Happy 101

Amy over at Eventyrhus gave me an award! :) I believe I found her blog via another American's blog via another blog via another blog and it turns out that we live only 30-40 minutes away from each other! Maybe someday we will venture out of blogland and meet up in real life. What is even crazier is that I play soccer with a girl that knows one of her daughters. What a small world!

Anyhoo, here is the award:

Cute, right?

Turns out most awards in the blog world are actually disguised chores (I mean this in the best possible way). This being my first award, I will do my best to fulfill the obligation which is, in this case, actually quite a pleasure! All I have to do is list ten things that make me happy! The real challenge is: how the heck do you do that without sounding cheesy, ridiculous and/or self-centered? I think the answer is that you don't!

So I am just going to jump right in and will most likely manage to accomplish all three.

• Teaching. Absolutely love it. There is something addictive-ly good about sharing what you can do and what you know with others, especially if it is helpful to them in a significant way. Hard to explain how incredible it feels when you see someone succeeding or improving as result of your efforts.
  
• Learning. Important to include this right after I mentioned that teaching lights my fire. I understand they are at least equally as important. Knowledge is power, right? Luckily for all of us there is no end to what we can learn, especially about and from each other.
  
• Sweating. A bit odd? Maybe. But satisfying? Absolutely. Nothing beats a good sweat. It can be from a team sport, the treadmill, a pair of skis or my own sick moves on the dance floor--whatever the cause, beads of sweat rolling down your face is a sign of hard work and that is pure happiness.
  
  
• Creating. Nothing gets me out of funk better than being creative--taking pictures, baking/cooking, scrap-booking, painting, writing--there are endless ways to express your own creativity and that is something I find refreshing.
  
• Exploring absolutely delights me. Whether it is a brand new place halfway around the world or my own back yard, I love poking around. And yes of course it is great in good company, but I dig adventuring alone too--especially with some good music in my ears and my camera in hand.
• Cleaning. I have to admit cleaning is not necessarily something I always enjoy doing and it wasn't something I even wanted to include on this list. And don't get the wrong idea, I am not whistling as I work or skipping around with the broom. However, when it is all said and done, I do think I am truly happy when I have a tidy place to call home. It just feels good.
• Music and smells. I didn't know how to make this fit into my present progressive verb theme here but I couldn't complete my list without these two items. I group these two together because I find them equally as powerful--both having the ability to calm you down, take you back in time or change your mood instantly. Ace of Base's song "All That She Wants" will always remind me of rocking out in my Mom's living room just as the smell of fresh cut grass will always remind me of my Dad and home.
  
• Connecting. Just the other day I met Iselin for a cup of coffee and we ended up sitting discussing everything under the moon long after our cups were empty. I left on such a high! Talking and sharing with others makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. . . especially when people come to trust you and you know that in return you can rely upon them.
  
  
• Giving. Boy oh boy do I love giving gifts! Gifts that are homemade, bought or only able to be measured by time, can let a person know that you care for them. I love giving! I love loving!
  
• Pushing my limits. Only when you make yourself uncomfortable do you have a chance to grow!
  

So that's that! Now I suppose it is again both my obligation and pleasure to pass the award along!

Here, here folkens...
You are now AWARDED:

Ethan@ With the Lights Out
Meredith@ La Buena Vida
Caitlin@ Caitology
Sheena@ The Jensen Family
Sarah@ Sending Lots of Love from Texas! (invite only, I believe)
Sonya@ Home Cooking with Sonya
Kirstin@ Lost in Oversettelse
Ilmi@ EricaBalo

(*NOTE* I took the award fairly literally. Since it asked for "things" that make me happy I did not mention people who I hold near and dear to me. Obviously the list of people that I love and adore would have been much longer than ten...)

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