Tag: birthday

Date Night with a Stranger

HastonHelpingHandsLeave a comment

Dear Readers,

If you have read my blog for any amount of time, you will know I am unabashedly in love with my husband. He is my Prince Charming in every sense of the word, I love him in a besotted way. I could go on and on and on… and often do!

My birthday was this past weekend and among many things we did was a movie night/date night. I got a free movie because it was my birthday (go me!) and we are on a budget so he also used a coupon for 2.00 off so because of that, we were in two different lines and he used this opportunity to pretend not to know me in the ticket line. At first, I thought, this is so cute, and was ready to give it up, but he kept flirting and pretending not to know me, so we made up names and peppered our conversation with little snippets of things only we know after being together for 7 years. The great thing about this is that we switched personas and pieces of each others story. That first brush of the hand near the popcorn was truly electric and it felt like the first time all over again. As a lifelong fan of “revisionist history” and “time space stories” such as Back to the Future, it was fun to play pretend especially because the longer we played the more I became convinced that we end up together in any timeline!

It was fantastic and I highly recommend you do it with your partner, because its very exciting to flirt with someone who already belongs to you!

New Year New Goals!

HastonHelpingHands3 Comments

Dear Readers,

I woke up today filled with inspiration and excitement to talk to you about the new year! What’s that you say? New Years was 15 days ago? Au contraire.. In Jennifer’s world (which, let’s face it.. this blog is Jennifer World) my New Year starts on My birthday which is 1/19/2015 and it got me thinking about the following things

My friends are up to some pretty wonderful things!

One friend is applying to graduate school and I am so proud of him (you know who you are!)

One friend is living in NYC and living her dream of being an actress and REALLY doing it, not just talking about it

Another friend is readying herself to buy a house!

Another friend continues to work on her budget, finances and career simultaneously with specific goals that are measurable and I am VERY Proud.

Yet another friend started a new job and it was hard and difficult to do something new but she is SO glad now.

As for me, I am planning the following things-

1. To prepare a Ted talk and apply to give said Ted Talk.

2. To exercise three times a week no matter the weather or my mood

3. To continue exploring my spirituality in whatever form that takes

4. To find ways to random acts of kindness through the year.

5. To get out of debt! creditcarddebtfree112913(this picture is when we got out of consumer debt on 11/28/2013– all we have left is the car!!!

SO here is the point– January 19th is my birthday and also my New Year. What I ask of people is to do one random act of kindness, you choose what and where and who and all I ask you to do is to tell me about it. That is my present from you, pretty simple and no shipping required.

Ready, Set, GO!

Right place, right time

HastonHelpingHandsLeave a comment

Did you ever feel upset that your plans fell through and then you do something unexpected and it works out in a way you couldn’t possibly have foreseen?

Well, that happened to me yesterday and it is all thanks to “random acts of kindness” birthday. My 36th birthday is Saturday and instead of asking for presents, I have asked friends and family to do a random act of kindness for someone else instead of giving me a present. In years past that would not have been possible, because usually on my birthday, I just see me, and what I want but recently, I have been associated with a group of people who really inspire me to think about others and in a wonderful coincidence I was given a book called, “The Kindness of Strangers” and the idea sort of grew from there. If you haven’t read the book, I recommend you do. Its a literary meringue of goodness and written by top notch authors about their occasion to be helped by a “kind and benevolent” stranger while traveling to far off destinations. Each one a little more interesting than the next, but the thing I took from it was the ability we all have to do that “kindness” for a “stranger” So, the next time you are at Starbucks, consider paying for the person behind you, or buying someone’s groceries that they had to put back. It doesn’t have to cost money, but it will cost you some thought. 

I find the examining leads to lots of thoughts about other people and what you can do to bless them emotionally, spiritually or financially. What can you do today to make a stranger have a better day? Think about it!