12 Days of Service 2016 [Giveaway Closed]

It's back!!! I know, most of you are thinking "Was 12 Days of Service ever a thing? How can it be back if it's never been done before?" Well, it was done before. Back in 2013. It was meant to be an annual thing, but that never happened. Hopefully, this year kicks off it actually working as an annual thing... but we can only hope.

What is 12 Days of Service?

What a great question! 12 Days of Service serves as our "Charity of the Month" for December. But instead of giving to a specific charity, we are giving service to the people we love and our own communities. We often hear about 12 Days of Christmas from the song, but here on this blog, we devote 12 random days in December to giving service to others.

There are dozens of ways you can participate! (Ha, do you get the joke there? Because a dozen equals twelve? It's funny, I promise.) And there's no act of service too big or too small. Whether it's volunteering at a homeless shelter or making someone's bed for them, each act of service spreads love and kindness, which is the whole purpose of 12 Days of Service.

Here are some examples of what you can do this December to participate:

-Donate to Toys For Tots
-Write an old friend a letter
-Volunteer at your local food bank
-Give your neighbors Christmas treats
-Shovel snow from someone's driveway
-Organize a bake sale to raise money for your favorite charity
-Send stuffed animals to the hospital
-Make blankets for newborns
-Offer to babysit

Honestly, anything big or small you can think of is good enough.

While I've thought out my acts of service for the past month and have twelve ready to do, if you don't end up doing twelve, that's okay too. Even if you only do one, then you're helping make the world a kinder place. It's all about spreading kindness, and as long as that's what you try to do this month, completely twelve acts of service isn't necessary.

I am planning to write up posts about each of my acts of service. Maybe have a couple videos to go along with them as well. Don't forget to follow me on Snapchat and Instagram, as I will post photos and videos as I do my service. [Snapchat: cowgirlkaylee22, Instagram: _cowgirlkaylee_] My acts of service will be spread out through the whole month, not all in a row. Feel free to do your service however and whenever you like.

For my first act of service, I want to celebrate my amazing blog readers. I wish that I could blog full-time and give you all more. I love all my readers and consider you very close friends. So, to one of my friends I am giving away a $25 Amazon gift card! There is only one requirement to win the gift card: you must promise to do at least one act of kindness/service this month. (Sure there are other ways to enter, but that's the only important one.)

In the comment section below, make your promise, then confirm you did it in the Rafflecopter widget below. It's just that simple.

The giveaway will run only till the 15th of the month so get your entries in quick. Hopefully, the winner will be able to get their gift card in time to use it to buy themselves a Christmas present (or for any other holiday or special occasion you wish to celebrate this month). Or maybe you could even use your gift card to buy a gift for someone else, that could be your act of service. Entirely up to you, though. Personally, I'd use it to buy the books I have on my wishlist on Amazon.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 So get out there and do some service this month!! Spread a little kindness and help make the world a better place. 

Web Video Wed... Thursday: First World Problems Anthem

Okay, I'm sorry I forgot to do Web Video Wednesday yesterday. I was busy with my last final. But now I'm done with the semester! Yay! I also have a cold so I've been lazy. So your getting your web video of the week on Thursday, sorry.

I started this blog to help others. I was raised by my wonderful parents to always treat others with kindness and respect. I still believe that and I believe that since I am so privileged in my life, it is my right to help those in need. That is why I started this blog and do Charity of the Month, because I alone won't make a difference, but if I can get my readers to help me, together we can help change the world and make it a better place.

The following video touched me and I wanted to share it with you. One of the things I hate most is that there are people in this world who don't have food. It honestly breaks my heart. Especially in my job where I see how much the restaurant on campus throws out every night. They throw out tons of perfectly good food and it honestly angers me because there are so many in this world that have nothing and we just throw away what we don't want.

I think that this video is incredibly important for everyone to watch because some people don't understand what's out there and all they care about are their "first world problems" without knowing or understanding just how privileged they are.

So I hope that this video inspires you as much as it inspires me. Please share it with your friends, spread the word, and donate to my Charity of the Month to help others. And if you can't donate, please participate in 12 Days of Service to help the people around you and in your community. Even the smallest acts of kindness help. Thank you!

Things I'm Good At

I got the idea for this post from a Jenna Marbles video on Youtube. I would share the video on here but part of it is inappropriate and I don't want to have that on my blog. So feel free to look it up if you want.

These past few weeks have been difficult for me with school, moving, constant stress, and depression. But things are starting to look up... slightly... I'm still insanely poor and have to pay college tuition on Wednesday... stressful!

Anyways, in an attempt to make myself feel better about myself, here are the things that I am good at. 

I'm really good at driving in the snow. This is good because I live in Northern Utah where it snows a lot. I learned yesterday that some Canadians don't know it snows in Utah. Well, it does. In fact, our license plates sometimes say "Greatest Snow on Earth", although I don't believe that's true. But it does snow a lot, usually from October to May. This year we got a late start on the snow and it's just barely starting up, but that means it'll probably last till summer. There's a saying that there are only two seasons in Utah, winter and road construction, and that's basically true. But yeah, it snows here, today it was -24 degrees when I first went outside. And it's real surprising how many people in Utah cannot drive in the snow, so I'm proud for being good at it.

I'm fairly good at writing papers quickly. Like I should be doing right now. I have my final essay due at midnight tonight and I haven't started it yet. Let me clarify, I haven't started writing the paper, but I've done tons of research and wrote out notes for my paper. It only has to be at minimum three pages so I'm fairly confident I can whip out a good essay before midnight.

I'm good at dancing. It's true. I was in the Ballet West Nutcracker three times, I danced half-time at the Poinsettia Bowl in 2010 (which I will be writing about soon because it's such a good story and my school is in the Poinsettia Bowl this year, GO USU!!!) and I just absolutely love dancing! I've done ballet, jazz, tap, and both Latin and standard ballroom. I'm currently looking for a dancing teaching job because that's one of my main goals in life, to teach dance.

I'm good at making minute rice. And Ramen, and toaster items, and other microwave items. But that's about the extend of my cooking abilities. Oh! But I am good at making cookies!!

I'm good at finding good music. At least I believe I am. Jon McLaughlin and Christina Perri are my two favorites and they are a billion times better than what's popular right now. Like Miley Cyrus? She can't sing. Or all those rappers? They can't sing at all! But Jon and Christina are not only talented singers, but also play the piano, which happens to be my favorite instrument.

I'm good at giving gifts. I absolutely LOVE buying and giving people gifts! It's one of my most favorite things in the world! It's why last year I spent over $200 on Christmas presents for my family, why I gave my husband 24 all Star Wars themed gifts for his 24th birthday, and why I love doing giveaways on this blog. But, alas, I currently have no money so I'm super disappointed this year that I can only give each person on my list one gift, and it has to cost less than $10. I'm so upset. But don't worry because...

I'm good at making cards. I love making creative cards! It's so much fun! I just love crafting really. And, according to my sister, I'm good at writing cute and meaningful notes to people inside said cards. So I will be making special cards for all my family for Christmas in an attempt to make up for lack of good gift giving.

I'm good at sleeping. This is only partially true. I occasionally struggle with falling asleep, but once I'm asleep I'm out and I can sleep forever! That's why I struggled so much with my 8:30am class this semester and why I never look good for 9:00am church. I'd much rather sleep than do anything.

I'm good at making future lesson plans for when I become a teacher. I find it so much fun to explore Pinterest and different teaching blogs and find ideas for school lessons. Not only that, I create my own and save them to an external hard drive. Even though I won't graduate for three and a half years, there's nothing wrong with being prepared, right? :)

I'm good at doing hair. It's true! I am! And I absolutely love doing it! I love playing with my hair and love testing out new styles I find on Pinterest. The only problem is I have super shaky hands so I can only do my own hair, don't ask me to do your hair because it won't turn out as good, but I'm used to it on myself.

I'm good at using Pinterest. Well duh, I mentioned it in the past two things! I'm on Pinterest ALL THE TIME and am super good at pinning things. Not as good at actually doing the things, but I'll get there someday.

I'm good at being neutral. Every year of college my roommates would end up splitting into two groups and hate each other, but none of them hated me and I somehow avoided having to pick sides. I don't even know what I did but it's a talent. I think it's because I don't really care what other's do and am very accepting of others, I'm also super good at never letting my emotions show. So I could hate someone and they would never know. That's totally a talent. But I currently don't have any friends so maybe I'm too neutral...

I'm good at helping others. I have this inner desire to love and help everyone I meet (why don't I have friends again???). I use Charity of the Month on this blog to help others, I volunteer with an elementary school twice a week, I started 12 Days of Service this month, I love doing anything I can to help others and make them happy and I only wish I could do more.

I'm good at being a janitor. Is that something to be proud of? Maybe not, but it pays the bills so I'm happy about it. I'm really good at my job and work hard to make sure I'm one of the best. I've always been a hard worker, no matter what the job and consider that an additional thing I'm good at.

I'm good at people watching. Not a talent, just something I'm good at. I'm also good at not getting caught. I hear the best conversations sometimes and no one even knows...

I'm good at eating French Fries. Put French Fries in front of me and I'll eat them all. Every last crumb, every last grain of salt. I love French Fries! They are quite possibly my favorite food and I crave them everyday.

I'm am incredibly good at talking myself out of buying something. Only with clothes though, with food, not so much. But with clothes I rarely buy new things, even though I hate all my clothes, because I can quickly talk myself out of it. It's a fantastic trait considering I have no money but I'm hoping I can control this ability once I do have money and start to work on a new wardrobe for myself.

I'm good at writing. Or at least I consider myself to be good. I make mistakes, I know that, but everyone makes mistakes occasionally. I believe that we continually learn from our mistakes and when I make a mistake writing on this blog I want for my readers to point it out so I am aware and work harder to avoid doing it again in the future. Not only am I good at writing, but I absolutely LOVE writing. So while I previously said that I was too depressed to write, I'm continually learning that I have to write to keep myself happy. I'm not going anywhere. I'll always be writing on this blog as much as I possibly can because it genuinely makes me happy.

12 Days of Service

Welcome to December! Doesn't December just feel like the most magical month? It always does for me. Instead of a specific charity for Charity of the Month my goal this month is to complete 12 random acts of service. I don't have the money to give to a charity right now, but I have an able body that is able to do things for other people.

This month I want to challenge you to complete 12 acts of service as well. We'll call it the 12 Days of Service. Please Tweet about it with #12daysofservice so we can see everything that people do to help others this month or leave a comment on this post. You can also talk about service that others have given to you!

Examples of Service:

• Clean up a neighbor's yard
• Clean your parents/kids bedroom
• Make goodies to give to neighbors
• Write someone a thank you note
• Write a letter to a friend or relative
• Make a meal for someone
• Shovel snow/rake leave/mow the lawn for your neighbors
• Offer to babysit
• Give away old clothes or toys to someone in need
• Run errands for someone unable to do it themselves
• Drive someone to their destination
• Send stuffed animals to the hospital
• Make homemade greetings cards for others in the community
• Visit a retirement home and hang out with the elderly
• Pick up garbage you find on the ground
• Write letters to soldiers
• Organize a bake sale to raise money for a cause
• Help at a soup kitchen
• Volunteer your time with others
• Help neighbors repair their homes
• Reddit Gifts Secret Santa 
• Toys for Tots

Got any other great service ideas? Leave a comment below and tell your story!