I am officially a little late in starting my Random Act of Kindness for 2012. It technically started 2 days ago. You can read a little bit more about it here. I did however do a few nice things already. I gave away a few things free on craigslist…not inexpensive things either. =) That was fun. I also bought a new book and bought an extra copy and left one on a bench for some random stranger to find with a note saying I hope they enjoy it as much as I will! However, let me do this right… 7 days… 7 random acts of kindness.

Day 1 — I gave a random membership on a website to some random person.
Day 2 — I bought an extra copy of a book and left it on a bench.
Day 3 —
Day 4 —
Day 5 –
Day 6 –
Day 7 —

(to be updated)

I stopped posting my Random Act of Kindness Week activities. =/

• Day 1 — Send a note of appreciation to someone I care about (done)
• Day 2 — Smile at ten strangers (done)
• Day 3 — Hold the door open for ten strangers (done)
• Day 4 — Give the gift of music (done)
• Day 5 — Donate books to the library (done)
• Day 6 — Offer up free babysitting hours to friend (done — offering… the hours are still yet to be redeemed)
• Day 7 — Make something for someone for no particular reason but I can… (done– pillow case — see below)

I sewed this all myself! How cute is that?

I am a nice person in general. I try to do random acts of kindness all year long. =) So, there you have it. Week accomplished. And what did you do for random acts of kindness?

This week is Random of Acts of Kindness week (February 14th – 21st). And so, I decided to participate in the Extreme Kindness Challenge,

For seven days during RAK Week we invite you to take the Extreme Kindness Challenges.

We will suggest a new Act of Kindness each day. Choose a time when it works for you to do the Act of Kindness, but be sure to do it at least once each day for seven days. If you don’t want to do our idea but instead decide to do a challenge of your own, that counts too!

Our mission is to inspire you to act and share. We know that act of Kindness is our Ticket to a Kinder World!

So, for the next seven days I will check in with the site and see the suggestions and try to follow them. Day 1 was to send a note of appreciation to someone you love. I sent three! =) Fun stuff. Thanks Melissa (from OperationNice) for suggesting this site! =) And I am taking you up on your offer to do the challenge!

I don’t think I blogged about the first note I sent to a random stranger. I sent it on the first day of my nice adventure! Someone suggested I mail it to someone in Illinois and so I did. I did a little search on whitepages dot com and used one of my favorite words as the last name and voila! The first stranger was chosen.

This time I chose a particular name (first and last) from random things I love and left the state open… and I came up with a lady with the loveliest name ever.  I mailed it yesterday! How fun is this? I found some postcards but I am already down to three. Postcards are perfect because you don’t have to fill them up like cards but rather just simple messages. =) I think I should design some postcards and have them printed up. This might help conserve money. =)

It is fun to be nice!

So! I took this nice project by the reins and went to full speed ahead on my journey! I sent out my first postcard to a stranger and then we did a nice-note-a-palooza. Three of us wrote out some random notes and then deposited them throughout the town. Seven random notes and the best part… a little girl joined in with us and she was so excited to be part of being nice! =)

I happened upon a most wonderful site the other day, Operation NICE. Allow the lovely lady who started it tell you in her own words (from the website) what it is about,

Don’t you love it when people go out of their way to be nice? Like when someone waits to hold the door for you. Or when a stranger waves you into a line a traffic. Or even when a coworker shoots you a friendly smile along with a “have a nice day.” If everyone was a little bit nicer to the folks they encountered each day, perhaps the world would be a more pleasant place. Operation NICE was initiated to remind you that a little NICE goes a long way.

And so a movement was born…a journey to be nice and proactively spread the niceness. I am jumping in head first! I am already a fairly nice person. I compliment good service. I write thank you notes. I try to be thoughtful mostly. However, I am ready to begin a journey into new depths of niceness.

Most every week for the past few years the nice lady who runs Operation Nice has given out nice assignments for others to complete. Having just found the site I feel a little jealous I have missed out on all these nice opportunities to be super-duper nice and make another person’s day a little bit better. And so! I have decided I will do some of the past assignments as well as trying to do the new ones that she conjures up! It will be fun, fun indeed. These are the past nice assignments I have decided upon:

• Mail a card to a random stranger (picked from the telephone book). I will do this once a month, every 3rd Thursday a month, I already sent the first one yesterday to a lady in Illinois! The whitepages.com insists you put in a last name so I chose a random word close to my heart, ‘book’. =) Fun!  (Ongoing)
• Hand make valentines and give them to those you care about. I had a head start on this one as I did this for Valentine’s Day. But why stop on that day? I will handmake one valentine every month to send to someone I care about–on the 2nd Tuesday of every month. (Ongoing)
• I love list for each month, write a list or do a doodle composition of what you love about the current month… or as I will do it the upcoming month. I will post my What I love about this month picture or list on the 1st of every month. (Ongoing)
• Write a living eulogy — I will give this some thought and get back to you soon… I might even post it. If not, I will post about it. (Finished on August 6th)
• Send a postcard to family and/or friends on a regular basis. I will choose some nifty postcards and send one a week to a different person until I recycle through everyone and then begin again. (Ongoing)
• Make a I Love list, a positive way of articulating goals or just being grateful. I will make one soon… and periodically make new ones… this one will be fun! (Finished on July 30th)
• Nice bombs, on the Operation Nice website she provides cards you can print out that say Nice Note and a space for you to write in your own message. She even attaches little gifts with them! How nice!!! I will write some out and sometimes add little gifts… and leave them places, taking photos of the places I leave them to share with everyone. (Ongoing)

Oh! I am excited to get all crazy random nice! How fun! I will keep you up to date on my journey to the inner depths of niceness. In the meantime why not start your own little nice things to do and tell me about it and tell Melissa from Operation Nice about it too! And a big fat thank you to you Melissa for inspiring me to be even nicer.

Updated last (August 25th).

It is time we Americans help be the change we voted for with Obama. He said he could not do it alone. It is time we help him. It is time we help ourselves and each other. Your time is precious. My time is precious. We can still give an hour or two a week. You can find local volunteering opportunities here.  Or maybe it is time to really give our time and to get back something far greater than we can imagine by committing to a year or two of full time service in programs like AmeriCorps or PeaceCorps. Long-term service commitments have financial compensation as well, not much but enough, particularly for students. (They even offer scholarships!) But mostly, it will offer you a new lifeview. It will change your life forever.

Or start researching what is needed in your community and figure out how you can help fill that need. Nothing is impossible with motivation and imagination.

I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.
    Albert Schweitzer

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is so profoundly sad. It is causing widespread damages that we cannot even begin to access or understand accurately. It is such a shame. And most people feel so helpless… what can we do?

Well, when 5th grade Olivia Bouler heard about the oil spill in the place she vacations with her family, she sat down to write a letter with an offer to help the birds…

http://www.aolartists.com/profiles/olivia-bouler/

And so began “Save the Gulf” operation between Olivia, her drawings and the Audubon Society. As of today, June 11 2010, she has helped raise over $80,000 to help rescue the birds from the oil spill still happening. You can read the news story here. Or visit her AOL artist site and enjoy her drawings here. And you can donate to help save the birds here.

http://www.aolartists.com/profiles/olivia-bouler/

It only takes a willingness to help. And one person can make a difference. Thanks Olivia… you give hope to the future! I look forward to seeing you become an Ornithologist one day. The birds are lucky to have you!

(Originally posted elsewhere on one of my other sites for birds. However, I felt it worthy to share as many places as possible.)

And yet another wonderful response to the Be Thoughtful list… here is part 4 (from the Madhattress)…

1. Read a book to a friend (little or your age)
2. buy flowers for someone
3. note good behaviors
4. leave notes of encouragement in random places
5. be there to listen
6. vocalize friends strengths
7. hug a friend even if you don’t like hugs
8. go to the movies in the middle of a random day with a friend
9. paint someone a picture
10. register to vote with someone
11. sing out loud
12. play games
13. get active in something you care about
14. eat healthier with a friend/family member
15. be there to listen to venting
16. let emotions happen (your own or others)
17. dance around together
18. clean up our planet with a friend
19. smile at a stranger (not all strangers thought)
20. plant a garden
21. take an unplanned driving trip
22. write someone a card (for no special reason)
23. give change to those who ask
24. be active in the progression of your friends lives
25. laugh. laugh. laugh.

Wonderful! Thanks again!

You can read part 1 here, part 2 here and part 3 here.

And another response to the Be Thoughtful list request… this one is from my young nephew…

1. Open the door for people
2. Help people with groceries
3. Help a kid get through a bad day
4. Stick up for a kid in trouble
5. Help a kid get his ball out of a tree
6. If people have their hands full carry something for them
7. If someone loses something help them find it
8. Pick up trash
9. Recycle
10. If a kid is lost help him get home
11. Get something that is high up in a tree
12. Help a kid if he is hurt
13. Call 911 if a kid is seriously hurt
14. Bring the recycle down to the car
15. Make a kid’s day better
16. Make more activities for kids to do
17. Let every kid play with you
18. Help the disabled
19. Let people in line behind you go before if they are in a hurry
20. If you’re in line and someone has more stuff, let them go because its nice
21. Lift a kid up to reach something
22. Help a kid even if he says he is fine
23. Talk with a kid that has had a bad thing happen to him
24. Help solve a fight
25. Give a kid a dollar just because it would brighten his day

Part 1 can be read here.

Part 2 can be read here.

Part 4 can be read here.