Gwendolyn Strong Foundation Wins!

Thank you to all my friends and family who voted for the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation in the Chase Community Giving contest on Facebook. GSF came in at #6 which awards them $100,000!

Please check out Gwendolyn's website in the link below to read all the details:

Gwendolynstrong.com

We Need Your Help

Dear Friends, Family, Followers, ANYONE WHO READS THIS BLOG,

One of my daughters best friends, Gwendolyn Strong, is the same age as Samantha, and has a terminal illness called Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). Children with SMA lack a gene in their DNA that keeps the motor neurons thriving: Gwendolyn's body is completely paralyzed, she breathes from a machine, and eats from a tube. Her mind, however, is completely normal. She loves to play with stickers, watch Sesame Street and dress up like a princess. Samantha and Gwendolyn have playdates and we are so hopeful that one day, Gwendolyn will be able to run around with Samantha. Researchers at UC Irvine are REALLY close to a cure for SMA, but they need funding to push it towards FDA approval. It is so exciting (yet frustrating) to know how close it is!

JP Morgan Chase Bank has committed to donating $5 million dollars to non-profit organizations, $1 million of which was already distributed in December. Through a Facebook voting system, the top 100 non-profits were awarded $25,000 in cash. The Gwendolyn Strong Foundation was one of these winners (yippeee!), and 100% of the funds were sent directly to UC Irvine's SMA research team. Next up is the final round of voting for the BIG prize: $1,000,000. One million!! This voting is all done through Facebook, and started yesterday and ends on 1/22/2010.

Please take a few minutes to watch this video to learn more about Gwendolyn and the Chase Contest: Gwendolyn Strong Video

Imagine this: $1,000,000 towards SMA research could actually end this disease. Not "get the ball rolling" on research, not "hope for a cure," but actually end it. And, most importantly in my eyes, it could save Gwendolyn's life. The research that is sooooo close to FDA approval is one that could affect babies who already have SMA (like Gwendolyn), and could completely remove them from symptoms. Can you imagine Gwendolyn running into our playgroup and giving the kids high-fives and hugs without a breathing machine? I CAN!!!!!!!

Here are some facts:

Dr. Kierstad (UC Irvine) has dedicated his life to spinal cord injuries. He has already successfully performed a lab experiment on mice that allowed the previously-paralyzed animals to literally get up and walk. He is now focusing on SMA research, which is closely related to spinal cord injuries, muscular dystrophy's, ALS/Lou Gehrig's, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. It is his belief that a groundbreaking surgery (so close to FDA approval!) could allow the body to re-build the proteins that are missing in children with SMA. That means Gwendolyn has the potential to be symptom free! Forever!

Money is holding back a cure. Other diseases, such as breast cancer and AIDS, have massive amounts of funding and research behind them, but "cures" are still unknown. The "cure" for SMA is just around the corner, but nothing can be done until the funds are there to continue the research.

SMA is the #1 genetic killer of children under two years of age, and 1 in 40 adults (unknowingly) carry the gene to pass it on.

How can you help?

It is ridiculously simple:

If you're already a member of Facebook:
1) Click Here (you might need to log in if you've not already)
2) Click on "Vote for Charity"
That's it! It'll give you the option of posting on your status that you voted (do it!! with a message to your friends!!). How easy is that?!

If you're not a member of Facebook yet:
1) Click Here and sign up for a (free) account.
2) Click on "Vote for Charity"
A box will appear that allows you to show your friends that you have voted. Even if you don't have any friends (yet), follow the instructions so your future friends will know!

And to help even further, please forward this post on to your friends or if you have a blog, do a posting on Gwendolyn. I really dislike forwards and spam emails, but this is personal to me and I am going to do whatever I can to get the word out. This is an effort sheerly driven by people voting: the GSF needs every single vote it can get.

Samantha loves to play with Gwendolyn. She loves to hold her hand and show her toys. I'm looking forward to explaining to Samantha why Gwendolyn doesn't have to wear a breathing machine anymore ("she's cured!") instead of giving her the opposite devastating news. And I want to see Gwendolyn's parents, Bill and Victoria Strong, get a well deserved break from the constant monitoring they have been doing for over 2 years straight now! So, please, please, please, PLEASE vote and spread the word to every person you know.

Please don't ignore this and think your vote won't count. As of right now, GSF is #5 out of 100. We have a little less than a week to make it to the top!

Thank you so much and please email if you have any questions on how to vote!






-The Fallon Family

An Afternoon Concert

Isabella, Connor and Samantha gave me an afternoon concert. Some highlights to look for: Connor trying out some heavy metal style vocals and Bella doing a solo dance to "Wheels on the Bus" with Samantha on lead vocals.

Sam and Lolly at the Beach

I have lived in Santa Barbara for about 15 years now and for as long as I can remember the weather in January has always been really nice. This is the 2nd day in row that we have spent the day at the beach in the 70+ degree weather. Samantha and Lollipop ran laps around each other, jumped in puddles and chased the seagulls. Samantha drew happy faces in the sand, searched for sea shells and loved discovering all the sea creatures in the tide pools. It is hard to keep up with both of them when you are expecting a baby in about 7 more weeks!

Tuesdays with Grandma and Papa

Samantha has really been enjoying her Tuesday visits with Dancing Grandma and Papa Ward (and so have I). They go to the library, the park, feed the ducks, grocery shopping, walk around the mall, visit friends and so much more. Sometimes they do all of this in one day!

I love when Samantha walks in the door on Tuesday evenings because she starts to tell me all the things she did (or what she thought she did) and it goes something like this, "I feed the ducks. I ate ham. The man fixed the pool. I cook with Grandma. I go swimming. I go up and down stairs. I get treats. I read with Papa. I played with the puppy. I had oatmeal."

Asking a 2 year old to rehash their day is pretty funny.

Lombo di Maiale Coi Porri (Pan-Roasted Pork Loin with Leeks)

I made this pork tenderloin recipe as a special New Year's lunch for my family. This recipe is very easy to make, you just need to make sure you allow enough time for the pork tenderloin to simmer. There is nothing worse than getting half way through a recipe and then realizing the cook time is 2 + hours, or worse, the meat requires overnight marinating . I have made this mistake several times and now I make sure I read cooking times thoroughly BEFORE starting the recipe.

From Cooking Light Magazine

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: about 3 ounces pork and about 2 1/2 tablespoons leek mixture)

Ingredients
4 large leeks (about 2 1/4 pounds)
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon butter, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, divided
1 (2-pound) boneless pork loin, trimmed
1/2 cup dry white wine
Chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Preparation
Remove roots and tough upper leaves from leeks. Cut each leek in half lengthwise. Cut each half crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices (you should have about 6 cups). Soak in cold water to loosen dirt.

Combine leeks, 1/2 cup water, 1 teaspoon butter, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a large Dutch oven or deep sauté pan over medium-high heat. Cook for 10 minutes or until leek wilts. Pour the leek mixture into a bowl.

Heat remaining 2 teaspoons butter in pan over medium-high heat. Add pork to pan. Cook 5 minutes, turning to brown on all sides. Add remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and wine to pan; cook 15 seconds, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Return leek mixture to pan. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 2 hours or until pork is tender. Remove pork from pan. Increase heat to reduce leek sauce if too watery. Cut pork into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Serve with leek mixture. Garnish with parsley, if desired.

Sweet Pea and Tuna Salad

I was feeling like having something lighter for dinner after all the eating we did over the holidays which included two prime rib dinners, double servings of apple pie and who knows how many times I was dipping into the See's Candy box.

This is a quick and simple pasta salad. I used two different kinds of pasta that I had on hand, whole-wheat Penne Rigate (tubes) and Farfalle (small bow ties). I recommend sticking to a smaller sized pasta like they recommend in the recipe below or use Farfalle like I used as the larger pasta made it a bit heavier than it should be. I doubled the peas and celery and halved the amount of red onion and it turned out great.

Adapted from Real Simple Magazine

Serves 4

Ingredients
4 cups short pasta, such as shells or orecchiette
1 1/2 cups frozen peas, thawed
1 stalk celery, chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
1/2 cup roughly chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 6-ounce cans tuna, drained
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1.Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain and rinse under cold running water.
2.In a large bowl, combine the pasta, peas, celery, onion, parsley, and tuna.
3.In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, vinegar, salt, mustard, and pepper. Pour over the salad and gently toss. Serve at room temperature or chilled.