You!

What made me happy today? You!
2013 is almost over. 2014 is almost here. I hope 2014 will be as great as 2013 has been!
So I just want to say thank you. Thank you for reading my ramblings. Thank you for coming on this journey with me. Thank you for your kind words. And most of all, thank you for being awesome, and a part of my 'happy'.
As a wise person once said: happiness is not a destination, it is a journey. I want to add to that that it's not the destination that matters, but the journey. And my journey to happiness has been one hell of a ride!
When I set out to do this project, I often struggled to find happy things to write about. But as the days turned in to weeks, and the weeks turned in to months, I noticed that I was finding it easier and easier to find happy things to write about.
And if you're wondering if I'm actually happier now, I can honestly tell you: yes, I am. By making a conscious effort to focus on the good, positive things, and not dwell on the negative things, I actually feel happier. It's not even an effort any more. Of course there are still things that make me sad. That's normal. But I don't fret about the small things as much as I used to. I've learned a lot of things throughout this year.
You are responsible for your own life. You make your own destiny. You can do it.

So all that is left for me is this: happy New Year! May your blessings in 2014 be many! Keep your loved ones close, tell people how you feel about them, enjoy life (it's short), and do good things. Don't take it all to serious. Laugh. Love. Learn. Dream. Dance. Dare. Drink. Play. Read. Sing. Create. Cook. Bake. Wear sunscreen. Never ever drink and drive. Don't go to bed angry. Kiss. Hug. Enjoy.

Keep an eye on my twitter too see what 2014 will bring!

2013

What made me happy today? 2013
2013 has been a great year, with a lot of happy, amazing, awesome, funny, heart-warming and epic moments. As is often a tradition during this time of the year, I offer you two lists with an overview of 2013.

Your favorite posts:

1) my new haircut
2) Harry Potter
3) birthday girl!
4) sing a song
5) sleepphones
6) the key
7) my big announcement
8) BodyTonique
9) into the asylum
10) making new friends

My favorite posts:

1) my big announcement
2) into the asylum
3) making new friends
4) sing a song
5) my driver's license
6) Auntie!
7) bare
8) Ted-X
9) Hoshi!
10) big announcement 2

Of course, every day was special in it's own way! Feel free to scroll through all the posts :-)

I will survive!

What made me happy today? I will survive!
Sometime in August, I mentioned that one of the things I do on a Sunday night is playing Vampire: World of Darkness.
The last few sessions were of a more diplomatic nature, but today's session got a tad bloodier. The coterie I'm a part of decided to go and clear out the Nosferatu warrens. All went well for the first part.
Until I suddenly got hit in the face by a enormous and very powerful Nosferatu, that came out of nowhere. Nothing I tried seemed to be working, and I'm so glad vampires are fast healers. But I was running out of options at an alarming pace. Especially when this huge Nosferatu decided to sumo-crush me with his entire body weight. So, in a last ditch effort, I sunk my fangs in him (I'm playing a Vampire after all). And I lived!
Huzzah, I live to fight another day :-)

The desolation of Smaug

What made me happy today? The desolation of Smaug.
The boyfriend and I went to see 'the hobbit: the desolation of Smaug' yesterday. Neither of us particularly like the first movie, as it's tormentingly slow at times. But the reviews for the second one were really good, so we decided to go ahead and see how this one shaped up.
*Warning: spoilers ahead*
I have to say, we weren't disappointed. The movie has it's flaws, true. There's some questionable science in the movie, it could have done without the romance angle and should have ended 20 seconds earlier. I mean, Peter Jackson could have ended the movie with Smaug (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch) saying 'I am fire. I am death.' Instead, he ended the movie with Bilbo (Martin Freeman) saying 'What have we done?'
But the movie has a much better pace. The characters are portrayed much more coherently, and the awesomeness is just everywhere. Except for Thranduil, whom I wanted to slap in his face more than once.
Visually, the movie is simply stunning. And there were some nice casting surprises as well! Stephen Fry as master of Lake Town to name just one.
I also had a small nerd moment at the start of the movie. 2 white mice near Martin Freeman :-) if you don't get that, go watch the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy ;-)
Enjoy your weekend !

Year of the nerd!

What made me happy today? Year of the nerd!
It was a very calm day at work, so I decided to take the afternoon off. I still had some overtime :-)
After the cleaning had been done, I decided to take a look at Buzzfeed and stumbled across this article that made my whole day! And the nerdiness will continue today, as I'm heading to the movies with the boyfriend to see 'the Hobbit: the desolation of Smaug'. With Benedict Cumberbatch, Richard Armitage, Martin Freeman and Orlando Bloom.
Enjoy your Friday! And please excuse me while my inner nerd keels over.

Stories that stay with you.

What made me happy today? Stories that stay with you.
Yesterday, it was Christmas. As we were having dinner at my parent's, my boyfriend and I were looking at some old pictures of my, my sister and my family. Thankfully, there weren't too many embarrassing pictures in there :-)
But leave it to my mother to bring up some stories from my childhood. Like the time Sinterklaas came to visit at my dad's office. We were there as well, as it was an event for the families of all employees. Sinterklaas asked my sister and me if my parents had been good all year. I shyly nodded, but my sister proceeded to tell him that our mom had, but that she wasn't so sure about my dad. This, of course, intrigued everyone. Sinterklaas asked my sister why my dad hadn't been nice, and my sister replied 'well, he snores so loudly our mommy can't sleep'! Que laughter from everyone!
Of course, there were also some stories about little me, being little miss smarty pants. I learned to talk quite young. So my after seeing a picture of me with my granddad, of whom I have no memories as he died when I wasn't even three years old, my mom told us this story.
My granddad loved to tease me. The summer before I turned two, my mom, dad and I went on vacation to the coast. (my sister hadn't been born yet) I was telling my granddad about the vacation we had planned, and how excited I was about sleeping over at the coast. But he said that that wasn't possible. So I asked him why. Well, he proceeded, your beds won't fit in the car. After which I apparently gave him a 'don't be silly' look, put my hands on my hips and said in my best admonishing tone 'But granddad, mommy and daddy have made reservations in a hotel!'. I honestly don't remember any of it, but my mom and dad swear that everyone almost fell out of their chairs from laughing too hard.
Those are the stories that will stay with you :-)

Christmas

What made me happy today? Christmas!
I'm not much of a Christmas person, like I said yesterday. But I had a great evening with my boyfriend and in-laws yesterday. Way to much food! Same happened today, as we were over at my parent's. My sister, brother-in-law and 2 nieces were there too. Ate way too much again, and got to take a lot of left-overs home.
I also got some nice presents, like an R2-D2 key chain :-D But it was nice to spend so much time with my family.
Happy holidays, I'm going to lapse into a food coma now.