Blog Posts by Sarah Beston, Shine Staff

While attending an NFL football game, Laura Vikmanis decided she wanted to become a Ben-Gals cheerleader. At age 41, she never thought she would be the oldest cheerleader in the league. Now, her inspiring story is headed to the big-screen.

New Line Cinema acquired the rights to the Vikmanis story. Emily Cook and Kathy Greenberg, whose credits include Gnomeo & Juliet and Ratatouille, will write the script, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Mother of two teenagers, Vikmanis is a registered dietitian and fitness fanatic and was almost 40 when she made the brave decision that she wanted to kick up her heels on the Bengals sidelines.

Missing the cut when she first tried out in 2008 made her even more determined to make the team and she trained hard for a year until she finally got selected for the squad the following season. Now she is shaking her bon-bon and her pom-poms with girls almost half her age.

Watch as she tells her compelling story to Yahoo!



The casting on this one will

Growing up in my house always meant big birthday celebrations. Nothing extravagant or over-the-top like pony rides or petting zoos, but always lots of fun with friends and family, an overly-frosted homemade cake, and an occasional wacky birthday theme thrown into the mix. Most of the time the theme was by default, involving whichever character, event, or holiday graced the paper plates and cups on clearance that month. Many sale racks later, I have stumbled across some randomly fantastic birthday themes that are a break from your traditional Spider-Man or Cinderella. If you are tired of traditional themes, here are five fun and unique ideas for your kid's next birthday celebration.

You may know Candace Parker as a star of the women's professional basketball team, the Los Angeles Sparks. But she's also a wife, mother, and advocate for girls - teaming up with Playtex Sport to encourage young women to "Be Unstoppable." Here's how she embodies that unstoppable attitude both on and off the court. Oh, and she dishes on what it's like to dunk.

Shine: You won back-to-back NCAA championships in 2007 and 2008 with the Tennessee Lady Vols, a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and WNBA Rookie of the Year and league MVP in 2008 (making you the only player in the history of the WNBA to capture the league's MVP as a rookie). Of all that, what would you consider your biggest professional accomplishment?

Candace Parker: It would have to be representing my country and playing in the Olympics. It was just surreal to be there representing the United States. When the national anthem played, all of these memories went through my mind of me being a kid and watching the

One child was tied to a fence with a sweatshirt while classmates watched in the schoolyard, another ended up in the hospital due to alcohol being slipped into a drink at lunch, and a third was force-fed dog food by peers. They all had a form of special needs and they were all victims of bullying.

These are just some of the tragic testimonials included in the "Walk a Mile in Their Shoes" report, released today to help raise awareness and take action against the bullying of children with special needs and disabilities.

AbilityPath.org partnered with Special Olympics, Best Buddies, and "Glee"'s Lauren Potter, introduced the report along with the launch of a nationwide "Disable Bullying" campaign to give voice to this "silent epidemic."

"Hundreds of thousands of children with differences are being subjected to humiliation and isolation week in and week out around the country and it is time to bring this problem to light and to marshal a call to action to our young people to put an end to

Every Valentine's Day growing up, my mom and I used to cut red and pink hearts from construction paper, glue white doilies on top of the construction paper heart, punch a whole in the top of the heart, put a red string through, and hang the completed hearts from the ceiling of every room in the house. I still reflect back on that warm feeling I would get when looking up at a sea of love hanging from above. Whether your little one is creating Valentine's for the rest of the class or your older one is creating a special Valentine for a first crush, make lasting memories with your kids with these fun and creative projects this Valentine's Day.

For most of the country, this winter has been in a word: brutal. Sorry Frosty the Snowman, but the record breaking low temperatures and mounds of snow from a winter not even half over, doesn't always make us want to run outside and play. What better way to brave the winter's cold than getting cozy at home with your kids while sipping some hot cocoa and watching a good flick? Click ahead for some winter classics to warm your heart on a bitter-cold day.

With the glitz and glam of awards season comes an award show refreshingly different from all of the others. And while it may not compare to the glam of the Oscars, the excitement of the Golden Globes or the hype of the Grammys, the Women's Image Network (WIN) Awards stand for something more than who is wearing what on the red carpet.

WIN founder, Phyllis Stuart agrees: "While it's glamorous to walk a red carpet, The WIN Awards are less about awards and more about media advocacy. That said, our diverse 2010 nominee list shows that women are able to express richness and depth at any age and that their value transcends their "beauty" or the number of candles on their birthday cake. This year, The WIN Awards uniquely demonstrate that Girls Are Great from Nine to Ninety as our youngest nominee, Joey King was nine years old when filming Ramona And Beezus, and as our most senior female, our Lifetime Achievement Honoree, Suzanne Roberts, is nearly 90 years old. By supporting The WIN Awards,

With the holiday's right around the corner, it becomes increasingly difficult not to get caught up in the typical madness of shopping, cooking, baking, decorating, entertaining, and traveling. All stuff that taken in the right context can be great fun, but often times ends up as the antithesis of the true meaning of the holiday season: giving. I am completely guilty of getting stressed over the little things this time of year, but this season is a great time to stop and remind ourselves and our little ones how fortunate we really are and how just a little time, money, and effort can make an enormously positive impact in someone else's life. And what better time to teach your child an invaluable lesson in the process?

Here are some easy ways that you and your family can make a difference this holiday season.



Give Time

While many of us are trying to cram various parties into our busy schedules and decide on the perfect menu for entertaining our holiday guests, some people go without a