I was a bit of a tomboy growing up. I loved to play with cars, the dirt and pretty much anything else that boys played with. Don't get me wrong, I had my fair share of Barbies, My Little Ponies and Cabbage Patch dolls too. In fact, a lot of my barbies would ride my cars! Anyways, what I'm trying to get to is that if you're child loves trucks, cars and anything else on wheels, they are going to love a new event this weekend in Northwest Arkansas. It's called Touch a Truck and gives kids the opportunity to explore, climb and actually get in the driver's seat of various trucks. Here are just a few of the vehicles that will be there: Dale Earnhardt, Sr. race car, an ambulance, fire trucks, police cars, construction equipment, helicopter, school bus, motorcycles, the Wal-Mart Logistics Emergency Response Truck and I can't forget to mention the 40/29 news truck. There will also be a station for parents to have their car seat checked to make sure it's installed properly and a booth for fingerprinting. If you're interested, here's the information.

I should mention that 40/29 is a sponsor of this event and I'm a member of the Junior League, but even so, this is a great event that you won't want to miss! See you there rain or shine!

It's been an on going fight for decades... equal pay for equal work. Each year, one Tuesday in April is designated as Equal Pay Day by the National Committee on Pay Equity. Today is that day for 2007 and marks the day it takes a woman to reach the amount of money a man makes by the end of December. The idea is that women make so much less than men, on average, they have to work longer (4 months longer!) to reach the same amount of pay. The committee also says it takes a woman until Tuesday to reach the same amount of money a man made the previous Friday.. hence Equal Pay Day falling on a Tuesday each year. According to the 2005 U.S. Census, the average woman earned 77% of the average man's salary. It wasn't until 1964 that a Civil Rights Bill passed, banning employment discrimination against women. There has been a lot of work since then to make sure there is equal pay, but there is still a ways to go. If you would like to learn more about the history of equal pay initiatives, just visit Pay Equity's website

Some mornings, I wish I could hit the snooze button about 10 times, but I know I can't. If I can just get to that coffee maker, then I'm set. I've actually been trying to cut back on the amount of caffeine I drink in the morning, and I think I might have found a solution! This is no joke... a British company has actually come up with a way to wake you up in the morning without drinking any caffeine. It's called Shower Shock and is caffeinated soap. Each wash you're basically getting the same amount of caffeine as two cups of coffee. According to the company's web site, the soap has peppermint oil in it and you can get your caffeine buzz after about 5 minutes in the shower... but what happens if you like longer showers.. can you get the shakes from too much caffeine? Hmmm... maybe this isn't such a good idea after all!

Where did spring go? It's almost cruel and unusual punishment that we got a hint of spring a couple of weeks ago and now we're back to such cold and rainy weather... can anyone say wintertime blues! Everyone I've seen the past few days at work, at meetings, even at the grocery store, has been wondering where spring went. My husband and I took advantage of the nice weather a few weeks ago, like many other people, and started planting flowers and setting out plants on the deck... which all look a bit wilted, if not dead at this point. Does the money back guarantee work on plants that were killed by frost? Wouldn't that be nice! With all of the spring festivals, races, and other events planned, it sure would be nice for it to actually feel like spring! Speaking of springtime events, in case you missed it this morning, we had Rick Schaffer from Champions for Kids on talking about RazorFest. The 3rd annual event is going on this Saturday at Razorback Stadium. It's a great family event where you can meet former and current Razorback players, coaches and cheerleaders. There are also tons of activities for the kids. It's being held rain or shine, warm or cold. It's a great way to show support for Champions for Kids (which supports area non-profits for kids) and Razorback athletics. For more information, just look under the links section of the Sunrise page.

The countdown to summer vacation is on! If you can relate to this picture.. then keep reading! In response to a comment I received on an earlier post, I'm going to share my secrets of how to be an expert packer. I had mentioned I can actually pack for a 2 week (really 10 days.. but close enough, right?) vacation in a carry on bag.. so here's what I did. I actually did some research on packing before the trip because I was determined not to take more than one carry on bag and a purse. My husband also packed everything (or should I say, I also packed everything for my husband) in a separate carry on bag.. and if you know me, you know what kind of an amazing feat this was! We were traveling through Italy for our anniversary and didn't want a lot a luggage anyways since we were going to be on and off planes, trains and automobiles for several days. I first picked a color scheme. I went with brown.. everything I packed went with brown shoes, accessories, etc. I only took must-have items.. no hairdryers (I made sure the hotels had them in the rooms before we left) and no Chi iron. It's just too much trouble packing converters and everything else when traveling overseas, so it's just easier to leave it all at home. I also made sure my shirts, jackets, and pants were all interchangeable so it looked like I had several different outfits with only a few pieces -- that way I didn't look the same in all of my pictures! I also rolled my clothes instead of folding them. This kept wrinkles to a minimum and I could fit a lot more in my bag. The hardest part for me was limiting the number of shoes I packed. I only took two pairs, one pair of brown boots (flats of course for the cobblestone streets) and a pair of stylish sneakers for comfort. I also brought along a small bottle of Woolite so I could do a little bit of washing in the hotel sink. It was definitely worth it packing lightly and I didn't miss anything that I left at home... and since you always end up coming home with more than you left with, it's nice to start the trip off light! I hope this helps with your summer packing problems. Bon voyage!