Happy #2: Fun in Last Minute Places

This is a happy face. Albeit, I am not looking at the camera, but oh well, I'm happy!
Bjorn and I at Market Wines in Findlay Market enjoying a pumpkin cider (me) and a pumpkin porter (Bjorn).

I have seriously been enjoying some impromptu fun over the past two weeks, and I wanted to share some of what I've been up to. Usually my OCD brain tells me I have better things to do than go out on a whim and do something "crazy." And by "crazy" I do mean going outside of my planned, OCD-brain schedule. So these past two weeks, I have not had any obligations or plans per say. I've just rolled with the punches. If I felt like going somewhere, I did. If I wanted to stay home, I did that too! I've actually not allowed myself to say "no" to an opportunity that sounds fun! 

In the past my OCD brain has many times talked me out of doing fun things for whatever crazy reason: I'm tired, I have to clean, I have other responsibilities, I have schoolwork, or just plain old I'm busy! That's the killer--I'm busy always works on me. I can always find, in my mind, some better reason to NOT do something fun. And it SUCKS!! It's just my mind playing tricks on me. For what reason? For no reason, really. I just convince myself that I have better things to do, and I miss out on something great. That is the reality of OCD--no rhyme or reason; it's just there controlling your thoughts. 

I have been doing relaxing and saying "yes" to opportunities that pop up for awhile, but I have been doing extremely well with this in the past few months. Here are some great last minute things that I said "yes" to and had a blast doing. Not all of them are out of the ordinary, but they are great for me to keep my brain quiet and to keep me on my path of happy!

#1 Beard Barons

 Rachael and I went to see Bjorn compete at the beard competition his club the Cincinnati Beard Barons put on at Memorial Hall in downtown Cincinnati.

Bjorn ready to compete in the "Businessman's Special" category. Looking good, Bjorn!

Bjorn and his dad watching the competition before his category.

Beautiful views in Memorial Hall

Bjorn finally onstage in his category. He ended up coming in the top 5/20 for his category. His beard did look spectacular that night :) 

The beard competition was super fun! There was a category for kids and women, who designed and created their own beards around a theme. Then for the men there were categories like partial beard (groomed), partial beard freestyle, dreaded, and chops. Rachael and I want to go to the next one whenever it is! All the proceeds went to Fernside, a youth grief counseling program. It was a fun night, and they raised money for a great cause!

  

#2 Breakfast with Mom

Last Saturday, I called my mom and asked her if she wanted to go to breakfast. She said she'd come pick me! After breakfast, she wanted to stop by Target. She loves the Target by my house, so we went there to get some cleaning supplies and a surprise for one of my students :)

Mom picked me up in her cool, new Camaro. My ride for the day :)

At breakfast I pretended to be my sister, Rachael. I pretended to put a million Splendas in my coffee. Okay, okay, Rach, I know you don't put a million, but you do always ask for more Splenda!!

And lastly, my mom has become one of those people who parks her nice car in boo-fooville of the parking lot. She was very proud of this. I had to take a picture to show my sister!

#3 Mid-Point Music Festival

Beautiful night in Washington Park--Over the Rhine

We randomly ended up with passes to MPMF last Saturday night, and I am so glad we went! I stayed up way later than I have in a long time. I heard some amazing bands, and I got to see some friends who I haven't seen in awhile. It was a blast! I LOVE Cincinnati!!!

When we were walking to a show, we ran into our friend, Dave, so we ended up hanging out with him the whole night! It was so great to see him! We saw some great bands too. My favorites from the night were Seabirds and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. 

Seabird is a local band. They were born in Cincinnati and grew up in Northern Kentucky. They have some great lyrics. Bjorn and I are buying their new album and their previous album. Love! Here is a picture of them performing at the Blue Wisp:

Check out one of the songs that I love ("Love Will Be Enough"):

Here is a pic of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. It was really dark in there! They were a fun band to watch! At some points, all the lights in the tent would turn on after it was pitch black. If you looked around, people were smiling and singing and dancing. It made me smile. 

Listen to their song "Spread Your Love":

Close to the end of the night, we all got hungry, so we went to Quan Hapa for Ramen! Mmmm mmmm! I love Ramen!

We sat at the bar and watched the cooking and made conversation.

Bjorn and Dave--they missed each other :)

Shrimp chips almost gone!

Ramen with pork belly, scallions, and wontons. Yum!

I thoroughly enjoyed my Ramen!

#4 Mall Walking

Rachael and I enjoy a good walk around the mall. We get free Godiva chocolate once a month. We like to window shop and people watch. But mostly, we love chit-chatting. Rachael has been busy finishing up her Masters project to graduate so she can start her job this coming Monday. So when she texts me and says she is coming over, I get giddy! Last week when we got together we took an impromtu stroll around the mall. I found two pieces of inspiration for DIY projects--where else, but in Anthropologie!

I saw these ginkgo garlands! I love ginkgoes! I do have a ginkgo leaf tattooed on my foot, after all. I'm thinking of making my own garland like this and hanging it in my house out of gold paper kind of like I did my heart garland in my classroom (below).

I also saw a sweater with brooches and a t-shirt with a pocket sewn on out of a different patterned material than the rest of the shirt. I'm thinking that I might be trying to recreate these myself! 

I've been on the lookout more-so too for inspiration for fun projects to try! 

Overall, I'm proud of myself for just letting go and doing things instead of sitting around like a bump on a log and finding excuses for not having fun! I'm looking forward to more exciting things to come! Bjorn and I even talked about going to a pumpkin patch in the next week or two! We have never done that in the entire 15 years we've been together! Can you believe that one?

Here's to saying "yes" more often to trying new things and throwing caution to the wind.

Love and happiness <3 Holly