Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Memorial Day is a GREAT day to do some good.

Memorial Day, as you know, is a day to remember those who have fallen while serving and protecting our country, as well as remembering our ancestors who went before us.

{It used to be known as Decoration Day -- interesting tidbit I did not know.}

Some ways to observe Memorial Day are:

• Visiting cemeteries and placing flags or flowers on the graves of fallen heroes.
• Visiting memorials
• Flying the U.S. flag at half-staff until noon.
• Participate in the "National Moment of Rememberance by observing a moment of silence at 3 p.m. (local time.)

You can also watch or listen to the National Memorial Day Concert that airs on NPR and PBS.

You could also combine the holiday with the weekly challenge and say "Thank you" to those who continue to serve our country. Some suggestions for this very thing are below!

*You can go here and send an e-card very quickly that will be sent to our troops. "Let's Say Thanks" is a free service provided by XEROX. It is quick and simple. First you scroll through the designs (I believe all of the designs were created/drawn by children.) Then you personalize it with a message, your name, and hometown. Then you hit "send." Really simple. Really good.

*Or, you can contribute to USO Operation Phone Home. Information from their site:

USO Operation Phone Home delivers prepaid international phone cards to deployed service members free of charge. As one of the most requested items from deployed service members, the prepaid international phone cards continue to be a hit with service men and women. The phone cards are distributed through USO centers both overseas and in the U.S., where they are handed out to service members passing through, or are delivered directly to military units. Since the program began, more than 2.2 million phone cards have been distributed.

The USO currently pays $15.00 for each 300-unit phone card that we distribute to our service men and women. Through our ongoing partnership with AT&T, the USO benefits from discounted rates for these very popular cards. 100 percent of the money raised for the USO Operation Phone Home program goes to the purchase of phone cards.

I imagine a call home is just what some of these soldiers need.

There are a few ways to donate:

Online choose the "donate to a specific program" option.

By Phone: 1-800-876-7469

By Mail:

(with O.P.H. written in the memo)
USO Headquarters
PO Box 96860
Washington, DC 20090-6860

OR......

*You can join Soldiers' Angels, The Chrylser Group LLC, and Zac Brown Band and participate in their Letters for Lyrics campaign. (Come on people, I'm droppin' names here -- real names, famous names! This is good stuff!)

Basically, here's how it works:

Their goal is to deliver 1,000,000 (that's one million -- in case you aren't used to seeing that many zeros), letters to servicemen and women around the world.

Go to any Dodge or Ram Truck dealer and write a card.

In exchange you will receive a FREE CD (once again, I repeat, FREE CD) with three new songs from the Zac Brown Band and others from various artists also with the Southern Ground Label. {After hearing this I'm sure the hubs is thinking "You had me at CD. You had me at CD!"}

If you're interested in reading a little bit more about this, you can go to Chrysler's blog, here, or to Soldiers' Angels, or to Zac Brown Band's site.

This is a great campaign and you get something FREE from someone famous!

{By the way, I forgot to mention, there is also a brand new video you can watch for free.}

Actually, it's really great because it is an excellent way to spread some good to some of those that sacrifice the most for our freedom!

A huge thank you to all those who have served and continue to do so. I love and appreciate all that you do. (To my big bro -- thanks! You are awesome! I'm so proud of you! To my friend from high school who serves -- thank you! You too are awesome!) To everyone else that serves -- I sincerely thank you!

I hope you all have a great Memorial Day weekend and take the time to do at least one of the things above. It is a really good way to give back and a very fine way to spend your time this weekend.