So I don't have anything special planned for my birthday today but THE UNIVERSE had other ideas, because I got several completely random super-nice "you rock!" emails from strangers this morning. So thank you, Universe, and thank you, random people who woke up this morning and decided to send me a nice email!
If you wanted to do something nice in celebration of me having been alive a whole 'nother year, I would love it if you decided to pay someone (someone ELSE, not me, I'm over quota on compliments-receiving already and it's only lunchtime) a compliment today.
Go ahead and tell your barista you like their piercings, or stop someone in the grocery store and comment favorably on their shoes. Tell a parent "Your child is so cute, and so well-behaved!" Tell a dog-owner "Your dog is so cute, and so well-behaved!" Tell someone you work with how you've noticed Cool Thing X they've done lately. Go on, be creative! Be profligate, even, with your compliments, because Compliment Someone Because Erin Said So Day comes but once a year.
(Once you've complimented someone, you also have my permission to treat yourself to a cupcake, or other frosted baked good. Have fun!)
Happy Birthday! In your honor, I told my husband he was right about something...little does he know that day when he will be right about something will only come once a year.
Posted by: Little Hunting Creek | 08/12/2009 at 02:14 PM
Happy birthday, Erin! And thank you for a fun, interesting, entertaining blog!
Posted by: Vegan | 08/12/2009 at 02:27 PM
Its my birthday too! Happy Birthday! I think Ill go sew now...
Posted by: Jess | 08/12/2009 at 03:20 PM
I saw a darling sundress on a lady on the street and said, GREAT dress! Is it new or vintage? She said, HM! I said, You look adorable in it. What a cute dress. But this all happened before I knew about your wishes, so happy birthday! Youre an amazing lady with great taste in clothes. Now I will go find someone else to compliment in your honor.
Posted by: lucitebox | 08/12/2009 at 05:07 PM
Happy Birthday Erin! I try to give out a compliment a day, but in honor of you, Im going to go positively nutty with compliments! Hope you have a great day, and a fantastic year in your new home!
Posted by: Katherine | 08/12/2009 at 06:03 PM
Happy Birthday!
Posted by: Mimi | 08/12/2009 at 06:34 PM
Happy Birthday, gorgeous! Im big on compliments anyway, but I will try to go extra hard today.
Posted by: Nadine | 08/12/2009 at 07:22 PM
OH! Happy birthday (and Ive accidentally already taken you up on your last command there : ) Im vicariously sharing it with you now : )I do really enjoy your blog - esp. love the pattern stories!
Posted by: Michelle | 08/12/2009 at 07:58 PM
Well, Happy Birthday!
Posted by: Birgit | 08/12/2009 at 08:34 PM
Happy B-day!! The best wishes for you. I really enjoy your blog....you inspired me to sew!
Posted by: Anonymous | 08/12/2009 at 09:30 PM
Happy Birthday Erin! xo
Posted by: deanne | 08/12/2009 at 09:50 PM
happiest b day to you... I was nice all day, tho I wanted to $(#@%! I just thought...WWDADD...mmm, be nice and casual and cool...and use good language..;-)
Posted by: propriatress | 08/12/2009 at 10:25 PM
Day late - but all good wishes to you. You are a truly generous soul, many thanks for all you do!Cheers,AJ
Posted by: xstpenguin | 08/13/2009 at 02:12 AM
Happy Birthday yesterday! Arent us leos the best?! :-)
Posted by: Anonymous | 08/13/2009 at 05:18 AM
Happy Birthday, Erin!Complimenting people is such an important thing to do. Its related to appreciating people, I guess. When I turned 16 in 1973, a friend gave me a little book for my birthday. Its called, Living from Within: The art of Appreciation in Marriage, Parenthood, Work, Growing Up, and Growing Older, by Dr. David Goodman. I still have it. The message of the book is that when we appreciate people and things, they grow and become more than what they were. If we belittle them, they diminish and become less. I came from a family where belittlement was the order of the day, so the idea of appreciating someone was very new to me. But I loved it. I tentatively began to try it, like the book said, starting out with just one expression of appreciation per day. So if I thought something good about something a person was doing or wearing or whatever it was, I would shyly voice it. The effect it had on people was amazing. I would watch them transform before my eyes. They might look surprised at first, then pleased, and after that their energy would seem much lighter than it had. I do it to this day. It helps with intimates when the tensions of living together are getting to you; it can help to balance things. Even if youve been tense with each other all day, you can say, You made a fantastic meal; thank you. What a difference! And it helps strangers. I love to do it when out walking in my local town or in the streets of Toronto when Im visiting. Im no longer shy about it and can call out to someone whos walking past me, I love your glasses! Or even, I love your style! To see the looks on peoples faces and the pleasure a compliment gives them makes my day for me. And more often than I might have thought, the surprised look on their face and the smile that grows as they realize that compliment really was for them shows that the person was lost in some kind of darkness in their own life and the random compliment was like a ray of light that somehow got in there and perhaps reminded them that life isnt all darkness. Its amazing what a little compliment can do.Thanks Erin, for encouraging us to do this. You are a very generous person.
Posted by: oracle | 08/13/2009 at 05:33 AM
happy birthday Erinand wow to oracle--what a great transformational storyIm off to look for someone to compliment!
Posted by: DragonPoodle | 08/13/2009 at 09:38 AM
Happy birthday Erin! :)
Posted by: bani | 08/13/2009 at 10:19 AM
Happy birthday, Erin, and thanks for posting in the past about Spoonflower. I make my husbands shirts for work and he likes unique fabrics. So hes uploaded his first design and a sample swatch is on its way. -d
Posted by: angldst | 08/13/2009 at 10:47 AM
Compliment, Erin, e tanti auguri!
Posted by: Lisa Simeone | 08/13/2009 at 11:02 AM
Happy Birthday Erin and thanks fora wonderful blog - its the firstthing I read each day before I start working.Enjoy.
Posted by: Anonymous | 08/13/2009 at 11:18 AM
Happy Birthday Erin, just dropping in to wish you another wonderful year full of good wishes, happiness, and another great blogging year to you and your family.. I cannot imagine life without Dress a Day blogging and updated fashion news!!!...
Posted by: Penny | 08/13/2009 at 02:06 PM
I told a lady in our mirrored elevator today, Stop fussing with your SSSSHHHHHIN-YAWWWWN (overly-enounceated French accent) Youre beautiful enough! And youre making the rest of us look bad! She laughed.
Posted by: Cookie | 08/13/2009 at 07:59 PM
I would have sent you a nice e-mail, but at the moment when I realized it was your birthday, I was in an airport where signing up to get wifi proved impossible. But I saw it was your birthday, and I went all, Awww!Happy birthday, belatedly!
Posted by: India | 08/13/2009 at 09:28 PM
Happy birthday, Erin, even if Im late to the party (as usual). I hope it was a great one.
Posted by: Lisa @ the Vintage Fashion Library | 08/13/2009 at 10:24 PM
Happy Birthday! Thank you for your another year of inspiring blogging
Posted by: Scheherazaad | 08/14/2009 at 07:51 AM