Happiness All Around Us

Okay. I did it. I had a birthday this week. And it was a big one. It's the one that I have dreaded for about 5 years now. I always joked that I would need to be sedated for this one. Yep...you know it...I turned 30. When did I grow up? I don't remember. And I didn't see the memo. I never got this memo!! But anyway, back to the happy part.

I went to work and no one said a thing to me that morning. By lunch time, I was almost depressed. I mean, you would think that the people I spend 40 hours with a week would remember something like that. Anyway, around 3:00, one of the girls IMs me and asks if I want to walk to the post office with her. I have a bill to mail, so I tell her I will. Then she informs me that we have to first walk upstairs to get some money from someone. So, I trot up the stairs with her and she suddenly shoves me into one of the side offices and everyone yells "surprise!!" I was so shocked. I still have this bill in my hand that needs to be mailed and everything. But it was fabulous. Here I thought they had forgotten about me, but they had intended to surprise me all along. Super fun!

Then...

I had plans on just going to have some dinner with a group of friends that night. Something simple, yet fun. Well, they had other plans. I ended up getting clues, having my makeup and hair done in the fashion of the 80s (then like that of an old lady complete with wig), and doing crazy and fun stuff all night. I kept being told that we had dinner reservations at 7:45...that's why we only had a few minutes for each thing. So the last clue was given and we were off to the restaurant. While en route to the restaurant, I had two people in the back seat with me working on my hair and make up yet again. The hair started out as pig tails and then turned into braids. Then those braids turned into buns. So I asked if they were doing a Princess Lei job on me. They promptly told me no...they were just making it look like a little girls hair. When all of that was done, the blindfold went back on and we drove around for a bit. We finally get to the restaurant and I am led in. I hear one of my friends say that we were set over to the left, so I was steered in that direction. The blindfold suddenly came off and I was face to face with a ton of my friends from church in my pastor and his wife's house. It was so much fun! I was facing the table which was decked out in star wars goods. Several of my friends had on darth vader masks and were holding light sabers. So my hair was indeed in Princess Leia fashion. It was such a fun surprise. I had no idea that they were going to pull something like that off. And before the night was over, everyone got to sit down and watch the whole video of the evening. It was amazing.

Happiness is...having a scary birthday upon you, but having friends who turn it into an amazing day.

Again with this Happiness Thing

Saturday evening around 5:00, I was supposed to get together with some friends to play a little frisbee golf. Well, it was all soggy and wet outside from the storm system that had moved through, and since no one wanted to play in the drizzle, we decided to change our venue to the church and just play some card and board games inside. By the time 5:00 rolled around, the funky weather had cleared up and given us a gorgeous day. So, we decided to play a rousing game of ultimate frisbee. Tip...This game is best played on the grass, so that when you trip and fall, you don't break yourself. We played in the church parking lot. Asphalt. Pain. You get the idea. As it turned out though, only a couple of people tripped (I wasn't one of them...surprised? I was) and no one was hurt. However, I had another problem. I was wearing a sweatshirt. It was hot. I was hot. And miserable. It was supposed to be all drizzly outside. And we were supposed to be inside. I wasn't prepared. But one of my friends informed me that there might be something that I could put on in the lost and found box in the office. So, I trotted myself inside and found a shirt that would work. I went back out fully refreshed and ready to kick some ultimate frisbee butt. It rocked.

Happiness is...Finding a shirt in the lost and found that you can wear while playing ultimate frisbee.

Part 2 in Our New Series

So, I was sitting here in my office this morning just kind of staring into space. I know you're shocked, but there's a perfectly good explanation as to why I'm doing it this morning: It's overcast and dreary outside and it's dark in my office because I like to work with the lights off. Those two things alone create the perfect environment for space staring. Anyway, as I was off in my own happy place, my eyes came to rest on some papers taped on my wall. When I snapped out of my daze and focused my eyes, I smiled. The papers are drawings and letters that my niece and nephew made for me last year on my birthday. Their willingness to sit down and draw me pictures and write me letters (well, my nephew just told his daddy what he wanted to say and his daddy actually wrote it down) meant the world to me last year and it still does to this day. Those pieces of paper make me happy.

Happiness is...Having an amazing niece and nephew who aren't afraid to tell you how much they love you.

Happiness is...

We're going to start something a little different here at the Purple Monkey. Instead of the normal posts, the next few posts will reflect the idea of "Happiness is..." I will of course, fill in the blanks thus instructing you on the only way to be happy that day. HAHAHAHA!!! I'm kidding. I hope that you find happiness all around you, all the time, everyday. But seeing as how this is the first post, we're going to be a little nutty with it. Ready?

Have you ever noticed that when you're working hard or playing hard, you often put off going to the bathroom until the last moment? At this point, it's almost too late. Lots of times, you're willing yourself not to have an accident. Or you're doing the pee-pee dance trying to give yourself just a couple more minutes. Don't lie...I've seen you do it. Today, I found myslef in this position. I'm doing some training for work which just happens to be located in a different building than the one I work in. When we finished up today, I kind of felt the need to visit the potty, but I waited. Big mistake. I had to walk out to my car, drive over to my building, find a parking space and make it to the building. By the time I got in here, I was about to lose it. So, I rushed to the bathroom as quickly as I could without looking like a complete freak and thankfully found it empty. I was overjoyed.

Happiness is...finding the bathroom empty when you gotta go.

Summer Lovin...Had Me a Blast

Friday night, my church hosted a fund raiser in the disguise of a barn dance/karaoke sing-a-long. They did a fun job with it. You could pay to sing, pay to have someone else sing, or pay to buy yourself insurance to insure you didn't have to sing. Thinking that no one would possibly want to hear me sing, I didn't worry about the insurance policy. How wrong I was. As soon as I walked in, my pastor got that mischievous look in his eye and I should have bolted for the door. As it turned out, he paid for both me and a friend of mine to sing. To minimize our humiliation, we decided to sing together. After much deliberation, some sweat and a few tears, we decided on "Summer Nights" from Grease. It was a hoot! We did all the motions and dance moves that we could remember and had the place in hysterics. And yes, pictures were taken. No, I will not share. Heh. I'm just mean like that.

Hope your weekend was full of joyful moments that will make lasting memories.