Sunday, December 12, 2010

My Month of Happy - November 2010

What follows is the result of a month long experiment to remind myself of the abundance of Happy Moments in each and every one of my days. I charged myself to recognize when I felt overcome by Happiness and not let that moment pass without a pause to truly internalize the memory. It is my hope that this practice will continue long after my experiment ends; that I will no longer rush through my days only seeing my next appointment but rather when I reflect, my days will be movements from one Happy Moment to the next. Thus begins my "Month of Happy"...

Monday, November 1, 2010 - Be Good to People. I love this message. My coffee mug; a daily reminder in simple black and white...one especially needed in the halls of Corporate America. Be Good to People. [p.s. It's easy, once you try.]Tuesday, November 2, 2010 - A grasshopper workout in my home. (Not quite the same as the "real thing" but close enough for now.)

Wednesday, November 3, 2010 - A beautiful crescent moon. View from my home office window...la Bella Luna!

Thursday, November 4, 2010 - Happy Place! Piloting N5155Q on final approach to KSMO; practicing pattern at dusk. My Heart is Home when my body is in Flight.

Friday, November 5, 2010 - Solace at the end of a very long, hard week.

Saturday, November 6, 2010 - Playing with my friend Angel's little girl, Ruby!

Sunday, November 7, 2010 - Gateway to one of the most magical places on Earth...the Yard!

Monday, November 8, 2010 - I couldn't see the Happy in this long, distracted day.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010 - Murray curled up in the warm clean laundry pile always makes me smile.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010 - Marshmallow hugs and ear kisses from my sweet Murray. [Very hard to take the picture with all his snuggles but you get the idea.]

Thursday, November 11, 2010 - Driving back from Carpentria, CA I stopped off the PCH to capture the fog rolling in on the Channel Islands. Unable to find a good position, I gave up and headed back to PCH until I spotted this pink rose peeking through a white picket fence just daring anyone to be so wrapped up in their own self as to pass it by without stopping and smiling. The Rose won. I stopped and I smiled.

Friday, November 12, 2010 - Another difficult week, but this Theodore Roosevelt quote (April 23, 1910; Speech at the Sorbonne - Paris France) sent by a friend proved just what I needed to hear, precisely when I needed to hear it...

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the
strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them
better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena,
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives
valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is
no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive
to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who
spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the
triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at
least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be
with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

Saturday, November 13, 2010 - Walking the Bluff on a brisk, bright early morning.

Sunday, November 14, 2010 - Changing the bedsheets with my sweet little Ira; still as playful as the day I brought him home (11.5 years ago!)

Monday, November 15, 2010 - I'm beginning to see a pattern...

Tuesday, November 16, 2010 - Parking lot at LAX, about 5:30P, just returned back from a client mtg in Las Vegas. I always love the way the tower looks like something out of a Sci-Fi movie.


Wednesday, November 17, 2010 - Sweet Ira snuggled up for a nap in the sunshine.

Thursday, November 18, 2010 - My home office at night; working under the stars. (Well, a projection of the Universe...someday the real thing will be my view.)

Friday, November 19, 2010 - Above the clouds, watching the sunrise at 35,000'

Saturday, November 20, 2010 - OSCAR MADISON!!!

Sunday, November 21, 2010 - Best Friends, Oscar & Rocky

Monday, November 22, 2010 - Blue Moon! On this day I realized that my passion for space goes back a lot further than I originally thought. When I was 2-3 years old, my favorite ice cream in the whole wide world was...Blue Moon!!!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - Morning storms rolling in...

Wednesday, November 24, 2010 - My Thanksgiving centerpiece made by my beautiful niece, Marisa and her mamma.

Thursday, November 25, 2010 - Too much Happy for just one picture. I told you Murray snuggled up in the clean, warm laundry ALWAYS makes me smile.

AND WE FOUND Greenie!!!! Ira's Happy makes me Happy.

Friday, November 26, 2010 - One of the pitfalls of ground school home study...

Saturday, November 27, 2010 - Yet again, entirely humbled by the magnificence of Nature...

And another for this day - A reminder of Miraval!

Sunday, November 28, 2010 - Truly Thankful!

Monday, November 29, 2010 - A thoughtful gift that continues to bring me daily joy.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010 - Dinner with dear friends!

Wishing this will never end...

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of moments that take our breath away."

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Happy Place!!!


On final approach (KSMO); practicing pattern at dusk. Nov 4, 2010

My very own Ballet Barre

Murray & Ira's Halloween Fun - Oct 2010

Halloween flowers from Mum...
Apparently Murray & Ira thought the purple and the orange clashed because they removed every purple stem.


Tinkerbelle Flies!!! Halloween @ Richies Oct 2010

A Tinkerbelle Transformation...


Celebrating another Halloween in the Yard....

Sparkly wings and everything....



Pirate Richie & Tink

Richie and Tink "talk shop"

Just before Catch

Dear Friends!

Pixie Dust!

Wendy and Tink (with Meredith on tramp)

Meeting the REAL LIVE Tinkerbelle!!! She flies across Disneyland to Cinderella's Castle and lights the fireworks display every evening. Her name is Jennifer too! (Coincidence? I don't think so.)

Tinkerbelle Flies...




(Not the best swings! It turns out, Fairy wings increase drag and compromise lift on a trapeze bar.)


I Do Believe in Fairies! I Do Believe in Fairies! I Do! I Do! I Do...

Dancing on Air - September 27, 2010

Bungee Trapeze - After the Bounce, building core strength and muscle control under the Bar...

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

A wonderful reason to Celebrate!! - Sep 2010

My beautiful sister's daughter, my sweet niece, turns 3!!!

Birthday morning ~ Somebody LOVES balloons!!!

(And OOPS! Auntie Jen didn't know the rule "no tossing balloons up in the air indoors" Sorry Jada!)

I'm so EXCITED!!!

Enough pictures Auntie Jen, can I open presents now?

Matching outfits for ME and Baby Doll! Thanks Grammy Sue

Cuties!

Daddy made Mickey Mouse pancakes for breakfast. Yummy!

Mommy's bringing in another present...No Peeking!

COOL!!! My very own grocery cart!

Birthdays are FUN!!!

Can anyone guess who gave me this rocket and astronaut?? (hee hee, Auntie Jen!)

Pretty picture with Grammy Sue

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!!!

Playing with Balloons outside...


Birthday picnic at the big playground

My first Trike! Thanks Mommy & Daddy!

Playing soccer with Daddy

Reading "Curious George and the Rocket" with Auntie Jen

Playing "Oh, who's out there?" with Grammy Sue

Snack time ~ Sure wish these goldfish crackers were Cheetos instead!

Relaxing with Daddy

Trying on new kitty socks from Murray & Ira

Make a Wish!

Yummy blue birthday cake. Thanks Mommy!

Birthday Girl & Grammy Sue

Auntie Jen loves this Birthday Girl!

There's no stopping her now...


It's safe to say, even us big kids had a lot of fun...


A few weeks ago, I asked my friend how she stayed so fit and healthy. What was her regime? And she replied simply, "I laugh hard and out loud every day!"

May I never forget to laugh hard and out loud each and every day!