Oscar Picks with John

John is an Avenues Home based client and he loves going to see movies. For the last few years before the Oscars, John has printed out his own ballot and tried to predicted the winners for all the major categories. He's done pretty well in the past and he's feeling confident about his picks for this year. His favorite film last year was Lincoln and he is expecting it to take home the most awards this year. He's hoping The Hobbit takes home some little gold statues too.

If you want to predict your own winners and see how you stack up against John's picks go to http://oscar.go.com/mypicks to print your own ballot. If you need some tips, Johns full ballot is below. Have fun and enjoy this years Academy Awards.

Valentine's Day Party!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!


On a cold day in February, some clients came over to the main office to enjoy a Valentine's Dance Party with their case managers.  The night was filled with food, pictures, crafts, and of course, dancing!

There was photo booth for people to take pictures with choices of many fun props.











The clients had a great time choosing how to pose and who to take a picture with. 



After getting a picture taken, they could choose to decorate a frame for the picture to go in eventually.  There was so much creativity all around.

And you obviously can't forget about the dancing.  The music selection ranged from Frank Sinatra to Backstreet Boys and beyond.  Everyone had a blast breaking it down on the dance floor! 

The party was great and everyone had fun spending time with friends and celebrating Valentine's Day together! :)

In Need of Some Motivation to Exercise?

Stefanie, one of our community clients receiving Home Based Support Services, is interested in exercise and staying healthy and has found some really cool ways to do it.

She has been ice skating competitively for many years and has traveled all over the country winning many awards and trophies with Elite Stars http://www.elitestars.org/.  They are a group providing athletic programs for people with special needs.

Stefanie's 3rd place trophy from her most recent skating competition!

As if she wasn't busy enough between her job at Jewel and her skating practices/competitions Elite Stars has partnered with AAA (The Academy of Athletic Advancements) and Stefanie is now spending time doing elite sports training 2 times a week.  Check it out at http://www.theaaaway.com/

Stefanie had asked me to come check out what she has been doing so I made a visit on a Wednesday evening at AAA (located in Schaumburg) and was amazed by what I saw.  There were 3 girls in the class this particular evening and 3 trainers working with them individually.  I asked Stefanie if she likes the hard workouts and she said "I love them!"  Take a look at just a couple of the many different things she was doing in just one evening at AAA.

Talk about motivation and hard work...I'm suddenly feeling a bit lazy right now!