#34actsoflove Round Up

My birthday was a fantastic success! 34 Acts of Love (& more) accomplished!

 

Mike and I started out with a quick breakfast of bacon, eggs and coffee before we headed out at 9am. I taped our itinerary to the dash to keep us on track and we were off.

We headed over to Loblaws first to buy granola bars & freezies (which we didn’t end up using – I had plans to hand them out at the volleyball tournament at Mooney’s Bay) .

Act 1 & 2: I offered to help a lady put her groceries in her trunk and returned carts to the hut!

Act 3 & 4: From there we grabbed 5 gift cards from Tim Horton’s. Gift Cards for Nurses & Retirement Home Staff and we Paid for someone’s coffee in the drive through.

Act 5: I printed off some happy quotes in the morning so we could stick them on cars throughout the day.

Act 6: I held a Free Hug sign up on the Parkway. I was able to high five bikers and hug a few sweaty runners!

Act 7 – 17: So Mike told me he was going to take care of 10 acts of love. I had my mom package up some old towels and she went online to Shepherd’s of Good Hope and bought a whole bunch of supplies. Mike went to Value Village and bought 10 bags and filled them with socks, toiletries & gift certificates. We gave them all to the shelter for them to hand out to those in need. There was too many people outside for us to randomly pick 10 so we asked the staff to choose for us.

Act 18: As we drove home we pulled over to 2 parking meters so I could tape twoonies to them!

Act 19: While downtown I handed out a few carnations to women walking down the sidewalk. Look at how confused one lady looks below!

 Act 20: We had some granola bars left over that we didn’t put in the bags for the donations for Shepherd’s of Good Hope so we handed them out to some homeless men sitting on the sidewalk or approaching cars at street lights.

Act 21: Last year I discovered that I cannot donate blood since I live with MS. So Mike made an appointment for mid-day and donated on my behalf! It’s sad to think that I can’t do this but I’m so grateful for those in my life who have donated last year and this year!

Act 22: We grabbed some cans from our pantry and dropped them off at the Food Bank.

Act 23: We taped a loonie to the vending machine

Act 24 & 25: We headed over to CHEO where we dropped off get well soon cards. I also bought colouring books and crayons and asked for them to be handed out as well. There were 2 nurses in the front foyer so we gave them coffee gift cards.

Act 26 & 27: My mom baked homemade muffins for the staff at the Ottawa Humane Society. Since we couldn’t visit with dogs we went into the community cat room to give some cuddles to some feline friends. Smitty was my favourite. He wanted all the attention.

Act 28: We then dropped of Thank you cards to a local fire station

Act 29: We popped into Thimble Cafe for a snack as we were starving by 3pm. I had some gift cards left over from my days at Kobo so I asked the cashier if she was a reader. She told me her dream was to open a bookstore one day so I handed her a gift card!

Act 30: We planned on mowing our lawn and then someone else’s on our street. Everyone else seems to have perfectly manicured lawns so our act of kindness was to remove the forest growing on our lawn so we don’t get kicked out of the neighbourhood!

Act 32: We dropped off the remaining carnations at a retirement home near our house. The ladies were so appreciative. One of the staff told me that one lady was having a sad day. When I handed her a flower she immediately started beaming. I told her all about the day and what we had done and she seemed to sparkle. 

Act 33: We took the puppies for an evening walk after dinner and grabbed a plastic bag to pick up trash along the way!

Act 34: We picked up gluten free, vegan cupcakes from Thimble Cafe earlier in the day so we could drop them off to our next door neighbours who have been so lovely with us.

What was really cool was to see friends on social media help out.

My friend Alison watered a neighbors front garden.

My friends Gary & Keith moved lawns for others. But the coolest pass it forward act was a staff member form the retirement home went on that weekend to buy items for the local food cupboard.

It was a beautiful day, full of warm fuzzies and smiles. We were utterly exhausted by the end of the day but I felt full of love. I’m so blessed to be able to give back in an amazing way and selfishly have an awesome birthday in the process!