CafePress is proud to ride tandem with Project Unity, Lance Armstrong, Trek Bicycles and others to help fight cancer.

Project Unity is fundraising effort that includes Lance Armstrong wearing different stickers adhered to his bike for each leg of upcoming races. Each sticker will include the name of a different cancer victim Lance is riding for.

We figure others want to get involved too. However, since most of us can’t ride a bike 30 mph straight up the side of a mountain (nor do we look good in those stretchy biking pants), we’ve found another way for you to get involved. You can visit the Project Unity store (sponsored by CafePress) and personalize “I ride for ….” stickers to adhere to your bike. You can also personalize water bottles as well as posters, letting everyone know who you’re fighting for.

100% of the proceeds from these sales go LIVESTRONG, the foundation Lance Armstrong supports for cancer fundraising. It’s a great cause, so join those from around the globe who are riding for awareness.

Are you a video game freak? No need to raise your hand (and drop & break your game controller). But when you get a chance you gotta check out the soon-to-be-released Xbox 360 game, Alan Wake. In fact, everyone should check it out (it hits the shelves May 18).

From everything I’ve seen and heard on the Alan Wake website, this is a real game-changer (literally). It’s a “psychological action thriller” game (rated T for teens), and involves a horror novelist searching for his missing wife. Aside from knock-out graphics and an inviting free-roam gameplay, it introduces a new “episode” format (like popular TVs shows such as Lost, 24 and Twin Peaks). Which means it will live on well beyond this first “chapter.”

The CafePress design community is excited too, as Alan Wake designs are popping up like clues in a dime store mystery novel.

So, who done it? I guess we’ll all have to play the game and solve it. More later.

Good old maternity leave.  I’ve had tons of co-workers around me do it.  I’ve heard all the stories, had many misconceptions.  But now it’s actually ME taking it!  I gotta admit I’m looking forward to turning off my “work mind” and going into veg mode.

There are so many GLEE episodes to get caught up on (yes!) and now I’ll get to fully take advantage of my Netflix account, maybe even see a few Academy Award winning movies.  George-Clooney-Up-In-The-Air, anyone?

I’m also going to have time to reflect on what this whole pregnancy thing has meant to me.  Yeah it’s had it’s ups and downs, aches and pains, laughs AND cries, but overall it’s not nearly as bad as I imagined it to be.  Because along with the challenges comes this feeling that you have done something so great, that it overpowers all the other thoughts.  Plus when the hormones are working “for” you you have a pretty good pregnancy buzz going.  (Thank God because you can’t have cocktails anymore or caffeine for that matter!)

I’ve really worried about being too selfish to be a Mom, but luckily nature has a way of slowly getting rid of your selfish tendencies during the 9 months you spend waiting.  I mean if I were my old selfish self, I would be throwing a lot more temper tantrums about the first trimester nausea, excess heartburn, painful kicking episodes and trouble walking all because of this little one inside.  But no, I’ve had my eye on the prize and it keeps me sane!

So will I miss work?  Definitely.  But I don’t think I could fully focus on a new baby and a job all at once – at least not successfully.  So here’s to my new focus for the next little bit – and a new chapter!  Cheers, and see you all in a few months, same bat-time, same bat-place (just this time with a little girl OR little boy sharing half my genes!)

With Mothers’ Day just around the corner, we figured it was a good time to take a moment and honor our Moms today.  One person who’s been doing this for awhile is a CafePress Shopkeeper, who started a Facebook page called “I love my Mom.” The Group had over 2 million Mom-loving fans (not to mention I love my mom T-shirt fans) before it was hacked by an unknown party and disabled.  The page originator now has his account back, but unfortunately lost all his Mom fans.

Now our intrepid Shopkeeper is rebuilding his worldwide Mom tribute, and as it turns out he has a pretty good reason for doing so.  We asked him why he started the I Love My Mom Facebook group; here’s the story that he told us:

Well… I must say that, there is a tragic story behind my facebook page..

I’m a 22 years old student who left Iran and moved to Europe about 6 years ago.

I’ve lost my mom last year during Election Protest in Iran.. She was gunned down in the streets of Tehran by the government forces, Just like many others.  She was just a normal civilian who wanted Peace and Freedom.

My heart was broken, i was very upset and depressed. I decided to make a facebook page in memory of her ..  When about 3 months later I went back to that page, i saw that 1,500,000 users already joined my page.  Then i decided to sell T-shirts on Cafepress (with the help of my facebook page), and give the income to the Children orphans (Refah-e-Kudak, a childrens’ organization in Iran).

Whether the page hack had to do with this Shopkeeper’s coverage of the Iran elections is unknown; what we do know, though, is that it’s back up and paying tribute to all the Moms out there in the world, while trying to raise money for kids without moms.  So if you’re looking to sport some public Mom love, you can always pick up an I heart Mom T-shirt.

Just a quick note to wish a Happy Cinco de Mayo to everyone (yes, even to you Arizona legislators). Can’t chat for long, as I have to hurry off to my favorite Cantina for this afternoon’s Feliz Hour.

Cinco de Mayhem (as it usually turns out for me) has always been one of my favorite holidays. This is probably because it involves copious amounts of food, cervezas, and silly T-shirts. Although I think I’ll pass on the mariachi music, gracias very much.

I’m going to celebrate the Battle of Puebla in style (no offense to the French, who lost – but I will celebrate your Bastille Day come July). Hope you’ll be speaking fluent Cinco De Mayo tonight/this afternoon too!

In the eyes of many (myself included), the honorable sport of cheese-rolling has lived in the musty shadows of soccer, cricket, bicycling, jousting and other games popular in England for way too long. This injustice continues to this very day, as Gloucestershire’s 2010 Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling And Wake has been cancelled. Apparently, safety concerns (both for the athletes and the large crowd that comes to watch) has force the postponement.

If you don’t know, cheese-rolling involves (as the name suggests) the strategic rolling of round cheese wheels down very steep hills. And as if that weren’t enough to make it a great spectator sport, the person who rolls it also tumbles down the steep embankment beside the well-aged Double Gloucester cheese, performing acts of grace and style. Sometimes in mankinis or other costumes worthy of such a sport and festival. With London hosting the next summer games, one can only hope they’ll introduce cheese-rolling as an official Olympic sport…

Unfortunately, cheese-rolling is one of few sports that isn’t well-represented among CafePress designs. Although we do have lots of cheese-themed designs. So I guess if you wear one while rolling down the hill, you’ll be expressing your love for the sport? See in you in Gloucestershire in 2011.