A little bit of business.

Hey Guys -

A quick little business note here.  I just need you to read over a few points and give me some feed back! :)  Pretty please...

1.  Don't forget if you are a blogger, tomorrow is Glimmer Day Friday!  Share a random act of kindness with us and grab a button!  Details about the linky thing is here.

2.  Next Saturday!!  We are thinking about having our first "event" for anyone who is local.  (Local meaning in the Virginia Beach/ Hampton Roads area.)  It is a little last minute, I know everyone has crazy schedules, but if you don't have anything to do next Saturday Morning (April 16th) and you want to do something nice for someone as a group, contact me.

I believe we will be doing some yard work for an elderly couple in the Virginia Beach area.  The husband is in the beginning stages of alzheimer's and the wife is desperate to find help for her yard.  More information to come, but I need to get an idea if anyone else would be interested in helping.  It will be a quick project if people come to help!  And you get to meet other people in the area who are just as nice as you are!! :)  PLEASE EMAIL ME IN YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED --> theprojectglimmer@gmail.com

It should be something that would be okay to bring family/friends/kids to, but again, more details will be available next week.

3.  T-Shirts.  I will probably have t-shirts made for anyone who is interested in having a cool shirt, and helping the project!  All profits will go directly to the project.  I will have a better idea of the cost on Monday, but it will probably be $10 a shirt, and you can pick your own color.  It will have the logo on the back with the web address, and probably something small on the front.  I promise they won't look tacky.  This would be something super cool to have if you are interested in doing any events with us as a group!

4.  New Blog.  Hopefully tomorrow I will have the new blog launched.  Don't freak out, it is the same exact project, just arranged a bit more "professionally" some may say.  When it's up and running I would love your feedback!  (For any bloggers out there, I'm switching from blogger to wordpress.  It is slightly breaking my heart because I love google and the simplicity of blogger, but as big and quick as the project is growing I was advised it would be a better option in the long run.)

5.  You guys are AWESOME!  Last week I had a co-worker contact me saying he found the project glimmer online, he wanted some Glimmer Cards, and wanted to share the project with everyone... That's cool right?  That's totally not the cool part... the COOL part is that he lives in another state and found the project glimmer through one of his friends, who is not a mutual friend of me or any of my people!  Small world of goodness right?!

Keep it up guys!  Keep sharing the project and your good deeds wherever you are in the world!!

xoxo.  

My Favorite Auntie in Switzerland!

I really wanted to write a post today telling you about the Glimmer Care Package that I mailed out, BUT I also really want it to be a surprise for the person who gets it.  And I know if I post pictures of the funny things I put in the box, he or she would know it was for him or her.

So instead, I am going to write about two awesome glimmer moments of my day!  I hope you don't mind! :)

As I walked back into the post office I began to wonder if they ladies at the register would recognize me.  I tossed my "If it fits it ships" box up on the counter along with a few bills and a Netflix DVD I have had for wayyyyy too long.  When I looked up the lady behind the counter said "I just have to tell you, I kept that card you gave me but I did do something for someone!!"  :)

She told me how she went to her neighbors house and cut the grass for them.  But she said she kept the Glimmer Card and is now using it as a bookmark.  I guess to remind her of the project!  :) 

Now speaking of mail... I got the best glimmer surprise and encouragement in my mailbox yesterday.  When I opened the tiny little box up I saw this card smiling back at me. 

I first saw the words "AIR MAIL" and then recognized the hand writing and got excited because I knew it was a letter from my aunt in Switzerland.  

She is famous for making her own, simple note cards that I love.  I will bet that she took this photo somewhere, then printed it out and glued it on the card... cute idea right?  And it saves a good deal of money when it comes to buying expensive singing Hallmark Cards!  

I open the card up and a fifty dollar bill falls out.  NOT WHAT I WAS EXPECTING AT ALL.  And then I read the sweetest note.  

Dear Susan,

Thank YOU for the sunshine and glimmer that you've brought to my life.  

Please use this $ to buy some more glimmer cards.  

I'll continue to follow your project.

Much love,

A. Beth

I immediately called her up to say thanks.  It was nice because we don't get to chat on the phone too often.  So yeah, I have to send a HUGE thank you post to my favorite Auntie in Switzerland!  This money will be put to great use!  I already have a few project ideas in mind!  Thank you thank you thank you!  

From the bottom of my heart...

So I know I have posted a few things already today, but I have just one more for you.  A note from Susan.

Let me begin by telling you what a Craptastic Day I had.  Work issues up the wazoo.  Piles of things to get caught up on.  And a dreary, rainy, cold cold day outside.  (It's almost April!  Where is the sunshine and warmer weather already?!)

By the time the afternoon was wrapping up I was complaining to my mom about how I had sooooo much to do and to top things off, I had to go out and BE NICE to someone!!  (Trust me, it was the last thing I felt like doing.)

I went out with a mission to giving an umbrella away to someone.  When I left the house it was raining.  When I started driving it stopped.  WHAT THE HECK!?  How was I supposed to give an umbrella away to someone when the rain had completely stopped?  So I gave up and continued on to my grandmother's house for dinner, feeling even more defeated.  She generously made me, my sister, my mom and my cousin dinner tonight.  So I took it upon myself to clean up the dishes.  Not a huge random act of kindness, but at this point, it was all I could do for the day.  I gave her a card and explained the project.  She really seemed to care less about the little piece of paper I left, but I knew she was grateful for me doing the dishes.

Anyway, I got home just in time to crash on the couch and watch America's Next Top Model with my roommate when all of a sudden my Droid started going NUTS.  People!  Tons and tons of people began emailing me!  (Well, wait, let's be real... when I say tons and tons I really mean 7 or 8 of you!)

Several of you were asking for Glimmer Cards!  Which will be on their way tomorrow!  A couple of you had awesome words of encouragement (which could not have come at a better time!):

In response to my "craptastic" facebook status, I got a facebook post from Lauren in Virginia Beach, VA saying:  GLIMMERastic! :)

Sarah from Durham, NC emailed:  I think what you're doing is great!  I constantly have to remind myself not to loose faith in all mankind... I know there are other genuinely good people out there.  We just have to come together to get everyone else to realize the same!

Amy from I'm-not-sure-where emailed:  A friend of mine posted a link to your site onto Facebook, so I had to click and read.  I think what you’ve started is absolutely wonderful!  I’ve done good deeds here and there, but I think your idea of leaving those people with a card, so that they feel good enough to share with others, its awesome.  ....   Anywho, I just wanted to applaud you via email, and let you know I fully support you and all the good you’ve done this far!! 


And THEN... yes, it gets better!  I got this email of inspiration.


Melissa from Virginia Beach, VA said:  Hi there Susan!  I would love some cards.  So I thought you would find this tidbit awesome... I pulled up to a Starbucks drive through on Independence in VBeach.  When I pulled up to pay for my drink they told me that 45 min before someone paid for their coffee and the car behind them.  They wanted to keep it going so I paid for the car behind me instead of mine.  I don't know how much longer it lasted but it brought a smile to my face :) 


Sorry that this is getting wordy, but HOW AWESOME IS THAT?!  Without a Glimmer Card, people are still being nice!  Or what if the original person HAD a Glimmer Card.  (Really not the point at all, but the thought of it made me a little giddy!)


So anyway, Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you for all of your support and kind words.  They couldn't have come on a better evening!  To make things even better, almost all of the emails of encouragement have been from complete strangers.  So thanks, from the bottom of my heart. :)

You're Killing Me With Kindness!

You guys are WONDERFUL!  I cannot tell you how happy your support has made me today.  I feel like you are all doing such a nice thing for me by promoting and following the project (before it has even started!) - good thing I will have a pile of Glimmer Cards to hand out next week to pay it forward!

It's 8:30PM and we have already have 90 hits today.  Special thanks to two girls on the other side of the country (who I do not know!!) who have shared this project on their blogs:  Katri at Cardigans and Cookie Dough and Kailee at An Outfit A Day Keeps The Fashion Police Away.   Not only do they seem like great girls, but they have super cute blogs and super cute clothes!!  Go check 'em out!

And the Facebook Page!  Did you know that you need to have 25 "Fans" to get an official facebook web address?  Did you know that the "Share" button on these fanpages are "broken" right now?  Well, ya do and they are (from what I've been told).  And in two days 18 people have "Liked" my page!  Only 7 more to go... do you think we can get there by tomorrow?!

QUESTION FOR BLOGGERS - Next week is kick off week (hopefully, as long as the Glimmer Cards come in).  I'm kind of new to the blogging world (other than my wimpy little 2 cats & chloe. blog.) but can someone please explain the Link Up Parties or Link up Days that people have?  I was thinking about doing something like that next week for the kick off, to get other bloggers involved... kinda a Random Act of Kindness day or "Glimmer Day Tuesday" or something......  Thoughts?  How do I go about doing this?  I need your help!  Feel free to leave me a comment below or email me at theprojectglimmer@gmail.com.

Thank you again for all your support, enthusiasm, kind words, love, and the "glimmer of hope" that you have already shown.  It LOVE it that people are so willing and wanting to make a difference.   

I'm simply giddy!

Yesterday this blog had 60 views!  SIXY!  Six-Zero! 

 And the project hasn't even started yet!  My heart leaped for joy when I was scrolling through my Facebook Newsfeed and I saw a few friends reposted and shared the link, without me even talking to them about it!  I'm simply giddy over the potential of this project!  

I have received nothing but reassurance from my friends and family about The Project Glimmer.  The business cards are coming along.  (Katie has dealt with my indecisiveness and is making us some pretty sweet Glimmer Cards!)

This morning I woke up and turned the television on to Joel Osteen.  Now, I'm not a die-hard fan of his like a lot of people I know, but when I am not heading to church on a Sunday morning, he usually shares a good message that is worth tuning in for.  Well this morning the message was about seeing things through the eyes of love and not judgement.  A few things he said that stood out to me were:
-  We should be generous with our mercy and love
-  We should see things through the eyes of compassion and love, not judgement
-  We don't have the same background as everyone around us.  We can't judge a situation until we know what he or she is going through or has been through, and do to this, we have to step in their shoes.
-  It's easy to be critical and write people off but we should give them the benefit of the doubt.
-  Sometimes it only takes one person to make a difference for another.

Now, I don't want to get all preachy on you, but this sermon was right on target for me this morning!  It was another reassurance for me.  Even if I give this project a shot and a ton of people think it's silly or dumb, but it makes just one or two people smile... I will be happy with that.

So many, many thanks (again) to the few people who have already jumped on board, fanned and shared The Project Glimmer on Facebook, and clicked the follow button on the blog over in the right hand column!  Keep sharing the blog!  Maybe by just simply sharing the website with folks, and then they read what we are hoping to do/ will be doing, that will also give them a glimmer of hope as well! :)

PS.  If you are interested in watching the Joel Show I saw this morning you can check it out here.
PPS.  I am going to try to order the Glimmer Cards this week and kick off the project as soon as the cards come in! :)  Stay tuned!

Good neighbors.

I finished my meetings by 2 o'clock-ish today... on this day of 80 degree wonderfulness.  It has been a longgggg winter, and it is starting to bring me down.  So a day of sunshine was exactly what I have been looking forward to.  It's amazing how great it felt to sit on my back deck and eat lunch.

While enjoying some spectacular chicken salad and green tea my neighbor walked out of his house and we began to talk.  Now sometimes you just do not want to talk to people, and you just want to sit quietly and enjoy your lunch.  But this guy is one of the nicest people in the entire world and is ALWAYS a joy to talk to.  The topic of conversation does not matter.  Happiness and goodness simply radiate from this man.

When our conversation ended, I began to wonder why most people are not like him.  I mean heck, am I even like him?  Does happiness and joy radiate from me?!  Honest answer:  Not always.  Anyways, he is always smiling, even when his 3 year old and 2 year old are driving him up the wall.  He is always willing to lend a hand, even when it is monsooning out and my roof is leaking water into my kitchen ceiling.  He is always looking out for my roommate and me, along with the other neighbors on the street, even at 2AM shortly after a few break-ins occurred.

What does it take to be THIS NICE of a person?  I'm not saying he's perfect.  Because in my personal opinion, no one is.  Everyone has their faults, and their bad days.  But really, what does it take?  What do people think of me after a short conversation or brief encounter?  What do people think of you after a short conversation or brief encounter?  It's just something to ponder...

I am super excited to begin this project.  SUPER excited.  As I said before, the amount of work that goes into getting people on board and to get the ball rolling can be quite overwhelming!  At this point I am working on the "kick off week."  I'm thinking there will be a blitz of Glimmer Cards that will show up around Hampton Roads.  Maybe fifty or so.  That's the only way to really see what will happen from the start.  We have to kick off with more than just one card a day.  Let's see what people do when someone does something nice for them and they receive a card.  Will they actually pass it on?

(Speaking of Glimmer Cards!  I need to make a shout out to my good friend Katie at Julep Studios in Richmond, Virginia.  This girl is a "Jill of all Trades."  She does a bit of everything, including stationary designs.  She has volunteered to help me design the Glimmer Cards for free!  Once she works up a few designs, I will get the cards printed and we can let the fun begin!)

Believe it or not, when I mention this to people, their immediate reaction is to ask for the website because they have someone they want to share it with!  It is super encouraging to know that there are people who also LOVE this idea as much as I do.  Talk about a glimmer of hope!

I'm excited to make this work.  I'm excited to make people smile.  I'm excited to see the results of the project.  I'm excited to prove that despite the BAD economy, the BAD politics, the BAD earthquake in Japan, the BAD customer service, the BAD attitudes, and the BAD news... that there is still GOOD.  GOOD people, GOOD hearts, GOOD friends, GOOD neighbors.