"Thank You, Mom!"

It's a bit past Mother's Day for this year - but then again, I don't think being nice to your mom should be confined to just one day a year... there's Christmas and her birthday, too...

Seriously, though, I'd like to share with everyone some information about Proctor & Gamble's new campaign, which aims to bring families together. The "Thank You Mom Reunions" contest is designed to reunite Moms and their children for special family moments -- which they might have missed otherwise.

Personally, I think my mom's shown up for every important event in my life, from soccer games and band competitions to graduations and the (rare) trip to the principal's office. Everyone isn't always so lucky, though, which makes this such a wonderful idea!

The overall goal is for these “Thank You Mom Reunions” to help 105 moms and their children, which works out to 15 families per month for 10 months. And if you're fortunate enough to be living close to your mom - like I am - you can still enter. The details are outlined on the www.thankyoumom.com website:

Tell us how much you appreciate your mom. You could win $1,000 for a special visit with her! [. . .] And if she lives nearby, that's OK, too. Tell us why she deserves a special day for just the two of you.

If you (or someone you know) has a great story to share, head on over! On the site you can enter to win one of the travel vouchers to help cover the cost of a special reunion with your mom or the maternal figure in your life.

The process is simple: you submit a 100 word description of why you’d like to be (re)united with your mom, visitors to the site vote on their favorite stories, and every month through November a new 15 winners are chosen!

If you win, you also receive a portable digital video camera, so you can record your reunion and, if you like, share the video on www.ThankYouMom.com. I'm thinking of entering for my mom, and I'm sure she will enter for her mom. Let me know if you decide to enter!



The "Thank You Mom" opportunity was kindly brought to my attention by the ladies over at the One2One Network

Green Steam Circus

Alek and I spent most of the day at the Green Steam Circus, over at The Backyard's new location.

This was the first year, and there wasn't as large a turnout as I'd expected, but I had a good time nonetheless. All in all, I feel that I definitely got my ticket price's worth of fun ($35 in advance, $40 at the gate).

There plenty of arts and crafts booths, including one run by my friends Mallory and Sadie. If you're ever in the market for steampunk hats or handmade soap with tiny Cthulhu figurines inside, they're your women.

We saw a bunch of performances, including the Minor Mishap Marching Band:


Lions:

Mr. Cirque, who put on an entertaining performance:

Schave & Reilly - Ivy states that there's no such thing as good vaudeville, but I completely disagree. This was a fun show:

and my second-favorite band of the day, White Ghost Shivers:


The best performance of the Circus was definitely Abney Park.
I don't have any good photos of them on stage, mostly because I was too busy having my socks rocked off. You should go see them if you ever get the chance.

I also got to see people from the Austin Bike Zoo for the first time today! Their website has some amazing photos - the bikes I saw today were the monarch butterfly and the praying mantis.