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1. This song pumps me up.  And not just because of the title. Within three seconds of listening, the foot-tap/head-bob thing automatically kicks in. (Btw, this was one of my top-top-top favorite shows at Lollapalooza this year.)

2. This quote pumps me up:

3.  And this manicure idea pumps me up.  Partly because it's cool and original, but mostly because my teenage son told me about it. He said, "Here, Mom. I stumbled upon this. Unfortunately, I think you might like it."  Classic.  And I am so doing it.

(Thanks again for that, Justin!) (Love you) (And yes, my other children, I love you, too)

See you all back here Monday,

amy

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This week's mission is inspired by the original pay-it-forward idea:  

The "Leave a Penny/Take a Penny" tradition.  

(And btw, who besides me was confused/intrigued by this concept as a kid? I was like, "You mean people can just take pennies? This is AMAZING!" It took me an embarrassingly long time to process and understand the gist.)

Anyway, so what if we set up all kinds of  LEAVE A _____ / TAKE A ______ in shops around the world...?

Like at a bakery:  LEAVE A CUPCAKE/TAKE A CUPCAKE.

At a flower shop:  LEAVE A FLOWER/TAKE A FLOWER.

At a coffeehouse:  LEAVE A CUP OF COFFEE/TAKE A CUP OF COFFEE

At a cafe:  LEAVE A CUP OF SOUP/TAKE A CUP OF SOUP

And on like that.  It would work basically the same way as the penny tray, only instead of tossing in coins, folks would pay the proprietor - and then toss a little piece of paper into the tray saying "Cupcake on me! Enjoy! signed, Steve" (or some such). 

Conversely, folks who could really use a complimentary moment of joy would help themselves.  Make sense?

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If watching this video isn't the best three minutes of your day then golly, lucky you, you are already having a really awesome day.  

Thank you, Improv Everywhere, for doing what you do.  (Btw, these are the same folks who created the wondrous Carousel video we showcased here a few weeks back.)

See you all back here Monday...for a big, big mission!  

yours, 

amy    p.s. if you missed Monday's special announcement, here it is again.

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Ladies, Gentlemen, Boys and Girls...

What you're about to see is the result of months and months and months of pondering and tinkering. Many of you* have contributed directly and/or indirectly, and I truly thank you.

The following link reveals all. So without further ado, I present to you:

The Beckoning of Lovely 11/11/11

I hope to hear from you this week in the comment section, after you've had a chance to view. As always, I'm completely open to your thoughts, suggestions, dreams...

And most of all, I hope we can be together (some physically, the rest in spirit) on 11/11/11. To join (or initiate) a gathering/viewing party in your area, click here.

And btw, I uploaded all the movie trailers to YouTube over the weekend.

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For many of us it's the official back-to-school day and/or the first day back after a long holiday weekend. which translates as: I've got a ton to do, I don't really have time for one of your missions, and man, oh, man, could I use a little pick-me-up energy boost.  

That's where this week's mission comes in...

It intentionally addresses all of the above. So, you don't have to do a single thing this week but watch a new video.  

And hopefully you'll walk away with an end-of-summer-spring to your step.

A couple quick shout outs before you hit play. This was rehearsed and shot all in one day. Massive thanks to choreographer Kyle Vincent Terry and his dance company TheMassive for bringing this idea to life. And hefty thank you's to collaborators and genius gentlemen Steve Delahoyde (my filmmaking partner on The Beckoning of Lovely) and Brian Stojak (he of Money Tree video fame).  

As always, feel free to share thoughts/sentiments in the comment section. 

yours,

amy

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Wonderful something number one:

My dear pal Brooke (and photographer extraordinaire) just reminded me about the filmmaking collective Everyone.  We featured their video Words here a few months back.  

Today we share with you their short video series General Observations of People. I found them to be incredibly interesting and charming and Lays Potato Chip-ish...you can't eat/watch just one.  Here they are.

Wonderful something number two:

This is what you get when you combine a smart man with the TED conference with gratitude with flowers. 

(Thank you to Marc Becker for passing this video along.)

See you all back here Tuesday, after the long holiday weekend.  

And don't know if you can see from there, but I've got a bunch of big shiny missions up my sleeve for the coming weeks...

yours,

amy

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Some of you may remember when we debuted the concept of "Positive Pranking" here last summer.  Here is the video I did with New York-based filmmaker Mark Malkoff that kicked things off.  

Well, continuing with this theme-- and with partnering with New Yorkers named Mark-- this week we present to you "License Plate Positive Pranking."

See, my buddy Mark Shulman, who is a (super fantastic, smart, nice) New York-based writer, spent a few weeks with his (super fantastic, smart, nice) family here in Chicago recently. (Hi Hannah!  Hi Solomon!).  He observed that many of the Chicago license plates read like phone numbers-- three numbers, space, four numbers. Which means, of course of course, that these license plates numbers are just waiting to be called! This got us both thinking...

So let's begin this game/mission with one simple step:  

Call the number on your own license plate!

(You'll have to add an area code, but you already figured that out, didn't you?

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