Every Monday, I start my week by highlighting what made me happy from the previous week, because gratitude is the first step in learning how to be happier.
This week I got to:
- Celebrate my mom’s birthday with ice cream on Wednesday and swimming on Sunday.
- Spend an evening alone with my husband – and we never ran out of things to talk about.
- Hear a friend tell me she wanted to be a better friend to me – and experience her trying to do just that.
- Meet my college roommate’s husband and see her parents for the first time in five years.
- Have a heart-to-heart talk with my mother-in-law – one of those talks that involve tears, honesty, and healing.
- Pick up my nephew Jude.
- Play Scrabble – and win.
- Do my morning meditation outside.
- Start a new weekly challenge.
What happy things did you get to experience this week?
Share your happiness highlights in the comments and I’ll pick one lucky commenter to win a $10 Amazon gift card – just to prove that good things multiply. 
(Just one comment/entry per person, OK?)
Saw three friends today I hadn’t seen in quite a while. . . one in over three years, one in two years, and one in a year. So good to catch up!
This past week I finished and signed three paintings! And they are all sold!
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Husband passed kidney stone after 4 days of pain. That made us both happy!!
Had lunch with a dear friend whom I miss a lot.
Picked up Daisy from the animal shelter, a big fat yellow lab that we are fostering and quite probably adopting.
Had the best date day with the hubs in a long time…and laughed so hard I cried!
Got sick on Sunday and hubby took great care of me. Damn sinus infections!!! Great hubby.
Babysat my neighbors sweet baby boy Wednesday night .
Being pursued for a potential job, which makes me feel wanted, and in turn happy!!
I was able to witness a man who made a cross country bike ride in 11 days for a very worthy charity (Hopecam). The rider dedicated each day to a kid with cancer served by the organization. Thursday was dedicated to Charlotte. I was honored to be a part of Len’s celebration as he passed the finish line yesterday.
Dancing the night away with my husband at a friend’s wedding.
PS. I also asked my 5-year-old and he said: “Hearing that Mario Sports (the video game) was coming (in the mail)”
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Honestly, last week was not good for me for many reasons: what made me happy was the passing of the shortest night of the year and thinking about Spring when my bulbs will start to grow.
I got to ride a ferris wheel with my 4 1/2 year old. She held one hand about an inch of the bar at the top and she was telling me how brave she was. She smiled the whole ride.
Yea for outside meditation- it’s already too stinking hot here!
I hung out with friends in the pool all day Saturday.
Thanks for the giveaway!
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While looking through pictures of our family project this weekend, we realized just how far we’ve come. It’s easy to forget how bad the cabins and property looked when we bought it vs. how they look now. We still have a long way to go, but it made me smile taking that walk down memory lane.
We picked strawberries this weekend with the kids. I have fun memories from doing that w/my own mom, and I was glad to get a chance to pass that on.
My big glory glory hallelujah moment this week was the morning I woke up without a lingering pinched nerve (or whatever it was) in my neck. I actively massaged and yoga’d the hell out of my neck. Literally! And I was proud of myself that I could maybe sorta heal myself a little.
Got to go to Community Days (a little festival) at our local park and the kids had loads of fun.
Also the temp dropped 10 degrees midweek, which I joyfully welcomed.
And there was once moment a couple days ago where I locked eyes with my son Bode from across the room, made some silly faces at him and watched him light up with a megawatt smile and then dissolved into giggles. Big joy in that moment
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1. Celebrated a co-workers 30th birthday & enjoyed not only a delicious lunch but a divine strawberry cupcake.
2. Crepe Myrtles in full bloom in my backyard.
3. Date night w/ my husband to see “Brave”.
4. Feeling empowered enough after the movie to speak up for myself when a kid behind made us an ‘untoward’ comment that I would have usually just pouted about silently!
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My 22 year old daughter came home for the weekend…probably the last before she leaves for the PhD program she was accepted into in California…2499 miles away. To be honest, this was a mix of happy and sad. I am so happy she is following her dream and has been blessed with the opportunity to do so…so sad she will be 2499 miles away! But happy I got to spend the weekend with her. We played UNO, talked and went to a new French restaurant.
I am 45 years old and going to college full time. By “going to college”, I mean I’m taking independent study classes which requires this very ADD personality to commit to doing the work, without anyone overseeing it – and turning in assignments and taking tests – ultimately for a grade. This semester is the first time I’m doing it full time – and only the 2nd semester that I’m doing it at all. Last week, I received a notice that I’d received a scholarship (it’s not very much but anything is helpful!). THEN I also found out that my latest grade had been posted – my final grade, and it was an A. At 45! I have a 4.0! I ROCK!
One highlight was watching my children play at a new-to-them playground yesterday. They had a great time playing together and did not fight at all!
Celebrating the first day of summer with ice cream and friends! More highlights here: http://ajigreer.blogspot.ca/2012/06/happy-friday_22.html
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This week I got to:
Spend an evening with my hubby – he’s been working 12 hours days for a while and been too tired to talk much.
Enjoy telephone time with my mom.
Play pool with a terrific team…and win!
Golf with some terrific business women.
Read some more of a fascinating novel.
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My child potty-trained herself. Talk about a wonderful surprise!!
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Tasting the first plums of the season off our fruit tree…grilling up the first zucchini from the school garden I have worked hard in all year. Summer gardens are so sweet!
What made me happy this week? Thinking that we may have found a new hometown. Also, spending quality time with my boys.
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spending all day with friends and family at the river for my oldest sons birthday.
My aunt and uncle (in law) came into town from IL and we rode motorcycles together and had dinner and visited.
My happiness highlight this week was a date night with my husband
Spending time with the man who came along after 43 years. The RIGHT man, who not only loves me, but also loves my kids.
Last weekend, I went on my annual camping trip with my husband (and two other couples). They all camp regularly and like it; I go once a year bc it makes my husband happy. The camping trip includes a day of canoeing and he knows how much it scares me, yet he takes his time, and even walks the canoe with me, rather than make me deal with the anxiety. It has probaboy done more for our communication skills than anything else — bc we HAVE to work together to not tip! (heaven forbid we lose the beer cooler!)
I made my sister laugh. Her husband passed the day after Christmas, and she hasn’t laughed much lately. And it rained buckets this past week, more than once. I enjoy storms.
Had a good week. Had a nice cookout with friends, a nice date night at Chili’s, and spent Sunday morning at church wishing our Priest farewell and goodluck at his new parish. His story was nothing short of amazing, having grown up in Africa and surviving a fatal car crash that killed too many others. Really made me think about the signs we get and the paths that are chosen for us. It was a really great, and eye-opening time.
This week I was given the opportunity to throw a family celebration in honor of my parents 50th wedding anniversary
Only now , do I realize how amazing that journey has been for them. They were high school sweethearts, he was the captain of the football team, she was, of course, a cheerleader. they were engaged when she was 16 and he was 18. They have loved,they have lost, they have had to bury their parents. They have gone through a tornado and lived to tell about it. They have been blessed with 7 grandchildren and 1 gr. grandchild and through it all the have held on to each other. The road may not have always been easy , but they walked it hand in hand. They have had a Faith in God that has been passed on to their family, the greatest gift they could give, and one that didn’t cost them a cent.Thank you to my mom and dad, now I get it…I love you both
My husban and I rarely get to go out for dates and I don’t even remember the last time we saw a movie but completely out of the blue yesterday he told me to get dressed and get in the car. He drove us to a movie theater where we saw Brave (Brilliant movie about girl power, family and courage). We sat in the dark for an hour and a half holding hands and laughing. We could have been teenagers again. My heart needed it.
Last week I actually got to wander around St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, drop an intention to mass on behalf of my newborn niece, and pray in the adoration chapel. I realise how surreal it sounds as I’m writing this.. it is astounding how humbling and peaceful it is to just be there.
I also got to finally get my colleagues together for dinner and we had a blast, it felt like we really passed from colleagues to friends at last!
I got to fly to Colorado Springs and see a show at Red Rocks! It was awesome.
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Saturday I got to do yard work – made me happy to make some progress removing weeds from a bank!
Spent time helping chop celery and eggs to make potato salad for a missions fund raising lunch at church
Hold both of my new grandbabies
Well, I was happy to get through 10 days of work in a row and start my 20 day vacation for the summer. I took some nice photos of my fiance and her niece that others loved and thought about some great things that happened in the life of a pet that recently passed away. Thanks!
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