What are you doing April 4?

It's been awhile since I posted anything but a bit of motivation for your Monday. But today, I want to tell you about a great event happening two weeks from today--Wednesday, April 4 at Carlow University.

The event is the Pittsburgh Service Summit, from Get Involved!, Inc. Get Involved! is a nonprofit dedicated to engaging, energizing, educating and empowering students and young professionals. AKA, the next generation of folks that are going to do something great for Pittsburgh.

Interested in getting involved in your community? Believe that service can make a difference in the lives of others (and in your own life)? Come to the Service Summit and hear from some like-minded folks.

The Service Summit features 3 key note speakers: John Stahl-Wert (Serving Leaders/Pittsburgh Leadership Foundation), Benjamin Wagner (Senior VP at MTV News) and Luke Skurman (CEO of College Prowler). There will also be ten breakout sessions, on topics ranging from teamwork to developing personal goals to the importance of community service. The night will wrap up at 7 p.m. with the awarding of the Get Involved! and Rising Stars awards.

I'm honored to say that I have been selected as one of Western Pennsylvania's Rising Stars! I can only attribute this designation to being connected to some of the coolest people in Pittsburgh. The other winners are doing some really incredible things for our City and for the world. It's truly an honor to be recognized with such amazing people.

So, I'd love to see you April 4! We'll start hanging out for keynotes and breakouts at 4 p.m. Awards begin at 7. See you there?

For more information or to see the entire list of winners, visit Get Involved! Inc's website.

The Universe is desperate.

I totally had a different post ready for today, but then I opened my email this morning. This quote from Jackson Kiddard is exactly what I needed to hear as I start a busy, busy week:

"The Universe is desperate for you to follow your dreams. You will be surrounded by all the support you need if you choose to see life that way. So many live their life in fear. It's such a rare moment when one of us wakes up and decides to plunge into the abyss of the unknown that the Universe will rejoice and provide everything you need for a successful journey. There will be obstacles, so it's your job to decide how to react to each challenge. I promise you if you keep pressing on you will be presently surprised to find out what lies just on the other side of every perceived 'failure.'"

Follow your dreams! The Universe is desperate for you to do so. And no matter what, keep pressing on. Happy Monday!

Never regular.

I love typography. Sessions on type, leading, kerning, font families...they were always my favorite parts of design classes. I'd love to spend 20-30 minutes selecting font families for a flier or newsletter. I just love them.

That's why I'm so excited about this week's motivation. It speaks to the (wannabe) typographer in me.

Bold is easy to define. To be bold means to take risks. To be confident and courageous. Italic is a little less easy to wrap our heads around. It means "slanted or sloping type." There's no other meaning.

To me, being italic means to be different. Not in the same way as bold--risks are great but you don't always have to be a risk-taker. But italic type stands out. It's not the same as regular old type. It makes a name for itself.

So, be bold. Be italic. Never regular.

Try again tomorrow

Good Monday morning!

I've been thinking a lot lately about what we do when we face a fear. At our "Live What You Love" workshop for Propelle in February, Kate challenged us to do one thing scared every day. What a challenge!

I really wanted to meet that challenge. But some days, I just can't do the one thing that makes me scared. At first, that made me pretty upset with myself. Then I found this:

Try again tomorrow! Maybe today wasn't the best day. It might have been the worst day. And all you want to do it curl up under the covers and declare tomorrow a "Me Day." Sometimes, that's a good idea. But I'm learning that more often than not, it's a better idea to try again tomorrow.

Happy Monday! And if it's not so happy....try again tomorrow!