Weekend Confetti Vol. 7
Feb. 20, 2021
Welcome, Joy Ambassadors!
Here you will find your weekly dose of interesting and merry miscellany that you didn’t know you needed to know. Enjoy!
Happy Saturday! Did you know that today (or tomorrow, depending on where you get your info) is National Muffin Day?! YUM!
So you may be asking yourself how a person actually celebrates a Muffin holiday…other than just eating a muffin? I’m here to help!
About six years ago, Jacob Kaufman, a lawyer in San Francisco, started handing out muffins on his walk to work each week. That habit turned into a nationwide Muffin Movement where people bake muffins and distribute them to the homeless on National Muffin Day: more than 15,000 muffins distributed in 45+ cities! The Muffin Movement has also raised tens of thousands of dollars that have been donated to charity through his network of Muffinteers.
Obviously this year we can’t hand out homeade treats to strangers, but there are some other ways to celebrate with muffins.
Join the free National Muffin Day Big Baking Party virtually this Sunday, 2/21 at 4pm EST by registering here. Share the muffins you make with family and those close to you. Post pictures of your muffins and virtual baking buddies on social media with the hashtag #givemuffins to promote this great movement and raise awareness of the homeless crisis.
For a little baking inspiration, here is Jacob, the ‘Muffin Man’s’ favorite muffin recipe. And here is the one I think I want to try.
Because we can’t actually give away muffins to the homeless this year, consider making a donation of $12 (a dozen!) to a charity that supports the homeless. Homelessness affects over half a million Americans across the country. And it is expected that those numbers are only going to rise over the next few years as a result of the pandemic.
As I’m sure you have seen on the news, this week the state of Texas is experiencing emergency conditions due to the unusual weather. This has a direct and devastating impact on so many, especially on those who are homeless. What a perfect time to donate to causes that are in the throes of supporting the homeless in Houston, Dallas, Austin, & the Rio Grande Valley.
For every person who bakes muffins and donates to a cause, Jacob will donate $5 to a local charity in his area, with matching funds from his friends and local businesses. Make sure your donation & muffins are counted on the Muffin Meter!
If you want to focus your donations more nationally, the National Alliance to End Homelessness and the National Coalition for Homeless Vetrans are both worthy causes and have comprehensive websites where you can read more about how to help.
[As always, please research any charity for yourself before giving. I use Charity Navigator to help make informed choices.]
And for a totally different kind of muffin, click here.
Today is the last day of Random Acts of Kindness week…and you know what I am signed up for?? (I am soooo excited!) The Kindness Rocks Painting zoom event 2/20 @ 5pm EST put on by Seven Days!! (Registration here.)
I have always wanted to do this. And we walk our dog so much…I can’t WAIT to leave kindness rocks around my neighborhood!
If you are saying, Wait…What? Here are some examples of what we will be making. Sign up quick and join me!
Get inspired by watching Megan Murphy’s short story of how The Kindness Rocks project began.
As we wind towards the end of February, on the blog we are still talking about showing some love to your life. This week was all about how you can show some love to your money (gulp) and some lessons I learned from budgeting during the pandemic.
I also found this article that will give you some ideas about loving your life.
This is the book now added to my nightstand.
On the watchlist this weekend: this documentary and this movie.
Reading about Jacob’s muffin story and Megan’s Kindness rocks went right along with this past week’s Random Acts of Kindness theme.
There are so many people out there doing such neat things to try to make this world a better place. I’m so glad I can share them with you!
Which made me think of a post I wrote back in December about how we often try to cram all our kindness into the last two months of the year. Not because we don’t want to be kind in the spring or summer, but because we are busy and time gets away from us. We all need a reminder to stop and make time for what is really important, don’t we? I know I do.
So moving forward, as a regular part of Weekend Confetti, I am going to include a Kindness Inspiration: an idea of how you can implement kindness into your next week. Just a reminder to us both that being a kinder person requires intention!
This week’s Kindness Inspiration: I’m going to write 3 positive reveiws for local businesses that I use. My hair salon, the local pizza place we love and my amazing seamstress.
As a way to support our local businesses right now, this is perhaps an even more significant kind act than normal. What businesses in your town deserve your love?!
Take a second right now to think of a few and make time today to post a few positive words for them. I’m so sure they will appreciate it! Bonus: more joy for you.
Finally, a gentle reminder that being kind delivers it’s own special sort of joy.
Have a Joy-filled Weekend!!
