Autumn Wall - Week's End

Lovely winding vine-twine from Giampaolo Macorig in Rome. A good weekend to all.

1 Dollar is a fortune

IKEA's 2009 Soft Toy Aid tag line.* It matters not if you purchase a teensy rat (eek!) or something larger. IKEA donates the equivalent per soft toy purchased to UNICEF & Save the Children. A double-dip thought: adopt one more toy than you need & donate to Toys for Tots. (*£1 in the UK, €1 elsewhere)

ciao-early-merry-meow/the Management

[GG Central collage from IKEA images]

Can You Hear Me Now? Again?

While we are under the weather, some updates on Darfur, South Sudan, & Congo (DRC). Today from Enough Project's John Prendergast on New Legislative Action Tackles Congo's Conflict Minerals. Please click through to the take action link for suggestions regarding personal electronic purchase & recycling. Thanks.

[photographs by drburtoni & Mvemba Phezo Dizolele/Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting]

Swan Sunday

UPDATE Tuesday, 17 November 2009. GG Central is under-the-weather again. (What a bore.) Please visit links, especially Made4Aid & Darfur Peace & Development Organization. Ciao-meow...cough...

Have a lovely Sunday. [black, mute, & whooper swans via animalphotos]

Made4Aid Holiday Shopping - Week's End

Start your holiday shopping this weekend by visiting the Made4Aid site. There are some beautiful items on auction now. Also the Women's Peace Collection (formerly the Amber Chand Collection) & Darfur Project - Eclectic Bags. We're in a hurry, no doubt about it. More soon...but there's plenty to investigate on GG links.

ciao-rushed-meow/GG Central

[Made4Aid photographs/all rights reserved/used with kind permission]

Opportunity Knocks

We'll be with you soon. Must check this out. Ahem.

[from cute overload:) via we heart it]

GG Central Breakfast Special

The special? Donate some time or funds (or both) to a humanitarian organization & we won't pester you about it until...tomorrow. If you're blogger, sneak in some do-gooder business. It's a deal, OK? Here's one of our very favorite organizations. Yes, we're running late. What else is new?

ciao-meow/GG's short-order cook

[photograph from Motley Photos via we heart it]

IKEA's Soft Toy Aid 2009 Begins

For every soft toy you purchase from now until December 24, 2009, $1 will be donated to UNICEF and Save the Children. (See here for other countries' currency donations.) This year's campaign tag line is $1 is a Fortune. And so it is. This year, the soft toys got together & made a darling video. There's an interactive website for us regular people to join in, here. We will be featuring the soft animals as we did last year. They are so cute & very inexpensive.

At the moment, GG is asleep beside ancient Celeste the IKEA Pig (her full name). We just might keep one of the toys this year for GG, too.

[GG Central collage made from IKEA images/2008 archives]

Remembrance Sunday

A red poppy to all Commonwealth soldiers & veterans who have served or are serving currently. We are in the States, but are thankful for your service, as we are for GG's human uncle, a cat lover, serving in Afghanistan.

a subdued ciao-meow/GG's editor

[public domain image]

Everybody Wants to be a Cat - Week's End

Everybody wants to be a cat,
because a cat's the only cat
who knows where it's at...--The Aristocats

Some Thursday afternoon fun via stlyrics. Update: The video disappeared from stlyrics but we found the person who made the YouTube video (bea142 --thanks!), here.

ciao-meow/GG Central Cinema