Fragrance Day

Or, in other words, danger, danger: You are about to enter the girly-girl zone. I swear to you I'm not making up these holidays and Fragrance Day just seems tailor made for women. I wore Love's Baby Soft when I was a teenager then I switched to Halston, which I wore for years! I tried Beautiful for awhile and have now been stuck on Warm Vanilla Sugar from Bath and Body Works. I've heard Amazing Grace by Philosophy is nice so I'm wanting to try it.

Now on for the other girly-girl stuff. All my happy things are pret-ty girly today. Don't say you haven't been warned!

I love decorating magazines. I practically drool over the picture perfect houses. ****Sigh**** In my next life, I guess.

I adore little love notes. Most of mine consist of Post-Its. Rich has never been much of a writer but I swear he gives the most romantic cards....plus, once in awhile, he writes me a little Post-It. I keep every single one.

The fountains in Kansas City make me happy. I sometimes feel like we live in Europe what with all the fountains. This is probably the prettiest one, although a bit showy. Doesn't matter though....they certainly make for a pretty hometown.

And, this is kind of a take on the decorating magazines. I'm a sucker for glass kitchen cupboards. Of course, mine wouldn't have all those beautiful white dishes. Mine would show my plastic Mizzou cups....hahaha.

International Earth Day

And as far as planets go, this is my favorite one.

My happy list for today:

Rainbows.....and since I'm always posting pictures, I might as well go for the gold with a double rainbow. One of the prettiest things ever and, just think, the people who live in Hawaii see these almost daily. That was one of my favorite parts of visiting Oahu.

Most people love seashells. I've seen enough tacky tourist shops lining the beaches where you can buy seashells cheap, cheap, cheap that they no longer hold any allure for me. But sea glass....quite the opposite. Look at those gorgeous colors. And when you think it just started out as broken glass and the magic of the ocean waves made it so smooth....it kind of amazes me.

And, church bells.....the first morning after moving to Westwood, I heard church bells and they made this place feel like home. Lovely. If I'm in the middle of conversation and I hear church bells, I stop talking. And just listen.

Today is Poultry Day!

And I love me some fried chicken! (Betcha didn't know that I'm black, did ya?)

Today's happy things:

My Easy Bake Oven! It took about three hours for that little light to bake that 3 inch cake but I didn't care. It was my little cake and I MADE it!! I'm sure my mom sold it in a garage sale or something because as a mom, those ovens are a colossal pain in the ass. But for a little girl who loves to bake, it was heaven.

My Kansas City Chiefs, who I have loved for decades. (Jeez, that sounds like a long time). I dated some of them, I partied with others. I've had free tickets. I've had season tickets. And my love for them is never fair weather. In fact, when I was based in Denver and my supervisor asked me if I wanted to be considered for Denver Broncos charters, I told him how loyal I was to my Chiefs. Rich and I planned our wedding around their schedule. Our groom's cake was a Chiefs helmet and our wedding reception video is set to Gary Glitter's Rock and Roll, Part Two. I guess it's safe to say I'm a die hard fan. They've definitely made me cry a time or two. But you will always find me cheering them on and hoping for a 1969 repeat.

My very favorite Broadway show is Rent (although I actually saw it in London) and my very favorite song is Seasons of Love. How could you not love a song that says" Five hundred, twenty five thousand six hundred minutes; how do you measure, measure a year? In daylight, in sunrise, in midnights, in cups of coffee"? ***Sigh****

Hey, You Non-Followers: I Can Promise You That Reading This Will Make You Happy

Every time I see a house that has red geraniums in terra cotta pots on the porch, I want some too. But, I have the least greenest thumb of all green thumbs. Gardening is actually kind of dirty and I don't like to get dirty. However, for the sake of making my house a little prettier, I may do this in a few months. It's pretty.

A bowl of chili on a cold day is a warm your tummy treat. Not the chili in this picture....it looks a little too vegetabley in my opinion but MY chili recipe....well, that's a horse of a different color. MY chili rocks! And my guys love it too. I think chili with saltine crackers is a day changer.

Crossword puzzles always remind me of my grandma. She can do the hardest of the hard ones. I can do the Kansas City Star ones (which I don't think are the hardest but still.....) They say if you tax your brain every day, it will keep you from getting dementia. So between nursing school and the occasional crossword puzzle, I think I'm good.

Finding old junk that still looks pretty is one of my favorite things. Treasure hunting!

And, last but not least, one of my all time favorite things in the WHOLE world is the delightful experience of going to Nordstrom. Always beautiful things, lovely displays and the BEST customer service anywhere. And that's coming from the queen of customer service so you can bank on it...

More Favorite Things:

I really like to receive food gifts....baked bread, fun little snacky things, candy, cookies, popcorn tins. Doesn't really matter what kind of food; it's always the perfect gift. If I don't like it, I can serve it the next time I have guests. Plus, I have teenagers so they'll always wolf it down. I don't have to dust it or return it because it's the wrong size. It never gets re-gifted and it never goes to the thrift store!

I love poinsettias at Christmas! They're so festive. I don't ever splurge on them for myself....I wouldn't want to have to throw them away when they wilt. But I love seeing them at church. One time before Ruth died, she bought some for me. I was thrilled.

Broiled fish with butter and lemon is yum, yum, yummy. The fact that it's good for you gives it even more points. (Well, maybe not the butter part but we'll ignore that for now).

And here's one of the biggest things I daydream about. SOMEDAY having a house that is this organized. Looking at these pictures gives me the kind of goosebumps that other people get from looking at the Grand Canyon! I live with three boys and they do not understand the concept of "everything in it's place". But maybe someday......

Happy-Ness!

Cinnamon coffee cake....one of my favorite things to make on Christmas morning! Not sure where I got the recipe but it's easy and fast and scrump-dilly-umptious!

Ferry rides! We've been on so many different ferries....the Staten Island Ferry in New York, the ferry that goes between Seattle and Bainbridge Island, the ferry from Boston to Salem....wherever we're going, it's always fun to go on the ferry. Just long enough to be relaxing but not long enough to get sea sick.

I HAVE A FOLLOWER!

I write about happy things on this blog so I have to say....I'm pretty darn happy that I have a follower! My next goal is to get two more followers....two more that actually live in this house. Then I would have the three most important people following my blog. That would make me happy too.

Here's some more.....

Anybody who knows me well knows my very favorite part of going to church is singing the hymns. I can't carry a tune in a bucket so it seems like a cruel joke that God played when He instilled the love of singing in me. Hahaha God....I'm not laughing! Regardless of my inability, I still sing loud and strong in church...simply because I love it. Hopefully no one can hear me over the crowd.

I don't get to see these very much anymore but when I was little and we were on vacation, we often stopped at truck stops to eat. And I loved it when the table had a jukebox. Charlie and I usually picked Elvis songs because we knew that Dad would give us a quarter if we picked things he liked.

I don't even like vegetables but there's something so quaint about a roadside stand. I always wanted my mom and dad to stop because they just might have something exciting like jars of honey or little tiny pumpkins.

And here's something that both Rich and I love....fresh strawberries! They're so beautiful and they're my favorite fruit. Strawberry short cake, strawberry ice cream, strawberry pie....the list goes on and on. Yum.

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