Signs of Spring?

Ok, I cheated with that title to lure you in.  I actually don't have any signs of spring in sight.  But let's see what we can find.

My daily dose of happiness is often times something very small.  Something I could have easily overlooked.  Today is another day of snow.  That's 3 or 4 days of snow in a row now (I've lost track).  Even though I'd really like to see the sun, I am still finding small things to cheer about.  

And yes, I have more snow pictures for you.  But... it's nearly all I have around.  So let's take a quick look at the happy here.

1.  I found a bit of color... fabulous, wonderful, cheery, rusty orange and minty green!!  (this was yesterday morning while we were getting a bit of rain)

2. Now look at the mystical blues here!  It's like something out of a story book, even though it's bent, crushed, and broken a lot my bushes and lilac trees.  I'm hoping that means what is left is stronger for it!  (this was what the driveway looked like this morning)

3. Around 30 minutes later the night turned to day.  What a change now to grays and white.  Very soothing colors.

 4. Katie is a snow remover expert!  She can be found out and about helping us most of the time.  I just love when she has snow on her nose!!! 

 5. Our cave of a driveway with all the limbs pulled down under the weight of the snow.  I want to title this picture "The path less followed"  -- perfect for us rebels!

 6. As Katie runs around, her duck feathers catch and make little snowballs on her undercarriage.  These are also referred to as "dingle balls."  

Is it bad that those little blobs of snow remind me of Belgium sugar?  The same Belgium sugar that is used to make real Belgium waffles!  Nom nom... my mouth is watering just thinking about it!

 7.  This snap reminds me of a postcard.  Gorgeous! 

 8. And then it was time to go in and get dry and warm.  I called my Katie-pie and she came dashing... almost flying over to me!  Do you see how it looks like she is running with her eyes closed?  Added bonus.... look at her ears are up and looking all adorable.

So you see.  On a day where it's easy to complain about the weather, a bit of  a closer looks give evidence that happiness is all around still.  

You must be open your eyes (and slow down to enjoy it)!  Hope today finds you warm, safe, and able to find some happiness!

Proper use of snow

All this talk about snow.  It never ends.  

Lesson #46: The Proper Use of Snow.

And this.

And Katie adds... this.

Of course now that I am at peace with snow.  We are getting a humungo wave of rain.  I mean I can hardly wait for a reason to break out my rain boots, but I had so much planned for snowdog making, sledding, and fort building. 

Back to the drawing board to figure out why rain is amazing.

I'd like to offer a start to the list of Reason's why rain is amazing:

1.  You don't have to shovel it.

Happiness is making awesome things out of what you already have in hand!

When your day feels...

When your day feels like this

 
Then you need to do a little of this (grin and bare it... and if you can smile :)

Another long day for me here, but I am sure I will still manage to find some happy in it and I will be sure to bring it here a.s.a.p.!!!

Check in on my herd...

I showed you here that I started horsing around with a new project.  Ha!  Get it?

And I wanted to share that I am getting closer to finishing my herd of horses.  That means I then have to figure out how I will be displaying them for an up coming March art show.  

It's funny how hard I have fallen for this project.  Dreaming up each horse has been sort of therapeutic and mini inspiring all at the same time.  Since I seem to spend quite a lot of time handling each horse I get to think up a story, name, and a favorite food or movie they may have.

I am a huge fan of showing you my palette as I go along.  I almost feel like my palette has it's own story to share about the project in progress.  Almost like it's a work of art in it's own right.

Here are some of the horses hanging out drying while I clean my brushes and finish up for the night.

My favorite (don't tell the other horses) from this batch, is Lava Lamp Horse.  She is found toward the bottom left of the board.  Very trippy with swirls of blue, yellow, pink, purple and green.  I just feel like she exudes so much confidence.  That's me on a rock'in good day!

My shadow was nearby helping me when she had the chance.  Katie sort of ends up in hunting mood around the cardboard and is always trying to sneak one of them away when I'm maybe not looking for a moment.  She's sneaky... but hasn't snagged one.  Yet.

Just like my paint palette fascinates me... so does this paper towel that I was using to paint the horse parts on.  I enjoy the chaotic pattern (oxymoron for sure) that evolves and the synergy of the colors as they are forced to share the same space.

Another day I set up painting camp about 5 feet from the wood burning stove.  Seriously. the. best. painting. spot. in the. house!  

No joke!  

I had the heat from the wood stove cranked to 88 degrees via wood.  Let's just say.  Sigh.  Heaven!!!  

And from a practical stand point the paint dried fast which means my horses didn't curl.  

Practical, warm, delicious, make you dream of a hot summer's night!

You can see I had some new horses brewing.  Pink and brown were my wedding colors and they look magical on a horse too!  I was also playing with different brushes to find different textures for the mane.  

Did I mention I love this project?

The pink bubble horse (a la Bubble Bath Horse) is another one of my favorites!

But, just look at the cutie pie smiley face on Lava Lamp Horse!!  So, happy, so chill, so me on a good day!

Oh...oh... and check out Splashed in a Blue Puddle Horse!!!!  He's feisty, he's dirty, and he knows how to have a good time!

I see at least one more check in coming from this project.  I have about 25 horses assembled now.  Some need faces, some need decoration.  I am thinking it would be nice to have another 10 or so.... which means I need to get tracing, cutting and painting some more. 

I can't wait to show you what the final art piece ends up looking like!! 

If a corky fun art project is happiness, then I am the happiest clam in the sea!!  
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Have I inspired you to make a horse or two?  The pattern I am following can be found in my first post about this project (here).  

Happy horsing around!!

(And thank you again to Ann Wood for making this horsey happiness possible for me!!) 

Poprocks Bookswap book has come home!

Do ya'll remember the book swap that I joined?  I introduced it here and talked about writing a book inscription here.

Wellll.... I got my book in the mail!  Whoop whoop!

Hi Cynthia!  (my bookswap buddy)  *waves*

Doesn't getting a package make you happy -- especially when their is a surprise inside~

It looked something like this.... white padded glorious-ness!

I had been daydreaming about what kind of book would find it's way to me -- and I couldn't be happier!

I have already read the first bunch of pages and found myself laughing a bit out loud and smiling!

The book had a cute card tucked inside.  Doesn't it remind you of spring?  I have spring fever BAD!

Cynthia also took the time to highlight some interesting parts in the book, like this one.  I haven't gotten this far yet, but I couldn't resist a flip through the book to look for some of the highlights.  

Are you one of those people that reads the last page first?

I used to be really bad about reading the last page, but have since gained some self control.  

Honest.  

I didn't read it.  

Really really.  

Well maybe not all of it. 

This quote is a really good one.  I especially like the part about "...death... misses someone else..."  It's a very interesting way to flip things around and look at the bright side of things. 

Cynthia, thank you so much for sending this book over!  I hope you can leave a comment with your blog, so I can wander over and say hi!  

I am sure I am going to enjoy reading this one!

What are you reading right now?

Zen Dog

It's Monday, again.  Time to reflect on how cool the weekend was! 

I have several updates to bring to you today, but in the meantime let's all meditate together.

Ready?

Find a nice quiet and sunny spot and repeat...

"This week will be great!
This week I will be successful!
This week will rock!"

Oh ya!  And now I'm ready for the week!

Paper my Valentine

I had a bit of fun with Valentines day.  You see Mr. Happy and I don't really celebrate v-day.  It's a bit too commercial.  It's a bit too forced.  And I would rather we celebrate any 'ole day that we are feeling crazy in love.

That said, I did decide to spoil a few ladies in my life by telling them I love them with a bouquet of flowers.  BUT... not the kind of flowers that will die.

Paper flowers!

You see, I lived in Japan for 3 years and picked up a terrible creative habit of doing origami.  It's not really a terrible habit, but it sort of is.  You see when I have a few moments at work or find myself between meetings with only minutes to spare you can usually assume I am doing some origami. 

It got to the point where I had a drawer full of tiny little paper animals, letters, flowers, ships, and planes.  I had to cull through them a little bit and I decided to decorate with some of my favorites and let the other ones move on (tossed them... I have so much trouble throwing things out).

Back to the paper flowers.  This time I made tulips.  I didn't have a lot of origami paper on hand and I wanted to be a bit 'o green... so I thought magazine pages would make the cutest flowers.  The pages have fun colors... they are glossy... and they are thin enough that they are easy to work with. 

Here is the result!  I had a very hard time giving these away, as I didn't make a bouquet for myself, but I know I will be able to visit them in the very near future if I need a fix!

Aren't these just amazing!!  Look how colorful they are!!

Then I wrapped them up for gifting!

What's the latest thing that you did for someone else?

Doing something sweet for someone else = happiness!

Snow Way?

Earlier this week I was telling you all about snow and how amazing it was.  I meant to put these pictures with that post, but due to a mix up of where my camera cord was I am only getting to download my pictures now. 

I assure you they are worth the wait. 

So think back to what I was saying.  Snow is a total pain in the butt, we've had tons of it, and I'm over it.  But the very next morning after I said those things I woke up to this sight:

Sigh! So completly breath taking.  I guess I didn't really mean what I said about the snow.  It really is a beautiful time of year!

And like I was telling you.  Snow is fun too!  Katie and I have spent quite a lot of time playing in the snow like two little kids without a care in the world.

I hope your morning has started off well! 

I should be a bit more steady in my posting over the next week.  This week has been long and I am so very glad to kiss it good-bye!

It's Great!

Snow has been the focus of my world lately.  Moving snow, driving in snow, fearing snow, getting days off because of snow, and wishing there would be no more snow.

With that in mind... let's do a why snow is great countdown.  

Here is the Top 5 Things that Make Snow Amazing!

5. Snow on the ground means you always have something to throw for the dog (snowball).

4. Snow means a certain chill in the air which is the perfect excuse for a snuggle with a loved one.  Even the slobbery kind!

3. Snow makes for some great slipping and sledding.  Whether you snowboard, ski, tube, or sled on it... they are all a blast! 

2. It's really really beautiful when you have a moment to stop and take it all in.  That serene blanket of white covering every in-perfection, every ugliness.  It really makes the world seem more quiet, simple and peaceful!

1. Snow is temporary.  I live in a place where it will eventually go away.  Spring is around the corner.

How does snow make you happy?

Balance is Key

Between all this snow and work... balance is a must!  Not really, but I needed an excuse to post these cutie patutie pictures of Katie with treats on her nose.


Enjoy!

Loving on the doggie = happiness!

Thank you for the goodies!

You Can Call Me Moose recently held a contest to celebrate their 1 year bloggerverasary and I won!!  Just look at the adorable picture that Moose's Mom posted to tell me I won. 

Awww!  Moose you are so stinkin' cute!!

Winning a contest is alwasy a fun feeling!  And that meant that I got a package in the mail.  Getting a package in the mail is certain happiness for me!

Look at the cute snail mail lable from the front!

And the adorable goldie sticker on the back!

When I opened the package I found so many goodies inside that as I kept pulling them out I was thinking, "WOW! And I get this too?"  Moose you are so very generous and I want to thank you very much for all the pretty things!! 

I first found this adorable calendar.  My favorite part is how Valentines Day is highlighted.  Very creative!!

And look at this bookmark.  I enjoy the design and it has a really pretty tassle on the end.  One can never have too many bookmarks!

I found tiny little match book looking thing.  The bird is fantastic and when you open this it's actually little scrap paper.  So dang clever!!

Their was a bag full of biscuits tucked in the package too.  I was wondering why Katie was paying it so much attention.  These look homemade and are adorable shapes!  Hearts, bones, and circles. 

They are the perfect size and Katie gobbled them up!

Plus they were fun to play with!

Can you believe their is more?  I found a package of cards with envelopes.  My favorite is this truck card.  It's almost too pretty to send.  I may have to go order some more so that it's easier to send them out. 

Perfect for a little love note to Mr. Happy -- rustic, boyish, and great colors!

This card reads, "I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers" -- excellent quote!!

And then when I thought the package was empty I still found more.  Take a look at this adorable pin! 

Lastly this business card was tucked in with the pin.  I am sucker for marketing things and wanted to bring this to your attention, because it is just too darn clever not to tell you about.   Take a look at Cabin Press Studio's tag line....

Get it?  "Above your expectations"  "Elevation 9500' "  This is a company based out of Colorado.  Love it!

Today... Getting a package in the mail and finding fantastic goodies = happiness!