Cindy's Page

Today, I made a donation of household items. I also gave myself a gift of roses.

Day 99 - 2/4/10
Today, I mailed off Valentines to some friends.

Day 98 - 2/3/10
Today, I picked up trash around my apartment complex. I also put my change back into the vending machine for the next person.

Day 97 - 2/2/10
Today, I was extra polite to my co-workers and helped one in particular with some presentation materials even though it was time for me to leave.

Day 96 - 2/1/10
Today, I sent my friend a coin purse that I made for her with some goodies inside.

Day 95 - 1/31/10
Over the past couple of days, I gave money to Haiti and cleaned up the common area in my apartment complex.

Day 91 - 1/28/10
Today, I did some research to reassure a friend and sent them a bit of inspiration in the mail.

Day 90 - 1/27/10
Today, I sent out 5 29-day gift cards with lottery scratchers enclosed to random people in the district.

Day 90 - 1/27/10
Today I sent a friend an article that I thought would make her laugh. I also sent my nephew a souvenir from Disneyland- his first Mickey Mouse shirt.

Day 89 - 1/26/10
Today I sent a donation to a teacher friend for their student raffle. I also sent my sweetie a little souvenir from my trip.

Day 88 - 1/25/10
I've been very bad about journaling, but keeping the gift giving going by treating friends on our girls' trip, etc. Today I gave my coworkers presents that I bought on my trip.

Day 83 - 1/19/10
Today, I showed kindness to strangers. The couple looked a little intimidating with piercings, etc., but we had the nicest exchange and they turned out to be adorable.

Day 82 - 1/18/10
Today, I sent a present to my sister-in-law for her birthday and mailed a goodie box to my adopted soldier.

Day 81 - 1/17/10
Today, I reached out to a lot of my friends to check on them and send them love.

Day 80 - 1/16/10
Today, I spent time with a friend and sent an email to my adopted soldier.

Day 79 - 1/15/10
Today, I brought my neighbors. They're moving and I wanted to give them a little something to ease the pain.

Day 78 - 1/14/10
Today, I mailed off 5 29 gift cards with a $1 scratcher inside to 5 random people who work in the school district.

Day 77 - 1/13/10
Today I changed the enormously heavy water bottle in the staff room. At the grocery store, I let someone who had just a few items go ahead of me. That one came back because I got to go in the line that opened.

Day 77 - 1/13/10
Today I brought snacks for the people attending our meeting.

Day 76 1/12/10
Today I gave myself the gift of space to do what I needed to do after a particularly difficult day.

Day 75 - 1/11/10
Today I made a donation to The Rose. They're an organization that provides no/low cost mammograms and treatment.

Day 74 - 1/10/10
Today, I gave the gift of my time. I had a to-do list for the day, but got lots of calls from friends and family. I was tempted to let the machine pick it up, but made a decision to take the time to talk.

Day 73
Today I offered to babysit my niece and nephew so their parents could go out on town.
Day 72 - 1/8/10
Today I sent my friend a present to thank her for taking care of my cat while I was away.

Day 71- 1/7/10
Today I was in Smart and Final when I noticed an older gentleman behind me with only a few items in his basket. I offered to let him go ahead, but he declined saying that he was retired and not in any hurry. I decided to strike up a conversation with him to offer a bit of company while we waited.

Day 70- 1/6/10
I've been working on the gifts, but terrible about journaling! But, gifts have included the big like Christmas presents and staying with my brother and his wife to help them take care of their new baby. And the small, like sending an email to a friend. Today, I sent a cartoon to my sweetheart to make him smile and mailed off a present to the student I sponsor overseas.

Day 61
Today, I sent off a gift certificate to some friends for a belated Hanukkah present and sent some thank you cards for lovely presents I received.

Day 60
Today, I sent an email off to my adopted soldier.

Day 59
Today I gave my brother & sister in law a Fandango gift certificate. It was a bit of an I'm sorry my cat scratched your couch and partly to thank them for their generosity at Christmas and always.

Day 58
Christmas! I really enjoyed giving my family their presents and it was fun to get some, too!

Day 57 12/24/09
Today I went to church with my family and gave my niece and nephew a dollar to put in the collection for me.

Day 56
Today, I left little bags of Christmas candy on my neighbors' porches. I also gave my friend Karen her Christmas present. When I came home today, I had 2 presents on my porch.

Day 55
Today I gave a little something to the Salvation Army and gave my friend Margaret her Christmas present.

Day 54
Today, I spent time talking to my loved ones.

Day 53
Today, I sent off a gift card to a friend for Christmas.

Day 52
Today, I brought in a turtle cheesecake for our department luncheon so that everyone could have dessert. I also put some money in the vending machine to pay part of the next customer's purchase.

Day 51
Today, I mailed off my Christmas cards and enclosed some gifts as well.

Day 50
Today I mailed off Christmas presents for my adopted soldier, friends, and family. I also donated 10% of my profits from my craft sales to the Salvation Army.

Day 49
I made a donation to Children of the Night, an organization in L.A. that works to get children out of prostitution.

Day 48
Today, I made a donation to the Salvation Army. I also mailed some little treats to friends.

Day 47
Today I gave my co-workers and site coordinators a little chocolate Santa with a pad of post-its.

Day 46
Today, my friend hosted a book club meeting. So, I brought him a Christmas throw that I had made for him.

Day 45
Today was my nephew's 5th birthday so of course he got presents from Auntie.

Day 44
Today, I dropped off a toy for the Big O Tire collection. The manager came around the counter- he was happy because he said that I was the first customer to come in and donate. All the other donations had come from the employees.

Day 43
Today, I gave my friend her birthday present. I also printed out 5 gift cards, enclosed a scratcher lottery ticket, and sent them to random people in the school district. Some have reputations for not being the most friendly people and I hope this might shake things up a bit.

Day 42
Today, I made a donation to the Salvation Army bell ringer and did some prep work for tomorrow!

Day 41
Today, I gave my friend her October birthday and Christmas presents when we met for coffee today. I also helped a co-worker with her fundraiser delivery and made sure to tip the coffee guy.

Day 40
Today, I gave myself the gift of a snow day. My appointment got cancelled due to snow so instead of going into work, I climbed back in bed with my book and my coffee and then had a nice rest of the day.

I also mailed off a friend's Christmas present and card and made a donation to the Ohlone Humane Society at the vet when I took my cat in for a check up.

Day 39
Today, I made a donation To the Alzheimer's Association in memory of my sister-in-law's grandmother who recently passed away.

Day 38
Today I had a lovely visit with a woman I've been friends with for nearly 30 years. We went to dinner- my treat- and when we came back we exchanged Christmas presents.

Day 37
Today, I sent a friend a lottery scratcher. It had a ladybug on it and she loves those. Hopefully, she won a little something.

Day 36
Today, I had no patience. Not for people who can't drive. Not for the pharmacy that takes almost 2 hours to slap a label on a box. So I knew that I had to give. Fortunately, the Salvation Army was ringing their bell. I put a $5 bill in since I knew I had to put a lot of positive energy out there.

As I was walking towards my car, I was feeling pretty good, a little calmer. Only to find that someone had parked in the middle of the road blocking me in. The guy running the recycling station wanted to argue about the validity of the parking with me. I went home annoyed all over again. Fortunately, my little kindergarten neighbor knocked on my door asking me to sponsor her for a walk-a-thon!

Day 35
Still working on the no-plan-in-mind giving. It's hard! But, today, I went out of my way to be nice to people that I'm not particularly fond of at work. I gave a sincere compliment to one and picked up another's sweater off the floor. Not that I would go out of my way to be mean to them, but it made me realize how much less anxiety I feel when I do this.

Day 34
Today, I went to pick up my new glasses and decided to donate my old pair to the Lion's club collection at my doctor's office. I already have a back up pair that I really like so I decided to turn in my others. I felt a little guilty about not giving up my favorite pair, but the receptionist turned that around. He asked if I was sure I wanted to donate such nicely framed glasses. That sealed the deal.

I'm getting better at going with the flow of the day and not having to plan out every gift, but it's a process.

Day 33
Today, I gave myself the gift of good health and went to the doctor for a check up. I also made sure that I complimented co-workers I saw. And, I put a new air freshener in our ladies room.

Day 32
It was getting late and I was ready for bed, but I realized I hadn't really done any giving. So, instead of reading my book, I decided to send my adopted soldier an email to let her know I was thinking of her.

Day 31
A friend called, and even though I had just planned to take it easy, I went out with her because I knew she needed to spend some time with me. I also put a small donation and a smile card in the collection for the American Heart Association.

Day 30
I again gave the gift of patience on the road. It has been working really well on my longer trips- I just need to remember to do this every time I get in the car.

Day 29
Today I gave a gift to my friend for watching my cat while I was away. And I gave the gift of gratitude for all my loved ones.

Day 28
Today, I gave two gifts that are hard for me. I gave the gift of time to a friend and my family. I slowed down for them without worrying about my schedule. And, before I left for my trip, I gave the gift of being a patient driver to everyone on the road. It's amazing how much less stress I feel when I give this gift.
Day 27
Today, I bought my friend a cup of coffee when we went to Starbucks. Then we took smile cards and left them for people around the mall.

Day 26
Today, I sent 2 friends Thanksgiving cards to let them know I was thinking about them.

I also printed out a bunch of smile cards from helpingothers.org. I had 3 stamps so I picked 3 names out of the phone book that had special meaning to me and mailed these strangers a smile card with no return address.

Day 25
Today I paid for my friend's ticket to go see the movie "New Moon". She's been excited to see it for a long time and it was a lot of fun.

Day 24
One thing I haven't really tried is to go a day without some sort of a gift giving plan. I'm a little too anal retentive to just let the day flow over me, but since this is about stretching and growing, too I decided to give it a try.

I drove about 2 hours to meet up with some friends from college. I did throw in a few extra goodies to share at the potluck. But I decided to try another thing that's hard for me- to be a patient driver. That was the gift I decided to give my fellow drivers. It worked pretty well. I wasn't perfect, but I didn't loose my patience as much as I usually do and tried to bless those who were not being considerate. And as usual, the gift I gave felt like it came back to me.

Day 23
Today, I mailed off a package to my adopted soldier. I had so much fun picking things out to send her. I hope she enjoys it.

I also got up early this morning and put out some donated items for the neighborhood collection.

I mailed two Thanksgiving cards to friends.

Day 22
Today, I mailed off a card to my third brother.

Also, I ordered a set of smile cards from helpingothers.org. I went through a list of people who work in my district. I picked 10 people who I really don't know, some who are kind of crotchety, and some who I've heard might need some cheer. I sent them the cards in unmarked envelopes so they won't know who they're from.

Last night my parents called to say they had received their card and it made them cry happy tears. Some of my friends say that they've enjoyed their daily dose of appreciation.

Day 21
Today I mailed off another card to one of my brothers today.

I also heard from a friend who really appreciated it.

Day 20
Today I mailed my oldest brother his card. I can't wait for him to get it.

I heard back from 2 friends who got their cards and really appreciated them. In some ways these aren't the easiest gifts. Even though I have known and loved these people for a long time, it makes me feel a little vulnerable to put my feelings in writing to them. We say I love you to each other, but this is something different. Besides the vulnerability though, it feels good.

Day 19
Today, I mailed a card to my parents thanking them for being such wonderful parents. I'm going to send a similar card to each of my brothers. I think it's important to include my friends and family in my first project.

I also went grocery shopping and picked up some things for my adopted soldier. When I told the clerk about it, he told me that his nephew was serving in Afganistan. He then took my hand in both of his and thanked me for what I was doing and told me to send her his good wishes. It was lovely.

Day 18

Today I packed up some things to donate to CARH- an organization that helps people with disabilities. I also had a nice conversation with my dad.

It was a hard week and I was tempted to quit, but I know that this is the one thing that I need to do to keep the energy moving in a positive direction.

This week I discovered that one of the hardest things for me to give is time. But I always feel better when I do.

Day 17
Today I mailed the last of the appreciation letters to my friends.

I also gave a friend his birthday present. He's been going through some financial difficulties, but saved up some money to go to Disneyland. So, I gave him a Disneyland gift card so he'd have some spending money for the trip. He was very happy.

Day 16
More donations came in for our collection. I'll wait a few more days and send in the second batch!

Today, I mailed the book, "Mutant Message Down Under" to my former boss and current friend. He had sent me "The Shack" a while back and we enjoyed talking about it. I thought he might enjoy the perspective on spirituality of the book like I did.

I've been thinking about anonymous vs. public gifts. I feel like I get something out of both. Today, I put the change I got from my soda purchase back in the machine to give the next person a discount.

Day 15
Today was a gift rich day. I mailed off our donation to the girl who was attacked in Richmond. We raised $750! I'm so glad that we can offer that support to her.

At work, I gave 2 anonymous gifts. The 5 gallon water container was empty. So, although I hate to lift it and try to get it on top of the container just right, I went ahead and did it so that people wouldn't have to wait 4 hours for the custodian to do it.

Later, I overheard my boss' boss give him credit for something I did. Instead of making a big deal about it, I just let him have the credit.

Finally, I picked up two small Gerber daisy plants and brought them to the salon that I go to. I gave one to my hairstylist to thank her for all the compliments I get on my hair. And I gave one to the woman who does my nails to thank her for all the pampering.

Day 14
In honor of Veteran's Day, I sent an email message to the troops through the Dept. of Defense website. I still didn't feel like I had completed giving so I decided to adopt a soldier. I think this will be a good way to keep up the 29 day challenge even after my 29 days are up.

Today, my neighbor Art came by to thank me for the rose that I had left on his porch and to give me one from his garden. =)

Day 13
Today I mailed another letter of appreciation. This time to a friend whose mother was recently hospitalized after a fall. I hope it helps her feel better.

Day 12
Today, I mailed the next installment of my letters of appreciation to my friends. We've been friends for about 15 years. I know she's been really busy so I hope it makes her day.

I was a little disappointed with my gift giving effort yesterday having everyone gone. But, when I came home for lunch today, I found an anonymous thank you note on my door from one of the neighbors with a package of pens attached.

I also had a thank you message on my answering machine from the friend I sent Cami's book to. It was a nice surprise since I hadn't heard from her in a while.

Day 11
Today, I decided to gift my neighbors with some flower power. I bought roses and tied on a 29 gifts tag. I was nervous to deliver them since I'm shy and only know one person. But, it turned out that all 9 weren't home. So, I left them on the porch hoping that it would be a nice surprise to come home to.

Day 10
Today I mailed off the second of my cards with 7 notes of appreciation inside- this time to a woman that I've been friends with for 31 years. I'm also having dinner with another friend. She told me that I didn't need to bring anything, but I'm going to surprise her with a bouquet of flowers.

Yesterday, I counted up the donations we have received so far for the girl who was raped in Richmond. We have almost $500 and a few people have let me know that more is on its way.

Day 9
Today I mailed a copy of Cami's book to a friend. When I ordered her book for myself, I also ordered 2 extra copies. I wasn't sure who to give them to, but I had an inspiration. The first book is going to a friend that brought the concept of "Happy Day Surprise" into my life. I think she is the perfect person to get this gift.

Day 8
Today I mailed off what I think is an inspired gift. I sent one of my oldest friend a card with 7 (one for each day of the week) notes telling her things that I love and appreciate about her. I can't wait until she gets it! I'm going to work on cards for my other friends, too.

Day 7
Today I gave my senior high peer education teachers their roses and shared the project information with them. One teacher had a particularly trying day with a very emotional situation with a student. I think the rose resonated with him the most. He said that this would be the perfect thing to have kids do to really turn them around. I am hoping that at least one of the schools will run with it.

After the meeting, I had 2 roses left. There happened to be 2 students in his class after our meeting so I gave them the roses. They were delighted.

Day 6
Today was fun! I brought in a hand treatment and some lotion from Bath and Body Works and had mini spa sessions for 10 of my coworkers in the ladies room. I gave them some info on the project- they were all delighted and a couple are very interested in taking up the challenge.

Day 5
Today, I brought cookies to the warehouse and mail room staff to thank them for working on a big delivery for me. I guess there were about 60 cookies- just store bought. But the manager wanted to just take some and put them on a plate. I told him they were all for the staff. I think that we are all like that sometimes. We can't accept all the gifts that come our way. A good lesson.

My favorite gift was the flower power. I decided to give them to the junior high teachers that I work with. I wanted to thank them for the hard work they've put in with their students. And, I also shared the project with them in hopes that they will encourage their students to participate.

Day 4
Today I made a small donation at Safeway to their breast cancer fundraiser. But, I did do some prep work for tomorrow. I have 2 gifts planned and am very excited!

Day 3
Today I made a contribution to our local food bank. With the economic crisis, I know that there are a lot of families in need.

Day 2
Today I sent an edible arrangement to my brother, sister-in-law, and my niece and nephew for taking care of my cat while I was away at a conference. They are always so generous to their little cat "nephew"!

Day 1
I emailed everyone in my building to see if they would be interested in contributing to the fund set up for a young girl that was gang-raped in Richmond, CA. She was attending a high school dance and was assaulted as she was leaving. I'm going to pool the collection and make a donation on behalf of the district. I also emailed some women who work for the city and asked if they would be interested in joining the effort.