Happy Holidays, y’all! 

It’s snowing today in Albuquerque, so I’ve caught the holiday spirit bug in spite of being up to my neck in moving box chaos.  Husband and I are in the middle of the move to our new home the day after Christmas, so no Christmas tree this year.  I decided to display a magical holiday image here instead.  (I guess it’s putting up a tree of the digital kind!)

OK, so 2007 has brought me a bit closer to making my assistive devices improvement dreams a reality; if only in the fact that I was able to launch this rockin’ website.  I must admit that while I adore my site, worldwide hits/visits are far fewer than I’d hoped for upon first professionally venturing out into cyberland.  Only a couple people have shown interest in my site’s forum.  Not one person has mentioned the contest, which is a page that hasn’t been updated since the launch of the site. (Well, I can’t say that I’m that lacking for posts on the forum–I get daily spam posts of credit card offerings, porn links, and other crappy stuff I monitor and delete OFTEN.  Lovely.  Not what I’d had in mind originally, but hey…)  With the forum and the contest pages, I’d hoped (and still do) for the job of maintaining a beautiful, colorful online haven where artists and the rest of us can share our ideas and pictures of “devices improved”.  Admittedly, I haven’t been as diligent “getting the word out” about my side as I should be.  I plan on touching base with the local Albuquerque art community after the big move to get some creative and dynamic people involved with this industry-altering project.  With greater involvement from people here in my fantastic city and elsewhere, I am certain that the website and the idea of turning medical necessities into lifestyle accessories will blossom beautifully in 2008. 

I will personally continue practicing daily acts of peace, global-mindedness, kindness, and beauty in 2008. (well, most days anyway…)  I also promise to continue working on bringing style and sassiness to personal mobility devices, or at least to make a big stink as to why we all should be working towards this goal.  The day I see colorful, creatively-designed children’s walkers, wheelchairs, canes, and crutches in Toys-R-Us along side the other toys, is the day I’ll know I’ve finally succeeded in making my dream a reality.  Oh, to acheive such lofty goals!!!

In hugs and Christmas cookies,

Sarah

That’s right–this cutie gal on the left with those fab crutches started www.LemonAidCrutches.com a couple years ago after surviving a small plane crash that took the lives of her husband and young son.  Laurie herself was badly injured, but survived.  After countless surgeries and frustrating months necessitating the use of plain-looking medical crutches, Laurie and her sister decided to turn lemons into lemonade.  She took her medical necessities and turned them into lifestyle accessories (YOU GO GIRL!) by taking her crutches to a local body classy, sassy fabrics and cute carrying accessories to complete the look.  Now, folks can use such medical products with an ATTITUDE of flair and confidence!  What a concept, ‘eh?  Bless you, Laurie!  Keep up the great work. 

I encourage you to send an email to Ms. Johnson thanking her for her vision and sense of flair.  Her company embodies exactly what I preach on this site, and I truly DIG her for that.

(Thanks to Sylvia, my fab mother-in-law, who called me all excited after reading about LemonAidCrutches last night!  To you all:  sorry I hadn’t come across this myself at one point and encouraged you to check this out earlier. )

Not only does Laurie completely rock because of her style and design genius, but she also donates 50% of her crutch sales to a non profit foundation that offers assistance to individuals who have suffered profound loss.  Please also visit www.StepWithHope.org to see for yourself the wonderful programs that are available to those in dire need. 

In other personal newsiness, I’ve been enjoying listening to Napster this week, as I came across Amazon’s “100 Best of 2007″ albums.  I always dig listening to bands I’ve never heard of/about.  Of course, their #2 amazon editor pick is LCD Soundsystem’s “Sound of Silver”, which I’ve listened to many times since it’s release.  In case you haven’t heard their tight single, “North American Scum”, here it is to add some flava to ya ear. Enjoy.