Month of Giving Deux

So last year, I read a blog where a woman performed the number of random acts of kindness for the number of years she was alive on her birthday. Taking that thought into mind, I decided that October- my birth month- was a time to give back to fellow man. With that, last year during the month of October, I performed 22 random acts of kindness for people. Some of them included listening to a friend, giving free food to the fellow college kids on my floor and donated to a local children's hospital. A lot of the things were little things but they didn't need to be anything big- they brightened the day of a friend.

So this year, I decided to do it again. In 2 weeks time, I will be 23 years old. So this means that this year I will be performing 23 random acts of kindness over the month of October!

And I invited you to join me! It's not too hard! You don't have to do 23 of course, but just do something nice for you fellow man over the next month.

And feel free to tell me about it! Find a post on my blog and write me a little note telling me what you did. I may even write about you in a post on here!

I am very excited for my birth month and all the kindness coming to people!

More to come...

Month of Giving Comes to a Close

So my birth month is over (boo D:) but it was a fun month for sure. And of course I was finishing my random acts of kindness! See them below!

You may also notice the little dog in my photos for this installment. That is Spot! Each week, the RA's pass Spot around as a weekly recognition of someone who did something nice or was just really awesome for the week. This week, I got Spot! Nick gave me him because of my calm handling of last week's building evacuation/fire issue. So Spot got to join in on the fun this week :)

Spot couldn't decide what he wanted at Starlite the other night!

17.  Safe Trick-or-treat for kids in Flint

This past Sunday, Riverfront put together a safe trick or treat for kids in Flint. This event provided a safe environment (away from the dangers of crime) for kids who can come from some scary neighborhoods in this city. We had about 70 kids and their families come by to join us for halloween games, a coloring contest, a costume contest and LOTS of candy! It was adorable seeing lots of little kids in their costumes (at the age where they are excited to get all dressed up) and giving them candy!

Spot was trying to steal all the candy before the kids arrived! Bad Spot :P

18. Cooked for a friend

Last Wednesday night there was a small fire in my building, enough to set off the sprinklers in their apartment and causing a full evacuation of the building into the street for 3 hours. After all was said and done, 8 apartments were moved due to water damage and Nick and I being on duty didn't get to chill out and calm down until after midnight. That was when we realized we had eaten all day. I was cooking dinner when the alarms went off and had to get people out of the building. My chicken was ruined by the time I got up there at 1 am. So, I grabbed some more chicken from my freezer, went down to Nick's room, and cooked Tanisha and Nick some dinner...at 1:30 AM. Either way, they were happy to eat it and Nick and I talked until around 4 am that night. Sleep just wasn't going to happen after dealing with an emergency like that.

19.Took Notes for a friend who was home sick

This fall has been rough. I know that I have spent some days sick out of my mind and home. For my friend Abijah, the poor thing lost her voice and didn't make it into class. So, I took her good notes in the class that we have together, and sent them to her so that she could stay as updated as possible!

20. Gave Free Stuff (including gift cards) to random residents

On Tuesday, I walked over to campus and bought three $5 gift cards for Jilly's Pizza, a pizza place that I know the owners rather well. I wrote out 3 cards and gave the residents a task. I said the first 3 people to stop by my door would get an awesome prize...as long as they said, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good!" Of course, I knew there would be more than 3 people that would stop by, so I filled a basket with bags of chips, bottled water, candy, cookies, and pop so that those who stopped by later would have something else to take with them.

At around 4:45pm (I wrote that it would be between 5 PM and 12 AM), one of my residents texted me and told me that I already had 3 people waiting! Three lovely ladies from the 10th floor (one I hadn't met before!) got the gift cards, and about 12 other people stopped by throughout the night and left with a free snack and a smile on their face. When asked why I was doing this, I just explained how I was celebrating my birth month and they thought it was really cool. Maybe I inspired someone to at least pay it forward

Spot joined me by chilling in the basket of goodies. :)

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21. Bought a movie ticket for a friend

Every October for the past few years, there has been a Paranormal Activity released. During the very first one, my friend Luna and her family took me down to Ann Arbor to see it. At that time, it was only showing in 15 theaters in the country, and the theater in Ann Arbor was the only one in Michigan. I always have fond memories of that night.

So, every year since, we have gone to see the next installment the first weekend it is out. This year, Paranormal Activity 4 was playing. And I'm not going to lie, I was excited to see it. And I wanted to see it with some friends. So Luna and I picked a time and invited our friends Hoffa and Jessica. Hoffa was a little short, so I decided, I can just get your ticket for you. I hadn't seen him in awhile and I wanted to...so I did!

22. Donated Clothes

When my old roommate Mindu moved out, she left behind a bag of clothes. It had been sitting and moving from apartment to apartment this summer. So, I decided it was finally time to take it to Goodwill. So I went through my closet, grabbed some clothes that I haven't worn in years and those that didn't fit right, bagged them up, and dropped them off at the local salvation army.

I hope someone enjoys the clothing and it helps them stay clothed this winter. 


Other happenings:

The weekend of the 20th was the big Michigan vs Michigan State game. Michigan barely pulled out the win. I watched it with some friends at Buffalo Wild Wings.

Last Wednesday, we had a small fire on my floor that caused 8 apartments to be flooded and a total evacuation of the building for 3+ hours. And I was on duty. It was an interesting night that ended with me not getting to sleep until well past 4 am.

The fire department received a round of applause by the residents when they arrived.

This past weekend was another Sanborn clan party for Halloween. I dressed up as "accident prone" and had plenty of shenanigans with my friends in Lapeer. 

Sunday night, Nick and his boyfriend Matt and I went to St. Lucifer's Haunted Asylum. It was Nick's first haunted house and we had a good time...even while waiting in the cold, windy line for 2 1/2 hours!

Music

1. Sign of the Times- Three Days Grace

2. What I've Done- Linkin Park

3. Start of Something New- Daughtry

4. Broken Glass- Three Days Grace

5. Payphone- Maroon 5

6. Gangnam Style- Psy

7. Hummingbird- Alex Clare

8. How to Save a Life- The Fray

9. Save Me- Shinedown

10. Broken Crown- Mumford and Sons

Birthday-ness and More Acts of Kindness!

My birthday week finally got here!!!!!!!! Yay!!! On Monday I turned 22 and had a blast with some friends getting some food. I've been celebrating all week long by doing different things. I love all these people I have in my life :)

Today is sweetest day (a made up Hallmark Holiday that I don't like at all) but Kevin still got me a rose and some chocolates. He's the best.

I've been hard at work on my random acts of kindness. Here are some more below!

8. Helped a worker at the supermarket clean up someone else's mess.
I worked at Meijer, though I wasn't a stock person or anything. But I know through my work there that people are messy. And half the time they don't want to fess up for the messes that they make and walk away...leaving them there.

These people are rude.

Anyway, the other day I was shopping at Meijer and noticed that someone had knocked a bunch of soup cans off the shelf and that someone was rushing to the aisle to clean them up. I hunched down and helped him restack them onto the shelf. He had an appreciative smile on his face as we joked about people not cleaning up after themselves.

9. Renewed my membership to Gift of Life
So, when I renewed my license, I hadn't gotten my heart on it as I had before registered for gift of life. So, I renewed my registration and once again got my heart. Just the small things but you never know, when I pass away, they may be able to use some organ of mine...and save a life.

10. Brought donuts back to the people on duty last weekend.
Saturday evening, I met some friends at Past Tense in Lapeer, a cider mill. I love their cider and donuts and grabbed some. A couple of my fellow RAs were on duty and had a rough Friday...so I brought them back a donut to brighten their day.

11. Congratulated a newly engaged couple.
So, I'm at the age, everyone is either getting engaged, married or having babies. One of my friends got engaged over the weekend, and I took the initave to personally congratulate them on the next step towards their new life together.

12. Adopted a soldier
This is something that I've wanted to do for awhile now. But I used this as a reason to actually do it! On Thursday, I went to the website and registered to adopt a soldier. This morning, I got my email with the information of the soldier I adopted. Though I can't say much as to where my soldier is stationed and such, I did just email him to let him know that a letter and will be in the mail soon!

13. Bought a drink for a friend
It was my friend Cass' birthday this past week also so I bought her a drink at the bar when we went out the other night.

14. Wore pink and donated to breast cancer!
One of our local fraternity houses had a Thursday night party to save the boobies. SO...I donned some pink, donated to the cause and had a nice night out with friends :)

In memory of my beautiful mother! 

15. Shared my food with everyone.
Today, some friends and I went to our local Buffalo Wild Wings and watched the big Michigan/Michigan State game (spoilers: Michigan won!!!) and I got some food that I shared around the table...including an amazing dessert nacho. Seriously, get it in the next time you are there!

btw...those are cheesecake balls in the middle. Rolled in graham crackers and deep fried....

16. Gave our waitress a nice huge tip.

So normally, as a college student, we can give the 10% tip but not much more. Today at Bduds, we were there for like 5 hours watching the game, and our waitress was nice...even giving us a fresh refill of pop after we had not paid attention to it when I was drinking my cocktail. So I gave her a nicer than normal tip. She was very thankful when I got up to leave that she came over to thank me in general. Always nice to make someone smile!

Some More Kind Things, Happy October!

So I haven't been updating recently....SORRY! It's been a busy month! But here are some of the nice things I've done for people so far this month:

3. Helped a lady at Olive Garden With her dropped boxes.

So, A few of us went to Olive Garden for lunch last Saturday. It was a windy, October day just like it really has been lately (Mother Nature is doing her job this year). When we were leaving, one of the workers was carrying out a bunch of boxes to the dumpster when a wind hit her and she dropped most of them. Jasmin and I helped her get them back into her hands so that she could go on her merry way since she had others in her hand that she didn't drop...and would have dropped them if she bent down. With a quick smile, and a thank you, I made her day a bit easier.

4. Donated to a Children's Hospital.

After Olive Garden, we went to Spirit of Halloween to get our costumes for this years upcoming halloween events. After looking around the store, finding what I needed, we checked out. At the register, the lady asked if I wanted to donate $1 to a local children's hospital. Of course I did, it was just a dollar, but adding my name to that wall with others who also pledged the same...made me feel pretty good. Tanisha and Abijah also donated with me!

5. Held the door for everyone that needed it one day.

On Monday, I spent a few extra seconds holding the door for people around campus. It's not a big thing, but people really do appreciate it. Plus, I got to share a smile with people on a Monday...which we all know aren't everyone's favorite days!

6. Gave one of my residents a piece of pie for his birthday.

One of my residents of my floor had his birthday this week. On Monday, I went shopping for food and such and grabbed a caramel apple pie from meijer (because I wanted to give it a try of course!). I remembered it was his birthday, so when I sliced it, I grabbed a paper plate and took him a piece too. He was thrilled and thoroughly enjoyed it.

7. Brightened one of my coworker's day

One of my coworkers was having a bad day yesterday, poor thing. So I gave her my ear and some pudding and helped her feel better. All in a good days work!

2 Random Acts

So it's giving October. And it's been an interesting few days. But I did catch up on a couple acts of kindness!

1. Caught up on birthday posts.

So as I know it's my birth month, I know how awesome it feels when your friends fill up your wall with well wishes that you have lived another year. But these past few days I have had internet issues, little time and such to get on there. One of my ongoing acts of kindness will be to make sure to tell every other October baby to have a happy birthday. This includes those I missed. So I wrote a quick apology, wrote a nice happy birthday and went on my merry way! I hope that even my late message will bring a little smile to their face.

2. Random Wall Messages

So, I also know, as an avid Facebook user, just how awesome getting a random message from a friend on your wall. You log on, see that little red "1" and wonder what's going on. Then you see that someone you did expect has written on your wall and you light up with a smile. Sometimes you continue a conversation with that person to see how they are, sometimes you just give them a nice thank you. Either way, you both get a smile!

I went to my friend's list and just picked 10ish people at random. Feels good!

Month of Giving

I know I'm a tad late getting this up and going...but it's been an interesting couple of days.

So I got this idea from a fellow blogger and I tweaked it to make it my own. 

In my family, we have what are called birth months. Basically, the month that you are born during is a cause for celebration. For me, I spend the month of October getting together with friends, going out to dinner and just having a lot of fun. 

So back to this idea. The blogger stated that for her 33rd birthday she decided to do 33 random acts of kindness on her birthday for people. So, for my purposes to make it a bit easier in general, I plan on doing 22 random acts of kindness throughout the month. AND I am going to be taking photos and talking about it all month on here! Be ready for some new posts!

Why 22? Well, I will be 22 on October 15th! And well, 22 isn't one of those exciting birthdays like 21, or 25. But I AM alive and I think that is a reason to celebrate! I am inviting anyone who wants to join me to do it. Basically, being nice to your fellow man makes you feel good and we all need some feel good this time of year. 

Want to join but don't have any idea what to do? Here are some ideas:

• Donate used books to the local library
• Give Blood
• Buy someone lunch (better yet, give a homeless person what may be their one meal. It doesn't have to be anything expensive.)
• Visit a nursing home for an afternoon
• Bring some balloons/stuffed animals to sick kids
• Help someone whose car broke down on the side of the road
• Rake leaves/do yard work for an elderly neighbor
• Hold the door for someone
• Let someone cut you in line
• Write (and mail!) a letter to someone who made a difference in your life. If you know their email and want to do that instead, do that! It'll bring a smile to their face.
• Call a family member you haven't talked to in awhile
• Volunteer at some kind of community agency (animal shelter, soup kitchen, etc.)
• Write a letter to a soldier! 

There are a bunch of ideas on this website to get the juices flowing! 

And if you have a facebook, you can join the event here. It's public, share it with your friends! Feel free to share stories all month long!

And have fun! I plan to. Hope to hear some great stories!