52 Weeks of Happiness Week 29

This week, on Tuesday, I had a few minutes between work and picking up my little guy. As you know, I love to read, and love a bargain. There are three, yes actually THREE used bookstores I know about, and I went to check them out.

First--Goodwill books. Pretty good selection, actually. Great prices.

Then, Book Traders. A little higher prices, but still a fraction of the price. I bought 2 books here. (and snapped the photo below)

Finally, close to the preschool is a place called the Book Depot. The most expensive at about half the cover price. Best selection of all.

Oh how I loved my used bookstore excursion!

52 Weeks of Happiness Week 20

Wow! Week 20! It's been another wonderful one.

This week, 6 weeks into the summer, I finally got an afternoon for me. I had a million possibilities...pedicure, pool, movie...?? I had a movie girl night scheduled for Thursday, and Friday hubby and I were planning for Harry Potter 7.2, so three hours at the pool it was.

And it was a PERFECT pool day. I got a little pink, but it turns to tan on me pretty quickly. I took a book, dipped in the pool when it got too hot, and guzzled ice cold water.

Then I met a friend for a happy hour drink and appetizers. She was a little late, so I brought out my book and ordered my wine. I was warm from the sun, and reading and sipping Pinot Grigio, light and cold.



It was an awesome afternoon. Me time. Pool time, girl time. It was really, really wonderful, and the Margherita Pizza appetizer was DIVINE. Thank you, Carrabba's.

Season of Summer and Books

Each season brings new promise, farewells, and hellos. My summer has surely been a change from spring, and I welcome it all. Since I never really had me time in the spring, winter, or fall either, I don't think much about devoting my day 100% to my little guy. It is a tremendous pleasure.

When the school year comes around again, I will be there from 8-12. Not 7:30 to 4. Yes, my salary is gravely affected, but my life will be tremendously enriched. I am so happy to greet this new routine, though I am NOT rushing through the one my son and I have now.

As far as me time goes for this mama, I have almost made it through two books this summer. That's NOTHING to so many people, yet for me, it's pretty darn good. I'm a slow reader anyway, and with a toddler, you just never know when you'll want to pick it up.

I have found myself quietly slipping into a nap (even 15 minutes) after reading during his nap time. It's pretty nice, actually. And though I wish I could plow through more books, I also enjoy napping when he does, catching up on my favorite shows, and blogging.


I have enjoyed Heart of the Matter this summer, and Vision in White.
I dearly love Emily Giffin, and I love the feel of paperbacks. Not the tiny mass market ones, but the bigger ones. No other type of books feels better in my hands. So even though this one was out LAST summer, I waited for the paperback. I had plenty other books to read, anyway!

When I was about 8 weeks pregnant, my mother-in-law took me to her river house in Hardy, AR. She bought me food that would not turn my stomach, fed me well, and bought me silly, mindless books and magazines to read. It was for me to relax, and hubby to stay home to pack our house, since we were a week away from buying our first place.


Vision in White was the book she bought, and I didn't read it then because I was in the middle of another one, but I wanted so much to read it. I read all the bride fiction that looked decent when I was engaged, and this looked like plain, simple fun. Nora Roberts likes to write four books in a series, maybe three, and this was a "Bride Quartet" book. This was two years ago, and now all the books are out. I am just finishing up this one, and it's simple, plain, joyful fun.

My next book won't be the second in the Bride Quartet, as I rarely go back to back with the same author.

I AM still reading The Happiness Project book but am going slowly, since I can. And summer has turned things upside down, but hey, even that makes me happy. I needed a little shaking up at the end of May...time for a relaxing routine. Looks like the prescription that worked was mommy/toddler time and reading.

Happiness indeed.

52 Weeks of Happiness Week 19

It's Friday and I'm here for week 19!!

I love summer. I love reading. I love summer reading...you know, those fluffy books -- beach reads. Let me tell you--they are home-reads to me. Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer reads to me. And there is no reason I shouldn't read them whenever I want!

I love getting in bed, hubby's usually already there, and we both sit in silence for half an hour or an hour, reading. Totally different books. We're in different worlds. The other day, I was in Nora Roberts Wedding World. Hubby was in an Administering a School for Learning Disabilities world. And yet, we were really close.

He thought I was a little crazy to take a picture, but I knew this week had to be about these intimate moments, even in different worlds.



Bliss!

Real Simple Energy Tips

From the first edition of the Energize your Life magazine covers, I bring you my favorite techniques.

1. Splashes of color in your life (in your wardrobe or on your walls, or anywhere!) are said to wake up the brain!

2. Citrus smells are energizing, so get that grapefruit bodywash for your morning shower.

3. Pop a peppermint.

4. If you stand in the sun for 20 minutes, even on a cloudy day, in the morning, you should have a good burst of energy to take you through the day.

5. Take care of things that zap energy during the day. Make that dentist appointment. Take the dog to the vet. The next day, you'll feel relief, not burden.

6. Really, really exhale when you breathe out. Any way you can rid your body of toxins, the better off you'll be.

7. Do an inverted pose to send blood to your brain to wake it up.

8. Before bed, calm yourself. Concentrate on happy things, and ditch the iphone and computer before bed. Even TV is better since it's less interactive. I prefer the quiet, welcoming pages of a book.

Maybe you can use some of these too...?

Another book!

I could really gather tons of books and never have time to read them all, but find myself increasingly happier with the surrounding books. They show potential. They suggest that there is quiet alone fun time in the future. I just have to remember that these books are there and I need to make the time for them. Last night, I lay in bed next to my husband who had just closed his book. I took the book light and read for another 20 minutes without disturbing him.


Though it's the end of the month (which means not much money) and Easter is coming (which means I've done lots of small orders from Amazon this month for my son), I heard about a book today that really caught my attention. My good friend Erin (who I am grateful for pretty much on a daily basis) from college and beyond has a wonderful blog. Because I am her friend on Facebook as well, I heard about this book today. Because of the extra dough I've dished out this week, I hesitated. Then I said to myself "for crying out loud, it's 10 dollars. And your husband just spend 450 on a Dyson." (Not that I'm mad about the Dyson. It was tax return money, and it's AWESOME. And he does the floors, so I understand what it's like having a very good instrument to make your chores more pleasant. Where would I be without our amazing washer and dryer we got a year and a half ago?)

Erin posted this link, and it lead me to the book.

I have struggled with perfection for years. I always thought I had to be perfect, though knew I never was, nor ever could be. Yet I allowed myself to continue to try. And you know what? The older I get, the less I care about being perfect. I just do what I tell my students: DYB. DO YOUR BEST. So I try to do my best every day, and I know that will bring happiness.

Amazon (thanks for the pic, btw!) lets you read about 4 pages of this book, and I really understood it when I was reading. I'm at the point where I have a Master's degree and should be using that to the best of my ability, but I find myself wanting so desperately to be home with my little guy. I feel guilty, not for not being with him, but for not wanting to be at work all the time. I feel like an amazing woman would be able to do it all and love every second. I just can't. And I think that's okay.


When I was just out of college, I had an extremely hard time adjusting to adult life. I had major anxiety and depression issues. I hated the two jobs I had within a year and a half. I had a recommendation on a book that was my therapy. It made me feel 110% better, just knowing I wasn't crazy or alone. I wonder if this new book about motherhood and perfection might help me in the same type of capacity.

We'll see. And I promise, I've been steadily reading, and making stars in the margins about things I want to blog about, so look for that forthcoming!

Something to Look Forward To

I always love something to look forward to. Friday is ALWAYS there to look forward to. There are of course annual, maybe monthly events to look forward to. Girl's nights. Date nights. Coming home each day to see my little one. Alone time.

I have a LONG list of books I want to read, all of which I LOOK FORWARD to reading. But it takes me a while to get there. In my fit for researching and talking about happiness and how it pertains to my life, I recently remembered this book. I first read about it several months back in my FAVORITE magazine, Real Simple.

From Amazon.com:

Ask any woman how she's feeling. Even when things look pretty great from the outside, chances are that at least one thing is nagging at her. Whether it's the size of our thighs or our bank accounts, there always seems to be something that isn't measuring up to our high standards.
In The Nine Rooms of Happiness, Lucy Danziger and Catherine Birndorf use the metaphor of a house to release us from this troubling phenomenon.
* The Basement: Memories
* The Family Room: Your nearest and dearest
* The Living Room: Friendship
* The Office: When work follows you home
* The Bathroom: Body image
* The Bedroom: Intimacy and relationships
* The Kitchen: Nourishment and the division of chores
* The Kid's Room: Parenting
* The Attic: Expectations

Sounds pretty great, huh? I look forward to this one!

PS-Another thing I look forward to is my monthly issue of Real Simple in the mailbox. Oh, glorious day!