The Happy Day Project: A Recap

For those of you who missed my post last week about The Happy Day Project, here's a little synopsis of what it is:

The point of it is to spread joy. Simple as that. Jeannett from Life Rearranged set us up with a little calendar of  things to do each day of the week.



Each day was just a little something that might only take a minute to complete, or an hour to put together, but it would hopefully spread a little joy to someone else. And so, here's what I did:

MONDAY: Handwritten Note

Jeannette provided some stinkin cute printable note cards, so I used 6 of those to write a little HELLO to my Mom, MIL, and some close friends.

BTW, everyone who got a note called me to say that it made their day! What a happy feeling! I need to write notes more often.

TUESDAY: Gift Card to the Homeless

All day at work I pondered how I was going to accomplish this task...I'm not even sure why it seemed so daunting... but it did. I tried to think about where a less fortunate person might want a gift card to. What did they need?...maybe even what they wanted? I ended up picking up a gift card to Target. I figured they have warm clothes, blankets, food, all sorts of things that a homeless person might need. Then the hard part came. I actually had to find someone to give this to... I drove around town for a bit trying to think of places that I might find a recipient. I ended up at a gas station on the way out of town where I had remembered seeing a a girl asking for change once.

I ended up finding her. She was standing on the corner of the street in a purple flannel shirt. She had a backpack and maybe another bag. And she was holding a sign that said "Homeless and Hungry".

I have to ask, maybe another participant of The Happy Day Project felt this way too, but I was suddenly so nervous, would she accept my gift, did she even need my gift? I felt totally self conscious as I drove up to her in my new car, clean clothes, and a happy dog with her head out the passenger window.... did anyone else feel.... odd?

I handed her the gift card and said "I hope this helps"... which afterwards seemed like such a dumb thing to say, as if my puny little 10$ gift card could actually help this girl....she smiled and gratefully took the card, not sure what it was and told me that I had a beautiful dog.

As I drove away I watched her in the rear view mirror look at the card and then say "Saweeet!" and tuck it in her pocket. And in that moment, I'm not sure who The Happy Day Project benefited  more... me or her. My heart felt like the Grinch's heart, two sizes too small, but then overwhelmingly full of gratitude and happiness.

This was most definitely my favorite day of The Happy Day Project.

WEDNESDAY: Treat Someone

While sitting at work on Wednesday, I kept thinking about who and how I was going to treat someone this afternoon. I don't have much time after work to bake, or take someone out to dinner etc... But then I remembered that my little brother, also my roommate was heading out to a hockey tournament in California that night. Knowing that he probably didn't think to bring any food and that he's a cash strapped college student, I did the quickest thing I could. I ran to the convenient store and picked up all his favorite goodies! No cute little bag with rafia and tissue paper or ribbon. Nothing fancy. Just the plastic bag from the store choc full of sugar, unhealthy goodness. A quick hug out the door that night and a good luck! That's all that kid needs!

Thursday: Blessing Bags

The blessing bags were a great idea. I'm really glad that Jeannett shared this with us. I went to WalMart after work on Friday (a day late...sorry) and picked up things. Anything that could fit in a gallon sized zip lock bag, and things that I thought someone might need. I still haven't found a recipient for my Blessing Bag yet, but it's in my car and ready for someone. Here's the items that I chose:

• Vaseline
• Hand Sanitizer 
• Personal Wipes
• Lotion
• Mittens
• Beanie
• First Aid Kit 
• Flashlight 
• Nail Polish (Why nail polish? A girl deserves something pretty!)
• Men's and Women's Deodorant 
• Hand Warmers
• Travel Toothbrush
• Tooth Paste
• Sanitizing Wipes
• Granola Bar 

 Friday: Appreciate Those In Service

I chose to treat my post lady to a little chocolate. We just met for the first time a few weeks ago when Kona tried to jump in her truck while she was delivering our mail. We didn't exchange names, but she seemed to not mind Kona jumping on her so she must be super nice!

I simply used another note card from Monday and taped a candy bar to it, stuck it in the mail box, and went on my way! I hope she likes chocolate!

And that, my friends, concluded The Happy Day Project! I hope you enjoyed it, and maybe consider taking some time out of your day to help someone else. It doesn't have to be a big thing, but sometimes the simplest thing, a phone call, letter, etc can make someone's day so much brighter!

HUGE Thank you to Jeannett for hosting this project!

Happy Monday! And Happy Veteran's Day!