What is Happiness?

Happiness: a state of well being and contentment. 

~ Webster's Dictionary

What is happiness? As you can see above is the definition of happiness but what it is really to us? A state of well being and contentment sounds amazing but how often do I actually reach this state? 

These are questions I have been asking myself lately. I know that I am happy in my marriage and my home, but I always seem to be looking past contentment into the great unknown. I am a planner to the core. I make lists about lists and I always had an answer to the question where do you see yourself in 10 years. I know this about myself and I have made countless resolutions to change. To learn to be content and to live in the moment not 10 years from now because reality is that my 10 year plan changes monthly. I think I am scared of contentment because I confuse it with being stagnant and stagnant is not something I want to be. You might even say that's a curse word in my vocabulary. I think this is why I am always planning, always what if-ing my way into a new course of action. 

But not this year! I refuse to spend another year looking forward to 1, 5, or even 10 years from now. I do not want to be the person who looks back on life and regrets that she never did things. Never just lived. I want to relish the unknown while loving the current. So that is what I am going to work on. I am going to work on a true state of happiness with all aspects of my life (marriage, home, career). I know now that happiness does not equal perfection. 

I know I am rambling but this is something I constantly struggle with. I need this resolved and am going to do such. I am going to start by reading Happier at Home by Gretchen Reuben and follow that with her book The Happiness Project. I know this post is sort out of the ordinary but I have been struggling with this lately and needed it out in the open. I needed to confess my lack of contentment to the world in order to start changing it. So thanks for reading and sticking with me. 

Some People Want to fill the World with Silly Love Songs. . .

So its Thursday and I have not done anything house related (other than clean) all week. I hope to be back Monday with some more house things but for today I thought I would share a lovey dovey moment. Last night I decided to set our table for Valentine's day. I know its not even February yet, but what the heck right. As I was setting our table for Valentine's I also thought how nice it would be to have a candle lit dinner waiting for Jose when he got home from school. So that's what I did. We had a lovely candle lit dinner on a random Wednesday night and it was wonderful!

Scoop there it is. . .

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This weekend I finally got around to cleaning up a bit in the yard. Which really means I raked the leaves into piles and actually got around to picking up the leaves in the front yard. I know this for some is not a big deal but I hate detest raking leaves. I think this comes from never really raking them as a kid. So now I dislike how much time it takes only to realize it needs to be raked over again. (At least this is what I realized once my raking was done this past week.) I also forgot to update the pictures when I tackled the palmetto bushes in front of our house. So as you can see they are gone and I say good riddance.

Jose and I went to an oyster roast for his law school fraternity this weekend. I am so glad that I have found a fondness for oysters (I did not like the little slimy guys when I first moved to Charleston). I had never even heard of an oyster roast before moving here and now I have been to too many to count. I love them, especially in the fall when the air is crisp. For me it means that fall has finally arrived. Not to say I did not enjoy myself this past weekend.

What did you guys do this weekend? Any oyster roasts? What about leaf raking? Or am I the last one to actually clean up my leaves. My defense is I was waiting on them to all fall. I believe there is less raking that way. Have a great week!

Painting Again. . .

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I did it! I took the plunge and repainted the living room. I say repainted because we painted the living room when we first moved in almost three years ago. (Wow its been three years already!) At the time we moved in I thought there was no way I could love our little bungalow in boring neutral colors. Therefore we painted the living room a cheery yellow and called it a day. I then spent the next two and a half years fighting with the yellow in attempts to make it fit my style. Finally I had enough, and I managed to convince Jose that we should paint.

The Before

The After

Now our living room is a beautiful and workable greige and I am in love lust with it. We I chose to paint it Sherwin Williams Perfect Greige. I had this color matched to Valspar no VOC paint from Lowe's.  I promised Jose that if he would jump on board with me repainting that he would not have to help (since he is not much of a paint lover). However, he was the sweetest and finished the priming for me while I was at work one  night so I could come home rest and then start with the actual color the next day. I am so much happier with the color. I now feel like I can decorate our living room without trying to match everything to a paint color I was not too crazy about.

On another note, I think I have worked out a schedule for blogging twice a week. My plan is to post on Monday and Thursday. I think with my crazy schedule this works best and gives me some direction as to when I am supposed to have something posted. So please check back on Mondays and Thursdays to see what we are up to.

I LOVE my Thrift Store!

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I know that I have already fallen behind on this posting twice a week thing. Hoping to make this week the turn around week. Anyway I am in LOVE with a thrift store. Yeah that's right in love. I have finally found that magical thrift store that no matter when I go I manage to find some really awesome things. This is big for me. I grew up thinking you only went to thrift stores if you were really poor and that all thrift stores were dirty and smelly. I don't really know where I got that idea seeing as how I am sure I was in high school before I ever set foot in a thrift store.  Well I have been completely converted. The thrift store closest to our home has afforded me so many treasures that I dare say it is my favorite place to shop. I love looking through the racks trying to find those special housewares or the awesome vintage (or sometimes brand new with tags) outfit. I also love the character it brings to our home when I find things that can be transformed to be our style. Jose thinks I am crazy for loving this thrift store so much and he also gets very weary when I mention just swinging by to "look". But he loves me and so he puts up with my crazy antics.

I write my diatribe about my thrift store to say I made and awesome find the other day. So awesome in fact that I must share it with you guys. I love to sew (most of  you know this already) and I have always wanted  a vintage sewing table. You know the kind that the machine is stored within the table. Well guess what? I found it! The perfect 1950's era sewing table complete with a working machine. Yes you read that right, a working machine. I am so excited and cannot wait to sew something with this machine. I do however want to see about rewiring the plug just to make it more secure. Right now I was concerned for our electrical outlets.

Do you guys have a favorite thrift store? I would love to hear about it if you do. Or are you like I was and think all thrift stores are dirty, smelly, and you could never find anything of value there?

Goals: Its that time of year again

Goals for 2013 not resolutions (I stink at keeping resolutions):

1. Learn Spanish: we purchased Rosetta Stone back in the summer and then our hectic schedules have kept me from really doing it. 

2. Lose 10lbs: This one I really did not want to put on here, however 10lbs is what I have gained over the holiday season and I want it gone. Hoping this goal is reached by mid March. 

3. Blog weekly: I have been horrendous about this one and I really want to grow our blog and document what we have going on in our life. 

4. Run a Half Marathon

5. Be More Grateful: I have a tendency to be a pessimist and focus on what we are not able to do right now instead of realizing all the amazing things that happen around me. This is really the most important goal for me.

6. Make and effort to get dressed everyday: By this I mean actually putting on clothing that is not workout gear or pajamas seven days a week. I am 27 and should not stay in my pj's all day when I am not working. 

I am sure that I could think of about a million other things that I want to accomplish in 2013 but these are my top six. These are also the ones that I want to be held most accountable for, hence the reason I am sharing them with you guys. So please feel free as the year progresses to ask me how any of these goals are coming along. Hope everyone had a fantastic and safe New Years Eve and I hope you are as excited as I am for what is in store for 2013!