Welcome to my blog for the Happiness Blog Hop hosted by Stephanie at Scrapworthy Lives.
A little background on the hop for those of you that are new here. Each month Stephanie of Scrapworthylives.com chooses a theme for the hop based around themes in Gretchen Rubin’s book: The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun. Basically all themes from the book are applied to the overall theme of SCRAPBOOKING and how it leads to more HAPPINESS in our lives.
This month's theme is MINDFULNESS or in other words, PAYING ATTENTION.
In no uncertain terms, I see how scrapbooking makes me more mindful of my life. This has happened in direct ways and indirect ways.
For example, many of the scrapbooking projects that I participate in by nature cause me to pay attention to the details of my daily life.
For example, A Week in the Life, a project inspired by Ali Edwards, requires me to take photos of as many ordinary details of my life as I can. For the entire week, I am conscious of taking photos of ordinary details that are important to our everyday lives like where we eat our meals, what we have for breakfast, what we might wear for the day, how we relate to each other around the house, how we get places, what our surroundings look like, where we go each day, etc, etc, etc.
I also pay more attention to the paper and other ephemera that surrounds me. I decide what to keep that will represent our daily lives. For this week, I pay attention to every thing. In my efforts to create this album, I am mindful of how to tell a story that accurately represents our daily lives in that week.
I find that the daily practice of a photo a day and recording (as much as I can) in my Project Life album is also a catalyst for AWARENESS.
SCRAPBOOKING is indirectly responsible for me coming upon writing prompts like the one below that I found today on Lee's blog (who I 'met' in an online scrapbooking class). Prompts like these cause me to pause, reflect on my life and record some of the mundane, yet important details of my life right now.
Not to mention, filling out quizzes like this makes me HAPPY and always has. Maybe it is because it causes me to be mindful and pay attention to the details of my daily life? What do you think? Do you like quizzes?
1. Who was the last person you held hands with? Braden, my six year old, after I had picked him up just a few hours ago at the bus in our apartment complex campus. I remember noticing how soft his skin is.
2. Are you outgoing or shy? Both. Socially, I have grown to be outgoing. As a child, I was definitely SHY! Now, I am only shy when it relates to my own accomplishments and then I am PAINFULLY shy. Only a handful of friends IRL even know about this blog!
3. Who are you looking forward to seeing? My friend, Diane, when she (hopefully) comes to visit me in Spring.
4. Are you easy to get along with? I think I am easy to get along with. But the older I get, the less I worry about it.
5. Have you ever given up on someone? Yes. But I do keep the door open, so to say.
6. Do you enjoy school/work? Yes, especially now that I only study/work on something I want to do.
7. What person do you think about most often? It rotates between my three boys and my husband depending on what is going on in our various lives.
8. What does your most recent text say? "No problem. I'll be at The Place at 1. See you then." (The Place is the name of the mall next to my apartment.)
9. Who did you last speak with for over 30 minutes? Emilie when we were out taking photos today.
10. Do you believe in good luck? I believe in being prepared for good luck and taking advantage when it finds you.
11. How do you feel in a big crowd of people? If they are raucous then I might be nervous or scared especially if I have my kids with me and I'm worried for their safety, otherwise I'm excited because there is probably something fun going on. And I'm used to crowds after living over five years between China & Japan.
12. What was the best thing that happened this summer? My husband survived & fully recovered from a scary brush with full-blown sepsis.
13. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again? Yes, by all means.
14. Do you think there is life on other planets? Yes.
15. Do you still think about your first crush/love? My first crush was in Kindergarten or 1st grade and I just told my kids about him the last time I was at home and we walked past his house. His family hasn't lived there for a long time.
16. What bad habits do you wish you could break? Lately it has been spending too much time on the computer. I've already improved and plan to keep whitling it down within reason.
17. What's the first thing you do when you wake up? Take my Synthroid for my thyroid.
18. Did you dream last night? About what? Not that I can remember. I also need to get more sleep so I can have time to dream.
19. Who is the most comfortable person to be around? Abby, Stacy, Diletta, Yukiko, Paul
20. What made you happy today? Getting back to yoga after a week off and having a really good class.
21. Which celebrity would you want to date and why? George Clooney and I might be talked into Brad Pitt.
22. Do you enjoy playing sports? Yes. But I don't play much.
23. When was the last time you wrote a thank you note? In September for two very nice birthday gifts.
24. Would you rather live without TV or music? TV. Now with the internet, who needs a TV?
25. Are you currently keeping a secret from someone? No. Last week I was keeping my son's birthday gift a secret!
26. Do you think age matters? Yes.
27. What was the last store you went into? Jenny Lu's for food.
28. What is your dream job? National Geographic Photographer choosing my own stories and paid in full before I fly to the job in its extremely exotic and gorgeous location covering very friendly and fascinating people. :)
29. Do you believe in second chances? Yes.
30. Do you smile at strangers? Yes.
31. Is your voice quiet or loud? Loud.
32. Would you rather go to space or to the bottom of the ocean? Space.
33. What are you most afraid of? The death of my children or husband.
34. What is the nicest thing someone ever said to you? I love you.
35. Have you done anything you hope no one ever knows about? No.
36. If you could write a book, what would it be about? Photography - because I would like to be that good.
37. Do you enjoy bubble baths? On a rare occasion.
38. How would you describe your perfect day? On holiday in a location similar to Hawaii (I love the warm weather and warm ocean water), a relaxing swim, a massage, homemade ice cream, a healthy yet delicious breakfast, Wahoo's shrimp tacos for lunch, a few hours to take some great photos doing fun things, playing a game with my whole family, a nice quiet dinner with my husband having a good glass of wine and chatting.
39. Would you rather lose your vision or your hearing? Hearing.
40. What astrological sign are you? On the cusp of Virgo & Libra.
41. Do you know the meaning of your name? If I do, I can't think of it right now. I was named after my parents' friends' girlfriend!
42. Do you prefer indoors or outdoors? Outdoors especially if it involves nature - I'll take beach or mountains.
43. What was the name of your first pet? Tulus the IV.
44. Do you have a crush on someone right now? No, unless you count my husband.
45. Where would you travel if you could go anywhere? Nepal or Europe, maybe the Italian Riviera.
46. What do you do during an awkward silence? Talk.
47. What part of your body do you love most? My legs.
48. Who did you last say "I love you" to? One of my children or my husband, I can't remember since we say it most days.
49. Did you make your bed this morning? Yes.
50. Are you who you want to be? I'm well on my way.
This is also perfect material for a future scrapbook page. Perhaps I'll make one and post it for you at the next blog hop. Because as we all know, scrapbooking definitely makes me happy. I think all the steps to making a scrapbook page, from taking photographs, selecting materials to use, to crafting a page, all require mindfulness. Maybe that is why it makes us happy?
If you are so inclined, copy and paste the questions and answer them on your blog and be sure to post a link to your answers in the comments. I would love to pop over and hear more about you!
And I still plan to sign up for Your Story Matters to bring even more attention and awareness to my own story - not just my kids', who I tend to scrapbook and photograph 90% of the time. That said, I am planning a Top 10 List on Thursday of my best Self Timer Photos for Shimelle's Ten on 10.
I plan to particpate in www.onedayonearth.org which takes place this Friday 11.11.11 when the world will come together to DOCUMENT ONE DAY around the globe. What better way to bring AWARENESS of all kinds of interesting things in our world to one another? Check it out and why not join in too? I think it sounds like an incredibly cool project.
And before I send you off, an article I found the other day on happiness. I love what he says about routine and how he reduces every day stress in his life. I'm taking it to heart and trying to see how I can incorporate those behaviors into my own life. His answers weren't necessarily ones I have heard time and again. Give it a read and let me know what you think.
Dr. Weil Interviews Dr. Oz at Everyday Health
Next on the hop is Nuggets. If you should get lost along the way, feel free to come back here for a list of all the blogs or find your way to our host, Stephanie at Scrapworthy Lives. Thanks, Stephanie for hosting! It is always a lot of fun.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you'll come back again.
Nihao, Cupcake! <--- You are HERE.
Nuggets <--- Go HERE next.
I really like your post, and am amazed with your Project Life. I also really like the quiz. I think, for me, quizzes are a fun way to start a scrapbook page. Thanks for sharing! :D
Posted by: Kimberlee | November 07, 2011 at 08:16
I SO agree that scrapbooking helps us to pay attention and be mindful of what is going on around us. That will allow you to pass down some wonderful information to your children. Both Project Life and A Week in the Life are fantastic ways to do that.
Posted by: Valerie Serfozo | November 07, 2011 at 08:49
Wow! Awesome post - I love the quizzes questions list & I also find that the "A Week in the Life" helps me to pay attention to the everyday. I'm still working on getting my flow going with Project 365.
Posted by: Katie Scott | November 07, 2011 at 15:49
Fantastic post! I also love doing quizzes because our answers can change from day to day, month to month, yet some answers will always be the same. It's a great snapshot of today and to capture who you are. Makes me want to get out that old special issue of Simple with all the quizzes...... :)
Posted by: Tdailor | November 07, 2011 at 19:06
I Also enjoyed Week in the Life and am considering Project Life for 2012. I don't do many quizzes but like the one you posted. They are great for scrapbooking ideas! Thanks for sharing :)
Posted by: Sara Grafton | November 07, 2011 at 19:24
I have that SS issue too! Its a classic.
Posted by: Nihao, Cupcake! by Margie | November 07, 2011 at 20:00
Ill visit your blog to see if you have posted your WITL Album. I love seeing what others have done.
Posted by: Nihao, Cupcake! by Margie | November 07, 2011 at 20:04
Love this post! I think I'll have a go at answering those questions too!
Posted by: Linda | November 08, 2011 at 00:54
Great! Let me know if you do so I can pop over and read your answers. It might be fun to change it up a little too and create a couple new questions.
Posted by: Nihao, Cupcake! by Margie | November 08, 2011 at 01:46
Those lists are always so much fun! What a great idea to use them as jumping off points for scrapbooking! Thanks for participating!
Posted by: Stephanie Medley-Rath | November 08, 2011 at 04:03
I love your post. Mindfulness has been my OLW this year and like you say, I love that our projects that we are working on help us to pay heed to aspects of our life that o/w might just pass by like any other day.
Posted by: Rebekah | November 08, 2011 at 06:46
I love how you document things :) LOVED the answers to the quiz questions! Looking forward to watching your next projects and the publication of your photography book!
Posted by: Lee Currie | November 10, 2011 at 16:13
LOL! I will be sure to send you a signed copy from the first printing! :)
Posted by: Nihao, Cupcake! by Margie | November 11, 2011 at 01:06