Have you already decided what you want to be when you grow up? It’s not that we want to put you under pressure, but it is a useful thing to think about every now and then. Sure, all of us dream of being a movie star or a rock star, but only a very few people get to be those things, and it generally takes a lot of hard work to get there! Same goes for sports. But there are plenty of ‘normal’ people out there who do things everyday that they enjoy AND brings in enough pay to afford their lives. What will you do?

When I was little-er, I wanted to be a lawyer or an astronaut. I also wanted to be a musical theater star, a prima ballerina, a circus performer (something that flew!), a pilot, and a million other things. I’ve been a dancer, an actress and musical performer, I have rewritten my own contracts like a lawyer would, but I never became a pilot or astronaut (my eyesight isn’t so grea, and I don’t love numbers enough for the science part).

My mom was a nurse, and my dad worked on magazines, but I never thought of doing those things at all. Later, after I had injured my foot and couldn’t dance anymore, I became a physical therapist, which is pretty close to a nurse, and now I work for a magazine, just like my dad…who’d have thunk?!?

The point is, if you look around at the things that interest you and the things you love doing, it might be a good idea to find out if you can get paid to do these things someday! You’ll probably have to keep up your grades in certain areas and go to certain schools to gain the training you need to be a professional, but at least you’ll be heading in the right direction to be sure of having a happy life!

Whatever you start to go after, just remember: even if you change your mind down the road, if you let your heart be your guide, you’ll be on the right path! “Vocation” is a word that means ‘job’, but in a much more special way. Vocation comes from the latin word that means “calling” - as if the job is ‘calling’ your name! Isn’t that kewl?!?

So start looking for your ‘calling’…or listening!

yourinspirationalKEWLteam

Your loyal KEWLreporter has been slacking off lately, but only because her teeth aren’t playing ball! Make sure you take care of your teeth now, because all those fillings you might be carelessly collecting now will cost you a bundle when it’s time to replace them all later in life!!! If you’re lucky and your parents have insurance, you never notice how much things cost, and then suddenly one day you’re a grown up, working and paying your own bills, and you find out that a crown costs about $1000!!!  Now think about how many teeth there are in your head…the answer is 32 permanent teeth…and you could be talking a whole lot of money!  No joke, right? And all you have to do is make sure to brush your teeth and floss at least once a day! Twice if you’d also like to avoid smelly breath (!), but once is the bare minimum!

Now get out there and brush!

yourmouthfullofgoldandporcelainKEWLteam

Is it lunchtime around here, or are we always so food oriented? We’re pretty excited about getting an ‘after-school special’, which is tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. Not exactly diet food, but it sure tastes great! We’re just going to make sure to run around a whole bunch for the rest of the day to make sure we use up all that good energy food we’ll be eating in just a moment!

Enough about us…what is your favorite meal? Describe it until you make all of our mouths water!

Awesome!

yourhungryKEWLteam

As we’ve been hearing all over the news, and maybe even from our parents, times are tough right now. The main question on all of our minds is: what can we as kids do about it?

The answer is: whatever we can!  Here are a few ideas to get you started - and we think it’s neat how most of the ideas are the same ones that will help save our planet too! Bonus!

1. Conserve your resources.  Whether your resources are pocket money, hand cream, paper towels or water and electricity, being more careful - and most of all ‘thoughtful’! - about when and how you use them can save tons of money AND help stop waste in general! Become aware of what you truly NEED, and the things you simply WANT really badly. Knowing the difference will help you know, and teach you to make wiser decisions when you grow up, and especially when you have a family of your own to take care of.

2. Build your resources. This can mean anything from studying really hard in school to make sure that you have the best chances for scholarships and a good job when you grow up, to taking on some simple jobs for extra money like doing some babysitting or yard work for the neighbors.

3. Do for others. Whether you’ve got plenty or not so much, you can always do something for someone else who is worse off than you! Even just holding hands with elderly people or reading books to younger kids gives them something they didn’t have before! It can also make you appreciate all the things you DO have, and it’s a very valuable talent to be able to focus on what you HAVE instead of always complaining about what you DON’T HAVE!!! Makes you more fun to be around too

4. Smile! Just spreading a simple smile around can increase everyone’s level of hope, and that’s what we all need most these days!

Have a great day!

yoursmileyKEWLteam

We did!!! Wasn’t that KEWL?!? This KEWLstaffer was sobbing away, just like she does every time she sees large groups of people coming together for a common purpose! Then mix in beautiful, inspirational words, music and even marching bands, and I’m a total mess! But a happy one!

What did you like most about the inauguration? The ceremony? The inspiring words? The way people came together? Sure, it happens every four years, but this one seems especially exciting with all the new hope and opportunity it brings for change.

It’s exciting, but we at KEWL liked the emphasis on what WE can do as a nation to help make the changes we want to see in the world! President Obama quoted everyone from George Washington to Fred Astaire in his speech, and pointed the way forward for a hopeful future, and no matter who we voted for, isn’t that the direction we ALL want to go?

Post your thoughts on the Inauguration and what it means to you here!

yourpatrioticKEWLteam

Our technical difficulties are coming to an end (slowly!), and we’ve begun to load the newest batch of prizes to our site! There’s a bunch up there already to get you started, but don’t spend all your kewlpoints at once!!! There are more coming! About twice as many, over the next day or two, including two acoustic guitars (one from Daisy Rock and one Hannah Montana styled) and a Razor Electronic Scooter that will take you down the bike path in style - at least until you get your license!

Enter early and often, and keep coming back to KEWL to earn more points for more entries and increase your chances of winning! This batch of contests will continue to take entries through February 15th, so get cracking!

yourprizedKEWLteam

So, did you check out Christina’s new video?!? If not, you can check out the link in our KEWL News on the kewlmag website! Then come back here and let us know what you think of the song. Our first impression is that it deserves to be a hit, but only the fans can make it happen, so start talking, blogging and requesting it if you want it to go over the top!

All right - sound off below, and may the best new song of the year face off begin!

theKEWLteam

OMG! It was so big and bright the last two nights!!! You could see the man in the moon and the bunny rabbit that some people see too! And it was so bright that it was like standing under a street light! So kewl!

Do you enjoy watching the night sky? On cloudless nights, there’s always something to see, though if you live in a big city, you might have to work a little harder to see very many stars! The upside of living in the city, is that you probably have a Natural History Museum with a Planetarium! A Planetarium is like a movie theatre, but the show is watching the night sky and all the stars that are out there once you get past the glare of city lights. A lot of schools go there for field trips, but it’s a pretty kewl place to go to on your own as well!

When this KEWL staffer was home for the holidays in San Francisco, she went to visit the all new California Academy of Sciences and the Steinhart Aquarium in Golden Gate Park - which is quite possibly the greenest museum on the planet! It has a ‘green roof’, which means that it’s been planted with all sorts of native (or naturally local) plants that survive well even if you don’t give them extra water than the normal rainfall in the area. The plants and soil act as insulation for the building, keeping it both warmer in winter and cooler in summer. Plus, the plants use the rainwater that falls on the roof, which cuts down on run-off that can carry pollution from the streets to our natural waterways and oceans. The building also has solar panels for it’s awning around the whole building, which helps cut down the amount of electricity the building needs from outside to operate!

Inside, they’ve kept some of the kewl old exhibits (the academy has been around since 1853 in San Francisco!), plus added some awesome new ones, like the rainforest habitat that you can explore from the ground all the way up to the tree tops, and see all the kinds of animals and bugs (!) that live there. The butterflies are some of the kewlest you’ll ever see without going to South America yourself!

You can take a look at the museum online at  www.calacademy.org ! There are sneek peeks at the exhibits, including the Planetarium, tips on being green every day, and even penguin cams to watch the in house penguin colony!

Some things are so kewl, you never outgrow them! Enjoy!

yourcuriousKEWLteam

What are you going to do with yours? Going to a birthday party? The movies? Got sports on your mind? Will there be a visit to a church or temple? Some special event like a fair? Will it be your chance to catch up on things before the next school week? Or will it be the laziest of lazy days?

How about all of that rolled into one super duper weekend?!? And another day to fit it all in? Lol!

We’re wishing you a wonderful weekend, and hoping you’ll share some of your adventures here on the blog with us to let us know what you’ll be up to!

Happy Friday!

yourtgifKEWLteam

How long has your bed been in exactly the same spot in your room? Months? Years? Your whole life? How about a little change? Just switching the furniture in your room around can really turn on your brain and give you a whole new outlook on life! Really!

Some things work from the inside out - like you’re feeling sad, and you start to cry. Other things work from the outside in, like the “Ha!” game. Ever played it? It’s when you and a bunch of good friends get together, like at a slumber party, and everyone lays down in a circle on their backs with each persons head using the next persons tummy as a pillow. The first person says “Ha” once, the second person twice, the third person three times (or thrice!), and on up around and around the circle. There are no rules for ending this game, because everyone always ends up crying with laughter within a few rounds and can’t go on!

Simply hearing the word ‘Ha’, and repeating it over and over again, can make you laugh hysterically, even if you weren’t feeling particularly good before! So just imagine what moving your desk to the window, or putting your bed in a cozy corner could do for your outlook on life! AND, if you don’t like it, you can always move it back!

Be daring! Change your space! Change your mind! Make yourself happy!

yourhappyKEWLteam