It's easy to be happy when I have you!

June - Friends and Family

• Remember birthdays
• Be generous
• Show up
• Don't gossip
• Make new friends
• Stay in touch
• Family first

This year I have done my best to remember birthdays of my closest family and friends. To make things easier, I bought birthday cards months in advance for everyone who's birthday I could think of. That way, I had them ready to go at moments notice. This month, my dear friend Joanna turned 29! Although we didn't get to celebrate together, we have plans for some fun later in July. I am lucky that Joanna was born because without her, life would be much less special! Speaking of birthdays, our friends Michael and Maren welcomed their new little girl, Mila, into this world in the beginning of June. We met her a week ago while delivering dinner to the tired and hungry parents!

I don't feel like a selfish person, but sometimes I struggle with being generous. This month my generosity was put to the test. When we got the bees from the Fed Ex guy, I picked a bunch of plums to give to him and his family. As I was piling them into a bag, I had this thought - "I better keep some of these for myself". But, really, if you saw our plum tree, you would know there was more than enough for everyone to enjoy, so why did I have that thought? I forced myself to give him more plums, because in the end if felt really great to give our plums away to someone who would appreciate them. Thinking about this clearly, I really do enjoy sharing things with others. I love making people dinner, giving away jars of pickles, bringing in baked goods to work. I am not sure where this frugal, hoarder tendency inside of me comes from, but I am glad I had this Happiness Project to force me to consciously think about generosity in a new light.

I've made some really good new friends in Leadership and now that we are about halfway through the program, I am going to try my hardest 'stay in touch' once it is over in October. With all of us being leaders in the community, we all have busy schedules, family life, vacations, other commitments, so it isn't always easy to get together. Even with my out-of-town friends, it gets more complicated to get together when we live hours apart, our work schedules are very different, and we have to balance family, friends, money, and time-off. Lucky for me, I have some awesome friends who always make staying in touch easy. It is a two-way street you know. This month, I will be going to Orange County for a bridal shower for one of my dearest friends Tylia. And then I will be spending another weekend in my favorite home away from home at Helya's house in Long Beach. And in August I plan on visiting Jillian and meeting her new baby girl.

Although I didn't do much tracking, or cross specific items off my Happiness list, I feel like I have had a very well-rounded, relaxing, fun, family-and-friend filled month!

Next up is July where I will focus on my marriage. In the beginning of this project, I told Steve about the one "date night" (or day) per month and I think we've done a good job of being together and getting away, just the two of us. We've had picnics at Lopez Lake, gelato in Charleston, night walks along Myrtle Beach, dates at our favorite pizza joint, nights in watching Whale Wars, drinks in the village, and quiet mornings on our patio. It's these warm days and long nights that really make life beautiful.

This month, I will help Steve in the yard (I've already pulled so many weeds!!) and I will practice my patience waiting for the bathroom to be done. I will try not to sweat the small stuff, like leaving tools around the house. And, I will do one week of extreme nice, where for an entire week I will do nothing but be sweet to my honey. I know, I know...I am always sweet, but there will be no sighs, groans, or cries from me that week! :)

Wish me luck!