...I listen to NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour every week, at least before I go to sleep. It's a podcast hosted by Monkey See editor Linda Holmes, et al, and they talk about (what else?) pop culture. Anyway, at the end of the podcast they all talk about something that's making them happy this week, and it usually ends up being, like, a book, or movie, obscure TV show, or recently revived Broadway show.
So, I figured, I'm gonna try and do the same thing this week. It's so easy to get depressed nowadays (thank you Seasonal Affective Disorder), and I could use an exercise like this to put things in perspective. With that said, here's what's making me 'masaya' this week:
1) The worst of *this* snow storm is over - as people may or may not know -- and probably wouldn't have known until they saw pictures online of the collapsed Metrodome roof -- there was a crazy snow storm that hit the Midwest this past weekend. The storm dumped about 17" of snow onto Minneapolis, and needless to say there were wipeouts, stranded travelers, and frustrated people digging their cars out of the frozen tundra. But, it's all done, and that's the good thing. People pretty much got back into the swing of things on Monday, and it's like everyone woke up from a dream because the downtown Target was bustling on Monday night. I think everyone was stocking up after getting stranded in their homes the entire weekend. Which reminds me, I really should stock up some Spam and corned beef. Yum.
2) Unlimited text messages - who knew there could be so much joy with having this kind of freedom? I try not to text one word answers still, remembering the days of yore (i.e. two weeks ago) when I only had 200 text msgs on my plan (in- and outbound). But, it sure is nice to not say something to the effect of "stop talking to me". Because everybody knows Mariel loves to talk!
3) Sun Chips Harvest Cheddar - 'coz I'm eating them right now.
4) Starbucks Coffee @ work - Man, I didn't have coffee for the first time today, and only then did I truly realize how much I love that strong liquid power to get me through the day.
5) Amazon.com's awesome $25 + free shipping - gotta love this awesome online retailer for having everything in the entire known universe, and then shipping it for free.
6) Christmas Cards - received some lovely festive cards from family and friends, and for the first time ever, I'm attempting sending some out. I'm so holiday the elf ears are starting to grow.
7) My Pandora's "The Christmas Song" Mix - I love holiday music! Especially while walking outside in sub-freezing weather, nothing puts me in a happy (ok, tolerable) mood like listening to "The Christmas Song" or "Oh Holy Night" or (how apropos) "White Christmas."
8) Elf on USA Network - It's seriously my favorite holiday movie. I think it's going to be a classic in the same way "A Christmas Story" or "Christmas Vacation" now are -- two epic comedies which I still haven't seen, to the shock of others.
9) Gingerbread House decorating - So, we have a competition at work for creative gingerbread house decorating. Our team is SO stoked to build our gingerbread house which has, among other things, Slipknot AND the Beatles. Yep, it's gonna be a rockin' one.
10) Groupon's recent deal on French Meadow - I haven't had their dinner before, but since I had an amazing brunch there twice (goat cheese quiche drool), I immediately snapped this one up.
11) Planning for my Christmas and New Years trips - there's no place like home, and no better loving than from the family. And no better state than California (haha, that's not true on so many levels, but that don't matter).
12) McDonald's on Nicollet - fun late-night run, and I haven't eaten in a McDonald's for a while now. Sometimes, there's nothing better than a medium box of greasy Mickey D fries, eh?
13) My heater - Oh. My. God. Can you imagine if I didn't have one? I can't; which really makes me happy AND grateful for this, as I am for all the other things in my list.
I know that the world's imperfect, and that there's a lot of crap going on a macro and micro level. But, if we spend so much time obsessing over how sucky our lives are, then we miss the many little things that do make our lives livable and, if we're really lucky, utterly satisfying. I know where I stand in the grand scale of personal happiness...actually I don't know. What I do know is I am making an effort to stay positive [on most realms of my life], because positivity begets positivity. And I would really rather live my life as happily as I can every day. :-)
