Being happy...

I won my first blog award!!! It is called the Happy Blog Award, and it was bestowed upon me by the very person who encouraged me to start blogging in the first place. I had had this blog up already, but only updated it when I did art shows and such, which was not very often. With her encouragement though, I began my daily blog and photo posts, which, though I have stepped back a bit from doing them every day, continue to be one of the highlights in my life. So, thank you, Courtney!

As part of the award, I have been assigned the great and wonderful task of listing the top 10 things that make me happy, along with the blogs that I pass this award on to. Luckily I am constantly thinking about what makes me happy, and actually posted about some of them the other day. The things that make me happy are those gateways I described that allow me passage to a higher realm. This world maintains me, but it is a higher one that sustains me. So here are my top 10 gateways:

1. Love
This one is my favorite! Whether it's my husband, my dog, my family, friends, or a stranger who just gives me a random smile just when I need it, love takes me to a higher place. The great thing about love is that it works two ways- when I give my love and when I receive others' love. That makes for more opportunities for happiness!

2. Imagination
This is a close second. I have been addicted to imagination since birth. This is another one that comes in many forms and offers many opportunities. Creating pictures out of patterns in wood, exploring the depths of the ocean, thinking up scary tales from beyond, floating through the cosmos- all things that my imagination has allowed me to do.

3. Storytelling
I don't remember the first story I was told. I wish I could. But this is the gateway behind my love of songs, books, movies, plays, and musicals. I haven't quite gotten to the bottom of this one, but I don't believe it's as simple as just the desire to escape reality. When I join someone else, real or fictitious, in their journey through life, it becomes my journey, regardless of its plotline. I don't know how to describe it, but it carries me the same way that love and imagination do.

4. Music
I mentioned songs above in reference to their lyrics. The music behind the lyrics is also a catalyst for me to reach higher levels. It ignites in me an energy that makes me want to jump higher, smile wider, and sing louder. It makes me want to grab life and shake just a little more out of it. This is why I love No Doubt. For whatever reason the energy they disperse is on a similar wavelength to where I live. So, as Gwen sings in my all-time favorite live song, New, "like a fresh battery, I'm energized by you."

5. Color
Anyone who steps one foot into my house will not be surprised by this one. The minute my husband gave me the go ahead with his house back when we started dating, the walls had no chance. Beige is my enemy. Colors take me places that I wish blind people could go too. They are actually like the gateway to my gateway number 2. When I see bright colors, my imagination goes wild. I think of patterns and projects and places and feelings. My favorite color is blue. The bright light blue of the sky, the deep dark blue of the river. Any blue takes me on a voyage to places this world would never allow me to go.

6. Nature
Ok, I wasn't really born in St. Augustine, but as I have posted before, I call it my birthplace. I was conceived at the time that my parents were building our old beach house there. And, after spending my summers there as a kid, I spent my adolescent weekends exploring at our lakehouse in Keystone. Then, when I was 12, I became best friends with a chick who personifies the outdoors. She taught me to ride bikes and hike and climb trees and catch snakes and canoe. Luckily, I still call her my best friend, and now she is my favorite state parking buddy. Being in nature is something I cannot describe because it is the definition of pure being. It's like going home.

7. Water
Again, I spoke of my attraction to water in my recent post about gateways. And, I guess you could call this a subcategory under nature. But, you know, even those manmade drainage ditches do something to me. I think it's the way water moves. I love to watch and listen to the way it laps up against things and against itself. It's so calming. I guess it is my balance to the the energy I gain through music.

8. Sadness
This may sound weird, but sometimes feeling sad makes me happy. For instance, my favorite movies are Steel Magnolias, Fried Green Tomatoes, and Beaches. My favorite musical is Les Miserables. As Deepak Chopra says in the book I am currently reading, a fish has no concept of "wetness". "Unless the fish jumps out of the ocean, water is everywhere; there is no contrast, and therefore no dryness that makes wetness possible." In other words, in order to feel happiness, we must experience sadness. Otherwise how could we tell the difference?

9. Camaraderie
I have very few friends in my circle, as I am not a very social person. But the ones I do have I have for a very specific reason. Being with them requires no thought or effort. It just comes naturally. It's similar to the flow of creativity that overcomes us sometimes. It just flows from us when we are together. Even with my friends whom I only see once or twice a year. Though we may not speak often, it matters not. Being with them is as natural, and as essential, as breathing.

10. Work
Nothing feels the same as that of seeing the fruits of your labor. Walking through my beautifully clean house today was totally worth the days it took of sweating and slaving. Having a student score well on their SAT and come back to thank me in tears is worth all the monotonous hours of test prep. Completing all my reports at the hotel is satisfying. Seeing an art project go from a vague idea in my head to a solid product in my hand or on my wall is beyond words amazing. Though I may grumble about having to work sometimes, I know that without it I would be lost.


Ok, so now onto the blogs I would like to pass this Happy Blog Award to. I actually only follow a couple of blogs, so I had to do a little research on this one. My night of "blog hopping" ended up, surprisingly, being a very boring one. I found that there are very few good blogs out there, or maybe I was just looking in all the wrong places. If I see another picture of a kid with food smeared on its face and how cute, adorable, sweet, etc. it is, I am going to barf. So, please, if anyone has or knows of an interesting blog, pass it on! But, for now, here are my winners:

1. Scattered Lupines
This is my friend, Courtney's blog. She is as big of a book freak as I, so how could I not love it! She also posts yummy recipes, and occasional design and educational tidbits. All my favorite things!

2. Jam*n*Jilly
This is my sister's blog. I am very proud of her for creating this craft-inspired blog, because she is very talented, but for years didn't trust her talent enough to follow through on it. But now she blogs, hosts craft parties, and even did an art show with me! Check out her inspired craft and design ideas!

3. Prairie Thistle
I was turned on to this blog when I ordered a journal from etsy for my husband's and my first wedding anniversary. Turns out the artist can do more than just make a rad journal. Check out her beautiful metalwork, artwork and thoughts. You can even read a post about my journal here!
First Anniversary Journal

4. Stacey Bruce Photography
This is my new favorite blog brought to me by my number 3 blog. She is new to the blogging world, but has already posted some beautiful photography and inspiring material. I'm excited to see where her blog goes!

5. Destination Unknown
I came across this blog last night in my searching. I must say I was attracted by the awesome name. I really liked the content of her blog, too- one, because it is truly thoughtful, and two, it makes no apologies. She is totally honest in her blogging, but in a respectable way, something I am too chicken to try. So in a way her blog is what my blog wants to be when it grows up! Oh, and she wears Converse!

Thanks guys for spreading the happiness!!


One last thing that always puts a smile on my face!