You make me happy!

Guess what! I have received my very first ever blog award! I'm so excited about this.

Tahh dahhh!

It's the Happy 101 award from one of my new favorite blogs, Perfectly Pleasant. (She's absolutely precious and if nothing else you should go check out her glittery pinecones. I'm talking Christmas decorations, people!)

So for this little thingamabob, I'm supposed to tell you guys about 10 things that make me happy! I picked things that are a little bit out of the norm. :)

Here we go: (in no particular order!)

Oregon Chai. More specifically, Oregon Chai lattes from concentrate. I know they make a powder that you can add to water, but I've been looking everywhere for them and not a single store in the area carries it! Anyway, this stuff is SO good. I tried it for the first time a few months ago, and I've been hooked ever since. I swear, I'd probably bathe in this stuff if I could. But that'd be weird. And I'd rather just drink it.

One rainy day after lots of sun, sunny days after lots of rain. Best thing ever. When we lived in Los Angeles, rain was a big deal. We'd have Storm Watch on the news, and one time they even cancelled school because of an inch of rain! It was always so exciting and such a great change of pace. And up here in the Pacific Northwest, well...sun is treasured.

Anything Southern, New Orleans, or Mardi Gras related. Can I be an honorary GRITS please? I was born in Missouri! I don't know why, but I've always loved the South, even before I had ever visited there. Spending a year in Memphis for school was absolutely amazing. I couldn't get enough of Sonic and Chick-Fil-A! And the people were so nice! New Orleans captured my heart when I visited for the first time in 2006, and I've loved it ever since. And of course, there's Mardi Gras. I know most people consider it to be a time just for getting drunk and catching beads, but I'm more interested in everything else that goes along with the season. There's so much culture and history behind it!


Friends, family and bloggers. Obviously. All of these people (you, too!) make my world go round. Fo reals.

Kitty/puppy/baby Youtube videos. My housemates and I sit around the kitchen table with our laptops watching these types of videos all the time!
Some of my faves:
Surprised Kitty!
Ethan Laughing
David After Dentist

And then, while I was writing this post...the fire alarm in our apartment building went off! (This isn't apart of my top 10, ps) Funny story, because a) I wasn't wearing pants b) it's so loud I almost peed myself c) they went into the apartment that set off the alarm wearing oxygen tanks and carrying axes and d) this was the second time in a month that it's happened to that apartment! They kindaaaaa suck at cooking. I'm back though, and I'm now wearing pants. Hopefully they'll give up on trying to use the stove and go back to microwaving easy-mac. I say that with love. Tough love.


Back to the countdown...

Nail polish. If you know me at all, then you know I love nail polish. Seriously. I've got like, 200 bottles of the stuff! I've been collecting it since I was little, back when I used to play school with them. The nail polish remover bottles were the teachers, naturally. (I was about to put natch, because I feel like now's a good time to use it, but that word just looks wrong to me.)

Watermelon and pineapple. Idk. I really like fruit? It reminds me of summer! The artificial pineapple and watermelon flavors are okay, but nothing can beat the real thing.

The holiday season from September to January. We've got fall, and then Halloween and Thanksgiving, and then the big long Christmas season! I'm so ready for it to all be over by the time it's Dec. 26th, but until then I think it's absolutely magical. And I love the decorations, of course.

Being single. Maybe? I think I like it. For a while I was a serial monogamist. Okay, not really, but it kind of felt that way? Right now it's all about me, so I can be selfish and do whatever I want, whenever I want. Not that I can't do that in a relationship, but it's nice to know that you can depend on yourself, rather than relying on a boy to be there for you. Not to mention, it's so freaking hard to buy Christmas presents for boyfriends!

Books. When I was little, I was a huge bookworm. And then...I just stopped. Getting older is partly to blame for that, because it can be hard when you're right between the Young Adult section and the actual Literature section. There's the 'I don't have time to read!' excuse too. It's hard to convince myself to read for fun when I'm reading 400+ pages a week for school, but now that I'm about to do a 2 quarter writing program I figure the more reading I do, the better! Plus, I'd forgotten just how fun reading can be. I love getting lost in the story!

Okay, that's my 10!

Now, I'm supposed to tag ten more people to list their top ten lists (wordy, much?). I know every single blogger in my Google Reader has already done this, so if it's okay with the Happy 101 gods out there, I'm going to tag everyone that wants to do this! We all need a little bit of happiness, right? Take some time to reflect!