Unfortunately we live in a world where depressing news is the standard, pessimism is trendy, and fear of the unknown can become paralyzing. Since it is Monday– the most depressing day of the work week– I thought we could spread a little happiness around. Ya know, like an STD or something, but in this case I case I guess it would be a HTD (Happiness transmitted disease).
I’m going to make it simple. I’ll rattle off a few things I find great joy in, followed by why said thing gives me joy. Then you will hopefully do the same. Easy enough? Okay, here goes…
Our 700 square foot apartment. Although it’s tiny, it is really a great space. I’m not just talking about the finishings. We have an amazing landlord, a view of the Puget Sound, significantly cheaper rent (than San Diego), and an easy commute to work/family/friends. For the two of us, we couldn’t ask for a better place. We loved our condo in San Diego and we love our pad in Washington. Seven hundred square feet of absolute awesomeness.
No kids or pets. We are both enjoying the “early” years of marriage. Although we get asked when we are going to have kids every few hours, no one is really pressuring us too much. This is a great season of life. We both enjoy working. Traveling. And doing what we want, when we want. I guess you could say we like being selfish with our time. While we are both excited to be parents in the next few years, we aren’t quite ready to give up our current lifestyle. Besides, we’ve basically adopted 20-ish high school freshmen anyways. That’s plenty of “parenting” for the time being. Here’s a shot of them in our cramped living room…
My job. I don’t know how common this is, but I legitimately enjoy my job. It forces me to think outside the box and has taught me a lot about myself. I also have some pretty great perks, working from home obviously being one of them. But most importantly, I truly believe my agency ACTUALLY makes America safer. Having even a small hand in that mission keeps me motivated. Although I don’t think I’ll be doing this for the rest of my life, I couldn’t ask for a better set-up right now.
I should stop here since I will probably do a “Things I’m thankful for” post closer to Thanksgiving. For all the stupid stuff that I let get under my skin and affect my attitude, I’ve got to admit, we have things pretty good. It’s all about perspective.
Alright marshmallow peeps (haha get it?), it’s your turn to start spreading some Happiness (like a fierce outbreak of Gonorrhea). What things are going on in your life that you find joy in? Parenting? Cooking classes? Friends? A book?
I am grateful for what I have. Although I would like more 🙂
We are grateful for our beautiful daughter, who is 3 months old, she brings us so much happiness that you won’t understand until you have your own, not saying you have to have your own 🙂
Life has been good over the last few years, minus the debt of course, but that is nothing compared to the happiness we have experienced (meeting, getting married, having our first child, our pets).
Financial part: My wife and I got married in 2009 and we had 3000 in liquid assets. We did our budget for the month last night and we now have 79,000 in liquid assets!!! Yes, we are frugal, but having nearly a years worth of income in the bank brings some peace. I am about to refinance the mortgage also, to a 15 year term.
Life part: We started trying to get pregnant 18 months ago. Over that time my wife had to have surgery for endometriosis and we have had numerous fertility treatments. We are now 8 weeks pregnant!!!!!!! Life is good.
Awesome!
I love that you have adopted Super Mario (and I’m slightly jealous of your kitchen-it’s a beauty!).
I’m finding a lot of joy in our new dog Riley (although that joy is a little harder to find when she needs to be taken out at 6am on a Saturday). I am also 6 months preggers and am pretty happy with where life’s headed.
A simple smile that we see on the road brings happiness to the other person. If he smiles back, it can also add to our happiness. If not, we did not lose anything.
believe it or not, the exact same three things as you…I love my small-but-awesome apartment, my husband of six months (no kids or pets here either) and my job. And lots of other things.
Also, this is part of my job, but I get to meet inspiring, generous and dedicated people every week. THAT is something that can make a girl happy.
I finally freaking finished my music video that I probably spent 30 hours on last week alone. It’s like I had two full time jobs last week and no sleep!
How contagious is this HTD you speak of?
I also LOVE my job/internship. And I love my hair today (okay, estrogen off now). And also, health is good.
My homelife is what makes me happiest; watching TV at night with my Hubby and 2 cats is when I’m my most content. We strive to make our homelife a peaceful one, since we both have jobs that can be quite demanding and stressful at times. I’m also happy our condo’s kitchen facelift is “this close” to being finished! It’ll add some extra value when we list our condo next spring.
I’m happy that Hubby and I are employed, though I’m less than thrilled with my current position; I’m thinking of taking some night courses this winter… my brain needs a little bit of a shake-up. If I take course(s) that pertain to some function within our organization, my employer will pay for the course(s), materials, exams… that makes me SUPER happy!! LOL!!
LOOOOVE your kitchen… I’m hoping to have something similar in our next place! 🙂
I actually do a Three Things I’m Thankful For post every Thursday. In a world where so much of our day revolves around negativity (and where I’m consistently beaten down by the grad school grind) I think it’s important to take some time to remember what is great about life!
What I’m digging right now? Flannel pajama pants – really, when it gets cold outside is there anything better?!
The kid dressed as Mario made my day 🙂
Can you expand a little on all of these kids in your place?
We like to kidnap them and make them our slaves….or we lead a youth group. Can’t remember.
I am thankful that I live in a country where I can attend church freely. I am thankful for my husband, who is totally awesome and cooks for me all the time. I am thankful for having a cleaning lady who does the things I don’t love doing in the house (toilets, sinks, floors).
I’m thankful for my kids, my mother, my whole family really and my husbands family, too. I’m thankful for my job, because I love it and it totally rocks my socks off.
I’m thankful for budgeting and personal finance blogs like this one! It makes me happy that I’m going to be totally debt free in less than four years. (Total original debt included 52K student loans, 20K car loans, 18K personal loans and credit card debt, 2K in medical bills.)
I actually have quite a bit to be happy about too! I have been at my job for about 10 months and I am reaching a point where I feel comfortable and competent in what I am doing. Which is great. I am also happy that I have made some good friends in the town I have been living in for the past 10 months.
I’m grateful to God for:
1. throwing me into the deep sea of committing stupid financial mistakes when I am young and still able to recover fast;
2. giving me a quick brain for invention, and a healthy body for my addiction of adrenaline sports;
3. allowing me to experience life on the edge and to its fullest; and
3. the biography “My Life on the Run” by Bart Yasso 😀
I am so happy you took my advise and got to make the easiest money you ever made!
Happy Monday!
Given all the bad news out there in the world today, I have to say that I’m pretty happy right now:
I have a loving wife whose wonderful family has welcomed me warmly.
I have a (so far, knock on wood) healthy baby that’s due in February.
I have a well paying job that doesn’t suck my soul away.
I have enough money in the bank to look for a modest, but comfortable home for my new family.
I have my health (knock on wood, take II).
This is a good exercise for me today…been down in the dumps for weeks…
* I have a fantastic support system of family, friends, and co-workers
* 3 beautiful boys and 5 step children
* After believing for years I would never own my own home, I have a home that I love
* I love my job and I am pretty good at it
* My nephew is marrying a really amazing girl on Saturday…we are all so happy and blessed to have her join our family.
We are pretty happy (thrilled) with our new little puppy. She is so awesome!
We live in a 900 sq feet condo and we are loving it. Less space we have, less cleaning we have to do and less bills we have tp pay. We do however have two pets but no kids.
Your place looks nice. I honestly you are exactly where you should be, and you should only consider a home if you are 100% sure you want to stay at your job(s) and you want to a raise family.
Ski season is just around the corner!
Happiness is contagious because we tend to avoid the unhappy, complainers and whiners.
It is my baby’s 1st birthday today!
Coldplay and frosty’s