NICE Testimonial: Eco-friendly, emphasis on the friendly

It looks like I might not be the only one who wants to try out some gratitude sessions. Quite a few of you "liked" that post over on the Operation NICE Facebook page! Have you tried it? Did it put you in a better mood? Today I am grateful for wrinkle-free shirts and a smooth, traffic-free commute. Oh, and an excellent parking spot in the garage! :)

Today's testimonial came from Leonie, who had a great experience with a NICE business, conscious culture and fashion site Ecosalon.

Before Christmas, I entered one of their online competitions and won a beautiful large VivaTerra butterfly pillow. I was in the middle of moving house at the time so I forgot about it for a few weeks till we’d started to settle into our new home. I sent the editor an email to check they had the correct address, and she promised to send me the pillow soon.

Last week I received an email from publisher Sara Ost saying that she had attempted to post my big bulky pillow from the US to Australia however the freight was going to be nearly $250! I would have expected her to just send me an apologetic email saying she couldn’t justify the postage cost being way over the value of the pillow, and sorry but our hands are tied, etc etc, however she sent me a paypal cash certificate for the retail value of the pillow – definitely not a token gesture at $160! I have promised to buy something eco friendly in fitting with the whole bent of the site, so am considering putting the money towards installing solar panels on our roof, or buying a set of Green to Grow BPA free bottles for my baby daughter.

I just wanted to say thanks so much to Sara and her team for this generous solution to an issue that could just as easily have been shrugged off. Ecosalon is a wonderful fresh read and I enjoy their articles a lot!

Their great customer service made Leonie a lifetime reader. And not only that, she wants to tell everyone about Ecosalon, so it's a win win! You know that old saying that if you have a good experience, you'll tell one person, but if you have a bad experience you'll tell ten? Well, I think that if you have a GREAT experience, you'll tell the world! (Or at least the social media world.)

Do you have a NICE:Testimonial that you'd like to share? If so, click here to send me an email!

NICE Assignment: Hold a Gratitude Session

Happy Monday, folks! Did you have a nice weekend? I took a bunch of naps, so in my book, it was a winner!

Usually my NICE Assignments come from a personal need to make a change in my life or, in this week's case, my attitude. I admit, I've been a little negative lately. Things at work aren't totally awesome. I don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I've had this weird headache/stomachache/sore throat trifecta going on for a few weeks. And it's been a BAJILLION degrees out there! (Seriously, are you experiencing this heat wave too?!) So it's been really easy to complain about work, or health, or the weather.

But that kind of thinking gets me nowhere!

Today's Assignment: Hold a Gratitude Session

I stumbled upon this Zenhabits article about living a life of gratitude. One of the recommendations is to hold a 2-3 minute gratitude session. This will really help me focus on the positive things in my life. And maybe it'll make me rethink some of the things I've been complaining about. How can I whine about a little headache, when I am actually grateful to have excellent health! And my job might be stressful, but there are plenty of awesome things about it too!

So for this week (as a start), I'll ditch the negative attitude and hold a gratitude session every morning. I'll list in my mind all of the amazing things about my life. My silly husband. My loving family. My wonderful friends. Great trips I've taken. Fun trips in the near future. My lovely home. This delicious cup of coffee. Some awesome opportunities I may have in my future. Air conditioning. Doughnuts. Hair that behaves in humidity. Finding a great bargain this weekend. Fun upcoming art/web classes to look forward to. Delicious chicken and rice waiting for me in my crock pot. Having an iTunes library full of fantastic music. All of you guys for stopping by the read this blog. And of course, there's so much more! Seriously, now that I took the time to think about it, my life rocks! And now I'm smiling and in a way better mood!

So how has your attitude been lately? Do you need to hold a gratitude session of your own? What are a few things you're thankful for?

NICE Campaign: BSM Kitchen Dream

Hey guys! I have a favor to ask. A few of my very, very good friends are working on an important project right now. I'm hoping that you'll take 3 minutes to watch this video, and maybe pass it along. These are really good people who do some amazing work for our community in Philadelphia, and they could use a little support to make an even bigger impact.



Just as an aside, I don't typically post anything having to do with religion here on Operation NICE because I want it to feel completely inclusive. This is an exception because I see first hand the hard work that my friends put into making a difference in the lives of many. NICE doesn't even begin to describe them! And I really believe in them and this project!

Click here to learn more about (or, fingers crossed, donate to) the project. Thanks everyone!

NICE News: Student splits 40K in winnings among runners-up

My lovely friend Brooke forwarded me this news story the other day and it brought a tear to my eye. Okay, both eyes.

Here's the ten second summary, if you don't get a chance to read the article, although you should. Allan Guei entered a foul shooting contest for top academic performers at Compton High School. In addition to excelling academically, he was also a star player on the school's basketball team, so it was no surprise that he won the $40K scholarship awarded. However, Allan had already been given a full scholarship to his choice college, and even though he could have kept the $40K for himself, he decided to split it amongst the runners-up to help ease their financial burdens of attending college.

How selfless is that????

Click here to read the entire article.

Do you have NICE News that you'd like to share? If so, click here to send me an email!

NICE Video: Poetry Bombing

Happy Wednesday! I hope you guy are still out there, dropping by now and again. I'm sure my bout of irregularity (eww, in posting, I mean!) might have pushed you away. But come back! I have some neato ideas for new free downloads coming within the next few weeks (if you're interested), so you'll definitely want to stop by.

Plus I have some great reader-submitted posts to share! Like this video. Justin Z. is a poet himself and forwarded along this example of Poetry Bombing. What a super-awesome idea, right??



Sure, we've seen yarn bombing before, right? What sort of things are you passionate about that you'd like to bomb the world with?? I wish a baker would hit me with a cupcake bomb right now. :)

Do you have a NICE video that you'd like to share? If so, click here to send me an email!

NICE Testimonial: Trusting a Customer

Thanks to those of you who submitted testimonials for me to share here! I'll tell you guys now, I got some GOOD ONES. In fact, it's probably time I invest in waterproof mascara. I'm always accepting submissions, so please keep that in mind if a story pops into your head.

I was talking about NICE Testimonials with my husband yesterday. I asked, "What's the nicest thing someone's done for you?" He actually had three really fantastic stories, and I might force him to write a guest post. :) I told him one of mine. It was the story I shared in this post. And as I told it to him, I couldn't help but cry. Telling that story brings me right back to that moment and how I felt when those people offered their kindness (and their pie) to me. That's how powerful these moments are.

So if you think back to some of the nice things others have done for you and it makes you feel just as awesome, do share! :)

Here's a story I received from Karen S. of Connecticut.

This happened a couple of months ago but surely worth sharing - I was on my way to work – on E with my gas gauge. Stopped at the little gas station on the right on Albany Avenue, West Hartford. I’m not sure of the name but it is the one that has a small convenience store a few pumps and a small car wash.

Anyway – I pumped the gas – went in to pay and my debit card wouldn’t work. I didn’t have any credit cards on my and I had already pumped $20 worth of gas into my car. Totally embarrassed I didn’t know what to do. The man behind the counter pulled a $20 bill out of his pocket and put it in the register and said - don’t worry about it. I put the money in for you. Come back when you can to pay me. I see you work at Saint Joseph College from the parking tag so I know you're good for it. Embarrassed and upset, I left and went to the nearest ATM and got it to work. I returned with $20 cash in hand about 12 minutes later. The kind gentleman replied – “I told you to come back whenever – you didn’t have to rush back." I was so amazed at his kindness, I started to cry and I thanked him profusely. He grabbed my hand and said, "It happens my dear – no big deal. Have a nice day." Needless to say – this gentleman (whom I think owns the station) restored my faith in good people.

I will never forget that act of kindness.

This makes me think of an old-timey gas station in a black and white movie where the station attendant knows all the customers. Don't you wish businesses were still like that? Well, it seems like some still are!

I go to the same bagel shop every weekend, and they only accept cash. Nowadays, who carries cash! So I got stuck there one time with no way to pay. They did the same thing. "We trust you! You can pay us next time!" And I've heard them do the same with other customers as well. Is it possible that they'll lose a few dollars here and there? Maybe. But I'm definitely more likely to frequent a place that treats their customers like friends instead of dollar signs. Don't you think?

Do you have a NICE:Testimonial that you'd like to share? If so, click here to send me an email!

NICE Assignment: Send me your testimonials!

Hi everyone! How were your weekends? Mine was delightful. Spent Friday night having a delicious dinner with some excellent company. Saturday I ran some errands, took a nap, and dove into one of the fantastic books that I recently ordered from Amazon. I'm all about making a change this year. I haven't quite figured out what that change will be, but whatever it is, it'll be awesome!

And then Saturday evening I celebrated my friend Kay Marie's birthday at a place with a photo booth. Aren't photo booth's the best?? It's impossible NOT to be silly. And this is the year of SILLY MELISSA! Technically, every year is the year of silly Melissa.

Okay, let's get down to brass tacks. I have been on a bit of a posting hiatus throughout the last few months. Do you guys know how much I wish I could just blog full time so that I could answer every email and post like a bajillion times a week and start to develop Operation NICE into all the awesome things I'm envisioning? That would rock. All in due time, I suppose. But over the last few months I've been letting some things get to me, and I haven't been in the most positive place, and you know what? I think it's because I haven't been putting enough emphasis on niceness in my life. SOOOOOO, I think refocusing on Operation NICE will really help me zero in on the good things in life again! Right?!

But I kinda need your help.

Today's Assignment: Send me your testimonials!

What's my personal favorite part of this blog? Reading all of the awesome nice stories you guys send in! And in addition to making me tear up on a regular basis, it also really helps me out because it makes posting regularly so much easier.

So I want you to think about something that a person did for you that you think was amazingly nice. It could be someone you know, someone you love, a completely stranger, whoever! And what they did could be small yet meaningful or massive and life-changing! Maybe it happened last week, maybe it happened when you were ten years old. Everyone has a few of those stories because true kindness really is something we never forget.

If you have a testimonial you'd like to share, send me an email at melissa@operationnice.com, and include the following:

• story about how someone's kindness affected your life
• your name and location
• a photo of yourself or the person in the story (only if you want to!)

If you'd like to go through some of the other testimonials for inspiration, click here to read through them. Just make sure you have some Kleenex handy. :)

Also, feel free to send me a link to a product or project or news story that you think is super nice. I love passing along that kind of stuff to my readers as well!

Thanks again, everyone! This blog would be nothing without all of your contributions, and I'd like to keep posting for a long, long time. Have a fantastic week!

NICE Photo: Don't worry, be happy

Found this in the sidewalk in the Wicker Park area of Chicago. Channeling Bobby McFerrin. :)

Do you have a NICE photo that you'd like to share? If so, click here to send me an email!

NICE Testimonial: THAT'S Chicago!

Hi guys! I just got back from an amazing trip to Chicago where I attended the HOW Design Conference and also tacked on a little bit of a vacation to the end of it. It was a trip FULL of niceness!

First, let me share with you the goodies that I took with me. What do you think?? I ordered up these buttons to hand out while I was there. I still have quite a few left, so I might have to come up with excuse to give some away. :)



Okay, back to the testimonial. My travel experience out to Chicago was fantastic. I think I had mentioned this here before, but when I fly, I try to bring a little box of chocolates with me for the flight crew. I read somewhere that they aren't paid very well, and they don't get much appreciation shown to them, despite the fact that they work crazy hours, usually with a smile on their faces. So while boarding the plane, I handed the flight attendants a box of Ferrero Rochers as a thank you. They laughed and thanked me and I went to my seat.

Well, before the plane was getting ready to land, one of the flight attendants walked back to my seat and gave me a whole bottle of wine to take with me! Crazy! I couldn't believe it!

So we grabbed our bags and hopped the train to downtown. A really sweet young woman sat near us on the train and we had delightful conversation. Then, we walked out onto the street wondering, should we go left or right? Just as we were about to head right, a woman noticed that we must have looked perplexed and she asked, "Do you need help figuring out where you need to go?" When I told her what street we were looking for, she pointed us in the right direction. Left, of course. Thank goodness for her!



Then we got to the Hyatt Regency Chicago and were greeted with the nicest lady at check in. She had a huge smile and helped answer every question. I had tweeted to the hotel a bit before my stay, and as a thank you, they upgraded my room to a junior suite and even sent us complimentary popcorn and drinks! Rock on!



To be honest, the niceness of my trip continued. I met so many incredible people who were supportive and encouraging. I almost felt guilty for absorbing everyone's kindness. I suppose that means I have to dole out extra to make up for it now. :)

My conclusion is that Chicago rocks and is full of good people!



Do you have a NICE:Testimonial that you'd like to share? If so, click here to send me an email!