a guaranteed way to make a girl scout smile

Posted on February 17, 2017 by dallaswoodburn

Have you noticed? It’s Girl Scout Cookie Season!

Every time I run errands, or simply drive around town, I see them: tables set up with glittery posters and a rainbow of colorful cookie boxes, and girls in green uniforms, cheerfully and patiently selling their wares. Girls in pony-tails and braids. Girls with braces and girls with gap-toothed smiles. Girls who remind me of Céline, who fill my heart and break it at the same time.

Céline was an extremely proud Girl Scout and, apparently, a cookie-selling legend. Every year in college, we would order cookies from her to support her old troop. She kept boxes of Thin Mints in the freezer. I’ve always been partial to the Shortbread and Samoas {…or, should I say, Caramel deLites?}

These days, in many ways, my eating habits are a lot healthier than they were back in college. I eat fewer processed foods and zero frozen dinners. I cook meals from scratch frequently. Instead of fat-free rice cakes and cheap booze, I fill my grocery-store cart with fresh produce and healthy fats. And I’ve cut back drastically on sugar.

Maybe you’re like me. You want to support the Girl Scouts, but you simply don’t need a bunch of cookies in your pantry.

Or maybe you DO love buying, and eating, Girl Scout cookies, which is also great. As Robyn, one of my favorite nutritionist bloggers, puts it: a healthy diet means you eat cake AND kale. Nutrition, variety, and pleasure — these are things we should receive from what we eat. Food is not just fuel, it’s also something to enjoy.

In any case, whether you plan to buy one or one-hundred boxes of Girl Scout cookies, here is a guaranteed way to make a Girl Scout smile. This is something Céline learned from her experience as a Girl Scout, and something she would do whenever she came across a green-vested girl selling cookies. Now it is something I do in her honor — one of my favorite ways to remember her.

Step One: Ask the Girl Scout what her favorite cookie flavor is. {She will think you are asking her for advice about which kind of cookie you should try.}

Step Two: Buy a box of whatever her favorite type of cookie is.

Step Three: Hand the box to her and explain it is a gift for her to enjoy. Here’s what I say, “My friend was a Girl Scout and she told me how hard it was to be selling all these cookies without being able to eat any yourself! So these are a treat for you to have. Keep up the great work!”

Step Four: Enjoy all the warm fuzzies filling you up inside.

One Final Note: This is not only a way to make a Girl Scout smile, it is a guaranteed way to make yourself smile, too. 🙂

Happy Friday, friends!

fabulous friday #20

Posted on May 2, 2014 by dallaswoodburn

Happy TGIF! Can you believe it’s already May? I am in awe of how quickly this year is flying by. A reminder to make the most of each and every day we are blessed with!

Here are 5 things I’m loving right now:

1. The gorgeous, summer-like weather we’ve been having around here … warm and sunny, the days are long, and I can sit out on the porch with a book and a glass of iced tea reading even after dinnertime. On Wednesday Allyn and I went to a Giants game and I didn’t even need a jacket! I didn’t know San Francisco EVER got that warm, especially down by the water. It was glorious! And I love the energy and happiness in the air at this time of year, like everyone is more carefree and open to the world.

2. The latest collection of short stories, The Color Master, by one of my favorite writers {and people!} Aimee Bender, author of the previous best-selling novel The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake. Aimee was my professor at USC and she is one of the best teachers I’ve ever had. She definitely was, and continues to be, a huge influence and inspiration for my own writing. I am savoring her new book–the stories are by turns delightful, dark, funny, serious, and always surprising. I would highly recommend putting this on your summer reading list!

3. I wrote a short story that has been published in the online literary journal Superstition Review! I’m so excited and honored to have my work featured as part of this publication I have long admired. You can read it here. {Note: the story is fictional, and a little dark/sad… just be warned!}

4. These berry + cream cheese muffins I made a few days ago and have been enjoying as breakfast, snacks, and dessert … zero refined sugar, zero white flour, and absolutely delicious! I will be sharing the recipe on here next week, stay tuned!

5. This picture, shared by my dad on Facebook:

BONUS: Vote for my friends Mike & Bob Bryan, who are amazingly kind and generous Philanthropists of Giving and are in the running to win $100,000 for their charity! You can vote up to 3 times a day and it takes less than a minute! https://givkwik.com/campaigns/2014-asu

year of kindness challenge: week 17

Posted on April 29, 2013 by dallaswoodburn

Hello from California! I have moved back to my home state after finishing up my last semester of grad school, and it feels so nice to be back home in the sunshine with my family!

Last week flew by as I tried to get all my stuff packed up, my furniture sold on Craigslist, my apartment cleaned out … not to mention saying goodbye to the wonderful friends I made at Purdue! I was glad that the kindness challenge this past week was to focus on smiling at everyone you meet, because I was sad about having to say goodbye to people I love, and the extra smiles were a big boost that got me through an emotional week.

Saying goodbye to some friends at one of our favorite restaurants, an Irish pub

Saying goodbye to MFA friends Natalie and Tiffany.

My mom was so sweet and took off work the whole week to stay with me and help me get ready to move. We worked hard all day and in the evenings had a great time cooking dinner to use up the food left in my pantry, drinking wine and watching marathons of Friday Night Lights. I am a lucky daughter!

Here are some other kind acts I am grateful for that happened this past week:

my friend Terrance ~~helped carry~~ carried all by himself two heavy boxes of my stuff to ship home via UPS
my friends Shavonne and Tiffany gave me rides to the store and a professor’s goodbye party after I had sold my car and didn’t have transportation
my aunt Annie left a sweet message on my voicemail just checking in to see how I was doing
a group of students on Purdue’s campus were passing out free popcorn to boost spirits during finals week
I received a nice email from one of my students thanking me for “being a great teacher”

The Week 17 Kindness Challenge is to fight back against the litterbugs! Go on a walk at one of your favorite spots, bring along a plastic grocery bag, and pick up every piece of trash you see. Another option would be to challenge yourself to pick up at least one piece of litter every day this week. Or do both! 🙂

As always, blog about your experiences and include your links in the comments section below, or feel free to send me an email at dallaswoodburn <AT> gmail <DOT> com.

Have a wonderful week!
Dallas

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year of kindness archives:
– week 1 challenge: donate items to those in need
– week 2 challenge: leave quarters & note at laundry machine
– week 3 challenge: write & send a kind handwritten note
– week 4 challenge: give hot chocolate to someone outside in the cold
– week 5 challenge: do something kind for a neighbor
– week 6 challenge: deliver valentines to a nursing home
– week 7 challenge: donate to a food pantry
– week 8 challenge: donate toiletries to a shelter
– week 9 challenge: post a kind note in a public place
– week 10 challenge: do something kind for a child
– week 11 challenge: thank someone in a genuine & meaningful way
– week 12 challenge: deliver baked goods to a fire station
– week 13 challenge: give someone flowers
– week 14 challenge: donate books
– week 15 challenge: reach out and spend time with people
– week 16 challenge: smile at everyone you meet

year of kindness challenge: week 16

Posted on April 24, 2013 by dallaswoodburn

Happy Wednesday, everyone! Sorry I’m a little late posting this — hope your week is going fabulously. Mine has been fantastic and busy! My family and best friend Holly were in town for my thesis reading — a special night that celebrates the graduating class of the MFA program, where all the graduates get a chance to read from their thesis in front of a supportive audience of friends and family. I felt so blessed to have my family there with me — it was amazing of them all to come out to Indiana to celebrate. I loved introducing them to my friends and professors in the program!

Holly was so sweet to drive out from Nashville for my thesis reading!

Here I am with my thesis advisor, Porter.

Perhaps the most treasured part of the night for me was actually not when I read from my thesis, but right before I got up to read. Every graduate asks one person from the program to introduce them before their turn to read, and I asked my close friend Terrance, who I have worked on the literary journal with as fiction editors the past two years. Terrance is one of the funniest people I know, and I expected his introduction to be filled with jokes and friendly teasing. There were definitely some laughs, but I was surprised when his introduction was mostly serious and heartfelt. He told a story about an incident two years ago that I had nearly forgotten, when he was printing out copies of a big 15-page report for class and forgot to click on the button to collate them. He was on a time crunch and said he was close to tears as he spread the various pages out on a table and began to gather them up in the right order and staple them together.

I remember walking into the grad lab that day and seeing Terrance surrounded by papers, furiously shuffling and gathering and stapling. At that point, we were not fiction editors together and didn’t yet know each other very well. Still, I could tell he was stressed out, and of course I offered to help. I have a fond memory of us stapling and gathering and shuffling the papers of his report, talking about school and writing and teaching, and in just a few minutes the task was done and he made it in time to his class. In the ensuing months, there have been many times he helped me in similar ways — it’s just part of being friends.

But Terrance remembered that day. For me, it was a small, simple act, but to him it meant a whole lot — so much that he shared the story in my thesis introduction. It brought tears to my eyes, and it also was a powerful reminder of the profound effects of kindness. Even small, everyday acts of kindness can touch others greatly and create ripple effects of kindness that spread out further and further.

Last week’s kindness challenge was to simply spend meaningful time with someone else you otherwise might not see. I had a wonderful time with this challenge! I went for a long walk with one friend I had lost touch with, had coffee with another acquaintance, and spent an evening playing board games with two friends from my program who I will miss when we all leave soon.

Here I am with friends Tiffany and Shavonne at the thesis reading night.

The Week 16 Kindness Challenge is to smile. Smile at everyone you meet. Smile at strangers you pass in the hallway, smile at cashiers when you purchase things from a store, smile at your waiter in a restaurant. I think it is easy to forget the power of a smile to brighten the days of others. {And I’m willing to bet the world will smile back at you many times over!}

I’ll leave you with this thought from Heather Waxman, inspiring blogger at For the Love of Kale:

As always, blog about your experiences and include your links in the comments section below, or feel free to send me an email at dallaswoodburn <AT> gmail <DOT> com.

Have a wonderful week filled with smiles!
🙂 Dallas