Good Deeds 5, 6, & 7

For those of you just tuning in, my goal is to not shop for the entire year - instead spending that time, money, and energy doing a good deed per day. The first 26 of these good deeds are dedicated to the #26acts movement started by Ann Curray.


"Smile at a stranger."

TBF and I planned on volunteering at Pier 94 doing wetlands restoration on Saturday morning. However, we got a little lost and arrived about 10 minutes late due to all of our helter-skelter U-turning. Unable to find anyone who could check us in or give us directions, we went on a walk around Heron's Head Park instead, enjoying the beautiful morning - and picking up trash along the way.

We ran across several folks out for walks with their pets, and along with picking up the trash my good deed of the day was smiling and strangers and making small talk. There was a woman with a little dog named King Solomon who was indignantly barking out orders from his blue and yellow striped sweater, and a darling German Shepherd puppy with ears bigger and fluffier than his whole body combined. Too cute.

"Kiss the chef."

Sunday, TBF and I went to see The Lion King at the Orpheum Theatre. We went to Ghirardelli Square for dessert afterward, then went home and made dinner. I kissed the chef quite thoroughly!

"Deliver something small and sweet to everyone on your team - midafternoon, just when everyone's energy wanes."

This morning on my drive from San Francisco to Davis, I used my last $10 to pay the bridge toll for myself and the person behind me. I figure I was rewarded with this beautiful sunrise.

But because it's a Monday, and Mondays need extra TLC, I am doing another good deed - delivering something small and sweet to everyone on my team - namely, chocolates from our trip to Ghirardelli Square yesterday!

XOXO
Sweet-toothed Shawna

1/4/13 My Credit Card Arrived!

As you know, I was debating on whether or not to give myself extra days to shop in the New Year because I had to cancel my credit card due to fraudulent charges around Christmas. Instead of doing that, which I thought would be too lenient , I decided to give myself just today, since I activated the card this morning and I wanted to, you know, test it to make sure it worked properly. It was very tempting to just go crazy and buy a ton of things, but I behaved...

Francesca's Collection is having a huge sale on sale, where all sale merchandise is an additional 50% off through 1/7/13, so I bought a couple pairs of flower print pants for around $30 including shipping. You can never have too much flower print!

XOXO
Shopaholic Shawna

Good Deed 4

"Forgive someone for a minor resentment that has been bothering you."

 Forgive others, not because they deserve forgiveness, but because you deserve peace. One of my good friends, A-, had this posted as her Facebook status this morning, and it made me think about all of the angst I hold inside because I can't seem to forgive and forget. Today's good deed was to acknowledge reasons why I have been upset and forgive people for resentments that have been bothering me. Obviously I don't want to air out all of my angst publicly, but I'll share that I am forgiving several people for being short, rude, unappreciative, unloving, ignorant, grumpy, thoughtless, and human. Just by making the mental effort, I feel better already.

XOXO
Forgiving Shawna

P.S. Yesterday I also donated 32 books to Chapters Change Children. It's being run by the 6th graders of three schools in Davis in conjunction with the Rotary Club. The kids are collecting books (for all ages) and then fundraising with the help of the Rotary Club to ship the books to Africa.

Good Deeds 2 & 3

"Smile when you talk on the phone - it makes your voice friendly."

Dad has always said to force a smile when you are upset because smiling convinces your brain that it is in fact happy. Essentially by faking a smile you can effectively and truthfully lift your mood. Dad has also always said that if you smile while speaking on the phone, you sound more pleasant, energized, helpful, and so on. I'm not one to take my Dad's advice blindly (much to his dismay) so I went ahead and did a little cursory research on smiling while on the telephone before doing this activity.

Apparently Dad is right.

Craig Harrison of Expressions of Excellence claims: "Even though their smile isn't seen by listeners, it is felt. When we smile it loosens up our jaws and relaxes us. This is then conveyed through our voice. We sound more relaxed, friendly and open because we are. The act of smiling activates certain muscles in our face and neck and actually alters our disposition for the better."

Dummies.com states: " The reason is not psychological but rather physiological. When you smile, the soft palate at the back of your mouth raises and makes the sound waves more fluid. For those of you who sing in a choir (or in the shower), you know that the wider you open your mouth and the more teeth you show, the better tone you get."

I don't know if showing more teeth necessarily means better tone, but there were enough similar views on smiling and pleasant telephone demeanor that I have been convinced it makes a difference. Since my current position involves heavy telephone communication, on 1/2/13 I attempted to smile every time I answered the phone. I also tried to be extra friendly, even though it was the first official day back from holiday vacation for everyone and it would have been much easier to be grumpy. I have to admit smiling more made me feel more cheerful!

"Learn your local barista's name - and use it."

I don't get coffee often, but I do grab breakfast for the office quite a bit. So, today while at Panera Bread grabbing Thursday morning breakfast, I met K-. She is the Zone Manager at the front and helped ring up all of the raisin breads, muffies, cinnamon rolls, scones, bear claws, chocolate croissants, and other assorted pastries with a beautiful mood! It's always nice to address someone by name. It makes the interaction more personal and makes the "Have a good day!" that much more meaningful.

XOXO
Smiling Shawna

1/2/13 I Went Shopping...

in my little sister's closet! S- went through her clothes over the weekend and is getting rid of a huge bag of clothes, shoes, and bags. Waste not, want not, though. Before bringing them to the SPCA to donate, I went through them and scored some steals. Some of the highlights were the brand new sweater with tags still attached from Forever 21, brand new BCBG leggings and brand new Romeo and Juliet Couture dress.

I wasn't strongly tempted to purchase anything today. Two days down, 363 to go!

XOXO
Sister Shawna

Good Deed 1

"Tell your Dad your favorite memory of him."

I have so many vivid memories of my Dad. The earliest is of him rocking me to sleep in his arms, singing in Turkish while pacing back and forth in the yellow-gold lighting of our living room. Yildizlarin altinda... I remember talking to him over the telephone (back when home telephones were still connected to the wall with curlicue wires) when he would be overseas on business trips. My Mom would ask me to sing for him before getting off of the phone, and I remember singing Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You. I remember kicking pine cones on early mornings with Dad before he would drop me off to grade school. I remember when he and Mom gave me a doll I had wanted for the longest time - a very pretty Native American doll with moccasins and a headband that I named Clover Eagle. I remember when my classroom went on a sailing trip in fourth grade and Dad was the only parent who planned ahead for seasickness by packing crackers. I think they were Ritz crackers. I remember thinking Dad was so annoying in sixth (?) grade when we went to Ano Nuevo to see the elephant seals because he had insisted I bring the ugliest poncho with me in case the weather turned bad - and I remember thinking how cool he was for being so thoughtful as to bring an extra poncho and extra umbrellas when all of my friends who had no shelter from the pouring rain were huddled thankfully in our extras. I remember not having my state project finished on time, and how much Dad yelled at me - while he stayed awake with me all night and helped me as much as he could while I finished it the night before it was due. As I grew older and went into high school and then college, my memories of Dad are more focused on boyfriends - how I hated that he never liked the ones I had - and later, how I understood why he didn't like them, and how loving he was while I went through heartbreaks and break ups. How wise my Dad is. How Dad chased after the gypsy girls who pick-pocketed my wallet out of my bag on a train in Italy, and got it back by showing them the "Angry Turk" they didn't want to mess with. How brave and ethical he is.

I have so many more memories, but those were the first that came to mind. Dad, I love you!

XOXO
Reminiscent Shawna

1/1/13 Fresh Start

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I hope 2013 brings peace, love, clarity, success, happiness, good health, joy, and excitement to us all.

As you can imagine, I woke up very, very early on the morning of the 31st hyperventilating. I was so anxious and stressed about not buying a single material object for an entire year that I literally felt physically ill. My heart was pounding, my hands were sweating, and my mind was racing with thoughts of what I might need to buy before the New Year. It sounds so silly and I feel shallow for admitting it. But really, I think that not buying a single material object for an entire year would be a challenge for anyone.

TBF was very understanding and has been somewhat teasing but very supportive of my NYE challenge - so he took me shopping on the last day of 2012 so I could frontload some of the items I might feel tempted to buy in the near future. Lingerie, a BCBG dress and jumper, jewelry, jeans (a pair of 7 For All Mankind's and a pair of Hudson's), books, DVDs... I think I should be able to hold out until March.

Before you wonder why I just said March and not December, I should explain my strategy for making it through the year. I anticipate being able to hold out until March without buying anything. And that's my birthday month so hopefully I'll get my material item fix from birthday gifts. I then have another 9 months without shopping, but with 2 free passes I'll most likely end up using one in the summer time, maybe June or July, and then another in the winter - probably when I am Christmas shopping for others because that always is a time of weakness. My main goal is to stay away from online shopping, stores in general, and to stay so busy and occupied that I don't even have time to think about money let alone shopping.

Halfway through January 1st and I am happy to announce that I am holding out strong against all of the NYE sales. I am also happy to announce that this is the first day of my Year of Good Deeds. As a way to stay busy and occupied, in order to move from thoughts about consumerism and selfishness to thoughts of generosity and helping others, and in order to keep this blog from turning into a whine-fest, I decided to buy the One Good Deed A Day Journal. I hope to give a short update on the status of my willpower and window shopping, then focus the rest of my day on my Good Deed, which will be in a separate post.

My friend H- who started her blog, is dedicating her first week to #26acts. I am so glad that she wrote about this great act, started by NBC correpsondent Ann Curray. The concept is that the world would be a happier and better place if everyone did kind acts for others, and Curray called for individuals to do #26acts in honor of the Newtown shooting victims. I will be dedicatinig my first 26 acts to those victims, and this great idea.

XOXO
Shopaholic Shawna

P.S. TBF and I went on our Hornblower dinner dance cruise on Saturday. It was such a wonderful time! The food was pretty good, the wine was fabulous, but the best part was being able to dance the night away and watch the twinkling city lights from the Sacramento River.

P.P.S. Yesterday, we celebrated NYE with dinner at Le Charm and then a party at the S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien. There were three dance floors (two in heated tents on deck, one below), multiple open bars, two DJs, and a beautiful view of the city, the bay, and the fireworks. It was such a memorable way to ring in the New Year! I wore a Rubber Ducky sequin dress, with Pour La Victoire purple suede pumps and a Noir Jewelry double knuckle cocktail ring. Love! Oh, also, TBF and I were interviewed while we were buying our NYE apparel - here is the news clip!