Making Me Happy This Week–1/14/2018

One thing that I’ve been doing for a couple of years in my paper notebook is making a sort-of-weekly list of things that are “Making Me Happy This Week”.  I thought I would start sharing them here on the blog, because we could all use some reminder of what makes us happy.  Maybe it will inspire you to make your own list regularly. 

Here’s what’s been making me happy this week.

• Rain.  Lots of rain.  Rare rain.  Rainbows!  Saw this view from my office window at work.
• Sunshine & warm weather.  It’s been in the 70’s this past week.
• Walking at the beach.  Fresh ocean air is my favorite!
• Watching the “Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban” movie.  As with the books, I thought, “Yay, it’s finally getting good!”  I didn’t like the 2nd book and thought it was boring.  It was finally after reading the 3rd book that I said, “Now I see why people like this”.
• Not spending money on crowded categories in my life.  By “crowded categories” I mean categories of things in my life where I already have more than enough.  Categories such as clothing, shoes, pens, notebooks, etc.  It makes me happy to USE those things and not just collect them and waste money on MORE of them.
• In depth, heart to heart, honest conversations with a good friend.
• Yoga with Adriene – I started this 30 day TRUE program on Youtube (free!).  I haven’t done it every day, but will try to do it 4x per week.
• Nutrition adjustments going well.  In January I’m not eating candy.  And I haven’t eaten any candy!  Between that and eating well and eating smaller portions has made a big difference in how I feel, my mood, and general well being.  Not to mention effective weight loss.
• Week 1 of the Putting Me Together Winter Style Challenge.  Audrey tells me what to wear each day!  I started an outfit Instagram account @listgirlwears.  You can follow me here.
• Quiet times at work because all our VPs are gone at our demand generation conference in Spain. 
• I’ve been making my own breakfast sandwiches at home and then wrapping them in parchment paper and bringing them to work to eat.  It feels fancy and like a treat that I purchased!
• Noodle snuggles.  In this photo I was wearing my leopard snuggie that my dad’s wife gave me.  Noodle climbed onto me for snuggling.  I feel like he was saying, “Now you look and feel like my real mom!”  Bwahahaha.
• These dual-tipped cotton cosmetic applicators.  My friend Patsy at work gave them to me, and after using it once to put gel eyeliner on, I said to myself, “Where has this been my whole life?!”  It sure beats the stupid little useless brush that comes with the pot of gel eyeliner.  Use these!
• Todd’s new Indian clothes (I think it’s called a kurta).  His friend Asmita at work returned from a month-long trip to India and bought these clothes for Todd as a gift.  He works with many colleagues of Indian decent and now he can fit right in!  I like it.
• Todd texting me random selfies with Noodle.  It delights me.  Here Noodle is mastering the “faraway gaze”.
  
• Donating a bunch of old electronics to free up space in our house.  We are going to systematically declutter this year and surround ourselves with only useful and delightful things.