Birthday Project for 2014

Last year, in celebration of turning 35, I created the 35 Day Project, where I performed acts of kindness for the 35 days leading up to my birthday.  Many of my friends, family, and readers joined in.  It was so awesome.

This year, I want to take on another project for my birthday, and I am once again asking for help. I have decided that, in celebration of my 36th birthday on April 20 (Easter Sunday), I would like to get donations to create a Children's Literacy Activity Center for the Ford City Public Library. This would be a center filled with structured educational activities for children and families to utilize when they visit the library. Obviously, this is something that the entire community would benefit from.

 This is the link to the list of items we would like for the activity center. The items ordered from this list would be shipped directly to the library.

Birthday Project Wish List

 I would absolutely love if some of my friends would like to help me build this tremendous resource for my community. The best birthday gift you could give me would be help on this project. Thank you so much for helping make my birthday special!

Tiffany's Tuesday Tunes: Looking Back at 2013

This year?  Kind of amazing.  Probably the most creative, fun filled, growth filled, challenging year I have had in my adult life.  I have spent so much time working on myself as a person, and while I am miles away from being perfect or even where I would like to be, overall I am really happy with me and with my life.  So many awesome things happened this year, we must review the highlights.

We papered our floor with book pages.  It took two months, and was back breaking work, but we transformed our living room into a work of art.

I completed a 35 Day Project in honor of my 35th birthday.  35 days of random acts of kindness.  Many of my friends and family members participated as well.  It was amazing.

We watched our nephew graduate from high school.

We reached two geocaching milestones.  We found our 200th geocache, then we cached every day for the entire month of August, our longest streak ever.  I also got to introduce my niece, nephew and his girlfriend, brother and brother in law to geocaching.

We watched our good friends get married.

We visited many of the filming locations from the movie The Shawshank Redemption.

We watched my brother get married.  Later on in the summer we got to visit them and see their new house as well.

We went to our first comics show.

I saw the largest yarn bombing in America, also known as Knit the Bridge.  It was while my niece was visiting us, so I took her to see it.  It was one of the many awesome things we did together during her visit.

We saw John Hodgman perform, and met him after the show.  He totally knew our names, because we had been all over social media talking about the show.  Later, when I reviewed the show, he shared my post.  I was so ridiculously star struck over the whole thing.

We saw the giant rubber duck make its way into Pittsburgh and attended the huge party on the bridge.

We took a whirlwind trip to New York City to see John Roderick and The Long Winters perform.

I made an entire Christmas Tree's decorations out of old book pages.  It is so beautiful I cannot yet bring myself to take it down, despite the fact that it has been up since before Thanksgiving.

I was offered pretty much the perfect job for me.  I have been there for a month now, and the giddiness still has not faded.

So, this a look back at my year.  Pretty amazing, right?  I kind of think of it as a montage.  And every montage needs a soundtrack.  So here are some of my favorite songs from 2013 to go along with my look back at this wonderful year.

The State of Being Resolute

We are once again on the cusp of a new year, a fresh start, the beginning of endless possibilities.  It is a tradition to make a list of resolutions, things we want to change in ourselves, our lives, our world at large.  Lose weight, stop smoking, read more, swear less, it is different with every one of us.  It is also tradition to abandon most of these resolutions before February.  I think this is because people are looking to change the wrong things, thinking it will lead them to immediate happiness.  The thing people need to be changing is their mindset; they need to realize that we each create our own happiness.  It has little to do with external appearance, and more with internal reflection.  So, in my attempt change my own mindset, I will now admit my list of New Year's Resolutions for 2014.

1.  Laugh every single day.  I try to do this already, and am fairly successful.  Hubby makes me laugh a lot, it is one of my most favorite of his many great qualities.  The dogs make me laugh too.  So between the three of them, I can usually find a reason to laugh, even for just a moment.  And when all else fails, laughs abound on the internet.

2.  Love the people I love in better, kinder, and more abundant ways.  We all have days where we say things we do not mean.  Tempers flare, frustrations arise, sadness falls.  These things are inevitable.  However, the moments that follow these things are the best opportunities to show love when it would be way easier not to.  This means I need to check my envy, swallow my pride, say I am sorry, admit I am wrong, and try to show a little more grace.

3.  Be unashamedly enthusiastic about the things I adore.  Dachshunds and John Roderick, Doctor Who and books of all kinds, creative reuse and gluten free cooking, good music and even better movies, live performances by musicians and comedians, and all things nerdtastic.  These are just some of the things I love.  It is ok if you do not love them, we all have our preferences.  But I do love these things, and will continue to fill my life (and probably my conversations) with them.  I respect the things you enjoy, even if they are different from mine.  I hope you can do the same, because I am never going to stop loving them.

4.  Work harder.  This one applies to all aspects of my life.  Work harder to love myself.  Work harder to make my home the way I want it.  Work harder to establish myself at my new job.  Work harder to be healthy in mind, body, and spirit.  Work harder to care less about other people's expectations and opinions of me.  Work harder to have high expectations and opinions of myself.  Work toward establishing some balance in my life.

5.  Write more, yet blog less.  This might seem antithetical but really it is not.  I have been sort of slacking on my blogs lately, and I think it is, in part, because I need to move on to a new form of writing.  So, in the year to come, I will be backing off from blogging (though not leaving altogether), and reducing the number of reviews I do.  Instead, I will be trying to work on my own personal writing.  I have too many people encouraging me at this point to not at least try.

6.  Stop fearing failure.  My whole life, my biggest fear has been failure.  This fear of failure has caused me to walk away from opportunities, to flee trying new things, and to avoid risks at all costs.  I cannot fail at something if I never attempt it you see.  But by adopting that strategy, I have missed out on some amazing opportunities.  So, I hereby give myself permission to fail.  In fact, I command myself to fail at something this year.  That way, even if I succeed at everything, I will fail at that commandment.  Because I must stop allowing a fear of failure to prevent me from living life to the fullest.  How can I fully appreciate my successes if I never have any failures?

So there you have it.  My New Year's Resolutions for 2014.  

It's going to be a happy new year.

Our First Christmas

This post was written from a prompt by Community Human Services Holiday Gift Drive in partnership with Pittsburgh Tweetup. To learn more about the CHS: Holiday Gift Project and how you can get involved visit: http://bit.ly/CHSHoliday2013.  View all the posts here.

 Prompt: “What is the nicest thing that someone has done for you during the holidays?”

When I first moved to Pittsburgh in 2004, holidays were pretty lonely for me.  Sure, I went home to visit my family for the actual holiday, but I always knew I was returning to an empty apartment.  When I had my own apartment in Ohio, I always decorated for holidays, because I knew my friends would come over to hang out and I would be able to do holiday entertaining.  But being new to Pittsburgh, and not really having anyone to entertain, I stopped decorating.  In fact, I left my Christmas tree and all my decorations back in Ohio, with my parents.

Fast forward to 2008.  Back then, Hubby was still newly acquired Boyfriend.  We had been friends for years, but only had been dating for a few months.  We already knew we were really serious about each other, so we were pretty stoked for the holidays that year.  Because Boyfriend and I lived about an hour apart, we would typically try to meet up once during the week, then he would come spend the weekend with me.  Around Thanksgiving, Boyfriend asked me when I would be putting up my Christmas tree.  I explained to him that I no longer had one, and I did not have the money to buy a tree and decorations.

The next weekend we made plans for him to come to my apartment after work.  He sent me a text letting me know he would be running a little late, and not to worry.  At that time, I lived in an apartment with a security buzzer, so I had to ring him in when he got there.  When he got to my door, I quickly realized why he had been running late.  He had stopped to buy me a Christmas tree.

He explained to me that we had to have a tree for our first Christmas together.  Once he got the tree inside, he told me that we were going shopping for ornaments, and he was buying them.  It was so important to him that our first Christmas together be perfect, and money was no issue.  I was pretty stunned at this highly romantic, totally selfless act of kindness.  He even made sure we got an ornament that said Our First Christmas.

This will be 6th Christmas together, and each one has been romantic and special.  But I will never forget what he did for me that first Christmas we were together, making sure it was perfect.

35 Day Project: Gifts for you

I have been putting off writing about the final day of the 35 Day project, even though it was nearly two weeks ago.  Part of the reason is I ended up getting the flu on my birthday (yuck), and another part of it was, by writing about it, I was admitting that the project was over.  I really did not want it to end, but it must, like all good things.

The final day of the project was my birthday, and it was bittersweet.  Hubby and I decided to go out to lunch, and mill around a nearby town, which presented the perfect opportunity to pull off my final act for the project.  Even though it was my birthday, I was going to be giving some presents.  To total strangers.

I have a stash of small things to use for acts of kindness, so I dug into the stash, and wrapped up a couple of sets of stationery and matching magnets.  I then wrote small notes explaining that it was my birthday, and that I was celebrating by giving these gifts to people and telling them I appreciated them.  We left them at a couple of places during the day, including the restaurant where we ate lunch.

Since the project has ended, I have found myself missing the camaraderie that had been created through the Facebook group.  A few people have told me that they missed the daily posts.  And I have seen more posts about kindness than I have ever seen before on my Facebook and Twitter feeds.  I learned so much about myself, and about the amazing people in my life.  So, I am officially declaring this project a smashing success.

35 Day Project: Secret Revealed

Do you remember way back near the beginning of the project, I told you that I performed an act that remained a secret?  Well now I get to spill the beans!!

One of my fellow Pittsburgh bloggers told me about this awesome group on Facebook called the Art Ambush Project.  This group consists of a collection of artists who strive to make the world a better place through the gift of art.  The way the project works is people like you and me nominate others to receive a gift of art.  The nomination process includes telling a little about the nominee, their story, their sorrows, their joys, and talking about why you think they deserve this gift.  If the nomination is accepted, it gets assigned to an artist in the group, and then the artist has the freedom to create the perfect gift.

I chose to nominate my brother and his partner.  They are two of the most incredible people I know.  While they are quite different from each other in personality and style, they complement each other and create a perfect team.  Nearly two years ago now, my brother Dennis became a nurse practitioner, and Paul is an artist.  They recently bought a house as well.  I wanted to show them how proud I am, not only for all their accomplishments, but simply for who they are as people.  So, this nomination was my way of showing my love and admiration.

When I contacted the group, a funny thing happened.  I began talking to one of the founders, Lisa.  When I explained in depth who the nomination was for, she shared with me that she was familiar with Paul as an artist, because they live in the same state.  She said being asked to create work for him was like telling someone to send their crayon drawing to Picasso.  I thought that was such a cool "what a small world" moment!

Lisa kept me updated on the process, and the beautiful work she and her mom were creating.  Finally, the big day arrived, and the package was delivered.  It included a beautiful mosaic created by Lisa.  It was a yin yang, the perfect symbol for Dennis and Paul.  Lisa's mother also made them some beautiful soaps in the shape of yin yang.  The guys absolutely loved their art ambush!

Photo courtesy of Paul Richmond

This was an amazing experience.  This group is doing something spectacular.  I really encourage you to check them out, and consider nominated someone for the gift of art!

35 Day Project: Oakmont Bakery

I love the Oakmont Bakery.  I was a little late to the party, for sure, having just visited it for the first time last year, but none the less, I fell in love.  I like just going in there and looking at all the goodies, it is so fun.  Sadly, I can no longer partake of their delicious treats, due to gluten intolerance, but I can still show them plenty of love.

Which is exactly what I did on Friday, by voting for them as America's Best Bakery. I would love to see this local bakery win this contest, they certainly deserve it!

35 Day Project: Support Local Tech

It comes as no surprise that I am a techie person.  I like gadgets, and apps, and innovation in general.  And I love Pittsburgh with all my heart.  So, Pittsburgh based technological innovation?  Well that just about makes me swoon.

So, when I learned that the Pittsburgh Tech Council was accepting votes for their 2013 Data Awards, I KNEW this was a perfect chance to show some love and kindness to some great organizations and businesses in the burgh.

I used this as my kindness act for last Thursday, and took the time to cast votes in every category.

Sometimes, it just feels good to show the burgh some love.

35 Day Project: All the small things

On Wednesday of last week, I found myself presented with opportunities to do a lot of small acts of kindness.

I had gone to breakfast with my friend and her son.  As we left the restaurant, I help the door open for an older couple who were walking in.  Their entire faces lit up, just because I held the door.

While driving, I took a moment to let someone out ahead of me.

At an appointment, the receptionist was looking up my information, and her phone kept ringing.  She was clearly getting flustered, and felt bad for making me wait.  I simply smiled, and told her to take her time.

In the afternoon, I took a walk in my community.  A man was out with his dog.  I stopped and chatted with him about how adorable the dog was.

Sometimes, the little things all add up to make a big difference.

35 Day Project: Love to Boston

Like the rest of America, and perhaps even the world, I am completely heart sick over what happened during yesterday's Boston Marathon.  I cannot comprehend it; it simply makes no sense to me why this would happen.  Why someone would do such a senseless, reprehensible act.  At some point, I had to walk away from social media, and mainstream media, before I lost all home in human kind.

All day long, I wondered how I could use this project to try to be a tiny light in this situation.  Me, little old me, with my silly little birthday kindness project.  Would it really matter?  Would it make a difference?  With just a few days left in the project, I could not turn back now, nor could I turn my back on such a huge wound in the heart and mind of our country.

So, after a lot of thought, I did some research, and found out about The ALLY Foundation.  This is one of the charitable organizations who had a team running in the Boston Marathon yesterday.  The father in law of one of the runners is in critical condition as a result of the bombing.  They need love, and prayer, which I freely and willingly give.  The ALLY Foundation is dedicated to "ending sexual violence through science and innovation."  Since April is Sexual Assault Awareness month, this seemed like the perfect organization for me to use for today's act.

So, I made a small charitable donation to The ALLY Foundation.  And I offer them, as well as all those affected by the Boston Marathon bombing, my love and support.  This particular act of kindness is as much for myself as it is for them.  I need to remind myself that goodness still exists.  I need to be the change.

We love you Boston, and we stand with you.

35 Day Project: Orphans of the Storm

I am an animal lover, as one can tell by the excessive number of pet photos I post on Instagram.  I am one of those people who would, if possible, adopt every animal at the local shelter.  So, when I first had the idea of doing 35 acts of kindness for my birthday, I knew at least one would benefit our local animal shelter.

We live just a few minutes from our local shelter, Orphans of the Storm.  This is a no-kill shelter, and as a result, they often have long term animal residents, or animals in need of some pretty serious medical care.  As a non-profit organization, they can always use help.  So, yesterday, I gathered a donation of some dog food, cat litter, cleaning supplies, treats and even a few toys, and carted them off to the shelter.

The shelter was closed, but I had checked with them a few days prior and they told me I could leave a donation at the door.  I was happy to see that I was not the only one who had done so.

35 Day Project: Spring Fun

We live on a really nice street in town.  The people are all really nice, there is minimal traffic, and everyone really gets along.  I am pretty lucky.  We live next to a family that has two little boys, and the boys are so sweet.  They love seeing our dogs outside, and we love hearing the laughter as the boys play.  I especially love going out to see their sidewalk chalk masterpieces.

So, today, I decided to make up a small basket to give to the boys.  It contained just a few small things that they could use to play outside (chalk, bubbles, small toys, etc.).  I slipped a note in it and the left the basket on the neighbor's porch.  I am so glad we have such great neighbors!

35 Day Project: Adopt a Room

I first learned of the Light of Life Rescue Mission a few months ago, when the Pittsburgh Bloggers banded together for the Giving Skivvies campaign.  This campaign helped raise money for new socks and underwear that the Mission would hand out to the homeless.  Since then, I have followed them on Facebook, and always look for ways that I can help them.

A few days ago, I saw that April was "Adopt a Room" month at Light of Life.  They were accepting donations of paint and home decor items to help decorate the rooms, making them warm and comfortable for the people who would stay there.  I knew that this was something I could help with.  When we did the great living room change earlier this year, all my old home decor from our yellow and burgundy color scheme no longer would work.  I decided to hold on to it, for some reason, and now I knew why.  I was going to donate it to Light of Life.  So this morning, I boxed up several items and shipped them off.  Sadly, I did not get to send as much as I wanted, because I could not find a box that was the correct size and shape to accommodate some of the larger pictures.  Still, I hope that my donation helps in some small way.

35 Day Project: Breakfast in Bed

Although he pretends to be some cranky old curmudgeon, the truth of the matter is, Hubby is a giant teddy bear, at least when it comes to me and our pets.  Sure, he may crank about politics, professional sports, and bad drivers, but who among us doesn't.  In all actuality, I think my Hubby is pretty awesome, even on his worst days.

But lately, he has been all extra kinds of awesome.  He continues to be the most caring, patient, and understanding man I have ever met in my life.  I thank God daily that he pushed through 2 1/2 years in the friendzone until I was ready to realize how much I loved him and actually date him.  The story of our romance is pretty incredible.

I try, on a daily basis, to tell Hubby thank you for the things he does, even something as small as refilling my water bottle.  But I wanted to do something extra special for him during this project, to make it very clear how much I appreciate him.  So, yesterday morning, I woke up super early, snuck out of the house in the pouring rain, and went to get Hubby's favorite breakfast sandwich, and a cup of hot cocoa.  I then snuck back into the house (no small feat with two dachshunds who think they are guard dogs), all before he woke up for work.  I then crept up the stairs, and got to wake Hubby up with breakfast in bed.

I loved seeing the look on his still sleepy face when he realized why I woke him up.

Thanks Hubby, for everything.

35 Day Project: Library Books

Since I am a book reviewer, I get a ton of books.  The pile up pretty quickly, and I am quickly running out of room.  Sometimes I get advanced reader copies, or ARCs, which I cannot sell, or donate, but I can give to other people.  But sometimes, just sometimes, I get finished, final copies of books, and those certainly can be donated.

I know that many local libraries have had their budgets cut.  This means they cannot get as many books, or they have to supplement their budgets with fundraisers, like book sales.  So, donating books can help libraries.  For a while now, I have been collecting my books for donation.

Today, I dropped that donation off to the library, for them to either put into circulation, or sell.  I hope it helps!

35 Day Project: Clipping Coupons

I never, ever clip coupons.  Mostly because I rarely buy the things my local coupons are for; I tend to stick to fresh fruits, veggies, and meats these days (I wish there were coupons for those things!).  But every week, we get a circular full of coupons.  Since I do not use them, they tend to annoy me, a waste of paper cluttering up my house.

Wednesday, instead of pitching all the coupons like I normally do, I clipped a bunch of them, attached them to index cards, and headed to the store.

I placed the coupons throughout the store, next to the corresponding items.  Hopefully someone else was able to use them!

 

35 Day Project: Dunkin Donuts

On Tuesday, I was finally feeling a lot better, and decided to do one of the acts I had been planning for a very long time.  Some time ago, I had gotten coupons from the local Dunkin Donuts for free treats, including a donut, a coffee, and a latte.  Since I am eating a gluten free diet now and have reduced my caffeine, I cannot use these coupons, but I know other people would love them.

So, I took a coupon, attached it to an index card, and wrote a little note telling the person to enjoy a treat on me.  I did this for all three coupons.  Then, I went to a busy shopping plaza, found three cars, and left a card on each car.  I hope this really "sweetened" someone's day!

35 Day Project: Noteworthy

Sometimes, the thing you need most in the world is a word of encouragement.  And while encouragement is free to give, it can be difficult to ask for.  I know that first hand!  So, on Monday, I decided to freely give some words of encouragement to people who hopefully needed it.

I had to make a stop at a local drug store.  I got to thinking; a lot of times, people who are at the drug store are there because they do not feel well, or are taking care of someone else, or are making a quick stop during their busy day.  All of those people could use encouragement.  So, I grabbed some post it notes, and wrote a few encouraging notes.  Then I scattered them throughout the store.

My hope is that these notes helped brighten a few people's day.

 

35 Day Project: Lottery

I was stuck at home Saturday due to not feeling well, so when we went out on Sunday, we had to do a double act.  Rather than try to do two separate acts, we did one act with two recipients.  While out and about, Hubby had to stop and get gas.  We decided that we would purchase some instant lottery tickets and give them to strangers.

We got two $1 scratch off tickets.  We gave one to a clerk in the gas station, and another to a random customer.  I really hope at least one of them was a winner, and they got to win a little extra cash.  I know I like scratch off tickets every once in awhile, just for fun.  Hopefully the people who got these ones had a little bit of fun as well!

35 Day Project: I Voted

I have been a little under the weather, so I am behind on updating you on my recent acts for the 35 Day Project, but I have still been doing the acts.  Today I catch up on the posts :)

Photo Source: LWVC

I really adore the Pittsburgh Blogging community.  I have met some amazing people, learned about great causes, and made some pretty meaningful connections.  But my favorite thing about Pittsburgh bloggers, by and far, is how much we all support each other in our various endeavors.  Which is why, on Friday, my act was to support  fellow blogger.

Sue Kerr is well known in Pittsburgh social media circles for her passionate activism.  Currently, Sue is entered in a scholarship contest to win a scholarship to attend a conference focused on political activism.  The top 5 applicants with the most votes win the scholarships.  I gave Sue my vote.  It really was a no brainer.