i can’t believe it’s already february. holy. cow. in less than a couple weeks we’re having the book fair, another opportunity to do some good in my sister’s name. 🙂 readers hideaway has decided to extend the event to two days for the folks who won’t be able to make it on monday. you can see on the flyer below the dates, time and location. i’ve seen a bunch of their books and they have a great selection of top quality for CHEAP prices! though the books can make great gifts, you don’t even have to buy them for yourself, you can just pick some out to donate. our top priorities are the schools/libraries where she personally attended and worked. this is our first opportunity, but we plan on gathering and donating all year long. i’d love for this to become so big that we can donate to many more places, across the tristate. also, there will be plenty of labels, so if you would like to add a label to the books you purchased for yourself, then you are welcome to. just another reminder to live our lives selflessly every time we open up the book and see her name.

here is the label adam designed to be placed inside. (LOVE IT!!)

i decided to show it off in one of ali’s favorite books i have here at home, “silverlicious.”

some of you have also asked about dropping off NEW books to be donated as well. i know some people have connections within their own work and that’s great, you are welcome to drop those off and we will see they are placed somewhere in her name. just make sure they are kept separately and are given to someone within our family or close friends. i don’t want readers hideaway to have to worry about books other than what they are selling! we encourage you to buy all books at that fair because the prices will be much more discounted than in stores. hope to see you there!

peace, melanie

ps. if you are out of town, you can always mail a check to me PAYABLE TO READERS HIDEAWAY, and i will donate books for you!

i’m continuously amazed by how many people she is touching, 2 months later. it’s crazy. i’m so proud to be her sister.

tuesday night Purcell Marian hosted “hoops for hope,” a benefit for cancer research.  they decided to donate money to coach’s mom and ali, who both lost the battle to cancer. since we have the book fair coming up, i decided to take ali’s share and donate books back to the PM library. her legacy will live on forever in all the books we pretended loved to read in high school. the news was there to cover the event, you can watch the CLIP on their website. (the headline is a little harsh. yuck.)

i was given a heads up that channel 5 was going to call me for an interview. i figured i could answer a couple questions over the phone, no big deal. when the reporter called me and said she was heading to my house for an on camera interview i got a weeee bit nervous. here’s the thing. blogging is completely different than on the spot answering questions…ON TV. many might not realize, but it takes me hours to blog. even when i’m writing about clients, i write, delete, write, delete. i never ever stick with what comes out first. when talking about ali, my emotions are unpredictable. sometimes i can completely detach myself and talk about the whole situation as if she’s a random person. other times, i can’t say her name without bawling. britt and i decided it also depends on the person we are talking to. if it’s someone we’ve known forever and really knew ali, emotion overload. it’s so strange. grieving is very complicated.

there was one thing i knew for sure, the reporter would hit a heart string too quick and i’d be done. blotchy red face, ugly cry on tv. not cool. and not to mention i would probably say something really dumb. “i’m melanie paaace?” (ron burgundy style from anchor man. one of ali’s favs) once it’s out there, i can’t delete it. i’m totally not articulate, but i still have to think about things i say. no joke, i even write my fb statuses at least 3 times before posting. so i passed the torch to mom. 🙂 it’s only fair someone else represents our family for once anyway! i’m the one blogging, people always hear what i have to say. ben tried to dodge his debut, but they came to his house. ha! they did a wonderful job. what they said was perfect. i would have had to have 12 takes and mass editing to not sound like a blubbering fool. i’m sure ali was present and holding their hands as they fought the tears.

peace. melanie.