Rock Stars!

So, I have been following Kelle Hampton's blog, Enjoying The Small Things for almost a year now. The link to her blog made its way to me via my mom, who warned me to read it when I had time to sob like a baby. I went to the site and immediately closed the page. Not knowing what the blog was about, all I saw was that the blog post was about a birth. Being a Mom to a new baby at the time, I feared the the blog was related to fetal demise and I just couldn't bring myself to read it.

After my mom and sister reassured me that the post was not about a loss, I agreed to read it. Holy crap. Not only did I sob, I was nearly inconsolable. Not only is Kelle an amazing writer, she has incredible, emotional photography to help her illustrate her words. From the first post I read, I was hooked. Chloe was still a little peanut at the time and I would lay in bed with her at night while she nursed, with my netbook propped up on pillows. And I read. And read. And read. Every night I read until I had read the entire blog, from beginning to end. You can read about Nella's Birth Story by clicking here .

I have fallen in love with this family over the past year. Kelle's creativity helps me foster my own, and her girls are just precious! Nella turns one a a couple of weeks and there is a fundraiser in her honor. If you are touched by this family like I was (and still am), please consider making a donation. You can read about donating by going to today's post on the blog, or just click this link. For a mere $5 donation, you can help Nella's Rockstars make a huge impact on children just like this sweet little punkin'! I know I don't have a large readership, and that's on purpose, I am a pretty private person, but if anyone out there is indeed reading, please consider making today a charitable one!
S

Schwety Starbucks.

So, I failed miserably at my whole "32 Random Acts of Katy (Kindness)" this year. My first goal was to complete all 32 acts in May. Didn't happen. I extended my deadline to the end of the year. Didn't happen.

I would normally say "I suck," and obsess over my failure, but I have to remember that I still did more nice things for strangers than I would normally do so I guess it was a mediocre success? What I didn't expect to discover is that I'm still painfully shy.

My mom and my sister are laughing right now because I doubt either one of them would describe me that way. Let me rephrase: I am painfully shy when I am not in my own element.

I tended to commit random acts that were "faceless." Buying a drink in the Starbucks drive thru is easy because you have driven off before the person knows what you did. Collecting grocery carts is easy because the grocery store employee is probably never even going to realize you did it. The acts I committed that required direct conversation or interaction with others made me extremely uncomfortable and schwety.

I definitely learned something from this. Before trying this, I *might* have described myself as outgoing. Now? Definitely an introvert. Definitely.