Thank you to all those who participated!

Hey everyone,
Just so you know I had a WONDERFUL birthday! I got very spoilt and had a great time with my family and friends.

Some highlights:
Supanova- this was my birthday present to myself and its Perth's version of Comicon (Pop culture convention)! But much much smaller. I met some of my favorite authors and actors from television and movies. I got signatures from 5 of them! So I am a very very lucky girl. I also learned about the book industry and how to write/edit/publish books... which is exciting and very interesting! (I will share more of this when I can get the photos off my camera!)

Visisting my dad in his nursing home - He had no idea what was in the presents he was giving me... but he did remember how to sing "Happy Birthday" to me!


Dinner with my Niece, Nephew, Sister, Brother-in-law & mum - My favorite part was the presents my Niece and nephew had made for me. My 4 year old niece had made me a plastic tube that had been beautifully decorated! It was covered with sticky tape (Cello-tape) and beads. She gave it to me & decorated it because she liked playing with it, so she thought I would too! She had also put some of her bracelets in it too, because she wanted to give me something pretty (I managed to tell her that i couldn't take her pretty bracelets away... but thanked her so much for the thought!). I did however score a necklace out of it... which is now living at my house... in the dress-up box! So she can use it next time she comes over... after convincing her to take the bracelets back... I didn't want to push making her take her necklace back :) My 8 year old nephew on the other hand made me a beautiful decoration for my scrap booking! Because he knew I would like it and would use it in my photo albums. He is such a sweetheart! It was incredibly cool too! He did an excellent job!

Going to the Movies with my mum and sister -The girls in the family don't often get to go out for a movie... but for my birthday my sister V, had her husband look after the kids, and she, mum and I went to see the movie BRAVE by Pixar! It is an excellent movie! However I wouldn't think it is really a kids movie, and can be quite scarey in parts. But it was a lot of fun - particularly because my mum is from a long line of Scottish people. And it is based on a Scottish myth. And some of the things that are said and done are very true to form! I loved it!

Dinner & Poker with extended family & friends - I had a lovely dinner with my friends, where I was embarrassed to be given a huge gift (kind of like a single persons version of pass-the-parcel). There were about 15 layers of paper to unwrap and some of them had dares on them so that I had to Sing a version of "Old MacDonald had a farm... and on that farm he had a Daena... ei, ei, oh" and then make appropriate noises. I also had to get up and do the full version of "The little bird-y dance". And all of this was in a restaurant & Bar full of people! Had a great time though! The food was lovely too.

After Dinner, a couple of friends stayed with me and we played in the free league in a tournament of Texas Hold'em Poker. With which I didn't do particularly well, and one of my friends won the tournament! He was just about as surprised as I was, because he had never played in a tournament before... so winning was an awesome surprise! :)

Sleeping in - Now many of you know that I am a particularly bad insomniac. However for the last few weeks it seems my body remembers what sleep is and how important it is... I have been able to get at least 6-8 hours of sleep a night... and on my birthday I got a whole 12 hours of sleep... which was very exciting! :) So I count that as one of my highlights! :D YAY!!!



Anyways, I also wanted to say a HUGE thank you to those of you who participated in "Daena's Birthday Madness"! I got messages through the Facebook page, and through email! So Thank you!

For my birthday, I also made the effort for "Daena's Birthday Madness" and so everyone who sent me a message on Facebook or via text I personally sent them a thank you response! After all you can never be too grateful for your friends! :)

Thank you to all those who regularly read this, I keep watching the number of people who read this blog grow! And it encourages me to keep going! :)  So thanks!

Luv Daena x

Happy Birthday to me! :)

Hey Everyone,
Today is my 27th birthday! Hooray!

But not only does it mark another year of my life starting, it marks an anniversary of sorts for this very project!

3 Years ago I started what I called Project 25 - Random Acts of kindness! What it was all about was that instead of people giving me gifts for my next birthday I wanted them to do something far cooler, I wanted them to do something meaningful in their communities & tell me about it! This was to be their present to me on my 25th birthday!

So on my 25th birthday I had people all over, those that knew me, & some that didn't doing kind deeds in their communities because I had asked them too!

I got over 30 awesome birthday presents that year! That was also when I decided that as much as I wanted people to do acts of kindness in their communities, i began asking how can you encourage & inspire people when you are not living what you want others to do?!

That was how 365days-of-kindness was born!

And I love looking back and seeing what others have done & what I have done through this amazing project that I happened to be blessed to write & share!

So what I am asking of you today is that you do a "Daena's Birthday Madness" & go into your community & do a kind deed & share it here or on the 365days-of-kindness Facebook page & give me the best presents in the world!

I hope you have a lot of fun as I have in the last few days!

Much love,
Daena-the-birthday-girl-Guest!

Ps. If there is attrocious spelling I must appologize as I am using my iPhone to write this post as opposed to my computer! There are first times for everything! :)

Over 2000 Page views... WOW!

Oh my goodness, oh my goodness. I am just so excited that we have reached 2000 page views. YAY!!! Thank You!!!! Thank You!!!! Thank YOU!!!! Now that is a milestone!

This week we have also reached over 30 people "Like"-ing the 365Days-Of-Kindness Facebook page! So this is an awesome week for celebrating! :)

I bet some of you are thinking that this is not that special... but this blog has managed to have over 1000 page views in under 6 months. And it had taken almost a year and a half to get the first thousand! I know things will grow from here... but I think it is very important to say thank you to everyone who regularly checks out this site! Its amazing! You all deserve a large pat on the back! so THANK YOU!!! I am particularly grateful to those who have been sharing this blog with their family and friends. You spread the word... and kindness grows a little more. So Thank you very much!

For those who don't know much about this blog or who reads it I want to tell you about the countries that this reaches. (Here is the handy Audience Statistics button the the Bloggers page to help me out here).

Currently the views from each country are as follows:

Australia  749

United States  481

Russia 326

United Kingdom 55

Germany 45

Brazil 31

Thailand 25

Colombia 16

France 15

Canada 11

These are the countries the ones in Green (the darker they are, the more page views).

 
 There are more countries that I have seen view the site once or twice... but for some reason they haven't been included in this list! Maybe because it just lists the highest 10 countries for page views or something!

Now I am pretty excited by this because I know that Australia would be highest... after all I live in Australia... So if it wasn't then I would be surprised! But THANK YOU all my Aussie Friends! :)

Also I have a few friends in the US of A, and I know that they are very committed supporters of this Blog! So Thank You!!!! For all of those in the US that I don't know personally that have been recommended here by one of my crazy supportive friends, welcome! And if you have managed to find this blog all on your own and have been checking it out, double welcome! Thank You one and all!!! I also owe a thank you to the serendipitous way that you found me on this vast world wide web! If it was through Google, or another search engine, thanks to them too! :)

Now I also have close friends in the UK, Germany and Canada! Thank you guys you are the besterest! (and yes I just used the word "BESTEREST"! it is an upgrade from best and best-est!:)

For people from the other countries... Russia, Brazil, Thailand, Columbia and France... I have no idea how you found me... but all i can say is Thank You! Because it is clear you keep coming back! :)

I just want to say thank you for supporting me do my kind deed everyday! Some days are harder than others... but the love, encouragement and support I get from you all, keeps me going! Thank you!

I also feel like I am writing to other people not just for myself, when I see how many people check out what I am doing every day even if I only write about it on here now and then!

Things that are coming up:
I am going to be updating more Acts of Kindness in 2012.
I will be writing up a report on the 1millionactsofkindness.com's eight week challenge (which many Aussies are about half-way through, including me!).  
There are a few "TOP SECRET" events planned for the future too... but as they are top secret I probably shouldn't be telling you that... oooopps! :S


Anyways,
A huge ginormous thank you to everyone again,
you make this all possible!

Luv Daena x

p.s. still spun out over the 2000 page views! We clearly ROCK!!!!

January Kindnesses 2012

Hey everyone,
So I just figured out that the best way to update my monthly kindnesses is to just type it all in and you can see it quick and easily (even if it wont be quite so pretty as last years! :). I know it should have been a lot more obvious to do it this way to start with... but I like a little beauty and creativity. And quite honestly who doesn't? ;)

So when I figure out a better way (or prettier way) to do this, I will!

After loosing a chunk of this year already I have been piecing the year of kindnesses back together. This is another reason I am typing it up now... because I want to remember them and share them with you... or at least as much and as many as possible. So, if you can remember something I did... or told you I did.. or you saw me do... kindness wise... please let me know. I can always add and update this.

JANUARY 2012

1st January: I bought lunch for three of my friends! At this point I wasn't even sure i was going to continue for another year... but I found that i just couldn't stop myself! :)

2nd January: I sent messages of love and support to a friend in need.

3rd January: Helped made a cake for a friends surprise birthday (Its a train for a friend who is a train mechanic/engineer/cleaner type person).

4th January: Helped make a cake for my brother-in-laws birthday (Its a little RED car!). 

5th January: I saw a little old lady at a coffee shop that i frequent. And i decided i wanted to do something for her. so when we both happened to be paying our bills, I offered to pay for hers. She refused! But both she and the cashier were surprised and touched by my offer.

6th January: Dropped off some packing supplies to some friends moving inter state.

7th January: Helped set up and run a surprise baby shower for a friend.

8th January: Picked up some dinner for me and some family and friends (Mums kindness was that she paid for it). I just acted like a pick up and delivery service so that no-one else had to leave the air conditioning! :)

9th January: Helped a stranger by putting her shopping trolley away.

10th January: Bought a friend, who was financially struggling, dinner.

11th January: Sent messages of love, support & farewell to friends moving inter-state.

12th January: Held a door open for a stranger.

13th January: Acted like a beautician and gave my dad a manicure, so the staff at his nursing home didn't have to!

14th January (BALI): Waited up for my Bali-room-mate, as he was arriving on a later flight from Australia!

15th January (BALI): Took a friend for a "tour" of the hotel so he'd know his way around! Plus, I picked up someone-elses' rubbish whilst scuba diving. We got to feed fish underwater and had little plastic bags filled with bread... I collected the plastic bags and tucked them in my wetsuit and put them in a bin when we finally got to shore! :) 

This is me on the boat after scuba diving and taking the rubbish to the shore! We were on our way to go Para-sailing! That is something else I can cross off the Bucket List!

 16th January (BALI): I gave our taxi driver a big tip (in the local currency).

17th January (BALI): Helped out with some first-aid for different friends.

18th January (BALI): Helped out a couple of friends by lending them the correct currency to purchase suitcases with. This meant that they could buy the suitcases immediately instead of having to make a special trip back to the hotel to get their currency and then back to buy the suitcases!

19th January (BALI): Put away the dishes at Burger King for everyone eating with me.

20th January (BALI): Said "Bless you" to a sneezing stranger, and bought a friend a drink.

21st January (BALI): Put extra money in the "pot" for dinner so that those that didn't have the money on them didn't have to stress about it!

22nd January (BALI): Held the door open for a stranger at a shopping center and warned them of the slippery floors (after torrential rain). 

23rd January (BALI): I helped a sick friend at the airport by finding toilets along the path to the terminal we were leaving from. So she could make her way from toilet to toilet and not throw-up somewhere along the way. She had a very bad case of Bali Belly!!

24th January: Gave friends and family gifts on my return from Bali.

25th January: Agreed to house-sit my sisters house while she and her family were away for a couple of days.

26th January: Fed my nephews fish whilst he was away on holiday.

27th January: Helped Construct a table-tennis table as a surprise for my sisters kids. The gift was from the other side of the family (my sisters parents-in-law)! I also managed to get the legs around the wrong way! It was very funny! :)

28th January: Paid for a round of drinks for my friends birthday.

29th January: Did some cleaning at my sisters house in preparation for her and her families return from their holiday.

30th January: Sent a message of love, support, celebration and encouragement to a friend having a GOOD day!

31st January: Helped a lady get some milk out of a mass display of it. There was only a small amount of the kind she wanted and it happened to be at the bottom and at the back of the milk pyramid, so i helped her get it out!

Hope you enjoyed January 2012! I had a great time in Bali, Indonesia and loved celebrating the many family and friends who had birthdays in January too! :) was a lot of fun! :)

Look forward to sharing the next month very soon! Obviously there will be some holes in my recollection but I am still piecing everything together! :)

Enjoy,
Luv Daena xx

P.s. I tagged this posts Location as Bali, Indonesia... just need to clarify that I am actually back in Perth, Australia at the moment! :) But if you want to know where Bali is... you can check it out! :D

The technology curse...

Hey everyone,
Just wanted to let you all know that I was just about to keep going and adding my Kindnesses to my album. this last year i have been recording my Kindnesses on the Calendar on my iPhone thinking that I would then be able to just post my calendar to here so you could see it as I do! But Somehow, with the terrible curse of technology (or maybe its just that I don't know how to sort stuff out ... ) but I have somehow magically lost all of the Kindnesses I had recorded on my iPhone up until the end of last month.
Thankfully I had already transferred from January to February 5th to my handwritten album (like what i had done last year). But that means I am still missing from February to the end of April! So apart from being completely devastated that I have lost it, I am also pretty sad that i can't share what I was hoping to inspire you all with again this year. I may be able to track down the kindnesses with my mums help! Or with the help of an Apple iPhone technician... but i just wanted you to know. So that if anyone knows how to find the back up of the Calendar from an iPhone they can tell me... Consider it a MAJOR kindness!
I am really happy that i have had such a supportive group to support me... and I will keep going! Just because of a little road bump doesn't mean that i will give up my mission of kindness.

Thanks again to all those who have supported me during my "missing" months! :)
Cheers,
Daena x

Relay for Life...

Hi again everyone,
I promised you photos from the weekend and here I shall deliver! However first I wanted to tell you a little about what it was that I did these last two days.

This weekend I was at the Relay for Life. The Relay for Life is a 24 hour event where people/communities/schools/corporations spend 24 hours walking/jogging/running/sprinting around a athletics stadium to raise money for cancer research! It is a very fun and exciting event. People from all walks of life come to fight together against such a horrible disease. And they dress up and dress up their tents too! Which is pretty epic! :)

This weekend I was working with one of my closest friends, Tanya, to work on the Ceremonies Committee. Our job was to make the stage, performances, presentations, speeches, dances, go smoothly for our guests and presenters, and also for the thousands of people who were there this weekend. To keep them energized and motivated to keep moving around the track! So I was the "little details" sort of person. Making sure the Guest speakers had nice chairs to sit on, drying off the slippery stage after the rain made an appearance, sorting out prizes and collecting certificates from the Cancer Council Committee Members, putting the banners up, handing out tent site banners for the winners of various categories, putting the starting ribbon out for the dignitaries to cut before the relay could start... and so on... and so on.... and so on! I think I worked for 15 hours on the Ceremonies alone. And unlike the walkers on the track... I went home to bed for a few hours before returning on day two!

One thing I also participated in, on the first day that needs mentioning, was the Candle lighting ceremony. For this I was asked to go up on stage to stand for all those people who care for loved ones with cancer and other horrific diseases. There was a little boy that stood beside me that was a cancer survivor (he nearly broke my heart... he was only 5!). And I had another lady next to me who was also a Cancer survivor. The three of us represented Past (the older lady who was a survivor), The Present (me), and the Future (the little boy). We lit candles together and stood for a message much bigger than ourselves. The ceremony was amazing. Very moving and really heartfelt. They dimmed the lights on the track and had "memorial candle gardens" around the edges of the track. Earlier in the day people had decorated paper bags in memory of those who had been loved and lost and placed them in these "gardens". They also had a huge HOPE sign in the grandstand that was individual paper bags that glowed in the night light!

After the ceremony there was a quiet lap done for reflection and memory. Where there were some beautiful longs played and a slideshow of all those who had lost their battle with cancer! It was very sad.

One thing I learned is that before the age of 80, one in two people will be diagnosed with cancer. That is terrible odds! But this gives every reason to find a cure!

I walked on the "quiet lap" for some friends of mine who have died (including one who was only 5 years old), my grand-parents, and some of my extended family. Cancer has had a huge impact in my family! And events like Relay for Life mean that money raised gives hope to the next generations of my family, and people I know and love.

Well, it wasn't all sadness, reflection and silence. We had a lot of fun too! We danced and sang along to bands/soloists/swing dancers/country singers and so many more. We met or listened to local television and radio stars who acted as MC's. All in all it was a really good event! :)

AND the event raised a grand total of $750,000!!! How cool is that????

So I bet now you want those photos.... well... here they are....

This is the ribbon cutting... you can see the Governor with the scissors and the purple ribbon the the right side of the picture!

This is the "survivors walk" the cancer survivors get to be the first to walk around the track at the start of the Relay.

More Survivors walking on the first lap!

The Horde... the rest of those walking/running for Relay for Life!

The Grandstand "Hope" Message that they had lit with candles for the evening Candle Lighting Ceremony

Me (Daena) and Tanya just about to head home after doing a heap of packing...

Tanya and I & our awesome Committee t-shirts!

A little bit of love... Tanya and I mucking around after doing the packing away before heading home!

Well that is just a tiny insight into Relay for Life... If you want to walk or support the event next year or start fundraising now for next years event, head over the the Cancer Councils website found here! That is for the Western Australian Relay for Life... but I know if you Google it... they have Relay for Life's in many other countries too! Check it out! :)

Thanks for all the support and encouragement! This last two weekends has been pretty busy but also very exciting!

Much love,
Daena

Happy StarWars Day....

Hey Guys,
For those of you who don't know me really well, you may not know that I am a bit of a geek! I love all things SciFi/Fantasy and have been known to go to conventions here in my home city. I even have photos with two of my favorite Stargate actors! :) YAY! And yes I know... its particularly nerdy!

This is Corin Nemec, Me & Christopher Judge from the Stargate SG1 Series. It was taken at the Stargate Convention in Perth 2010 http://www.thehubproductions.com/  And yes they keep having them here too!
(I took a photo of the original photo so not the best quality... but you get the idea)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And as you may already know I have a fairly extensive library where the predominance is toward SciFi/Fantasy and Paranormal Romance (yes, I like Vampire stories... don't hold it against me! lol). I have a few favorite things to watch like Stargate, Firefly, StarTrek, Dr Who, Sanctuary, Fringe, Eureka, Warehouse 13, and STARWARS!

So now you know my nerdy little secret, you may understand when I say that today is Star Wars Day. So I just have to say "MAY THE 4TH BE WITH YOU! "

I bet you are wondering what StarWars has to do about kindness...well to be honest not too much...but I thought I would share something that StarWars does have to do with kindness.

Starting with the photo of me with some Storm Troopers. 

Now you may not think very much about it but these guys (dressed up in StarWars costumes) made a very big difference to the Perth community. They Volunteered their time and also gave a donation to the Perth 2011 Telethon. The Perth Telethon raises money for the State Children's hospital, which is called Princess Margaret Hospital for Children (PMH). It also raises money for child health in general through the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research.

I volunteered to work in the Call Center last year for Telethon, where I answered calls and accepted the donations on behalf of Telethon. And I met these awesome Storm Troopers whilst I was in the call rooms! I also met heaps of other stars and celebrities and had a great time. I loved it so much I am planning to do it again! :) If you want to know more about Telethon, please check them out here.

I also wanted to tell you about a guy, dressed as a Storm Trooper, who walked across Australia to raise money for charity. He was supporting the Starlight Children's Foundation Australia. 
If you want to check it out you can see the video/audio here:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-11/outback-storm-trooper/3724580


Star Wars for me, personally, has a LOT to do with motivation.

One of my favorite Lines in the movies is said by Yoda. He says "Do or do not, there is no try!" This for me means that if I want to make a difference, I will make a difference or i wont. The "trying" part about it doesn't really work as you will either succeed or fail. You cant partially succeed or partially fail... because that is still succeeding and failing.There is no try. So for me, I WILL make a difference. Hopefully i already have! (okay, its not a very easy concept to completely understand, but just listen to Yoda... he said it very clearly! lol)



For those who have not seen the Star Wars Movies... 
SPOILER ALERT!!!!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!!




The last thing i want you to look at is the way Luke talks to his Father, who has turned to the Dark Side. Luke approaches his father with Love and Compassion, Understanding and Hope. And it is because of these positive emotions that Lukes father turns back to the Light. This reminds me of a quote i was reading this week by Martin Luther King Jr.  “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.”

That is one of the most profound lessons we will ever learn. It is Love and Kindness that make all the difference.


Anyways, I hope you enjoyed a little glance into my world. With all its nerdy goodness! :)

I hope you are all doing well and the good health and happiness fill your days!

"May the Force be with you",
Daena x