A to Z Challenge: B(e) Kind 366 - Q is for Quarters

B(e) Kind 366 has been in the making for a few years now. Every day in 2016 I am doing an act of kindness (random or otherwise), taking on monthly challenges (like blogging A-Z), and raising funds for three organizations that have impacted my life.

Last year I sorted my lengthy list of potential acts of kindness that I had been compiling for a couple of years into alphabetical lists and blogged them A-Z! Here is last year's Q list: Random Acts of Kindness beginning with "Q."

I did two things with quarters today:
1. I gave a man all of the change (which included a few quarters) from my wallet on my way to work this morning.
2. I put two quarters in my coworker's expired parking meter to buy her a little extra time!

G is for Giveaway on A-Z with B (that's me). Be sure to stop by and enter!

A to Z Challenge: B(e) Kind 366 - O is for Outside

Every day in 2016 I am performing an act of kindness (random or otherwise) and that is where B(e) Kind 366 comes from.

Last year I blogged A-Z with lists of potential acts of kindness. If you're interested, here's last year's O list: Random Acts of Kindness beginning with "O."

Today O is for Outside.

We've had some really strange weather this spring: exceptionally warm, unseasonally cool, and today finally sunshiney and warm again! Today's act of kindness was for myself and my dogs! Their favourite thing to do is go for a walk and I don't mind soaking up some sunshine myself. I always feel a sense of pride when I walk my boys; they're so well behaved and have quite the presence. The two big guys, Chewie (left) and Winston (right) walk together on a joined leash and Memphis (middle) walks alone on his own leash. Two dogs on the right of me and one on the left! I didn't take a photo today, but here's the one from our wedding invitations - on my favs!

Make sure you stop by my G is for Giveaway post and enter to win!

A to Z Challenge: B(e) Kind 366 - K is for Keepsake and Klinic

If you haven't been visiting my blog since the start of A-Z you'll have no clue what B(e) Kind 366 is. Since it's more likely than not that you haven't been with me from the start, I'll explain B(e) Kind 366 and the reasoning behind my posts. B(e) Kind 366 is a year long initiative that I created and have been planning for a few years now. Every day in 2016 I am performing an act of kindness (random or otherwise). I'm also taking on monthly challenges (like blogging A-Z) and raising funds for three organizations that are very dear to me. To visit my fundraising website click here: B(e) Kind 366.

In 2015 I blogged A-Z with lists of potential acts of kindness. If you're interested here's the K list from last year: Random Acts of Kindness beginning with "K."

So, today's act of kindness, brought to us by the letter K, is two-fold.

One act is really for myself. At least five years ago my sister bought me the perfect wallet. I loved it and I still love it. But it's fallen apart. I transferred all of my things over to a new wallet today, but I just can't stand to part with the messages that the old one was adorned with. For me and as a statement to the importance of my relationship with my sister, I took the wallet apart and I'm going to frame the material as a keepsake for myself.

I'm using "Klinic" for the second act because Klinic is the name of a community health organization that has one of the important crisis phone numbers that I put in my cell phone today as well as onto my course outline for my class this coming fall. Klinic has the only sexual assault crisis phone line in the province of Manitoba. In addition to Klinic's 24-hour sexual assault crisis line I added the province's Domestic Violence Crisis Line, Adult Crisis Line, Youth Crisis Line, City Police, and Campus Security to my cell phone and to my course outlines for this fall. When it comes time to hand out my outlines in the fall, I plan to ask my students to take out their phones and input the numbers right then and there. If having these numbers in my own phone and them having the numbers in their phones makes a difference for one person, it's definitely worth it!

And in case you're new to my blog - I have a giveaway that's super easy to enter on G post this year!

A to Z Challenge: B(e) Kind 366 - I is for Invite and Inspire

Every day in 2016 I'm performing an act of kindness (random or otherwise) as part of a project I've been planning for a few years now: B(e) Kind 366. Last year I blogged A-Z with lists of potential kind acts. Here's the I list: Random Acts of Kindness beginning with "I."

I thought today was going to be all about ice cream and although I did eat some myself I didn't use ice cream in any acts of kindness (other than to myself!).



Today I did a pretty simple act; I invited people to a fundraising event on Facebook that a friend of mine is having to help her pay for law school. She's having a Bannock Taco Sale (also known as Indian Tacos) and they are amazing so I've basically done everyone I invited a kindness for letting them know about it! Yum!



Another big part of B(e) Kind 366 is my goal to inspire others to be kind and so I leave you with my hope for this project and a list of Ways to Inspire Others. 

I also invite you to enter my giveaway over on my G post!

A to Z Challenge: B(e) Kind 366 - G is for Giveaway!

Last year I blogged A-Z with lists of acts of kindness. Here is G's list: Random Acts of Kindness beginning with "G." This year I'm doing an act of kindness (random or otherwise) every day in 2016 - that's where B(e) Kind 366 comes from - and blogging about it for the month of April.

Today, G is for Giveaway!

For the rest of the A-Z Blog Challenge and until the end of May I'm hosting a giveaway for all of you wonderful visitors! The prize is a Blind Date with a Book. The winner will receive a random book of my choosing!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If Jane Austen Blogged A-Z (and a GIVEAWAY)

I "borrowed" this idea from the extremely talented S. L. Hennessy over at Pensuasion. She is one of the incredible bloggers hosting the A-Z Challenge this year and to provide participants with some inspiration, she has written two Characters Who Blog posts that are just so great: Ingo Blogtoya and Blog-ementary, My Dear Watson. I am eyeball-deep in my Master's of Arts thesis right (I actually just typed "write" there initially) which is a detailed look at Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I think, speak, dream, and I would guess even bleed Jane Austen at this point so when I saw S. L.'s posts I couldn't help but consider how Jane Austen might blog A-Z. So, I am taking a break from thesising to write this post!

I'm only going to include first or last names of characters in Austen's six complete novels with a few added "extras" here and there. At the end, I'll leave a couple of fun questions for you to try and answer in relation to those "extras." As you read through, see how many characters you can place in their proper novels (Hint: The characters within each letter are listed in order of the publication date of the novels they appear in - but sometimes there is more than one character from each novel.)

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Original image: Holly Hayes

It will be a truth soon universally acknowledged that a reader in search of a fascinating blog need go no further than Little Bits of Ivory. After all, it's been over two hundred years since my first publication and I am more famous today than I was then! This new-fangled A-Z Challenge is rather intriguing so I cannot help but participate.

A - Anne
B - Brandon, Bingley, Bennet, Bertram
C - Cassandra, Collins, Charlotte, Crawford, Catherine
D - Dashwood, Darcy, de Bourgh
E - Elinor, Edward, Elizabeth, Elton, Edmund, Emma
F - Fitzwilliam, Ferrars, Fanny, Frederick
G - Georgiana, George
H - Henry, Harriet
I - Isabella
J - Jane
K - Kitty, Knightly
L - Longbourn, Lydia, Lucas
M - Marianne, Mary, Maria, Morland, Musgrove
N - Netherfield
O - officers
P - Pemberley, Price
Q - Quirk Books
R - Regency
S - Smith
T - Tilney
U - Udolpho, Mysteries of
V - Val McDermid
W - Willoughby, Wickham, Woodhouse, Wentworth
X - Xerxes
Y - "Yes" by McAlmont and Butler
Z - zombies, Zellweger (Renee)

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So, how did you do? Could you associate all of the characters with their novels?

Here's a little "extras" quiz:
1. Which novel has the most character names listed A-Z?
2. Which name is NOT one of Austen's character's? (Hint: The name is actually her sister's)
3. Place names are listed from only one novel. Which novel?
4. O, Q, R, U, V, X, Y, and Z have their own special significance. Any guesses?

If I get at least five participants via the comments in my little quiz by April 30th, 2015, I'll send a Jane Austen swag bag (includes: a copy of Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, Emma, and Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict - so far!) to the person who gets the most answers correct!