What's Happy This Week (6-24-2011) Beagle Freedom project, Sung-Bong Choi, Happiness in a Bottle, and much more

1. Beagle Freedom Project

Beagle freedom project recently rescued these beagles ho have lived their entire lives inside a research laboratory. 

According to this organization "These beagles have known nothing except the confines of metal cages. They have known no soft human touch, no warm bed, no companionship, no love. They have never been outside or sniffed a tree or grass. Finally, after years of being poked and prodded, these beagles are FREE! ARME got the call that a facility was willing to release them to us after they had been used in several tests. We picked them up on June 8th and now they are all in loving foster homes, and one has already been adopted. If you are interested in adopting any of these special beagles, please email us at: shannon@beaglefreedomproject.org. If you cannot adopt, but would like to help, ARME is a non-profit organization and we rely on your donations to continue this work. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation. 

You can donate here: http://www.beaglefreedomproject.org/donate.php

PLEASE DO NOT BUY PRODUCTS TESTED ON ANIMALS! You can see their faces now..... buy only products that have the cruelty-free symbol."

2. Sung-Bong Choi on overcoming obstacles:

The song below, performed on Korea's Got Talent, brought tears to nearly every eye in the room. Choi's voice simply astounds, proving that you really never know who has an amazing talent.

3. Life's Simple Pleasures                                      

Happiness is a blue balloon.

Photo by@BalancingMama

http://three-moms-in-one.blogspot.com/ 

4. Happiness in a bottle? “S” by Shakira Eau Florale

Shakira has released her second fragrance, “S” by Shakira Eau Florale, as a follow up to her debut fragrance S by Shakira. For this softer, more feminine fragrance, Shakira shared, ““I wanted to find a way to express the feeling of pure happiness through the medium of fragrance,” and acheived that with floral notes of jasmine, heliotrope, bergamot and cassis, happy notes of wild fruits including raspberries, blackberries and blueberries, and  sensual notes of fresh vanilla and musk. “S” will be available in 50 and 80 ml bottles, along with a 100 ml body lotion and 150 ml deodorant.

5. Ice cream we all Scream for ice cream!!               

 

Eating ice cream really does make you happy. Scientists have found that a spoonful of the cold stuff lights up the same pleasure centre in the brain as winning money or listening to your favourite music.

Neuroscientists at the Institute of Psychiatry in London scanned the brains of people eating vanilla ice cream. They found an immediate effect on parts of the brain known to activate when people enjoy themselves; these include the orbitofrontal cortex, the "processing" area at the front of the brain.

The research was carried out by Unilever, using ice cream made by Walls, which it owns. Don Darling of Unilever said: "This is the first time that we've been able to show that ice cream makes you happy. Just one spoonful lights up the happy zones of the brain in clinical trials."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/apr/29/health.science

CELEBRATE ATLANTA’S FIRST RESPONDERS ON SATURDAY, JUNE 25. Grady Health Foundation’s Rock-N-Ride is a Party from Start to Finish

Warm weather, music and motorcycles and a great cause all in one spot could only mean one thing: Grady Health Foundation’s “Rock‐N‐Ride” presented by AirTran Airways is right around the corner. On Saturday, June 25 motorcyclists will gather at Killer Creek Harley-Davidson in Roswell to kick off the event that benefits Grady Health Foundation and Gold Shield Atlanta.

Ride registration begins at $40 and includes a commemorative Rock‐N‐Ride T-shirt, a ride pin and complimentary bike parking downtown at the festival. The event starts at 11:00am with entertainment by RATL at Killer Creek Harley‐Davidson in Roswell. Kickstands up at 2:00pm and the group will head downtown for the “Party on Peachtree” – MusicFest ‐ which begins at 3:00pm.

Don’t ride? Don’t worry you can join in the fun at 3 p.m. on Peachtree Street which will be shut down between Harris Street and Ellis Street for the first time ever. You won’t need a ticket to get in, so stop by and shop at the local artist market, purchase your exclusive Rock-N-Ride merchandise, eat drink and be merry and do it all with a light heart knowing that a portion of the proceeds from this public event will benefit the two organizations.

In addition, the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department will also be out hosting a boot drive, so make sure to bring a little extra cash and say thanks to those who put their lives on the line each day for our states resident’s. The event honors first responders from across Georgia and supports traumatic injuries treated at Grady Health System, metro Atlanta’s premier Level 1 Trauma Center. Gold Shield Foundation is dedicated to assisting surviving spouses and dependent children of law enforcement officers and firefighters inured in the line of duty.

ROCK-N-RIDE SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Time Event

11:00am – 1:30pm: Ride Registration and Pre‐Ride Party at Killer Creek

Harley‐Davidson featuring RATL

2:00pm: Ride leaves Killer Creek Harley‐Davidson for MusicFest

3:00pm: Rock‐N‐Ride MusicFest Opens**

3:30pm: Six Shot Revival ‐ Main Stage

4:30pm: Pelvis Breastlies ‐ Velvet Underground Stage*

5:30pm: Yacht Rock ‐ Main Stage

6:30pm: Stonerider ‐ Velvet Underground Stage*

7:30pm: Mother’s Finest ‐ Main Stage

8:45pm: Ledfoot Messiah ‐ Velvet Underground Stage*

*Velvet Underground is located inside the Hard Rock Café ** MusicFest is located on Peachtree Street between Harris Street and Ellis Street

Don’t delay, head to Hard Rock Café and register for your chance to win a Punta Cana trip giveaway valued at $4,000. You can bask in the sun at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Your trip includes airfare and is the perfect getaway for two. Anyone is invited to come out and register and the winner will be announced live on stage at MusicFest.

Rock‐N‐Ride 2011 is sponsored by AirTran Airways, Hard Rock Cafe, Southland’s Full Throttle Magazine, , Killer Creek Harley‐Davidson, Q&A Events, Lawbike.com, 97.1 The River ,WSB‐TV and Budweiser. For more information on registering for the ride or donating to the event, please visit www.gradyhealthfoundation.org/good‐causes/rock‐n‐ride/.

Margaret Mitchell: American Rebel Watch Party and Online Chat Online event June 30, 2011

GPB media is throwing a party for the premiere of Margaret Mitchell: American Rebel and you're invited! Join GPB for an online watch party at 8p.m. where you can chat and like-minds during the documentary's premiere. Then chat with director/producer Pam Roberts at 9p.m. during the second airing.

Here is the watch party address: www.gpb.org/margaret-mitchell/premiere. Don't forget to invite your friends!

Dr. Oz's 25 Things Every Teen Should Do for a Happy, Healthy Life

Dr. Oz's 25 Things Every Teen Should Do for a Happy, Healthy Life

1. Realize that you control what goes into your body.

2. Realize that it's never too late to start adopting healthy habits. You get a do‑over.

3. Walk ten thousand steps a day (about five miles).

4. Have one buddy who shares your ideals about living a healthy lifestyle and who you're comfortable talking with about healthy habits.

5. Avoid known toxins such as tobacco, bisphenol A (BPA) in plastics, and toxins found in dry cleaning and some cosmetic products. That means stay away from formaldehyde (found in some Brazilian Blowouts, "smoking water," and embalming fluid).

6. Regularly avoid the major categories of unhealthy foods: saturated fats, trans fats, added sugar, added syrup, non–100 percent whole grains.

7. Eat cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, watercress, and arugula three times a week.

8. Take a multivitamin every day and get your recommended daily amount of calcium through food or supplements as well as vitamin D and omega-3 fats.

9. Floss and brush your teeth for at least two minutes twice a day.

10. Have your waist size equal less than half your height (in inches).

11. Sleep eight and a half to nine hours a night (in greater than ninety-minute blocks).

12. Do some kind of exercise nearly every day, including some form of resistance exercise and cardiovascular exercise.

13. Do one small (or big) form of stress management every day. Have your vaccinations against major diseases up to date.

14. Commit to not texting and driving.

15. Have a passion. And do it as often as you can! Safely.

16. Protect your ears from noise louder than a lawn mower (including keeping your personal device on less than 70 percent of max when using earphones).

17. Keep your phone and other devices out of your hands (and away from your eyes) while driving (or walking, if you're in urban areas).

18. Find a mentor.

19. Practice smart internet safety, knowing that what you write or post can be saved forever, and be smart about who you communicate with.

20. Make sex a choice, not something that "just happens." And if you are considering becoming sexually active (whether you're a guy or a girl) remember to always carry a condom. And use a second method of contraception if you're having heterosexual sex.

21. Eliminate processed foods from your diet and substitute 100 percent whole wheat flour for white flour where you can.

22. Eat five servings of fruits and veggies per day.

23. Eat fruit but skip the juice unless you are specifically trying to gain weight.

24. Don't squeeze zits.

25. Wear a helmet when cycling, Rollerblading, skiing, snowboarding, skateboarding, or rock climbing and wear a seat belt whenever you're in a car.

Mexican Brunch: Chorizo Sopes with Poached Eggs, Spinach and Roasted Poblano Sauce

 I love experimenting with new brunch dishes and for father's day I wanted to create something that was reminiscent of my days living in Mexico. This dish is my interpretation on Eggs Benedict. 

For this recipe instead of the typical muffin used in Eggs Benedict we are using mexican "sopes",  mexican chorizo, and roasted poblanos and spinach as a substitute for the hollandaise sauce. 

There are two ways to make a "sope". You can buy the corn masa and make them from scratch or you can buy them at your local Mexican store, and fried them for 1 minute. I choose to buy them just because I really did not wanted to slave all day in the kitchen. 

For this recipe you will need:

• 1 pound of Mexican chorizo
• Corn masa sopes 
• 1 cup of Manchego cheese

Sauce:

•  4 large fresh Poblano chiles
• 1/2 cup of onion
• 1 small clove of garlic, finely minced
• 1/2 cup of fresh spinach
• 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 2 cups warm whole milk 
• 1/2 cup whipping cream

• Salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste

Char chiles directly over gas flame or in broiler until blackened on all sides. Enclose in paper bag 10 minutes. Peel, seed, and thinly slice chiles. Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion; sauté until soft, about 2 minutes. Add garlic; stir 30 seconds. Stir in flour (mixture may be firm). Sauté 1 minute longer. Whisk in warm milk and bring to boil, whisking constantly. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer until sauce thickens, whisking occasionally, about 5 minutes. Pour sauce into blender. Add cream, spinach (uncooked), roasted chiles and blend sauce until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. In a heavy skillet cook the chorizo until done. Set aside and keep warm.

For the poached eggs:

Set skillet over medium-high heat and bring water to simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover skillet and gently cook eggs until whites are just firm to touch and yolks are set to desired consistency, about 6 minutes.Using spatula and oven mitt or hand towel as aids, lift cups with eggs from water. Cut around eggs to loosen.

Garnish

• Fresh cilantro sprigs
• Diced tomato

Assembly:

For the assembly place two sopes on each plate. Add chorizo and Manchego cheese. Put plate in the microwave and melt the cheese (around 30 seconds).  Top the sope with one poached egg. Pour the poblano sauce around the sopes and garnish with diced tomatoes and cilantro.

Buen provecho!!

What's Happy This Week (6-17-2011) Betty White Happiness Tips, Dalai Lama Pizza Joke

Betty White's 10 Tips For Happiness

Want the top 10 tips to living a long and happy life? Hear Betty White's sage advice, like not tweeting photos of your junk and not dwelling on mistakes.

Did you hear the one about the Dalai Lama and the pizza shop? No? Neither did the Dalai Lama

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2003695/Dalai-Lama-joke-Australian-TV-anchor-Karl-Stefanovic-bombs.html#ixzz1PXHo0Y4f

Sausages for Sausage Dogs!

Sausages for Sausage Dogs!

Eat sausages & help rescue dogs! Thursday, June 23

Photo by Katie Wright.

All day: EAT!

Nom Nom Nom delicious sausage and know you’re helping the sausagedogs!
10% of the day’s sales benefit DREAM Dachshund Rescue’s veterinary fund!
(and 100% of FLOAT sales will be donated! Indulge!)

6-8 PM: Hang with the hounds!

Bring your doggies to hang in the back yard while you nosh!

Enter the raffle to win a @CAT_LANTA art kitten with a doxie on it!
(If you can’t come to the raffle, you can enter online at DREAM)

Delia’s Chicken Sausage Stand

489 Moreland Avenue in East Atlanta Village

www.thesausagestand.com    

 @sausagestand 

www.dreamrescue.org

@dreamrescue

@cat_lanta

Why Single Gender Schools Matter - The Case of Ivy Preparatory Academy

It has been a rough couple of weeks for Ivy Preparatory Academy. The future of the all-girls school was put in jeopardy last month when the Supreme Court ruled the commission that approved the charter school was unconstitutional. 

According to Tony Roberts president/CEO of the Georgia Charter Schools Association; "The poorly reasoned decision by four Georgia Supreme Court justices to declare the Georgia Charter Schools Commission “unconstitutional” is tragic not only for the students and their schools but also for the state of Georgia".

In other to gain momentum and raise funds for what it seems to be one of the most financially challenging years yet to come,  Dee Dee Hudson, co-president of Ivy Prep's Parent Teacher Student Association, led a rally this past Saturday for several nicknamed "parent warriors."

The pep rally gained the attention of several news outlets including 11 Alive news.  Unfortunately, this morning the Court announced that it will not review last month’s decision that overturned the three-year-old commission.

“The majority of the Georgia Supreme Court has just found 16,000 innocent children in Georgia guilty of choosing a better education,” said Georgia Charter Schools Association chief executive officer Tony Roberts.  “And even worse, the justices have sentenced them to failing or inadequate schools.”

This morning's announcement comes exactly one week before Atlanta hosts the four-day-long National Charter Schools annual conference.  Former President Bill Clinton will keynote the Tuesday session and U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is scheduled on Wednesday.

Why Single Gender Schools: 

Although it has been proved by numerous studies that single-sex education can improve grades, and  test scores, I believe the most important benefit of single-sex education is how these schools break down the gender stereotypes while coed schools tend to reinforce them. "At coed schools, computer science is for boys, and advanced foreign languages are for girls. At single-sex schools, girls can learn to love computer science, and boys compete to see whose French accent is best. At
single-sex schools, girls can play the trumpet, and boys can play the flute".

Did you know researchers from the University of Virginia found that boys who attended all-male schools are subsequently more than twice as likely to study subjects such as art, music, and foreign languages, compared with boys of comparable ability attending comparable coed schools?

Likewise, girls who attend all-girls schools are much more likely to study subjects such as computer science and physics than are girls of comparable ability attending coed schools.

A new statistical study, commissioned by the National Coalition of Girls Schools (NCGS): "Women Graduates of Single-Sex and Co-educational High Schools: Differences in their Characteristics and the Transition to College." The work of Linda J. Sax at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, this study offers statistical proof of the advantages that graduates from all-girls schools have when they enter college.

Sax and her colleagues studied the responses to an extensive questionnaire assessing the backgrounds, behaviors, attitudes, and aspirations of 6,552 graduates from 225 all-girls high schools with those of 14,684 of their peers in 1,169 co-educational high schools.

A range of background differences between these two populations (e.g., family income, parental education, race/ethnicity, school enrollment, and course offerings) were taken into account in their analysis. Sax's overall statistical conclusion is that there are "significant differences between single-sex and co-educational alumnae . . . across multiple categories, including self-confidence, political and social activism, life goals, and career orientation."

The new study outlines several areas in which graduates of girls schools assess their abilities more strongly than their counterparts in co-educational schools:

• All-girls-school graduates rate their confidence in mathematics and computer science 10 percentage points higher than those of their peers from co-ed schools.

Ivy Prep Scholars Excel on 2011 Tests

• More than 80 percent of all-girls-school graduates consider their academic performance highly successful, compared to 75 percent of female graduates from co-ed schools.

• All-girls-school graduates rate their public speaking and writing abilities 5 to 6 percentage points higher than girls in co-ed schools.

 

• All-girls-school graduates spend more time studying or doing their homework (11 or more hours per week), conversing with their teachers outside of class, tutoring their peers, and studying with one another.

• Graduates from all-girls-schools are three times more likely than their co-ed peers to major in engineering.

• More all-girls-school graduates (71 percent) consider college a stepping stone to graduate school than their co-ed peers (66 percent).

• Political engagement thrives in all-girls schools: 58 percent of their graduates are likely to keep current with political issues and discuss them with their friends, compared with 48 percent of their co-ed peers.

Ivy Prep scholar, Monet Cole, poses with the "Mother" of South Africa, Winnie Mandela and Dr. CT Vivian, Civial Rights leader at the 'meet and greet' for Ms. Mandela's visit to the USA

• Women graduates from single-sex high schools outscored their co-ed peers in composite SAT scores by 43 points.

Ivy Prep scholars winning the Dukes TIP Recognition awards for high SAT scores.

Like all charter schools, Ivy Prep is public and tuition free. This educational option is available to all families in Gwinnett County and surrounding communities through a random application process. For more information or to send a donation to Ivy Preparatory Academy please visit:  http://www.ivyprepacademy.org/.

Some photos provided by Fans Of Ivy Prep Academy Facebook page.

Scout Day at the Gwinnett Braves

On June 6th all scouts in the Northeast Georgia Council visited the Gwinnett Braves Stadium to participate in pre game scouting festivities that included a scout parade, pre-game Q&A session with players/coach, and baseline "Box Seating" for all scouts.

Since 1930, the Boy Scouts of America has helped younger boys through Cub Scouting. It is a year-round family program designed for boys who are in the first grade through fifth grade. Parents, leaders, and organizations work together to achieve the purposes of Cub Scouting. Currently, Cub Scouting is the largest of the BSA's five membership divisions (the others are Boy Scouting, Venturing, Sea Scouts and Explorer Scouts). If you would like to have you kid join this wonderful organization please visit http://www.scouting.org/.