My Birthday Project: Kindness Inspires Kindness

My 47th birthday~ Kindness Inspires Kindness, 47 random acts of kindness

8:45 AM

Left gift for our postman in mail box (he'll get it tomorrow).

Fire Station: Dropped off 2 Toys for Tots, 1 Blanket for One warm Coat/Blanket Drive, Cookies for firefighters kitchen.

Nursing Home: Wrote 16 Christmas cards to be handed out to grandma’s and grampa’s on Christmas morning by the nursing staff

for people they know wouldn’t have anyone visiting them.

Post Office: mailed box of 10 beanie babies and webkinz for soldiers to give to local kids in exchange for information on IED locations. Mailed 5 thank you cards to soldiers. Mailed $15 for shipping to Operation Gratitude. Mailed 1 check to buy a camp t-shirt for a physically challenged child to attend equestrian camp. Left 2 boxes of hope and joy in random places inside the post office.

Rising Loafer: bought breakfast for 2 people

San Ramon Regional Medical Center Hospital: Delivered fresh flowers to ER Staff. Gave cookie basket to ER admitting staff. Left 18 magazines in different waiting rooms throughout hospital. Left 2 children’s gifts on table inside family waiting room of labor and delivery. Taped dollar bills on 4 vending machines near cafeteria. Placed 3 boxes of Hope and Joy on Christmas tree in cafeteria. A nurse chased us down to tell us how remarkable she thought we were for leaving the gifts for the kids in Labor & Delivery.

Laundry Mat: gave a little girl an activity coloring book and color crayons while she was waiting with her dad for their laundry to finish. Taped $10 on washing machine and said “this load’s on me.” Left a big container of laundry detergent on counter.

Dollar Store: Scattered dollar bills randomly throughout the dollar store with note attached.

Babies R US: Returned carts to store from back of parking lot. Gave a toddler in a stroller a gift.

Borders Book Store: Hid dollar bills inside books throughout store. Read a book to children in the kids section. Donated $10 to Young Life group at exit door of store.

Toll Bridge: Paid for the car behind us on the Bay Bridge and left a candycane and note for the toll worker to give him. Gave a candycane to toll worker.

Golden Gate Bridge: Took photos of couples on the bridge. Spoke French to a grampa visiting from Vietnam who wanted to take a picture of us. Handed out 8 Hope and Joy boxes to people on the bridge. Gave candy canes to people waiting for bus in the rain. Gave our paid parking space to people with Michigan sticker on the back of their car. Let people take pictures with my homemade “kindness inspires kindness” sign.

Didn’t honk my horn at crazy woman who almost caused an accident with her driving. Yes I’m counting this as an act of kindness.

The Buena Vista: gave cookie basket to people visiting from Austrailia who gave us their table so twins didn’t need to pony up to the bar so mommy could have a famous Irish Coffee and take a break from the rain. Invited 2 couples to share our table (they were visiting from Sacramento and loved what we were doing with our day).

Gave cookie basket to parking garage attendant. His birthday is on the 21st. He couldn’t believe I was giving him cookies.

 Downtown San Francisco: Handed out 22 gifts to age specific people. Kids, moms, teenagers. People couldn’t believe we were giving them a gift. I wish I could have taken photos of every ones reactions. Some of them were just way out there in disbelief. Two people said no thank you and that was weird. Most people were thrilled. One person chased us down after she read the card to tell us what a wonderful thing we were doing and how it really made her day. I spoke Spanish to one lady because she was really leery and didn’t understand English then she was over the top happy. Held doors open. Gave out compliments. Let cars cut in front of us.

Gave a giant box of diapers and babywipes to a mommy carrying a baby in a front pack. She was visiting from England and she said she needed nappies because they were almost out. We gave cookie baskets to her older children. She was in shock I think.

Left giant size hand sanitizer on changing table in women’s restroom.

Ran up the suddenly broken escalator to the middle where a frail old grandma was stopped holding her cane and edge of rail wondering how she was going to get down while the herds of people also stuck behind her stood there and did nothing. I ran up the escalator and helped her stair by stair down. She squeezed me so tight on each step. It reminded me of when I worked in a nursing home. She was so grateful when we got to the bottom. I’m pretty sure God planned that one for me.

All in all it was 135 single random acts of kindness~ A lifetime memory that will permanently be etched in our hearts forever. Best birthday ever!

9:30 PM: Back home happily exhausted and feeling pretty blessed to have experienced this day

Monday Meatballs Made Easy

Good friends, bottle of Italian wine, garlic bread and Caesar salad. Great way to start off the week! These meatballs are the base to add to any sauce, any pasta or just freeze and have on hand. I prefer to add to my 24hour slow cook homemade sauce but you can add to any store bought sauce and your good to go! Enjoy~
Monday Meatballs
1 pound hamburger
2 eggs, beaten with 1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1 cup panko or bread crumbs
1 small onion, minced or grated (1/2 a large onion)
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground pepper to taste
1/4 cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley or basil

Mix all ingredients with hands. Form into golfball sized meatballs. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Ancient Ali'i Fishpond

It's a kakou thing! There's a saying in Hawaii that means "to help" just another expression of the aloha spirit that brings many visitors to experience paradise. For those looking for a free cultural experience visit the ali'i (royal) fishpond known by it's ancient name, Ko'ie'ie fishpond. Swim up to the rock wall, snorkel, help with the ongoing revitalization or simply soak up all the history of this ancient Hawaiian spot.

Long before the big hotels and restaurants, Maui was a sustainable island utilizing fishponds as a way to unite community and feed villages.

Ko'ie'ie fish pond, the best preserved royal fishpond on Maui, dates back to 1400-1500AD. Throughout Polynesia, fishponds were commonly used as an early type of aquaculture. Hawaiians studied the tides, moon, and sun and realized that they could harvest fish within a confined area.

Loko Kuapa were the most common type of fishpond in ancient Hawaii. Approximately 127 of these ponds were built throughout the islands. This ancient fishpond consists of a wall and a sluice gate built in shallow waters. The loko kuapa (walled pond) are formed by a rock wall that encloses a portion of the ocean. The wall was made of boulders and stones of all sizes. They were constructed of coral and permeable rock such as basalt (volcanic rock) to allow the wall to absorb the pounding action of the water. These materials also allowed water to flow into the pond to reduce stagnation. The walls were designed to curve so prevailing currents pushed sand and debris around the wall rather than collecting it at one side. Stones on the outer wall angled downwards so wave action worked to pull them tighter. A sluice gate or makaha was placed at precise locations where currents occurred. The building of these fishponds took into account many factors, social, environmental, cultural and geological criteria in order to create a fully functioning fishpond where entire villages were built around their existence.

Today, off Maui's south shore you will find this ancient fishpond (almost 3 acres large) is being revitalized in order to teach future generations about how fishponds used to work, provide an area for teaching of biology, history, geology and most importantly culture to residents and visitors alike.

Located on the south shore of Maui in Kihei next to Menehune Shores and Kaleolepo Park is the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary office overlooking the ancient Ko'ie'ie fish pond, the best preserved royal fishpond on Maui.

Visitors can get free information about Maui's Humpback Whales here and read about the area's historic past on the signs at the park. Free parking.

For more information on ways you can "kakou" (help), please visit www.mauifishpond.com.

Happy Anniversary

Everything changed when he held out his hand and took mine. So happy to share my life with this man who makes me laugh and makes me cry who unselfishly gives more then he takes. Marriage isnt always easy some days it's pretty hard but when you play for the same team, victory over hard times feels like sweet triumph. Celebrating our anniversary every year isn't about what we ate or where we went its about stopping to recognize the journey. We joke about giving our marriage a grade. I'm thinking it's an A, he gives it a B+. Wait what?! He says "always need room to grow together and never sit back and take it all for granted" ok that's good. So here's to our B+ marriage and 13 years of a wonderfully messy truly loved life together!