Grateful for Sunshine and Sales!

Sorry it’s been so long again. I’ve been having serious computer problems, grrrr! And keeping busy with my etsy shops. I ‘ve been listing new items like crazy in both shops, and was rewarded this morning with a big ArtTile order. I’m SO grateful! And still always a little amazed :)

In the meantime, I wanted to thank Michele from By Your Side for the suggestion to use LiveWriter. I started using it with my last post and it’s already been a huge improvement. Thanks, Michelle!

More soon, I promise. Hope you’re all enjoying these beautiful, late summer days. We had crazy hot weather Friday and Saturday (104!), coolish Sunday in the 70s, then 80+ Monday, a smidge over 90 on Tuesday…who knows? Gotta enjoy it while it lasts!

A special prayer of safekeeping for all the firefighters battling horrific blazes across the state. And compassion and healing for all those affected.  ♥

It's another beautiful, sunny day! Was almost feeling guilty yesterday that I spent most of it indoors--I've spent the last several days cutting out new clay ArtTile shapes. VERY concerned at the moment--I still have lots of ideas, but am running out of clay! I've conned my dear, patient Mom into coming out this afternoon and helping me clean my creations. Wasn't too hard to do--there's a higher rate of attrition when I clean, and that upsets her no end. I won't tell her that a big pelican ornament bit the dust (literally!) last night. I also made a tiny little bowl--I mean TEENY tiny--last night. I don't know what for, but I love it! It's just big enough to put a pair of earrings into--you know, when you finally fall, exhausted and grateful into bed, turn over, and ouch! Realize that you forgot to take your earrings out and now are getting poked every time you move your head. So I guess I do know what that bowl is for. So there!

And yes, Debbie, and thanks for asking: I went to the gym again yesterday. Have been going almost every weekday. Probably not staying as long as I should, but still getting a workout and some cardio in. Kinda thrilled that I'm actually doing it...:)

Choose Joy

I didn't have time to paint, or post (here, or on etsy) yesterday. Madly dashing about the house, cleaning & tidying for some pending houseguests. As if an old friend from University and the two teenage boys she was bringing were going to care if my drawers were organized and the floors were clean! Driving my mom, who'd come to help, and myself, to the brink of crazy.

On the other hand, it's a good thing I do get guests on a regular basis--each time, my house gets a little cleaner, a little more organized. I unpack and put away a few more boxes. I moved into this house about a year and a half ago--it's a process! When the countertops are clear it feels like there's more air in the room. I take deeper, calmer breaths. And yes, I'm happy.

Have been thinking about joy a lot lately. A part of me that I'd never separated out and addressed by name until about five years ago. It was on a beach in Thailand, a day or two after the tsunami. Yes, that tsunami. I wasn't affected, not in a physical, direct way--I was on a different island, in a different ocean. But it was a trip--a journey--that will affect me for the rest of my life.
More about that another time.

The topic now is joy: Choosing happiness. I met a wise, wonderful, beautiful young woman on that island. A doctor, a writer, a thinker. A brave and sensitive and lonely soul, looking for more joy in her life. Yesterday she sent me a wonderful email, about a 'happiness' conference she'd attended in Australia. I hope she'll let me post it here. It seems the whole world is re-evaluating what it means to be happy--how, and why, and the vital role played by conscious choice. I don't know her well, and I haven't seen or talked to her since Thailand, although we stay in tenous touch with occasional emails. She had no idea that I'd started this blog, or that I'd named my online business Choose2BHappy. But it wasn't until I met her on that stretch of white sand that I realized what a gift it is to live with joy.

More soon. In the meantime, pay attention to what makes you happy. Notice the things that make you smile, that make your soul hum, that make you feel warm, and safe, and loved. That thrill you, that bring tears to your eyes, that make your mouth water.

And start practicing. Choose happiness.

You deserve it.