My Happiness

So much of my blogging is about my boys these days. Being a mom will do that to you...make you forget that you are someone worth knowing and hanging out with and loving REGARDLESS of your kids! If I blog, or post a picture, it's either of my boys (all 3) or of me "without" them. It's almost like I have to make a point to say that Im "kid free." While they are truly the brightest part of my life for the past several years, there are still alot of qualities I possess that are, selfishly, just about me. What makes me, me...what makes me happy!

My happiness is making the most out of every single moment of every single day. Im better at this some days than others, but there are hours and minutes and seconds that are just DEMANDING to be filled with something productive or helpful or playful or GENIUS! (okay maybe not genius) And I can't deny even those tiny little seconds the satisfaction of a task completed, a call made to a friend, a kiss given to a loved one, or a favor or thoughtful gesture towards anyone. I just can't.  I know I sound like Im tooting my own horn, but it's true, my happiness thrives on making others happy. People call me crazy, my husband included. He says I can't sit still. But some of my best thoughts come to me at 11pm at night. After laying in bed for an hour when I should be sleeping. At this point of the night, I usually have to write myself an email or set reminders so I don't forget my own "genius" when the cluster of madness hits me with full force in the morning.

So what else makes me happy you ask? Well I will tell you in this brief but maybe not so well constructed snippet inside my head!

- I love clean and organized things. Isn't this obvious from so many previous posts? But I do. I look around my house so often and wish I could clone a couple more of me to stay behind and dust my shoes and my shelves in my closet while I move onto the next thing. Or to dust all the blinds in my entire house. I constantly organize everyone's drawers (which no one sees), then I get my feelings hurt if Eric doesn't compliment his organized drawers when he gets home! I wish I could say Im lying, but I do, and he has since learned to just come home and tell me "the house looks great" even if he's not sure I cleaned at all.

- I have a huge obsession with bags and clothes. I don't buy just any bag, but I don't buy the most expensive bag. Most of the bags I own now were given to me by Eric. I still remember (and have on display) a black Coach bag that Eric's mom bought me for Christmas! It was one of my first Coach bags. I have a Louis Vuitton that Eric gave me on our wedding day. And pretty much every birthday, Christmas, or Mother's Day, Eric knows the key to my heart is with a BAG! Every purchase is sentimental and timeless to me, and I don't get rid of them. Instead, I display them full of tissue so they sit perfectly on my shelves. And I organize my clothes by color and season. So you would think my closet should be in a magazine, but if you remember from above, my intentions are always greater than my time!

- I love to write. I don't know that Im that good at it, but I have this huge desire to write a book. Ive also mentioned this before, and I intend to follow through. It's not that I think I have a great life story to write, but I read SO MUCH, and I always take the stories in a different direction in my head, and wonder what the story would be like if it were written another way. One day I will finish a book, and if I have to GIVE IT AWAY in order to get people to give it a chance, Im game!

- Pictures are a huge part of my day. Im not an insane FB poster, but I do love to take them. I send Eric at least 5 pictures a day, because I believe that our lives are worth documenting. So many people think Im crazy for how many pictures I take, but I was able to put together albums for 2 of my very best friends for their 30th birthdays, with pictures all the way back to when we met. I take pictures every time our families get together and they all moan and groan, but later love the albums I send them with pics from a trip! My friend Megan is the WORST picture taker, so every year, I make her an album of pictures of her daughter Kyler, and Gavin so that we document the entire year! She loves it and I love doing it for her.

- I love traveling. I can say that I love to go places, but really I just love to pack! I love to get all our stuff together and plan out everyone's lives for the next...however many days! I love to TRY and pack light, but it never happens. I want to be one of those "seasoned" travelers that doesn't need to check a bag, and can transition one pair of pants into 2 or 3 outfits. But I'm so indecisive that I usually end up over-packing. I love travel-sized items and knowing that Im prepared for anything.

- I love the absence of germs...you might say this is the same thing as "I love to clean" but it's totally not! I have huge issue with germs and am a major germ-a-phobe. I don't touch any surfaces in a bathroom. I don't breathe when the toilets flush automatically (the spray from a flush goes 5 ft!) and I even turn the boys away from the toilet when it does that. I can't eat food that's buffet style unless it's brought out in front of me, and I am the first one to touch it. How did I ever eat at Golden Corral or a salad bar at Steak and Ale as a kid? Idk...but what I do know, is that I used to order a random special pizza at Cici's when we would go with a big group, JUST so that they would have to bring out something new and I could eat that first! Totally not kidding! I sanitize every shopping cart, and everyone's hands after a shopping trip. I wash vegetables more than once before I will use them. I go through towels in my kitchen faster than a restaurant because I can't stand for them to be used for more than one thing before they are deemed dirty in my eyes.

- I love wine, working out, the fact that I grew vegetables in a garden this year, and I love every time my boys hold a door for someone in public. While you can easily say that the qualities I possess rest shallowly on cleanliness and shopping...I am much deeper. I love my family, all of them. I can't go a day without talking to my mom, she's my rock. I hate my feet bc they grew with each pregnancy, but then I guess I should love them bc they are a result of my beautiful children. Im also a Daddy's girl, and so grateful for 3, yes 3 amazing sisters. I have the best brothers-in-law in the world because every single one of them makes me feel like Im special! Eric's parents make a point to make me feel like I'm their own daughter, which is a great feeling. Being a mom of boys, I hope the girls they marry feel the same way about being thought of as a daughter to their MIL!

Ive just spent an hour of my evening writing this, which makes me feel a little bit like a writer...so maybe Im not so far off on what makes me, ME! I think Im finished rambling, but you should know that's another one of the qualities I possess that make me happy. :)