So cute!

Hola!

So... To be honest, I didn't think I'd be posting again before the turn of the new year. However, I left a note today and just HAD to get it up!

The next few days are sort of busy, so this should be high enough on the cute-ness scale to make-up for my assumed web absence...So colorful & happy! It went on one of those claw games at the store. (Fun fact: I used to be weirdly good at that game as a child. True story.) And I just like the message... I suppose that's most important, right? ;-)

Have a lovely last few days of 2010! Remember:

Every great dream
begins with a dreamer.
Always remember,
you have within you the strength,
the patience, and the passion
to reach for the stars
to change the world.
-Harriet Tubman

Possibly a resolution for the new year? :-) I think so.

Meagan

Merry, Merry Christmas!

First off, Wishing you & yours a very happy holiday!

I hope you had a lovely day of relaxation and good laughs with family & friends. The day turned out pretty nicely over here and now I'm just hanging out and trying to talk my body out of hating me for the choice of food intake over the last couple days! ;-)

I think Christmas EVE has become my favorite holiday. Does that count as a holiday? I LOVE it. I think it has something to do with the fact that excitement was always high on that day as a child... Now it's probably because I have the biggest infatuation with candle light services and the thought of Mary traveling and giving birth that night gives me tingles!

Anyway, I was able to get some notes up on my favorite holiday! If you've known me long enough, you wouldn't even be surprised to know that I was finishing up Christmas shopping on the TWENTY-FOURTH of December. As a disclaimer, I was done... I just needed ONE more thing. Well... while searching for my "one more thing," one more thing turned into "Gee, betchya I could get a cute Christmas outfit on sale!" (Which I did!) Anyway, that lead me to the dressing room where I left this array of Post-it notes.



And then... As if on cue... I get an email from Britt with a picture of a note she'd left, too! Great minds think alike. Hers went up at on the mirror in locker room of gym she works out at. Neat idea, huh?!

Good vibes are just zipping around this holiday season.

Well I'm off to read a book. Have yourself a Merry little Christmas & (if I don't post before...) a blessed new year!

Meagan

Productivity @ it's Finest!

Happy first blizzard of winter to youuu! (This implies that there will be more... But if there is, I will seriously consider moving out of the state. In two years.)

That's the weather in Wisconsin, anyway. Such a bummer, right? That is coming from a girl who really doesn't have any interest in snow/winter generally... So sitting through 11 inches of snow in 6 hours isn't really doing me any favors. Oh well!

On the bright side, here's my list of things to get done today:

1.) Homework - CHECK.

2.) Repaint my fingers and toes - CHECK.

3.) Make some Christmas cookies (Work in progress!)

4.) Finish a book I'm reading...

5.) And clean up a bit around the house!

Shouldn't be too hard... I'm definitely not leaving the house!

Anyhoo, this Post-it is from Thursday, but didn't have time to get it up until today. Good thing for a surplus of time!Enjoy & stay warm!

Meagan

'Tis the Season!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I have the house to myself on this lovely Sunday evening. Some teenage girls may take advantage of this by inviting all sorts of colorful characters over... However, I'm folding laundry and listening to Christmas music fill my house! Hmmm... So good.

My Post-it note for today actually went up back on Thursday. I've just been out of the house off and on this weekend... And am just now sitting down to blog it up! I found this quote a few months ago on a coffee mug at the mall... I really do like coffee, but sometimes, I just really want a ton of coffee mugs just because they always seem to have cute sayings on them. Love!

Anyway, fun fact about this note: It was up for most of the day @ school! I put it up really early in the morning... and it was still up and runnin' by lunch. Sort of cool... However, it was gone by the end of the day. Which could be cool, too!

Anyhoo, I'm going to see if I can start incorporating the Christmas spirit into some notes. 'Tis the season! Okay, and I'm just a little in the mood lately... ;-)

Have a lovely evening!

Meagan

P.S. I've been trying to change my handwriting up lately in hopes that it continues to hide my identity! I like handwritten notes SO SO much better, but it comes at a cost. ;-)

A New Mantra

Dear Reader,

I'm having a bummin' evening. As in, I'm feeling a little "off."

Maybe it's from the long, holiday weekend and looking towards the next week at school. Maybe it's because winter is really starting to set it and it's definitely not on the top of my favorite seasons list. Maybe it's because majority of the population can't seem to spell DEFINITELY right! (Okay, that's not a reason... But I thought of that after I typed it. Have you noticed that, though? If I see one more person spell it 'definately,' I might puke!)

Who knows, but I'm just feeling unmotivated. You know what else it might be? Not to go off on a tangent or anything... I would never do that... But basketball probably has it's tole in the equation. Let's analyze.

1.) It takes up a ton of time! Of course, I know this going into any sport... But when you really think about it, being a student athlete is a whole different ball game then just going through high school. Love it... But it's work!
2.) We have a male coach. Nothing against the male gender, by any means, but I really think that women tend to communicate better with... Well, women. Having a guy coach thrown into the mix just brings on a whole new set of vibes and mind-sets.
3.) I don't get along with him... Even off the court. Okay, I truly believe that everyone has some good inside of them. I do. This guy has a wife... He has kids... And I know he means well. I just always seem to leave practice/his class feeling bad about myself. I know that I'm the only one that can control those emotions... But something that used to be a lot of fun (And still a lot of work, nevertheless!) leaves me feeling like a worse person every time I leave.

So... What does this mean? The only thing I can think of is that it must be a learning experience. (Gotta love 'em!)

My new mantra is going to be "Basketball IS NOT a measure of how GOOD of a person I am." Capitalization in selected areas is very necessary.

It's weird to think about because basketball is a huge part of my life and I really do enjoy it some days. However, I have to remember that it can be huge part of my life, without defining my life. Missed a shot? I can still help a friend or pick up trash in the hall. Have to run a little extra? I can still donate to the Salvation Army. (P.S. That's my FAVORITE thing to do during the holiday season! I never miss a bucket.) And EVEN when I get so completely, positively, over-my-head fed up with my coach... I can say a little prayer—for him & myself—and then post a sticky note.

Those opposite reactions ARE what make me who I am. Oh, wait... Here's one now. ;-)This note went up at a Walmart on Black Friday. Have I mentioned I don't like Walmart? Yeees, I think I have! But I really have a knack for leaving notes at their locations... Anyhoo, this quote (It's for you, Britt!) was a "request". That sounds super weird... Like I'm a DJ or something. Anyway, I have a feeling I'll be using it again because it was cute and fun... But still has a good message when you think about it.

Anyway, thanks for listening to me rant. And if you skipped to the bottom... Don't worry, you didn't miss much. ;-)

But if you did stick through it... Maybe you can find your own "_______ IS NOT a measure of how GOOD of a person I am" in your own life. You'd be surprised just how much pressure it relieves.

Have a GOOD Monday!

Meagan

Giving Gratitude

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

I'm grateful for Post-it notes and thoughtful words, yes I am!

(This note went up at school by the water fountain. Fishing for some more Post-it seekers? You caught me!)(And this lovely note went up in a bathroom of a retaurant that my friend, Britt, and I visted this afternoon. So fun!)

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.
It turns what we have into enough, and more.
It turns denial into acceptance,
chaos to order, confusion to clarity.
It can turn a meal into a feast,
a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.
Gratitude makes sense of our past,
brings peace for today and
creates a vision for tomorrow.
-Melody Beattie

May you have a lovely holiday! And spread the thanks - It usually will cause a ripple effect of, well... Gratitude. :-)

Laundry & Pick-me-ups

Good evening my lovely Reader!

I just wanted to get a few pics up tonight - I placed them in the laundry room of my mother's apartment. Kind of a cute idea... And clearly, I took advantage of it! ;-)

Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.
- P.S. I Love You

Real generosity is doing something nice for someone who will never find out. - Frank A. Clark

Sooo lovely.

You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you. - John Wooden

I have more "perfect" days than I often realize!

That's my prophetic epiphany for the night. Sleep tight!

Meagan

O-M-G

Hello, hello!

I'm writing to you from the comfort of my living room, while my yard slowly fades into an arctic tundra. Yeees, the first snowfall of winter is here. And let me tell you, it's the most slushy, annoying kind of snow. Whoohooooo!

Here's a pic of a Post-it that I placed on Thursday:You would not BELIEVE the great things this little yellow note has reaped. First of all, a little birdie told me that they overheard students quoting the note in class—cool! And secondly, after logging onto facebook last night I had an exciting find in my newsfeed! One of my classmates (Even more surprisingly, a boy, to whom I rarely see during the day) had put the quotation on the note as his status. Ironic? Well, at first I had a little hope that he may have seen it on my note, but it's a fairly well known phrase... Still cool to think about, though.

Then, another girl commented on it and said, "Did you see this at school?!"

My heart did a cart-wheel. Yes, yes it did. SHE saw it, anyway.

This morning, the boy had commented back saying, " Yeah!!! I took it off the wall by the fountain!!" (Exactly where I put it! Mwahaha)

And finally, the girl wrote back, "I wanna know who put that there!!"

Gee... Me too. ;-) Good stuff.


Meagan

Bathroom Notes & Birthdays

Here's Tuesday's triple note ;-) The creative look made me smile.
May you have a lovely Wednesday. (Especially, my partner in crime, Britt - Happy Birthday to you!!) :-)

Meagan

Post-it Lovin'

Reader,

Do I have a treat for you! I happen to have two separate arrays of Post-it photos... Over the last few days, I've been into leaving my notes in numbers! (Get it? Like strength... In numbers... Whoohoo.) I'm thinkin' that it makes the effect that much more effect-ful. :-)

The first set is from a Target bathroom, followed by a CUTE Post-it story. It'll make your sticky-note loving heart melt...





Cute story: For future references, Target is hopping at 7 o'clock on a Saturday evening... And placing my notes was hard work! Right as I finished getting them up on the mirror, a Latino mother and teenage daughter walked in. Frantic, I awkwardly turned around and went into a stall, hoping they just assumed I was doing my business. However, they immediately turned to the mirrors. The mother was so excited and said, "Awww! Look at the cute "stickies" all over the walls!" She then must have motioned for the teenage girl to come over because the girl happened to be talking on her cell phone and then preceded to tell whoever was on the other line about their discovery. She even read each note out loud to her phone-friend! This whole time, I was standing in the bathroom stall, smiling from ear to ear and probably radiating the entire bathroom! I was so excited, I could've just cried. :-)

Anyway, that was super exciting for me. They eventually left and I got my pictures... But good times. That's why I do what I do!

This second group of notes all went up on a mirror at school today! I had some time to kill before a meeting... And what better way to do it?






Well, that's all folks! Do you think I could ever make a living out of this blog/idea? Because I would thoroughly enjoy that. ;-)

Have a lovely evening!

Meagan

P to the S - World Kindness Day is coming up! Celebrate with some extra kindness on November 13th!

"How far that little candle throws its beams! So shines a good deed in a dark world."
- William Shakespeare

Inspiration All Around

Hello lovelies!

Happy Monday to you! Hope your first day of the week (And of November, for that matter) went well.

I have a few notes to catch up on: A few from a Social Justice Conference I went to... Read on! :-)

This was the first of three notes to be left on Thursday of last week. I attended a Social Justice Conference at a local college campus with a group of kids from school. It was super neat to listen to speakers, attend workshops, and be generally informed about injustices around the world, as well as locally. Very cool.

P.S. I've been trying to think of the saying on this note ("Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end.") for FOREVER. I finally saw it somewhere publicly the other day... And was itching to get in on a Post-it!
This note also went up at the Social Justice Conference. I just couldn't contain myself! ;-)

And lastly, this lovely Post-it went up in a bus seat on the way home from our outing. It must've been conference inspiration! Side note: This Post-it quotation came from a presentation done at our school district by the name of Rachel's Challenge. If you aren't familiar, you should definitely check it out! Anyway, it's a super inspiring story about the power of kindness. And these were some of the many provoking words Rachel wrote while she was alive. Good stuff.

Okay, well off to do some homework. May you have a lovely week until my next post!

Meagan

Short & Sweeeet

Hope you had a spledid Tuesday!
This is a belated note from this weekend. I left it at a Kwik Trip gas station on the way home from a volleyball game. There was a ton of pent up excitment because, by winning that game, we had also earned the regional title... I think you can almost SEE my excitment written all over this note.

Anyway, I've felt really good about Post-it noting lately... It hasn't been stressful, yet it always pops up in my mind throughout the day. (Which is actually saying a lot, because many other important, school-related things DO NOT pop into my head quite as frequently.)

Well, this post was a bit short. I think keeping up with blogging makes it less of a chore... and a little bit more fun to read! Long posts look intimidating, huh? I'll try to stay more organized. ;-)

Meagan

& the Movement Continues...

Dear lovely Reader,

I LOVE addressing my posts to the "Reader." However, I usually feel rather silly when I do, because I'm fairly certain that there may be one or two (Including me!) who ever lay eyes on this little blog. But it's so fun to address it to the general Reader—it makes it seem more personable and a little more prestigious... Not that I should be looking for prestige with a motive such as mine, but after awhile, it's fun to imagine making a career out of such a small hobby.

Recently, we had an extra long, four-day break from school and all that good stuff. I spent most of it with a girlfriend at her Grandma's house and the rest of it between volleyball practice, work, and hanging with good people. Among many other spontaneous adventures, placing Post-its was high on the priority list!
This little note—I apologize for the yucky picture, I was in a hurry!—was one of two notes placed at the Mall of America. My friend and I spent a day there with her Grandma (Who's definitely on the list of the cutest people I've ever met!) and it so happens to be the perfect place to leave Post-its.
This is the second note placed at the lovely MOA—If I remember right, they both went in bathroom stalls. Side note: I also love forgetting/mixing up where I placed certain Post-it notes. Pictures help, but when I'm placing enough notes to where I begin to loose track of them... I know I'm doing something right!

This third note went up on a mirror in a women's bathroom. A friend and I saw a movie (Social Networking, if your wondering. It was a goodie!) and I decided to place a note on the way out. Whoot, whoot!And last, but certainly not least, Today's note...
This little bugger went up at SCHOOL. Yes, school. I haven't left a note in that building for awhile. Shall I elaborate?

1.) I'm always fighting bad mental states while I'm at school. Between rude peers, careless actions, and immature disruptions, I'm pretty sure I was over high school before I even entered the doors. I actually am quite grateful for the district in which I live, but I definitely went through a short phase where leaving encouraging notes seemed less than desirable. I was just really fed up with school life. However, looking back, I suppose that's when the Post-it Effect does its best work!
2.) It's spreading. I'm not joking! This statement makes me sooo excited I just about get choked up. To make a long story short, through a group of students identified as "leaders" within our building, a group of faculty as begun working with them/us to make kindness and respect more evident in the everyday classroom. I happen to be involved in this and as I mentioned a week or so ago in a blog-post (I AM Alive) one of my close friends had brought up the idea of posting kind notes like the ones she had found... Left behind by some "stranger." Gee, who would do that?! Anyway, from there, a group of 10-15 kids were assigned to leave ONE random note last week. ONE note = 15 Post-its floating around our building. How CRAZY is that? Yes, I shed some tears of joy... Not in front of them, of course—I still have an anonymous identity! You may be asking yourself right about now, "Why is this relevant? Wouldn't this make this crazy, teenage girl even more fired up about the movement?" Well the truth is, it should have. I think the whole situation just caught me off guard... I got nervous! I never, ever, in my wildest dreams expected anything extra to come from this. Literally—I wasn't even sure how long I would keep up with it.

The good news is, I'm back at it. The GREAT news is, so is a small group of kids from my school. They have no idea that I have any connection to this idea's origination... And frankly, I like it that way. Yeah, it's only 15 more kids... Yeah... That's only 14 more notes. But remember when it was one? One kid? One note? That is what a chain reaction is all about. That is the essence of the Post-it Effect.

Later,

Meagan

Church, Choir & that of the Sort.

Have I ever taken the time to mention to the blog-world how infatuated I happen to be with fall weather? Because I really, really am.

If only I took a bit more time to enjoy it...

Post-it notes? Yes, I'm gleaming with excitement and pride for updating within a week or so of my last post... I truly do have good intentions of posting often, however, life is so busy and I occasionally have the attention span of a housefly.

Here she is, though!

I put it up at church today. I'm trying to have a better attitude about church and "religion," in general. I easily get fed up with how political and routine it can become... But I guess you have to be the change you want to see, eh?

I also left another note after a choir concert this afternoon. I didn't leave it for anyone specifically - just on the floor on a green Post-it. It said "To know one life has breathed easier because you have lived... This is to have succeeded." by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Picked this quotation because it's literally timeless and I never get sick of it... And I had to think up something witty off the top of my head and I seem to always be able to remember Emerson's advise word for word.

Anyway, that's a brief update on the Post-it status. Lately, I've been really bad about loosing my pads of notes. I have quite a lovely collection and should probably learn to take better care of it...

Okay, - Gotta bounce. Later!

Meagan

I am ALIVE

Dear friends of the blog world,

Good thing I don't have a bajillion followers, or I'd be a pretty disappointing blog. I truly do apologize for not getting stuff up here. Yes, I know I won't be doing it everyday... But when I let weeks and weeks pass me by, that's just being lazy.

In my defense, school has been NUTS and I don't think I ever have a moment where there's not some kind of homework I could be doing. Granted, sometimes it's not necessarily graded and things that make my heart happy (Like this!) are much more important.

Anyway - getting down to the nitty gritty - this note, I left in the bathroom at my church. Last Sunday was a bit of a controversial Sunday/church meeting and tension was high! So, feeling a bit drained from all the church politics, I snuck down to the basement and placed my note. It felt so good!

It really is amazing how leaving a note can change the leaver. Especially with the long no-posting break I took, it was obvious to me how energized I felt after leaving the Post-it. I almost wish everyone would leave just one note, no matter how silly it may seem, because I think - whether they want to admit it or not - it feels good to do good.

Oh, oh! The most exciting thing happened! Britt, you're probably the only one that might actually read this and you already know... But in case there's any mystery readers out there - I was at a leadership conference sort of thing a few weeks ago and we were talking about the power of small acts of kindness. Within our discussion, a good girlfriend of mine raised her hand and made a comment about Post-its she had found over the course of last year and how awesome they had been for her. She said they made her day and she didn't know who was doing it, but that those were the acts of kindness that she holds closest to her heart. And, if you've read any other posts, this is the SAME GIRL that questioned me mulitple times last year (Who, me?; A Close Call; Addie's at it Again) about whether or not I was writing the notes. I must be a good liar! ;-)

Well, on that note, hopefully I'll be getting Post-its out more regularly now. I've missed it and believe that even through a crazy class schedule and busy life, taking two minutes to write out a note is good for me & good for someone else.

That reminds me of a quote (I want to say it was spoken by Gandhi, but I don't really remember):

If you want to make others happy,
practice compassion.
If you want to be happy,
practice compassion.

So true, huh? Well that's my Wednesday's Words of Wisdom! Have a lovely night and hopefully I'll update soon!

Meagan

Catch-up!

Happy Saturday!

So, when I wrote "Post to you soon!" at the end of my last blog post... I really didn't intend for it to be a big, fat lie! But it sort of ended up that way, with school starting and all that crazy fall stuff.

However, I'm here to deliver Brittany's lovely photographs from our mall posting day! I also tacked on another note that I left a few days after my hang with her.

First things first-- Britt's notes:
So awesome!

And this note went up a few days later while shopping with a few girlfriends. I saw an idea like this in the Operation Beautiful Book and LOVED the thought. Well, don't be surprised if blogging slows a little bit... Getting on top of my new school schedule/sports/work will probably take some getting used to. However, I will still be placing notes when the opportunity arises! Obvi.
;-)

Have a lovely afternoon!

Meagan

Inspiring Day, Inspiring Friend

Ooofda, has it been hot around here lately! Yesterday & today have been quite the scorchers. Nuts!

Okay, so part of me (The "I'm a professional blogger who has a very strict order in which I write my posts" part... Ahem.) wants to give you a nice little intro to the Post-its in this post, but I'm so darn excited I can't even do it! I'm jumping write in to all the hoorah.

So - Friend, Brittany, and I started Sunday out by volunteering at the Special Olympic games in our area. It's sort of grown into a tradition, in which we are continually blessed by all the heart-warming gratitude and joy that each athlete brings to the games we help with. It's something everyone should really do at least once in their lifetime. Anyway, we did that for the early afternoon hours... From there, we began our Post-it spree! (Literally the largest Post-it event this little lady has ever been involved in!)

AND it was Brittany's idea! She's been so awesome about encouraging with the Post-its and her excitement about placing them always seems to refuel my own. Over the course of about an hour, we placed TWELVE Post-it notes within a local mall. Say whaaat?! Yes, I said twelve. Talk about some inspiring ambition! That girl is the Post-it queen.

Anyhoo, We took pictures of most of them - Britt's will hopefully get on here within the next week or somethin' - However, there was an exception with approximately 4 notes in which we left right out the open of different clothing stores. Flash photography would have given away our identity. ;-)This was the VERY first note of the whole day. It's actually Brittany's (Before she whipped out her camera!) that she placed on the inside of a bathroom stall door. As I mentioned, it was SO SO hot/humid that day, so her note was a definite encouragement - even to this girl!

This next note was the one I put in the bathroom! Mine went on the mirror. :-)This note went inside a dressing room in the "notorious-for-really-small-girls" store - Ambercrombie & Fitch. No hatin' on the store, because I've seen cute articles of clothing originate from there... However, they're rarely in my size.
Funny story about this lovely Post-it! I intended to put it on the mirror of the dressing room (In Gap, I think...?), however, my room was right outside the counter that the employee checked in people, number of items, etc... So I got nervous that if I put it on the mirror, she would instantly see it as I walked out. Does that make any sense? Anyway, as you can tell, I had to re-think my plan and put it on the back of the door - Next to the handle... Not miss-able! The last photo I have from our day, was taken in the dressing room of a Marshall's. I hadn't been there before, so it was neat to leave a note AND be introduced to such a laid-back, nice store. I put two other notes in two other stores after Marshall's. One was on a manikin's hand and the other on the top of a clothing rack. So exhilarating!

Anyway, I'll see if I can talk Brittany into getting her pictures up on here... But what an awesome day of posting, huh? I was so beyond happy Britt brought up the idea! Between Special Olympics, Post-it noting, and hanging with some good people later that evening, Sunday was a very successful memory-making day!

Okay, I'm off to get some shut-eye. Post to you soon!

Meagan