a question for the glass-half-full crowd :)

Day 2 of good mood week, and I am trying VERY hard to keep a happy face, but, as always, that's not easy for me. So I have a question for people who have a naturally sunny disposition: do you have bad things go wrong all day long (like moi), and you just happen to have a stronger ability to deal with it than I do, or do you usually have such good luck that there's simply nothing to be blue about? I'm really curious! If you do have awful luck and manage to overcome it each day, any tips?

Anyway, I've just poured myself a glass of grapefruit juice and I'm going to take some deep breaths and try not to let anything get to me. My printer, my brother, the weather, the UK immigration department and life in general are really testing my patience today so it'll take a lot of grapefruit juice and happy music to keep me feeling remotely bubbly.

Oh, and I decided I'm going to draw some of my "cheer up" posts instead of finding photos online, I thought that would be fun! :)

things that cheer me up!

Day one of good mood week is almost over, and I think it went swimmingly. I had a lot of minor inconveniences like I do most every day -- losing the internet, and the like -- but I took it with a grain of salt. I focused on the happy things and didn't let other stuff bother me. Also, I've realized that it is physically impossible to feel grouchy whilst My Boy Lollipop is playing on repeat, so I intend to keep it going all week, or for my entire life if necessary.

For the duration of good mood week, I'm going to post some things that cheer me up. If the week goes well, I'll probably continue this series but if I feel like crap by Sunday then I'll chuck it and do a "things that make me angry" series instead.

Just kidding! ;-D


Ok, first up is I Dream of Jeannie. I got the complete series recently and have been watching it a lot while I work. My favorite character is Major Healey, but unfortunately the only good photo of him from the series that I could find online was like 200 pixels wide and really stunk so you get this one of the equally cool Jeannie and Major Nelson instead... my favorite episode is Divorce, Jeannie Style which *yay* is available on hulu so you can go watch it and see why I love it so much :)

(I love the look on Major Nelson's face. GOSH this series cracks me up!!)

By the way, I have this thing about characters and actors names... if I watched shows when I was a kid I still refer to the characters by their fake names. Whenever I watch Fail Safe I say "Look! It's Major Nelson!!"


Also, I adore the smell of blown-out candles. It's almost enough to celebrate my birthday twice each year so I get one more opportunity to smell burnt out birthday candles more often. (The extra helping of presents and cake wouldn't hurt either, I guess...)


ANYTHING grapefruit. Seriously, anything. Confession: I do have pink grapefruit body spray and shampoo. I know, I have a problem.

But I just found this recipe online for pistachio & grapefruit macarons, and I think it is the single best reason that somebody needs to invent a machine that lets you eat things you see on your computer screen. Wait to go to the grocery store, buy the ingredients and make these myself? Ok, that's all well and good but I'd much prefer to reach into my screen and eat them this minute.

Photos link back to their original sources :)

good mood week

Despite the fact that, by all accounts, I was a very happy child, I've somehow become a very bitter adult. It's not that I want to be crabby all the time, but I let circumstances overwhelm me and somehow wake up every single day on the wrong side of the bed.

Even on days when I wake up feeling refreshed, turn and look at my sweet little cat sleeping in her cat bed beside me, take a sip of the grapefruit juice I had left for myself in the morning and listen to birds chirping outside my window... something always happens to ruin the cheer. Whether it's stepping in a present left by my other cat (presents left by cats are not good things, just in case you don't have one and were wondering), checking my email and finding a complaint from a customer or going downstairs to find that the jar for the Nutella I had my heart set on for breakfast is empty -- something happens every morning to make me think "great, another bad start to another bad day."

Last night before I went to bed, I was completing a major printing project. I have to print 300 flapper doodle cards for an event, and my printer decided after the 20th or so card that it didn't like feeding my paper anymore, so I've had to manually feed each piece. I finished all 300 fronts and got through about 100 insides before my printer gave me this lovely notice:


Considering the fact that I'm practically broke, all I could think of was that my ink would run out before the project was completed & I'd have to run to Staples and spend my last few dollars on ink. I was pretty miserable.

I immediately thought -- (this sentiment is absolutely dripping with sarcasm) -- "this week is going to be just dandy."

But instead of preparing myself for yet another lousy week, I decided that this week was going to be different. I'm going to try to be in a good mood, and not let the little things get me down. It's been tough so far this morning, already. I woke up feeling really crappy, my nose was stuffy all night so I slept awful. (Oh, did I mention that I absolutely detest this time of year *cough* hay fever *cough*) I came online and saw that I had no orders again (I've been having a major dry spell for a week and a half), and someone made something that I had said I was going to make on one of my blogs two weeks ago. Then I turned my head away from my laptop and noticed the ink light blinking on my printer.

It's going to be really tough. For the past few years I've been in a chronic bad mood, and I'm used to it. The world seems to conspire to make my days as trying as possible. But for one week, I'm going to see if I can get through it all without adding any gray hairs or wrinkles to my poor little 23 year old head.

Be back later, I think I see a rainbow outside...