F is For "For My Forty-Third Birthday" and "Fairfield Public Library"

F is for "For My Forty-Third Birthday" and "Fairfield Public Library"

 I had a VERY hard time deciding which topic to use for "F"!!!  I had planned on completing this post several days ago, but no topic seemed "just right".  I had considered exploring "figuring out that I'm old", and listing all of the things that seem to be occurring lately to remind me that I'm no longer 27 (and there have been LOTS of those lately-way too much material, unfortunately;-).   I had also considered doing "favorite books this year" that I've enjoyed, which overlapped with "Francophile" in the form of several Paris-based memoirs.  Still, none of them felt exactly right.

And then, I stumbled upon Robyn Bomar:

Isn't she adorable??? At least I think she is- I've never met her. Robyn is an event planner (well, "event designer" according to her blog :-) from Florida. In 2010, in honor of her 38th birthday, she decided to try something new.  On her birthday, she completed one "random" (in quotes because some weren't really random, but were definitely acts of kindness!) act of kindness (RAOK) for each year of her life, so 38 RAOK on her birthday! How awesome is that?!?!?!?

Robyn and her kids fed change to strangers' parking meters, prepaid tolls for folks on the highway, delivered doughnuts to the police station, distributed gift cards all over the place, and had a fantastic, truly fulfilling day!  You can read about her 38th birthday by clicking here.  

Robyn's experience was so successful, and was so inspiring to her, that she decided to create something called The Birthday Project: Changing the World One Birthday at a Time to inspire others to celebrate life by performing random acts of kindness on their birthdays.  You can view her "Birthday Project" blog by clicking here.  Her blog is CHOCK FULL of RAOK ideas for adults and kids.  I LOVE IT!  One of my favorites of her recent posts details a 13th birthday sleepover party where the girls worked together to complete 13 RAOK before the party ended.  How cool is that?!?!?!??!

I've long been an advocate of encouraging children to support local charities in honor of their birthdays (if you'd like to read more about children's birthdays to benefit charities, check out my "C" post in my April archive).  I also enjoy participating in lots of charitable endeavors in my own life, but since I don't celebrate my birthday with a party, I've never had a charitable birthday party of my own.  Robyn's idea is an amazing one that is "one size fits all"!!!

My birthday is next weekend, and I have decided that in honor of my 43rd year, I'm going to invite my friends and family to join me in completing 43 Random Acts of Kindness (RAOK) over the weekend of July 21st and July 22nd.  I can't think of anything that would make me happier (o.k., full disclosure- a weekend at Canyon Ranch might do the trick, but since that's not in the cards, this VERY close  ;-), than following Robyn's lead, and participating in the Birthday Project.  I hope you'll check out Robyn's websites about her 38th birthday and the Birthday Project, and consider performing a RAOK next weekend!  If you do, please let me know by leaving me a comment!

Now, more on the "Nerd Herd's (a.k.a., my family;-) quest to see 26 libraries in CT this summer- an "F" post from my 11 year-old daughter:

"F is for the Fairfield Public Library"

 Saturday we visited the Fairfield Public Library. Here is the link to the website: Fairfield Public Library. This library is gorgeous on the outside and the inside! The teen room (pictured below) is huge and has lots of places to sit. They also have a neon sign at the doorway saying TEENS!!! There are also 2 TV's in the room and a great selection of books. The teen section also has a ton of DVD's for older children. This includes Harry Potter and many others. It was most definitely my favorite so far!

The neon sign at the door.

The inside of the teen room. It's the best one yet!!

There were 2 TV's and many seating areas.

The Fairfield Public Library also had a fantastic children's section. The section for children ages 3- 5 had structures that made the place look like a real city street with a train station, grocery store, trees, and lamp posts. 

Lamp posts and fake trees with little reading nooks.

The fake train station with  train kids could walk into.

 This library had a children's summer reading program themed about the summer Olympics where you would read 10 books and the library will add those books to the paper torches in the hallway. This is a great way to get children to read and a fun way to teach them about the Olympics. 

The Olympic torches part of the summer reading program.

The Librarian's desk looked light a light house!!

For adults this library in particular had many special things. There was an entire room devoted to periodicals with places for reading magazines and another smaller room branching off of that filled with different newspapers and their many issues. They also had a used book sale for the adults that had many good books for sale. I had a great time at the Fairfield Library and I can't wait to see the library in Greenwich.