Technicolour by Samurai Chopstick

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that frightens us. We ask ourselves ‘who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?’

Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It’s not just in some of us; its in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

- Marianne Williamson, Return to Love

We need rain here in Texas. Badly.

That’s a picture from Big Dog Rescue’s Facebook page. They’re located in the Austin area, and their Vice President just had her house burned down and they’re looking for fosters to take in animals displaced. The Bastrop County Animal Shelter was evacuated as well and thanks to the awesome folks at Austin Pets Alive and the Austin Humane Society, all the animals were saved and they’re looking for donations and temporary fosters.

If you’re in Texas and want to help in some way, check out the Help For Fire Victims Facebook page and keep updated with the news on the Statesman, they’ve been on top of everything. It’s been crazy down here, and today is supposed to be worse. If you haven’t heard, Central Texas is being hit HARD with fires right now. The biggest being the one in Bastrop that has burned up to 25,000 acres since yesterday, jumped the Colorado River twice, and has desecrated more than 300 houses. Over 5,000 people have been evacuated so far, and a mother and her 18-month-old child were killed. The winds from the recent hurricane aren’t helping. You can check out the placement of all fire activity on this page.

Ash and I are in east Austin and while the fires are supposedly moving away from us, we’ve still come up with our evacuation plan (packing up 20 animals is no easy feat). Standing outside in our front yard, the smell of smoke is strong. It’s scary. If we didn’t have so many fosters already, I know we’d both be at the shelter taking in animals right now. I’ll be continually nagging friends all day to make sure they’re okay.

Please send good thoughts, positive vibes, and lots of rain.

I kind of have all sorts of love for Kickstarter.com. If you aren’t familiar with it, check it out. It’s a site that enables creatives to create fundraisers for projects of all sorts – from art to dance to tech to food to flying pigs to the moon and back. It is a fantastic tool to get noticed and, of course, raise money for projects that better the world. Which is why I’m introducing a new column here at Snailbird: Kickstarter Favorites!

Field Guide to Chrysalies They’re Not Faeries

Paul Keskey is a New York painter with a passionate dream to introduce the world to Chrysalies, sentient beings that often mistaken for the more commonly known faery. Using his subtle paintings and carefully written observations, Paul has created a field guide to the natural world of this little creature. In order to bring his dream to reality, he has utilized Kickstarter to get the word out about it: A Field Guide to Chrysalies, They’re Not Faeries.

As of this post, Paul has a total of $4,400 and needs to reach $10,500 in seven days, September 11th. I believe it’s doable. And Kickstarter makes it easy for you to help. All you have to do is make a pledge to donate any amount of money to help him reach his goal. You don’t have to pledge for nothing – Paul has some awesome incentives for different levels of pledgers, which you can check out on the kickstarter page. You could get postcards, prints, hand-drawn thank you cards, or even a copy of the very book Paul is trying to make. And everything Paul makes is a work of art. You can check out his personal art gallery page at MorningMist Studios. Oh, and if you haven’t gotten enough of Paul, check out the interview I did with him for Fuel Your Illustration.

More Incentive: Hurricane Irene

Why else should you pledge to donate for Paul’s project? Well one, it’s just plain beautiful and I think everyone would benefit for having such a gorgeous book in their house. But another good reason is a simple one: to support Paul and his family. Living in New York means that his family was located in the path of the recent Hurricane Irene. His neighborhood, and his yard, was flooded, and I know that making his goal would be one hell of an awesome way to make his week better as he deals with all the weather issues. This morning he sent me these pictures of what he’s working with right now and it made me want to help him even more.

Make Your Pledge To Support Paul

Paul is awesome and he’s got an amazing talent to bring fantasy to life. His paintings are right out of my own childhood. Why wouldn’t you want to donate to his cause? Pledge your support and donate to A Field Guide to Chrysalies, They’re not Faeries!

Do you know Victoria Klein? If not, you should. This woman is out to change the world. She is a blogger, a book author, a model, and a woman with a message. I was given the opportunity to read her newest book 48 Things to Know About Sustainable Living and ask her a few questions. Come get to know this awesome woman and learn a little more about what inspired her to write such a rockin’ book.

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