day 86 : send my sister a birthday gift

warning : if you are my sister, TURN AWAY
if you are not my sister, go ahead and keep reading ;)

tomorrow is my sisters birthday, so i am sending her this cute print.
she is moving into a new house & enjoys cooking, so i thought this print would look great in her new kitchen.
the card is from here, the print from here & i bought them both at paper hat. {if you are local, its a great place to buy gifts!}
i also have a couple more things i have planned for her, but they are too heavy // im too cheap to send them. ;)

day 85 : send an anniversary card

this weekend, my aunt & uncle celebrated 40{!} years of marriage!

they had a nice dinner with my grandma & my parents.

i am a day behind, BUT i did send them a sweet card.

sending mail is one of the simplest ways to brighten someones day! 

day 84 : share some personal photos

hi everybody!
three years ago today, my grandpa passed away.
he really was one of my favorite people in the world.
i loved him so very much & thinking about how much i miss him just tears my heart in half.

each year on this day {and his birthday}, i give money to cancer research in his name & while that counts as a good deed, what i really want to do today is share a few of my favorite photos of him!

he and my grandma when she was in college! 

in his navy uniform {around the same time as the above picture}

this is my all-time favorite picture. 

i think i am 4. and the sweater my grandpa is wearing? after he passed, my grandma gave it to me. i still wear it in the winter.

and i look totally unimpressed with my 6-year old life here, but look how pumped my little sister is!

take a minute today to call your parents // grandparents. these past couple weeks have been a bit rough & i would give all my money away to hangout with my grandpa today! 

day 83 : {daphnes good deed} give a shelter dog a 'forever' chance

last summer, we rescued daphne from safe hands rescue here in town. they pull as many dogs as they can, usually from shelters in the south.

i follow them on facebook & recently saw that one of the shelters had a distemper outbreak. {its a super-scary dog disease that will kill, unless its treated}

the shelter closed down {thanks to an understanding judge} & is testing each and every dog for distemper. if the dogs test negative & they can find foster families, the dogs will be saved. 

if the dogs test positive OR cant find foster families, they wont survive {breaks my heart!}

safe hands started a fundraising page to raise money for the testing, treating and rehoming of the shelter dogs.

if you have $5 to give, YOU will save a dogs life!

daphne and i were talking about this & she was shocked. {look at that shocked face ;)} and she knew she wanted to help.

we talked about it & she decided to donate some money to help test a couple pups.

{we are talking to the rescue about fostering a dog, but daphne isnt sure if shes ready yet}

if you can help or want to read more, you can head here.

daph says 'thanks for making a difference!' {see also : please send me more bones!}

day 82 : treat MYSELF!

yesterdays good deed?! i took care of ME! 

these past two weeks have been a bit rough // overwhelming // blah blah blah

i have a lot on my plate right now & a lot of transitions happening.

anyways, yesterday was HARD!

{i know, i know how lucky i am to have a job // home // good humans in my life // ect}

anyways, when i got home from work yesterday, i knew i needed to stop and do something for myself.

so, i walked down to the frozen yogurt shop and FILLED UP MY CUP!

dark chocolate and birthday cake froyo + gummy bears, sprinkles, cookie dough chunks, snicker crumbles and oreo pieces. it was everything i never eat.

and it was delish! 

{somedays you just need to eat a pound of sugar ;)}

day 81 : send blake off on his first day of school

today is blakes first day back at school {hes a preschool teacher!}

he has had the entire summer off, so this morning, we spent a bit of time together before he had to leave.

i got up early {like, WAY early ;)} and made him a breakfast smoothie & then we took daphne for an hour-long stroll.

its not much, but it was a nice way to start this new school year for him & a good excuse for me to get up & get my day started ;)

day 80 : bring a hostess gift & provide a child with the gift of education

{i apologize for the bad photos}

blake & i belong to a really amazing CSA! {if you are in the cities and are interested for next year, i highly recommend bossy acres}{they are so amazing! the food is incredible & they really believe in building a community}

last night, two of the members hosted a potluck for the rest of us. 

everybody brought a few dishes and we had a really great time.

blake and i have lived here for 3 years now, and one of the things we miss most about portland is all the incredible friends we made when we were there.

we have definitely had a harder time finding our 'tribe' since we have been here.

in the past month, we have been meeting some really amazing people & on our ride home last night, we felt so thankful to be included with such a great group of humans.

we brought our hosts a pound of coffee from three avocados. they are a non-profit that purchases school supplies & covers tuition costs for kids attending school in south america AND provides clean // safe drinking water for communities in africa.

we thought that providing our hosts with a gift that gives education to a child was a definite win-win!

day 79 : 'HEY! you gave me too much money!'

happy saturday! 

both weekend mornings, blake and i start our days with a trip to the farmers markets. we have two markets that are within 5 blocks from us ; so its a great way to start the day. we walk the dog, grab a pastry and visit with our neighbors. 

this morning, we walked to the market and bought a watermelon and a pint of ground

cherries. the melon was $3 and the cherries were $5 ; so my total was $8.

i gave the woman a $20 and she gave me $17 back.

as i was walking away, i counted my change and realized she gave me an extra $5.

so, i turned around and returned it. the women was really grateful and thanked me for my honesty.

it sounds so simple {most acts of kindness are this easy!} ; but i felt really great as a walked away.

i felt proud of my parents {and grandparents} for teaching me about honesty and the importance of never taking more than you need!

i also want to write a quick note thanking all of you for reading this blog! 

i have been getting a bunch of email, facebook and twitter comments about good deeds that YOU have been preforming and i would love to hear more! 

SO, if YOU have been the recipient of a good deed OR YOU are the one preforming an act of kindness ; toot your horn and let me know! i would love to share {no matter how small!} 

day 78 : take blake on a surprise mini-date

i am posting this super late {hello, bedtime!}, but todays good deed was super simple.

blake and i have both had a pretty rough week. too many work hours, lots of lost sleep & being taken advantage of by a few folks...
we spent HOURS of our time cleaning up messes that were not ours this week.
i had two date nights planned, but both were cancelled due to outside factors.
tonight, we walked up to the bank to cash a few checks & i decided to buy blake some frozen yogurt on our walk back.

it wasnt much, but he has been great this week and i wanted him to know that i really appreciate him.
our walk home was great. we are both doing some major reorganizing in our lives in the coming months & small mini-dates like this really help to inspire me to push forward.

day 77 : walk a neighbors dog

this one is easy! 

one of our neighbors has some long-term medical issues, so we are usually her 'on call' when it comes to her needing help.

she has a chubby little pug who thinks he enjoys playing with daphne ; until he realizes that shes 65-pounds and wants to pin him on the floor...

anyways, shes been needing our help again lately, so we have been walking her dog 3 times a day.

we go out anyway, its good practice for daphne and we are happy to help.

if you have an older neighbor, or someone who needs a bit of extra care ; walking their pup is a super simple good deed! 

day 76 : volunteer & make new friends

you guys!

i am so far behind on this blog! 

in 2.5 weeks, i will be unemployed, so i am hoping to spend some of my days really working and catching up on this site.

i have been doing a deed each day, but i am really, like 20+ days behind..

a few days ago, blake & i headed over to help a {new} friend with her business!

do you know beez kneez honey? its a two-women show that offers education classes, urban honeycombs & honey delivery by bike. we had met both women before & blake is friends with a good friend of theirs.

they are creating a new honey house {hooray!} & needed some help painting the new space.

we biked over, made a bunch of new friends, painted & ate pizza.

its so cool to see the progress that multiple people can make in just a few hours! 

day 75 : dont freak out when i was INCHES from getting run over

for real, you guys!
i have been biking for almost 4 years & i have had plenty of close calls ; but this morning, without a doubt, was my closest brush with death.

yesterday, i shared that i bought a new bike this weekend [you can read about leaving a yelp review here] for my upcoming duathlon.
blake & i got up early to get a long ride in {70 minutes}& on our way back, i was almost hit by a car.
because we have biked for so long, we are obnoxiously cautious ; i pride myself on really being present and aware when i am on the road.

so, we were at a 4-way stop. a car stopped before us {to our left}, then we stopped and then a grandma on our right stopped. car 1 went. then we went. and as we were in the intersection {i was closest to the grandma}, she went.
i think she was on auto-pilot & didnt quite register that humans were crossing the intersection.
as she starts to go, blake & i are both yelling and i visualize myself getting hit by this car.
{and mom, if you are reading this ; im just kidding. nothing like this ever happens...}
finally she stops INCHES away from me & one of us {hint : NOT ME} starts shouting and yelling at the grandma.
i couldnt make out what she was saying with her windows up, so i walked to her car {shaking SO hard, by the way!} and heard her out.
she said she got confused and her foot slipped. she apologized & i think she was sincere.
i told her that getting run over would seriously suck & she agreed. {cuz lets be honest ; NOT FUN!}

i was really proud of how i handled it. i know the initial reaction is to freak out & curse ; but im not interested in creating stress and bad vibes.
she apologized and we headed home. i was really shaken up, though. her headlight was really, INCHES away from my legs.

also, public service announcement : PLEASE be so careful, aware & kind when you are around bikes.
one wrong move & both of your lives could change forever.

day 74 : leave a yelp! review

my first yelp! review.
have you ever written one?

5 weeks ago, i purchased a new {and really expensive} road bike from REI for my duathlon training. and while i was slowly warming up to the bike, i was having nothing but problems.
the brakes, the cassette, the gears, blown tires ; all of it. way too many issues for buying a brand new bike.

on friday, we were biking home & the back tire blew AGAIN {i have had my commuter bike for 4 years and only had a blown tire ONE TIME!}. i was feeling super frustrated, so first thing in the morning, we headed to our favorite bike shop in town to buy a new bike.

we had a really great experience {we have been giving them our business for 3 years} & i wanted to email the store manager to say so. BUT, i figured the manager knows mike {our sales guy} is really great at his job. so, i decided to leave a yelp review instead.

and, if you live in the cities & are looking for really awesome service, here is their review page.
as a female biker, who rides for fun ; i have encountered plenty of bike shops that look at me like, 'shouldnt your boyfriend help you make a decision?' the guys at freewheel are the best!

day 73 : sign a petition to ban pesticides in minneapolis

this weekend, i was reading our local neighborhood paper & there was an article about this petition to ban all pesticides in the city of minneapolis.

i fully support banning harmful sprays & poisons! apartment buildings, businesses, all city and government offices ; i would love to see the city move towards organic ways to treat weeds & pests.

i am a huge bee-lover & really believe that colony collapse disorder is directly connected to the terrible things we are spraying.

a local minneapolis man started this campaign is thisclose to 2,000 signatures. 

the petition is open to everybody ; so if this is an issue that is important to you ; feel free to sign it.

you can sign here or scroll to the bottom of the embedded petition!

day 72 : head back to 1950 & solve a murder

you guys! 

this was so fun! 

we live in a really great neighborhood of minneapolis. we have two lakes within minutes, a library, two farmers markets, a coop, tons of shops & great places to eat. 

we also have a streetcar line a few blocks away. in the summer, the street car runs for events & for trolley tours. on the streetcar, you are able to see both the lakes & its just like stepping back in time! 

we have ridden before & its an iconic staple in the neighborhood.

the trains are run by volunteers & they always remind me of grandpas i want to eat donuts with.

for the last two weekends, they have held a murder mystery tour.

its like a dinner theatre, but on a moving trolley {hello, its a genius idea!}

we purchased tickets, dressed up like we were in 1952 {the streetcar was used in the 50's AND thats the decade the show took place in} & biked down to the tracks.

it was so awesome! 

the show was an hour-long murder mystery. there was singing, dancing & lots of silliness ; we really enjoyed it.

a portion of the ticket sales are used to preserve the streetcars & the museum. we got an awesome show, had a fun date night & helped support a piece of history in our neighborhood! 

day 71 : give a stranger a gift card

this weekend, blake & i biked to the movies and did a good deed on the way home.

*disclaimer // something to note : i was given a $5 gift card to mcdonalds from klout to try their new fish bites. since i am vegan and do not eat fast food, i decided to pass this card on. i would rather have someone get a hot meal than have the card go to waste*

the mcdonalds was right across the street from the theatre, so we sat out front and waited for our random stranger.

after a few minutes, we saw a man dig deep into his pockets, counting change and heading towards the door. before he went in, i went up & gave him the card.

he looked super surprised, said a quick thanks & headed inside. i didnt want him to feel awkward, pressured or embarrassed, so we left right away.

so easy. we can all afford to load up a $5 gift card and present it to a stranger!