Happiness Is…Date Night, Friday Night Lights and Good Music

January 21, 2013 Leave a Comment

Right now happiness is…

Friday Night Lights: BEST. SHOW. EVER. I am kind of in love with so many of the characters. Tim Riggins for being my equivalent to Sawyer from Lost. Matt Saracen for singing Mr. Sandman to his grandma. Tami Taylor for her hair…her glorious hair. Lyla Garrity for just being so darn pretty. Coach Taylor for his…everything. And the MUSIC, don’t even get me started on the MUSIC!

(insert cheesy picture here)

FNL-friday-night-lights-713832_1125_850

Date Nights: I mentioned our date night in this post, but I can’t reiterate enough how much getting out for dinner and a movie every once in a while is a necessity when you have two small children. As we walked into the movie theater I said, “I feel like we’re in college again!” Geez, it’s been a while!

“Girl from the North Country,” Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash: I mentioned that we loved Silver Linings Playbook in my last post, and this is one of the best songs from the sountrack. I have the original Bob Dylan record with “Girl from North Country” so hearing this brought me back to my 9th grade bedroom, listening to that scratchy voice on my Fisher-Price record player for the very first time. You just can’t recreate that feeling, and hearing it in the movie came pretty close. This version with Johnny Cash is legendary. I found another version with Joe Cocker on Spotify and loved it, too.

“I’ll Tumble 4 Ya:” My sis sent this song to me through Facebook today and, I mean…I just can’t get enough. How can you not love some good Boy George? And that title? What does it mean to “tumble” for one? I’m guessing it’s quite the term of endearment. I’m wondering why Tumblr hasn’t stolen it for their official motto?! This video is just pure amazing-ness. I dare you to watch it without smiling.

Feeling Good! It feels good to be back into blogging. It feels good to be eating better and working toward feeling better physically and mentally. Hail to Operation Feel Good 2013!

Filed Under: Beautiful Life, Entertainment Tagged With: ,

Happiness Is…Fall Edition

September 23, 2012 4 Comments

Happiness is…

big sister reading to little sister. 

She’s making up a story about Granny and Pops and a little boy crying (who happens to be Charlie Brown)…and it.is.awesome.This is the same book that actually started this “Happiness Is…” series and it’s one of her favorites.

Hattie is clearly unimpressed :)

****

Happiness is…

the arrival of fall. 

AKA: Boot weather

I have a slight obsession with boots. Especially Frye boots. Beautiful, beautiful leather.

Fall is also famous for…

Football season

Go Hokies!

Fall Fashions

We love denim vests. And boots. Lots and lots of boots.

Baseball Playoffs

AJH loves the Michael Morse Bobble Head doll. She calls him “the little boy.” Congrats on the Nats making it to the playoffs!

First Day of School

Somebody is LOVING pre-school.

***

Finally,

Happiness is…

a smiling baby.

 

Especially after six weeks of crying!

***

What is making you happy these days?

Filed Under: Beautiful Family, Beautiful Life Tagged With: ,

Happiness Is…Strawberry Pickin’

June 5, 2012 2 Comments

We have a little book called Happiness is a Sad Song and every night AJH likes to pick it up out of the hundreds of books on our shelves, take the cover off and inspect it.

It’s not as depressing as it sounds…the book was actually published as part of the Peanuts Happiness Is…series and includes many adorable metaphors for happiness, including one of my favorites, “Happiness is a side dish of french fries.”

I might even start my own Happiness Is…series on the blog, beginning with this gem…

Happiness Is…

Strawberry Picking!

AJH has been talking about going strawberry pickin’ for months now.

It all started with this video, Caillou Goes Strawberry Picking.

We’ve watched it over. and over. and over. The whole family knows it by heart.

It was pure bliss watching what she thought was only available on a computer screen come into fruition.

In fact, on the way there she didn’t understand why we were pointing to a farm and not my iPhone screen when we said we were almost to “Strawberry Picking”…kind of scary (but that’s a whole different post)!

We’re lucky enough to live five minutes from a lovely strawberry patch in the picturesque setting of our Shenandoah Valley.

And we even got to ride on a wagon!!

(Can you tell mommy’s smile is hiding a slight twinge of “I-must-find-a-bathroom-as-soon-as-we-get-off-this-wagon”?)

When Ben was a kid, he and his family were close enough to walk to the famous patch from their home. His mom, AJH’s “Granny,” came along to show us the ropes.

She was in heaven!






Pure happiness.

Filed Under: Beautiful Family, Beautiful Life Tagged With: ,

“I Can Do Anything Good!”

May 25, 2012 Leave a Comment

I think more of us should start our day this way…

“I can do anything good, I like my school, I like anything…I like my hair, I like my haircuts…I like my whole HOUSE!”

Happy Friday!

Filed Under: Entertainment Tagged With:

Make it Beautiful Monday: Eat a Rainbow

January 3, 2011 3 Comments
“Whoever wants to be in the Happy New Year Club raise your hand!”
-My blogging friend’s daughter on New Years Day
Once again I was inspired by a post from “Work in Progress,” a blogger I found through the internet machine, as my friend, Valerie, would say.
In her most recent post she quoted her daughter and discussed the choice we make to be happy. I struggle with this because there are times when I think nobody chooses to be anxious, depressed, or unhappy, especially when their lives are filled with the blessings of marriage, children, family and friends. Sometimes we get into ruts and it takes more than just a choice to be happy. If it were that simple, wouldn’t we all be happy all the time?
What I’ve found is the most simple answer to happiness is to be present in every moment (and make it beautiful, duh!), whether the moment is pretty, overwhelming, exhausting, or ugly. It is the string of all of those moments that create life…and happiness. The appreciation of the mundane. The gratitude for it all.
I know I have a lot to grateful for and Monday’s are a great time for me to have a weekly reminder.
As my friend said, “When I reflect on what I have, instead of what I don’t have, (perfect house, perfect body, perfect husband, perfect friends, perfect job, perfect everything) I am happy. I am shaking my head with dumbfounded surprise right now at how I can possibly be unhappy with all that I do have. When I don’t accept and allow what is my lot vs. what I think should be my lot I get resentful and envious, spoiled and crabby.”
Right on, sister!
Finally, at the end the post, she mentions her daughter’s 4 year old friend saying: “I’m going to eat a rainbow!” and it just so happens that she wants everyone to join her.
Can you imagine what that would look like? After googling, this is what I found:
Yummy!
So, on this Monday I invite you to join us in the Happy New Year Club and eat a rainbow!

Filed Under: Beautiful Things, Make it Beautiful Tagged With: ,

H.U.P.O.: Day 2

November 18, 2010 2 Comments
Day 2 of H.U.P.O. (Happy Until Proven Otherwise) is going well.
AJH has decided to go poo poo at 7:55 (approximately 10 minutes past the time I am supposed to arrive at work) for the 3rd day in a row, but do you think I get mad?
Heck no.
I sneak around the corner and play peek-a-boo just so I can see this beautiful, happy face.
(no, I don’t put lip gloss on my baby. her lips really are THAT pink!)
I’m pretty sure AJH starts every day H.U.P.O.
…and I think we could learn a thing or two from her.
It reminds me of the bible verse:
“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child:
but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”
Maybe some childish things are worth keeping.
Filed Under: Beautiful Family Tagged With:

Happy until proven otherwise

November 17, 2010 1 Comment
This morning I started thinking that besides being late for work again, (AJH waits to have a huge poopy diaper until RIGHT before we have to leave in the morning) I was having a pretty good day.
And then it occured to me that I was assuming I’d be having a bad day. I was totally shocked when I thought to myself that things weren’t going all that bad yet.
It stunned me and reminded me of the phrase “innocent until proven guilty.”
Why can’t we be happy until proven otherwise?
Instead we tend to live in the opposite realm:
Unhappy until proven happy.
Unworthy until proven worthy.
Ugly until proven pretty.
Bad until proven good.
Who or what is it we’re waiting on to prove we deserve to be happy, worthy, pretty, or good?
As I quoted from Brene Brown in Be Worthy Now, why do I need a reason or prerequisite to be happy or worthy or pretty or good?
I’m gonna start the day feeling HAPPY and wait until proven otherwise.
I’m gonna start the day feeling WORTHY and wait until proven otherwise.
I’m gonna start the day feeling PRETTY and wait until proven otherwise. Sometimes that happens as quickly as someone saying I look really tired, but I’ll try not to let it get me down.
I’m gonna start the day feeling GOOD until proven otherwise. And I will try not to let the things that get me down affect my worthiness.
 
*Hope you don’t mind day 2 of self-affirmation pictures. I think it’s a postive thing for me, so I’m gonna keep doing it!
For me, this simple mental shift really helps with the anxiety I often feel. For those of you that don’t know, I’m kind of on a new journey here…
If I’m trying to be more “authentic” I may as well be honest and open. I’ve been struggling with moderate to severe generalized anxiety for as long as I can remember. Sometimes when I tell people that they say, “Well, what on earth do you have to be anxious about?” And I say, ”Exactly. Nothing. And everything.” and that’s the way it works. Those of us that suffer from  any form of anxiety or depression know that something is wrong when we are pushed over the edge by finding matching socks or having a bad hair day. It’s not something we can just “wish away” and as much as we may try to “put on our big girl panties and deal with it,” it’s not always that easy. So I take it one day at a time, and writing about it really helps.
Anyway, the “new journey” is trying to deal with my anxiety unmedicated. I have been on and off anxiety medicine for a long time, and while I think it helped in the beginning I began to see a need for more and more, with no lessening of my symptoms. A little voice in my head started telling me that something about this process was wrong. I was feeling tired, worn out, and unlike myself and I had no idea if it was from the medicine or just my body telling me to STOP. Chill out. Figure this out.
(Quick disclaimer: I am not knocking the use of medicine.I know for a fact that it can help people get their lives back. I have seen this more than you may know on a first-hand basis, and it worked for me for a long time. I am trying a new journey now and I appreciate all the support I can get. Whether you are a friend, family member, or complete stranger, I promise to support you on your journey whether it be with using prescription meds or not).
My perspective kind of changed when I explained to our babysitter that I was feeling kind of off because I was taking a new anxiety medication. She said, “Oh, have you tried meditation?” The resemblance of the two words shocked me. I quickly said, “Oh no, I am totally not there yet. I can’t sit still that long,” but a light-bulb went off in my head and I thank her for that.
Medication vs. Meditation….hmmmm?
I talked with my doctors and they supported my efforts to try to deal with my anxiety without medicine. If I were to ever get pregnant again (which I hope to at some point) I will have to go off the medicine anyway, but that’s a completely different story.
I am still going to counseling every once in a while to learn new strategies on dealing with stress, etc. and have also tried accupuncture, yoga, and altering my diet. So far, so good. I’m still slowly easing off the medicine, and while it’s not completely out of my system, it has dropped drastically and my symptoms are actually lessening, too.
I still have days when I want to scream. One annoying question too many from an inquisitive student, or one none-of-my-clothes-fit day can send me over the edge if I’m not careful.
But so far, today has been a good day. I haven’t had any (major) anxious outburts. 
I am happy until proven otherwise.
Calm until proven anxious.
Filed Under: Beautiful Life Tagged With: , , ,

Perfect Day

October 14, 2010 Leave a Comment
 On this dreary, rainy day, do what makes you happiest…

How will you give yourself the perfect day?
 Take a moment to reflect in your journal. Here are some starter questions:
1. In your opinion, what does “perfect day” consist of? What does it look like in your world?
2. Make a list of things that make you happy, and give you joy; small or large.
3. Think of a few people that warm you heart. What is it about them that lifts your spirit and brings you pleasure? 
4. What are some sights and sounds that give you pleasure?
5. What happiness do you give to others?
6. How can you give yourself the “perfect day” all year long?

*Thank you Laurel Denise, for this beautiful quote card that I plan on framing and hanging in my home as a reminder to make every day a “perfect” one.
Filed Under: Jounaling Tools + Topics, Writing Inspirations Tagged With:

Finally, it makes sense

October 13, 2010 1 Comment
So, here is my second attempt at responding to “Ill With Want.” I wrote, and I wrote, and I wrote, and guess what? I feel better. MUCH better. 
So there is a reason why I chose to safely tuck away my first response to the song, “Ill With Want.” I realized soon after posting it that it just wasn’t quite time for it to be written. Not all things were exactly ready to be cosmically connected.
Before I was ready to REALLY write this piece, I had to have a good soul-mending talk with my friend Valerie about life and our purpose and all the potential we have to be awesome (insert LOL here). I needed time to read the book she lent me, Life is a Verb, and see that I am not the only one wondering why THIS (moment, life, cheeseburger, pair of jeans, amount of money, relationship, etc.) just doesn’t seem to be ENOUGH. 
And it’s not that it’s never enough, it’s just that I want it ALL and I want it now. I want every bit of happiness, beauty, and perfectness out of every possible moment. I want to have as much of this good, luscious life as I possibly can, before it’s all gone. And if things don’t feel happy, beautiful and perfect at the time, I’m out looking for it somewhere else.
When it took me over a year to get pregnant I ended up spending hundreds of dollars on designer jeans. I thought that somehow it would make it all better if I just had really pretty jeans. 
Well, it didn’t. 
(But it is my story.)
When that didn’t “fill me up” I realized I just needed to love and nurture something so I begged my husband for a puppy. A few months later I had Henry in my arms, an adorable, cuddly, black bear of a Labrador Retriever. 
And within a few weeks I was dead set on getting another puppy…immediately. It wasn’t that Henry wasn’t enough for me to love, but I wanted MORE; more to love, more to enjoy, more to cuddle and hug. I know I loved Henry with all I had, and didn’t neglect him for hopes of something newer and cuter (because he was pretty darn cute) but for some reason my brain couldn’t be satisfied with just him. I needed MORE of him. 
And soon after Annalee (my pride, my heart, my soul) was born, I told Ben I was immediately ready for another baby. It was like my heart couldn’t handle all the love and awe and beauty it was holding. I thought if I had another right away I could somehow make room for it. That may not make any sense, and it’s very hard for me to explain. I guess I just loved her so much that I wanted more, more, more, of her. I now realize that I can let my heart love her wholly and completely without fear, and when the right time comes, my heart will open up and expand and allow me to love another baby just as much (at least that’s what all the other moms tell me). 
In “Ill With Want,” The Avett Brothers say, “The more I have the more I think I’m almost where I need to be. If only I could get a little more…” I’ve blamed my longing for “more” combined with a splash of impatience and a pinch of perfectionism on ADHD, anxiety, depression, and just pure spastic-ness. I’ve tried everything from yoga, and meditation to medicine and as I listen to the words, “I need for something, now let me break it down again. I need for something, not more medicine,” I am haunted in a way that I don’t feel comfortable admitting. But, I have to wonder: what would happen if I ever let go of this heavy weight that I seem to be carrying? Would I still be me?
Before I was ready to REALLY write this piece I had to meet a sweet little girl selling beautiful necklaces, hand-stamped leather bracelets and meaningful cards that were just perfect for Valerie and my “purpose-of-life-clarity-conversation.”
And, before I was ready to REALLY write this piece I needed to stumble upon this quote typed simply on said sweet little girl’s hand-made stationary before it could all made sense.
“Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are.  Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart.  Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow.  Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so.  One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return.  
~Mary Jean Iron
Ahhh, yes. This is what I needed for it to all cosmically connect. 
So, as I reflect back on what I first wrote, I know there are some truths, but I also know I didn’t really relay them in the way I had hoped. I fear my first blog post (which only you lucky RSS feed readers got the privilege of seeing) came off as tragic, and sad, which is soooo not me (at least I hope). I think it may have come off as me being depressed and unhappy and unsatisfied with my life. Maybe I am a little BLAH at times, and maybe I don’t always appreciate what I have, but I certainly hope I don’t run around town pulling at my hair and acting all angsty like Kristen Stewart playing Bella in Twilight. I think what I was trying to say was while I may not be “ill with WANT” anymore, I am definitely still struggling with living in the MOMENT and appreciating it for whatever it may be; the good, the bad, the ugly, and by god, the NORMAL. (eeek!!) 
One of my biggest fears has always been mediocrity and the fact that I ran across that quote is a pure blessing. 
Normal day…Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. 
So you’re telling me it’s okay to be normal? I don’t have to live in Italy or go on African safaris or be Oprah, or publish a book or own a (real) Gucci purse to be happy? 
Well, shit. I’m glad someone finally filled me in because for some ungodly reason I’ve wasted too many years living in the world of Seven jeans, white teeth and perfect pink toenails rather than that of a woman who is happy with the simple treasure of a hand-tooled leather purse, and chipping nails, not to mention teaching a kid how to write a metaphor, making a homemade meal for the man she loves, rocking her baby to sleep and writing half-way decently about life. 
Yes, there may be ten weeks worth of magazines stacked on my coffee table, dog-hair piled in my corners, and an overflowing mess of headband making materials on the kitchen table, but it is mine. Is it all perfect? No.  But it is a treasure. My treasure. Our treasure. 
In Life is a Verb, the author, Patti Digh, had her AHA! moment when looking out the window into her backyard amid picking up Cheerios and cleaning maple syrup off the kitchen floor. She saw the “orange and yellow lilies and happy zinnias and Tessie’s bright shoes and swing set and the little red plastic chair on the deck outside” and thought in a sudden rush of emotion, “I have everything I need. I don’t need anything else, ever.” She then proceeded to list all the fun things such as heart-shaped Teflon waffle makers and, my personal favorite, little yellow doggie raincoats (which I have actually bought) as things she no longer needs. “No more making lists of things I ‘need’—I’m done, I’m happy, I’m eschewing materialism once and for all.”
Yessssss…. how good would that feel? Sometimes I think that is what all of us moms/women/people are looking for. That moment of clarity as if to say, “Hey, it’s okay. This is pretty darn good.” (Maybe that’s where all those “Life is Good” stickers came from? They must have read Patti’s book).
She went on to reveal, “When I saw those little-girl shoes in the green grass, one sock nearby and the other one gone to Sock Heaven, the spark of color in those blooms, and the blue, blue sky, what I felt was a sense of satisfaction, even in a toddler-screamathon syrup-on-the-floor kind of day. It was enough. I simply felt full, satiated, complete, engaged.”
“I was fully attentive in that moment. I was saying a big yes to my life—to all of it, the zinnias in the sun and the syrup on the floor.” 
It’s my motto: “Live in the moment, and make it beautiful” in real-world terms.
And in an even more genius move, Patti next wrote, “What keeps us from being fully attentive, from saying yes? I think it’s all the stuff we carry around with us.” 
In college I read The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. He wrote, ‘They carried all they could bear, and then some, including a silent awe for the terrible power of the things they carried.’ I think each of us carry all we can bear, including the innate knowledge that we may never part with that which haunts us. 
And years ago I wrote, “We all have something we must overcome, but somehow never really want to let go of.” Mine is written in these pages, hidden in this 2,000 word manuscript, and maybe, just maybe, the more I write, the more I let go of what I carry and say a big YES to my life. 
Instead of pining away for “more” beautiful, “more” good, “more” happy, “more” babies, “more” puppies, and sometimes yes, “more” money and material things, I will make an effort to remember that what I have is just enough…actually way more than enough.
I have a beautiful life. It is good, and happy. I have everything I have ever wanted, including my soul mate, a healthy daughter, an protective puppy and a charming old home with black shutters and a bright green door. 
I try hard to drink all of this in daily and never take it for granted and writing helps me to remember. Some days I feel lost and unsure, confused and sad. But on those days I must look back on this piece and know that whatever THIS is…
…this writing, and sharing, and connecting, and reflecting and realizing…
THIS is what makes me happy.
Right now.
And that is all that matters.
Right?
PS- Talk about cosmically connecting. Read Kelle Hampton’s blog from yesterday. LOVE it (like always!).
Filed Under: Beautiful Life, Entertainment, Make it Beautiful Tagged With: , ,

Everybody Love Everybody

September 23, 2010 3 Comments
Hey, somebody call Oprah, I just had an “Aha! moment.”
Do you wanna hear about it?
I was reading my friend Valerie’s blog (and when I say “friend” I mean long, lost soul sister), and she had this quote at the bottom.

“Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful.Strive to be happy.”


Max Ehrmann, 1927
Well, it just so happens that I have a portion of that very same quote hanging in my classroom, right beside the door so my kids can see it as they head out into the universe.

 (You can buy these awesome cards in really cool stores or online.)
Don’t you just love it when things cosmically connect like this?
Valerie’s post reminds me of a mantra some students taught me a few years ago. Whenever their class would get tense (in a writing class where lots of feelings come out, this can happen) “Clody” (two best friends named Clay and Cody) would keep the peace by saying “E.L.E” which stands for “Everybody Love Everybody.” One day, after their class had been particularly unruly and I got upset, “Clody”  gave me this note to cheer me up.
I keep it hanging on a bulletin board beside my computer and look at it often, especially on days when I want to scream.
“Everybody Love Everybody.” So simple, so sweet, so easy.

I’m glad I let you guys in on this little secret, and I’m glad Valerie gave me this little reminder that love is everywhere.

Filed Under: Beautiful Life Tagged With: ,
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