GoneTrending

Two of Patti Schmidt’s three sons were already well into adulthood when her daughter Avery was born, and the third wasn’t far behind them. Avery, now 5, has never had the pleasure of close-in-age sibling squabbles or gigglefests, since Larry, Patrick, and Gavin are 28, 26, and 22, respectively—but that doesn’t mean they don’t bond as a family.

According to People.com, Patti calls her sons home to Point Pleasant, New Jersey, every fall for a special Halloween photoshoot with Avery. And the results are nothing short of epic.

The Schmidt family started the tradition in 2017 with the boys dressing as the tinman, the scarecrow, and the cowardly lion from “The Wizard of Oz.” Avery, just a toddler at the time, was dressed as Dorothy, complete with adorable little ruby slippers.

The following year, the boys were Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Chewbacca, and Avery was (of course) Princess Leia.

In 2019, they did a “Game of Thrones” theme. (“My husband and I were binge-watching (Game of Thrones), and I thought the boys as dragons would be so funny,” Schmidt told TODAY.)

In 2020, they went as Princess Buttercup, Westley, Inigo Montoya, and Fezzik from “The Princess Bride.”

Patti shared a video montage of each year’s costume shoot—with accompanying soundtracks—on Instagram and TikTok. Watch:

---

“They laugh a lot during the shoots,” Patti told People. “The boys are good sports. They adore Avery.”

That much is clear. How lucky is this little girl?

Middle son Patrick, who is a professional surfer, told People “It’s fun, and Avery has a blast.”

Patti is the one who comes up with the theme, which she surprises the kids with. This year’s theme remains a mystery, though she asked followers for ideas. People offered some fun possibilities including:

– Goldilocks and the three bears

– “Alice in Wonderland,” with the boys going as the white rabbit, the Mad Hatter, and the doormouse

– “Brave,” with Avery going as Merida and the boys as her little brothers

– “Sleeping Beauty” with the boys going as the fairy godmothers

– Frankenstein’s Bride, Frankenstein, Dracula, and the Wolfman

– “Friends” with Avery going as Phoebe and the boys as Ross, Chandler, and Joey

– “Guardians of the Galaxy”

– “Harry Potter”

Patti offered one vague clue for what this Halloween holds when she told TODAY, “There may or may not be a good-natured groan or two when I pull out the next theme.” Hoo boy, can’t wait to see what it is.

And yes, in case you were wondering, the brother dressed as Westley did yell “As you wish!” as he rolled down the hill.

And no, the boys and Avery don’t just get together for Halloween. The boys and Avery do all kinds of things together, which Patti shares on her TikTok page.

“They are close despite not only age differences but physical distance,” Schmidt told TODAY. “Our two oldest sons live in different states, but they’re within driving distance, and I try to get everyone together as much as possible.”

Here they are teaching Avery how to skateboard:

Avery is a seriously lucky little girl.

A touching video is going viral on TikTok because it shows an amazing act of gratitude and selflessness. Photographer Kelsey Griffith posted a video from her wedding that has a twist. As her and her father approach the altar, her dad holds out his hand and invites her stepfather to join them the rest of the way.

Kelsey captioned her video: “My dad surprised my stepdad by including him in our walk down the aisle.”

It’s pretty clear from the video the stepfather didn’t know about the surprise. It appears as though he thinks the father is extending his arm for a handshake before he pulls him towards the aisle.

Here’s a video of the moment taken from behind.

---

Here’s what it looked like from the altar. If you listen carefully you can hear someone mutter, “That’s very sweet,” in the background.

“This is what happens when a parent loves his child with complete unselfishness,” one person wrote in the comments, and it’s true. Fathers wait their entire lives for the moment they get to walk their daughters down the aisle. To share that moment with another man shows that he put his daughter above everything.

It can’t be easy to watch your child being raised by another man, but instead of being selfish, he showed how grateful he was to have him in their lives.

Another commenter thought it was a great example for all divorced parents to follow. “If this doesn’t serve as a lesson to all divorced and or additional parents, I don’t know what does,” they wrote. “Congrats to all of you. More parents could learn!”

The story is reminiscent of one that Upworthy covered six years ago. In 2015, father-of-the-bride Todd Bachmann was walking his daughter down the aisle when he grabbed his daughter’s step dad, Todd Cendrosky, and the three walked down the aisle together.

The moment was powerful for Cendrosky who immediately broke into tears.

“[Brittany’s biological father] came and grabbed my hand, and said: ‘You worked as hard as I have. You’ll help us walk our daughter down the aisle,'” Cendrosky said according to USA Today. “I got weak in the knees and lost it. Nothing better in my life, the most impactful moment in my life.”

Bachmann posted a beautiful photo of him taking Cendrosky by the hand and it went viral on Facebook with over 12 million views.

Image by Delia D Blackburn, used with permission.

“It hasn’t always been peaches and cream, by any stretch of the imagination,” Bachmann later said. “There’s no better way to thank somebody than to assist me walking my — walking OUR daughter — down the aisle.”

One of the most important qualities a parent must have is selflessness. It’s impossible to be a good parent without having the ability to put other people’s needs first. These dads have certainly passed the test by showing they can put others first on one of the most important moments of their lives.

It all started with a pair of white pants.

Sara Blakely was getting ready for a party in 1998 and couldn’t find a pair of undies that looked smooth under her white pants. So she took a pair of scissors to a pair of control-top pantyhose and ended up creating the first rendition of what would become her billion-dollar business idea.

Just two years later, Blakely’s Spanx undergarment brand was being touted on Oprah’s Favorite Things list. Twelve years after that, Blakely graced the cover of Forbes as the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire.

Not too shabby for a woman who sold fax machines door-to-door before some unsightly panty lines drastically shifted her life.

After founding Spanx with just $5000 of her own money, Blakely, now 50, just sold the majority stake in the business to investment firm Blackstone, with a valuation of $1.2 billion. Blakely isn’t leaving or anything—she retains a significant share of the company, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and will become executive chairwoman once the transaction closes.

“This is a really important moment in time for female entrepreneurs,” Blakely said of the deal in a press release. “I started this company with no business experience and very little money, but I cared the most about the customer, and that gave me the courage to launch the company.”

Blakely also cares about her employees. Every conscientious businessperson understands that you can’t grow a successful company without hard-working employees, but not every businessperson generously rewards the people who help build and maintain their success. Blakely does, however. Upon selling part of the company, she decided to share some of the wealth she gained with the 500+ people she employs.

---

“When I first started this company, I wrote down one goal,” Blakely said in a video posted on her Instagram account. “I said this company will one day be worth 20 million dollars. And everybody laughed at me.”

Blakely explained that Spanx had created success using “very feminine principles in a masculine space, which is business,” which include leading with intuition and vulnerability. Then, after toasting the women who came before her and those who have not had the opportunity she’s had, Blakely announced a surprise.

“This is a very big moment for each and every one of you,” she said. “To celebrate this moment, I have bought each one of you two first-class tickets to anywhere in the world.”

She also gave each employee $10,000 to spend wherever those tickets take them.

Sara Blakely sold fax machines door-to-door and started Spanx with $5,000 in savings & no experience.

She never ra… https://t.co/jX65k0FqKE

— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano)
1634947987.0

“I really want every employee to celebrate this moment in their own way and create a memory that will last them a lifetime! Cheers to 21 years of magic and many more to come,” Blakely wrote on Instagram.

Talk about taking care of your employees. Phew.

According to the AJC, Blackstone will be leaving Spanx’s executive management team in place. There is also a joint plan to create an all-female board of directors as the company grows.

Blakely’s mission has been “to help women feel great about themselves and their potential,” and she has used Spanx’s success to help elevate women. The company’s website highlights the female founders of companies and organizations bettering the lives of women around the world, and Spanx uses a portion of its products’ proceeds to support their work.

The Spanx by Sara Blakely Foundation has also donated $5 million to boost female entrepreneurship. In partnership with GlobalGiving, the foundation established The Red Backpack Fund to help small woman-owned businesses, giving more than 1,000 female entrepreneurs a gift of $5,000—the exact amount Sara Blakely started Spanx with 20 years ago.

Congratulations to Sara Blakely for hitting yet another entrepreneurial milestone in an incredible self-made career, and congrats to her employees for being rightly rewarded for building her company’s success.

Definitely more of this, please.

With the rise and reach of social media, it’s never been easier to show support to people in need. Whether you’re offering up your money, your time, or other resources to support a worthy cause, our increasingly online lifestyles have made it easy to share information and spread a message. Still, even in this modern age, nobody can respond to the needs of a community quite like the people living in it. Eyes and ears on the ground are still essential.

That belief is the main ethos behind the organization The Black Neighborhood — a 501c-3 operating out of California and New York.

“Community engagement and being part of your community has always been significant for us,” says Black Neighborhood founding member Cory Elliot. “That’s a part of survival, that’s a part of us trying to build, knowing who your neighbors are, and supporting them when nobody else will.”

Along with co-founders Bryce Savoy and Uzo Nwadugbo, Elliot and The Black Neighborhood are showing up for their communities in the way that only people who live and breathe a neighborhood can. Through grocery giveaways, youth empowerment programs, financial support, and other community-building efforts, The Black Neighborhood offers vital resources and wisdom to the next generation coming up.

“We didn’t know what we were doing was irregular,” Nwadugbo explains. “I remember the first time going home for a funeral, my freshman year at college and my professor almost crying to me… it’s like, I go to a funeral almost every year… it’s just something that’s so ingrained and normal from a young age. Now looking back, especially doing the work that we do, we get the opportunity to sit back and see not only the trauma it caused but how we can deter people from going through the same thing.”

To learn more about The Black Neighborhood and how they’re actively creating the change they want to see in the Black communities of Los Angeles, catch the latest episode of the Uproxx series, Show Up in the video above.

The myth of Hollywood is one of eccentric weirdos with shady peccadilloes and untold skeletons lurking in the closet, but there’s one figure no one has anything bad to say about: Keanu Reeves. By all accounts he’s a stand-up dude — not only a consummate professional but also friendly, giving, righteous. When his sister was diagnosed with leukemia, he started a cancer foundation. He gives up subway seats. And now this: When John Wick: Chapter 4 wrapped, he gifted some of the crew with something real nice.

This comes from People, which reports that the beloved actor, during an end-of-shoot dinner with his personal four-man stunt team, he surprised them with Rolex Submariner watches. Inside each one was a personalized message. For instance, the watch given stuntman Jeremy Marinas read, The John Wick Five,” along with the message, “Jeremy Thank you Keanu JW4 2021.”

This isn’t the first time Reeves as lavished his stunt team with generosity. A stuntman on the series’ third outing, John Wick: Parabellum, revealed that he invited him out to California’s Laguna Seca racetrack, which he had rented out for two days, treating dozens of friends and colleagues to a fully catered getaway. Keanu Reeves: Good people.

(Via People)

Everyone’s childhood is different. But there are common objects, sights, sounds, smells, and memories from elementary school that most Gen Xers and Millenials share.

Personally, when i think back to being in elementary school in the ’80s, I remember the taste of the chocolate ship cookie we got on Fridays (with the pizza). The humiliation of getting nailed in the back during nation ball. And the grumbling, grinding sound that happened when you slipped a disk into the drive on an Apple IIe computer.

---

via Daniel Bagel / Flickr

Nowadays, in a world where most kids would have no idea how to even turn on an Apple IIe or have never felt the sting of a rubber nation ball hitting them square between the shoulders, I get a bittersweet feeling when I think back to my elementary school days.

Mel Madara stirred the nostalgia pot on Twitter this week when she posted a series of photos of things she remembers from elementary school that anyone from 50 to 25 probably recollect, too.

She started up with a series of objects and experiences you may have forgotten that were a daily part of elementary school life.

She inspired countless followers to share the things they remember from elementary school in the ’80s and ’90s.

Heads-up 7-up!

Can you remember the anxiety as someone walked slowly though the room and you hoped and prayed they touched your thumb?

That clock you can wind up from behind.

Do you remember dying on Oregon trail repeatedly?

Four square!

Was that a state-mandated fitness exam or a test for scoliosis?

M.A.S.H.! Did you wind up in a mansion, apartment, shack or a house? What kind of job did you get? Who did you marry? What kind of car do you drive?

Before Michelle Obama it was acceptable to feed a kid a taquito filled with pizza.

Tether ball was fun until one of those rock hard balls hit you in the face.

The stool that helped you grab that Judy Blume book just out of reach. It aw also a rgeat place to sit and read if the tables were filled up or you just wanted some privacy.

Is the VCR bolted down? Check! TV strapped in? Check. It’s time for a rainy day movie.

… or if you’re older, you got “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” or some other Disney nature film on 16mm film in the school cafeteria.

My skin is peeling off!

This brutal contraption isn’t a Medieval torture device but a way to sarpen your pencil.

Finally, if more of us listened to this guy, the country would be in a much better place.

Atlanta rapper Bktherula is fresh off the release of her new album Love Black, dropping the video for the album’s closer, “IDK What To Tell You.” The hazy space-trap of the song is juxtaposed with some down-to-earth visuals, following Bk as she goes on a movie date with a pretty girl from the park. However, there’s a bit of a paranoid vibe to the video as they are confronted by a group of men wearing pink ski masks. Her date dons a mask of her own and suddenly, Bk finds herself alone leaving the theater.

The 20-year-old rapper, who bounces back and forth between trippy, psychedelic R&B and woozy, synth-laden rap, began the rollout for the album in May with the release of singles “Blue” and “Santanny,” then kept things going with the video for “Placement” featuring Matt Ox, the sole featured artist on the album. The album followed the release of her second mixtape, Nirvana, and she’s set to join Lil Tecca on tour in 2022. She’s building quite a buzz early in her career and, with some refinement, could very well be a star.

Watch Bktherula’s “IDK What To Tell You” video above.

Love Black is out now via Warner Records. Get it here.

Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema appears to be a Democrat in name only these days, and she’s taken her quirky ways to the extreme lately. After all, there’s nothing quite like giving a dramatic thumbs-down on a minimum-wage vote while wearing a cutesy backpack, and The Daily Show recently roasted her for changing views like wigs, but Sinema’s latest style statement is really something.

The incendiary lawmaker (who’s recently grown quite notorious for dragging heels on an infrastructure bill) hit the Senate floor while clad in a denim vest, and she presided that way, too. A screencap soon reverberated, courtesy of C-SPAN’s Jeremy Art on Twitter.

Here’s that denim vest in motion, too.

Let’s just say that people are having a hard time believing that a denim vest is in the Senate dress code. And regardless of whether or not denim is even mentioned at all in such a document, this isn’t even (as some on Twitter pointed out) a matter of policing women’s clothing. Rather, it’s a reality that anyone who showed up to a formal work environment (and maybe even a casual one) in a denim vest would hear about it.

Also, jokes began flying everywhere: NASCAR references, a quip about Obama’s “controversial” tan suit, and you name it.

Alright, I admit it. The bedazzled option does sound interesting.

Guilherme Peruca turned on his camera’s phone and started recording after an elderly woman began screaming at him through his passenger side window in a Lowe’s parking lot. The woman was accusing him of stealing her friend’s car, but she was mistaken.

“I need help!” the woman yells outside of his passenger side window. “Someone’s trying to steal my best friend’s car.”

When Peruca told the woman the car was his she yelled back, “Get outta here” as she tried to pry open the door.

“He’s stealing this car, it’s not his!” the woman continued. “I don’t care what he says!”

Eventually, a Lowe’s employee intervened to sort out the situation. Peruca showed her his driver’s license and car registration to prove the vehicle was his and then the employee calmly guided the woman away.

Peruca didn’t need to show her his paperwork but he did so anyway just to deescalate the situation.

---

Peruca later posted a video of the incident to TikTok where it’s been viewed over 18 million times. Many people have praised him and the Lowe’s employee for remaining calm during the incident. Peruca could have easily gotten upset with the woman for making such a terrible accusation, but he didn’t.

His actions are also admirable because the woman put him in danger by making the false accusation. What if someone in the parking lot believed he was stealing an elderly woman’s car and assaulted him to stop what they thought was a robbery?

The situation could have got a lot worse if someone called the police and they thought that there was a crime taking place.

The video received a ton of comments, most were praising Peruca and the Lowe’s employee.

“As funny as the Lowe’s employee asking for license and registration is, she handled the entire situation so professionally and was respectful to both,” Jackthe Daniel wrote.

While some people called the woman a “Karen” for accusing a person of color of theft when he was just going to the hardware store, others believed that the woman was suffering from some form of dementia.

“She probably has Alzheimer’s, they can get aggressive. She wasn’t being a Karen,” Jaycee wrote.

Peruca later posted a follow-up video where he said that he didn’t believe she was a “Karen” and that she probably had a mental disorder. So he decided to turn the viral video into something positive by asking people to donate to the National Alliance on Mental Illness

“We’re human. And since we’re human we can do stuff together, you know?” he said in the follow-up video.

The video has received millions of views so it’s great that Peruca explained that the woman probably had mental illness instead of just calling her a “Karen.” His decision may help other people realize that when an elderly person is acting aggressive, it may not be out of malice, but due to a mental health issue.

Austin-based indie label Keeled Scales has had a sneaky great year of album releases. They’ve put out can’t miss albums in Buck Meek of Big Thief’s spectacular Two Saviors, Austin natives Sun June’s delightful sophomore LP Somewhere, the loaded Nuçi’s Space mental health benefit compilation, and from the subject of today’s post, Katy Kirby’s grounding Cool Dry Place.

Among the many lovely moments on the album, “Juniper” showcases Kirby’s sweet voice over a wonderfully textured guitar melody in a post-coming-of-age tale. In the video, she makes a cocktail with gin, lemon, disappointing news, dandelion tea, chartreuse, and expired coupons. It’s a balanced recipe for figuring things out on your own and surely tastes like accepting reality and taking life as it comes with a matter-of-fact smile.

Katy Kirby is out on tour now and also just announced both headlining and co-headlining dates with Sun June. Check out the most recent tour additions below and see her full tour dates with Shakey Graves and Ada Lea here.

Watch the video for “Juniper” above.

02/04/21 – Dallas, TX Cambridge Room @ House of Blues
02/05/21 – New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa
02/10/21 – Opelika, AL @ John Emerald Distillery
02/11/21 – Nashville, TN @ Blue Room- Third Man Records
02/12/21 – Decatur, GA @ Eddie’s Attic
02/14/21 – Asheville, NC @ Grey Eagle
02/15/21 – Columbia, SC @ New Brookland Tavern
02/16/21 – Charlotte, NC @ Neighborhood Theatre
02/17/21- Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle Backroom
02/18/21 – Richmond, VA @ Richmond Music Hall
02/19/21 – Washington, DC @ Songbyrd
02/121/21 – Charlottesville, VA @ The Southern
02/22/21 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Lounge at World Cafe Live
02/23/21 – Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right
02/25/21 – Kingston, NY @ Tubby’s*
02/26/21 – Providence, RI @ Columbus Theatre*
02/27/21 – Boston, MA @ Cafe 939*
03/01/21 – Toronto, ON @ Longboat Hall*
03/02/21 – Ferndale, MI @ The Loving Touch*
03/03/21 – Chicago, IL @ Sleeping Village*
03/04/21 – Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon*
03/05/21 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St Entry*
03/06/21 – Iowa City, IA @ Gabe’s Oasis*
03/08/21 – Omaha, NE @ Slowdown*
03/09/21 – Lawrence, KS @ White Schoolhouse*
03/10/21 – St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway*
03/11/21 – Little Rock, AR @ Stickyz Rock ‘N’ Roll Chicken Shack*
03/12/21 – Oklahoma City, OK @ 89th Street*

*co-headline with Sun June

Cool Dry Place is out now via Keeled Scales.