Day 8

January 8th 2010

So, late again. but here I am, better late than never! So what did I do yesterday? Pretty boring, but I did find some inspiration to make a little something for my friend.

So, December was "Pokemon profile picture" month of facebook, which got me thinking back to the days of pokemon, and inspiration struck. Thus, my nice thing for friday was making a Pokemon pillow for my friend. Check out the link to the tutorial on cutoutandkeep.net here

It came out really cool actually and, like the cape I made for Zach, got me really excited about sewing and creating. I was with my friend kristin last night picking out fabrics for a bag and I could not stop talking about how much I loved the pillow (I think she got a little sick of it :)) Anyway, I opened Kristin's mind to Jersey Shore (which was my inspiration for my Saturday) and got to spend a great evening with her making a super cute craft. So, I'll let you know what he thinks of it when I get back to school, but regardless, I'm so excited with how it turned out!

Be Nice :)

Day 7

January 7th

So this was probably the first day I really saw what I had imagined this project becoming, but it was in a rather crazy way.

So, I live in Wisconsin and today we got about 5-6 inches of snow which I had the joy of shoveling. Originally, I thought my nice act was going to be not complaining about how we don't have a snow blower, because that's my usual reaction to be forced to shovel. However, God had different plans for me. So I saw this creepy guy kind of just walking back and forth down the street and I was super confused what he was doing, but I decided when I went inside to close the garage door because I thought he might try to steal something. On my way to put the shovel away, I saw three of my little neighbor girls out in my backyard snowboarding down my hill, and I decided my nice thing would be to go play with them. So I took my ipod and phone out of my pockets and put them inside, closed the garage door and went out back to play with them and had a great time sledding and having snow fights. They also tried to teach me to snowboard but I failed. They made it look so easy.

So, at this point it's about 2pm and I haven't eaten anything all day because I decided to shovel before I ate lunch. So I told the girls that I was going to grab some lunch and would be back out later. So I walk to my back door of my garage to find it locked. I hear three little laughs behind me (If they didn't have the cutest laughs in the world, this would have annoyed me) So they continue to follow me around my entire house to find every single door locked. So, I go back over to there house to see if their dad has a spare key to our house. Of course not, my family does not prepare for these things. Instead, though, my neighbor scott just handed me his car keys and his cell phone and told me to go find my mom at work and get her keys. Keep in mind the roads were terrible at this point, but my neighbor still trusted me to handle his car safely. I've never had anyone be so nice to me and expect nothing in return.

It was this nice act that reminded me why I'm trying to do this. Because after being the recipient of his nice act, I was just in such a great mood. The more nice acts we do for each other, the more infectious these good moods could be.

So thanks Neighbors for being my Thursday and for always being my nice inspirations!

Be Nice :)

Day 6

January 6th

So, I might or might not have messed up and not entered this yesterday (clearly I did, since it's a day late :{ Anyhoo, the reason it's late is because I really wanted to get a picture up with the post but I can't seem to find the cord for my camera, so pictures will wait.

So how did I spend my Wednesday?? Why making a cape of course! I never would have thought I would be making a "Captain Zach" cape for my 20 year old friend Zach, but he requested it when he beat me (pretty bad) at pool. Now, I know I said before that requests shouldn't count as nice things. However, what separates this is the amount of effort I have put into this ridiculous cape! Where I could have just put ties on a red rectangle and called it a cape, I created an elaborate cape with appliqued letters and a diamond with a very intricate black facet design on it. I spent way more time on this then I intended, or than I think Zach thought I would.

Now, I won't get to give the cape to Zach until next week when I go back to school, but I'm pretty sure he'll like it. If not, I don't care, I love it. See, that's the good that came of this nice thing. I found a project I loved working on! I created a tutorial for the project, which I'll upload in a bit and get a link up. This project just made me remember what it is about sewing I love. I took all these scraps of fabric I've gathered and made it into something really beautiful. And it shows what the extra time and effort I put into something can create.

So thanks Zach for kicking my butt at pool and being my Wednesday!

Be Nice :)

Day 5

So, today I drove my best friend Lindsay and two of her friends to the airport as they were heading to Washington DC to visit a friend. The thing was, my mom was being a real b-word about the whole process, as she usually is when it is related to me... and driving. Which is dumb because I'm a pretty competent driver and have even driven with her to the airport before, so she knows I can do it. Anyway, after many tufts, she finally agreed to let me take the car. So, you would think my nice thing would be that I woke up early and fought with my mom in order to be able to do a favor for my best friend. However, this is not the case. I just didn't feel right using it as my nice thing because Lindsay had asked me and I, as a good friend, felt it was the least I could do for her. So, instead, I took the money Lindsay gave me for gas and refilled the tank for my mom and then I noticed that her back window was so dirty and grimy that I could barely see through it. So, in exchange for her finally swallowing her feelings and letting me take the car, I bought my mom a car wash. Now, if you've ever been to Wisconsin in January, you're probobly saying to yourself, Betsy you're an idiot, no one gets a carwash in 18 degree whether with slush on the ground. And this is mostly true because the car got dirty again the second I drove on the street. However, the windows were spotless. I also cleaned the whole inside for her and threw out old orange peels someone had left in there (so clean dad)

When I picked up my mom from work, she didn't seem to notice. I asked her if she liked seeing clearer. She was still confused so I told her I got her a carwash and she just kind of nodded and said thanks. Not quite the reaction I was going for, but then again, that isn't the point of my nice acts.

Alright, so what joy did I find in my nice act? Well, Car Washes have always been my favorite. I remember when I was little and my dad would always spring for the expensive ones because they had three color foam and it was my favorite to see the entire car covered in pink yellow and blue stripes of foam and to smell the wax. So there was my joy, looking back on a fond memory of my dad. I also showed my mom that I can take care of the car, leaving her more inclined to let me use it later.

So congrats Mom. You don't even know it but you're my Tuesday!

Be Nice ;)

Day 4

January 4th 2010

Today was a pretty sucky day. Two of my best friends went back to school already and I got in a stupid petty fight with my mom, who I intended to be my Monday. However, I was getting so frustrated with her, there was no way I was going to let her receive my nice thing. (Don't judge me. It's a long path to being a better person)

So, this morning I was up really early because I couldn't sleep and I decided to let Megan be my Monday. Megan had to go back to school this morning because she is taking a winter class. I know most of Megan's friends aren't at school and she's probobly really lonely/very bored, as I would be. Also, though, Megan had a rough winter break with some of my other friends. So, I just wanted to make sure she knew I was still here for her and thinking of her. So my nice thing for Monday was a simple facebook post to my dear friend Megan wishing her good luck on the first day of her classes and hoping she has fun sitting in the front row (it's part of her own goal to become a better student. Yeah, I know, I have great friends). I feel like Facebook will probobly be a means for a lot of my nice things throughout the year, but I'm going to try and challenge myself more.

I was having a conversation about my nice challenge with my best friend Lindsay and she was telling me how a friend of hers tried something similar and wrote letters to someone each day who had an impact on his life, so Lindsay's friend got this letter from an old friend she hadn't talked to in years. I'm still working up the courage to do this, but it definitely gave me something to think about and some inspiration for later days. So thanks lindsay for the support.

Anyway, back to Megan. Megan responded to my wall post that afternoon saying how much she appreciated my encouragement and how she was slowly adapting to sitting in the front row. Most of all though, I know that even if she didn't say it, she appreciated that I was showing that no matter what petty drama was occurring between our other friends, I was still there for her, as I have been since the 4th grade.

Good Luck with school Megs, I love you and thanks for being my Monday!

Be Nice ;)

PS Forgot to mention this yesterday. Part of my hang-out-with my sister yesterday was helping her set up a twitter. I just got a tweet saying she was falling asleep watching Jersey Shore. It made me smile knowing my crazy sister has a twitter and I can follow her.

Day 3

January 3rd, 2010

So, my nice thing for today involves my sister. I know what you're thinking. But Betsy, you say, your sister got to be your Saturday. Ah, yes, faithful reader (of which there are few of you) you are correct, but you see, the difference is that yesterday she knew she was the recipient of my nice deed. Today, however, she will never know.

Anyway, what I did for my sister was simple. I spent the evening with her. In fact, I spent a lot of today with her. You're probably saying, but Betsy, you spent an hour in the car with her yesterday. You have to understand, however, that this car ride was my sister and her friends. And my sister is not my sister around her friends, which is how you get to a place where it's considered a nice thing to spend the evening with her.

Here's the background on Maggie and I, because you have to understand it. Maggie is the youngest and has always been treated like it. Especially since my brother and I went away to school, she has been treated as an only child. So is it Maggie who is to blame for her selfishness, or my parents who had no other children to devote their attention to? Probably about equal if we're being honest. Anyway, I guess that's been the hardest thing about being home is noticing this change in her where everything is about Maggie, all the time. The saddest part is that neither side realizes they're doing it.

Anyway, we started the evening watching Desperate Housewives. At this point, I was feeling kind of tired (which is so lame because I literally got 12 hours of sleep last night) but I decided to stay up and hang out with Maggie. Well, after the show we decided to watch a movie. She wanted to watch something scary, but I saw Sunshine Cleaning was on demand, and had heard it was pretty good. As it turns out, it is actually really good and is all about the relationship between sisters. So there we were, gabbing through the movie and discussing how we would react. And I realized I got to enjoy my nice act for today.

So thanks Maggie for being my Sunday

Be Nice ;)

On a side note, I received an email reply from Joe today from my nice act on Day 1. He appreciated it and said he actually had looked at a few schools and was slowly starting the grad school process. So there. Nice act accomplished!

Day 2

January 2nd, 2010

So I decided what my nice thing for saturday would be Friday night as I was trying (unsuccessfully) to fall alseep. My sister was going to the Marquette game in downtown Milwaukee and my mom was very nervous about her driving downtown. For the rest of us, we realize that most people would not even call the Marquette campus downtown, but it's a useless argument with my mother. Anyway, I decided I would drive her down as my nice thing. This also involved me revealing my secret plan: the nice plan. See, up until this point I hadn't decided whether or not these would be unknown to the people that they were the recipient of my nice action. But of course, my sister questioned right away why I would want to drive her when for the last few days I had refused when my parents asked me too. Thus, I had to reveal to my sister that she was my Saturday. ( for some reason, I just really like the ring of this. You know, telling people they are my ____day)

Which brings me to the bulk of my Saturday. I drove her down, leaving my house at about 1:15. I then proceded to drive around for about two hours looking for a certain sewing store in a nearby suburb. (you know when you swear you know where something is, and then somehow can't find the exact street it's on. This was me) This is when I realized the good coming from my nice act. When I was in high school, I commuted an hour round trip. Driving around Brookfield for two hours, I realized how much I missed just being in the car by myself, music playing, free to just think, sometimes aloud, usually just in my head. I had two hours to think and reflect on my life and came out of it a lot more collected. I realized that while I'm away at school, I don't get that same time in my life to just sit and think like I did on my long drives.

So thanks Maggie for being my Saturday and reminding me why I love long drives to clear my head.

PS We lost the game in the last 2 seconds because of terrible refs, but we can't all be taking the nice challenge I guess

Be Nice :)

The Concept: Day 1, January 1st 2010

So, here we are ladies and gentlemen. 2010. The end of the decade, the beginning of the teens. As I rang in the new year surrounded by my best friends, I was still pondering just how to go about fulfilling what I had earlier decided on as my resolution. I want to be a better person in 2010. How exactly does one define being a better person? If I lose weight will I become a better person? Spend less money? Stop biting my nails (finally)? Read more? Fight less? Ideally, it would be a combination of all of these. But since I can usually barely accomplish any of these on their own, I've decided to approach my resolution from a different angle.

I am going to be a better person in 2010 by doing one nice thing for someone each day. I've created this blog to track what I do each day, and to see it's affect (effect? i always mix those up) on my life. Hopefully, by virtue of helping others, the aforementioned qualities will also fall into place. But I'm not holding my breath.

Anyway, before I jump into the future let me tell you a bit about myself and give you some context for this blog. My name is Betsy. I'm 19 and a sophomore in college in Wisconsin majoring in engineering. I would already consider myself a pretty nice person, but as with anyone, I have my selfish moments where I just don't have it in me to be nice, which is where the challenge will begin. Hmm... what else should you know. I like to sew, so most of my niceties will probably be related to me making something for someone. I've been told I have a very pessimistic side, so this blog is also going to help my find an optimistic thing about what I do each day. I'm also a procrastinator. Clearly, since this blog was supposed to be started three days ago.

Alright, so now to the nice betsy:

So for my first day, it was a bit difficult. I didn't have any plans to see any of my friends, and my family was all out of town. To be quite honest, I had no intentions of leaving the house all day, making it difficult to do something nice for someone. Anyway, the day before I had gone to see the Blind Side (actually pretty good. I'd recommend it) and in it, the star ends up attending Ole Miss (spoiler, sorry). Now, I've always had this theory that I should have gone to Ole Miss. Don't ask me why. I just feel like I would have loved it there. Something about being in the south, dressing up for football games, that all seems so fun to a wisconsin girl. So, here I am on winter break with nothing to do and I'm checking out the Ole Miss website when I realize, "Hey, I will eventually one day attend grad school, maybe I could go to Ole Miss!" which is how I end up on the Ole Miss grad webpage. The sad news: Ole Miss doesn't have the particular engineering program I am pursuing (biomedical). The positive (or at least odd) news: Ole Miss has a masters program in southern studies. Not a clue what this entails but it made me smile. All right, so all this rambling has a point, I swear.

So, I'm in the midst of all this grad school searching when I realize my friend Joe from school is a senior and actually looking at grad schools. Before we left for break, I had a few talks with him about grad school that mainly involved my making time tables and to-do lists which Joe didn't seem particularly interested in. Someone's avoiding graduation/the real world. Anyway, so since I haven't seen Joe since before Christmas and know with a pretty high certainty that he probably has been doing nothing to forward his grad school process, I decide to give him a little nudge. I googled a few websites and sent him a nice email (which mostly included this same long rambly story from above. But Joe knows my love of Ole Miss) with a few of these links. One for how to write a personal statement(because I learned you need this first before requesting a teacher recommendation), a timeline for grad school applications (which I'm worried might freak him out because he's kind of way behind), and a link to tips for the GRE (which he has yet to take or study for. Hence the delayed time-line).

Now, for reflections on my nice thing. First, what makes it nice? Well, it was me devoting time to something for someone else, which I think makes it a nice thing. It shows Joe that someone is supporting his academic pursuits, which also makes it a nice thing. And it's finally just a friendly reminder to keep him on track, also nice. Now, let's find the positive of this nice thing. First off, Joe might actually get something done towards Grad school (I can't make promises on this), but this nice thing also benefited me in the long run, which wasn't the intention, but a nice outcome. You see, when I first learned Joe wanted to go to grad school, I didn't even know how the application process worked. I can presently say I am much more prepared for my own grad school venture which will hopefully be much more accurate to the time table than Joe's.

So, if you've made it this far through the blog post, thank you for reading and I hope you stick around for the rest of the year. I can promise you that no other post will be as long as this, and hopefully the nice things start making an actual impact and I truly become a better person.

Be Nice:)