The first set of results!

Today is Monday, November 14th--which means that yesterday was my birthday, and the day I did my acts of grace! I have lots to share!

Joining me for different parts of the journey were my mom, fiance, and future sister-in-law. What a great time we had! I apologize for the lack of pictures today; my accomplices took the pictures and I have not yet gotten them. Also, it was a little bit hard to photograph everything, as I wanted to remain fairly anonymous and inconspicuous! But I'm excited to share with you what we did!

1. Returned carts to the grocery store lobby. The young man responsible for returning all of the carts was very appreciative of our help and tried to take them from us before we got inside, but we were persistent!

2. Made an impromptu donation to a breast cancer charity at the entrance to the grocery store.

3. Bought a Thanksgiving balloon and handed it to a little boy in the grocery store. His parents had these sweet looks on their faces and the little boy loved the turkey balloon!

4. Bought a gift card at the checkout line at the grocery store and proceeded to hand it to the woman behind me. Her face was priceless and I had to tell her twice that I bought it for her to help her have a nice day. As I hurried away, she and the checkout girl stared at me and each other. It was AWESOME. I will be doing that again soon.

5. Shared smiles with everyone we saw.

6. Helped someone at a crosswalk.

7. Tucked happy notes in peoples' windshield wipers that wished them a beautiful, sunny, blessed day.

8. Left coins at a vending machine.

9. Complimented strangers.

10. Opened doors at a store. This proved to be a little bit difficult, as so many stores have automatic doors!

11. Picked up trash along the sidewalk at a mini mall.

12. Hid gift cards amongst the books at Barnes & Noble. I marked them from 'anonymous' and wrote a happy little note on them. I hope someone finds them soon!

13. Bought a book for a little girl in need. This one was unplanned but was a lot of fun. Barnes & Noble has a kiosk set up for such donations and I was able to find one of my favorite childhood books to donate.

14. Took balloons to the local hospital and left them at a nurses' station to be passed out to patients who could use a pick-me-up.

15. Handed single-stem roses to the nurses and hospital workers we passed on the way in and out of the hospital. They were so appreciative. I told them that I do not like hospitals and am so grateful for all that they do, 'cause I could never do it!

16. Cheered up a friend with some of my birthday cake!

In case you're counting, that's just 16, with 11 more acts to go. Trouble was, I ran out of daylight! I did get a late start due to some family visiting and some extra birthday sleep! Also, some of the things I had planned didn't work for a weekend day. I had a really hard time accepting this yesterday. My wonderful mom and amazing fiance assured me that it would be okay, and that it would actually be a graceful act to just forgive myself!

So, today after school, I'll be finishing up! Tomorrow I will share the remaining 11 acts and share my thoughts on the whole event!