oct. 24th will be big annual fund-raising event for The Joyful Child Foundation: www.thejoyfulchild.org

it will be held this year at The Grove in Anaheim, from 6:00 - 10:00 p.m... with a cocktail reception, silent auction, gourmet dinner and a special presentation by erin runnion --- capped off by an intimate half-hour acoustic set with none other than Cyndi Lauper!

i have been very busy doing what i can to help organize some of the artwork donations for the silent auction (in case anyone has been wondering where i've been-) i am very lucky to have some amazingly talented friends who have been generous enough to give some pieces to help raise funds and consciousness for this wonderful cause...

so tonight, i am finally packing, hoping my exhausted and stressed out TOS body will allow me to at least last long enough to make the drive down to OC (with the help of a girlfriend), check-in to a local hotel and show up at the benefit tomorrow evening with a smile on my face. who knows, i may even last the entire evening! miracles do happen-

we are very lucky to have ms. lauper performing this year. erin tells me that chld abuse is a cause which is very near and dear to her heart. and being able to attract performing and visual artists to The Joyful Chld, to me is wonderful because it helps make it a little bit easier for people to talk about such a difficult and painful subject. and to get INVOLVED.

if you go to the website you will see much more info, and an audio loop of la lauper singing "true colors" is playing, to promote the Joyful Feast... it is really cool!

i sure have missed everybody on the forum... be back as soon as i have "recovered" from all the stress and excitement! take care.

alison
"Be Brave"

PS thanks to those who expressed their concern - it wasn't the fires that were getting to me... just a different type of "hotseat"; well worth it but very, very hard to focus on anything else as i'm sure you all can understand (and my heart goes out to anyone in CA who is affected by the fires-)