During the month of May we celebrate National Foster Care Month and honor individuals like Alison Brown from the National Youth Advocate Program (NYAP) who prides herself on the impact she has made in so many children’s lives here in Broward County. Alison has been a foster parent with NYAP for nearly three years. She quickly discovered that there is no greater love than becoming a foster parent. “As a single person, I didn’t know I could be a foster parent. But now I know that you can be gay, straight, single, divorced, renter or homeowner, what NYAP is always looking for are people that can literally be good to children in need.” Alison became a foster parent and a single mother to a 5-year-old boy. She is one of many to become a foster parent through NYAP, a national organization that has provided cost effective, community based services and support to children, youth and families since 1978.

To learn more information on becoming a foster parent, visit nyap.org.

Pack your bags because it’s about to get magical. Spend the weekend with thousands of women at mega dance parties, pool parties, after parties, hotel room parties, and any other parties you can get into. Girls in Wonderland kicks off on May 30th through June 2nd, but the effects of Disney Dumb lasts long after the final pool party.

Check out all of the events planned for the weekend and remember to say, “Haaay!” when you see us snapping your pictures.

All-lesbian band Perpetual Detour’s latest music video has turned the medium on its Lego- head. Their music video for their song “What if it was you?” was created entirely out of Lego using the stop motion animation technique. The video offers a tongue-in-cheek look at lesbian relationships; the queer community will undoubtedly be entertained by the many inside jokes and all-too-familiar scenarios that are depicted.

Stop motion animation involves taking a series of pictures, where characters are slightly manipulated for each shot. When edited together, it creates the illusion of motion. The video was shot over 2 months and required approximately 60 hours of work to complete. Over 1600 individual pictures were used in the video. This is the band’s first attempt at stop motion. The girls described the process as “fun, but extremely painful at times.” Thankfully, no band members were harmed in the making of the video.

Early response has been overwhelmingly positive. Producer Scott Ferguson had this to say: “Absolutely fabulous! Pure genius! It’s totally renewed my Lego fascination.” The most common word used to describe Perpetual Detours’ creation: “Awesome.”

Kathryn Cloward is an award winning author, songwriter, publisher, and entrepreneur. She is a passionate and purposeful woman dedicated to rippling loving kindness, compassion, and acceptance into the world. A socially conscious risk-taking visionary, Kathryn is the founder and president of Natural Kidz, Inc. and Kandon Unlimited Inc., which is home of Kandon Publishing and Kathryn the Grape® Company. But, her greatest accomplishment is being a super mom to her wonderful son.

Kathryn, thank you so much for agreeing to chat with us. We can appreciate how busy you are with writing, publishing, and most importantly being a super mom. Which leads me to the age-old questions of how do you balance career and family?

Balance is always an interesting topic that women are asked to dive into. But it is an important topic to ponder as I believe many of us are seeking ways to live more harmonious in our lives. I have come to experience balance as more of an internal thing than external. I am intentional about nurturing balance within myself spiritually, emotional, and physically each day so that I am able to be present with my family and my businesses. A few years ago I discovered the freedom in saying "no" to activities and events that take me away from family time. With that simple word, I have created more space in my life, and more joy.

The Kathryn the Grape series of children's books emphasize on self-love and compassion for others, which are recurring themes that our community faces. Did you draw inspiration from your own experiences with these issues?

Yes, absolutely. In fact, the stories of Kathryn the Grape didn't start surging through me until I opened up to loving myself fully. As I was awakening to truths about myself and recognizing the real authentic me, I started to develop tools to help me nurture what was blooming. I knew that I wanted to do everything in my power to help my son develop those tools early and allow him the freedom to be his unique self. From there, the purpose for Kathryn the Grape to be a messenger of love became very clear. As you know, the self-help section of book stores are stocked with books to help adults heal their lives, discover their purpose, and love themselves. My goal is to give children those tools early so that we can avoid doing some of that repair work that many people are doing in their adulthood. And the cool thing is my books are helping adults, too! I had a woman email me a while ago who said that she reads my books to her grandchildren, and they are helping her realize that she still has much to give, and that she is still magical. How cool is that?

Very cool! I also wanted to ask you about your company, Natural Kidz, can you tell us a little about that site?

I started NaturalKidz.com first, actually. My son has a peanut allergy. Driving in an ambulance to the ER with him when he was 15 months old after he had ingested peanut butter, was the catalyst for me to start being more aware of food products, and a more conscious consumer. NaturalKidz.com is a hub for eco friendly, kid-friendly products. In everything I do, whether with Natural Kidz or Kathryn the Grape, I am helping people live a more authentic and conscious life, and that feels really good!

You really are a super mom. How did you spend your Mother’s Day this year?

My partner, my son, and I had a nice day together. It was 90 degrees here in San Diego, so it was a perfect day to go for a bike ride and swim in our pool.

Where can we purchase the "Kathryn the Grape" series?

Our books and music are available on Amazon.com and our website store. We just won a Mom's Choice Award for Kathryn the Grape's Pice of Love, and people can save 40% off all of our books and music right now at our website store with coupon code: momschoice.

We are not going to lie. We were so mad about Karina Iglesias’ elimination that we couldn’t even bring ourselves to write about it. After all we met Karina and knew she was the voice before the Shakira and NBC’s The Voice. The only thing that calmed us down was reading all of the outpouring of support, and frankly outrage about her early exit, across the web. It’s wonderful to see that so many viewers appreciated the talent we always knew we had in our backyard. Karina, on behalf of your BOUND family, congratulations on kicking ass on the national stage and making it look effortless. We hope you benefit from this experience and continue to wow us with those amazing pipes.

It seems the closer we get to Aqua Girl, the hotter the weather. Come May 15, What are you doing just sitting there? You should be either at an Aqua Girl Event or getting ready for an Aqua Girl event.

The proceeds of the 14 spectacular events directly benefit the Aqua Foundation for Women, a non-profit organization that serves our community through scholarships, grants, mentorships, and initiatives. Get your tickets for Temptation, Fuego, Beach House Pool Party & Tea Dance NOW! For more info visit the Aqua Girl site.

It seems the closer we get to Aqua Girl, the hotter the weather. Come May 15, Mother Nature will be experiencing heat flashes with the convergence of hundreds of women partying for a cause. The proceeds of the 14 spectacular events directly benefit the Aqua Foundation for Women, a non-profit organization that serves our community through scholarships, grants, mentorships, and initiatives.

Below is just a sampling of the can’t-miss events. For more info visit the Aqua Girl site:

Aqua Rock
Wednesday, May 15
9PM - 2 AM
Churchill’s Pub
Buy now: $8 members/$9 non-members
$12 at the door

Traffic Jam
Thursday, May 16
Dream Nightclub
Buy now: $8 members/$10 non-members
$15 at the door

Temptation
Friday, May 17
Grand Central
Buy now: $15 members/$20 non-members
$25 at the door

Fuego
Saturday, May 18
Nikki Beach
Buy now: $25 members/$30 non-members
$35 at the door

Beach House Pool Party & Tea Dance
Sunday, May 19
The National Hotel
Buy now: $10 members/$15 non-members
$25 at the door

Catch the East Coast premier of “Submerged” this weekend with two showings. Director Sophie O’Connor takes you deep into the life of a Gen Y woman named Jordan and, in the end, leaves you inundated with questions. True to this generation, she isn’t into labels and uses sex to cope with her feelings of loss, love, and frustration. Leave your inhibitions at the concession stand and enjoy.

Showtimes:
Saturday, May 4, 4:30 p.m.
O Cinema-Miami Shores
9806 NE 2nd Avenue
Miami Shores, FL 33138
Buy Tickets

Sunday, May 5, 1:30 p.m.
Coral Gables Art Cinema
260 Aragon Avenue
Coral Gables, FL 33134
Buy Tickets

On April 26, the Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (MGLFF) will open its curtain for the 15th year. The MGLFF is celebrated for its program of feature films, documentaries and short films by, about and of interest to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities.

The highlight of the festival will be Ally Award presentation to actor-author-director James Franco, for his career accomplishments and his unwavering support of the LGBT community. The presentation will take place on Saturday, April 27, at the Olympia Theater at Gusman Center in downtown Miami immediately preceding the film Out In The Dark at 9:15 p.m.

Ladies, there are plenty of films for us. Visit our preview of the can’t miss films of the week and for more information about the MGLFF or purchase tickets, please visit www.mglff.com. Don’t miss out, the Festival ends May 5.

Karina Iglesias rocked a new look and a powerful rendition of Lenny Kravitz’s seminal hit “Are You Gonna Go My Way” this week on NBC’s The Voice. She battled a fellow Miami-native, Monique Abbadle who sang Celine Dion’s “Power of Love.

In the end, Shakira declared Karina Iglesias the winner of the Knock Out round and sent her to the live performance shows. Make sure you catch The Voice every Monday and Tuesday at 8 p.m. and support our local super star!