Days 10-13

Wow, time is flying.  We are almost halfway through May. That's crazy.  Here's a quick weekend recap....

Day 10 (Friday) - I gave blood! I did it! It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and I gave in record time--it took me less than 6 minutes! I was pretty nervous right before but my phlebotomist was super nice and even took a picture for me.  It was pretty quick and painless and for that I am grateful. 

Look at that, I even managed to smile... :) Also on Friday, my Instagram gratitude word of the day was Nature. I realized this just as I was winding up my lunch hour late Friday afternoon. I had an 'oh crap' moment and decided to snap a pic right then. So I put my phone out the window, pointed upwards and captured this beauty.....

Not too shabby, right?  I like it. And it reminded me to be grateful for a beautiful vibrant sky and a gorgeous day.

Day 11 (Saturday)- My Saturday random act of kindness was to return shopping carts at our local Wal-Mart. I don't know about you but this is one of my pet peeves; people who leave shopping carts out, especially when they obstruct a parking spot. Seriously, people!?! So I decided to help out and return carts at Wal-Mart. It was great and I even got a little exercise walking the parking lot ;)

I was also able to run a couple more miles on Saturday.  Running is becoming addictive...I wake up in the morning and usually the first thing I think of is running. On Saturday I ran on the treadmill and decided that I like running outside better.  It used to be the opposite, but the weather has been so great lately and by running outside I feel like I'm actually going somewhere.  I'm starting to like it more than I dread it...Uh-oh.... :)

Day 12 (Sunday)- Since Sunday was Mother's Day and my mom is about two thousand miles away, I decided to hang with someone who might not have children close by or able to visit them, so I went to a health & rehab facility and visited with an elderly woman.  It was quite a bit harder than I thought it would be, but I basically walked in and started up a conversation with this total stranger. I was able to learn quite a bit about her, she grew up close by, her family followed her dad after "the war" and her children live close. She likes to read and thinks her daughters husband is a bum :) haha. It was a nice visit. I'm glad I did it, and it makes me want to do that kind of service more often, to get more comfortable with chattin it up with the elderly.

Day 13 (Monday)-Today's random act of kindness is writing out personal 'thank yous' to some people in my life.  I'm such a blessed girl, I have so many friends and acquaintances that have influenced me in my life and I think it's a good thing to acknowledge that.  I only had a package of about 10 thank you cards, though there are so many more people in my life who deserve a good thanks.
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Two more miles in today brings the total up to 16 total miles run this month.  Only 14 more to go! I'm taking a trip this weekend and not sure if I'll have the motivation to get up and run on a mini vacation so I'm trying to get ahead so that I don't have to run if I don't want to, but with this new running loving attitude, we'll see what happens....


Tally To Go:
RAOK's: 17
Miles to Run: 14
Temple Names: 24
Days Left: 17

Day 9

Ah, I'm a day behind in posting, but everything is chugging right along. As I figure up my tally, the Temple goal is concerning me, but I know I'll be able to make the time and get there.  It's funny because in planning each day to do my running, my random act of kindness, Instagram gratitude (which I'm also a day behind on...) and making time for the temple, I keep thinking, 'What the heck did I do with all this time before I started this project???' I thought I was busy then...now adding all this on top and I am one busy, but extrememly happy and blessed, woman :D

 

Yesterday's random act of kindness was to 'lend a pen'.  We all know that most of the time when you 'lend' someone something, there's a pretty big chance you're not going to see it again, so I converted 'lend a pen' into 'give away my two most favorite pens of all time'. I'm weird like that, I get attached to pens. I'm a writer. I love writing, office paperwork, journaling, and pens make that all the more fun. So it was a sacrifice, but it was great.  They went to a good home :)

 

 

 

Today's kindness act is to give blood. I've made my appointment, got a good nights sleep, and I'm about to go have my "big lunch" that they suggested...but I'm still a bit nervous.  Wish me luck! I'll update on it later, if I'm not passed out on the floor ;)



 

Tally to Go:

RAOK: 21 (not counting my blood donation today, because it hasn't actually happened yet...)

Miles to Run: 19

Temple Names: 24

Days Left: 20 

Day 8: Happy Nurses' Week!

I hate blood. I hate just about every bodily fluid. I'm not a "toucher". I was definitely not cut out for the medical profession. But I'm so grateful for those who are. I broke my leg two years ago this month and had to have surgery. It was pretty much the scariest thing I've ever done, but the doctors and nurses were so great. So kind and considerate. They even mailed me a get well card. They rocked. So today's random act of kindness, in honor of Nurses' Week, is to take a basket of lifesavers to some pretty awesome lifesavers.

Everything else is just chugging along.. I'll tally tomorrow.     :)

Day 7- No Road Rage

  Today's Random Act of Kindness: Have a Day of No Road Rage.  If I see ya out there, I'll be smiling ;)


Tally To Go:
RAOK: 23
Miles to Run: (2 more down today): 22
Temple: 24
Days Left: 23

Days 4, 5 & 6...

I really hope he likes Big Macs....

 

 

 

Saturday was c-r-azy!! I had a full schedule of running, temple, work, etc. I had planned ahead and thought I made time for my random act of kindness but the afternoon was buzzing by and time was winding down. I found myself with a mere ten minutes left; not long enough for what I'd had planned.  I scoured the area for another idea, a quicker one to do before I had to be at work. Just that morning my roommate and I had been talking about homeless people and she mentioned she always sees one guy on a corner across from the mall by a McDonalds. As I remembered that I pulled into the McDonalds drive in and was hopeful he'd be there and that I could maybe buy him a meal. He was there! But what do you choose as a meal for someone you don't know? Someone who's probably really hungry and tired? I don't really know but I found myself saying "How about a number one with a Coke" Then I rushed around and handed it to him. He had the softest bluest eyes I've ever seen and was holding a sign that had the words "Acts of Kindness" on it (I"m not sure what else it said, I didn't really pause to read it...) but those words were the biggest on the sign. What a sign! (--> pun intended ;}) He was very grateful and said "Thank you, thank you, God Bless Ma'am" It was awesome. :D  ...and I got to work on time ;)

For Sunday my random act of kindness was to avoid gossip. It's just so fun sometimes, isn't it? And I hate to admit, but one of my favorite things to do on Sundays after church is to sit in our living room with my roommates and recap the day at church. Did you see who so and so was sitting with? Are they dating? Did you see this new couple...or that one that got engaged? In our defense, much of it is not negative, just catching up on the latest in our congregation of single people aged 18-31, but still, it's gossip. And I want to make it clear, I go to church for the spiritual aspect of it, but sometimes the social gossip just falls in. So yesterday my goal was to avoid gossip.  It was hard. Like, hard. I think it was a good reminder though to get outside of myself and just simply hold my tongue once in a while. Perhaps that is one key to happiness, holding your tongue, especially in gossipping situations. It definitely made me more aware of how much gossipping I actually do! Every time I went to say something and stopped myself I thought wow, again, Amy, really, haha. I'm glad I did it, though. And if not for anyone else, it was an act of kindness towards myself. I think gossipping belittles us and doesn't always make me feel the best about myself. Lesson learned.

Today's act of kindness was by far much easier.  Today's was to 'call a relative'. Well, it's my Mom's 50th Birthday today, so I called home and had a great chat with her. She's a delightful woman; strong, independent and intelligent. It was great to talk to her, and she has such a positive attitude about her birthday this year.  She is so full of gratitude today that she's even made it to fifty that worrying about age is not on her agenda today. I love it. What an example. It was great to talk to her. Happy Birthday Mom!!

One last weekend up date...2 miles on Saturday + 2 more miles today = a total of 6 miles down! YAY! I'm quickly discovering that the running goal is proving to be the toughest. I'm kind of surprised by that, but hopefully it will become easier, and I'm starting to look forward to it so thats a step in the right direction...I hope... :)  I was also able to go to the Temple on Saturday and I did 5 names so total is up to 6 finished. Instagram gratitude is fun. This weekend I was reminded to be grateful for happiness, leaves and the morning sky. Good stuff. 


Tally to go
RAOK: 24
Miles to Run: 24
Temple: 24
Days: 24

Days 2 & 3

2 Miles down!!! Can I get a hallelujah?!?  Ugh, it was pretty funny actually because I've set my alarm for 6:30 almost every day this week and I've consistently snoozed my way to 6:45 or 7:15..but this morning I woke up so promptly and full of energy at exactly 6:26; fate sealed. My thought was, wellp, guess I'm gonna go running. So I set out and flirted with the idea of just one mile then kept reminding myself that 30 miles in less than 30 days ain't gonna run itself and I should at least do 2 miles.  It was cold. Both nose and eyes running. Allergies going nuts. My legs went numb, my pace was slow. It sucked. Ha! But I did it. My friends and I have this theory about "doing hard things" and how it might be really tough for a minute but in the end you're stronger for it. Hard thing for the day- check. 2 miles done-check... :)  Here's a groggy, blurry picture of the path I ran and what kept me going...David Guetta 'Titanium'. I'm thankful for both a nice running path and good music.  <3

Yesterday's RAOK was leaving a sweet something for the mail people. I left a candy bar both at our home mailbox and for our mail guy at work. Our mailman at work is one of my favorite people. He is hilarious, always makes that minute of dropping off mail a joyful one and he's even known to share a joke or two. He's pretty awesome. I was worried it might be kind of awkward leaving something for him because the mail is picked up at my desk, but when he came in I got so excited, I was like LOOK! There's something for you...: D  He got a big smile and gave me a fist bump and said 'awesome, well done'. haha. Loved that!

Today's act of kindness is leaving a dollar bill in a book I am returning to the library. I LOVE Provo City Library, it's one of my favorite places to spend hours on a Saturday. I also loved reading this book, Ella Minnow Pea...Get it? Like LMNOP...   It's a beautifully written book about a girl in a town that honors the creator of the sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" which uses every letter in the alphabet. The sentence is hung in the town as a statue of the greatness of that man, but chaos enters when letters start falling from the statue and thus are taken out of the vocabulary of the townspeople.  Such a fun book, so clever, I'd reccommend it to anyone, especially for word lovers. And so, I'm returning it today with a dollar bill in it, hopefully whoever reads it next will love both the book and the extra dollar. ;)

I was able to go with some friends last night to the temple, so one name down there. And the Instagram gratitude has been fun too.  There has been one thing that has surprised me and that's that people are actually paying attention to what I'm doing! haha. I guess when you blog about it and blast it all over Facebook people are bound to notice, but I really didn't expect it. I got a call this morning from my wonderful Grandma who just called to say how proud she was and that she had heard what I was doing and loved it. That totally made my day!!! I'm glad that other people think it's a good thing, cause I sure am loving it and the feedback is fun so keep it coming ;) 


Tally to go:
RAOK: 27
Miles to Run: 28
Temple Names: 29
Days Left: 27

Day 1

Well, there's good news and bad news...I'll start with the bad. I have to run 30 miles in 29 days... :)

Now, onto the good...I am so excited about this project!!  Today's random act of kindness was leaving some change taped to a vending machine for someone to have a drink on me.  One of my initial worries with this project was that it would be expensive. Acts of kindness are fun and great, especially when you buy people meals and leave extra large tips...but let's be honest, I just don't usually have that kind of money. So I'm trying to use what I can live without...starting with loose change! I cashed in my jar of coin from home and my car ashtray and found a little over 5 bucks! Wahoo! Who knew!?  With that extra money I can do at least 3 of the RAOK (Random Acts of Kindnes...) on my list.  Yay!

There was a bit of a challenge with this particular act of kindness...Do vending machines even exist anymore? I had to think a bit about the last time I saw/used a vending machine. With some help I finally thought of grocery stores, they sometimes have drink machines outside. So I found one and left my $1.25 taped to the machine. It's waaayyy windy in Utah today so I taped it down pretty good and off I went.  I hope it stayed. Or that someone gets hit in the face with the dollar bill. Not so much the quarter.  :)

The Instagram gratitude word of the day is Food. One of my most favorite foods is chocolate! So I got myself a Hershey's Almond bar and was grateful for every bite. ;) 



 

 

 

 



Tally to go:
RAOK: 29
Miles: 30
Temple Names: 30
Days Left: 29