Month August 2013

What’s Making Me Happy 8.31.13

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Secret Society of Happy People

Secret Society of Happy People

Since it’s the last day of “Happiness Happens Month,” August 2013, I wanted to get one more Happiness post in!  It’s been a light blogging month, because so much fun has been going on!  Many of the items listed below are worthy of their own posts, and I will work on that in September.  So for now, here’s what’s making me happy – abbreviated August edition!

  • The most recent happiness:  I went to Caribou to get my last caffeine infusion at 9:45 pm last night and the manager wouldn’t let me pay.  Pay it Forward, I say!
  • And the Section of Social Work is strongly promoting that!  I’m on the social committee (of course) and we organized a Random Acts of Kindness/ Pay it Forward event starting last week, so that’s exciting!
  • The Minnesota State Fair – three times this week!  How crazy is that?  I’ll blog more later about the awesome fun, delicious fried goodness and hot hot sweaty days.  I’ve never gone 3 times in a year before.
  • Ferragosto!  Also deserves at least one blog post because it was the BEST ever!  (Until next year, right?)  The weather was perfect, the food and drink were delicious, and friends came and went with perfection.  It was hard to leave but the feeling continues!  Storing that sunshine in my cells!
  • I am going to do another “book tour” blog/review!  When I saw the question:  “Did you like “Loving Frank” and “The Paris Wife“?” I bit!  (Click to read my blogs about those books)  “Freud’s Mistress” coming soon to this blog!  Details to follow in another blog post!
  • Marissa is moved in to Minneapolis!  She is living life large, of course, and I can only hope that when school begins she can fit in time for studying!

And now I must dash to work… life is great!  What August memories are making you happy??

 

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What’s Making Me Happy 8.8.13

Walkie Talkie Book Club 3 Comments

cropped-happiness-quotes-facebook-cover-18.jpgIt is the 14th annual Happiness Happens day today, sponsored by the Secret Society of Happy People!  Thought I’d do a quick “what’s making me happy” list to commemorate.

  • The Timehop app makes me so happy.  I know I’ve mentioned it before (haven’t I?) but it’s an app that shows my social media posts from the last 1-5 years, as well as one thing in history from this day.  Today it showed me my blog posts from the past few August 8ths (about school libraries and domain names), my Facebook posts and pictures (regarding gardens), and my twitter feed.  Reminded me that Xanadu came out 33 years ago today and that it’s been one year since I purchased my own domain name.  All good stuff.
  • My new glasses are making me happy – even though I feel like everyone freaks out a little when they see them!  It’s pretty funny.  They are a statement and so comfortable.  It was such a good buying experience.  I also am so happy to have my rose-colored Coach sunglasses turned into prescription sunglasses!  Since I stopped wearing my contacts, I didn’t get to wear them as much, so now I’m happy to be able to wear them – and to stop squinting while driving!
Yay! I can wear my rose-colored glasses all the time now!

Yay! I can wear my rose-colored glasses all the time now!

  • It made me happy to dream a little about winning the lottery last night – I actually made a list of what I would do if I won some money.  It clarified the travels I would love to do and how “stuff” isn’t as important as adventures. 🙂
  • The music video of Mumford and Sons is quite a hoot – many smiles from that!  http://youtu.be/rId6PKlDXeU  Click to watch it yourself!  Find the surprise!
  • I was asked to participate in another Book Blogger Book Tour!  I will be receiving a book and review it during their book tour!  September 17 is the date I will be reviewing Freud’s Mistress by Karen Mack and Jennifer Kaufman.  This book tour is sponsored by TLC – the website where I won a box of books from!  Love books!
  • Still on a high from the Superbowl of Books held the last week of July… so much fun.  Maybe instead of twice yearly, we will have to do it quarterly!
  • Anticipating great fun at Ferragosto this year!  I truly think it will be the best ever – and I haven’t even heard from some of you!  🙂  My kitchen is a mess with bags of food packed and ready, my suitcase is out with the important stuff in it (swimsuits and towels!), and I have many Ferragosto-type beverages packed and ready to go!
  • Having every weekend in August off is so exciting!  Last weekend I had a great day long road-trip with this guy I’ve been hanging out with (woot!  maybe more about that later???).  Lots of fun stops, including the Marine Art Museum in Winona, Lakeview Drive-in, the Great River Road (?) in Wisconsin, a winery, River City Days in Red Wing, and dinner with Beth and Doug in Lake City.  The day ended at Whistle Binkies on the Lake, sitting around the firepit with whiskey and bread pudding.  Ah.  It was a good day.  And then to the lake on Sunday with Marissa and Jenny to see the Rochester Grimsrud’s.  A perfect summer weekend off and a preview of my upcoming Ferragosto time!
  • I heard through the grapevine (my mom’s Facebook page) that Marissa is going to be able to move in early, so that last weekend in August that I don’t work I will be able to help her move in and get settled!  Very excited that it can happen, as I work overnights that first weekend in September/Labor Day weekend, so I will be tired and zombie-ish.
  • Speaking of working overnights, that’s what I’m doing now.  Well, I mean last night and tonight and tomorrow night.  But I slept pretty good today – almost 7 hours – and I survived night one without much trouble.  That makes me happy. 🙂
  • Watching Jimmy Fallon daily on my computer makes me happy.  Last night I started looking at plane fares for NYC in October!  So much to plan, which is almost the best part of a vacation – and hopefully Jimmy Fallon will be part of that trip!  Woohoo!!!  Troy – we’ve gotta talk!  🙂

Well, that’s all for now.  Must get out of bed, get some food, and get ready for night 2!  But tell me — what’s been making you happy lately?  How are you celebrating Happiness Happens HappyThon today?

Secret Society of Happy People

Secret Society of Happy People

 

 

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Happiness

Walkie Talkie Book Club 1 Comment

happy scrabble

It’s not for nothing that I have HAPPINESS as a blog category and my most read posts are about happiness.  I read about happiness, look for happiness, and subscribe to the belief that our attitude determines our happiness.  So I am taking part of 2013 Happiness Happens Month with the Secret Society of Happy People for the second or third year in a row.  I also joined a group called Happsters – like hipsters, but happier – and have business cards to hand out when someone does something to make me happy.  Both have members only facebook pages where people talk about – what else? – happiness!  I get quotes sent to my inbox daily from Gretchen Rubin at the Happiness Project and I collect quotes about happiness.

Tomorrow – August 8 – is the 24 hour HappyThon, encouraged by the Society of Happy People.  I’m working overnights, but I’m going to do my best to tweet happy quotes, think happy thoughts, and do things that make me happy.

Secret Society of Happy People

Secret Society of Happy People

So what about you?  What makes you happy?  Where do you get your happiness inspiration?  Do you have favorite websites or happiness quotes?

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“Like a Superbowl for Book Lovers!”

Walkie Talkie Book Club 6 Comments

A few months ago I had the idea that I wanted to get together the various random people I know that love to talk about books and reading.  Not to talk about one book in particular, but to talk about why we became people who love to read and discuss books!  I thought I would look for some book-related food and drink, book and reading related games, and we would have a grand ol’ time.

Well.  A grand ol’ time was had!  Oh my.  I’m still on a little high.

Long ago I decided that I was not going to let the pressure of hosting a perfect party keep me from hosting parties,.  It makes for a more relaxed evening to know that you don’t have to be a Martha in the kitchen to have a successful party.  I ended up stocking up on frozen Trader Joe’s appetizers, buying a lot of wine and some fruit, and putting out cheese and crackers.  I picked a small Italian theme, because I had a book to giveaway, and that book was set in Italy.  I looked through the “Tequila Mockingbird” cocktail book Iclick the title for the blog about how lovely and perfect this book is!) for inspiration and decided to make the “Gone with the Wine” sangria (red wine, peach schnapps, peaches and oranges) and get the fixings for “Scarlett O’Hara’s” (Southern Comfort and cranberry juice) as well.  My house is usually relatively clean, so I simply dusted and put away the dishes, prepared the punch, decorated with books, and took a nap.  That’s my kind of prep.

Books with recipes in them!
My TBR pile moved from my bedside table!
Some of my favorite authors and books I’m currently reading!
Books to give away!

The guests arrived promptly and enjoyed the “Gone with the Wine,” and we promptly began discussing the following questions while devouring yummy tapas-like appetizers:

  • What was the first book you remember reading/being read?
  • What is your favorite book of all time?
  • Which book has left the most lasting impression on you?
  • Which book have you read most frequently?
  • What books are on your bedside table at the moment?
  • Name one book/author that you really can’t stand?
  • What type of books do you like reading most?
  • If you were given $30 to spend on a book today, what book would you buy?
  • Where’s your favorite place to read?
  • Which character in a book do you think is most like you?
  • Which character in a book would you most like to be?
  • What book do you plan to read next?
  • Which literary character would you most like to have a ‘significant relationship’ with?

These discussion questions took a good few hours and we never digressed to talking about family or work or anything but books books books!

Then we played Bookish Pictionary with a white board and bestseller book titles!  It was fast-paced and fun – even to those who freaked out about having to draw!

There were a few online games we played via my iPad – like this one, which is matching the people who marry or almost marry in famous books, this one which is first lines of famous novels, and this one, which was hilarious – top 80 words found in Harlequin romance novel titles!  Who knew that Surgeon would be way up there???

Everyone brought a small exchange gift – a jar of Book Worms, favorite classic novels or a favorite book, Well Red wine from Trader Joe’s… creative and fun!

And then everyone got to take home a book from a box of books that I won from TLC Book Tours!  Yay books!

Being silly – for the TLC Facebook page!
And posing nicely… Ah.

I cannot wait to start planning the next Superbowl for Book Lovers or Bookish Affair or whatever it becomes dubbed!  I will be on the lookout for more book giveaways, bookish trinkets for exchange, and bookish games and recipes!

Do you have any ideas for future bookish gatherings?

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