#395: Filling Your Bathroom with Lilacs

Reason to Be Happy #395:

Filling Your Bathroom With Lilacs

Their season is so brief, so I tend to almost overdose on them while they're in bloom each spring. Such an amazing, heady aroma that can almost intoxicate you. A very happy, uplifting thing to encounter in the early morning. Makes any ol' bathroom feel spa-like and luxurious.

#394: The way peonies unfurl when they blossom

Reason to Be Happy #394:

The way peonies unfurl when they blossom

Way back in July 2011 I vowed to list a reason to be happy every single day for a full year. And I did. Because it was a Leap Year, I listed 366 reasons to be happy in a row. When I hit July 2012, I said I'd keep it going, just not daily...but then I took a long break once we hit 2013. Enough friends and readers nudged me that I brought it back. 

 Peonies are one of my favorite plants. They seem so old-fashioned and classic. They have such a short bloom time, but that makes them all the more special in my opinion—you anticipate it and relish it so that you don't miss it. Peonies cannot be taken for granted.

 I love how peony blossoms are like tight little fists that slowly begin to unclench and unfurl.

 This opening can happen in a matter of hours. Don't blink or you'll miss it.

 I'm not sure of the name of this particular type of peony but it makes me think of eggs. I call it Peonies Sunny Side Up. And they are so fragrant. These are about twenty yards from my house, but with the windows open and the breeze just right, their perfume pervades every room of my home. Ahh...

#393: Robin's Egg Blue

Reason to be Happy #393:

Robin's Egg Blue

 One of the cheeriest, soothing, peaceful colors on the planet. And so few things are actually this specific color.

 These lovely nest photos were taken in the yard of my good friend Maggie Hewitt. Don't those eggs look like little gems nestled in a jewelry box?

The only other thing I've seen that is actually the same shade of blue is a glacier pool—that rare, other-wordly shade of calming blue (like this one in Glacier National Park).

#392: Riding with the Top Down

Reason to Be Happy #392:
RIDING WITH THE TOP DOWN

Or...more specifically, cramming a bunch of friends into a car, wedging together, and then riding to lunch with the top down. It was like a clown car in the circus! (We were so contorted, my bra actually came undone!)

 Nice hair, huh? But we laughed. You know how it feels so good to laugh hard and not be able to stop? Add to that already good feeling: the warm sun on your face, wind rushing over you, and the feeling that you're on a roller coaster. Not a bad thing to experience on a Monday afternoon. Not a bad thing at all.

And yes, due to repeated requests from friends and readers, the Reasons to Be Happy will be re-appearing. I'm not promising daily, but they'll be more frequent than they have been. Be sure to send ideas for future reasons…not that there's ever a shortage when you really stop to think about it.