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  • Category: happiness

    • favourites

      Posted at 12:16 am by jasminedesirees, on January 15, 2014

      A few things that are making me happy right now:

      This article from thought catalog. It’s very true, if you can do good work and be confident in your own abilities, you can achieve the things you want to.

      Also, this. Allie Brosh is a very talented blogger, and her blog Hyperbole and a Half has now been turned into a book. Hers is the first blog I ever read.  I’m really excited for her and I had really been wanting to read it but just hadn’t gotten around to ordering it.

      Then a few weeks ago I was in the Phoenix airport on the way home from Mazatlan and needed something to read. I always bring library books with me or download something onto my Kindle when I’m flying, but this time I had forgotten, so I decided to buy a book at the airport. I walked into the store, and there it was, the very first book I laid eyes on. I bought it immediately, funny how things work out like that. You can buy her book here.

      David’s Tea makes the most amazing tea I’ve ever had. It’s a bit expensive, but where else can you get tea that tastes like Red Velvet Cake, Birthday Cake, or has little gold balls in it that dissolve and make your tea glittery?
      And then this video. It’s pretty hard to be sad when you’re watching that. It’s 24 straight hours of pure unadulterated joy and happiness.
      Posted in favourites, happiness | 0 Comments | Tagged Allie Brosh, David's Tea, happiness, Hyperbole and a Half, red velvet
    • 2014

      Posted at 8:26 pm by jasminedesirees, on January 3, 2014

      I was just reading back through some of my old posts from last year, and remembered this post about all of the things I wanted to accomplish in 2013.

      The one thing on my list that I absolutely wanted to do was the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, which I did with my mom and sisters in September. I also wanted to take a class, and I took several last year including pottery, chocolate making and a blog design course online.

      I did work on my spanish a bit more than I previously had, but not nearly as much as I wanted to, so that will have to stay on the list for this year. I did, however, learn to make pico de gallo, and it was friggin’ delicious.

      My other goal for 2014 was to eat more adventurously. It was a pretty broad goal, that could mean almost anything really. I did eat fish a few times, I even made it myself at home once, generally though, I’m going to have to call that one a fail.

      For 2014, I would like to:

      1. Work on my Spanish. For real this time.

      2. Travel. I have some really big plans for 2014, they aren’t ready for sharing yet but it’s going to be a very exciting year.

      3. Volunteer. I’ve volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, Foster a Dream and a couple of other charities a few times, but I’d like to do it a lot more. It’s fun, it makes you feel good, and it helps someone else, so there is really no downside.

      4. Get wedding dress pictures done. I’ve been wanting to get some cool, artistic photos taken of me in my wedding dress ever since the wedding (so a year and a half now) but I keep putting it off.

      5. Finish a novel. I’ve been working on writing a novel for a few years now, I actually have two going because I kept switching back on the plot in completely opposite ways to the point where it was really two totally different stories. I’ve been scared to talk about it or tell anyone about it but I’ve decided that maybe posting about it will give me the push I need to finally finish. I don’t even care if it’s never seen or read by another living soul, I just want to know that I was able to do it.

      6. Experiment artistically. It is entirely possible that I have no artistic talent whatsoever, but in the last year I’ve started playing around with painting and pottery, and even though nothing I have made so far will never been seen by anyone (except my lovely husband who adores all of my experimental endeavours. Probably.) I think that the attempt can be just as important as the outcome. Plus, it’s fun.

      7. Photograph things. I bought myself a really nice camera last year for Christmas, and even though I absolutely love it, and just the fact that I use it instead of the old battered point and shoot that I used to take all my pictures with has improved my photographs exponentially, I still don’t really know how to use it. There are tons of cheap photography classes around, and even free meet ups where you can learn about photography, so there is really no excuse, except for possibly that the entire series of Friends is on Netflix and I can’t leave the house or shower until I finish watching it.

      It’s probably unlikely that I’ll be able to do all of these things as well as I’d like to be able to, but it’s important to set goals for yourself, even if it’s only so you can see how much farther you still have to go.

       
      Posted in happiness, life, travel | 0 Comments | Tagged 2014, art, goals, happiness, life, travel, writing
    • unplug

      Posted at 4:00 pm by jasminedesirees, on December 26, 2013

      I watched this video a few days before I left for Mexico:

      I think she is definitely right in that we need to re-evaluate our relationship with technology, and make sure it’s not taking the place of actual person-to-person relationships.

      I’m taking this week away to unplug and really be present in the moment and enjoy the time with my family, and I suggest you do the same.

      Posted in family, happiness, life, travel | 0 Comments | Tagged happiness, Sherry Turkle, technology, unplug
    • loveliness

      Posted at 10:43 pm by jasminedesirees, on November 22, 2013

      A little bit of loveliness, because it’s Friday.

      Posted in art, happiness, loveliness | 0 Comments | Tagged art, inspiration, loveliness, photography, quotes
    • loveliness

      Posted at 12:07 am by jasminedesirees, on October 10, 2013

      A few lovely things:

       
      Posted in art, happiness, loveliness | 0 Comments | Tagged art, black and white, inspiration, loveliness, sunflowers
    • go

      Posted at 9:23 pm by jasminedesirees, on September 9, 2013

      Watching this video really makes you want to book a trip. I was kind of on the fence about a trip I was thinking of taking next month, there are always reasons to say no and just stay at home, but I decided to go for it. I read somewhere that if you’re having trouble deciding what to do, you should do what you’ll wish you would have done when you’re 80 years old.

      When I’m 80, hopefully playing bingo and skinny dipping every day, I think that it is much more likely that I’ll regret staying at home more than I’ll regret a crazy, expensive weekend in Vegas with my favourite girls, so why not?

       

      Posted in exploring, happiness, inspiration, life, loveliness, travel | 0 Comments | Tagged go, life, travel
    • 406

      Posted at 5:18 pm by jasminedesirees, on June 13, 2013

      We booked our tickets for Fourth of July in Montana, I am way too excited.

      Boating, swimming, margaritas, twisted tea, smores, dill pickle dip, early morning runs with my mom, goldfish races, dancing with bearded, over-alled men (is there any other kind?) at Homesteaders and huckleberry cheesecake blizzards with extra cheesecake, and doing all of these things with my most favourite people.

      But mostly, this:

      He will eat your face

      He just could not be less excited to be wearing that. But, safety first. And by that I mean of course, safety for the rest of us, because if he falls into the water (aka is thrown in by my dad) and you happen to accidentally get between him and shore, or getting back in the boat, he will scratch you bald headed.

      Can not wait. Only 3 more weeks.

      Posted in family, happiness, life, Montana, USA | 0 Comments | Tagged family, happiness, july 4th, Montana, summer
    • how to buy happiness

      Posted at 6:01 pm by jasminedesirees, on May 24, 2013

      I haven’t actually unpacked from my trip to Hawaii yet (it’s been a very lazy week) and I’m off to Las Vegas tomorrow. I am so excited to see my older sister, we haven’t seen each other since Thanksgiving, so even in the unlikely event that we spend the whole weekend trapped in an elevator at the Wynn, it will be a great weekend.

      I was feeling a bit guilty about our whirlwind month of travel, so far in May we’ve spent a weekend in L.A, and then 10 days in Hawaii, but I’m really only going to Vegas to see my sister, so I think it’s definitely worth it.

      I just read this article about how to buy happiness in the LA Times, and it’s making me feel better. Thirty years from now, I won’t remember the Memorial Day weekend that I stayed at home and relaxed, but I will definitely remember my first solo (besides our husbands) trip with my big sister.

      Hope everyone has a great weekend!

      Posted in family, happiness, travel | 0 Comments
    • happy

      Posted at 5:23 pm by jasminedesirees, on December 31, 2012
      I watched a documentary called Happy last week. It was all about the things that make us happy in life, and how much of it is external, and how much we can actually control.
       
      According to the movie, once you have basic needs met, having a lot more money doesn’t make you any happier. People who make $70,000 a year report the same levels of happiness as people who make $700,000 a year.

      One thing I found very interesting was a concept called the hedonic treadmill, or hedonic adaptation. Basically, we continually adapt to what is “normal” for us, so things that start out as new and exciting, quickly become “normal” and commonplace, and we continue to seek new things or experiences because we’ve adapted and adjusted to things that we already have and know.
       
      This is extremely true with material possessions, and it’s definitely something that hit home with me while watching the movie. Sometimes I will see a new dress or shirt that I absolutely HAVE to have, and so I get it and bring it home and I love it for awhile, but then after awhile it’s not my “new dress” anymore it’s just another thing that I own, and then I’ll see something else that I want just as much as I wanted the last new dress. We like things more before we have them, and then once we have them, we want new things. So things are worth more us before they are actually ours.

      I don’t usually make impulse buys, usually if there is something I want, I’ll go home and think it over, and come back later to get it if I’m still thinking about it. There is a perfume in Macy’s I’ve been visiting for almost 5 years now, because I love it, but if I actually bought it and spent the money to take it home with me, would I still feel the same way about it?
       
      That might not be a great example, because after 5 years, I probably would love it just as much as I thought I would, but for a lot of the things I own, that’s not the case. Sometimes I think the anticipation of getting something that I want, the act of denying yourself the thing you want the most, is better than actually getting it. Just like sometimes the delicious tension right before you kiss somebody new for the first time is better than the kiss itself.
       
      According to Happy, our level of happiness is 50% determined by genetics, 10% determined by outside circumstances like money, status and power, and 40% determined by intentional activities such as:
       
      1. Spending time with friends and family
      2. Exercising, or moving your body, especially in fun and novel ways
      3. Feeling like you’re a part of something larger by participating in your community and the world at large
      Participating in novel physical activity with a friend 🙂
      The Colour Run
      Check out Happy, currently available on Netflix. 
      Posted in happiness, life | 0 Comments
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