Pi Sonnet

Last week I celebrated "Pi Day" (3/14) with Scotty who was home for Spring Break.  We did a variety of activities including entering this Pi Project Competition.  I shared the link and asked people to vote via Facebook, but it appears it's not very clear that there are multiple pages which is too bad because I'm most proud of my Pi Sonnet which is on the last page of the project. Right now there are only 25 entries and 26 prizes, so I (hopefully) will win a prize, even without the votes, but I wanted to take this opportunity to properly show off my Pi Sonnet. 

Definition: a poem of fourteen lines following the rhyming scheme: aaa.bccccbddddd; Typically a love poem.

Diameter, a straight and simple number

Alone and feeling down and umber

In boredom she would simply slumber

[Pointed pause]

But wait!

A number of a different sort

Up front, she finds he's rather short

Oh, but past the point, there's no report

of ever reaching an ending port.

It’s fate!

He’s different, yes, not Hex nor Bi.

This irrational number was her guy.

At last she'd found her Sweetie Pi.

And so, she proposed with an excited cry,

"Let's go full circle and multiply!"

Week 8 - My Birthday!

Yesterday was my birthday and so I decided to host a theme party. It turns out that February 26th is World Pistachio Day which is a perfect theme for a nutty person like me! I love the creativity involved in trying to come up with decorations, food, costumes, crafts, words, and games related to a theme. Pistachios turned out to be an excellent theme for this time of year because there's a lot of green stuff out in party stores for St. Patrick's Day and kind of that Pistachio-green pastel colored Easter eggs that do resemble pistachio nuts! I even found these great plastic green egg containers at Dollar Tree (my favorite party store!) that were excellent for serving nuts or other party food.

There are also recipes, both savory and sweet, that feature pistachio nuts. Thanks to Pinterest it was easy to get plenty of ideas both in the food and craft department.  The easiest cake to make was something I didn't even have a recipe for, and I'm proud of myself for coming up with it.  I just made a white cake using a cake mix, but kept about a 3rd of the batter out and added some pistachio pudding mix.  Then I folded that into the cake and frosting to give it a little bit of that marbleized affect and pistachio flavor.

I also hid little packets of pistachio nuts around the house for an easy decorating idea and something guests could find and bring home at the end of the night..  Yeah, maybe more appropriate for a kid party, but I have to admit, I still enjoy kid games like that, despite my ever-increasing age.

One of the favorite parts of having a theme party for me is when my friends creatively participate.

Chris, an Ohio State Buckeye's Fan, was dressed creatively in pistachio green, along with a green beard, and buckeyes liberally placed on his costume.  His motto was,  "Pistachio's are cool, but Buckeyes rule." He also made some of the peanut-butter chocolate buckeye treats to share, some laced with chopped pistachios.

Heather came prepared in her pistachio-green attire (she researched to make sure she was wearing the exact right shade of green) with a mustachio and plenty of mustachio props for the "peanut gallery" to play along. (I stole the "peanut gallery" pun from party guest, Chip!)

Friends brought all kinds of pistachio-adorned dishes to share. Many of the cards I received were so perfect for pistachio-day.  I even got some remote participants, including the picture I included on this post from my sister.

Pistachio parties are perfect for a "roast" and I had planned to do some kind of "reverse roast," telling a story about each guest, but I settled on a kind of a party game that really had nothing to do with nuts.  I had a list of things that I'd done with friends like "Played ping-pong with this person," "Ran through mud with this person," etc. and the idea was to match up the list with party guests. As it turns out, I made it too difficult because all the guests had done multiple things with me, so I'm going to refine that game for my next party.

Though I'm usually stressed about hosting a party - I'm worried about people not showing up or having a bad time or thinking my little activities are childish - I have come away from this party recognizing a lot of things..

* I have a lot of friends who I'm so grateful for. Whether they want to "play" at my theme parties or not, they accept my silliness. And, luckily, enough play along that I'm having fun, which is really more important than having everyone participate.

* I'm so lucky to have a talented daughter who lives nearby and is my theme party hero! She's so talented with food art, creativity, and decorating, and she's always a big help and support to me, no matter what I try. I love that, despite her youth compared to all the other party-goers, she brings her family and participates in my games when she can.

* I'm grateful for all the people who helped both before and after the party, brought food and wine, flowers, cards, gifts, and themselves.  I'm especially grateful for Sue, who, despite recent surgery, came early on party day to help me with preparations.

* There are a lot of friends who can't come to my parties for a lot of other reasons - It has nothing to do with how much they "like" me.  I'm planning to get together with many of them one-on-one in the coming weeks which is often even better than a party because I get to spend quality time with them.

* Though I always consider my parties "open" if everyone showed up, I wouldn't have nearly enough room. It's fine and makes me happy to have all the birthday greetings on Facebook and that makes for a fun virtual party.

All-in-all, I realize, once again, on this day-after-my-birthday how blessed I am for all the love I have in my life.

Week 7: Valentines

Last week I sort of "cheated" on my resolution of blogging a "happiness blog post" every week. It was easy to just post a video of the Superbowl win and think I'd go back later and describe that happy moment..

This week, again, I'm posting a video of a happy moment. My grandchildren are really being extremely silly in this video... though not their normal super-adorable selves, I love that they're comfortable being so nonsensical and playful with me.

Valentine's Day isn't normally such a fun day for singles... it can be a reminder that we don't have any romantic love in our life. But on the years, like this year, that I'm not in a romantic relationship, I enjoy spending time with friends and family (like my grandchildren) and I'm reminded of how lucky I am for all the love I have in my life.

Week 6: Broncos win Superbowl

Week 5: Awesome Week in Sacramento

One of the many blogs I read having to do with happy stuff is: 1000 Awesome Things.  The author of this blog, Neil Pasricha also wrote several books including "The Book of Awesome" and hosted a TED talk. I especially like the quotidian entries which are written so articulately that I can often conjure up happy feelings by reading about these every day occurrences..  and those, of course, remind me of how many quotidian experiences I enjoy myself each day. (By the way, I also really like the word, "quotidian" which I learned when reading a review for "The Book of Awesome.")

When I started reading this blog, my first thought, of course, was that I wanted to write my own book of awesome. Not only does it tie right into the popular "gratitude exercise" of finding things to be grateful for each day, but it also presents a writing prompt. I feel much more confident about my writing skills than I feel about my photography skills, so a blog post a day about one awesome thing should have much more substance than a photo a day, I reasoned.  However, I've discovered that it's pretty hard for me to do anything every single day unless it's something like "brush my teeth." (I have to admit, as much as I thought "floss" every day shouldn't be much more of a stretch, I can't even manage to do that every single day.. But I'm getting better.)

I've settled on this weekly blog post, but, of course, if I'm doing this "Book of Awesome" style, I have to choose one happiness event, and that's hard for me! If I pick just one moment or experience for the week, I feel like I'm neglecting all the other happy moments that I don't write about.  So, more often, I've been writing about an experience that's spanned over days.  For this past week, this has been for me, my trip to Sacramento.

I've lived in Colorado for 22 years now - longer than I've lived in Sacramento which is where my family moved when I was 12. But my Mom still lives in that house we moved into in 1972 and I go back at least once a year, so that place holds a lot of memories for me.

Last week, I was especially lucky because I got a teaching gig right in Sacramento. How cool is it that I was able to get paid to teach a class in practically right in my old neighborhood? And I got to miss a snowstorm back in Colorado!

Here are some of the Happy Memories I have from Sacramento this past week:

* The special meals Mom made for me including chicken crepes and lemon cake
* Dancing with my brother at a Rock-a-billy band
* Visiting with friends from my past
* Working from his office and remembering Dad
* Teaching an Agile Boot Camp class to a fun and engaged group of people

Week 4: What Are You Proud Of?

Every week I get a lot of blog posts and newsletters delivered to my inbox having to do with positivity and this week there was one from Happify with a link to this video with people of all ages talking about what they're proud of.

This made me start thinking a lot about "pride" and how it contributes to happiness.

When we're proud of ourselves doesn't that come off as kind of boastful? In the video,  I felt happy to see the people who were proud of their own accomplishments, and I absolutely feel happy myself when I overcome an obstacle or have accomplished something challenging.

When pride becomes arrogance, it can be a problem, though. I saw Carol Burnett on the Conan show last night and she told about a time in her 20's when she "bombed beautifully" because she had become "cocky." 

Here's a picture of my grandson playing the xylophone at his first grade music concert last night. He took this responsibility very seriously and I felt so lucky to be able to be in the audience and see his own pride as well as the parental pride in the faces of my daughter and son-in-law. That heart-warming, tears-welling-behind-your-eyes feeling you get when you watch your kids on stage? Well, when you're a grandparent, you not only feel it by watching your grandchildren, but by watching your children watch their children.

As we come to the end of January, I feel really proud about my "happiness" resolutions. I was able to keep up with the different books I've been reading about positive psychology, went to church every week, did plenty of small "random acts of kindness," kept a gratitude journal, smiled more, socialized a lot, laughed a lot, and kept up with my weekly blog posts.

I had a couple of disappointments, and I felt proud that (using all my great knowledge of happiness) I spent very little time feeling down or worrying about stuff I couldn't control, and really focused on all the things that I'm happy about.

Here are some happy moments from Week 4 of 2016:
* Laughing hysterically at Stephen Colbert with my friend, Rebecca
* Ping-pong with friends
* Watching Broncos win in the playoffs! (The first football game I was ever interested enough to watch with no one else in the room!)
* Getting in shape by running in sunny Denver
* Having lunch and coffee dates with friends Ravi, Kathy, Jim, Michael, and Chris
* Being very productive with work stuff and home projects
* Getting out my Valentine's decorations
* And, of course, watching my grandson sing and play the xylophone in his musical performance!

Week 3 - Savor the Moment

My usual mantra is Carpe Diem, or "Sieze the Day," but today I'm going with "Savor the Moment." This morning I spent some time reading through this infographic on the benefits of savoring. There's plenty of advice in positive psychology to "live in the moment," and even the infographic includes "focusing on the present moment."

However, the infographic also recommends reminiscing on happy memories and anticipating things we're looking forward to in the future.

I've done a lot of thinking about the balance between "doing" and "saving memories" with photographs, journals, scrapbooks, or blogging. Isn't it the "doing" that's important? If I'm spending all this time "saving the memories" and then later reflecting on them, is that taking time away from the "doing"?

Another piece of advice is to share things that make us happy, to ruminate on happy memories. For me, not only does "saving memories" allow me to go back later and re-live that happy memory, but it reminds me to create and look for happy moments.  It doesn't take too much time to record my memories if I'm not too picky about the photos and even though it's a little embarrassing to write a blog post in which the photos and writing are low-quality, I comfort myself in knowing that hardly anyone reads my blog anyway!

I've experienced so many happy moments (once I started being aware of them) that it's hard to decide which to write about; I'm going to settle on the highlights of my trip to Phoenix last week. Though the trip started as a business trip in which I was teaching a class, I extended it to last through the weekend, because I just love the warmth of Phoenix in January.

Some of the things I loved about my Phoenix trip:

* The wonderful warm 70 degree weather - warm enough to sit outside at a cafe patio to drink chai and write New Year's cards
* The friendly students in the class I taught - a couple even joined me for happy hour after class and we shared wine and gourmet bruschetta
* The welcoming group of people I met in Scottsdale as part of a Snowbirds Meetup
* Enjoying a short, easy run at sea level
* Watching Cinderella with the lovely woman, Julie, who hosted me in the airbnb I stayed at for the weekend
* Finding a Dollar Tree and surprising Julie with some treats when she got back from running a 10K
* Enjoying the serenity and the view from the top of Lookout Mountain
* Finding a Desert Canvas "Rebirth" Festival - This is probably the closest I'll ever get to a "Burning Man" type of event and it was kind of out of my comfort zone, but definitely colorful, artsy, and a unique experience! I joined in with some painting and drum-beating and just enjoyed people-watching and listening to the live music in that wonderful January Phoenix sunshine!
* Attending Mass in a beautiful church with a homily that suggested a life goal of making the world a better place

Week 2 - Ted Talks and Flying Happy

I love TED talks. Every one I listen to is entertaining, interesting and helps me think in new and different ways. Even OfficeVibe – an application that gamifies happiness at work -- gives points for watching a TED talk, so that's proof enough for me that they add to our happiness. 

When the TED talks themselves are about happiness and positive psychology, I get a double-dose of happiness… not only am I happy by learning and being entertained by the TED talk, but what I’m learning about is a happiness itself!

On top of all this happiness about TED talks, there’s also a free Podcast: The TED Radio Hour available.  As a frequent traveler, one of my favorite things to do when on an airplane or bus is to listen to podcasts. You can easily download them from the cloud, so Internet access isn’t even necessary! (All the amazing apps and free stuff we can do, thanks to technology, is another thing that makes me happy!)

So the other day, while on a flight to Phoenix to teach a class, I listened to a TED Radio Hour podcast called, “Simply Happy.”  The Radio Hour has a theme (in this case, happiness) and Guy Roz interviews speakers from related TED talks, along with some snippets from their talks.  The happiness TED talks and speakers, were, as always, interesting, and I highly recommend the show.

So what about my happiness for Week 2? Still going strong! I’m still being ultra-productive on personal projects that have been on the back burner, which always puts me in a good mood. Part of the reason for my personal productivity is that I haven’t been “working” much, but that changed this week. This week and for the next three, I’ll be traveling and teaching Agile classes.

Now I love the “work” I do…  In fact, I’m putting “work” in quotes because it doesn’t feel like work to me. It feels a lot like getting paid to travel and play and teach a subject that I love: Agile methodologies.  (By the way, there’s also a TED Radio Hour called “The Meaning of Work” that entertained me on my way to Phoenix).  However, despite my love of my work, there are some things about this work that I don’t always like.

Whenever I don’t like something, I like to play a little game with myself to figure out what I can do to change my dislike to something I look forward to.  So, for example, one of the things I don’t like about my work is the amount of time I spend traveling.  I don’t like to drive to and from the airport (especially in winter in Colorado). I don’t like waiting in security lines or feeling nervous about being late. I don’t like crowded planes and all the time that feels wasted while I’m sitting on that plane.

So here are some things I’ve done that have helped me enjoy traveling more:

• As mentioned, listening to the TED Radio show, Podcasts, and audio books
• Take the RTD to the airport (and recently the fare was lowered from $13 to $9!)
• I get to the airport earlier than necessary and just relax with my trusty smartphone to entertain me
• I bought a KTN so that I could take advantage of going through the Pre-TSA lines
• I bring some kind of tasty snack
• I take advantage of frequent flyer miles and these have earned me free drinks on SouthWest and so…
• I enjoy a Baileys and coffee on the plane 
  

Traveling is no longer a hassle, but something I look forward to!

Other happy moments from Week 2: 

Snuggling with granddaughter, Reneya

Making sweet potato quesadillas for a potluck

Happy Hour at a Phoenix Meetup for Snowbirds

Week 1 of 2016 - Micro-moments of Happiness

I'm always so motivated to meet all of my goals at the beginning of the year.  I've been taking "happy pictures" off and on for several years, but this year I want to write a "happy blog post" each week.

Barbara Fredrickson in her book, Love 2.0, talks about "micro-moments" of love and connection that we experience with each interaction. Since reading her book, I've been aware of the many "micro-moments" of happiness and positive emotions I experience each day.  I'm also more aware of the "micro-moments" of negative emotion, but then I go back and reflect about why I'm experiencing that negative emotion and whether or not I can do something to change it.  Just being ultra-aware of my emotions and how much control I have over them has really helped me stay in a happy mood all week! And it helps that it was a really good week.

The best thing about the week is that my youngest son is home from Purdue and it's so excellent to have him around. They say that relationships and social connection are the biggest key to happiness and I feel so lucky that I have such a close relationship with my kids.  The "happiest thing" this week for me was all the time I got to spend with Scotty... playing lots of games, watching movies, talking, laughing, eating, and just hanging out together. One of the things I appreciate most about Scotty is that he is almost always happy and laughing himself.

Here are a few photos and descriptions of other micro-moments of happiness I had this week:

 My 4 "daily resolutions" for Week 1 were: 1) Drink More Water 2) Walk 10,000+ Steps a Day 3) Smile at a Stranger and 4) Keep a Gratitude Journal.  On January 1rst, I walked to Starbucks, bought coffee for a stranger who smiled, drank a big cup of water, and wrote how grateful I was for the experience!

Even though I had a resolution to eat healthier food and lose a few pounds, I consciously enjoyed delicious food at a friend's potluck party and at a book club movie night later in the week. I still lost the one pound I'd hoped to lose by the end of the week!

I had a goal to go on at least one "excursion" each week, so Scotty and I went to "Snow Much Fun" an advertised holiday event. It turns out, the "event" was holiday lights in Central Park. The lights were beautiful and even though this was a relatively simple excursion, it was a fun thing to do with Scotty.

A new discovery I made this week was "zoodles" - noodles made from zucchini. I made carrot noodles, too along with a mushroom sauce for a very low-calorie, delicious and healthy meal!

2015 - A Year of Happiness

One of my New Year's traditions is to create a SmileBox photo album of the "old year" (in this case, 2015) to share with family and friends. However, I'm a bit overwhelmed with all the photos I took because for most of the year, I was taking daily photos.

Taking an interest in Positive Psychology, I did various projects aimed at increasing happiness, including #100HappyDays, snapping a photo each day for 100 days.  I actually did this twice, so I have 200 Happy Day pictures (on top of hundreds more) for 2015.

As I sort through my plethora of pictures from 2015, here are some of my thoughts:

* I really need to learn better photography skills.
* I have a truly blessed life.
* I have many people who I love and who love me.
* I have the best "job" ever now - I became an independent consultant in April and I travel all over the country to teach classes in "Agile Software Development." It's like getting paid to be on vacation.
* My family is super-awesome and I feel so thankful that they are all happy and healthy.
* I experience so much beauty every day.

I am so grateful for this life and all the beautiful people that I have the privilege of sharing it with.

One thing I learned from doing my happiness photos is that there are often happy moments or revelations that I can't photograph because they're feelings. There are so many special moments -- when a friend laughs at a joke, when you overcome a hardship, when you hear gorgeous music -- these are just a few examples of times that you can't take a picture to capture those feelings of joy.

But there's one thing that I'm certain of as I look over my stash of low-quality photographs..  I have a wonderful life full of beauty, love, and abundant happiness. This is one of those moments that I can't take a picture but it is one of pure happiness.