A song I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of!

It’s the singer Justin Timberlake’s birthday today and that got me thinking about this song that he sings called “Can’t Stop the Feeling.”  I know I probably wrote about the song in this blog somewhere before but I still really like it and it always makes me feel happy as does the music video below! It just reminds me of how I can never stop loving music and how much fun it is to dance and be happy! Wherever you’re reading this I hope that you have many reasons to dance and that that feeling of happiness doesn’t stop!

Happiness is the way to be no matter where you may be

"People don't notice whether it's winter or summer when they're happy."-Anton Chekhov
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/anton_chekhov_105581

As I come from an area that has both very cold and very warm temperatures I find that even if I feel like it's too hot or too cold, as long as I can find something to be happy being too hot or too cold doesn't see so bad. That's what I really like most about being happy, it makes life better!

Amusing Fashion Advice

"Never wear anything that panics the cat!" P. J. O'Rourke
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/p_j_orourke_104047

I just thought this piece of advice was funny and have posted it here in the hope that it will save someone from the perils of panicking a cat as I can imagine that panicky cats might be a bit hostile. Anyway, because I'm in a silly mood, below is a cat video that made me laugh.

Happy birthday to my roommate

I really have an awesome roommate and it's her birthday today! My roommate and I were friends for a while before she moved in and I'm really glad she did. It's nice to have someone to live with who likes that you're there. We also share a lot of interests so it's nice to do things with her as well. For example, yesterday we took a samba dancing class! I also like talking things over with her and we laugh a lot together. Anyway, I want to wish her the happiest of birthdays!

Something I'd like to be

If I could come back as anything, I'd come back as a star in the sky. I just like the idea of being able to help make the darkness brighter and possibly help someone find their way. I've always liked stars because they remind me of people I love. People I love are bright lights in my life.  Plus, in many ways I feel like the people I love guide me and make my life better.  In that way, stars remind me that the people I love are always with me. So wherever you may be, I hope that you have many people around you that are stars in your life.

A Happy Friday Message!

This is just a quick message to wish you a very happy Friday! I also hope you have an even happier Saturday and a lovely weekend generally!

It's not about how old you are

"It is not how old you are, but how you are old."-Jules Renard

I never understood why people get so preoccupied about how old they are. I like this quote because I believe as long as I age and don't think so much about the aging but instead the wisdom and experience age brings, then age doesn't seem so intimidating to me. The way I see it, we're all just young people who have been around for a while anyway. So here's to aging while staying young at heart!

Some beautiful music that soothes my soul

I had a more challenging day than usual and I needed something to make me feel at peace. Thus, I was really happy when I found this beautiful piece of music called "Overflow of Love." It's from the soundtrack from the movie "The Shape Of Water." The music in the piece is really beautiful and I like the title because I like the idea of giving lots of love to people. To that end, I send lots of love through this post along with some happy and beautiful music!

Be heard

"This is what I learned: that everybody is talented, original and has something important to say."- Brenda Ueland
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/brenda_ueland_388678

I really like this quote because I believe everyone should be heard, even if what someone has to say is not so popular. As long as people have something good to say, something that can help someone else, I think that should be heard. So I say, speak up, let your wisdom out and above all, say things each day that make you and other people around you smile!

A nice outing to the ballet

The ballet composer George Balanchine was born today in 1904. Learning about him reminded me of a time when I was able to see a performance of the Sleeping Beauty ballet. I used to read to a woman named Mrs. Carter who was blind and in her 90's. She has sadly passed away but she was a lovely person who enjoyed the ballet. She had gradually lost her sight during old age but she could still see a little if things were close to her eyes. One day as a treat she took me to see the Sleeping Beauty ballet. It was really beautiful and I think it was the first time I'd really seen a professional ballet performance other than the Nutcracker. I always like seeing people dance and ballet really is beautiful. Although  miss Mrs. Carter, whenever I think of the ballet, I think of her and smile.

The Hugging Saint

I love hugging people and so I was so happy when I found out there is actually a saint for hugging.  Mātā Amṛtānandamayī Devī is a Hindu spiritual leader and she hugs people to bless them. I just really like the idea of hugging being a spiritual thing. To read more about Mātā Amṛtānandamayī Devī go to this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mata_Amritanandamayi. I send hugs to everyone!

The sun will come out

Today in 1894 Harold L. Gray, the man who created Little Orphan Annie was born. Eventually a musical was also made about Annie and it has a lovely song in it called "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow." Although the song may be overly cheerful, it does make me feel happier to hear it. Wherever you are, whatever you may go through I hope your days have a lot of light and many reasons to smile in them!

This little light of mine

Today in 1883 the first electric lighting system using overhead wires started to be used in New Jersey. For whatever reason this got me thinking about the song "This Little Light of Mine" and how there is a light in all of us in the form of the talents we have and the love we can give to and receive from others. So, keep shining!

Always bring in the sunshine!

"Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine." Anthony J. D'Angelo
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/anthony_j_dangelo_104159?src=t_sunshine

This is just a happy sentence of advice for today. I hope your Thursday had a lot of sunshine and good things in it!

Be strong and have faith

"Life is full of happiness and tears; be strong and have faith." Kareena Kapoor Khan
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/happiness

If you're going through something difficult stay strong! I'm rooting for you!

Penguin joke

I love penguins and this joke and clip made me laugh. Happy Tuesday everyone.


What is black – white – black – white – black – white?

A penguin rolling down a mountain!

Check out this really funny jokes: http://www.short-funny.com/cute-jokes.php#ixzz54P1eIXGj

Love more

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." Martin Luther King, Jr.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/martin_luther_king_jr_101472

As it's Martin Luther King Jr. day in the US I thought I'd share this quote that I really like from him. It speaks to how love is a stronger forcer than any other that I know.  As Martin Luther King Jr. was all about spreading love, in an effort to spread the love further, some school children are working to get a  big group hug going to break the world record for largest group hug. If you want to learn more about this effort, view the video below. Keep spreading the love!

Just because I miss my dog

My family has a border collie at home and I miss him so when I found this video of dogs being funny I had to post it for all the other dog lovers who might read this. Happy Sunday everyone.

Fun big words

I've always liked languages and big words just because they sound fun. Just for the heck of it, here are a few of them.

Absquatulate: It means to leave abruptly. (This word became an inside joke in my family. For reasons I don't remember, it makes all of us laugh.)

Apotheosis: It means the highest point in development of something. It just sounds like an appropriately good strong word. (I heard about it in a description of a musical piece from the Nutcracker Ballet.)

Befuddle: It means to make someone be unable to think clearly.  I just like the way the word sounds.

Euphoria: It means a feeling of intense happiness.  It just sounds like a happy word.

Quixotic: It means very idealistic/unrealistic. I like the word because it's named after Don Quixote which is all about a man who believed in the impossible.

Smile it's Friday!

It's Friday! (Yay!). So because Fridays (like many things) make me smile, I was happy when I saw that a baseball team has a designated time when they show people smiling. I just like the video and today I hope you had many reasons to smile today!

A loving flashmob

I really like the song "What the World Needs Now Is Love"  because I feel like the world needs more love in it, you can never have too much love. Anyway, I saw a clip of some children singing along to this song and I really like it. So I send this post out in to the world with this song and lots of love now and always!

Forever young

It's the singer Rod Stewart's birthday and I thought I'd share one of the songs he sang that I like best which is called "Forever Young." I like this song because it's all about wishing good things for someone's life.  Plus, I believe that however much people age in years, we're all just young people who have been around for a while. So my message for today is stay young at heart and I wish you all the very best!

Favorite photo

I love pictures and so I was interested when I found out today that the Daguerrotype process, the first publicly available photo process, was introduced today in 1839. This got me thinking about my favorite pictures. I love pictures, especially photographs because they keep memories and when I look back at them I can remember things that happened that were good and fun. One of my favorite pictures is of the sea off of Massachusetts. I like the water because somehow it gives me a sense of peace. I hope it has the same effect on others. Happy Tuesday everyone.

Advice from Stephen Hawking

"Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. Stephen Hawking
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/stephen_hawking

As it's the physicist Stephen Hawking's birthday, I thought it appropriate to share this quote and to add to it, in addition to looking up at the stars, I hope you reach for them!

As part of my quest for self improvement

"Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail."-Charles Kettering
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/charles_kettering_121333

I admit that for all my writing about how it's ok to fail, failure is still something I fear. So, as part of my quest for self improvement I will work on not being so afraid of it. Looking back, whenever I've felt I failed at something, it turned out more to be a lesson than anything else. In that sense, failure has always been somewhat useful to me as I learned from the experience. One thing that I had the most fun "failing" at is cooking. I have tried to make some things like custard from scratch and it didn't quite work out as I planned. (It came out a bit more soupy than I expected)  I am continuing to work on it though and I figure one day I'll get it right. 

Impossible dreams

Today in 1605, book 1 of Miguel de Cervantes's book Don Quijote was published. I like the story as it's all about how a man believed he could bring chivalry back despite everything. Eventually (and more recently) a musical was made from the story and there's a song in it called "The Impossible Dream." I really like the song because I really believe that  from impossible dreams new dreams are made. I've found that I could reach the goals that for a while I thought were impossible and once I'd reached those goals, I could make new ones. In that sense, I've found that if there's something I've really wanted or needed then I could make it happen. Thus, I feel like no dreams are impossible.

The art of being happy

"The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things." Henry Ward Beecher
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/henry_ward_beecher_121522

I really like this quote because I like finding happiness in random things. To that end, today I found happiness in drinking hot chocolate on a cold day. Hot chocolate always warms my spirit! Wherever you are reading this, I hope you find happiness in ordinary things, that way each day can be extraordinarily happy!

Jim Thompson's house

While I was in Thailand my family and I went to see Jim Thompson's house. Jim Thompson was a man who worked for the CIA and was very into Buddhism and creating clothes and other things out of silk. Mr. Thompson disappeared in the 60's and neither he nor his remains have ever been found and his house was subsequently turned into a museum. It has wonderful statues of Buddha and lovely furniture. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the house and so the pictures below were taken outside.  Although I couldn't get pictures of the whole place, I still post pictures that I did take here because I've always liked art and this house was full of art!

One thing I'll miss about Thailand

One thing I really liked when I was in Thailand was how people would say "sawadika" to each other. sawadika means hello in Thai. Although if you're a man then you say sawadikrap. (I found out that almost everything you say in Thai, putting "ka" or "krap" at the end of the statement you're saying makes the statement more polite.) I really liked bowing to people and saying sawadika.  I think it was just that people always looked happy when they said it back to me and I liked that aspect of it. There was something nice about it that I won't forget. So I say sawadika to everyone!

The Buddhas in Thailand

When I was in Thailand, in addition to people dancing I was really pleased to be able to see the Reclining Buddha and Emerald Buddha statues. My family and I were able to go and see these statues and the surrounding buildings that were part of the Grand Palace in Bangkok. The buildings there were really beautiful and it was moving to see the Buddhas because I like learning more about different religions. To me, the Buddhas I saw show how faith can inspire people to do and create so many great and beautiful things and that is what I love most about faith. 

This picture shows part of the Reclining Buddha in Bangkok. (The whole statue is huge so  I was unable to get a picture of it all but I liked this smaller Buddha beside the larger Reclining Buddha. 

Dancers in Thailand

One thing that really makes me happy is seeing people dance and so when I was in Bangkok last week I was very pleased when, while I was walking around a street market with my family, we came upon a group of women performing traditional Thai folk dancing.  Thai folk dancing is really beautiful and it's used to tell stories. I'm not sure which story the dancers we saw were portraying. However,  it was evident that they were there to entertain some dignitaries as well as the rest of the crowd that had gathered. I've only ever seen such dancing in movies and I'm really glad I was able to see it in real life. There are some things that are once in a lifetime experiences and I feel like this instance was one of them.