happiness.

this year one of my resolutions was to carry out my own happiness project. i have [slowly] been reading the book "the happiness project" by gretchen rubin. i'm reading it a chapter a month (can't wait until may when i will have more time to read for pleasure post graduation.) and take on her monthly resolutions as my own after reading about them. january was about increasing energy and february is about--you guessed it--love. the purpose of completing and continuing each monthly resolution is to feel more happy. i am excited about this year long project and think it really will help me keep the perspective necessary to find happiness no matter what is going on. rubin's happiness formula is the following:

to be happy, i need to think about feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right, in an atmosphere of growth. 

this makes a lot of sense to me and obviously i'm loving her tips on taking care of other things in life in order to gain more happiness. but i was reminded in church today of what i know will always bring true happiness; being a disciple of christ. as long as i am following christ's example, becoming more like him, and serving as he would, i know i will be happy. i know this and try to do it on a daily basis. the monthly advice from gretchen rubin is helping me focus and specify my goals to become a stronger, more committed, disciple of christ. 

pandora.

i have really been enjoying pandora the last few days. i know that basically everyone loves christmas music and everyone gets into the christmas spirit this time of year. but i definitely consider myself someone who goes a little overboard with the christmas listening. it's on all. the. time. pandora has been a great source for me to find new christmas favorites and different versions of the classics. i don't know what my itunes christmas genre would consist of if pandora didn't exist because my go-to christmas stations fm 100.3 and kosy 106.5 just don't play enough of a variety. thank you pandora, for helping me expand my christmas music playlist. 

here is one of my new found favorites. 

ads that are thicker than the newspaper, aka black friday ads.

alright. i'll admit it. i got sucked in. 

i had zero plans to go out on black friday, i had no need for anything in particular, and i definitely did not have money to spend. 

so why did i go? my parents were looking through the ads during breakfast on thanksgiving and i joined them (baaaaad idea). all of the sudden i started to need things. those darn ads got the best of me. i would have a few more dollars in my pocket had i not looked at the ads found in the newspaper thanksgiving morning. as i was looking i kept finding things that i could find a use for. the deals were just too good to pass up and before i knew it i was in line at target (for 40 mins, might i add) at 9 pm, waiting to get into the store thanksgiving night. two of my sisters were already going and that was another reason why i caved and went. im not saying that i'm regretting my decision entirely (although my bank account IS suffering) because it was fun to spend time with my sisters. all of our thanksgiving plans were over by the time we went and it actually gave us more time to spend with each other--even if we were exhausted the next day. 

i ended up getting my sisters birthday present way ahead of time. 
i got my engaged friends their wedding presents for cheaper than i would have if i waited. 
i got my parents christmas presents (haven't dont that in a while due to lack of funds). 
and i splurged a little and got myself a few things, but i don't do it often so it's ok, right??

not sure i'm the biggest fan of black friday. not sure if i will make it a tradition. but i'm not a hater. 

a moment captured.

one of my friends got engaged last week and part of it was actually recorded by a news crew. i don't know if it was supposed to work out this way but what a great moment to have recorded. this and other instances of this happening (dr. coyne's video of her proposal as another example) are wonderful. i feel like it is so awesome that we live in a time when it is possible to preserve forever exact precious moments of life.  these videos will be treasured forever i'm sure. i love that we have the ability to take pictures and videos to help preserve our memories. 

if you're a romantic and want to see the darling fairy tale proposal click here. 

parenthood addiction.

im addicted. you think i would be productive over this wonderful break and try to get ahead in school so i wouldn't have a week like last week...nope. i'll just watch parenthood whenever i have a spare minute, thanks. my friends got me hooked on parenthood a couple weekends ago and i really wish i would have waited until christmas break to be introduced to it. it happened though, and i really am only complaining a little bit because i love this show a whole lot. i laugh. i cry. i already feel a connection with each character. sometimes i find myself thinking about them during the day. 

told you it was bad. 
do yourself a favor and look this show up on netflix-after finals. 

happiness project.

a few of my girl friends and i took a little road trip to california this weekend. to save time we decided to drive through the night to and from california. this was slightly risky but with a lot of caffeine, a good book, and a friend to discuss it with we made it to each destination safely. my friend and i began reading the happiness project on the drive and instantly loved it. we decided to do our own project beginning in january. we are both wanting to improve on our quality of life. it's not that life is bad (it's FAR from that), and it's not that i'm not happy (i'm very happy and very blessed). we just feel like we could be taking more advantage of what we have and can better learn to/choose to be more happy each day. if you haven't read it, check it out. 

advertising.

i saw these two commercials today and wanted your opinions. the first one i loved. sears, 2 thumbs up. 

the second one is creative and (quite) funny but---is it border line pornographic? inappropriate? uncomfortable? or am i just being weird about the whole thing? i'm probably just being weird. thoughts...