Things that Make Me Happy

My dear roommate and I were once browsing a Borders bookstore (one of my favorite ways to pass the time) and we stumbled upon a book called: Things that Make Me Happy. It was simply a list of hundreds and hundreds of things that made the author happy. They had been keeping this list for years. Some were small, simple things and others were extremely specific. My list does not contain hundreds of things. But there's always room to grow! And there are many, many things that are not on my list...yet. Perhaps someday I'll add them. For now, here's a few things that really do make me happy (in no particular order). :)

1. Freshly baked, baked goods
2. Getting mail (Snail mail!)
3. Successful beach days (Of which there have been many attempts, but few attained)
4. Delicious coffees
5. Sweaters
6. Swedish Fish
7. Traveling
8. Looking at pictures of the places I've been; of the lives that have been intertwined with my own; of the faces that have changed me
9. Lake Michigan
10. Movie parties
11. Movie Marathons
12. Peanut butter (chunky, of course!)
13. Singing
14. Music in general
15. Playing my guitar (or attempting to at least...)
16. Skype dates
17. Reminiscing
18. Pranks (harmless of course!)
19. Scarves (I've decided that one can never have too many scarves. Which is good because I LOVE them.)
20. Hugs
21. Head massages
22. Pedicures (though I could live without the price)
23. Getting dressed up
24. Africa
25. Weddings
26. Dogs
27. Babies
28. New Shoes (and having money to buy new shoes!)
29. Baking
30. Crafting
31. Star Gazing (By far one of my favorite things in the world.)
32. Camp fires
33. S'mores (First you take the graham...)
34. Disney movies
35. New hair products (It's an addiction. One without a cure.)
36. New socks
37. Cute headbands
38. Chocolate chip cookies
39. Guacamole
40. Books
41. Orchestras, symphonies, large (quality) choirs, oratorios, etc.
42. Musicals
43. Camp (Where would I be without you in my life, Camp Zion?)
44. Soccer
45. Running
46. Getting lost in music
47. The woods
48. Crayons (I may or may not have asked for and gotten crayons for Christmas last year...Yes, I am nineteen. I hope I am never too old for crayons. Plus it wast the 48 box of crayons. With the sharpener on the back. Who wouldn't be excited?!)
49. Flowers
50. The smell after fireworks
51. The fireworks themselves
52. Fair trade stores
53. World Markets
54. Finding good deals
55. Not having to pay for laundry
56. Large bodies of water (sorry southern Illinois. You are severely lacking on the water front...)
57. Places that make me feel incredibly small, and recognizing God's hand in the truly Infinite (star gazing does this to me every time. I cannot look at the stars without feeling and accepting how small I am, and how wonderfully vast and big God is.)
58. Enchiladas, tamales, chimichangas, etc.
59. chai tea. Mmmm.
60. Nerf guns (I may or may not have also gotten one of these for Christmas last year. :) What can I say?)
61. Useless pieces of information
62. Hershey's with Almonds
63. Dark chocolate
64. Cherries
65. Fresh fruit (Greenville, why don't you put out more fresh fruit?!)
66. Really good apples
67. Java-chip Frappeccinos
68. Skee Ball machines (I could be so content with a bag of quarters and a skee ball machine.)
69. Cereal
70. Giraffes
71. The first time I can wear a sweater in a given year
72. The first time I can go out without a sweater and not be cold
73. People watching
74. True fall days
75. Coffee dates
76. Movies in general
77. Old photographs
78. People playing with my hair
79. Good pens (I can't tell you how picky I am about pens. My favorite thus far is the Pilot Precise V5. Extra fine. The purple one when I can find it)
80. Cameo Pins
81. Snow
82. Christmas lights
83. Superhero movies
84. Picnics
85. Bananagrams
86. Chocolate covered cherries (as in combining numbers 63 and 64. Thanks Jolynn. :))
87. Classes that don't have required books
88. Pop tarts
89. Popsicles
90. Fun post cards
91. Nap time (best time of the day)
92. After work out burgers
93. Kit-Kat bars
94. Funky jewelry
95. The first signs of Spring
96. Guys that can sing and play guitar
97. Hippie Stores
98. Planes, trains, and well I suppose automobiles. But mostly the first two.
99. Aquariums (as in not the kind you put a gold fish in. Huge aquariums- like the Shedd)
100. Lightning storms
101. Fun coffee mugs
102. Tea
103. Getting my tax refund
104. Spring rain (if it's warm out!)
105. Vintage jewelry

To be continued...