the happy list

For high school graduation, Miss Audrey Marie Coots gave me a book (which I specifically asked for...) called "14,000 Things to Be Happy About" or "The Happy Book" by Barbra Kipfer.  The book is basically a list of random things that make her happy.  For forty years this woman kept a list of all the things that put a smile on her face.  FORTY YEARS!




Now, I'm a bit of a pessimist, mostly in my head.  I don't like the title "cynic", "pessimist" or "Debbie downer" so I try to stick to "realist" but, let's face it, I'm kind of annoyingly "realistic".  I never think my team will win, never think my plans will work out, blah blah blah.  It's annoying to listen to!


So I tried Ms. Barbra's trick for a week 6 and a half days. And I LOVED it.  It's amazing what little things make me happy! Dumb stuff like fuzzy socks and QuikTrip and 3rd grade homework.  But, I encourage all of you to do the same thing that I did.  Maybe not make an actual list but really pay attention to the things that make you smile.  It really gives you a new perspective and makes you appreciate all the little things and precious people that make your life worth it!

121 Things to be Happy About 

(katharine's happy list)

• Getting on the scale and seeing that you've lost weight
• Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update” with Seth Meyers
• Parents handing you money
• Adults struggling over the children’s bulletin at church
• Graduation Sunday
• Getting top picks in the Church Draft (congrats, Dr. Cyndi!)
• Wendy’s salads
• Braves games and Turner Field
• Dancing children
• The Home Depot Tool Race
• Will Manning and his sense of humor
• Molly Henderson and her hilarious honesty
• Michael Pfeiffer and his sense of direction
• Greasy Varsity food and cheating on diets

• Harper Lee and her impatience with tennis balls
• Saying something at the same time as someone else
• Short car rides
• The Social Network
• Koalas
• Stomach Butterflies
• Honesty
• Falling asleep as soon as you lay down
• Diet Mountain Dew
• Cute workout clothes
• All of my desktop pictures
• LuLu at the AT&T store who let me have a new iPhone on July 1^st for $50
• OPI Strawberry Margarita nail polish 
• Treadmills
• Watching the rain
• Strawberries
• Quick Trip 52 oz. drinks
• 3^rd grade homework breakthroughs
• Sidewalk chalk
• Training wheels
• Thespian Inductions and Roasts (we’ll miss you, Mrs. McCook!)
• Gossip Girl with Audrey Coots and Kaley Tolar
• Snickerdoodles
• Aiming to be Charlotte York
• Say Yes to the Dress
• Facebook notifications
• Surprises
• Wedding magazines
• Espadrilles and skinny jeans
• Chicken Caesar salads
• Playing with shelter puppies
• Alvin the Labrador
• Hidden kittens
• Singing loudly in the car (with hand-motions)
• Nerds Rope
• Gnomeo and Juliet and Shakespeare humor
• Yogurt Bars with sample cups
• Yankee Candle’s Pink Sand car gels
• Royal Wedding references
• Pretending
• Hiding in the bushes
• Katy Perry
• Heated blankets and heated car seats
• MHS Chorus Concerts
• Ukuleles
• Acapella singing
• Being an alumni
• Old friends
• My large DDD sweatshirt
• Having softer skin after crying
• Being in bed at 9:30 pm
• Patience and understanding
• Hulu
• Extra hours
• Organizing closets (seriously, I love it)
• Sitting on the porch
• The Nikon
• My tennis shoes and Old Navy leggings
• Feeling full
• Clear Sterilite boxes
• Working out while watching The Biggest Loser
• Sauteed mushrooms
• Rachel McAdams
• Stomach butterflies
• Modern Family
• Made Beds
• Bear
• Design on a Dime
• Target
• Label Makers     
• Scrapbook paper
• Sprinkles      
• My giftwrap holder
• Coupons

• New creative storage ideas
• Pants that used to be too tight that are now too big
• My white and gold Easter earrings (one of my favorite purchases)
• Putting on full makeup
• Barnes & Noble
• Sitting in the wedding section in B&N and not having anything to read because I’ve already read it all 
• Jihan’s NYC stories
• Chile’s appetizer tray
• Cake batter yogurt
• Finding phones
• Coming in the door with full arms from a day full of errands
• Bear
• Nice nurses
• Good drugs
• Wheelchairs after wisdom teeth
• Audrey Coots and her sweet cards and delicious gelato
• Chocolate mousse sugar free pudding
• Precious Facebook messages from favorites
• Taking 9 naps in a day
• Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy sweeps
• Belgian Chocolate Gelato
• How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
• Chicken ‘n Stars
• Sugar Free Cool Whip
• Michael Pfeiffer’s phone calls
• My pillow
• Harry Potter marathons
• My Hello Kitty blanket from 8^th grade? 7^thgrade? Help me out here, Anna and Lauren…
• Fuzzy socks
• No sugar added orange sherbet (it’s like my personal 1 quart Frosted Orange!)
• Funny puffy check pictures
• 2-year-old Darvocet
• My parents and their willingness to do everything and let me be lazy
• My little blue Walmart Fan
• Cleaning 

(i tried to add pictures to this but the formatting was all funky so you'll just have to use your imagination! xoxo)

surprises

"A joyful heart is good medicine"

Proverbs 17:22a

Precious Anna's 20th birthday is May 17th, which is why sweet Lauren and I decided to drive all the way to Jasper, GA, to surprise her a whole week before her big day... she never saw it coming!

We called her mama that morning to try set up our sneaky plan and when we arrived, Anna was already out of the house, so we decided to set up and decorate!

So we waited...... and waited.... and waited for Anna to show up.  Finally, she did!

It was so much fun seeing her face as she was COMPLETELY shocked (kudos, Miss Sandy, on keeping it a surprise!) 

Lauren was in charge of dinner and I was in charge of dessert, and I think it was a hilarious success.

Homemade Sushi for dinner!

this was the best one, made by the
birthday girl!

After dinner (which wasn't a huge success, but it was deliciously entertaining), we made RainbowCakeInAJar for dessert.  Once I perfect the recipe, I'll post all of the destructions on here so that you can have super cute cakeinajar, too!  Tell me if that's not making your tummy rumble right now...

After dinner and dessert we watched "Life as We Know It", that Katherine Heigl movie where she is awkward and quirky but then the unexpected guy swoops in and then they live happily ever after.  There's a baby in there somewhere...

In between all of this filling food and cheesy movies, we played with Anna's ADORABLE new guide-dog-in-training-puppy.  Meet Robbie:

Precious, right?! The dog's not too bad, either! :)

These girls have been my sweet sweet friends since middle school and we haven't lost contact.  Though we only see each other a few times a year, it's always entertaining and always warms my heart.  These ladies are so precious to me and I thank the Lord every time I spend time with friends like Anna and Lauren!

mum's the word

"As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you"

Isaiah 66:13a

I have the best mom in the whole world and I like to bake, so here's my precious combination of the two:

Mums for your Mum cupcakes

The ingredients are really cheap and easy but they are pretty time consuming so plan for that: 

40 minutes to prepare cupcakes, bake, cool and frost

5-7 minutes to decorate each cupcake

see? so easy... the Sanding Sugar was the most expensive
and it was $5.98 for 6 colors!

Step 1: make your cupcakes (duh). 

Step 2: prepare your marshmallows.  Cut them diagonally so that they eventually look like petals for your mums.

Step 3: let your cupcakes cool and frost them.

we aren't going for "pretty frosting" here, it's just about
even coverage :)

Step 5: place the sticky side of your marshmallow in the sanding sugar and begin to line the outside of your cupcake. 

continue this step until you have reached the center of your cupcake, add some detail in the center aaaaaaaand you have a Mum!

Personally, I think it's a big step up from this precious plate that still hangs in our kitchen:

Happy Mother's Day!  I hope all of my favorite mothers enjoyed their very special day! You are so loved and so appreciated, I promise!