i know i write about all the amazing things ali did and the generous life she lead all the time. well if you didn’t know ali personally, there is something you should know. the girl had a sweet tooth. most of my family does, actually. we all have loads of candy stored in cabinets and on top of our fridges. adam used to refer to my purse as my personal “candy store.” but ali was the worst, fo sho. she HAD TO HAVE a piece of candy/chocolate after every meal. she coined the phrase, “breakfast NERDS.” she washed down her veggies with twizzlers. she even convinced Purcell Marian to celebrate national cotton candy day (we thought she made it up but it’s real, i googled) and had a machine in the cafe to help fundraise for different events. in fact, there was a point in her battle that she was supposed to stop eating carbs, sugar, etc. we thought she was doing really well. (except during chemo, cause if bread was the only thing that would stay down then obviously she’d eat it.) however, to this day we are still finding all these stashes of candy. the trunk in her car had bags of cotton candy. i’ve found skittles in the pockets of her clothes i’ve worn (of course i have to smile about it). french chews in dresser drawers. brown bags of assorted candy in baskets in her living room. it was like she was an alcoholic hiding bottles of vodka. but it was gummy bears, blow pops and reese cups. anyway. my point being, if you read the flyer below, you will see why i encourage you to indulge your sweet tooth on ali’s behalf. she was the moderator of unified for UNIFAT for sometime at Purcell Marian and the idea a child will be saved in her name is pretty damn cool. if we all come together and buy tons of yogurt, i bet she can save more than one. a little yogurt never hurt anyone anyway. do it.

the next event is also pretty awesome too. my sister in law’s dad owns a book company, Reader’s Hideaway. he is generously donating these books in Ali’s name across the tristate. i was able to go through a box of his books before christmas and they are all top quality. it made me so sad while i did it because if ali was here, she would have bought up half his inventory by now. she bought our kids books for every holiday and often just for fun. she LOVED kids books. don’t worry, they will be selling many more books for adults too.  so if you are a westsider and wanted to stop by MSJ on Monday, February 13 from 11-7 you can chip in for a great cause.  we hope to put books in the libraries of the schools ali attended, as well as where she worked. website speed test . two of her favorite jobs were being a librarian in the west end of cincy as well as in the inner city in Rhode Island when she was in Americorps. plus, every library could use a little more pink inside! duh.

have a great weekend. peace, melanie