happy 100

i have been out of town ....on a fabulous trip with my mr.e.beck.artist ......i've never called him that before ... but i'm thinking it might stick ...... 

here's a cute story about him .... i was sitting at a poolside/beachside/sunnyside restaurant in cancun mexico with five friends .... we were well into our second hour of a long leisurely lunch .... when we saw mr.e.beck.artist, back from a golf outing, walking around the pool looking for meeeeee ..... each of us called him in turn.... his name....whistles .... and he never looked up .... then i yelled ...hey, cute boy .... and he looked right up at me ..... cute mr.e.beck.artist was there as the third hour of my lovely sunny lunch drifted by ......he answers to cute boy .... i like that .... very good thing he doesn't read my blog, huh? 

so....i'm back ....and happy ... the happy bit isn't new ...i'm usually happy .... i daresay i'm happier than most people .... nothing i do special ... i think it's just the way i'm made .... but, i'm happy to be home to my sweet children .... and my dog .... when i saw each child come out to greet us while we were getting things out of our car, my heart gave a little squeeze ...hooray! all safe and sound .... and then? i saw so carrying the dog ... and i NEVER missed the dog while i was away!!! what's up with that ... last week when we were on spring break i missed the dog a ton .... thought about her often ..... but nope, not this time .... sadly, i think i was just too busy dancing in cancun to miss her .... sorry, little dog! 

so, before i left on my trip ... i was on an icelandic (i think? ) blog ... that i can't find now!!! and the blogger was writing down 100 things that made her happy .... and she had 87 ..... and it got me wondering ....if every person on the planet had to write down 100 things that made them happy, would they all be different .... or even five things ..... like, flip flops, singing along to 80s music, guacamole, australians, and beaches .... those are five happies about my weekend .....  wouldn't everyone on my trip write a different happy list even though we were all on the same trip .... 

so, it's kind of like dna .... a defining list .... that's uniquely YOU ..... when i made my list of 100.... i had 187 .... so then i had to add 188, not following directions.... and today....as i started to post ... i added australians ... cause i spent a good amount of time with australians this weekend ......are all australians so fun? i sure hope so ..... that's a nice idea, a whole country full of funny and happy ...... anyway.... here's my list... my dna of happiness .... it's already changed since i wrote this a week ago .... i could delete  a couple .... add about 50 more..... but ... for now .... here it is ......

My happy 100

1. my family
2. living in a white picket fence house with my favorite people
3. my tiny dog (her size is part of why I love her so)
4. walking the dog
5. dog dancing for treats
6. bagels
7. art days with Allison (these are not in any order, I love  Allison more than bagels)
8. my pals…especially d, c, a, t, m
9. tennis
10. the sound of new tennis balls being opened
11. clogs
12. sneakers
13. boots
14. orange shoes (especially clogs, sneakers and boots)
15. messy paint days
16. fresh new paint brushes
17. reading the paper in the morning
18. letting my kids read the comics first
19. reading
20. book club
21. staying really late at book club
22. carpooling
23. bananas
24. grapes
25. watermelon
26. oatmeal raisin cookies
27. my lovely husband liking to cook
28. dinner not cooked by me
29. my little boy saying, can I make dinner?
30. my littlest girls saying, can I make cookies?
31. my big girl not really caring about being in the kitchen, just like me
32. summer vacation
33. road trips
34. travel journals
35. family journals
36. bags of journaling goodies
37. sharpies
38. buttons
39. new glue sticks
40. new socks
41. new tshirts
42. old sweats
43. andy’s gym shorts (on me)
44. rain
45. rainbows
46. rainboots
47. my three children in raincoats and rainboots walking to school because I’m militant about walking
48. holding my little one's hand when I walk her to school
49. playgrounds
50. swings
51. creeks
52. tadpoles
53. fishtanks
54. going to aquariums
55. snorkeling
56. turtles
57. zoos
58. elephants
59. green
60. big ole’ gaudy rings
61. ladybird pendants
62. silver earrings
63. roses
64. sunflowers
65. gerbera daisies
66. daffodils
67. poppies ( I could have conserved numbers if I’d just said flowers, but there are a few I’m not partial to)
68. Mona Lisa
69. Leonardo DaVinci
70. Matisse
71. Van Gogh
72. Cubism
73. Andy Warhol
74. dinner parties
75. swimming pools
76. the beach
77. nieces and nephews
78. new babies
79. pillows
80. flashlights
81. bungee cords
82. bike rides
83. watching my children play sports
84. driving golf carts
85. keys
86. games (I could take up 20 numbers here listing my favorites …. I could maybe even do a top 100 game list.)
87. taking the kids to the grandparents
88. my happy childhood memories
89. very nice brothers
90. planning ahead for my 20^th anniversary celebration
91. giving gifts
92. homemade gifts
93. watching tv in the evenings (I could fill up a dozen spots with favorite shows.)
94. Time magazine
95. Sports Illustrated
96. Cloth, Paper, Scissors
97. Lego
98. Dolls
99. Children’s books
100. Folk art
101. Art Fairs
102. Elton John
103. Cheryl Crowe
104. John Denver (since I was 10, sorry)
105. Jimmy Buffett
106. 80s music
107. Dancing with my husband
108. Front porches
109. Porch swings
110. Hard wood floors
111. Air conditioning
112. My church
113. My women’s group
114. Kanuga
115. Teaching children
116. Sunday school
117. Telling stories
118. 20/20 vision
119. cool sunglasses
120. soccer
121. sharpies
122. skates
123. footstools
124. poptarts
125. twizzlers
126. edamame (how did this not get mentioned til way down here?)
127. mr. potato head
128. Kevin Costner in Dances with Wolves
129. Kevin Bacon in Footloose
130. Going for walks with someone
131. Blue nail polish
132. Pedicures
133. Mexican restaurants
134. Museums
135. Family memberships
136. Christmas
137. Seafood
138. Sandcastles
139. Fishing
140. Nets
141. Boats
142. My husband in a row boat (he's not a skilled boat dude)
143. My camera
144. My computer
145. Flickr
146. Blogs
147. Twins Loop
148. Pottery
149. The Alphabet
150. Angels
151. Framed family photos
152. Children laughing
153. Knock knock jokes
154. Monkey Ball
155. Webkins Cash Cow
156. e.e. cummings
157. shel silverstein
158. ribbons
159. bingo cards
160. bottle caps
161. bells
162. reliable, roomy cars
163. ok, my mini van
164. sunsets
165. full moons
166. seashells
167. seahorses
168. mickey mouse
169. tinkerbell
170. dopey
171. chapstick
172. cloth napkins
173. diet coke (OH! Now you know it isn’t in any particular order!)
174. root beer
175. gingerale
176. spearmint
177. wintergreen
178. butterscotch
179. taking a class
180. writing
181. lists (ha, I’m thinking of my to do list, but this is certainly a grand list to not make a showing til 181!)
182. art books
183. apple mango tango detergent (mark taught me about that)
184. corn chowder (thanks dave)
185. backpacks
186. colorful bandaids
187. hearts
188. not following directions 
189. people from australia

....so there you go..... my happy list ....

feel free to make your own ... tell me if you do .... i'll add a link to it ... i'd love to see your happy dna ..... or .... if you don't have a blog ...or don't want to do your own humongo list, just leave five happies in the comments .... by all means, share your happy! 

and... speaking of happiness .... if you haven't joined my contest, please do .... deadline, march 22 ..... stick a link to it in your own blog if you want ... the more the merrier of course .... 

happiness to you and yours ... tomorrow, once i unpack a bit, i will definitely do art and post art ... see you then ..... 

late edit...or is it a ps ..... go read this post on mice and moonbeams...... 

and... now weeks later .... donna at mice and moonbeams has made her own happy 100.....

another late edit ... i found the blogger who wrote the list that inspired mine....go to soul glo ...

up to the minute info: 3rd eye muse made a happy 100 list .....