Happiness Project - February 2013: Energy

February is a good month to focus on Energy. I turn another year older (Happy Birthday to me!) and I'm finally out of vacation mode. While it's a great idea to start the year off on vacation, it takes that much longer to "get going" when you get back. Plus, everyone around is already in go-mode.

Take care of my body and mind.
- Focus on working out twice a week with weights according to my chiropractor. I need to kick my own butt and start healing. "My body is the only one I have" and if I don't take care of it, it will breakdown. I'd like to be a smooth running brand new Ferrari over a 1980's clunker.
- Focus on running 2 - 3 times a week. I will be signing up for a 5K this May with my sister and need to get myself running more consistently.
- Keep up the gluten-free diet. I can't believe what a difference it makes. I need to start baking muffins again so that I stop buying them at work. Not only are mine gluten-free (work ones aren't) but I'll save money too.
- Cut the caffeine. I really need to stop going to Starbucks. There is no reason I need it. I can still go for a break with the rest of my coworkers, but I can have tea instead. I have so many different kinds, it's well worth the Starbucks break-up. And I can't be doing the once a week thing. I tried that. It then became 2, then 3, then every day. Cold Turkey. I think this be the hardest resolution to keep.

Get ready for bed an hour before bed time.
- I say an hour because that will give me a chance to settle, relax and watch a show or read. Then when it's time to go to bed, I can fall into bed without going through a huge process. My hope is that I will also fall asleep more easily as well as get more sleep altogether.

Organize: Punt/Keep
- I'd like to focus on not only cleaning out the closets but the basement storage rooms as well. There is a lot of stuff in bins that I didn't even know we had. That should tell me something. There is also a lot of things that I can either sell, or donate or put in a garage sale and get rid of it!
- I also want to clear out my online life. Being away for a week and coming back to so much email is ridiculous when I deleted close to 3/4 of them. I should be feeding myself useful information that I actually care about. This includes Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc.

Nagging Task
- I've had a bag of clothes that needs to be fixed or hemmed sitting in the closet for months. It's time I find a seamstress and get things taken in, hemmed and fixed up. I do have more clothes than I think, it's just not wearable at the moment.

Since February is a short month, I think this will be a good start. Hopefully the first two will become habits, and the third one will be ongoing. Spring Cleaning/Organizing is great, but it can be daunting and exhausted. A monthly purge of a shelf or a room does wonders. The last one is a "just do it already" thing.

Happiness Project - Personal Commandments

It took me a while to come up with these. These are things I believe in, phrases I love or words of wisdom (or not) that have gotten me through unhappy and happy times alike.

These are my top 10, but I had to include the others because they popped into my head and they must have for a reason.

My Personal Commandments

Embrace who I am

You'll get there when you get there

Be honest

God doesn't give you anything you can't handle. 

Live, Laugh, Love

Smile often

Stay in touch

Accept the things I cannot change

Laughter is the best medicine

My body is the only one I've got

The Others

You have to hit bottom before you go back up.

Fake it til you make it

It's not worth worrying about

It's OK to be late

3/30: Shadows (Dark Touch #1) by Amy Meredith

Shadows by Amy Meredith
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Format: Paperback
Read from January 16 to 20, 2013

From Goodreads: Fifteen-year-old Eve Evergold is cute, sassy and enjoying a busy social life. What she doesn't know yet is that someone close to her is an evil demon that only she has the supernatural power to defeat. She needs to work out who it is - and fast! Because although there's something very attractive about the dark side...dating a demon? Pure hell!

I won this book on Twitter about a year ago and never got around to reading it until this year. I won it and ordered the second one at the same time because I thought it would be a great series. I'm a little underwhelmed. thankful that the font was fairly big and the read was quick. I may read the second one just for a quick in-between books read. A follow up to a heavy read later this year perhaps.

It was ok. Nothing I haven't read before, and not as well done as others. The characters were shallow, but that is expected given the setting of the Hamptons and reference to brand names and celebrities. They were meant to be that way. Gucci, MK, and Jimmy Choo really didn't need to be name-dropped as often as they were, but it did get the point across that these girls had money to burn and not much else going on.

There was little depth to the story, and was great for a YA age story, very innocent. I did find that the characters were very accepting of the supernatural and didn't question it. This strikes me as odd that there was no freaking out or disbelief. You find out there are soul-sucking demons taking over the town and just accept it? I guess.

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Happiness Project - Getting started

Where do I even start? I have the "big topics" as laid out in the book that I like and plan to keep. They are general and apply to most of my life. I'll have to change a couple (no kids here, so no parenting, unless you count my fur-babies, which I might. Training right?)

There is a number of questions in the book that I thought would be a good start to answer.

What makes you feel good?
- spending time with family
- cooking/baking with my husband
- dancing
- reading
- making other people happy
- running
- watching movies
- lunching with friends
- organizing
- doing things I like

What makes you feel bad?
- being late
- disappointing people
- doing things I don't like
- not having direction
- failing to reach my goals
- forgetting to do something
- being talked down to
- feeling like I did something wrong
- leaving the house at night

Is there any way in which you don't feel right about your life?
- I feel like I'm meant to be doing something else as my job
- disappointed that I can't figure out what I want to be when I grow up, nearing 30.
- pulled in too many directions away from what I want more of in my life

Do you have sources of an atmosphere of growth?
- my day job (if I applied myself)
- teaching piano - learning how to be better
- Epicure Selections - being more outgoing
- playing piano - increasing my skill

2/30: The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun by Gretchen Rubin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Read from January 10 to 16, 2013
Format: Paperback


Reading this book as a memoir rather than a "how-to" is highly suggested. I only say this because it's not a self-help book. It is an account of Rubin's year. I had sort of expected a how-to, which is why I mention this tip. After the first chapter, I shifted my perspective.


I really enjoyed reading about Rubin's year focusing on Happiness. I read the majority of The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin while on vacation. Most people would read something light or a typical "beach read" rather than a non-fiction self-help memoir type book. I had intentions of reading a new YA book, but never got around to it.



Reading this particular book when the only thing I had to worry about was whether I remembered my sunscreen and what drink I was getting next made it the perfect read. I had time to really think about her project and how it could apply to my own life. There are definitely things in her project that wouldn't be in mine, which is a given since each person is unique and has their own interests and life. It was more the idea of it that struck me as useful. She may have done this project for a year, but the effects and habits that can be formed will make a last impression on yourself and those around you.

Each chapter had something that different. The book has dog-eared pages throughout for things I want to come back to and think about in more depth. I consider myself a happy person these days. I have a wonderful life and there isn't much I want for. Don't take this as me saying my life is perfect. It's not. But it's the only one I've got and I want to make the most of it. Being completely disconnected from the internet for a week was SO refreshing. I got back to reality and realized that there are things in this every day life that don't make it richer or more fulfilling. I know I was on the beach and in that paradise mode, but why do I have to leave the country to get that feeling? Shouldn't it be felt in the here and now? Not every day is unicorns and rainbows, that wouldn't make for an interesting life, but I do think we can maximize the good days and the good moments.

When I got back from vacation and turned on my phone, I had 68 emails. I deleted, without reading them, 45. Why do I get so much email in a week that is completely useless to me? Then I got to thinking about what else in my life is like that. What information am I feeding myself on a daily basis that is really unimportant? I think I was supposed to read this particular book at the beginning of the year, while I was on vacation. I feel rejuvenated and ready to take a good look at everything I do, the things I have and those I don't. It's time to look at making happiness more prevalent in every moment.

My sister called me when I got back and since she has also read the book, we are going to start in February doing our own Happiness Projects. I'm excited to get started but I also need to remind myself, one month at a time.


Favourite quote: "The days are long, but the years are short" So true!

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