Weekend Round-Up

It's a new day so shine on

And so I am having recently embraced The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.

I was intrigued by the book's concept perhaps because we often can get pulled into negativity with the news and chaos of world happenings that we overlook the positive things happening. I will be up front and say this book chronicles Rubin's life over a twelve month period and it's her approach to change her life for the better. But I did find the book an engaging read, with relatable experiences and enjoyed the author's humorous touch.

Gretchen Rubin is a successful writer living in New York City. She reflects one day that she had many things to be happy about in her life, but wasn’t always feeling happy. So she concludes that she wanted to change how she felt, without making changes to her life. Or, as she puts it “I wanted to change my life without changing my life.” To achieve this, she embarked on a one-year Happiness Project. Spanning one year, she tracks her progress against monthly resolutions designed to increase her feelings of happiness in her life. asking for more help when needed, finding more fun and keeping a gratitude notebook. Some of Rubin's resolutions included increasing energy by going to sleep earlier, challenging herself by launching a blog and writing a novel just for the fun of it. Over the course of months she found that the very smallest of changes can make the biggest difference—ranging from the practical to the profound. Rubin shares with the reader her experiences, opening up her life to readers so that we might be inspired to make some changes too.

One piece I took away from this project was the gratitude one sentence journal. 

The journal is a five year record (with hopes I can keep track of this journal for 5 years) of a one sentence thought written each day. October 24th quote at the top of the page We expect heroic virtue to look flashy, but ordinary life is full of opportunities for worthy, if inconspicuous virtue.  

I spent most of my weekend cooking, staging and photographing for a magazine. I was asked to do a food article with pictures of holiday appetizers and holiday desserts. My theme Small Bites-Big Flavors.  But I found it necessary to bring in the troops (neighbors) afterwards  to help out with the eating part. After Halloween I will post the eight recipes. But here is a sneak peek at the appetizer table.  

The following photos were taken by husband. I call it Curtain Closing on Fall's Last Act