Challenge for November - 30 Days of Giving Love

My friend Jenn posted this awesome idea that she got from a friend of hers ...

http://princesspuddingsnack.blogspot.com/2011/10/30-days-of-giving-love-challenge-for.html

I stole it from her , so please steal it from me ... make it your own and pass on the love !

( copied from http://timwheaton.com/blog/index.php/archives/2065)

30 Days of Giving Love — a challenge for
November (and beyond)

I’m creating this challenge… for myself, and hoping to
continue with it beyond just this next month of November… but I wanted to share
it and challenge you all… any of you, to take it on yourself as well. Alter it
if you want… but I would also challenge you: if you do alter it, make it more
rather than less.

Take 30 minutes out of every single day to
correspond with loved ones. Call an old friend for a half hour. Send out 30
texts; can’t take more than a minute to do, right? And for those of you who are
really busy in your day and afraid of how this might lead to more conversation
in a day than you have time for, just tell someone “I miss you”, “thanks for
being my friend… talk to you next week?” or something that doesn’t have to start
with “how are you doing this week?” if you just don’t feel you have the time for
it right then. I know what the busy-ness of life is like, and I don’t want you
other busy-bodies to put this off right off the bat just because you’re afraid
of what this task might lead to, as wrong as that may sound.

** Hand-write a letter to someone and mail it two times this month, once during the
first 15 days and once during the last 15 days. When was the last time you got
an envelope in the mail that had your name and address hand-written on it? Okay,
we all get birthday cards and stuff like that… so what about that envelope with
a letter that is hand-written inside? The letter can be as short or as long as
you like it to be… just get one in the mail to someone you choose. Get creative
if you like. Have kids? Make a little card that just says “we love you, grandma
/ grandpa” to their grandparents and put a little note in there from yourself as
well. Have a spouse or a significant other? Even if they live under your same
roof, the mail does come to your place too. Send them a letter. Why
not?

**Have a meal with a friend at least one time this month. Just you
and them. Dinner, lunch… whatever. Maybe even someone you haven’t seen in a
little while. Sit down and get to know how their month is going. How their life
has been since you last spoke. Our time with other people is what helped make us
who we’ve grown up to be. The people in our classes, in our neighborhood, in our
own homes. They shaped our decisions whether we know it or not. Even if it was
the decision to not be like some other people. It is important for us to spend
face-to-face time with other people. Not just phone to phone, text to text,
email to email. But to get to see their face when they talk and hear the
inflection in their voice. And then to shake their hand before and after or
even, hey…. give them a hug.

** Save a dollar each day for your kids.
Don’t have kids? Well you can put this into your OWN savings then. Or an account
you create for your loved ones. Don’t have any kind of account like that? Maybe
it’s time to make one. You’ll want to some day… maybe now is the time to get
that going. And hey, if you extend this past November, maybe spend less on
Christmas presents and put a little more into that account for Christmas.
Whether you tell them you did it or not, that will be a great “gift” for them
when the account matures. Whether we like it or think about it or not, life
ends. Death is a part of our lives. And caring for our loved ones is a large
part of loving them. As much as I hate money and what it means and how it can
shackle us in our lives, we do need it… and your loved ones will too… your kids
will too… so prepare for them. Look down the road. It doesn’t make you a Debbie
Downer or a Negative Nancy to think about that (where are the man names for
people like that?)… it just means you are planning for something that is
inevitable, at some point down the road.** Spend an entire day
“unplugged”. No social networking. No texting with everyone. No internetting. No
gaming. Maybe even no TV / DVR. Shocking, right? Go retro maybe once a week or
once every other week. I mean, really retro. Read a book. Read an actual
newspaper. Get out and walk around with someone or some people. Are there any
“nature spots” near you? Go to the beach, then. Go to the woods a bit down the
road. Step back a little bit from all of our devices and allow yourself to
breathe in a little bit of what’s outside. Not only can this allow you to
re-fuel a little bit, but can also open up your world to some great
possibilities for ways of interacting and spending time with people who matter
to you.

** Start something new with your family or your friends on
Thanksgiving. Something that will perpetuate more interaction with one another.
Start a monthly poker game with your buddies. Or a book club. Or a running
coffee morning on every third Friday of the month. Just instigate some kind of
pattern of being with your loved ones, and put it forth to at least one of them
on Thanksgiving Day.** Save 50 cents each day. Fifty cents. I am not
gonna get all Sally Struthers on you, but half of a dollar can mean so little to
so many of us, but can make a huge difference when it’s put together with a
large pocketful of its compatriots. That is the goal. Save two quarters each
day, put it somewhere and at the end of the month give those 15 dollars to a
charity. Any charity.** Start the chain of giving. One day in the month,
be the one to start the chain, any place you choose. Your local coffee spot.
Your Saturday morning bagel store. The pay parking garage you have to go through
every day at the office. The toll booth. Somewhere, one day, pay for the person
behind you. One time. It shouldn’t cost you more than 5 bucks. And you may never
know if they actually pass it on and it becomes an actual chain of giving or
not. If it does, that’s great and kudos to the people who kept it going. If not,
you did something kind that will affect that person behind you in at least one
way: they got something free from a stranger. But who knows what’s going on in
their life. Who knows what their day has been like. This one “random act of
kindness” could pull them out of a funk they’re in. It could even re-start
someone’s belief in human kindness in general.** Make something for your
significant other. Don’t have a significant other? Choose someone else that you
love. The point is creating something on your own for someone that you love.
Remember when we were kids, it didn’t matter how great your drawing was of
something, or if you kept all the glued on macaroni’s inside the crayon lines…
it was that you made it for your parents. That was what made it “fridge worthy”.
So whether you write a 20 line poem that starts with “roses are red” or you go
(yes, even as an adult) to a color-me-mine store and make your spouse a new
coffee mug that says “I love you today more than yesterday” on it… make
something for someone. Your level of work and time on it is all up to
you.

** Every Monday, take 10 minutes to sit and breathe. At any time of
the day. A new week is upon you, and we all love Mondays, right? So what better
day to just take 10 short minutes to allow the silence to blanket us and
regenerate us. Are you a stay-at-home-mom? After you drop your kid(s) off at
school, take your 10. have a ton of housework waiting for you right when you get
home from their school? Then pull over somewhere and take your 10 in your car.
Kids not in school yet? Take your 10 when they go down for their nap. Working
types: take your 10 during lunch. Don’t want to “waste” your precious lunch hour
on this? Then take one of your 15 minute breaks you never take and do it then.
Do it at the end of your day, before you head home. 10 minutes. It isn’t a long
time in the scheme of things, but it can be so healing for us. And how does this
fit in with “giving love” if it is spent on your own? We cannot be our best for
others, if we are not at our best with ourselves. We all need to recharge our
batteries. You’ll remember when you’re on a plane, they always tell you to put
the oxygen mask on yourself before you help someone with their’s. So take 10 to
recharge and get into another week of giving love to others.This
is your launching pad. Add some of your own ideas. Change some of mine. It’s not
going to hurt my feelings if you do… I just want you to give it a shot. Print
out a calendar or get out your iPad or iPhone’s iCal and put something down for
every day of November. 30 days of giving love. And don’t forget to take your 10
for you every Monday, too. Some of you will wave your hand at this, some of you
didn’t even get to read this far. But if 10 people do this, even for the first 2
weeks of the month, that has the possibility of at least 140 lives being
affected by one of your acts of kindness. That’s not too shabby, right? I hope
to positively affect the lives of 30 people in November. Bare minimum. Where
that number may go from there, only God knows. But that is what I intend for my
direct impact to be.

# 3 ~ Try a New Water Sport

( Photo of Rich on the Sky Ski )

This was a neat experience not only because it was new for
me, but it was something new for all 3 of us; me, mike and Gavin.
Last weekend our neighbors that we just met and became
friends with invited us out on their boat. Let me first tell you how inspiring
I think these people are for many reasons … Rich and Sandi are the parents to 9
yr. old Katarina. I don’t know Rich and Sandi’s exact age but we are guessing
in their 50’s. They are incredibly active and fit, probably more so than I am. Well
they invited us out on a nice sunny, Sunday to enjoy the day out on the Lake.
They brought along with us a variety of activities: Kneeboard, Wakeboard and a
Sky Ski. Katarina went out on the Kneeboard first and was a pro. I think she
may have been born in the water. It was quite a mission of coaxing, encouragement
and tough love to get Gavin comfortable enough on the Kneeboard to be able to
give it a worthwhile try. But, it was his first time so I was proud of him.
Once he got going, he loved it as I knew he would.
Then Rich gets out on the Sky Ski (created by Mike Murphy) .
You should look it up if you haven’t heard of it. Rich was cruising on this
thing, doing flips and all. I’m thinking, he makes it look so easy it can’t be
too hard. Boy was I wrong! And of course Mike pushes me to try it first. Neither
one of us had tried the Sky Ski before. I gave it many honest tries but after being
pulled and submerged under water so many times, I was ready to take a break. I’ll
definitely try it again and I would like to eventually be the one that makes it
look easy.
Overall, it was a great day of trying new water sports and
meeting new friends !

My Life List .. Aka - Bucket List

First of all , I'm renaming " The Bucket List " and I'm calling it my " Life List " ... I don't think that we should focus on the things we want to do before we die, because we don't know how long we have on this earth, there isn't a countdown clock for us to know how much time we are given to accomplish those things. We should take advantage of the opportunities we are given everyday and make the most of LIFE !

I have started a list several times , but I find it difficult sometimes to think of new things. I have had so many opportunities in my life that I would have never imagined to put on my list. I try new things as they present themselves and always keep an open mind. Just to name a few that have happened in the last couple years ... I went skydiving with the Canadian Army Skyhawks, I traveled with the military and lived in another country, and the most recent was being a guest on the Suze Orman Show.

I am going to start a new focus with my blog... as I think of new things to add to my Life List or as I am given new experiences and opportunities I will write about it.

I am really curious about what everyone else would put on thier list ?! Please leave me a comment here or on Facebook about what you want to add to your list and maybe we can share the experience together.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/photogdi

My Guest Appearance on the Suze Orman Show

I have had a very exciting week of life changing experiences...

A few weeks ago, I recieved an email talking about how the Suze Orman Show was looking to do an episode about military members who are "Heroes" to thier family and outsanding in thier military career but still struggle to find civilian employment. That is my story in a nutshell so I decided to write in, couldn't hurt ... Anyone that knows me well, knows that I have had a beyond difficult year full of disappointment and challenges.

I recieved a few phone calls from a producer- Geoff , asking me about my story and getting all the background information. I was excited but afraid to get too confident until I knew for sure that it was gonna happen. I didn't want to set myself up for yet another disappointment. Geoff wasn't convinced that I really wanted this and told me that I really needed to amp it up to sell my story to the producer that was going to make the decision wether or not to proceed with the segment. They scheduled to make a conference call with me so I downed several cups of coffee to give me the energetic rush of emotion that they were looking for to have on TV.

I sucessfully got through the conference call and got another call saying that they loved my story and are going to proceed with doing a segment of the show about me.

I still had my doubts that this was really happening ...then they called to schedule for the camera crew to come to my house ... who, what , me , REALLY ?!?!

So, I frantically cleaned my house and tore through my closet to find outfits to wear.

On Tuesday, Sept. 6 2 camera people and a field producer came to my house and spent all day taping me and Gavin. They taped me at my place telling my story, looking for a job, getting ready for the interview that I was going to .. they set me up with an interview for a waitress position at the Lodge right next to my condo. They taped me during the interview then taped me and Gavin when he got home from school. They taped me taking photos of Gavin and showing samples of my work. The whole thing felt so surreal, like I was going through the motions for this to happen but it was still hard to believe that they were so interested in ME !

They scheduled for me to come to the studio to do the live audience taping on stage with Suze Orman for Sun. Sept.11. For the rest of the week I was a combination of being anxious, excited, nervous and disbelief. I was really anxious to know what was going to happen.I knew that my life was going to change by doing this show and the anticipation was killing me. And my thought was that even if something extraordinary didn't come from doing this show, then it is still a story that people should hear. A lot of people don't realize that being in a reserve component of the military that we still struggle with the same civilian challenges and we have to balance all of it. Most people assume that because you are military that you are set and completely taken care of which isn't the case !

Sunday, Sept 11 ...I hardly slept and woke up early to do my hair, make-up and drive to Hollywood. I , of course stopped for Starbucks along the way to make sure I had that amped up energy they wanted for TV. I arrive at KCET studios to have my own dressing room, nothing glamorous but my name was on the door and it was my room..that's enough for me !

They touch up my hair and make-up then I wait ... and wait ... and wait.

Show biz is very similar to the military ... Hurry up and Wait !

So my time finally comes, I'm the last guest to be taped. I get up on stage with Suze Orman. She introduces me and has the audience watch the story that they taped previously at my house. It was the first time that I had seen it as well, and as soon as Gavin spoke on the video, I was overwhelmed with emotion and started crying. I thought of how hard this year has been for us and now someone is listening to our story and not just someone but ALL of the american viewers on TV ! She continues to talk about the hardship of not being able to find a job, how tough the economy is on everyone and how I just want to find a job to pay the bills while I continue to follow my dreams and passion in photography. She tells me that they are offering me the job that I interviewed for at the lodge, and I give a sigh of relief. Suze Orman continues to talk about how she is a firm believer that everyone should pursue thier passion in life and make thier dreams thier source of living but sometimes you have to do what you have to pay the bills.

****************** SPOILER ALERT ***********************************************

Suze Orman tells me that now that I have a job to pay my bills, there is someone in the audience that wants to help me follow my passion of photography.

The world famous, celebrity photographer - Jerry Avenaim is in the audience and announces that he was moved by my story and wants to offer me some opportunities to learn and work with him. He offered me a one on one workshop to be trained with him then to top it off he told me that the next time he does a celebrity photo shoot for a magazine that I will be his assistant.

I was overwhelmed with excitement ... I knew my life was going to change for the better and I can't wait to see what other opportunities this adventure brings! ** The Suze Orman show airs in January on the Oprah Winfrey Network ( OWN)

Milestones

So I turned the big 3-0 on Aug. 29! It's funny to me how much emphasis everyone puts on these big milestones in life. I tried not let it affect my mood but I would often find myself putting a lot of stress on myself about that day. I changed my mind about 10 million times about what I wanted to do to celebrate. Finally I decided to keep it low key and mellow with some close friends at my house with a BBQ on a nice sunny saturday. It didn't feel any different than any other birthday and I was just as happy as any other year.

Also, I was thinking about how people wait for specific days to make changes in their life. I found myself saying " When I turn 30 i'm gonna ... blah, blah, blah" .. Same as New Year's. We have been trained by society that we only make new resolutions and changes on New Year's Eve .. like the 1st day of January you are suddenly going to be able to change all the bad habits you have had the previous years. Why is it that people think that one specific day is going to change their life and the way do things ?!
Nothing instantly changed because I turned 30 .. Some crazy and exciting things have happened for me the last couple weeks ( I will blog about it at another time) but it had nothing to do with my age or my Birthday day !

No need to wait for a specific day or milestone to live your life and make the changes that you want to make. Basically, I need to stop being lazy and making excuses ... JUST MAKE IT HAPPEN !!!

Back in Action !

Hello Everyone ~

I haven't been blogging since .. well, pretty much since I started this Blog almost 2 yrs. ago. I have a couple friends that Blog reguraly and I admire thier posts so I often think of writing but never actually follow through. But, I have decided not to let all the craziness in my life to keep me from my goals ... instead I'm going to Blog about it like I originally planned. Hopefully, you get some entertainment out of it as well.


BTW follow my girls ... http://www.trappedinaboxblog.com/, http://princesspuddingsnack.blogspot.com/ , http://crazyinalaska.blogspot.com/



SO, right now I am at McGhee Tyson ANGB in Knoxville, Tennessee attending the NCO Academy. For you non military, it's basically a leadership course that is a requirement in order to be promoted from an E-6 to an E- 7. It's a 6 wk course and although i'm very grateful for the opportunity and experience, I am pretty anxious to get home.


Anyways, one of the good things that has come out of being here is that I have spent my spare time getting focused with my Photography career. I accomplished some goals of networking and getting my social networking sites established.





I have always been passionate about my photography but now I am determined to make my name known ! Get connected and follow my work ...





Facebook- www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=1000023486744447





Twitter - http://twitter.com/#!/ducat_photog





Model Mayhem- www.modelmayhem.com/DucatPhotography





Stay tuned ... there's good things to come !

Dear Danny , We still miss you ...

My brother , my friend ... It has been 8 years since you left us here on earth but you still live strongly in our hearts. Your passing has become a bit easier to cope with over the years but we don't miss you any less.

Every year on this day, I am torn about what to do for " The Parents" ( your mom, my dad ) to let them know that I still remember and care. In the past I have sent flowers , but at the same time I don't want to bring up bad memories. I know the pain that I have struggled with from your death and could only imagine how they feel losing a child.

Parents aren't supposed to bury their children, especially the way you left us ... It's not supposed to happen that way !!!

I have thought of starting or joining a suicide prevention cause or maybe something for people that have lost someone to suicide, in your name. I haven't yet but maybe this will be the year that i do it ...

I just wanted to write you this letter to let you and everyone know that you are still remembered and loved ... I just wish that I would have told you how much I loved you on NOVEMBER 30, 2001 and hopefully wouldn't be writing this letter today!

R.I.P. Danny ~ Love your big Sis