Random Acts of Kindness

I was inspired earlier this year by a blog post I saw on Pinterest that featured a lady taking her 2 children around their community and performing random acts of kindness. Some of the acts were big and costly while some of the acts were small and simple but all were beautiful lessons and experiences that she shared with her children. When I initially started my own random acts of kindness (in November) I had hoped to complete 15 noteworthy acts,  as of today I am only up to 10. 

Here they are in no particular order: 

1.) Donate supplies to our troops. There is a website called www.anymarine.com that enables the commanding officers of deployed US Marines to reach out to anyone who wants to participate and help supply our Marines with things that they cannot get on deployments. I picked a small group of Marines that are currently located in a very remote area of Northern Afghanistan. These Marines were in such a remote location that it was hard for them to get their hands on hygiene products regularly. The regiment had 10 men and 2 women and I hope that my small care package brought them a little relief. Semper Fi. 

2.) Donate to the Good Will. This was the easiest (and cheapest) of all the acts I performed. I dropped of 7 bags of clothing and linens to the Good Will in Statesboro at the end on November. 

3. Purchase a stranger's lunch. When Lori and I get tired of our usual lunch joints we go to the Huddle House on Tobacco Road for something that is guaranteed to give us an upset stomach. There is an older lady that eats lunch at this particular Huddle House everyday, we see her every time we go and she is usually reading a novel while she eats. I had our waitress add her lunch to my check on this day and we creeped out before she realized that we paid for her lunch...

4. On Thanksgiving I brought the firemen at the Blythe Fire Station a few loaves of cinnamon bread from the bakery in Waynesboro. This bread is basically crack and it was a challenge for me not to eat it on my way there! They were all very excited and appreciative of this small gesture. 

5. I also left a treat for Mr. Bill (our mailman) the day before Thanksgiving.

6. Donate to By His Hands Ministry. The church that Drew and I attend is Waynesboro First United Methodist Church. WFUMC has a food bank program (By His Hands Ministries  that helps people in need in our community. 

7. Donate toys to MCG. MCG takes new toy donations year round to give to the pediatric patients of the hospital. Hopefully these toys will help a sick child feel a little better... 

8. Junkie and Pal. This is going to seem like a bizarre act to some... but...  as a lover of all things furry (except wolves) I wanted to reward 2 sweet dogs that I see everyday on my way to-and-from work. I have named the dogs Junkie and Pal (I'm not sure of their real names). Junkie is a golden retriever that lives at an equipment repair shop in Keysville (he is always sleeping near an old junky truck which is why I named him junky). He was without a companion for several years but within the past 6 months another dog has joined him (Pal). I have stopped in the past to give them some scraps left over from lunch but this time I delivered them both 2 giant bones this time. 

Here is where they live (I forgot to get a picture of the dogs!). Note: the man that owns the shop takes really good care of Junkie and Pal!

9. Mail a gift card to a stranger. A week before Christmas I drove around a neighborhood in Waynesboro and wrote down the address of a family (or at least I assume a family lived there) that I thought could use a little pick-me-up around the holidays. Inside the envelope was a Walmart gift card. It wasn't much, but hopefully they bought something fun with it.. like chocolate!

10. Toys for Tots. For almost a decade now my mother and I have been actively donating to the local Toys for Tots drives in the CSRA. Normally we go to whatever local Walmart that is having a toy drive that day and fill up a  buggy or two with toysto donate to our community. This is one of the best experiences that my mother has ever shared with me. This year my Gma, Bev, got in on the mix as well.

 

Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 2 Corinthians 9:7 

Falling behind...

These past 2 weeks have flown by and I am still not sure where all the time went! Its been almost 2 weeks since my last post (sorry!) so here are a few of the highlights from the past couple of weeks:

1.We have started the process of building Drew a 'man-shop' (which I assume is different from just a regular shop?). When it is finally complete Drew will have a place of his own and will get all of his 'treasures' out of the house and the garage! (I really am excited about this part!). The dimensions are roughly 32x50 and this is similar to how it will look when complete (different colors, add a cupola and extra window and swap the door positions).

So far the  foundation and floors have been poured and they are currently in the process of framing the walls.

2. My parents are out of town this week which has left me with FIVE dogs in my house; this wouldn't be so bad if one of those dogs wasn't a 10 week old terrorist puppy! I am currently sporting a scratch across my forehead and eyelid thanks to this little devil! Her name is Emma and she is an English Springier Spaniel, she is actually a lot of fun but she is just so wound-up all the time. The other dogs do their best to tolerate her but she tests her limits with them regularly! She is a real doll when she is asleep though (apparently this puppy only needs like a 5 minute power nap before she start destroying something again).

3. Drew and I babysat Parker this past Sunday evening and we had a lot fun! We fed the horses, played on the playground, rode the golf cart, watched Rio (sort-of), harassed Emma for an extended period of time and even found time to take a few Christmas-y pictures. 

Dinner followed by a bath and ice cream (sugar free!).  Bean's house is so much fun! 

He loved playing with Emma (or Minga as he pronounces it). he probably enjoyed being outside more than any other activity and he also found time to ride this bouncy-car that was his as a baby. As a baby he wanted nothing to do with this car (and he is about 10 pounds over the recommended weight limit now!).

He actually like the antlers (he refused to take them off for a while!).

He was so excited about this lollipop! 

My sweet boy! 

4. This past Saturday I met up with some of my girlfriends from Waynesboro and we has an ornament swap. It was a lot of fun, and I got to spend almost an hour holding Brigham which was a win for me! Next year I think we should make it an ornament and wine bottle swap! ...why not?! :)

 

Sweet Brigham sleeping in my arms. 

Emma and Brigham; future sweethearts! ;) 

5. Scentsy. Ansley recently hosted a  Scentsy party for one of her friends in Statesboro and since receiving my items I have become a big fan (If I am home I've got them tuned on). I currently have a warmer in the kitchen that has the festival of trees scent in it and it smells so Christmas-y! Drew and I have also been watching Christmas movies lately and it has helped get us into the spirit (along with the overwhelming Christmas decorations that have taken over my living room)! I have a smaller warmer in my bedroom that has a lavender scent in it that is pretty great too. 

Here is her page if anyone is interested: https://laurablair.scentsy.us/Scentsy/Home

6. C4's Christmas Party. We had our annual Christmas party last week at West Lake Country Club. The food was great and it didn't last too long which was great as well! It was probably the best food we've had at one of our Christmas Party (except for the year that the Little Dutch House in Wrens catered). 

We also got some pretty sweet gifts from good ol' Tony-Tone. My sister-in-law, Kim, sells Arbonne and arranged for all the ladies at the party to get an awesome gift-set. I am a huge fan of the body creme and bath wash (the scent is so clean and fresh!). It also came with a sugar scrub but I haven't had an opportunity to try that yet. Here is the website if you are interested in checking out any of their products: www.arbonne.com 

7. I have finished all of my Christmas shopping (well all of the necessities at least). I have wrapped everything and I am pretty much prepared for the Christmas eve get together at my house with mine and Drew's family. I'm particularly excited to see my 2 nephews play together! 

8. I finally enrolled in my last set of classes for next semester. I'll be sooooooo glad when this is over! Although I am considering going back for another business degree in project management. But I will definitely take some time off before I head down this road again.

9. I also got my home-office set up after 2 years of being in our house. Mom and I went shopping for a desk and ended up getting one from Office Depot. It was delivered in 5 different boxes and took me 2 days to assemble everything! I can't find a picture online if my exact desk set but here is the smaller version of the I got -- I will add a finished picture of the office later. I am incredibly excited about getting to work from home some of the time! Yippie!!!!

--I'm sure there are a few more highlights from the past 2 weeks but my brain is out of gas from a severe lack of sleep these past few days... thanks Emma!  

It looks a lot like Christmas!

The day after Thanksgiving is the messiest day of the year at my house. Everything that goes on my tree apparently has glitter on it. Needless to say we still have glitter everywhere even after mopping and vacuuming, but it just seems to make everything a little more festive. Drew and I put the tree up on Friday (well he helped me actually set up the tree but I ran him off when it came to time decorate - no objection from him though). Here are a few pictures of the tree and the mantle/fireplace decorations lit up. It is a very fun and festive tree -- Ho Ho Ho!

This sweet angel-baby wanted to get in on the fun as well! 

The 11 Question Survey

The 11 Questions Survey

1. In baseball each player gets a “walk up song” that plays on his way up to the plate. What song would you pick?

I would pick Hanson's MMMbop because 90's teen pop never dies in my heart! OR MC Hammer's U Can't Touch this; tough call. 

2. What’s the best thing that happened to you week?
No work on Monday!

3. If you could have a starring role in any film already made, which movie would you pick?

A League Of Our Own; always loved that movie. Or any movie playing opposite of Matthew McConaughey.

4. What actor/actress would you have play you in a movie of your life?
Rachel McAdams. Big Fan.
5. What is your favorite quote?
Back when Grey's Anatomy was a lot better I watched the show religiously every Thursday evening. This quote is from the first season:

"Maybe being grateful means recognizing what you have for what it is. Appreciating small victories. Admiring the struggle it takes simply to be human. Maybe we're thankful for the familiar things we know. And maybe we're thankful for the things we'll never know. At the end of the day, the fact that we have the courage to still be standing is reason enough to celebrate." - Meredith Grey (at the end of the episodes where she narrates and always has something wise to say). 

7. What was your first concert?
My first real concert was Kenny Chesney in 2005. 
However when I was in college we frequently saw Luke Bryan, Zac Brown and Jason Aldean playing at New Bar or Legends before they hit it big. Here is a picture of good 'ol Luke Bryan from Legends in Statesboro (I think in 2006), before he had his big break and thought it was a good idea to wear skinny jeans.... 

7. What Internet website do you visit the most?
Yahoo -- it is my homepage.

8. Which of Snow White’s 7 dwarfs describes you the best and why?
At this very moment? Sleepy!

9. If you were on death row, what would your last meal be?
This is easy. Outback Aussie Cheese Fries.

10. What is the background of your computer?
A picture from Costa Rica:

11. If you could relive one period of your life without changing the outcome what period would that be?
College. Damn that was fun! Made great friends and met my sweet Drew.

2006

21st Bday!

2007

Weekend Highlights

I love 3 day weekends! I have attempted in the past  to convince C4 that we need to move to a 4 day work week but no one else seems to be on board - go figure! I especially love weekends where Drew and I get to hang around the house and do as we please!

I got a little bit of baking done; highlights: cheesecake, cookies and some breakfast scramblers that Drew and I like to take for breakfast.

I LOVE CHEESECAKE!

Oatmeal cookies - not my prettiest work, but they were pretty darn tasty.

2 yolks from 1 egg -- that has to be good luck!

Drew and I also did some outdoor activities that included carrying heavy items through the woods, getting into briars, putting up a new deer stand and riding around on the Ranger. 

Carrying heavy stuff, view from the new stand, riding ranger (no clue where that Huddle House cup came from, we definitely did not eat there! wink wink).

I also got a jump on Christmas decorating, hopefully this will be enough to hold me over 'til after Thanksgiving.

I love Christmas! 

Catherine & Lee Lewis

Sunday evening I drove down to he river and met Catherine and Lee to take maternity pictures. Fortunately it was nice and cool out but a little too breezy! Catherine is expecting to deliver in a week! This is the first child for this fun loving couple. Here are a few of my favorite pictures: