Card Journey for: [EV-EVERY]
Dance party
While babysitting two adorable little girls I realised their love for music and dancing as we jumped, spun and grooved the night away. When their mother asked if I could give her a list of new songs appropriate for the girls to listen to I took the opportunity to be a blessing. I brought a USB, some funky stickers and spend the afternoon finding and downloading music for the girls. I put all the songs on the USB and used the stickers to write their name and personalise the USB before the finishing touches of packaging. They were overwhelmed as they received the gift but I was just happy to make them happy.
Free compliments
I got on a compliment giving spree and decided to sneaky put up some 'free compliments' on populated doors while nobody was around.
I put them up early in the morning and on returning in the late afternoon all the compliments were gone :)
you are valued
There is an amazing women at my work who is seriously under recognised for all her hard work. I think we take her a little bit for granted in the office and I realised that without her our company really wouldn't be in the place it is today.
I decided it was time to say thank you.
It took a little bit of planning and a bit of sneaking around on my behalf. I gathered a whole bunch of photos of our team here at work and of us doing what we do out in the community and put them all together in a twenty page photo book. I then came into the office on a weekend when I knew she wouldn't be around to see and decorated her desk with ribbons, leaving the book and a long thank you letter on her computer.
She was thrilled when she arrived at work on Monday morning and couldn't stop smiling all day. She keeps the photo book proped up in her office to this day
Easter delight
Armed with chocolate in cute packages I set out to leave an easter suprise. I left these little easter delights on the desks of all my colleagues
Reverse Easter
This year I got a turn at being the Easter bunny. It was the first year everyone in the house knew 'the truth' about Easter and it was decided that we wouldn't be getting any chocolate. This gave me and idea.... What if I reversed Easter and secretly got my parents chocolates?
The challenge was set.
It was early Easter morning and I got up to put my plan into action. I made a trail of small Easter eggs for each of my parents that led them to bigger chocolate bunnies. Mum laughed and cried when she followed the trail. She was was so surprised she didn't know what to say but she settled on 'Thank You'.
Love letters
Attending university is not always full of happiness, socialising and enjoyment. When assessment time hits you can see the morale drop dramatically. Everyone suddenly starts feeling inadequate, incapable and to put it simply.. stupid. There is a evil that comes over students, without them realising, that starts putting them down and telling them they can't go on, but this is not the reality. often the only way to get out of this mindset is to have a friend, a peer, an outsider tell you the truth, because you're so lost in your self doubt you can't see the light.
I wrote a couple dozen love letters and left them all around. I left some on the train, some on computers, cars, desks, lecture seats and the like. I aimed to leave them in my place whenever I left somewhere so the next person to use my computer, my seat, my desk etc would have encouragement.
I received the idea for this Boom Boom! from moreloveletters.com - check them out!
Camp Sponsorship
It was five days before the youth had one of their biggest events of the year, when I found out that one of the young girls I have the pleasure of knowing couldn't attend because she didn't have enough money. I couldn't let her miss out and watch on as all her friends had the time of their lives, leant, grew and built new relationships, so I pulled out my wallet and payed the fee on her behalf.
When presented with the inner choice to act or shake off her dilemma, I thought back to something I recently learnt:-
Are you really being generous if it doesn't cost you anything?
If you were a millionaire and you gave five hundred dollars to charity you would not be generous, you probably wouldn't even notice it missing. But if you had ten dollars to your name and you gave away half that would cost you something, you would possibly have to go without something that week, that would be true generosity.
All day parking
Rather than paying for the few hours I wanted to park at my destination today I payed for an entire days worth of parking, with the intention of only staying till lunch, and collected my ticket. When lunch time hit I went back to my car to leave and passed my ticket onto someone else.
It's not much but it's a small thing we can all do to think ahead and think about the next person to be in our situation/at our location. Imagine if we all left something behind for the next person; whether that be a parking ticket, a friendly note of encouragement, a little box of lollies and surprises.... I think there would be a lot more smiles around
The Echo Valley Times
This afternoon I was greeted by a very smiley twelve year old sister and my excited eight year old neighbour. They had created a newspaper for our street and were eager to distribute it to the neighbour hood. It included soccer grand final scores, dance results, injuries and up and coming events of all the kids in the neighbour hood. In addition they had even included a colouring completion and tied the whole thing off with a cute bow. This made me realise how easy it is to invite others into community. By creating this they made everyone's life events seem important and worthy of report. It made people feel special and valued.
Do you know your neighbours?
I challenge you to get to know them!
Host a neighbour hood BBQ at your house, make cupcakes/slice/cookies and share it with your neighbours or maybe make your own newspaper??
Lost commuter
On today's public transport journey from Uni to home I crossed paths with a commuter walking a little slower than others; looking a little less confident in her path... so I stopped. I asked her if she was okay, and it turns out she wasn't. She was trying to catch the bus to her destination and she couldn't find the right platform or bus. I helped and walked her to the right place; leaving with a jive in my step.
It never hurts to ask!
Something I've learnt this week is to stop rushing. When we rush we loose sight of what is going on around us. We miss opportunities, we miss adventure, we miss life. So I encourage you this week - don't rush! Be a little late home if it means helping another on their way. Life is about others not ourselves.
Mosquito Nets for Christmas
After hearing about the devastating, horrific disease Malaria and finding out how easy it is to prevent, my roommate and I were stirred to act. With our hearts aching for our brothers and sisters abroad we began exploring what we could do to help. We found our answer through
Tis the season
Baking is a common occurrence in my house with our specialty being deserts. This particular afternoon we decided to give some delicious Christmas treats to our lovely next door neighbour. Fresh out of the oven we ventured next door to share our reindeer cookies with our neighbour.
Customer Compliment
Too often businesses only get customer complaints. And that's not neccesarily because they're a bad business but it's because all those who recieved good service don't voice it. It's just not what we naturally do. When our requirements and needs are met we just accept it and move on; The company only hear from us if something is wrong.
This week after recieving OUTSTANDING customer service from an online purchase I fought the natural urge to do nothing and hunted down their email address. I voiced my admiration and thanks for their service and company making curtain they knew how exceptional I find them to be.
We need to be encouraging each other and be rewarding of good service.
Voice your compliments!
Bland to Bright
The bathroom is a place we all spend time at least once in our busy days and yet most bathrooms are so bland. why? I decided it was time for this to change.
Early one morning before anyone else was at work I put bright flowers and refreshing mints by all the sinks. It was so joyful watching people leave the bathroom with big smiles, some questioning who did it and commenting how lovely it was. I just smiled.... no one needs to know.
Take the time to make a bland space bright today! I dare you!
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner PANCAKES
One of the many MANY things I leant while volunteering on the Gold Coast is always thank your hotel staff. When someone does an absolutely incredible job, even if it is in-fact their job, you should acknowledge it. One particular afternoon as I was finishing my shift and was heading to my room for a rest the receptionist jokingly asked if we had any pancakes left for her...we didn't... but instead we made her some. Heading up to the room we cooked a massive plate of pancakes, decorated it with chocolate, lollies and nutella and took it down to reception. She couldn't believe her eyes when we returned. She had no idea we would come back. She couldn't wipe the smile off her face for days. I hope we made her feel appreciated :)
Helping hand
My friend just lost her sister-in-law and amidst grieving had the added financial burden of trying to find the money for flights to the funeral. A bunch of us who have the privilege of serving at church with her banded together and pulled our finances to give her the $150 she needed plus more. We were able to give her $280. Really it's a small thing in the grand scheme of things
That guy
I was just casually minding my own business when I pulled up at a friends house and stepped out of the car to a guy on a bicycle asking "Can you spare some change? I'm trying to get to Brisbane and need money for the train"
Why don't we give money to that guy?
Why do we naturally make terrible assumptions?
Maybe he was lying, maybe he was scamming me, but in the long run who cares?
I pulled out my wallet and handed him a $10 note. Both he and my friend were surprised. This made me think... has no one ever said "sure mate, I can lend a hand" to this guy? Has my friend never given or seen someone give to those who ask? Are we really so absorbed with ourselves that we can't care for others?
Who knows what the guy did with the $10. Honestly I don't mind. The encounter gave me a new perspective on believing the best in people and giving regardless the outcome.