Happy Holidays from Florida! I’ve been spending time with Mom + Sis and it’s been great. I snapped a few photo I thought I’d share with you…

I took this while we were at Clearwater Beach here in Florida. It was fun tracking the baby bird- her curiosity and wonderment of the world was captivating. (photo taken with my Canon 40D)

We grabbed a snack after a long day of shopping the day after Christmas- and this Crab Cake Burger was awesome! It had some spiced kick to it with a hint of cheese. I’m not sure how you bake cheese into a crab cake, but this tasted great. (photo taken with my iPhone)

My first time at an IKEA!!!!! This place rocks. Even the way the place is designed is awesome. Wish we had one of these in Kansas City. Also, I noticed IKEA has Helvetica or Comic Sans typeface everywhere on everything. Which makes everything just look clean and organized (although the use of Comic Sans is arguable). (photo taken with my iPhone)
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I made this video blog to promote a super fun benefit party my friends and I created and throw every year, The Ugly Christmas Sweater Party! We came up with the idea back in 2005 and at last year’s party raised over $7,000 which we donated to Operation Breakthrough.

2008 was the first year my friends and I turned what was just an annual house party into a full-fledged benefit. In addition to smashing our $$$ goal, we raised awareness about Operation Breakthrough and set a solid foundation for the annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. Our vision for the party is to make it the biggest and best annual holiday fundraiser in Kansas City!

Myself and 13 of my friends have made time to plan this party. We aren’t affiliated with any one organization- we just want to give back to our community. [cue Full House cheezy music] …what started as a dream, a vision, a “what if”, is now more than just a reality! It’s a powerful truth that has affirmed our belief that it’s important to have passion, patience and to dream big!

If you want to read more, I’ve blogged about it before here: 5 I’ve learned about planning a benefit party and here: photos + video from last year’s party. AND if you’re in the KC area, come to the party December 11th, you can purchase tickets online at www.kcsweaterparty.com.

FYI, a little “behind the scenes” on the video blog- both that got me choked up when I was filming it:

One of the random people I asked to dance with me in the video- after we finished filming the dance, she asked me why I was doing this. When I then told her about our party, she leaned over and gave me a big hug and had a huge smile on her face. She then told me with a big grin, “My son goes to Operation Breakthrough- thank you for what you and your friends are doing!”.

Also, during the scene when I was dancing in front of Tower Tavern, a couple made a point of it to tell me what a great cause + event we put together. Then they told me they met for the first time at our party …which is now their 1-year anniversary! And they’re going again this year to celebrate

Those two proof points reiterate one of our many goals with this party: affect positive change in our community right here in Kansas City. I still get chills thinking about how much of an impact we’ve already made. I also get excited and extremely motivated knowing how much more we can accomplish. *One thing is for certain, the best has yet to come.*
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I haven’t been this excited in a while. What about you ask? Today I met to finalize a partnership with Operation Breakthrough, an organization to help children in poverty, right here in Kansas City. They help over 600 children everyday of families that live below the federal poverty guidelines.

Now, if you re-rewind back to 2005, myself and a couple roommates wanted a reason to throw a party — naturally Christmas came to mind as one of our favorite holidays. Approximately 60-70 people attended our first party. Last year we had well over 100+. Every year since 2005 has been a great success. After cleaning up last year, it was unanimously in agreement that we need to turn all of our hard work in to good for others, and raise money to benefit a charity. This year I decided to aim to break new ground and build a foundation for the continual planning of this great party.

**The vision for “The Ugly Sweater Christmas Party” is to become the biggest and best yearly holiday fund raiser in Kansas City.**

That being said, we’ve got a long way to go in becoming the “largest”, but I’ve formed a steering committee of about 10 people who I consider good friends, I trust, that can make this event a success. We want to focus on planning the best party we can this year that is fun and helps a great organization, Operation Breakthrough.

I should note, we decided on Operation Breakthrough because we wanted an organization that wasn’t already highly established and we wanted to keep it local. We could of easily picked Toys 4 Tots, but they already have several large companies helping to their cause. Our benefit is homegrown and requires us to build exposure about our event.  Why not build exposure for a organization that is up-and-coming as well? We think it’s a win-win situation.  Take this into consideration; 49% of Operation Breakthrough’s funds come from private contributions.  In order to survive, they need OUR help. Anything we can do to help contribute to that 49% is considered success.

So, stay tuned — we’re currently working to secure a venue for the party (we’re thinking Levee, John’s Upper Deck, Tower Tavern or Harlings) and a logo and website are coming soon!
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