It is better to give than to receive

You can really enrich your life and your community by giving.  You can, of course, give money but we don't have so much of that.  But you can also give of your time.  And frankly that can be more rewarding.  I have a friend who volunteers with a literacy group.  Another friend volunteers at a hospice.  I volunteer with the Taste of Vail every year.  It is a food and wine event where all the proceeds are given to a local charity.  I have so much fun with that I forget I'm also doing something good for my community.  There are lots of ways to volunteer that will tap into your interests.  Check your local Habitat for Humanity, Library, Hospital, Museum,School, Town and Highway clean up and any other charities.  They are always looking for another hand. 

Click here for more info about this year's artwork for sale.

The Library can save you money on Magazines

We are lucky here in the Vail Valley. We have beautiful libraries with big comfy chairs in front of fireplaces. Both the Vail Library and the Avon Library are peaceful places to hang out. They carry a ton of different magazines which means once a month you can head to the library and read the new issue of your favorite magazine, uninterrupted by the phone, laundry and a dirty house waiting to be cleaned. Also the library has a lot of online subscriptions so you can access several magazine web sights that require a special web subscription, like Consumer Reports. The Vail Library user name is vaillibrary and the password is vaillibrary. Both libraries offer online downloads of audio books too. Download on to your MP3 or ipod and listen on the run. Not only do you save money with all the library has to offer but you save the earth too because you don't have a stack of old magazines piling up in the landfill.