Shelly Seale is a Mom on a Mission to Travel with a Purpose

Most moms like to travel for fun, a vacation here, a Mommy Spa Day there...

Shelley Seale is a mom whose motto is "Travel with a Purpose".

Most of you have probably seen the recent movie "Slumdog Millionaire". Sometimes, when watching a movie like that, we still feel detached. Shelley traveled to India well before this movie came out, and she told us, "I’ve seen plenty of things like what happened to the characters in that movie happen for real to kids I’ve gotten to know."

When Shelley traveled to India, she saw how many kids were orphaned and left living on the streets to deal with issues like HIV, child labor or the sex trade. It was during that time that she developed a deep compassion for these kids and wanted to help give them a voice in a world where they seemed invisible.

Over the next three years, Shelley worked on her book "The Weight of Silence: Invisible Children of India". She spent hundreds of hours researching and took four trips to India to meet more children and interview social workers, doctors, and locals living there.

Shelley decided to take her daughter with her in 2006 and it was an experience that helped them bond as mother and daughter forever. Shelley said, "I took her to India with me in 2006, when she was 15 years old, and we spent a week working in the orphanage. It was great for our relationship, as well as an incredible growth experience for her. She wants to go back so badly!"

Check out Shelley Seale's book "The Weight of Silence: Invisible Children of India" and visit her website for great tips and advice for how people can follow their passions, get involved and make a big difference with even small actions.



About Shelley Seale:
Shelley is a freelance writer, based in Texas. For much of her life she has had the opportunity to be involved in nonprofit work and social activism, many times having to do with children. Growing up, her family fostered many children and even adopted her sister Katie. As an adult, she volunteered to help abused and neglected children and became a mentor for at risk teens.

In 2004, she read Caroline Boudreaux's story of how she journeyed to India and saw hundreds of kids living in hunger and it changed her world forever. Shelly was compelled to sponsor a child in India through The Miracle Foundation that Caroline Boudreaux began. In 2005, Shelly travelled with Caroline to work in the orphanage and meet the children in India. Needless to say, it changed her world forever too.

Rima and Claudia are two moms on a mission to get you cooking with your kids!

This week, we took a poll to see how many of you ate dinner together as a family. While we only received 13 votes, the results were interesting. When asked how many times a week you eat together as a family at home:

38% - more than 5 times a week
23% - 4 to 5 times a week
15% - sometimes together but at a restaurant
7% - always together but at a restaurant
7% - 2-3 times a week
7% - Never. We are always on the go and everyone eats on their own time.

I'd say 38% of you are downright amazing (or lying - one or the other)! Truth is in the past 20 years family dinners have declined 33 percent and family vacations have decreased 28 percent. With parents working longer hours and kids' schedules being jam packed, there is a steady decline in overall family time together.

If you are like me, your schedule is crazy and you hardly have time for your kids, much less to cook! But that's where we are wrong says moms Rima Barkett and Claudia Pruett, authors of the new cookbook "Cooking Dinner". Rima grew up in Tuscany and she says, "In Italy where I'm from, dinner time is family time - no excuses. Nothing is more important. One person does the salad. One person puts on the pasta, Its time to be together." These two moms say even the busiest families can learn how to cook and enjoy a great meal together. (And did you know that when kids cook meals they are more likely to eat them?)

Rima and Claudia are busy working moms who love to cook. Both were introduced to the love of cooking and entertaining by their mothers and grandmothers and because of their experiences as instructors, chefs and restaurateurs, they decided to create a cookbook to help families learn to cook simple, delicious and healthy meals. Rima and Claudia also started a non-profit organization called the A Tavola Together Foundation that promotes healthy eating for school age children. They have taught students to cook in classrooms and community youth associations, and taught them both life skills and basic cooking techniques.

Their goal is to get families to eat together. Claudia stresses, "We have active kids, busy lifestyles, there is never enough time to get everything done. But, we undervalue ourselves as parents when we believe the time they spend with the coach is more important than the time they spend with us." This is right in tune with what the Mommy and Me Days project is all about - spending time together as a family!

I encourage you to plan to cook a meal this weekend as a family and eat together at your dinner table with no distractions, just FTT as we call it in our family, "Family Talkin' Time!"

Check out their new cookbook "Cooking Dinner" at: http://www.atavolatogether.com/

Calandra Cruickshank and Dana Valdez: Two "Moms on a Mission" to start a stimulus plan of their own with Common Kindness.

Times are tough right now, and we can all use as much help as we can get. Problem is - when things get bad, where do people turn? Many people turn to non-profit organizations for help, but what happens when the non-profits begin to feel the effects of the recession? What happens when they don't have enough money to sustain the people that need help? Where do they turn? They turn to people who can donate, right? But, if you are like most of us hard working moms out there, after you've made your budget and cut your coupons, you are lucky if you have enough money to pay your bills, much less donate to a charity. Well, now there is a solution!

Two moms from upstate New York, Calandra Cruickshank and Dana Valdez are "moms on a mission" to create a sustainable stimulus plan to help families save money, drive traffic to businesses, and help fund non-profits from the national to the local level. Having launched a little over a week ago, their website CommonKindness.com is a revolutionary approach to the everyday coupons we are scavenging for during this recession.

Calandra Cruickshank and Dana Valdez of CommonKindness

Moms everywhere are practicing their coupon cutting skills looking for BOGO offers and 50 cents off their favorite brand of macaroni and cheese, trying to save every penny they can. At the same time, they are getting hit by donation requests from their son's soccer team, the local community center, and every other charity that is need right now. How can they do both without leaving someone out?

Through CommonKindness, moms can clip coupons online and donate to their favorite charities at the same time. Here is how it works: Businesses (both national and local) pay to advertise coupons on CommonKindness.com. Every time someone clips a coupon on their site the business pays a nominal fee to CommonKindness (similar to a pay per click program), who then donates 60% of that fee to charity. What makes it even cooler is that you can choose which charities the revenue from your coupon clippings goes to, down to the local level. For instance, say you clip a coupon for a box of cereal - you can choose for your donations to go to your local church or your son's soccer team! So, even when you don't have the money to give, you can still donate by clipping coupons. Talk about a great fundraising program - politicians take note!

Not only are these moms working to help make the world a better place, but they are inspiring their kids to do the same. They put together a summer internship for their kids in an effort to help them understand more about what their moms do and what CommonKindness is all about. Their children, Aidan and Rowan Cruickshank and Alyssa and Hailey Valdez, spent one week this summer developing a social media outreach program for CommonKindness, directed at teens and young adults. Cassandra told MommyandMeDays, "They were really engaged at the get-go and loved the idea of promoting the idea of "coupons with a conscience". They had to put together almost a business plan." The kids determined that the best way to get a message across to their generation was through YouTube videos, and so they produced 4 YouTube Clips like the one below to help their moms promote CommonKindness. Dana said she's always tried to teach them that, "hard work does pay off and everything they do today rolls into their future." With their internship, they got to see everything come full circle and have really participated in helping their moms promote CommonKindness.

What they are doing is really great. If you are a "coupon clipper", visit their website to clip coupons and know that when you do you are helping someone else too. If you are a charity, register on their site and guess what - they let you make your own "micro-site" on there to direct people to! And finally, if you own a business, I'd consider getting your coupons on there! And if none of these apply to you, then I simply urge you to show someone some common kindness this week!

Mom Jillian Wolstein is working to give hope, education, love and protection to children in Malawi and inspiring her kids to H.E.L.P. along the way.

This month we are featuring strong mothers who are working for a cause or have dedicated a part of their life to helping others. Jillian Wolstein, a 40-something mom from Cleveland, Ohio has dedicated the last 3 years to starting H.E.L.P., a non-profit organization that gives hope, education, love and protection to children in Malawi and throughout the world, starting with an education and health care. Even better, she has involved her four children (all under the age of 19) through the entire process.

“I needed my life at the end of the day to have meant more than that I was married to a very successful man, living in a mansion in Cleveland, Ohio raising my four children. My husband's family has been very philanthropic, There are half a dozen buildings with their name on it in Ohio. They write huge checks, which is very important, but I come from a family of social workers, and for me something was lacking in just the writing of a check.”, Jillian said.

Jillian wanted to be hands on in helping people, seeking the human connection and interaction with those she was helping, and she wanted her children to experience it first hand as well. Jillian shared her thoughts with us on the Western culture's view of the rich and poor:

“In Western cultures we judge someone by how much they are worth financially. It doesn't matter what their character, if they are rich we idolize them. So if you are poor, you must be stupid. Why else would you be poor? I wanted my kids to understand that there are much better ways to judge someone's character than financially. For the vast majority of people in the world, one has nothing to do with the other. If your parents have died, if your government can not provide for you and you don't have access to an education, you might be the most brilliant writer, the most gifted artist, but no one would ever know.”

Jillian and her family were in the process of building an enormous new house, but it was bittersweet, because she felt before she could be worthy of living in such a place, she needed to give back. Jillian said, “I decided on the plane home from Africa that I would come back and try to make a difference. I didn't know where or how I would do it, just that I needed to do something.” That’s when Jillian began her journey to start the H.E.L.P. organization to improve the lives of children in Malawi through education and health care.

As a very hands-on mother of four (all under the age of 19), Jillian has involved her kids in H.E.L.P. every step of the way, from volunteering locally to going to Malawi and donating their time at the school and medical clinic! We asked Jillian how her children were involved and this is what she said:

“My oldest son, Harrison, is a jazz guitarist. On our trip to Malawi, Harrison spent a lot of time with Joseph, a young man who played guitar in the village band. Harrison taught Joseph how to play the American guitar and Joseph taught Harrison how to play his homemade oil can guitar. At the end of the trip they exchanged guitars. The guitar is Joseph's most prized possession and he, along with his fellow band mates, teaches music at our school. They also travel the villages teaching about HIV/AIDS through song.”

“Ilana, my oldest daughter, is a gifted photographer. She took some amazing photos on her trip over and her school did their first ever student showing of her work. She has sold her prints at our events and there are some celebrities that have them hanging in their homes. Ilana also started an organization called SWAP. (Students with a purpose). She has had a benefit for Save Darfur and one for HELP. Ilana and her committee members did everything themselves, got the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for free, sent out corporate letters, hired bands, etc. They had an amazingly successful event and raised over $40,000 for HELP Malawi.”

“Shelby, my youngest daughter, decided to ask for donations instead of gifts for her Bat Mitzvah. People were very generous and she raised $35,000 for HELP. She came with me to Malawi, with her girlfriend and my mother. They helped to break the bricks for the school foundation. The leadership of SWAP has been turned over to her now as Ilana has left for college.”

“Merrick, my youngest, volunteers everyday after school in our office. He has sold our products at his school and has done two different school supply drives at area schools.”

“All four of my kids are fully committed to our projects and talk about going back all the time. My oldest son will be coming over this next summer with his cousin. My younger two ask me all the time about adopting one of the orphans from the village. I tell them that we have already adopted the whole village and that is so much better.”

Jillian has done an amazing job teaching her children how important it is to share your life with others and help them in their time of need. As mothers, it is our responsibility to instill these values and work ethics in our kids. This week I encourage you to think about ways you can teach your children to help - whether it is in Malawi or just helping an elderly neighbor down the street. Our children are watching what we do as moms. Let’s be the example that teaches them to help others!

For more information on how you can help the children of Malawi visit: http://www.helpchildren.org/

September is Moms on a Mission Month on MommyandMeDays.com

September 1st kicks off our "Moms on a Mission" month for mommyandmedays.com. I grew up as a child of a mom on a mission. I believe it is important to honor our moms who are strong women, working to better the world and help those around them. My mom is one of those women whom I highly respect, and has been one of the greatest influences in my life.

They say behind every great man there is a great (or greater) woman. That statement can't be truer when it comes to my family. My mom has been there every step of the way, no matter how many crazy, hairbrained ideas my dad comes up with (no offense Dad). One day, my dad came to her with the idea to get rid of everything they had and move our family to South America to become missionaries. I know if I went to my husband and said that today, he would look at me like I was nuts. Not many spouses would take that seriously. But my mom did. My mom prayed about it and together my parents sold our family's things and gave away what didn't sell and moved us to Costa Rica to learn Spanish. My parents became full time missionaries and we moved to Venezuela to live. It is amazing how little people have in some other countries and how much we take for granted here in the United States. Being a missionary kid was probably the single most influential experience in my life. My mom gave up many opportunities she had in her life to help people in South America and teach them about God. I don't say it enough, but my mom has been a great influence on my life and others, and I am proud of her!

As moms, we have an incredible opportunity to guide our children into the right direction. It is our job to teach our sons and daughters to be strong and independent and to help those in need who can't help themselves. This month we are featuring strong women who are working for a charity or a cause that is special to them. We are highlighting women who have come up with an idea to help the world and those around them. If you, or someone you know is a "Mom on a Mission", share their story in the comments below or email us at mommyandmedays@gmail.com.

This Mom built a brand all about her "Little Stinkers".

How many of us call our kids, "Little Stinkers"? Probably quite a few of us, but one mom decided to start a tee shirt brand around the term. Britt Menzies is the founder of Stinky Kids, a children’s clothing brand that teaches kids about values. The StinkyKids motto teaches little stinkers everywhere to: “Always Be a Leader of Good”

The simple and sweet designs behind her business started from spending time with her kids. Her 2 and 1/2 year old daughter, who loved ballet, asked her to draw a picture of her as a ballerina. Britt never considered herself an artist, rather a doodler. She decided to try and paint a picture of her daughter as a ballerina on a canvas. Her daughter of course loved it, but much to her surprise so did her friends. She eventually brought some of her artwork to a local children's boutique to see if other families would be interested in getting a custom painting of their child. The man who ran the shop was happy to hang up her artwork, but thought her simple designs of the kids characters would sell well on shirts.

Completely flattered by his offer to buy the rights to her characters, Britt had her "aha moment" and decided to go into business herself. Since they always called their kids "little stinkers" they decided to name it "StinkyKids".


Britt says, "While I was creating my new company called StinkyKids, I began to appreciate my mom, Merrily, more than as a great mom, but as a fellow business woman. After her sister Emily died from uterine cancer, my mom decided to leave the corporate world and form a non-profit in her honor (booksbearsbonnets.org) which delivers gift boxes to cancer patients. As it is so hard to raise money for a non-profit, it made sense to partner my new company with her mission, therefore, StinkyKids, from inception, donates 10% of it’s profits towards the fight against cancer, specifically to Books, Bears and Bonnets, Inc."

Britt's kids have been involved with StinkyKids since its inception, and continue to help to this day. "Max and Emma are my business partners. They are the ones that I bounce new ideas and creative direction with. If they like it, then that is a successful focus group. They always give me their suggestions to make it better. They also are the spokeskids for the brand. Emma is our model and Max makes sure everything sounds like it comes from a kid, not a mommy." Britt told MommyandMeDays.

Working from home can be hard. We asked Britt if she plans a "Mommy and Me Day", and she said, "Every day is mommy and me day with my kids. I am very lucky in that my kids love to be with me and my husband and we are a family unit for all activities. As my kids are in elementary school now, the weekends are mommy and me days. I do have time with each kid where we go to the movies or paint pottery together, but mostly we are all together. My husband travels a lot, so the kids and I work together to make the week's agenda work and still have fun together."

What are some of their favorite mommy and me day ideas? "Our favorite thing to do together is go to the movies. I have been taking Max to the movies since he was 2 years old (he is now 10) and Emma has been going since she was a newborn. I have kept all of the movie stubs in a scrapbook to remember all of the fun we had together and the movies we saw. We also really love our snuggle time together at the end of the day, on the couch."

Britt is living proof it is hard to balance being a full time mom and working from home. Check out how CNBC's BIG Idea with Donny Deutsch helped her organize her home office and teach her to manage her stress:


Check out www.stinkykids.com for some adorable shirts for your "little stinkers". StinkyKids shirts are carried in boutiques in Georgia, Florida and Illinois or can be ordered online. To find StinkyKids in your area click here.

This working mom has the yummiest job! Jill Robbins started her own cookie company!

Not many moms can say they own and operate a cookie company, but that's exactly what Jill Robbins does! After her son began developing allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, dairy and soy, as a mom she had to get creative with her cooking! Those allergens are often found in baked treats or in facilities where baked treats are made. Did you know that more than 1 million Americans are allergic to peanuts alone? Add all the allergens together and there are more than 12 million Americans who can't eat cookies!

Jill said, "Watching my son, watching everyone else enjoying treats was my motivation for starting my allergen free baking." Before starting her cookie company, HomeFree Cookies, Jill was still busy working as a clinical psychologist, singing in a choir and volunteering at her son's school. Now, she has a much more fun job.... baking cookies! Here is what she had to say about it:

Jill Robbins, owner of HomeFree Cookies

How have you involved your son in the “cookie business”?

In the most fun way possible - taste testing! Every cookbook recipe and every HomeFree product has to get a very high “score.” My son with food allergies also sometimes helps at fundraising events, where he proudly enjoys handing out HomeFree cookies to participants.

What has been your hardest struggle when it comes to balancing your family life with your work life?

It is hard to be pulled by both. I went from working part time as a psychologist to working much more than full time to build our new company. That has been a challenge for my whole family. But my husband has taken on a lot of the cooking and shopping, so that when I am not working it is easier to spend time on other family activities.

You are obviously very busy. How do you find time to balance your crazy schedule and spending time with your kids? Do you have a set “Mommy and Me Day”?

Today is a good example. I considered staying home to work this weekend, rather than join my family to visit relatives. Instead, I am here, spending most of the time with the family, and some time on my computer. With regard to “Mommy and Me” time, we have sometimes had Saturday afternoons for that (after shipping orders in the morning), but mostly we like our time to be family time.

What are your kids’ favorite Mommy and Me Activities?

One of my sons is grown. My son with food allergies (age 12) has a passion for Scrabble. So he and I started a Scrabble club at his school. Our favorite activities together are Scrabble related. For example, kind of like a “soccer mom” going from game to game cheering on her child, my husband and I take our son to Scrabble tournaments. We just got back from 5 days in Ohio cheering on our son at the National Scrabble Championship. We also play ping pong, play Wii, play with our dog, and co-create recipes for cookies!

What struggles did you come across in starting your business? Did your family support you?

Starting any new business requires an incredible amount of time, money, and energy. Because allergy safety is so essential to me, I had the additional need to construct and operate my own baking facility. My family has been amazingly supportive in every way. They share my mission of making widely available our delicious, wholesome, inclusive treats.

I am very familiar with organic products as both of my nephews have allergy issues and my brother keeps them on a very strict organic diet. I know it can be a struggle getting kids to eat organically. How do HomeFree cookies taste? What has been the response from kids?

The question surprised me. It has been a very long time since organic products didn’t taste great. Organic simply refers to the practice of having foods grown and processed very naturally, such as without unnatural pesticides, additives, or genetically modified organisms. If anything, some people think organic products taste better than non-natural products, since they are just made from real food. The question I hear more often is how our cookies taste, given that they are 100% whole grain. But the grains we use – oats and barley - taste delicious and have wonderful texture. Every HomeFree cookie contains at least ½ serving of whole grain (the oatmeal cookies almost a whole serving!) out of 3 recommended daily servings. Pretty amazing from a cookie! And, yes, kids LOVE them. (Adults do too.)

Can we buy HomeFree cookies online and get them shipped anywhere in the US?

Yes. At http://www.homefreetreats.com/ people can find not only our cookies (boxed and individually wrapped), but also our hand made coffee cakes, our Allergen Free Baking cookbook, and our allergen-tested baking ingredients. Our cookies are also increasingly available at stores, as well as at schools and other institutions. People can request the cookies too – store buyers and institutions really care about meeting the needs of their customers.

Tina Miser is a Mom with The Greatest Job on Earth as a Human Cannonball!

When I started my search to find working moms with unique or out of the ordinary jobs, a human cannonball did not come to mind! Though many of us as kids talked about running away to join the circus, most of us never followed that dream - but this mom did!

Before running off to join the circus, Tina received a degree from Ball State University and served in the United States Air Force reserves. Her hometown is Peru, Indiana, which coincidentally is also known as the "Circus Capital of the World", because it is where the circus troupes would stay during the winter when they were traveling, in the early 20th century. Every year, Peru stages an amateur circus, put on by local volunteers. After returning from the Air Force reserves, Tina volunteered for the amateur circus in her hometown in 1999. There, she reconnected with Brian Miser, who was also from Peru, Indiana and a member of the Ringling Brothers Circus. He was a trapeze artist, but had also built the cannon that she would eventually be shot out of. He asked her if she would join him in the circus and shoot him out of the cannon, and she couldn't refuse. Little did she know that she would be running off to join the circus with the man who would eventually become her husband!

Tina really wanted to be shot out of the cannon, despite the danger that came with it. So on the 135th Edition of the Ringling Bros., the husband and wife performed a double-cannon act. Later, they asked Ekaterina Borzikova, a gymnast from St. Petersburg Russia, to join their act. Today Tina and Ekaterina, both of whom are moms, are shot out of the cannons simultaneously. Talk about Super-Moms!

It was difficult to make contact with Tina while she is traveling with the circus and in between shows, but we were able to get her to answer a few questions for us:

When you were a little girl, did you ever go to the circus and imagine it becoming your full-time job one day?

I always wanted to run away and join the circus, but I never imagined myself doing something as daring as being shot from a cannon!

You were in the Air Force Reserves prior to joining the circus. Do you think your Air Force training prepared you for the stunts in the circus?

Being a member of the AF Reserve trained me mentally for a lot of things. It taught me discipline and organization, plus many more skills that I rely on. When preparing to be shot from the cannon, there is no room for error. As with many jobs in the military, precision and accuracy is important.

What goes through your mind when you are sitting on the cannon about to be shot out?
I am completely focused on every step of setting myself up for the perfect shot. I have a routine that I follow to mentally and physically prepare myself to be shot from the cannon. I follow those steps every show.

What does your daughter, Skyler think of her mommy being a human cannonball?
I just asked her to answer this question and she said, "I like it. The Human Cannonball is the coolest thing in the circus!"

Your entire family is involved in some way or another. Your husband is the one who shoots you out of the cannon. Your daughter Skyler, who is 5, has grown up in the circus. Does she participate in any acts?
She uses some circus equipment set up inside of the trailer that we tow behind our motor home. She puts on 'shows' daily there! I think she would be a great circus performer. She has great poise and talent already, but we will just wait and see. There is no pressure for her to follow in my footsteps.

I am sure you stay quite busy with the number of shows that you do. Apart from performing and practicing, what kind of activities do you do for “mommy and me time” while traveling?
I am homeschooling her in Kindergarten right now. That is actually quite fun. It was awesome the first time she read a little book to me. Besides school, we try to find a fun tourist activity in every town. She is just 5 1/2 and has been to 40 states.

Human cannonball Tina Miser has been shot out of a cannon almost 2,000 times. Now that's what we call a unique job! Check out http://www.ringling.com/ for more info on the circus and the human cannonball act.

Nicole Stott Becomes First Mom to Live on the International Space Station!

There are some moms that have cool and interesting jobs - and then there is Nicole, a national hero and mommy to a seven-year old son.

I've been hearing about it for the last 7 years, since I first met Astronaut Nicole Stott's sister Noelle when we worked together at a retail store in Tampa Bay. Noelle, also a working mom and personal trainer for ClubFit, would say, "My sister is a rocket scientist." While in the past I may have tried to "one-up" my friends or colleagues, how could I top this? Actually, I thought it was a joke, until she showed me one of her expeditionary trainings called "NEEMO" where her sister Nicole lived underwater for 18 days, being filmed 24/7. Talk about reality TV!

Well, Nicole's long awaited trip to space is finally here! On August 25th Nicole Stott will officially launch into orbit and become the first mom to ever live on the International Space Station otherwise known as the ISS!

It will be an amazing journey, as this is Nicole's first mission to space and a day that she has been waiting for since August, 2000, when she first began her Astronaut training. The mission is called "Expedition 20 and 21". On the 13-day flight, they will deliver science and storage racks, a freezer to store research samples, a new sleeping compartment and a treadmill a.k.a. "Colbert", named after comedian Stephen Colbert (which Nicole intends to try out). Also during this expedition, Nicole will have the opportunity to participate in an "EVA" (and we aren't talking about the robot in the movie WALL-e). An EVA is an Extra-Vehicular Activity, otherwise known as a Spacewalk, to continue the assembly of the space station. Nicole will trade places with astronaut Tim Kopra, who has been on the ISS since July. Nicole will live in space for three months until the STS-129 shuttle mission arrives in November.

Nicole told Isle of Man newspapers that one of the most difficult things about the mission was being away from her family for so long. Luckily, technology has improved and they will be able to communicate from afar. She is looking forward to her first view of space and her first step. Meanwhile her family will be watching, waiting and supporting her with their thoughts and prayers here on earth.

Nicole is living proof that no matter what, you can achieve the most amazing dreams if you stay focused and work hard. Make sure you TIVO the launch to show your kids. You never know, they might decide to become astronauts one day too!

Join Nicole's Ground Support Team and go to www.nicoleinspace.com

Press Release: Florida native to live aboard International Space Station