Finding joy in the now

On New Years i made a resolution to love life. In order to figure out how to be happier, i contemplated unhappiness...i considered times in the past when i was joyful...i recalled that even when i was in "the thralls of marital bliss" i sometimes still struggled with staying positive. Marcel Pagnol, a French novelist and playwright, once said:

The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is and the future less resolved than it will be.

This quote is now plastered all over my calendar, my journal and post-its at work.

Here is how i have enjoyed my present:

• Brightly colored pens at work that make my "To-Do" Lists look happy
• Reading (Jane Austen, Ray Bradbury, and young adult fantasy writer Rick Riordon)
• Being more selective in the blogs that i read
• Reading my scriptures in Spanish (and out loud)
• Neon colored nail polish on my toes
• My Clarisonic
• Working on my quilt...again
• Listening to this song, this song, and this song
• Using Barbie band aids
• Using a "scentsy" to fill my office and my home with smells of coconut, chocolate peppermint and berries
• Home made pizza, home made Thai food and home made salad dressings





Getting pictures of this face in text messages
(and knowing she's related to me!)

 



Ending a night with:
Journaling, Reading, Goal Setting






Blowouts from Paul Mitchell Hair School





Green Smoothies (and sometimes sharing them)






Baby BO snuggles






Happy Socks
(And friends who see them and buy them for me)






Pedicures with friends






Spa days alone






Going to the symphony





Making faces with my niece



Here's to happiness, a realistic view of the past, a positive view of the present and an optimistic view of the future (and many more "happy lists" to come).


Deal Breakers

As i re-enter the world of dating (eek! Seriously i have to do that again???) i have started having conversations like following exchange that transpired with a co-worker:

Co-worker: So.......would you ever consider going a date with a black guy...that's still in school...that's also in the military...and has no car?
Me: On a scale of 1-10....how hot is he?

Obviously, when it comes to serious dating i really am looking for someone with more than good looks. In fact this conversation prompted me to make a list of deal-breakers. If a guy meets even one of the descriptions on this list, they are automatically disqualified. Here goes :)

Deal-Breakers

• He wears a backwards baseball cap
• He has/had/considers having a mustache
• He uses the word "yo"...and he's not just messing around
• He tucks his wranglers into his boots
• He drives a truck with a monster sticker on it
• He pulls up to my house and honks
• He has a baby momma
• His goal in life is "to be the best drummer i can possibly be"
• He thinks that Little Caesar's pizza is it's own food group
• He uses the words "sexy" and "tractor" in the same sentence
• He lives with his parents
• The phrase "Baby got back" came out of his mouth
• He has a name like Rykker, Hummer, Traylyn or Moroni
• He asks me out via text message
• He owns a pair of candy colored skinny jeans
• He spends his weekends playing Halo
• When i am talking about Charles Dickens he says "Who?"
• He asks "Do you know how many calories are in that hamburger??"
• His favorite movie is "Anchorman"
• He spends more time in the tanning bed than Lindsey Lohan 
• He thinks flushing twice constitutes cleaning the toilet
• He thinks "guestimate" "ginormous" are real words
• He puts a hashtag in front of anything
• His favorite band is LMFAO
• His favorite topic of conversation is his gun collection
• He drives a rice rocket
• He doesn't know what he is going to do "when he grows up"
• He knows what he wants to do when he grows up, but he hasn't started yet (the growing up OR the working toward what he wants to do)
• He has a last name like "Dungworth" or "Fagg" or "Hiscock"
• He says "I received a revelation about our relationship..."
• He has an STD

Any more I should add to this list?