Ten Things That Have Made Me Happy

The past few weeks have been full of state testing at my school--my ELL students feeling overwhelmed, wanting to give up. It's been a rough three weeks, but I wanted to post about things that have made me happy these past few months because there has been a lot of long days, exhaustion, and struggles. It's nice to look back at the things that have made me smile and remember to continue to find little things to make me smile every day. 

Here are 10 things that made me happy over the past few months:


1.  Sending book love to my IG book friends :) A little over seven months ago, I started my Instagram bookshop (@hollysbooknook), and I am loving every minute of it! I have met so many new, bookish friends. They are so sweet. It is fun to share your love for something with people who have similar interests. Read on bookish friends! Love you all :)

Packages sent out from the shop.

2. Back in the Fall, I started using Young Living Essential Oils. I love them and believe in them so much that I became a Young Living Independent Distributor and a Lemon Dropper. 

One essential oil combination that I love so much is frankincense, lavender, and lemon. I use frankincense and lavender in my face moisturizer in the morning. At night I do the same, but add lemon. My skin has never been clearer! I have always suffered from acne as a teen and throughout my 20's and into my 30's. After starting this skin regiment, my skin is smoother, clearer, and my pores look smaller.

I love this combo so much that I ran out for two weeks while waiting to put my monthly order in. Let me tell you, I will never run out again! After those two weeks, my face started breaking out again! I'm finally back to using my oils everyday and my skin is starting to clear up again :) Thank you essential oils!

3. This winter weather has been crazy, but the snow is still beautiful. We had one whole week off from school because of snow and cold temperatures. It was craziness! But I do love the icicles that form on my carport and the front porch of my house. They sure are beautiful.

4. For Bjorn's birthday this year, we decided to try a mail order food service called Blue Apron. They send a box to your door each week complete with ingredients and recipes to cook healthy, delicious meals. My favorite part is that we get the shipment on Wednesday, and Thursday and Fridays are the days that Bjorn and I usually are so tired that we give in and order a pizza or get take out from somewhere. Well, not anymore! We get two amazing meals delivered to our door each week. They have not disappointed yet! Every week since, we have ordered two meals and plan the rest of our week as we normally do.

I have a few free meal codes that I can send to friends, so let me know if you would like to try one :) 

A salad combo Bjorn and I never created before. It's one of our new staples!

Cauliflower roasted in the oven with spices (your choice), arugula, almonds, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper.

5. Visiting Some of My Favorite People

I love when I get to see one of my very best friends since high school and her boys. I love them all to death. They are my family. It is so good to hang out with them and visit, catch up, and get lots of hugs and playtime in!

6. I started back to working out more regularly. 

I still go to Zumba when I can make it and when I don't have a migraine. I also started doing some of the 21 Day Fix Workouts for Strength Training on days when I don't do cardio.

7. I Re-Found My Childhood Love of Cross-Stitching

Downtown there is this amazing cross-stitching shop with fabulous, modern patterns and just a cool vibe in general. I found this pattern recently and just had to get it to make and hang in Bjorn's office. I'm a little rusty, so this may take me awhile. But I'm going to finish it!

The other side has a huge Viking ship!

8. New Tattoos

I'm always thinking of new ideas for new tattoos. So many ideas, but which one do I get first? I really want to add on to the Sugar Skull that my friend and I got together on Day of the Dead last year. I'm thinking of getting some sort of hummingbird with its skeleton visible around the skull and some big flowers. 

9. I Felt Pretty

On Valentine's Day I went to my sweet friend's wedding. It was beautiful. She was gorgeous. I felt pretty good too about my make-up and hair. Over the past year taking different medications trying to control my migraines, I have gained some weight. I have felt less confident about myself, and this night, I felt really great. 

10. My Nieces!! (Yes, I know one is a dog!!)

I love my nieces! Miss Olivia is so adorable and sweet. I want to see her, squeeze her little cheeks, give her kisses, and rock her to sleep so badly! I can't wait to go to Utah to visit Olivia and my sister, Ashley! Until then, Facetime will have to do.

My other sister, Rachael, recently got a new puppy, Scarlet. She's a big baby! On our week off from school, I took Scarlet out for Rachael a few times at lunch while she was at work. Scarlet loves when her Auntie comes over!

So many things have made my life full of happiness these past few months. 

What has made you happy?



Love and happiness <3 Holly

Finding My Happy in the New Year

This year I am not writing about New Year's Resolutions. I don't want to feel the pressure of one looming over my head. For some reason, when I hold myself to a resolution, I feel anxiety about it; I feel this mounting pressure as time goes on to always live up to my resolution. Then if I fall behind, I feel down on myself, like I'm not good enough at anything, because I can't keep a damn New Year's Resolution. And I don't think that's the point of having a New Year's Resolution. 

There are a lot of things that I want to do this year, and I don't want to feel the pressure to do them. I just want to want to do them. And I know, from past experience, that giving myself goals just leads to failure. With my anxiety, I know that would be setting myself up for failure. 

So this year I decided to make a list of things that I'd love to do this year that will make me happy. This past year was a roller coaster of emotions--finding my way through depression, dealing with new treatments for my headaches, and feeling stagnant on my happiness journey. 

I am writing this list in hopes to remind me of the things that make me happy and to remind myself to in all honesty, do them more often. 


Here's my Happy List for 2015:

1. Read

This fall I definitely did not read as much as I usually do. A lot of my energy this year was spent just making it through the day, so I didn't spend a lot of time doing the things I love. Look for an upcoming post on my to-be-read list for the new year!

Here's a preview of a few books that I would like to read this year:

2. Blog

I miss writing and want to write more. Expect more blog posts coming soon! And because I love writing, this note from Jacqueline Woodson means so much to me:

I look at it when I need to spark my motivation. It makes me happy. 

3. Move More

Over the last year, I haven't been as active as I usually am. I haven't been going to Zumba. I haven't been dancing. Changing medications, feeling tired, and feeling depressed have taken a toll on me. I've gained some weight, and I don't feel like myself. I want to feel like myself again. 

4. Laugh

It's funny the things that you take for granted when you feel depressed. I never laughed--about anything. It took so much energy to laugh, smile, try to feel any kind of happiness. This past month, I remember two times--one on the phone with my sister and one watching TV with my husband--when I just uncontrollably laughed, non-stop until tears formed in my eyes. It felt nice to feel happiness again--genuine bliss. It's funny how going through such a dark time made me distinctly aware of laughing. Afterwards, it was like I had a moment with myself--I just laughed out loud. I can't remember the last time I did that.

5. Learn to Meditate

One thing that I've learned through my headache journey is that pain creates pain {and stress creates pain which creates more stress and pain}, so I have decided that I would like to start meditating. There has to be some kind of link between mind over matter and nerves signalling pain. I've tried a website for biofeedback--a way to try to promote self-soothing and calming of your mind and body. It involves deep breathing and guided imagery. I like it, but I feel like I need some more heavy duty mind-over matter practice when it comes to my migraines. I've got it down {most of the time} for my OCD, but intense pain is a different beast. I do well when my migraines are not severe, but it's hard to focus when you can't see straight, you feel like vomiting, and you're sensitive to sounds. Sometimes in those instances, it literally hurts to think. I started a Pinterest board called Meditation. I am going to keep adding to it as I find new meditation ideas. 

6. Relax

In talking about meditation, I think relaxing fits in nicely here. I've been much better at this lately. I've learned with time, especially with my migraines, not to push myself. If I have a migraine, I need to lie down and rest. I don't need to spend the evening cleaning the house. It will be there tomorrow. If my house isn't pristine, so be it. If I'm planning on working out and I feel a migraine coming on, I won't push myself. I'll work out another day. It sucks, for sure, but I've learned that I'd rather feel better than almost pass out or throw up on the dance floor. And driving home with a migraine is horrible! I've learned my limits; it's time to acknowledge them and take a deep breath. I don't have to be perfect. 

7. Have Fun

This one is a biggie for me. When I was depressed, I didn't do anything fun. I didn't want to. I want to have movie marathons, read books, blog, play with my dogs, go out to dinner, cross stitch, and learn how to play the ukulele! 

8. Don't Sweat It

This is a big one for me and my anxiety/OCD. I have always and still do {to certain extents} worry about other people and whether I'm doing the right thing to keep them happy instead of whether it's the right decision for me and my life. I've always been this way, and this is probably going to be an ongoing struggle. I always feel like when I say "no" to something, that I owe an explanation. I feel that I need to keep other people happy and I worry that something I did wasn't the right thing to do in a certain instance. 

I used to worry and dwell about different things that I said or different situations that happened on given days. Over time, I've gotten better about spending less time thinking about them after the fact, but this year I'd like to dwell even less. The choices I make need to be what's best for me and that's not being selfish. I need to take care of myself. 



These are the things that I want for myself in the new year. I'm going to work on them, but not set myself to a certain timeline or make myself feel like I have to do them by a certain point in the year. After all, finding happiness is an ongoing journey. In my personal life, I do much better without deadlines hanging over my head. So here's to the new year. I hope everyone is looking forward to 2015 like I am! I'm ready for a happy year :)


What do you plan on doing this year to find happiness?


Love and happiness <3 Holly

More Myself on this Thanksgiving

Today on Thanksgiving, I am relieved and grateful that I am starting to feel more like myself. I never thought that I would say that, but these last eight months or so have been a rough road to walk down. Yesterday I actually had the energy and motivation to clean the bathroom, our bedroom, do the dishes, and two loads of laundry. I took a nap, read a little, and thought of some crafty ideas that I'd like to try this winter. I even want to get a Christmas tree this weekend. That last one is huge for me. 

It has been years since I've either had a Christmas tree or put a Christmas tree up for longer than 5 or 6 days before Christmas. In the past 6 years, I have had a Christmas tree at my house twice. That's it. I don't know if it's just been hard to be festive since my dad passed away, it's something my headaches took over, or my OCD did . 

The obvious reason, my dad's passing, held fast for the first few years he was gone. I never was in the "Christmas spirit" once December rolled around. Everything felt different, and the holidays weren't the same. Instead of feeling grateful and happy for what I had in my life, I felt a huge hole in my heart that was hard to handle on a daily basis, let alone on a holiday like Christmas. 

Another aspect of my life that held me back and still do to some extent are my migraines. My migraines keep me from doing certain enjoyable things only because I feel too much pain to do them. This was especially true in the past, and it was hard sometimes to do anything enjoyable when I was feeling badly. 

Sometimes my OCD overpowered a fun situation as well. Many times I would start something (like getting out the ornaments before we got the tree) and then get too overwhelmed to finish.

Today I will not let my OCD stop my from doing something I love. I am grateful for this. I am grateful for the help that I get to control my OCD and anxiety and that I rely on my sheer willpower sometimes to overcome it. I am thankful that I do not let OCD rule my life anymore.

My migraines have been somewhat better than before. I am still waiting to see how the Botox treatments pan out. I've had two so far. My doctor also lowered my medications which in turn has helped me to feel more like myself. I am tired of letting my migraines keep me from life, so they aren't going to anymore. I am grateful for new treatments and doctors who care to help as much as mine.

Struggling with holidays and being happy was mostly because of my dad's passing at first. The first year my dad passed, there were many reasons that I wasn't able to grieve his passing. It took me a few years to realize that I never did truly grieve his loss. We were all trying to hold it together for each other and stay strong for everyone else. In hindsight this wasn't great for my emotional healing, but since then, I am at peace with my dad's passing. He would want me to be happy--to enjoy life. And that is what I am going to do from now on.

I am grateful that I saw a glimmer of myself yesterday--I am hopeful that there will be more days like this. It took losing myself to realize how much I missed the real me and how important my happiness really is in this journey I'm on. 

I am going to start doing the things that matter to me--the things I love--more often, whether it be reading, putting up the Christmas tree, or watching one of my favorite movies. These things make me happy, and for awhile, it was hard to push happiness to the front of my mind. Today I am grateful that I have these feelings of gratefulness and happiness, no matter how small they may be.

I am grateful for my life, and I want to live it to its fullest. Today, that is what I am grateful for. I am hopeful that this is the start of things turning around for me, and that makes me happy.

Love and happiness <3 Hollt

32 Things That Make Me Happy: Link-Up!

Today I'm linking up with Two Thirds Hazel and Venus Trapped in Mars for their 32 Things that Make Me Happy Link-Up! Their goal was to focus on positive things in their lives that make them happy instead of sitting down and dwelling on the negative. They talked about how easy it is to sit and think of how annoyed you can be with all the little things that go wrong in your day-to-day life, so instead, we're writing about 32 things that make us incredibly happy! So here are my 32 mostly random and very interesting things that make me over-the-moon happy :)

1. The fact that I have known my husband since high school. I think he knows absolutely everything there is to know about me!

Bjorn taking me to homecoming junior year in high school!

Halloween and Jessica and Tommy's old house (I should never be a blonde!).

At our friends' wedding

2. My family is amazing. All of them--my sissies, my mom, extended family, my in-laws. Love them all, including my puppies!

3. Poutine. If you have never tried poutine, you are missing out. Go to Brewriver. Please order poutine. Do not think of the amount of calories in this dish. Just enjoy!

4. German everything: the people, the country, the culture, the language, the traditions! Ich liebe Deutsch!

5. Finding great deals! I love thrifting and I am a total sale shopper! I never buy full price, right Rachy?!?

6. Smiling at Strangers. I really do love smiling at people I don't know, saying hello, and asking people how they're doing! It puts me in a great mood! And I also get a lot of people to talk to me that way! We strike up small interesting conversations. It's kind of fun, and it's weird that the social anxiety girl loves to do this too! But I do!!

7. These pants! I don't know what to call them! I love these pants! I have them in a black and white check pattern and got them for $12! These are a new arrival, but I have a coupon, so I'm totally picking them up! I love a floral print, and they're so comfy!!

Pants: New York and Company

8. Coffee. I love coffee. I have to drink decaf for my headaches. It's okay. My heart doesn't race when I drink decaf. Positive for my heart <3.

9. Winged Eyeliner. Oh my gosh! This is totally my favorite make-up trend. I have gotten a lot better at it since I've started wearing it last summer! It is my favorite go-to eye look!

10. Bookstores: the more old book smell, the better! My all-time favorite used bookstore is in Sarasota, Florida. There is an old record store on the top floor. It is super amazing. I can't remember the name of it, but it completely my favorite! 

11. Foot massages and just massages in general. I get massages for my headaches, and I recently asked the lady who massages me if she could help me out with some pain in my feet because I have planter fasciitis that acts up every now and then. Total heaven!

12. French Kiss: I know that sounds strange to admit on my blog, but I mean the movie with Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline. Have you ever seen this movie? It is awesome! I love it! My mom, my sisters, and I can quote most lines from the movie. That's how much we love it!

French Kiss Trailer

You have to watch this movie!!

13. Harry Connick Jr. Many of you know how much I love Harry. I have listened to his music since I was, I think, 12 years old. Seriously. I own every one of his CDs. I absolutely love him. He is fabulous. He is an amazingly talented musician. His voice...swoon...just listen to him. You'll know what I mean. This is a song from one of my favorite CDs of his growing up.

"(I Could Only) Whisper Your Name"

14. Dr. Phil: I DVR Dr. Phil. I love his show. Bjorn hates it. He lets me watch it. I let him watch The Walking Dead. Bleck.

15. Hitting my sister in the face. It's really just a love-tap! We have this running gag where we make each other look at something and then we lightly smack each other in the face. We get each other good sometimes.

At the Cincinnati Reds game

I love my sissy!

16. The feel, smell, and light in Anthropologie

17. Jag's Bloody Marys. I couldn't find a picture, but they put a huge cocktail shrimp, pickled green beans, a dill pickle, and a blue cheese stuffed olive. They are soooo good (and dangerous)!

18. Learning new languages. I just learned how to say, "Open sesame!" in Japanese. "Hirake goma!"

19. Grammar! I love grammar. Yes, I am a grammar nerd. I love being a grammar nerd. Do you feel me, Miss Sheets?

20. Heeled Mary Janes. So adorable.

Source

21. UC Bearcats and Cincinnati Reds--total Cincinnati girl, born and raised.

22. Salsa dancing

23. Cookie Butter. My favorite is from Trader Joe's--creamy, not crunchy.

24. White Tigers. I did a serious science report about them in 5th grade.

25. Spoken word: poetry. Here is a link to my favorite YouTube channel that features spoken word poetry. Button Poetry

26. Punny jokes (I am a linguist!)

Challah!

27. War movies and Historically-Based Movies. I love Saving Private Ryan, The Patriot, We Were Soldiers, Das Boot, Black Hawk Down, Schindler's List, Amistad, Argo, Series: Band of Brothers, The Great Escape, Inglorious Bastards, Apollo 13, Europa Europa, Master and Commander, To Kill a Mockingbird, to name a few :)

28. Fascinators. If I could get away with wearing one every day, I might! I mean, I don't know why I couldn't, but I don't know if it's really practical!

To see this pin on my Pinterest board, click here.

29. Going to crafting classes

30. Singing in the Rain (Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds) and Royal Wedding (Fred Astaire and Jane Powell). I love old movies!

31. Wine

32. Going to Concerts

There are 32 things that make me happy. What are your favorite things in life that make you happy? Was there anything on my list that surprised you?



P.S. Don't forget to enter my "I love my readers contest!" Click below to enter:

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Love and happiness <3 Holly

Motivational Monday

Hello, everyone! It's Motivational Monday! And it's time for some inspiration. I love me some inspiration. Winter break is over, school is back in session, waking up at 5 a.m. is back in style, I'm back to grading papers, lesson planning, and coming home dog-tired. Needless to say, I need some motivation! Plus, it's completely dark outside when I head to work and cold to boot!

Here are some fabulous quotes and pictures are going to get me through this week! Hope they can help you too!

Hope

In one of my recent posts, I wrote about losing hope in my life and then finding it again recently. It has taken awhile for me to realize that I want to hope for good things to happen in my life. I want to have hope that I can be happy and stay happy and love my life. Here is a quote that reminds me of this journey in my life:

This reminds me that having hope in my life allows me to believe that anything is possible, especially finding and keeping my happy.

Then this quote reminded me of a few amazing pictures that I pinned on Pinterest awhile ago. I love pinning beautiful photographs on Pinterest. They can create so much emotion inside a person--so much feeling. These pictures reminded me of hope and how important it can be in our lives.

The Statue of Liberty: hope for a new future

Baby turtles: hope to survive

Hope pushes me to do the things I love because I hope that in the future, I will be a happier person because of it. I need hope in my life. I'm glad I found it.


And from my vacation this summer in Florida: Lost loved ones are watching over me

Happiness

I love this one! It makes me wonder, Why haven't I done this earlier? But now that you have, live it up!!

 

While I cannot always control what happens around me in my life, I can control how I react to these situations. I can control my outlook towards my life, and I want it to remain positive. I will remember to choose happiness.


What is motivating you this Monday?



Love and happiness <3 Holly