As a part of my Happiness Project, I choose something new to focus on in my life each month. You can see my 2012 Happiness Project here.
June: 35 of My Favorite Things
Last night I was reading Gretchin Rubin’s blog The Happiness Project. She says to ask yourself, What Makes You Happy? I thought in lieu of my 35th birthday (which feels like some sort of a milestone) I would do 35 things in June that make me happy! After thinking about this, I realized that often times making others happy is what brings a smile to my face. Here goes…
1. Go out to the movies
2. Dinner at The Sushi House
3. Write someone a letter of gratitude
4. Complete a Random Act of Kindness
5. Take a nap with my girls
6. Play scrabble with Dave
7. Go to Dairy Queen for a Blizzard
8. Ask my mom to tell me a story about when I was a little girl
9. Church with the family
10. Do a photoshoot for a friend
11. Work on my digital scrapbook
12. Read a book
13. Sit outside in the sun and do nothing
14. Send my Grandma a care package
15. Take a boat ride
16. Go on a bike ride with the girls
17. Clean out the kids toys
18. Decorate our youngest’s new bedroom
19. Send pictures to a family member
20. Snuggle under my grandma’s blanket on the couch
21. Dinner with my friends
22. Look through old pictures
23. Write in my diary
24. Breakfast at Miss Cindy’s
25. Get a manicure
26. Play Old Maid with my daughter
27. Drink a McDonald’s unsweetened Ice Tea
28. Use my Molly Maid Gift Certificate
29. Spend an evening on Pinterest
30. Get a Michigan Cherry coffee from Biggby
31.Go to bed early and sleep in
32. Watch an old movie
33. Make a fun Apple movie trailer
34. Switch purses
35. Take a walk after dinner with the family
May: Pursue My Hobby
Follow-Up: I completed a four week class from Jessica Sprague called Portraiture 101. I also watched one-hour of an online workshop but it wasn’t speaking to me so I didn’t watch the entire clip over at Creative Live. It felt really good to be challenged behind the lens and to capture our everyday moments with my fancy Nikon and not just my iPhone! We had a journaling assignment where we created an artist statement. I also got a fun camera bag for my birthday!
April: Going Green
Follow-Up: Our family had a green smoothie every single day this month except for one! It was one day in Florida and I couldn’t find a restaurant on the run to make me a green drink. 29/30 days, not bad. Will we keep it up? Sure! Everyday? I don’t think that’s necessary. Here’s what I found out: Prepping ahead of time and making up your smoothies in bags in the freezer saves you a ton of time. The recipes make enough for our entire family and sometimes we have an 8oz drink left over. I keep this in the fridge and it is good for up to 24 hours. My blender is not the quality blender to be using for making smoothies every day but I am not ready to spend close to $500 for a Vitamix. I will put up with our current blender until it gives out on us!
These were my favorite recipes from Simple Green Smoothies:
CILANTRO LIMEMADE
” serves 2 ”
1 ½ cups spinach, fresh
½ cup cilantro, fresh
2 cups water
3 bananas
1 lime, peeled
1 inch ginger, fresh
BERRY PROTEIN BASH
2 cups spinach, fresh
2 cups almond milk, unsweetened
1 cups strawberries
1 cup blueberries, frozen
1 banana
1/2 cup almonds*
*soak overnight in water before blending
Peach Coconut Dream
2 cups spinach, fresh
1 cup coconut water
2 cups Grapes, freeze overnight
1 peach
You can find out more about this Simple Green Smoothie Challenge here.
March: Work
Follow-up This month I wanted to grow in a few areas in regards to work.
1. Read Pinterest Savvy by Melissa Taylor and create five things I learned from the book that I am going to put to use. These are the five things I learned about: Verify my website (check), comment on pins (I haven’t done this yet), pin my videos (check), create a board and invite others to pin on it (check), after you follow someone new pin some of their stuff (check).
2.Google+ -I am on it, my profile is set, I’ve joined communities and circles but I am not sold on this platform yet.
3. Sponsorships-A HUGE thank you to my web girl and my graphic designer for helping me to get the advertisement up and running!
4. Thank you to my intern Karelyn for your support in our super successful Twitter Party! We had over thirty people join in the conversation. There were women from Hawaii, India and Singapore! We also had almost 200 entries for our Kindle Giveaway on Pinterest. It was a great month of new marketing adventures.
February: Clean Up & Clear Out
Follow-up This month I wanted to clean or organize something every day of the month. I also wanted to tackle a task that I had been thinking about for a very long time.
1. The clean up was good! I liked having a small task each day. I got a bit behind when we took our family trip.
2. I wrote the letters. Letters to my loved ones in case anything unexpected were to ever happen. Creepy, yes. Something I’ve always wanted to do though.
January: Learn
Follow-up This month I wanted to learn something new. I committed to doing this in three ways.
1. Learn to load the dishwasher. Check. It still doesn’t look professional but with all the plastic servingware I am getting in there, I am not sure that’s possible. Thanks to my pal Erica, I am able to fit more into my dishwasher with some organization!
2. UPDATE: April–this is a hard goal for me!!!! Learn about the instrument I play. Play the piano twice a week. My phone reminder was fun. Every Wednesday and Sunday morning it reminded me to play the piano. I wasn’t always able to stop what I was doing to practice. I will continue to work on this goal!
3. Learn to share my love. I participated in the Happier at Home 21 Day Relationship Challenge. I signed up for this challenge to learn some new, creative ways to show my appreciation to those I love in my life. I don’t see my home lacking in love but why not learn more about vulnerability and authenticity? My favorite things I learned: Don’t keep score, create a threshold ritual, and kiss in the morning and at night.
One Little Word:
I have followed Ali Edwards project “One Little Word” for two years now. My word for 2011 was Peace and my word for 2012 was Balance. I’ve never taken her class but I have incorporated my word into my monthly goals/wishes/resolutions. Here’s how to come up with a word (from Ali). My word for 2013 is Grace.
Can you identify a single word that sums up what you want for yourself in 2013?
It can be something tangible or intangible. It can be a thought, a feeling, or an emotion. It can be singular or plural. The key is to find something that has personal meaning for you. This is not your mother’s word or your spouse’s word or your child’s word”this is YOUR word.
One little word can have big meaning in your life if you allow yourself to be open to the possibilities. And here’s one thing that is totally interesting: sometimes a word will pop into your brain and it will not make any sense to you right now. Give it some time. Let it percolate a bit. I have often found that our heart speaks to us in very unique ways. Maybe this is a word you need to hear but just aren’t ready for it yet.
Again, be open to the possibilities.
– See more at: http://www.mariadismondy.com/2014/5/happiness-project-update/#sthash.WtqWJpB0.dpuf