Friday Five: Smile addition

Five things that are making me happy this week. 

#1 It snowed and my backyard is beautiful.

#2 My hats & mittens are no longer all over the house.

#3 I get adorable messages written for me on the board.

#4 More than a month later this plant is still alive.

#5 This picture exists. 

Things that make me happy.

I'm trying to lighten the mood in my brain so I started going through the pictures on my phone looking for a chuckle and here's what I found out. I figured I needed a double pick me up so instead of 5 things from my phone that make me happy I'm going to show you ten.

Text messages like this.

My salty sea captain boyfriend. 

The Beef staring at himself as a salty sea captain on my computer.

The Beef posing with a santa statue he found.

The ginger bread xmas tree The Beef & his man friend made over the weekend.

The awesome cake pop snowman I made.

The delightful gingerbread house Fishy and I made over the weekend.

The disembodied Santa & Mrs. Claus ornaments I got for Christmas.

Conversations like this.

Babies wearing the Christmas outfits I gave them.

I love rushing seasons.

So if you ever hang around me at the tail end of summer you already know that all I can focus on is fall. This is probably because I start celebrating summer way before it happens. As far as I'm concerned it's been summer for a few months now. Unseasonably warm weather in March put the nail in the coffin for me. So here you go, my 5 favorite things about summer.

1. Camping

My first camping trip of the season was on March 20th this year. I had to hunt like crazy to find a camp ground that was open but I did it and it was glorious. I've never gone camping that early but weather providing I intend to from now on. I had another camping adventure in April and then again in May. I'm working on planning something for June as well.

My parents started me out camping around the beginning of my existence and I've never stopped, it is my happy place. I completely lucked out that the Beef is more than up for any camping adventures I can think of, even though he can't build a campfire to save his life. 

2. The Lake

Lake George located in New York is my all time favorite body of water. It's a bit of a drive to get there so I have to make due with the one pictured above, I am not complaining. That's the lake where we have access to a private beach and our boat slip, so if I'm up for laying by the water, swimming, fishing or just tooling around on the boat there it is. We spent a ton of time on the other side of this lake last summer and I'm expecting this year will be no different.

3. Fire

If there is one thing we do right about here it would have to be fires. They are not just for camping anymore. They are for whenever the heck you want them. Fire is one of those amazing things that (as long as I'm not too close) rejuvenates my soul. 

4. BBQ

I think the world ends if the weather turns nice and you don't start grilling something. You can't even prove me wrong because it just does not happen. It's also pretty rare that you'll be standing out on the deck by yourself grilling something, something about sizzling meat makes folks show up and that's fine by me. If it's just the two of us or a dozen people I don't care, the sizzling symphony is good enough for me.

5. Fireflies

If you are not fortunate enough to be acquainted with these magical little buggers I feel like your summers have been incomplete. By the time I was ten years old I probably killed about a thousand of them because the jar on my bedside table didn't have any air holes. I'll never forget the magical glow in my room provided by their sacrifice. 

*moment of silence for the senseless killing of rear lighted insects*

These days I let them go about their business and don't try to turn them into lightening fixtures. Something about sitting out on the deck when it starts to get dark and seeing their little flicker makes me feel like I'm 10 again, which is pretty much perfect. 

So what about you? What are your favorite things about summer?

Come on, get happy!

Since it's Monday and most people don't like Mondays I've decided to refocus to things that make me happy instead of dwelling on the long week that's stretched out in front of me.

So here we go, 5 things that are making me happy right now.

Cuddles

The weather is a little bit colder, the flannel sheets are on the bed and even though there's been a fight over the thermostat I can always open my window. Apparently The Big Cheese (my father) is part polar bear and I inherited his sleeping habits.

One of the nice things about this is that The Beef is also big into cuddling, so even if he's just woken up, looked at the clock and realized he's horribly late for work I still get my morning cuddles right before he goes zooming around the house getting ready to leave.

Singing

I love singing though even when drinking I still don't have the courage to do it in front of anyone. I'm pretty sure I make Marla Hooch sound like a choir of angles when I open my mouth to belt out a tune. That doesn't matter though b/c if I'm alone in my car or hanging out with The Beef and something I know the words to comes on, away I go. One of my most favorite times to start yowling away is when he's designated driving me home from the bar, not a care in the world, I control the ipod and I'm putting on a hell of a show.

Pinterest

If you don't know what pinterest is you're really missing out. It's a magical place where you can collect all of the things you like on the internet. If you want to save tips or pictures on organization, cooking, wardrobe, interior decorating, crafting, it is your one stop shop. I'm real not sure how I ever managed to live without it. Oh yeah, I book marked the hell out of everything and never went back to it...

Slippers

I hate socks. I think they're evil. I can't stand wearing them but sometimes it's necessary. On the other hand I love my slippers. It's cold enough now to run around the house in them without looking like a crazy person and you can believe that the very minute I get home the socks are gone and the slippers are on. So heavenly...

Christmas

I know I know, it's a bit early for this. Most of my friends are in the one holiday at a time camp and think it's way too early for this but I don't care. I've already been bumping the holiday tunes in the car (and singing my heart out) and planning my decorations this year. No offense to Thanksgiving but my favorite part about it is that that's the night The Big Cheese turns on his insane front lawn Christmas decorations. Everything is bright and shiny, why would you want to wait to celebrate all of that?

What's making you happy right now?

Falling into Autumn

When I was 12 years old moving to New England seemed like a death sentence. I mean seriously, the entire region is expected to share one football team! We had to drive passed fields of corn & cows to get to the new house. The main road was only ONE lane! As I've gotten older I've learned to appreciate the little things New England has to offer (with the exception of the Red Sox). I've also gained the ability transport myself back to my beloved New York whenever I want, so that helps.

I think the absolute best thing about New England is that no matter what the calendar says it's already Autumn. And with that, since the internet at my house is out I'm doing the 5 things I love about Autumn in no particular order.

College Football, specifically Notre Dame football, which in recent years hasn't given me much to be happy about but I love it just the same. My family has a long history with Notre Dame and one day I'll tell you about it because it's kind of awesome and it's certainly left me with unconditional love for the Fighting Irish.

Professional Football, most notably the New York Giants. So much so that my work availability revolves around their schedule. Thankfully I was born in the region of New York that belongs to them fans otherwise I'd be stuck with the miserable existence that every Jet fan is burdened with. Win or lose my love for big blue has never faltered and my Manning jersey is the focal point of my wardrobe every Sunday.

Pumpkin! This is the time of year when people start putting pumpkin in everything! I'm currently sipping a pumpkin iced coffee as I type this. We get muffins, donuts, coffee, ice cream, pie etc and it's HEAVENLY! Not to mention carving them is a blast.

A is for APPLE! This is another thing that starts popping up everywhere this time of year and being surrounded by orchards makes it that much sweeter. From apple cider to apple butter and every single amazing thing in between Autumn just wouldn't be the same without it.

Last but certainly not least: foliage. FOE-LEE-AGE if you say foil-age you can just GTFO right now. It makes you sound like a crazy leaf peeper and it means that you're one of those people who's holding up traffic. It's absolutely gorgeous but learn to appreciate it while on the move, no need to stop traffic to see the pretty colors.

What's your favorite thing about Autumn?