Giving is not always physical

This month I am trying to do something to give back to the world around me every day. It's not always easy.

At first, I thought giving meant that I had to physically give up something. Money, clothes, food, etc. Then I realized that sometimes giving is not always physical.

Lately at work I have found that people have really been testing my limits. How far can they push not doing their job without me saying anything. Being a supervisor, I have to make sure that I am doing what is best for those I supervise and the operation around me. I have found myself getting frustrated and irritated by the tests that people place in front of me on a daily basis.

In going with the theme of my month of giving, I decided that I would simply be happy, no mater what is thrown at me, when I am at work. I will go through my entire day with a smile. I will ask people how their day is or if there is anything I can do for them to help them make their day easier.

Since I started doing this, I often find myself just doing things that people have told me, make their jobs easier. I will do some small tasks that will help them get their tasks done quicker. I will go out of my way to make the work area cleaner or tidier.

I have also learned the value of a smile. A smile is the simplest form of happiness. It also happens to be extremely contagious. By smiling throughout my entire day, others begin to smile. I also look approachable. I find that I am having better conversations and that things are progressing more.

Are there still people who cause me frustration at work? Of course. Do I let it get to me? Not as much as I used to.

Free coffee for voters

I've done many different things to give these past 6 days. I will write a separate post to catch everyone up on days 2-5 later.

I want to share what I did today.

This morning I got up at 7 and got to the polls at 8:20. After spending 2 hrs in a chilly rain, I finally got to vote. I expected a wait so I brought a book and some coffee. Others did not and spent the time on their phones or daydreaming.

After I voted I decided to put a little cheer in the line.

I drove to the nearest Starbucks and bought 2 boxes of coffee. The lady told me it would serve 24 but I insisted she give me extra cups. I headed back to the polls.

I hopped out of my car and started in the back of the line, they would be waiting the longest. And I started asking people if they wanted free coffee. Some were skeptical and some thought I was trying to sell Starbucks, but finally someone asked me, "how much?"

I replied, "It's free. I spent two hrs in the rain this morning waiting to vote. I wanted to make the wait a little easier for others."

Once people heard that they were a little more accepting. I was able to give out 30 cups of coffee and I still have half a box left. I was even called a "coffee angel".

My friend Ryan was in line and snapped this picture. I posted it to Facebook with this:

After spending 2 hrs waiting in line to vote today, I decided that I would buy some coffee for everyone else who ha to wait 2+ hrs in line. I bought 2 Starbucks boxes of coffee and sure it may have cost me about $30. But I made 30 people in that long line happy. Sure I may not be going to Jellyrolls, or out to eat, or even getting those colored napkins for my wedding, but I really made an impression on people.

Not everyone gets the right to vote. We do. So I just wanted to say thank you for everyone taking a few hours out of their day to vote.

Happy Election Day!

A month of Giving

Since November is the month which houses Thanksgiving, I wanted to dive head first into my Random Acts of Kindness every day mission. I thought this was going to be hard. In fact, I think as the days go on it may get harder to find things to do. I suppose there is no shame in repeating some of the acts though.

Yesterday I wasn't really thinking about doing it. However, as I pulled into Starbucks after work I noticed that the line was growing long in the drive thru. I decided today I would pay for the car behind me.

At first, I didn't think anyone was going to pull behind me. Then right before I pulled up to order a car pulled up behind me. I was excited. As I say with my window down I heard the lady rhino me trying to order a wrap. Starbucks didn't have the kind she wanted nor any sandwich she wanted for that matter. She just wanted something easy to eat in the car. She may have be frustrated, I would be.

Anyways, I paid for her. It wasn't very much. I think it was an extra $7 on my side. I don't know how she reacted to the news. I drove off and continued with my errands. I would like to think that she appreciated it. That it made her smile. One might even go as far to hope that maybe she paid for the car behind her and started a chain of Random Acts of Kindness.

So that kicked off my month of giving. I'm not sure what I am going to do today. I have been praying that The Lord will lead me to people that could use a but of kindness in their lives. We will see what happens!

Challenges to doing good

I have been thinking a lot about how I am going to go about completing my works. The more I think about it, the more lazy I feel. I feel helpless. But that is no excuse. There is no excuse for not doing something as simple as smiling or listening. There is no excuse for being lazy.

I was talking to my dad today about my fundraising efforts for the Making Strides for Breast Cancer walk I am doing tomorrow. I was telling him how I was just a few dollars away from my goal and I asked if he wouldn't mind helping.

His response:

"Well, I already gave but..."

Why do we find it so hard to give again. I can understand if it is a question of money. But is there not $1 we can spare?

Do we walk around saying, "Well I already smiled today but I guess I can smile at you too"?

How silly does this sound. Why is it so hard for us to always be givers? Is it our culture? Is it the way we were raised? Is it the worry that in giving all we have, we may lose all that we have? Or are we simply just lazy?

I don't have the answers to these questions. At least not yet.

What I do know is this. I am working on my list. I want to make a difference. I want to be able to give EVERYTHING I have.

Tomorrow I am walking a 5K for Breast Cancer. As of tonight I have been able to raise $205! That's pretty good. I am walking with a bunch of people that I don't know all that well and I can't wait to hear everyone's stories. I am hoping that in doing this as well, that I can be inspired to give more.

Stay tuned.... I will post my list once I have a good amount of things on it.

Until then, I encourage you all to do one extraordinary thing each day. I know I'll be working on it.

The Pixie Dust Project

Not that long ago I had a blog called Pixie Dusted Proposals. On this blog I featured unique places around Walt Disney World that people could propose to their loved ones. I loved it, but I couldn't always get out and do the research I wanted to. So I started a feature called The Pixie Dust Project.
These features highlighted things I did to spread a little pixie dust in this crazy world.

A few days ago I decided that I wanted to have a blog totally devoted to the Pixie Dust Project. Since I sort of let this blog go, why not reprpose it into the Pixie Dust Project blog?

So get excited, because I am!

What can you expect from the Pixie Dust Project?

~Monthly Acts of Kindness
~Ideas for volunteering
~Small, easy, no cost things you can do to make a difference
~Ways I am spreading Pixie Dust through out my days
~more

How can you help?

Share your ideas! Did you do something great for someone? We want to hear about it! Share your ideas with us!

Stay Tuned Folks! We are out spreading pixie dust!

Off Track

Lately it has occurred to me that I have gone about this blogging thing all wrong.

I wanted to focus on a specific topic. A topic I loved and thought other women may love as well. A topic I thought I had a market for. I was wrong.

For as long as I can remember I have wanted to be proposed to in front of Cinderella's Castle. I used to think it was so romantic. However, the more I visited Disney, the more cliche I found the castle proposal to be.

So I set out on a quest to find the unique spots that Disney may have to offer for proposals. It was a lot of fun and there are so many! Every inch of Disney is unique and there are so many options when it comes to planning a unique proposal. But here's the problem, why direct this at girls? Men are the ones who normally do the proposing. My problem is that I don't know how to turn that around and make it interesting for guys.

Then something bad happened. I lost interest in my topic. Trust me, I LOVE LOVE LOVE all things weddings and proposals. However, I started working 50+ hour work weeks so that we could buy a house. I didn't have time to explore, let alone time to spend with David. So I stopped. Then I tried to get back into it. I really want to get back into it. But it doesn't feel right any more.

So I have decided for the moment, I will just keep writing in here. Any and all things that interest me. Thoughts that I might have. Maybe I'll even post the occasional proposal spot on here. Who knows.

All I know is this, unless someone is going to pay me to find and write blog posts about unique proposal spots across Disney property, then I'm just not going to have the time or energy to keep up on a blog about it.

By the way, if someone if offering that job... I'll take it!

Keep on chasing dreams friends.

Dear Joss Whedon

This weekend I saw the Avengers. Well actually I spent the entire day on Thursday May 3rd in the movie theatre with my fiancé and his best friend. I spent the day watching the only movie marathon I would ever pay $40 to watch. I will tell you this, it was worth it. So Mr. Joss Whedon here is a letter from my heart.

Dear Mr. Whedon,
Can I call you Joss? I know you don't know me, but you might have a pretty good idea of the type of person I am. I am an Avengers fan. From cradle to recently buying my own house, I have been waiting for this day. Marvel is the only super hero franchise I can get behind. I'm not interested in Batman and the 50 movies the make and remake about him. I am interested in the Fantastic Four and the Avengers, but mostly the Avengers. So I have been waiting.
I know you may never read this, but I need to say something to you. Thank You. Thank you for making a movie about the formation of a team. Thank you for showing us how an unlikely group of people can come together for a common goal. Thank you for not throwing us into epic battles as soon as the movie starts. Simply put: THANK YOU!

I HATE super hero movies. They are never all that good and the stories become old fast. These days it feels that super hero movies are only created to be flashy and about who can use the most special effects to make the best battle scenes. Generally they make one good movie and sequels are flops. They are dumb an I hate them.

Then Iron Man came along. I fell in love. I knew something good would come out of this. Then HULK came along and I cried for a long time as I thought all hope was lost for my favorite group of heroes. Then Iron Man 2 came along and it got better. THOR was pretty good and I loved how the story was presented to us. I even loved that Hawkeye made an appearance. Then Captain America came along and I knew that if Marvel could make a movie this good, there was such great hope for an Avengers movie.

When I found out you were directing the Avengers I was so excited. I have been a fan of your work and your ability to develop characters. I was scared at the same time. This was the one super hero movie I wanted more than anything in the world. It was the one I would pay to see multiple times (and I have plans to). It needed to live up to so many expectations I had. I was afraid that we would get thrown into a battle. Afraid that we wouldn't see how people learned to work together and the uniqueness that each hero brought to the table. I just wanted it to be perfect.

So on May 3rd I was willing to take a vacation day from work. Ask anyone I work with and they will tell you how hard that is for me to do. I was also willing to spend an entire day inside a movie theatre to watch the movies of my favorite heroes. To see how their stories intertwined with one another. I was excited.

The Avengers was everything I hoped for. It was everything I have waited for. To me, a fan, the Avengers was perfect. The perfect mixture of funny and serious. I loved the fact that we watched them come together. To learn to trust one another and work with one another. I love that we watched a team develop but also learned that our heroes aren't perfect. The Avengers is made up mostly of ground heroes. Heroes that can't fly. Ground heroes are easy ways to remind us that the heroes are human. They show us why our heroes are heroes. I was excited to see that the ground heroes stayed ground heroes. That was perhaps my favorite part.

There is so much good that I can say about this movie. So much love that I could send. For right now, I just want to thank you. I want to thank your team and your cast. I want to thank you all for staying real and creating a movie that blew my expectations out of the water. A movie that was perfect.

I know others will disagree. However, I still have not met someone who did not like the movie.

So from the bottom of my heart I thank you Joss Whedon. I think you did a wonderful job. I hope we can see more from you.

Signed,
Lauren
A fan of the Avengers

(I don't have a favorite hero. I love the team).

Uninspired

My friends I have to be honest.

Lately I have been uninspired. I have hit a creativity road block. I have been stunted.

I can't explain why. I have my thoughts, but who knows if they are really true. I'm not bored, I'm just not inspired.

That's why there haven't been many posts lately.

I don't want to make up excuses. I could say that I have been working 6 day work weeks, trying to make enough money for the bills and enough money to save for the wedding. I've been trying to find a comfortable work/life balance.

Dave works mornings. When I say mornings I mean 5 am-1:30 in the afternoon. I work evenings 11-7:30 or later. We NEVER see each other. Quite frankly this makes me miserable. I want to have time to spend with my love. He is the person who inspires me and encourages me to pursue the things I love.

So I don't want to write a bad post because I need to write a post. I'd rather post once a month if it means I give you a true, honest, invested post. I want to do my research and give you something that makes you think and catches your attention. I want you to enjoy what you read.

So that's where I am. This week may prove to recoup me. I only have 40 hours. Dave and I have two whole days off together. I have a career meeting. I feel better than I have in weeks. So look out for a rock star post in the future.

Believe in Miracles every day...

So a lot of things are happening fast. We bought a house. Yesterday I turned 25! Valentine's Day is Tuesday. Finally, Thursday Dave and I fly to PA for something that is very very VERY close to my heart.

In 2007, as a student at Penn State University, I did something crazy. I decided that I would spend a weekend not sitting and not sleeping, but standing. That's right I would stand for 46 long hours. You may ask why. You may say, why forgo the drinking and partying (which I can tell you I hardly did) to do something silly like that. It's simple: Life.

In 2006 I was introduced to THON, a 46 hr dance marathon for kids battled pediatric cancer. It opened my eyes to a world of things I did not understand. All I knew about this world was that I had to be a part of it. I had to help. I vowed that the next year I would dance.

So in October of 2006 I began fundraising, hoping to raise as much money as I could so that I could dance with the Penn State Thespians. I stood out in the cold for hours. I asked everyone I knew. My question was simple: Would you help me stand for those who cant?

In February 2007 the weekend after my 21st birthday I danced. With the help of my dancer partner, Sean, My Penn State Thespian Family, our THON family, the moralers, the PSU students, the Entertainment, and the other dancers, I made it all 46 hours. I was even delirious for a few of them since I forgot to eat during one of the food breaks. I was having way too much fun to waste my time with food.
Here are some photos:



Sean and I with Jenna our Thon Child who today is cancer free!

The year I danced we raised $5.24 million last year THON raised $9.5 million

Sean and I before standing.

Somewhere in the middle of 46 hrs my bridges collapsed and my knees began to swell. I didn't want to cheat and sit in an ice bath so I stood and they wrapped my knees in ice.

You might not understand why I did this. I did this because no one ever deserves to hear the words "Your child has cancer". No deserves to hear the word cancer associated with a loved one. But if you could feel the love in this room for this cause. If you could stand among the thousands of students dancing and realize just what is happening, you would be in awe.

Every year I fight for THON. I raise money even though I haven't been able to get back up there. This year THOn turns 40. and I will be there!

In case you still don't understand, here is a video. Watch it and if you need to: go to YouTube and watch more. I think you will be surprised.

Asking the girls

This weekend I completed a big project. Now it won't look like a big project, but trust me...it was. I had to color seven pictures. SEVEN and that's not easy when you are a perfectionist when it comes to coloring!

Anyways I live far away from all of my bridesmaids. So I couldn't take them out to dinner or do a fun activity and ask them. I don't make enough money to fly home every other weekend or I totally would have done this differently. However, I think that these little bottle are cute and I hope they will like them.

Each girl gets a message in a bottle. Inside is a picture of a Disney Princess and her sidekick. Wrapped around the picture is a small note to each girl telling them why they are important to me and asking them to be my bridesmaid. My sister's says Maid of Honor, but she already knows and accepted the challenge.

So what do you think?

Check it off

There is no doubt that checking things off of your "To-Do" list gives you an amazing feeling. I have felt this feeling lately, making it a point to check things off of my very own list. Yesterday we accomplished one very big thing.

Dave and I finally set a date and put a deposit down for a reception space!

That is right folks! On May 25, 2013 I will marry my best friend.

This is a big check off of our list because now we can finally start planning. Believe it or not it is a lot harder to plan a wedding from almost a thousand miles away than most may think. Dave and I really don't have funding for a wedding planner, so we are doing most of what we can ourselves. This is great for me because I hope one day that I can start my own wedding or event planning business. *I want to do a lot of things but one of them is start my own business*

We have been working with my mom who is amazing! But she has a lot on her plate. My brother gets married this September, both my brother and I are looking for houses, and my mom is a teacher and high school basketball coach. Not to mention all the other things life throws in your way, death of a family friend and death of Joe Paterno *who was a big influence on my family*. Now that we have set a date, Dave and I can start looking for our vendors and putting our own touches on the wedding.

We already have the church and the priest! Look at us go! We also have our Photographer! Well sort of...we will officially have our photographer when we sign some papers for her. Btw that photographer is the lovely Caise S. of Casie Photographics! We wouldn't choose anyone else to capture our special day. I mean she took these lovely pictures of us:

Aren't they awesome?

Well it's time to go work on more of my check list. Next up: Asking my maids. But first I have to finish their special project!

New things

Happy New Year! 2012 brings new things. I know a lot of people who were happy to see 2011 go, but for me, 2012 has a lot to live up to.

I don't like to make resolutions. Resolutions are too easy to give up. I like to make goals. So for 2012 here are my goals:

Pixie Dusted Proposals ~ I want to stay more on top of the old blog. I know it was supposed to get updated. This fell through. I decided that I would learn how to do it myself. It's going to take longer, but I'm not going to let the blog just sit there. Especially since it gets a lot of views even when I don't post in it. So look for some news coming about the blog next week!

Get In Shape~ By the Summer of 2012 I want to be in shape. I don't want to lose weight (though it would be good), I just want to feel more healthier. I want to simply be in good shape.

Learn to drive manual ~ I HATE manual cars. However, Dave has a manual car. I should probably learn how to drive one. You never know what can happen. So by April I want to know how to drive a manual car.

Wedding Stuff ~ I have THREE! Count 'em 3! Weddings this year! This makes it easy to forget about my own wedding! By the end of this week I want to have a date set. By the end of February I want to have most of my vendors in the works. By the end of the summer I want the entire wedding to planned out for the most part.

New Job ~ By the end of March I want to be head first on a roll to a new job. If it's with Disney, great! If it's not, then I just wasn't meant to work for this company. I have a ton of skills that are not being used here. Also, if I don't get the chance to interview, how does anyone know that I am qualified or not? A piece of paper is only a snapshot of myself. I have drive and commitment to my work. I want to produce good work, that's just the kind of person I am. So if this company doesn't want me, then it wasn't meant to be. So I am looking everywhere for a job that is fully Lauren.

Of course, there will be plenty of more goals that come along with the months coming. These are just my starters. I've already started on most of them!

I hope everyone's year is off to a wonderful start!