.

His name is Sid, and her's is Mary. They met at Pleasant Peak Middle School, where he teaches math and she teaches social studies. On weekends they have movie marathons that last deep into the night, and when they get really crazy around 3 am, they pause the movie and act the next scene out themselves, since they know every second by heart.

They knew they were right for each other when they compared collections of vintage comic books.

Sid and Mary are planing a honeymoon for Tokyo, where they hope to take on some of the adventures they've always read about.

I am completely sure these two will have a long and wondrous marriage.

Hope this made you smile!

Versace Spring 2010

It's typical Donatella Versace style, but this one I think has some extra spunk and flair I really enjoy!!

Not sure how I feel about the plastic-y look, but I love the fit, coloring, and the dark hair of the model:

Chanel Iman, one of my very favorite models, looks amazing in this jacket.
Freja Baha isn't one of my favorite models, and I hate her hair here, but this is an eclectic, cute and quirky dress, I think:

this is just so well fitting, I have to love it!

Abbey Lee Kershaw is another of my favorite models, though I don't like her makeup here. Still this dress is vivacious and fun, and I love how it looks on her!

Some amazing pieces from Versace this season, especially the short dresses. The long gowns at the end felt trashy to me, but some of the art-deco, bright colors of the first pieces really stood out as fun and eye catching.

Beautiful World

Beautiful World

by Deirks Bentley with Patty Griffin

Its funny that I haven't posted more songs here, since I live and breath music. Well, this is a perfect one to begin with.

I love it because I listen to it when I don't know what else do to.

There's something comforting about country music. Its steady and earthy and sensible. I feel connected and real when I listen to it. Any mental/physical/spiritual revival of mine is incomplete with a raw country song to boost me on.

And here, my friends, is a brilliant example of exactly what I'm talking about.

On the side here you see Cassidy and Deirks, a dream couple. They were friends in fifth grade, and he had a boyish crush on her-who wouldn't, she's gorgeous! Then, and all through high school, he tried to get to her, but she knew he was immature. He was crazy and wild and not ready to settle down, and she refused. Well Deirks, he grew and learned about what he loved and what he knew, and grounded himself in music. With his newfound fame, girls flung themselves at him from every single corner of the country. But Deirks knew what he wanted. Years later, he came back to Cassidy, this time every inch the man she needed.

Guess what? They got married!

Now they've got a little girl, Evelyn, and...its a beautiful world!!

(yes, I'm eternally corny. Get used to it!)

Beautiful World