So, this was tax-free weekend in Tennessee.
Boy am I ever glad that this weekend is over.
The store closed tonight at 9pm. I clocked out at 11:36pm.

The positives of the week?

I love my Monday "weekends".
Tuesday is one of my favorite days of the week and not just for the food...
I have sweet sweet dreams of Juan cooking tilapia again.
I have great friends.
I sing a mean Madonna.
My friends amaze me.
I realized that I miss Kie and need pancakes.
I have a huge crush on someone.
I love special dances for the days of the week at work. I especially loved the "Sunday" dance, it's the "throw your hands in the air like you just don't care except on Wednesdays when you especially don't care..." dance.
I'm going to miss someone that I work with when they leave on Friday.
I'm going to miss Jennifer when she goes back to college on the 16th.
I need more partners in crime.
I thrive during chaos.
I'd like minions or maybe henchmen, I haven't decided yet.
I'm a total night-owl.
I love and miss Nicole.
Old friends are sometimes the best friends to have when you want to remember the joy of your youth.
80's music makes me happy.

I made myself this "internal" deal thingie, it follows along the lines of my favorite quote.

So, at eighty I don't want to have any regrets. I will do the things I always wanted to do. I won't deny myself because I was concerned about other people's opinions or approvals.

If you don't like what I'm doing or who I am I can't stop that, but I also don't have to allow it to swallow me or let it define who I am.

I will never again live as someone who is not me.

I'd like to do things that make me feel alive:

Sing really loud to the radio all the time, even if I don't know the song.
Yodel to hard rock.
Take my own really beautiful pictures and frame them.
Tell the people that give me joy how much I enjoy them.
Have someone paint a portrait of me, in oil.
Own an MG.
Learn to drive stick.
See the Grand Canyon.
Visit the Painted Desert.
Spend time in Monte Carlo.
Lay in the Petrified Forest staring up at the giant redwoods.
Swim in the Atlantic & Pacific oceans.
Drive through the Smokey Mountains.
See Memphis.
Visit Janeen in FL.
See Mount Rushmore.
Stay in Key West.
Eat potatoes in Idaho.
Retrace the great "East Coast Vacation" from my youth.
Spend one weekend in fall in New England.
Eat clam chowder in Maine.
Go camping at Crystal Lake .
Visit New Orleans.
Lay in a backyard looking up at the stars and name five constellations.
Stay in a bed & breakfast in at least five small historical towns.
Visit a dude ranch.
Have someone make me steak on the grill.
Learn how to knit a long Dr. Who scarf in pink, blue, brown, and white stripes.
Allowing the joy of someone else change the way I view the world, even if it's only for moments.
Tell the people I care about how much they mean to me, sometimes multiple times a day.
Feed someone's soul.
Learn to use watercolors and paint a doodle to hang on my wall.
Bake cookies often.
Laugh out loud.
Have someone hug me like they mean it.
Cherish the details.
Embrace the moment when someone says, "Hey, let's get something to eat around the corner," at 3am.

The definition of happy from dictionary.com is: delighted, pleased, or glad, as over a particular thing

Happiness is a choice. I'd rather be happy than any other emotion.
Delighted.
Pleased.
Glad.

That thing that makes the difference to me is allowing myself to accept the happy, the delight, the pleasure, being glad. It's a renewable resource, it doesn't end because when you see it in one thing you start to see it in all.

This weekend is a prime example.

This was a long and rough weekend. Yet allowing myself to experience the joy and happiness of it made all the difference.

It was spending one of the last few days with my friend Jennifer before she goes back to school, rather than "having" to be at work.

It was the simple joy in having someone see you and start smiling.

Hearing from a manager that they think you do your job well, especially when it's a manager that you admire and appreciate for their management skill.

Seeing someone and getting a big smile on your face because you share humor, laughter, joy in the moment of everything.

Seeing the smile on their face when they see you.

Enjoying the people you work with so it's not so much "work" to be at work.

Having someone say that they enjoy you and appreciate you for just being yourself. To me, that's the best compliment I could ever get, that I am appreciated for just who I am.

I love that.

I hope that you are happy this week.

Click the comment button below and tell me your happy moments. Doesn't have to be today or even yesterday. Maybe you have a "happy" from years ago that still makes you delighted.

Share them.

Sleep well and remember that there is someone out there that loves who you are and is happy that you are a part of their life.