Category Archives: random of acts of beauty

The Color Run

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Two weekends ago, I was having one of the best mornings ever. The munchkin, three great friends, and I joined 10,000+ crazies for what really is the happiest 5k on the planet. For each kilometer, you get rained on with a different colored powder: yellow, orange, pink, blue, purple. (And, yes, the color is non-toxic.) By the end, you’re a veritable rainbow, but there’s more. Every 15 minutes for three hours the crowd of runners partying in front of the finale stage releases more color. I’ve never seen so many people be so damn happy all at once. It was priceless.

Check out more pics below and find a Color Run in your area. There’s absolutely no pressure to run. (There were toddlers and people on crutches doing the 5k!) The schedule is already out for 2013 and they’re even going to take a tour of Australia!

For more photos check out my friend Eva’s album here.

Photos: Jennifer Ortiz & Eva Rosales

{update: aidan’s birthday wish}

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The munchkin has blown me away. He’s raised over $1,000 in 2 weeks and was featured on NBC Miami. He is officially going for $5,000 in order to provide funds to build an entire well. It’s estimated that $5,000 will provide water for 250 people which is about 50 families or 1 community.

If you could share his story or just a link on your blog {maybe during your weekend links or a round-up} or even just retweet/like any of the related links, you’d be helping his cause out greatly. Almost every time someone new shares his links, he gets a donation.

I’ll be creating badges this week for those of you who are bloggers and want to place one on your sidebar.

In case you have no idea what I’m talking about you can read the first post here and see his campaign here.

{moments}

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I found this video on twitter, courtesy of Nate St. Pierre who described it as “achingly beautiful.” {Oh, how I love that term!}

Speaking of achingly beautiful, Nate runs this website that seeks to change the world with 15-minute {or less} a week assignments done by thousands of the site’s followers. Appropriately named, It Starts With Us is simply beautiful. Go, sign-up!

{btw} You can watch some more beautiful videos over at Routines.

If you are viewing this post via e-mail, click here to watch.



{random acts of beauty: pothole gardens}

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I love these little pothole gardens.

The first thing that popped in my head was “How cute!”

The second was “Why would anyone plant a garden in a pothole? It’ll just get run over.”

But, then I thought about how often we don’t do things because we’re afraid of what will happen. We’re afraid all our effort will have been lost. We think it’s a waste of our time, so we don’t create. We deny the world of something beautiful, of our efforts, because we’re afraid! When you sum it up, nothing lasts forever. We might as well say we won’t live our lives because it will end someday.

Which we won’t, because that would be silly. Now, doesn’t it seem sillier NOT to plant a garden in a pothole?

images {via} apartment therapy

{civic beauty}

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Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every city made the usual eyesores beautiful? Philadelphia unveiled these lovely recycling trucks this year on Earth Day.


And, apparently Japan has the loveliest manholes in the world. These are just a few, but from what I have seen there are hundreds of unique covers. Talk about a random bit of beauty!


More on Japanese manhole covers here.

Photos {via} Apartment Therapy and Flickr.

{oh happy day!}

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I love planning outings and parties. If you let my imagination run wild, I’ll come up with all sorts of ways to entertain. However, I must admit, this is not something that had occurred to me yet. {Now that I’ve seen it, I’ll just to do it.}

These lucky party guests were surprised with a scavenger hunt that ended with cupcakes and a color fight. Screw work, let’s go do that instead. Thinking of having a color fight, too? You can find the Holi Gulal colors online or at your local Indian store. If you’re really crafty, you can make your own natural powders from here. {Click on colors for instructions.}

Oh, almost forgot. There’s another color fight at the end of this Regina Spector video.


Photos from Oh Happy Day, originally seen on Layers of Meaning.

{random acts of beauty: train station dance}

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Wouldn’t it be fantastic if things like this happened more often?

This brought me such sheer joy that I actually had tears in my eyes. It’s random acts like these that bring the biggest smile to my face, and I’m guessing to yours, too. If this performance had been expected, it would not have had the same effect on the audience or the performers. The same applies to the beautiful and kind things we do. When we suprise someone, truly at random, it brings us greater joy, too. So, perhaps you will perform a little random act of kindness and beauty? {If you do, please e-mail me or post it!}