Happiness Project- February

February Happiness Project check in! This month was my 'parenting' month and also I'd be including my 'self love' goals as well. It's harder than I thought it would be. For serious.

Week 1

I dropped the ball a bit on this week. Not much to report on. I think that we've done well with having adventures (museum trip! sleep over with the niece! all the library fun!) and I'm working really hard to be extra patient and make time.

Week 2

Less adventures because of sickness but lots of love and patience to make up for it. I'm also working on ideas for how to be a treasure trove of happy memories. I've made special files on our computer to properly organize photos and I'm working through them all. Eventually (hopefully this month) I'll get some printed out and I'll start working on a photo album for each of them of important memories and events.

Week 3

Adventures abound! Also I feel more patient lately. Although Alice Mae screaming and stomping her feet and yelling 'FINE' at me every time she doesn't get her way tests my nerves. I am trying to include them more and teach them more. It's funny because I felt like I was doing a good job already with that sort of thing but when you actually make yourself conscious of it every day, you do even more.

I am also trying to take more pictures. I've slacked off on photo taking the past few months so I am trying very hard to remedy that and take more pictures and record more memories.

Week 4

My big thing this week is that I bought gorgeous memory boxes for the kids. I plan on going through all of our photos and printing out important ones and adding those to their boxes. I also keep important school things and special tickets. Things like that. One day they will have these beautiful boxes to look through and all of these memories will come flooding back to them. Everything will have a story that we can tell over and over. I am going to cry even thinking of it. I know my mom kept a lot of my school projects and drawings and it meant so much to me and was so fun to look back on.

January Goals- Revisited

My January resolutions are now my every month resolutions and other than exercising I am doing pretty well. I feel like I am more comfortable in my skin. I even bought myself some pretty new clothes this month! Just waiting on some nice Spring weather to wear them. Oh, and I am still THE WORST at sleeping. I feel like my sleeping has gotten even worse, which seemed impossible a month ago. But I am being kind to myself, putting self-care high on my list of priorities, I'm eating loads of veggies and trying new recipes full of color and health and I am drinking a lot of water. Good stuff!


I feel like it was a successful month. I am headed in the right direction. For the rest of the year, when it comes to parenting and such, I would like to keep up with their memory boxes and also buy a photo album for each of them and print out photos and keep up to date with that constantly. I'd like to continue doing activities and having adventures and saying YES! and being open and I would like to work really hard on how to navigate each child and how they need me to react and how they best respond to certain action of ours. Parenting is hard work.

March is going to be marriage/family month!

My Resolutions for March

1. Let it go (let it goooooo can't hold it back anymorrrrrre).
2. Make time- date time.
3. One night a week -at least- of tech free time.
4. Family game night and movie night every week.

I was going to have a whole month dedicated to marriage stuff but honestly, I am blessed to have a rock solid marriage that I don't really feel motivated to change in most ways. I think we are good the way we are and my marriage is not a source of unhappiness for me in any way. Hashtag blessed.

Mostly self-explanatory again, I think. The first one is just my need to hold onto dumb little things that bother me. Just make like Elsa and let that junk go, man. Those little nags and grudges turn into dumb marital fights that ain't nobody got time for. Second- make time with husband. We don't do a lot of date nights out of the house but we should do more at home date nights for sure. Third- we are so techy. I mean, we are glued to games, phones, the tv, the wii, etc and I would like at least 1 night where we do away with the computers and video games, at least. Fourth and last- We already have a movie night nearly every week but I'd like to make it an Event and have special food and such. Even maybe just doing that twice a month so it's not too much pressure. And game night! We play board games pretty often but I would like to have a special night set aside that is just straight up game night. Basically I just want to work on quality family time where we talk more and spend time TOGETHER instead of in front of flashing screens. Lets get going! Adding January AND February to this month so lets see if I can juggle all 3. I have to say, I don't really feel different most of the time but I do notice that I am less anxious and moody so I think this Happiness Project is going somewhere good.

The best thing about March is SPRING. It's right around the corner. I can feel it! I have been in such a wintery funk because SC is usually so warm this time of year already and this cold has me grumpy. Come on Spring. You can do it, I believe in you!

Happy Monday! I hope Spring finds you too.

Happiness Project - January

Hello Monday. Boo. I miss the weekend already. Especially since I'm sniffly and sore throaty and exhausted and my left boob hurts for some strange reason. But anywhoozle.

My Happiness Project started this month and I was very excited. I love the idea and I feel like I need something like this in my life. My goals looked like this-

My resolutions for January-

1. Say 'I love you' to yourself.
2. Eat a rainbow of a diet. Eat more green stuff.
3. Keep drinking water.
4. Move.
5. Go to sleep earlier.
6. Take time for myself.

I got off to an amazing start for about 2 weeks. I was working out every day (kickboxing and belly dancing!) and eating really healthy and it was all great and amazing and rainbowlicious. Then I got knocked on my butt by a back spasm and ended up laid up on the couch for a week on a heating pad taking ibuprofen and then it was a UTI. Blahhhh I say. Since then I haven't done much exercising. I feel like I have been better about moving around in general, just not a ton of intentional exercise.

I've definitely tried to be more loving to myself, so that's great. I've eaten a ton of vegetables and made myself a salad container in the fridge to organize my salad toppings so it's a breeze to put them together. I've tried to make conscious food choices and eat veggies with every meal and snack on veggies and fruit. Good job, me! I'm still pounding down that water as usual. I've been really intentional with my time and I've made time for myself, more time for kids and family time and also time for friends and family. I feel very successful.

I did fail completely at going to sleep early. I just can't seem to make it to bed before 11. Usually closer to midnight. But I've been taking some gorgeous naps when Alice naps, which I feel is definitely taking time for myself. Yes, we'll go with that. So really, I'm still getting more sleep! Give yourself a pat on the back, self! Great job, April. Thanks, April!

Do I feel happier? I think that's the question here... One month isn't really long enough to tell, is it? But I think mostly I feel better or at least on my way to healthier mindsets. I've been trying to worry less and be less negative. I don't always succeed but I do try, and no matter what Yoda says that has to count for something.

So, hey there February. You showed up faster than I thought you would! What will this month bring me.

February- Parenting

I think I need to focus on my parenting. I want to be better at some things. More fun, more patient, less testy, less tired and fast paced.


My Resolutions for February

1. Be a treasure trove of happy memories.
2. Practice patience. Less fussing.
3. Go on adventures.
4. Say yes more than I say no, but remember that no is good for them.
5. Make time.

I feel like mostly it's self-explanatory. I want to not only remember to take pictures often but I also want to start working on photo books for them. I'd like to buy some pretty file boxes to keep their memories in and make them each a photo book. Also catch up on their baby books. Whoops.

I'll practice being more patient and understanding. I'll say yes more and make plans for us on the weekends. I'll make time for more games and family movie nights and park trips.

This month is exciting to me. I'll also be carrying on with my January resolutions. So lets see how I do with 2 months of resolutions to keep up with! I'm ready to do this. Hoo-ah.

2015 Happiness Project

Wayyyyy back in May of last year I bought The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin and then sometime in December I decided to pick it up and actually read it. And boy am I glad I did.

I decided that the timing was perfect and I would start my own Happiness Project. I basically jumped in and winged it because I hadn't even finished half the book yet. I did finish it yesterday though! Highly recommend.

So, my Happiness Project. Here is the thing- I like to think of myself as happy. Mental illness aside (anxiety and depression, you nasty bitches) I am a grateful, happy, comfortable person. But when I really examine things I realize I am very uneasy a lot of the time and there are so many things I want and need to change.

Here is how my Happiness Project will work- Every month will be a new category to focus on and within that category I will have several resolutions to focus on. Each month will carry on into the next month so I'll be focusing on a new category while trying to also include all previous ones.

For example- The month of January is Body Love. I'll be focusing on health and being appreciative of my body. With my infertility struggles the past 18 months I have been hard on myself and my body. I have been angry at it, resentful of it for not working, bitter about my empty uterus and the limbo of babylessness that I find myself in. It was important to me to start off this new year by focusing on loving my body and caring for it.

My resolutions for January-

1. Say 'I love you' to yourself.
2. Eat a rainbow of a diet. Eat more green stuff.
3. Keep drinking water.
4. Move.
5. Go to sleep earlier.
6. Take time for myself.

How I'm keeping up with my monthly resolutions-

I'm a gold star kind of girl. I like my praise. I am also a visual, list making, chart loving girl. So my perfect resolution solution was- ALL THE CHARTS! I am keeping up with my resolutions by having a monthly chart taped on my wall with each resolution and a space for each day and at the end of the day I check off what I feel was a success.

I also have an exercise chart with monthly goals at the top. This month's goals- stick to 1 challenge for the entire month (my challenge being daily squats, gradually adding to the number of squats every few days) and moving at least 15 minutes a day. When I do these things, I get to add a sticker! It is actually really satisfying and motivating to add those stickers.

This will be how I handle each month because so far it is working for me. It's simple, easy, a constant visual reminder of what I'm trying to achieve. I feel really successful so far. I am definitely failing at going to sleep earlier but I am experiencing a big energy boost from eating lots of greenery and exercising.

I plan to make an end of the month How Did This  Month Go/What's In Store For Next Month post every month to keep up with it all and hold myself accountable.

I really can't say enough how excited I am for this! It's new and fun and I love the idea of having month by month resolutions. I really recommend the book and the whole idea in general.