2004 has been a good year. I am so thankful for the health of Niel, me, family and friends. For having Niel in my life. He is my rock. That Niel and I are both working. For having traveled a bit. For having this blog and meeting nice people from across the country and world that I would have normally never had the opportunity to. They and Niel make me realize that there are a few people out there that do not suck. I started knitting again this year and that I am happy about. And I was able to get an article published and sell some frames. And that Niel also published a few articles. What I wish for in 2005: for this awful war to be over. Yes I know that is a long shot. For the surviving Tsunami victims to receive help quickly. Continued health for Niel, me, our families and friends. Continued professional success for Niel and I, professional success for family and friends. To craft some more. To be published again. And I hope Niel and I get to travel some more and anything else is icing on the cake. I hope everyone has a safe, healthy, happy and prosperous New Year!

 

I think my mother in law started a mini trend when she purchased Happy Feet for one of my husband's 30th birthday presents. They are the best slippers ever. They look like goofy sneakers but feel like my feet are surrounded and walking on pillows. And we have been slipping a bit less on our wood floors. My husband gave me Happy Feet as one of my Christmas gifts and Squilky went out and purchased one for himself and Mrs. Squilky. Pictures below of all of our Happy Feet! Anyone else enjoy Happy Feet?

Happy Feet 


Squilky Feet 


Mrs. Squilky 

I wanted to share a picture of the labels my hubby, made to put on gifts he brought for his coworkers. Pretty crafty eh?

 


Also here is a link to charitable organizations you can send donations, to assist the people who have suffered in the trajedy in the Indian Ocean.

Only Jerry Orbach could put Baby in the corner.

What a nice commute I had today. There were four passengers total on my bus this morning and the bus driver only made three stops. Usually the driver would make ten stops and there would be 50 passengers crammed in every nook and cranny. The trip home was pretty quick too. I wish it was like that all the time. I was home sick yesterday. The holiday foods and a bit of stress( getting everything done and hoping everyone is happy with gifts) stopped my pluming. It happened during Thanksgiving also. I hope to be back to digestive normalness this week.

I came home to dinner cooked by Niel,. And a nice cup of cold water at the door. He has a bit of a break this week and offered to cook. A well deserved one I want to add. He gets home very tired and falls asleep either waiting for dinner or right after dinner. Niel doesn't get to do as much cooking. But when he does it is a treat for me. Besides playing his beloved Halo or anything on his XBOX he has given himself some chores to do around the apartment.

Here are pictures of tonight's dinner and dessert.

Breaded pork with whole wheat crumbs, garlic brocoli, and penne ala vodka with whole wheat noodles 


Strawberry milkshake fixens 


Yummy shake 


I also like it when Niel and I get to cook together. It feels cozy.

The picture below is a recipe I made from scratch over the weekend. I had something similar at a party and was able to remember the ingredients. It is simple but tasty. I used puff pastry(SB friendly) to line mini muffin pans and put a bit of egg, cooked bacon and cheese(I have used Provolone and cheddar. Both work well). I bake it at 350 for about 10 minutes.

Bacon, egg and cheese mini muffins
 

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas. My Christmas went by entirely too fast and for that matter all of the holidays did. It was spent with family, friends and a ton of eating. For me the anticipation of something is a lot more fun than the actual day. The actual day I worry if everything will go well. With everything I mean will everyone get along, will the desserts I bring turn out well. But everything almost always does turn out well. The tradition of everyone going to my parents for Christmas Eve and to my mother in laws Christmas day was continued. With everyone for Christmas Eve I mean, Niel, me, my parents (of course), my mother in law and my brother. My parents are pretty old world people. Very Armenian. They enjoy having people over, even if it is not a blood relative. Because once you marry into a family, whomever you may you are considered and treated like family. Well more royalty when it comes to get togethers. Some people might find this weird but whatever their loss. We are lucky enough to all live close by so why not spend the holidays all together. A few get togethers during the year will not kill people. It may not be important to some but it is to me. My parents decorated the house very nicely. I thought my mom and brother were the talented ones but I was very impressed with the miniature Christmas tree my dad designed with left over pine. I hope to be able to be as good as they are with cooking and crafts. My mother made a spread that could feed an army. My brother came over to help since his lovely girlfriend Christine went home to be with her family for the holidays. It was nice to especially see my brother who has crazy hours. My mom served smoked mackerel, two different types of potato salad(one of the potato salads usually has chicken in it, but out of respect for my mom in law who is Catholic, my mother omitted the chicken), fried mackerel, blue cabbage salad, a green bean, spinach and mushroom frittata, cold rice dolma (stuffed grape leaves), spinach lasagna, and pomegranate and walnut and beet salad. Everything was awesome as usual. We sat around ate and talked. For dessert my mom made baklava, Anoushabour and also served a variety of chocolates and nuts. Niel and I brought an apple cake we made. After dinner Niel and I went to midnight mass with his mom. It was the first time I was able to be remotely awake to be at the services. It was a standing room event and was conducted in three languages, English, Polish and Spanish. It was very nice. Although I am not a very religious person I do enjoy the spirit of the holiday which would be nice if it could be kept up all year long. People might have different beliefs but there is no point in shunning them just because their beliefs are not the same. It doesn't make a person any better.
Christmas day we saw A Christmas Story on TV. How can I go a Christmas without watching that hilarious movie? "Daddy's gonna kill Ralphie!" We then went to the movies and saw The Life Aquatic by Wes Anderson. Who used some of the same actors he has in his previous films. As usual it was a trippy wonderful ride with this movie having a bit of a twist in the ending. Christmas dinner at my mother in laws was another tasty meal. Niel and me, my parents, brother, my brother in law and mother in law all feasted on roast pork, sweet potatoes, rice and beans, salad, pastales and coconut and cornmeal pudding, apple pie and coconut custard pie. My mom brought over a savory cheese pastry and baklava she made. I had made tres leches but it was not done yet. But we did eat the home made whipped cream that I brought with it with the pies. Niel, me and his mom ate the tres leches the next day after coming back from a breakfast to see Marc and his parents with Kelvin, Mike, and a friend of Marc's who also came. Now we have some lovely left overs to enjoy for a bit. Here are some pics of the weekend.

I am very sorry to have heard about the earthquake and tsunami that hit South Asia and South East Asia over the weekend. Thousands of lives have been lost and forever changed. I hope help gets to the survivors quickly.

My two Christmas names found on Gnome G's blog.

Happy Chocolate-My Married Name

Happy Dancing-My Maiden Name

What is yours?

Some more Christmas decorations I want to share.

Here is a link to a Christmas village I found. Isn't it well done and cute?!

Merry Christmas!!!!

 


Picture from Hallmark.

I can't believe all the holidays are just about over. I have really enjoyed them. I really enjoy the time between Halloween and Christmas. The twinkling lights, various decorations, stuffing myself with pomegranates and chestnuts, the adorable wrapping paper and cards, the funny and sometimes cheese holiday movies and the wonderful smells wafting from kitchens. Some pics I took of decorations around the city.

Here is a list of my favorite Christmas songs. What are yours?

The First Noel

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

Oh Come, All Ye Faithful

Deck the Halls

Adeste Fidelis

Angles We Have Heard On High

Oh Little Town Of Bethlehem

Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire

Frosty The Snowman

Hark The Harold Angels Sing

I´ll Be Home For Christmas (It's a sad song. Makes me think of the soldiers)

It´s A Holly Jolly Christmas

It´s Beginning to Feel a lot like Christmas

Jingle Bells

Jingle Bell Rock

Joy To The World

Do You Hear What I Hear

Let It Snow

The First Noel

Oh Come All Ye Faithful

Oh Come Let Us Adore Him

O Holy Night

Here Comes Santa Claus

Rudolf The Red Nose Reindeer

Silent Night

Silver Bells

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

The Twelve Days Of Christmas

Oh Little Child Of Bethlehem

We Three Kings

Winter Wonderland

I´m Dreaming Of A White Christmas

Oh Christmas Tree

 








Pic from Hallmark.

The United States Postal Service will release some adorable stamps in 2005. My personal favorites are the Holiday Cookie and the Muppets stamps. My brother and I used to love the Muppet Show. We would watch it together religiously. In the mean time I am the Disney stamps. Photos from Suzie Q.

Cookie Stamps 

Muppets & New Year 

Disney 


I just read on Jupiternine's blog that Dead Like Me is cancelled.
I hate SHOWTIME!!!!!! Dead Like Me was a fantastically written, smart, witty, thought provoking, moving show and now TV Gods took that away from me too! What the freaking hell!!!!!!!! I am putting Dead Like Me on my list of Christmas miracles I would like to see happen. I am soooo sad. Bah freaking humbug. Sorry Niel.

I want to send out a big fat HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my friend Jennifer. I know I sent out your birthday card out on time but I want to also commemorate the moment on my blog (a bit late SORRY)! It's been a pleasure knowing you and your hubby Renzo! You are one of the nicest people and couples I know. I remember back in the day both of us working at Baby Gap and all the wackiness that we encountered there! Both of us now have found better things. Niel and I are so very happy you have a new little person in your life and what a cutie she is! I hope you had a wonderful birthday and your holidays and new year are happy and healthy! You rock Jenn!!

Yesterday I surprised Niel at his office with a singing telegram for his birthday. He was very shocked and embarrassed. But he forgave me. Niel said he was impressed at how I was able to put it all together. I asked his bosses permission and they happily obliged. I got to Niel's office early with some carrot cake and pumpkin bars for him and his bosses/coworkers. I tried to hide for a bit. But then he found me. However Niel didn't know about the singing telegram. Then a man dressed in a gorilla suit emerged from the elevator and serenaded Niel. A group of coworkers crowded around Niel's cubicle to cheer for the birthday boy and enjoy some sweets. I brought our video camera to tape the festivities. (It was a gift to one another for our 3 year anniversary). I was too busy videotaping to think of taking pictures. Doh. But I did get it on video! We then had lunch at Gray's Papaya! The best hot dogs in town! In the evening we had a quiet dinner at Niel's mother's house. His mom makes Niel a traditional birthday dinner of Fettuccini Alfredo and Chicken Cutlets. She also got the best cake ever. It's a cake I have only eaten at Hispanic events. I don't know the name. But it is so freaking good. It's my favorite type of cake. I can't even describe the taste or the flavors. So delicious! I am happy that Niel had a great birthday weekend surrounded by people who care for him. They are all kind! We then watched the video of the monkey and another tape I had made of pictures of Niel of the past thirty years set to music.

. 

Today I want to wish my husband a very Happy Birthday! Niel is 30 today and I know for a little bit that was a difficult age for him to look to. I just want him to know that he is a wonderful human being who has accomplished a lot and is a joy to be around.

Besides being a great husband, son, sibling, friend and employee Niel also volunteers his time once a week (and sometimes three times in the same week every month) nine months out of the year as long as I have known him to a local Boy Scout troop (8 years people), and he also works hard and late hours at work. I am also very happy to see Niel has decided to try to get published again and has succeeded. I know whatever he sets his mind to he can accomplish. I know that career wise and personal goal wise his twenties were a trying time but he managed to turn it around.

I feel so very blessed to be a part of his life and to be able to just say all these mushy things about him. I love you Niel and I hope that you have a wonderful birthday and you have many, many, more wonderful birthdays. I know that your 30’s and all your future birthdays will be something to look forward to.

 


Here are some pics from Saturday. Thanks Dave.

This past Saturday Niel had a day of celebration in honor of his 30th birthday this coming Tuesday. I wanted him to start off his 30's with a blast. To know that he is loved and appreciated by so many people. Niel has surprised me in the past with two surprise birthday celebrations and the times I have tried to surprise him they did not work. But this past Saturday I did manage to surprise him from one of the two things I had planned. Keeping it a secret from Niel was killing me!
I had a lot of help though. People knew for a while the day was coming and kept it a secret. Saturday we went to New Roc City on the pretense that we can drive go-carts to let off some steam. It has been a bit stressful at work lately for Niel. But in reality I asked his friends to meet us there as well to surprise him. Luckily Dave, Holly, Mike & Erin were able to make it. But Niel figured it out when instead of casually leaving I said we had to leave by 11 and made him change his shirt. It was ripped, which really did not matter cause he didn't take his coat off. We all had fun goofing around driving go carts, bumper cars and playing video game. I did bump into the wall at the go-cart track and hurt my knee pretty good. It is sore, achey and swallen. But I am so pale it doesn't show well in the pictures I tried to take. And it hurts in this 12 degree weather. I symphatize with Niel. I even had neat shirts printed up at Cafe Press that Niel's brother Mike designed. And we chowed down on some tasty Mexican food. Even though Niel figured it out we had fun and I still had one more shot at surprising him.

Later on was a bit more of a formal dinner at Durow's (we had our reception there). I told Niel we were meeting Ted and Maria there under the pretense that they couldn't make it to New Roc but wanted to see us. Niel was tired from the day (not smart planning on my part) and I forgot the rest of the balance ( I saved for a looong time) for Durow's, so we had to drive all the way back and Niel got even grumpier. I can't believe he did not figure it out. But he was a bit sleepy. I was stressed out cause we kept hitting all the lights while there was a room full of people waiting and starving at Durow's who arrived early. We finally arrived and his mom, his brother Mike, Erin, my parents, Mike and Rachel, my brother's girlfriend Christine, Ted and Maria, Dave and Holly, Kelvin and Jennifer and Renzo yell surprise!!! My brother arrived but got called to work and had to leave. Which sucks but what can one do? Even though it was a late start to the evening it was a fun to see everyone. I also felt bad jumping from one table to the other, but there were so many people to see. And I hope they all had fun! I only have a few pics from New Roc cause the battery died and I forgot my purse in the car while at Durows so didn't take any pictures there. See more stupid planning. As soon as people send me pics I will post those. But I want to take the opportunity to thank everyone again who helped to pull this off and who were able to make it. I know some had to drive far. I really appreciate it and I know Niel does as well.

I have an addiction. To Stonyfield Farms Smoothies. I love that I can actually taste the yogurt and the fruit. I have tried the more well known brand smoothies, but to me they just taste like candy flavored water.

 


Also the hubby got a second article published. Read it here! Go Niel! Go Niel!

And sending a big good luck to T & M!

Today's post will be about animals.

As most of you have heard Pale Male has been on the news a lot lately. He is a red tailed hawk who made his home on a fifth avenue building across from the Met, along with his partner Lola. There home was recently destroyed and then rebuilt. The board of the building felt that he was a nuisance and unsanitary. Residence of the building would find pigeon parts and feces in front of the building. A story broke out that Paula Zahn's husband is the president of the board. Zahn and her family were also allegedly harassed by one of the animal rights activist named Lincoln Karim (who works for the AP) that were campaigning outside the building. The story gets even weirder. Mary Tyler Moore lives in the same building and also campaigned to get Pale Male's home restored. Moore is now trying to find an attorney to represent Karim who was arrested. Pale Male is a NY institution and although I can see the residents point of view I thought it was a bit harsh to destroy the hawks' home. And who is to say now that the rebuilt nest will even be inhabited by them. I hope they do.

Barney is the Bush family's Scottie dog. And for the second year in a row a camera follows Buddy around. It's called Barney Cam. This year he is looking for his new "sister" Miss Beasley. I find the dog and the story cute and all but don't you think there are a bit more imporant things the White House should be worried about?

I also want to share two remarkable stories about dogs saving their owners. The first story was reported in Metro New York. A man was hunting on a cold day with his two dogs when he suffered a mild heart attack. It was getting dark and the dogs huddled next to their owner to keep him and themselves warm. The next day one of the dogs goes and finds somebody and their owner was saved. Amazing right?
The second story I read about in In Touch magazine and was about a dog who dialed 0 and saved her owner's life. Her owner is an epileptic and had a seizure. The dog kept dialing zero until one of the operators traced the call and sent an ambulance to the home. The woman was saved and I think the dog received some type of medal. I wish I could remember what city this happened in.

Random stuff floating around in my head today.

My friend Jennifer emailed me a link to a site with pictures of some soldiers. It's a side of this war we don't see. Whatever our feelings about the matter those men and women over there are protecting us.

I found this interesting link on Not Martha's site. It is a list of corporations and who gave to what political party.

I cleaned the fridge Monday night. It was therapeutic to purge items we were not using and were just causing clutter.

Niel's brother Mike asked if we had seen the John Mayer show on VH1. We had not and he recommend we should. I only like one song of his "Bigger Than My Body". We ended watching the show last night and oh my gosh John Meyer is a funny, funny guy. He is funny not in a Dana Carvey goofy way, or people who think they are being funny but are just making snide comments way; John Mayer is funny in a smart way. He is also a cutie. I loved when he dressed up as a bear and told unsuspecting concert goers to leave their vehicle so he could search for honey. Actually some of the things he does or gets other people to do make me think he is a bit bored on tour.

Thank you to those who purchased from Ala Ani Crafts. If anyone else would like any items before Christmas let me know.

Supersize Me showcased the art of Ron English. His work fit in perfectly with the film since most of the art has images of McDonald's. I find the pieces very haunting and disturbing. I guess that is the point. You can see Mr. English’s work at Popaganda.com.

 

This weekend Niel and I got to catch up on some movies. We saw Super Size Me and Elf

Elf is a nice movie to see during the holidays. Will Ferrell is just plain funny!! I don't know if that really was Zooey Deschanel singing but she has a nice voice. I recommend the movie if you already have not had a chance to see it. I always like it when movie makers can mix in reality with make believe well.


Super Size Me is just a plain good movie. It is informative but not done in a preachy way. I already was aware of some of the bad practices of the fast/food industry. But after seeing the movie it made me realize that maybe we should purchase and just go ahead and pay more for organic products. Also when we do have to eat out we might as well eat pub food since. It is less pricey (of course not as as fast food) and is fresher. This is something I am going to strive for. It has just become a bit difficult. If we are running errands and get hungry we opt to get fast food. We end up listening to our pockets when we seek food. But after seeing the movie I think it is better we change that. It is for our health after all. I thought I was doing something good by having salad at a fast food joint but I might as well as just eat their ice cream. The fat and calories are not very different between the two. The Southbeach Diet has helped us learn better food practices even if we are not in it as whole heartedly. We don't keep potatoes, rice and pasta in the house any longer. I am glad that Niel is more open to the whole wheat ingredients now. I grew up enjoying whole wheat sometimes and I had a bit of difficulty before getting Niel to eat whole wheat bread. Now if we will use a recipe that includes rice, pasta or bread we will purchase whole wheat instead. The Southbeach hasn't broken our sweet tooth like I hope it would. That is the only area we have not succeeded. We will still have the occasional sweet. But Niel's weight, cholesterol and triglycerides are still steadly going down. Plus now that tennis class is over and the weather getting chilly we took out our exercise equipment. I am looking into finding flour that is not bleached but not necessarily whole wheat. I love whole wheat pasta and bread but whole wheat flour in desserts is dreadful.

I can see both sides of the controversy with the fast food industry. But I think fast food industry is really listening to their own pockets instead of realizing or caring that they are slowly poisoning the public. I feel so helpless because all these powerful companies really control the market and have strong lobbyists to help them. I feel defeated. It's fine if people choose to eat meat but why must the animals be kept in such disgusting conditions. People could and have become sick from the antibiotics and the feces. Then even more disgusting some animals are being fed animals and of course Mad Cow Disease happened.

But I don't know if the fast food industry or even just the food industry can change on their own. I think the movie reflected this, as well as the book Fast Food Nation. The problems have more to do with society, because most households have both caregivers working and people are too tired to think about cooking, so of course they purchase a prepared meal. But there has to be some change because people are getting sick from obesity or from all the chemicals in their foods. I know people have free will and can make their own choices by not eating at fast food places or buying frozen meals. I just think these companies are making a profit off of people's lack of smart choices.

Loobylu started I believe in November an online craft project called A Month Of Softies. A slew of people submitted their projects which were elephants. Very cute elephants. I thought the project was for knitters only and since I am currently working on two knitting projects I was a bit too busy. But the project is for people who can sew as well. I don't have a sewing machine yet and even though my mom is an awesome tailor I can't sew too well yet, so to make a long story short I did not participate.

I did purchase a very lovely elephant which Niel and I have named Alistair. After Ali G, whose character's full name is Alistair Leslie Graham. I brought Alistair from the talented Stephanie at Galactic Hero. I think the softies program, Gifty and Secret Santa are all good way to meet people and people can showcase their work.

Softie Elephant 

People magazine recently had an article about a new restaurant in Paris where patrons can dine in the dark. I thought it was a wacky concept. Then I read on Karen's blog there is also such a place in Australia. In my search I also found out that Munich also has a similar restaurant. Not so wacky after all I guess. Speaking of interesting dining concepts on Tina's blog she mentioned in Arizona there is a restaurant called Cereality that just serves (have you guessed yet.....) cereal! I also read about it on Just Jenn's blog but I don't remember though if they opened one in California or not. Then on Progodess's blog Rachel mentioned that a Cereality also opened a location in Philadelphia. Thanks to Maria for the link to Cereality also. What great marketing ideas to make their establishments stand out!

I read on a new blog I found recently how the blogger likes to make plans to have something to look forward to and I find that true for myself as well. I like to see my calendar full. With dates to visit family or friends, to see a movie, a trip or the holidays.

Anyway the part I am enjoying about the holidays is stuffing myself with chestnuts and pomegranates and I am looking forward to New Year's Eve and planning my menu for that evening. I am also trying to think of what dessert to bring to our families homes for Christmas. My mind is usually racing all over the place with thoughts of planning ahead and right now its about that menu. I have to focus on a full calendar, or cooking or crafts, otherwise I could become consumed with all the negativity around. Such as in the news, and just other crap that I don't want to bore anyone with. Because in the grand scheme of things sometimes the little bits of crap are so not worth mentioning and chestnuts and pomegranates and yummy foods are. I have not finalized my New Year's Eve menu yet but I do want to share with you some other lovely dishes:

Fettuccini Alfredo (I used whole wheat noodles and cream. I also used half the amount of sauce as the recipe said to do. I heard somewhere that in Italy pasta sauce is used sparingly).

I have also taken out the crock-pot from its slumber underneath the sink. I have cooked so far three scrummy dishes: Curried Chicken, Italian Pot Roast, and Pulled Pork. It’s nice coming home and having dinner waiting for me instead of the opposite.

This is a pretty good recipe for Stromboli. I am sure veggies would be lovely in this too. I brought whole wheat dough from Whole Foods. The picture below sort of looks like the Prosciutto Bread that my coworker gave me.

stromboli 


Last Night Niel and I watched the Ali G Indahouse movie. It was hysterical. I first knew of Sasha Baron "Ali G" Cohen from Madonna's "Music" video. I thought he was very funny. And I was pretty happy to see HBO air his t.v. show. Then I watched the show and I didn't find it all too funny but I couldn't stop laughing at this movie last night. Of course it was full of bathroom humor and vulgarity but for some reason I lauged and laughed.

The Container Store sent me their latest mailer promoting what stocking stuffers they have for the holidays. They really have the cutest things to make office life a bit easier(heh!). I like this and this and this.

Gellies 


Also Happy Chanukah to all who celebrate it!

One of the things I did this weekend was catching up on some tv watching, while Niel was away visiting some buddies of his. One of the programs I had on tape was The Ellen DeGeneres Show. I know I mentioned before how funny I think she is but she is also very nice. One of the episodes I saw she gave her entire audience a cruise of their choice to either Alaska or Mexico and one lucky person will get to go to the Gallapicos Islands. The audience that day was a miliarty person or family member of a military person. Most day time talk shows have been known to give their audiences neat thingsfor just coming to watch the show but I thought these people were particulary worthy. I wonder if her and Oprah are competing to see who can give away the coolest gifts? Either way I think the both of them and the sponsors are doing good.

ellen 

I hate the taste of most medications. I always have. Blech. My parents have stories of me gagging on any medicine they would give me, while my brother happily gulped his. So I was pretty glad to see that Triaminic and Theraflu both offered strips you can put on your tongue that would instantly melt. Who wants to drink Theraflu or gulp down Triaminic when you can have medicine melt on your tongue? Not me! But Niel got sick first so I experimented on him. Niel is similiar to my brother in that sense, he is a good sick person. Takes his medicine like a "man"! However when I gave him the grape flavored Triaminic strip he SO did not like it. Poor Niel made gagging noises and said it tasted awful and the texture was grainy.

Triaminic 


Theraflu 


The Christmas themed frames are up on my frame site. So shop away! I also tried my hand at some wreath making. You can purchase the wreath on my new wreath site.

Ho Ho Ho 


Tulip Wreath 


I heard on the news this morning about a neat organization who sends DVD's and popcorn to soldiers at war. I think its the least someone can do for what those men and women endure. Here is the link for how you can participate. The same news piece also spoke of this website for people who live in the New York tri-state area and would like to do some volunteer work for their communities.