Tag Archives: happiness

Facebook is great, but face-to-face is better

Tillamook CheeseLast night, my husband and I invited some friends over for a “wine-and-cheese party.”  We had Tillamook Cheese we wanted to share with our friends that we brought back from our recent trip to Oregon, and we figured what goes better with cheese than wine?

My husband and I happen to really love hosting get-togethers at our house, but we haven’t done it much in the last few years. We just felt like our house was too small to adequately host friends. The house we rented prior to the one we are in now was PERFECT for parties, but it was a little ways out of town and hard to get people to come out to visit. We moved into town, but downsized dramatically. We felt like our party hosting fun was still on hold until we moved again.

Boy were we wrong!

So what if we had to haul my desk chair from the office in and another chair up from basement?

So what if we didn’t have room on the table for plates, so we all just picked out our choice of finger foods with our fingers?

So what if there was a line to our one bathroom at one point?

323: Rhythm in WineIt didn’t diminish the wonderful evening that we had one bit. We put together a spread of cheese, veggies, fruit, bread, sausage, etc. We had Merlot, Moscato, Rosé, sparkling red, vodka, beer, Irish whisky, and water.

We had conversations.

In person.

Face-to-face conversations. We told stories, laughed (a lot), high fived over the table, and bounced ideas and thoughts off one another. No one was on Facebook. No one was on Twitter. We were all there, in that moment, together, enjoying each other’s company.

It was amazing.

When the party broke up, we all agreed that THIS was what it was all about. Friends getting together and catching up. And we vowed to do it again. We vowed to do it more often.

When our friends left, my husband and I looked at each other with big grins. I told my husband, “This just proved no house it too small when your heart is this full.”

 

Cheer up

I’ve mentioned in the past that I am a member of a site called Daily Challenge by MeYou Health. Today’s everyday health prompt is “List 3 ways you can cheer yourself up the next time you have a bad day.”  More from the prompt: Everyone has a bad day from time to time, the kind when nothing goes right. It’s how we react that can make all the difference.

Isn’t that the truth!? I’ve had a few of those lately…

So what are some positive ways to battle a bad day? Other than having a drink or two or ten (which all that does is give you a hangover the next day and yet ANOTHER bad day to deal with…).

key_heartWriting.  For me, writing has always been a go-to when I’m in a bad mood. Write it down. Get it out. Move on. I’ve stumbled upon spirals I vented in when I was little, and I find myself chuckling at the “tragedies” that upset me. But, hey, bad mood, get it out and feel better. Since I blog and writing is more focused today, I don’t turn to this as much as I used to… my private journal sits dormant a lot more than I like. But sometimes just knowing I CAN write about an issue helps, too.

 key_heart Talk it out. My husband, my mom, and my best girlfriends are my vents. If something is bothering me, its wonderful to know I can talk it out with any or all of these people. Sometimes I need feedback… tell me if I am wrong to feel the way I do. Help me see the other side. Sometimes, the last thing I want is feedback. Just listen. Just let me get it out. And suddenly, all is right with the world again.

key_heart Clean. Cleaning always helps make things better. Cleaning gets the negative OUT – literally and figuratively. Dust, vacuum, scrub, bleach, sweep… it gets the dirt the dirt and grime out of the house. It also gets the negative feelings out of my mind and heart. Cleaning makes me happy. It makes me feel good again.

key_heart Get away. Go for a drive. Go ride a bike. Go for a walk. Jump on the back of my husband’s motorcycle and zone out. Sometimes you have to physically remove yourself from the situation upsetting you to get perspective and to bring yourself back up. Its not running away… its resetting in a great way.

key_heart Music. Some times all I want is silence and music is exactly what I DON’T want. Other times, though, putting on a fast paced and happy song is all it takes to bring me back up. Get me dancing in my seat or dancing around the room. Puts a spring in my step and all is right in the world again.

So what about you? Anything that makes YOU happy when you’re having a bad day?