#215: Fang-like Icicles that Make Whole Houses Look Like Monster Mouths

Reason to Be Happy #215:
Fang-Like Icicles That Make Whole Houses Look Like Monster Mouths

#214: Horses Frolicking in the Snow

Reason to Be Happy #214:
Horses Frolicking in the Snow

This is the gorgeous Gigi leading the pack in one of my favorite photos ever.

#213: The word "foist"

REASON TO BE HAPPY #213:
THE WORD "FOIST"

I just like it.

#212: The Way a Scarf Gets Crusty With Ice When You Breathe Through it While You're Sledding

Reason to Be Happy #212:
The Way a Scarf Gets Crusty With Ice When You Breath Through It While You're Sledding

#211: Sledding!

Reason to Be Happy #211:
SLEDDING!

Some of my favorite childhood memories are of sledding with my family up on the Wright Brothers Memorial Hill on Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Love to go fast!

#210: Wasabi

Reason to Be Happy #210:
WASABI

So innocent in appearance, that misleading cool green—wasabi's intense punch makes me VERY happy...and works better than any decongestant out there!

#209: Sushi

Reason to Be Happy #209:
SUSHI

If only all food were as gorgeous as it was delicious. There's something so lovely about food so artfully prepared, so colorful.

#208: A Clean Blanket of Snow Before Anyone Walks on It

Reason to Be Happy #208:
The Sight of a Clean Blanket of Snow Before Anyone Walks on It

#207: Chinese New Year

Reason to Be Happy #207:
CHINESE NEW YEAR

Welcome to the Year of the Dragon!

I took these photos at the Lunar New Year Celebration at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens in 2009. The top photo is in NYC's Chinatown the day of the Fireworks Festival for Chinese New Year.

#206: The Facial Expressions of Japanese Macaques

Reason to Be Happy #206:
The Facial Expressions of Japanese Macaques
(also known as "Snow Monkeys")

Their faces are so eerily, sometimes comically, human it gives you pause.

#205: Finding the Perfect Parking Place

Reason to Be Happy #205:
Finding the Perfect Parking Place

Especially when it's really crowded and you're running a little behind...

#204: Bowling Shoes

Reason to Be Happy #204:
Bowling Shoes

And, well, bowling in general. On New Year's Eve. In formal wear. Under black light. With Michael Jackson's Thriller blasting.
But mostly, it's about the shoes.

#203: Playing with a Label Maker

Reason to Be Happy #203:
Playing With a Label Maker

Remember these? Click. Click. Click. May as well be crack. That's how addictive they are. And so satisfying! Once you start, you find yourself needing to label everything: arm, leg, cat, sink...I'm serious! It's hard to stop. My favorite was when I was in high school and worked at a stable called Rocky Point Farm. We labelled the shelf of sugar, carrots, and apples: "Bribing Utensils" and the hook of riding crops and longing whips: "Beating Utensils."*

*No horses were ever actually beaten during any days of my employment...

#202: Gargoyles

Reason to Be Happy #202:
Gargoyles

I'm a sucker for a gargoyle. I have enough photos to publish a book on "the gargoyles of Portugal." But I'll settle for showing you just a few. (Photos #1 and #2 are in Lisbon, photo #4 is in Sintra.)
This fine fellow, in photo #3, is in my garden. There are several in my garden. They protect us from evil spirits, you know.

You can never have too many gargoyles, in my opinion.

#201: Making Snow Angels

Reason to Be Happy #201:
Making Snow Angels

It's always fun to stumble across snow angels you didn't make yourself, too.

#200: Creative Snowmen

Reason to Be Happy #200:
Creative Snowmen

Actually, why even limit yourself to snow people? My niece and nephew and I made a giant snow cat last year.
But even a traditional snowman makes me smile. There's something playful and childlike about building something out of snow. It's like very temporary Play-Doh.

#199: Beautifully Displayed Piles of Produce

Reason to Be Happy #199:
Beautifully Displayed Piles of Produce

I think produce is almost a work of art (just look at my reason #51 and reason #85). As anyone who has traveled with me knows, I'm a sucker for big piles of produce. The only think more likely than a big pile of fruit to stop me in my tracks for a photo is a cat...or a gargoyle. Hey, we all have our things, right? These photos were all in taken in Rome.

#198: When My Cat Stands On His Own Tail

Reason to Be Happy #198:
When My Cat Stands on His Own Tail

I find this unbelievably adorable and endearing. I'm not sure why he does it, but I'm a sucker for it, and he knows it.

#197: Dogs Playing in Deep Snow

Reason to Be Happy #197:
Dogs Playing in Deep Snow

The smaller the dog, the more happy it makes me!

I love watching small dogs leap and hop through the snow. I love watching any size dog burrow in the snow. (A really fun game? Throwing snow balls and watch them "fetch" them). The dog is the "god of frolic." We should all be so gleeful and delighted.

#196: Sunshine Glistening on Snow

Reason to Be Happy #196:
Sunshine Glistening on Snow

When the sun is shining, winter doesn't bother me. It's only too many gray days in a row that gives me the winter blues. I love that blinding glint of the sun reflecting off the snow. It feels as good on your skin as the sun does in the summer. (Of course, we haven't had much snow at all in Ohio yet this year...)

#195: Birthday Wishes

Reason to Be Happy #195:
BIRTHDAY WISHES

The big advantage to getting older is that you get more wishes with each passing birthday!

#194: The Soundtrack to Out of Africa

Reason to Be Happy #194:
The Soundtrack to Out of Africa

Out of Africa is on my top 5 favorite movies of all time list. I love Meryl Streep. I love the story. I love the book on which it was based. I used to want to be Isak Dinesen as a teenager! I love the glorious cinematography in this rich, visual feast. But more than all those things, I love the music from this glorious, gorgeous movie. Composed by John Barry. Check out the main theme to the opening credits of the movie.

#193: Silly Putty

Reason to Be Happy #193:
SILLY PUTTY

I used to love this stuff. I used it to make fake wounds and stage effects—giant noses, huge tumors on my arms, extra digits, raised scars (I was into gory stuff). I could also use it to press flat against book or newspaper pages. It would lift the words from the page and I could carry my "secret message" wrapped around my arm. Yeah...I had quite the imagination. This stuff is as good as coloring or a Slinky when you wanna relax and destress.

#192: Laughing So Hard You Snort Whatever You're Drinking out of Your Nose

Reason to be Happy #192:
Laughing So Hard You Snort Whatever You're Drinking Out of Your Nose

Even better when it happens in a public place.

#191: Monkeys

Reason to Be Happy #191:
MONKEYS

Especially when you get to meet them up close and personal. (Okay, so maybe not when they steal your sunglasses...). These are Mona monkeys who entertained me in Tafi Atome, Ghana. There's just something happy and cool about monkeys.

#190: Tango

Reason to Be Happy #190:
THE TANGO

Only the sexiest dance on the planet. Sexiest music, too. Look up the amazing tango scene in the film Moulin Rouge—set to The Police song Roxanne.