Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Celebrating!!




Happiness

Highly happy people all share happy habits. It’s as simple as that. The happiest people I know share 7 very obvious habits. If you’re looking to expand your general happiness you may consider adopting these habits in your own life.

Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.
-Abraham Lincoln

1. Be a Part of Something You Believe In – This could be anything. People may take an active role in their local city council, find refuge in religious faith, join a social club supporting causes they believe in, or find passion in their careers. In each case the physiological outcome is the same. They engage themselves in something they strongly believe in. This engagement brings happiness and meaning into their lives.
2. Share Time with Friends and Family – A happy life is a life shared with friends and family. The stronger the personal relationships are and the higher the frequency of interaction, the happier a person will be.
3. Reflect on the Good – Quite often people concentrate too much of their attention on negative outcomes and leave no time to positively reflect on their successes. It’s natural for a person to want to correct undesirable circumstances and focus closely on doing so, but there must be a healthy balance in the allocation of personal awareness. It is important to mindfully reflect on the good while striving diligently to correct the bad. A continuous general awareness of your daily successes can have a noticeably positive affect on your overall emotional happiness.
4. Exploit the Resources You DO Have Access To – The average person is usually astonished when they see a physically handicap person show intense signs of emotional happiness. How could someone in such a restricted physical state be so happy? The answer rests in how they use the resources they do have. Stevie Wonder couldn’t see, so he exploited his sense of hearing into a passion for music, and he now has 25 Grammy Awards to prove it.
5. Create Happy Endings Whenever Possible – The power of endings is quite remarkable. The end of any experience has a profound impact on a person’s overall perception of the experience as a whole. Think about reading a fairly well written, thought provoking novel. Now imagine the ending totally sucks. Even if the story was captivating up until the ending, would you still be happy recommending the novel to a friend? People always remember the ending. If the ending is happy, the experience creates happiness. Always tie loose ends, leave things on a good note, and create happy endings in your life whenever possible.
6. Use Personal Strengths to Get Things Done – Everyone possesses unique personal strengths. We all have different talents and skill sets. Emotional happiness comes naturally to those who use their strengths to get things done. The state of completion always creates a sense of achievement. If this achievement is based exclusively on your own personal ability to get the job done, the physiological rewards are priceless.
7. Savor the Natural Joy of Simple Pleasures – I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the best things in life are free. They come in the form of simple pleasures and they appear right in front of you at various locations and arbitrary times. They are governed by Mother Nature and situational circumstance and captured by mindful awareness. It’s all about taking a moment to notice the orange and pink sunset reflecting off the pond water as you hold hands with someone you love. Noticing these moments and taking part in them regularly will bring unpredictable bursts of happiness into your life.

The above is taken from this blog. I first saw it on Amy Tangerine's blog. To celebrate my birthday today I thought it was fitting to look at "happiness"! After all what better day to be happy than your own birthday. :) Really not a day different from any other but a great chance to look at your own life and be grateful. Grateful for all the family and friends that have come along for the ride. People who come in and out of your life and touch your heart. There is so much ugly news out there these days that sometimes we all need to take a moment to step back and focus on all the good things that are in our lives. Today I'm going to do that. So if you are reading this right now...thanks...thanks for taking a peek into my life and sharing the ride with me. Enjoy your day!!!

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Welcoming Halloween






This coming Saturday I will be teaching once again at Paper Vineyard. I am excited about this project. I really like the way it turned out. I am hoping that others will too. :) We are hoping to continue the theme for Thanksgiving and Christmas depending on how well it is received. The store is even giving a discount on the ATC holder if you take all the classes. It is going to be another detail oriented day but well worth the time. I love my job!!

Sunday, September 27, 2009

One Year!

Wow...I can hardly believe it has been 1 year since my first post. What a journey it has been. I absolutely love blogging and the friends I have made. Here's to another year of even more creative fun!

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Splish Splash





Yesterday at Paper Vineyard we held a free scrapbooking class. Three of us were each given the same photo a week ago and asked to scrap it in any way we liked. The big reveal was yesterday in class. Above is a shot of my layout and also the three of us...Julianne, Vee and myself holding up our individual layouts. It was so fun to see the different results. Each of us went in a different direction and had fun with it. There were lots of techniques used that we each shared with the class. Great idea to do this Adriana! It is one the best parts of scrapbooking....there is no right or wrong way to create a layout, everyone has different ideas and preferences and ALL of it is perfect!

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Saturday Class




Saturday is the Vintage Family Banner Class. Fun project that converts to a mini book! Love the way it turned out and really looking forward to the class.


Football season has arrived. Oh joy! I can barely contain my enthusiasm. (did I say that out loud!) My husband is a die-hard fan. He loves everything about it. Even joined a fantasy football league again. Personally I like what one of my favorite blogs had to say about football and the NFL....
She asked if it was possible for the NFL to shorten the games and maybe toss in a few decorating tips at half time. Sounds good to me! :)

Here's to a great Friday...enjoy!

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

It's a Red Letter Day!

Check it out!
On Donna Downey's blog there is a chance to win a wrapped canvas from "red letter words". These are wonderful pieces of art, many inspired by Bible verses. The artist is giving one away and you get to choose which one. Pretty cool.
Stop by Simply Me and sign up.
Good Luck!

Friday, September 4, 2009

Hoppy Friday!




Look what came along with the rain! Or maybe it was the irrigation. Either way, our yard is full of every form of toad there is...from tadpoles to toads with the tails still attached. They are adorable but too many is not really a good thing either. Always on the look out for the dangerous ones...our neighbor's dog was killed when he decided it would be great fun to play with one. Then there is the joy of fishing them out of the pool. Ugh.
But for now, I will take the frogs/toads if it means we get more rain!







Just had to take another shot with the penny to show how tiny he really is. :)

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

September Already!

I can hardly believe that it is September already. The summer has flown by. In an effort to bring fall into my life I am updating my blog. Since I doubt the weather here will cooperate anytime soon, I can at least have a sense of cooler weather here. :) Hey...when a girl lives in the desert you do what you have to do!
Enjoy!