Trumped by a Possum

(The road to Mora. We travelled this road a couple of weeks ago and will be embarking once again on a journey there tomorrow! The Tjejvasa takes place on Saturday. Gulp.)

You may or may not remember how or when this whole song and dance got started. And by song and dance I mean this blog and my sometimes crazy stories. This particular story that I am about to tell has roots in my very first post when my husband and I had embarked on a friendly game of competition. 

Fast forward (or rewind) to this past Friday morning, which was February 14th. The alarm went off earlier than usual. Or so it seemed. My husband was covered in pillows and blankets and a soft snore could be heard as I quietly made my way out of bed to go make coffee, feed the cat, & prepare a special Valentine breakfast in bed.  Being the hopeless romantic that I am, I was planning to use a cookie cutter to cut heart shapes into a couple of cardamom bullar (buns) I'd picked up. I had hoped to find something already heart-shaped but this would have to do. I can't help it. I just love hearts. 

Cat fed, coffee brewed, and heart bullar ready, I headed up to surprise my Valentine. I tip-toed quietly into the dark bedroom, careful not to jolt him awake, and whispered "Happy Valentines's Day" to the pillow and blanket covered bed lump. He had been out with some work colleagues the night before so I knew he was extra tired. Ha. Suddenly he jumped up and spun around to face me and with the most joyous expression you can imagine, he exclaimed, “Fipin!" He was playing possum. 

What??! I was completely and utterly stunned. I just stood there with the tray in my hands staring at him. Was it true? Yes, I had a vague recollection of our game way back around the Christmas holidays when we set the date for Valentine’s day at 7:00 a.m. (But didn't you mean the year 2015??!!) If you don’t remember, Filipin is a game played when you eat hazelnuts, whole in the shell hazelnuts that you must crack open to eat. The game occurs when you open a shell and discover two hazelnuts inside of one shell. A rare find, but completely possible. You then choose a player and the two of you set a date and time in the future, could be near, could be far, and the first person to say “filipin” after that date and time wins. 

Being so focused on this upcoming cross-country ski event and all of the training and stresses it entails, I was obviously off of my game. I have won most of our past games but perhaps this will begin a new trend. I can honestly say however, that seeing his face so bright and cheery and happy made it worth losing. (No, I’m not a sore loser. What makes you think that? :-p) 

Ps. God-willing, I will complete the Tjejklassik this Saturday when I (hopefully) reach the Tjejvasa finish. More on that later ;-). 

HAPPY

Okay. I did not BUY a gym membership but I did go to a gym and work out this week. AND I went for a run last night (in the cold and snow I might add!). I have one more gym to test out before I make my decision but I hope to do that this weekend. So things are looking up for my New Year's resolutions. :-)

On another note, going to the gym means that I like to listen to my own music when I work out. It really pumps me up and pushes me to work out harder when I listen to an upbeat, fast tempo song. What I realized during my evening on the treadmill and cross fit trainer was how much I truly love music. It is something I seem to connect to deep in my body and soul. It used to be that I would get my music fix while driving my car and listening to the radio or a CD, but I don't have a car here, which makes that difficult.

After my visit to the gym I decided I should start listening to music on my way to and from work. So now my "headphones," which are really earbuds but I can't stop calling them headphones, accompany me on my subway ride and walk to work. It is truly awesome. I have rediscovered the healing and energizing power of music. When I was a teenager I used to listen to "1999" while I was getting ready to go out. (Remember that Prince song?!) It can really put me in a good mood to listen to one of my favorite songs.

And I have discovered something else too. I don't know if it is because I was a professional dancer in my former life (or if I was a dance BECAUSE of this) but I simply cannot stand still and listen to a great song. My body HAS to move. My foot taps, my shoulders bop, and my hips want to join in the party. Would it be weird if I just launched into my own private music dance video on the blue line? or in central station? Probably. Therefore I compromise and sit [mostly] still.

Anyway, as you all know, it is that wonderful day of the week again - FRIDAY!!!

I came across THIS SONG, by Pharrell Williams, last night and even though I've heard it before, for some reason hearing it and watching the video last night just brightened up the whole universe.

The name of the song is Happy and, well, it is just HAPPY.

Enjoy!

And have a HAPPY WEEKEND!

Ps. The photos are from our engagement photo session five years ago. We celebrated our five year anniversary a couple of months ago and so it felt appropriate to post a few of these... from one of my happiest moments :-).

Happy Talisman

Everyone has one whether they realize it or not. It could be a small trinket that you’ve had since you were a kid, a favorite handbag that expresses your personality (or has the perfect number of pockets and zipper pouches, you know what I mean ladies), a shirt that brings you good luck and perks up those drab Mondays, or maybe your talisman is a special memory that you carry around close to your heart. This morning it dawned on me that having a talisman, a symbol of happiness, that can trigger us to feel happy or alter our state of mind could be a great way to keep happy alive and well in our every day. 

I started thinking about hypnosis and how the hypnotist tells the person (I have not actually experienced this personally) that they will awaken in 5 seconds, refreshed and not remember anything that was discussed. And they will go on to have a fabulous day. I made that last bit up but wouldn’t it be cool if you could whip out your talisman and just a peek at it could trigger a forgetting of the thing that was raining on your parade and you could just move on to having a happy day? 

Well, perhaps it could be just that simple. I am willing to try it. Want to do it with me? Pick out a talisman for yourself and give it special powers and permission to take away your bad mood, sadness, and un-happiness and replace those feelings with a sense of peacefulness and calm. Choose a happy memory to bestow upon your talisman so that every time you see it, you will be reminded of that special moment. Allow your talisman to inspire you to keep that feeling alive for the rest of your day. 

What would your Happy Talisman be? You are free to choose anything but how nice would it be if it was something small enough to carry around with you and whip out from time to time for a bit of happy inspiration? Perhaps mine will be a lucky Texas quarter… to remind me of warm, sunny Texas days and being surrounded by my friends and family back home…

Fresh Flowers

After packing away all of the cheery Christmas ornaments and dragging our poor, dried out Christmas tree to the Christmas tree graveyard, the apartment seemed a little dreary and sad. So when I was picking up a few things at our local ICA grocery store and tulips were on sale, I decided to brighten up our spirits with some fresh flowers. 

I don’t know if you have experienced this with fresh tulips before but they have a tendency to grow over night. And when I say grow, I mean GROW. I trimmed the bottoms a couple of inches before placing them in the vase with water and the next morning a few rambunctious wranglers to the right had grown at least three inches above the rest of the tulips. I know this about tulips and yet every time I am utterly astounded at how fast they grow. By the next day, it was as if the rest of them had caught up and then proposed a race to see who could grow the tallest. 

Now look at them! I have since trimmed about four additional inches off of the stems and they continue to grow. It is truly amazing. I know that white tulips are not so exciting when there are gorgeous orange, purple, and pink shades to choose from but these white beauties sure have brightened up our kitchen. 

Fresh flowers = HAPPY :-D

Hope you have a Happy Sunday!

Day 366: Finding Happy in 365 Days, Plus One

All good things must come to an end. As I sit here looking around my desk, I notice many things that have made their way into my posts during the past year. Many things that have brought and continue to bring me happiness. In addition I see many new things that I've added to my collection of "Happy." This will probably come as no surprise but these additions are making my desk somewhat of a cluttered mess right now. There are Christmas gifts that I have not yet found a home for, waiting patiently to be shuffled off to their final destination, and then there are my newly glazed ceramic pieces, also sitting here and there but they do not seem as patient. Somehow they seem to be saying, "It's too crowded here, we need space!" I understand their dilemma and my aim is to find new homes for everything today.

But wait... sitting just in front of my keyboard is a pile of unusual and fun items. These too are waiting patiently for their new home. However they are to be the contents of my final Happy Package Giveaway, an assortment of things that I have been collecting over the past few months in preparation for this very moment. They have really become like friends to me, cheering me on when I felt that Happy was on the far reaches of my boarders and helping to reel me back in with their cheery playfulness. Soon they will be on their way to a new home to hopefully spread Happy and continue the work I have started this past year.

Today is actually a bonus day, as my project was to Find Happy in 365 Days. But with leap year, a small oversight on my part, I have been given an additional day to complete what was and is to be a one year project. And I am really grateful for this additional day. Happiness has been all around me today as my husband and I headed out to pick up ingredients for our celebratory, New Year's Eve dinner AND to do one of my favorite things in the world - go out for breakfast! First on our agenda was breakfast, of course. We headed over to KA's Cafe, which is a small cafe in our neighborhood on Swedenborgsgatan. We have passed by it many times. We've even looked at their menu and expressed wanting to try it but never did, until today. We both decided to go with the "Gröt Med Banan, Kanel, och Mjölk" (oatmeal with bananas, cinnamon and milk). I had a cappuccino to accompany mine and my husband had just a regular cup of coffee. Our breakfast came out steaming. They were huge bowls of hot and hearty porridge and we sat in a cozy corner in front of a window with a view of the street outside.

As I neared the bottom of my bowl, I sat casually starring out the window, day dreaming about our dinner menu. Suddenly my eye caught a reflection being cast off of the back of the car in front of me. Miraculously the sun had come out. I had just stuffed the last bite of oatmeal and banana into my mouth. As I was swallowing the last bit we hurried into our jackets and scarves and headed outside to get a dose of vitamin D and continue on our way. The rest of the day was also filled with some of my favorite things: a casual stroll outside in the sunshine, a bit of after Christmas sale shopping, and a visit to not one, but two of the indoor markets in Stockholm in search of fresh and tasty ingredients for our "party for two" this evening, three if you include Pina, which of course we do.

Here's our menu...

"Finding Happy in 365 Days" Celebration Dinner:

Pre-dinner:

Gin & tonics with a twist of lime & chili spiced peanuts

Dinner: 

Champagne

Deconstructed meatball sandwiches & princess korv (vegetarian mini sausages)

Kale salad with mustard vinaigrette

Mini savory turnovers (shiitake and forest mushrooms with garlic and Västerbotten cheese & asparagus with garlic and Västerbotten cheese) topped with a creamy onion-scented bechamel sauce

Dessert:

Chocolate panna cotta with raspberry & red current gelee

Cheese plate with brillat savarin, manchego & something stinky that I can't remember


A few photos from my last blog day...

Breakfast at KA's Cafe.

An odd little fairy, aqua-woman I saw in the snow...

A hard balancing act...

The party has started!

Pina licking her chops after devouring her shrimp "cocktail."

The spread...

Skål! och välkommen till Sverige...

A tasty plate of food.

My brilliant, deconstructed meatball sandwich idea...

Tell me that doesn't look like a bite of Happiness right there...

Mysiga ljus (cozy candles)

And now... for the drawing!

All you have to do to be entered in the drawing is to leave a comment on today's post, here or on Facebook. I would love to hear any feedback that you would like to give me on this blog project and/or feedback on what you hope to read in my future blog. I will tally all comments on January 2, 2013 so you have from now until midnight, January 2nd to comment. Since this is my last post and it is also New Year's Eve I am giving everyone an extra day to both read and comment.

So you are probably wondering what is next for Finding Happy in 365 Days...

Due to the nature of my project, I will not be continuing with the same blog but will begin a brand new one that is currently in the works as I write this. I will be posting a link to my new blog on February 1,  2013 right here. However if you would like for me to send you an email with the link you can write to me at greasyham(at)gmail(dot)com.

It is not confirmed at this time but the working title for my new blog is, "On My Bike with Scissors and a Cast Iron Skillet."

Other titles in the running include:

Greasy Ham with a Side of Happy

Finding Sunshine

Finding My Paper Moon

Amazing Grace's

Coffee, Scissors and a Dose of Happy

I Love That!

Hemma Hos Grace (Swedish - means At Home with Grace)

Fåtöljen (Swedish - means The Arm Chair)


Feel free to vote on your favorite when you comment!

A few final words... THANK YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH for all of your support and shared laughs over the past year. This project has been an amazing journey and if it weren't for all of you I am not sure I would have kept with it. I hope that all of you will continue to look for Happy each and every day of your life. I promise that if you do, miracles will happen.

I wish you all a fantastic 2013! May it be the best year yet and may they only get better from here!

My love to you all!!!

Grace Ann

Day 295: Embrace Every Stage

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters...

compared to what lies within us." 

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Do you ever feel like there is a bigger person lying dormant within you? A person preparing for the world or preparing for a debut? Emerson's quote above makes me think of this notion. The hurdles we face each day, the difficulties that we feel sometimes are unbearable... those are "tiny matters" compared to our true selves, or "what lies within us," as Emerson says. Look at nature. Nature never stresses about the fact that winter came earlier this year or that it rained every day for a month. It just keeps going and being and the next day comes and brings spring buds and sunshine. 

Why don't we embrace life in the same way that nature exists? To nature, it doesn't matter if winter came earlier or later, the trees will still bud again and the leaves will shake with joy once again. The trees, in their winter dormancy, only plan and prepare for the next moment. They doesn't fret or fuss or cry. Why then do we as humans tilt our heads downward and take off our party hats, like the wooden man below? Why do we concern ourselves with things behind us or before us? Why not, instead, concern ourselves with what is [dormant] within us? Allow nature to take its course and prepare us in the same way for our debut. 

We all have something special to offer the world. Most of us know what that is whether it is our kindness or our leadership skills or our artistic nature. Why not today take a look at what nature has given us and allow those qualities to bloom... or perhaps even sleep through winter and awaken again in the spring. What is within you? Embrace it because that is where you will truly find happy.

Every stage of nature is beautiful.

Every stage of life is beautiful.
(Art by Mikael Nilsson, seen at 125 Kvadrat Konsthantverk Galleri in Stockholm)

Embrace every stage, whether it is a cold autumn day or a sunny spring day. 

They each have gifts to offer us.