Friday, December 28, 2018

Feel Good Friday - AAA Tipsy Tow

It's the last Feel Good Friday of 2018 and time for the traditional end of year post on the AAA Tipsy Tow program!

Tipsy Tow is a service AAA offers to drivers who go out on New Year's Eve and get too intoxicated to drive back home.

They do this both to educate drivers on the dangers of impaired driving and to reduce traffic-related crashes and injuries.

The rules are simple: call 1-800-AAA-HELP between 6:00 p.m. Dec 31 and 6:00 a.m. Jan 1 for a free ride to your home or a hotel and vehicle tow of up to 10 miles.

Anyone can take advantage of this service, you don't need to be a AAA member. If you're hosting a party, you can call this number for a friend who needs a tow.

While New Year's Eve is the upcoming holiday when you might need to call for a Tipsy Tow, this service is offered from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. on the evenings of all the following holidays:
  • Super Bowl Sunday
  • St. Patrick's Day
  • 4/20 (this is AAA in California after all)
  • Cinco de Mayo
  • Independence Day
  • Labor Day
  • Thanksgiving
  • Christmas Eve
  • New Years' Eve
If you know you're going to be celebrating a holiday with libations, your best bet is to use public transportation, call a ride share service or host the party yourself. But, if you find yourself with a car you're unable to drive, AAA has you covered.

Are you so excited about this you want to show your love on social media? Then like the AAA Facebook page and follow them on Twitter @AAAnews.

Thanks for following another year of Feel Good Friday and here's to many more in 2019. Happy New Year!

Friday, December 21, 2018

Feel Good Friday - National Christmas Tree Association

With Christmas around the corner, it's time to make the National Christmas Tree Association today's Feel Good Friday organization.

As explained on their website, "the National Christmas Tree Association (NCTA) is the national trade association representing the Christmas tree industry." This includes over 700 member farms and more than 4,000 affiliated business that grow and sell trees or provide related supplies and services.

The NCTA's mission "is to protect and advocate for the farm-grown Christmas Tree industry" and their vision "is that a farm-grown tree is part of every Christmas celebration. They provide the White House Christmas tree (green, not red) and fund the Christmas Tree Promotion Board, which (yes, you guessed correctly) promotes real Christmas trees to enhance value and demand.

Visit the NCTA website before Christmas and use their tree locator to find real Christmas trees near you and then check their selection tips to pick your perfect tree. Help your tree last through the entire season by following these care tips.

When the holiday is over and your tree start dropping needles all over your house, follow these instructions for recycling your tree. For those of you who live in the San Francisco Bay Area,  everything you need to know about composting or recycling your tree can be found at this link.

Want to make sure you remember the NCTA next year when shopping for a tree? Like their Facebook page to stay in the loop. Merry Christmas!

Friday, December 14, 2018

Feel Good Friday - Attainable Sustainable - Gift Guide

With Christmas in 11 days, it's easy to feel overwhelmed and pressured to buy your loved ones gifts to show you care. Today's Feel Good Friday post is full of tips on how to make memories by giving people experiences instead of things.

Attainable Sustainable is a site maintained by Kris Bordessa who encourages readers to "embrace a more self-reliant life style, one small step at a time." She shares recipes, gardening tips and a DIY section with instructions on how to make things like bread bags, sunscreen and candle holders.

I found her site when searching for ideas of experiences to give to people this holiday season. Lucky for me she has a blog entry with over 30 ideas! You can read them all here:  https://www.attainable-sustainable.net/giving-experiences-instead-of-gifts/

There are those you might have already thought of, or even used, like a spa day or coupon book full of chores. What I like about this list is it doesn't stop there. She suggests classes that teach people how to cook, garden or paint. You can also give people memberships to zoos and museums or tickets to shows and sporting events. Organize a weekend getaway, give a gift certificate to a family to get their portrait taken or send them to an escape room and decide whether or not you want to be a part of it.

What about the gifts that you do buy? Here are some greener gift wrapping ideas to keep the packaging waste to a minimum: https://www.attainable-sustainable.net/presents/

To get more tips on how you can adopt an Attainable Sustainable lifestyle (New Year's resolution anyone?) like their  Facebook page and follow them on Twitter @AttainSustain.



Friday, December 7, 2018

Feel Good Friday - Operation Santa

The holiday season is upon us! We're in the middle of Hanukkah and Christmas is coming. To help you get in the spirit, today's Feel Good Friday is about Operation Santa.

As explained on their website, "since 1912, postal employees, charities, individual and corporate volunteers have helped children in need experience the magic of the holidays by adopting their letters sent to Santa."

The program started when Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock authorized employees to answer children's letters. It expanded in the 1940s when the volume of letters increased and charitable organizations, corporations and individuals started responding and sending gifts.

Now, Operation Santa has gone digital! There are seven cities across the U.S. where you can select a letter online and then drop off gifts at a designated Post Office: DC, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, New York, San Diego, Austin and Phoenix. If you live in one of these cities and want to participate, check out the FAQs to find out how.

For people living outside of these cities, you can check the Be An Elf website to see locations of Post Offices around the country where you can stop by in person to read and adopt letters, then return to drop off gifts.

If you want to write a letter from Santa to your own child and have it mailed back to you with a North Pole postmark, follow the instructions at Letters from Santa.

To see the results of everyone's good work and make sure you're first to know when everything gets started up next year, like the Facebook page and follow them on Twitter @OperationSanta.

Ho ho ho!