The Happiness Project

This weekend at Barnes and Noble, I decided to try a book off of their recommended reading shelf.  To my surprise I kept finding myself going back to a book by Gretchen Rubin, entitled, The Happiness Project. 

Within the first 10 pages, I knew this was the perfect book for me during this time of my life.  If you haven't heard of it before, I recommend running to your nearest book store and picking up a copy.  She won't let you down.  No, I am not depressed, but yes, I am not as happy as I would like to be, and Gretchen, the author was in the same place when she wrote the book.  I haven't connected this much with a book in my entire life.

I have gone through many personal struggles within the last 3 years and after a weekend at home to clear my head, I realized I need to take charge of my life.  The best way to do it? By starting my own Happiness Project.   It will take the course of one year to finish the project, just like Gretchen outlines in the book. 

I have started a page in my blog dedicated to this project and will update it with my twelve commandments to follow along with, as well as a recap of each of the months, however, to follow along with my daily activities, I will be updating them in this blog. 

And so my personal Happiness Project begins:

Month #1

July

Health/Energy 

It is known to me, my friends and my family that the item in my life that I spend the least amount of time on is my health.  To start off on the right foot, I will work on my Health and Energy levels first. Follow along through my daily blogs on this. 

My goals for this month:

• Start working out
• Go to the doctor
• Revamp my meal plans
• Increase energy

I have already gotten a jump start on planning for July.  I just got off the phone with my doctor, gyno, and dentist and scheduled appointments for this month.  On top of that, I made myself a calendar just for workouts and have scheduled them in so that I have can erase any excuse from my book.  Just like Gretchen describes, I will go no more than two days without exercising.  Hopefully all of this will help to increase my energy level as well.   

And so begins my journey in finding the ultimate level of happiness..

Happy for Today

I have not been having the best week.  After mis-communication with one of my best friends and harassing text messages from the evil Mr. "B" in my life, I was an emotional wreck.  I couldn't wait for the week to be over and just wanted to be home in small town PA with my mother's home cooking, a pool to relax in, and a skinny girl margarita in my hand. 

However, today, things turned around.  My best friend and I are back to normal, everything during work has been going perfectly smoothly, and so far my event is looking good for tonight.  It just proves that with everything bad that happens, something good will happen in return.

I also decided last minute to treat myself to buying a new dress to wear today to cheer myself up.  A little retail therapy never hurt anyone, except for my credit card.

First Day of Summer

Most people consider the first day of summer as Memorial Day, however, technically summer only begins today.

Do you have any fun summer plans? I actually have a lot of my personal goal list for the summer including another camping trip, attending lots of baseball games, a tubing trip, weekend in NYC, and beach trip.

I want to make the most of the summer, enjoying the beautiful weather and my energetic friends.

Ten on Tuesday

1. What’s the perfect meal?
Chicken, pasta and bread...YUMMY!!! (how can we incorporate cheese in there too?)

2. What are the perfect pair of shoes?
Flip flops.  I am not much of a heels girl and would wear flip flops daily if I could.

3. What is the perfect afternoon?
movie marathon at the theater on a rainy day.

4. What’s the perfect house?
Large house with a brick front, large backyard with a pool, 5 bedrooms, 5 1/2 bathrooms, large living room, indoor theater, LARGE kitchen, firepit in the backyard with a patio and built in grill.

5. What is the perfect outfit?
Comfy pants, a t-shirt, and flip flops.  Can I find a job where that is acceptable?


6. What’s the perfect wedding song?
"The way you look tonight" by Frank Sinatra

7. What is the perfect job?
Event Planner

8. What’s the perfect hairstyle?
Long, brown, hair that can hold large curls

9. What’s the perfect music festival?
Maroon 5, Gavin Degraw, Sara Bareilles, James Morison, The Temptations, and Frank Sinatra (yeah that isn't possible)

10. What’s the perfect day to yourself?
Relaxing in a National Park with an ice cold lemonade and a good book.

Week #7 Challenge

So, its noticeable that I have fallen off the band wagon with my blog lately.  I have also noticed that without my daily regime of writing in my blog I have started to become haunted by mixed emotions of my past.  With the blog I have been able to vent out certain thoughts and without it, I begin harping on things that have taken over my life in the past.

With that, I am getting back into the daily blogging.  I am a few weeks (months) behind on weekly challenges, but instead of seeing the negative in that, I am just pushing back the 52 week goal and picking up where I left off.

So with that, my challenge this week is to not eat between meals.

Week #7: No eating in between meals

Mental Detox

Sometimes we just need a mental detox.  Work has been crazy lately and I have been stressed beyond my mental limit.  For a while I have been trying to catch my breath and get back to a state where I was blogging daily, taking time out for myself, and enjoying life.  I haven't had many of those opportunities and as work continues to get busier and busier I began feeling myself floating farther and farther away from reality.

This past weekend I had the opportuntity to get away from the city for a day and camp out in MD at Assateague National Park.  It was the exact medication for my funk.  Over the past few weeks I have felt myself losing sight of who I am and who I should be.  This weekend sort of recharged my batteries and hopefully will put me back on the right path through my current life.  

June Wedding

Today, a great friend of mine from over the years is getting married to a wonderful man! No longer a bachelorette, she will finally walk down the aisle with her soulmate.  I am so lucky to be a part of her special day! I love weddings!

Congrats Jen and Justin!