‘Tis the Season to be Happy

It’s kind of a gross day here in NYC. It’s December 1, which is fun—once it’s December I allow myself to start rocking out to holiday music—but it’s dark, it’s raining and it’s so windy that my dress kept blowing up on my blustery walk to work.

Yes, Manhattan, you’re welcome. Most of you have now seen my butt.

Anyway. In the spirit of the holiday season—Hanukkah begins tonight and Christmas is just 25 days away—I think it’s time to bring on the cheer.

A while ago I started making a list called “100 Happy Things.” It’s pretty straightforward: 100 things that always, without fail, make me happy.

I haven’t hit 100 yet, so I’m going to make it a permanent page on the blog, that way I can jump in and update when I think of more.

Also, I want you to participate! What are YOUR happy things? Leave them in the comments and maybe, just maybe, they’ll show up on the list.

Here goes…

  1. A long run
  2. An awesome spinning class
  3. Britney Spears’s “Oops (I Did It Again)” music video
  4. Red Starburst
  5. Getting all the dishes done and having an empty sink
  6. Lululemon tank tops
  7. Making lists
  8. Finding out at the register that something is on sale
  9. Magazine day in the mail
  10. Finding money
  11. Fall foliage
  12. Apple picking at Gould Hill Orchard in New Hampshire
  13. Freshly baked chocolate chip cookies
  14. Skinny mirrors
  15. Will Ferrell
  16. Watching old dance videos from competitions and recitals
  17. Playing with a puppy
  18. The High Line Park in NYC
  19. Pad thai
  20. Outlet shopping with Mom
  21. Beech Hill Farm in Hopkinton, NH
  22. Seeing really tall people
  23. Seeing really big dogs
  24. Seeing cruise ships on my morning run
  25. Having sore arms
  26. Running in Central Park
  27. When the laundry is all done and put away
  28. Finishing writing an article
  29. Driving with the windows down
  30. When no one sits in front of you at the movies so you can put your feet up
  31. The first time you use a new soap or lotion scent
  32. Ice cream sandwiches
  33. Mom’s fleetchki (noodles, cheese, yum)
  34. Honey’s meatballs (Honey is my grandmother and her Swedish meatballs are to die for—everyone fights over them at Christmas)
  35. Ocean City, NJ
  36. Peeling a Clementine in one peel
  37. Getting real mail from someone
  38. Peeing in the ocean (yeah, maybe I’m gross—but you know you do it, too)
  39. The smell of a campfire
  40. Taking off your bra at the end of the day
  41. Elmo from Sesame Street
  42. Getting the answers right on Jeopardy!
  43. Andes mints
  44. When delivery food arrives really fast
  45. Having a funny dream and waking up laughing
  46. Eating raw cookie dough
  47. Seeing your food come out of the kitchen at a restaurant
  48. Going on the playground swings
  49. Double Stuffed Oreos dipped in milk
  50. Picking a wedgie (oh so satisfying)
  51. Getting a massage
  52. Having the warm pizza box on your lap in the car
  53. Getting a piece of cheese at the deli
  54. Really hot winter showers
  55. Outdoor showers
  56. Macintosh scented Yankee Candles
  57. Getting out an ingrown hair (whatever, I never claimed to be perfect…or sexy)
  58. High fives
  59. Putting your own shoes back on after you go bowling
  60. When the teacher calls you out for doing a move correctly during a group fitness class
  61. Getting comments on my blog!
  62. Getting a raise

OK, I need 38 more happy things and my goal is to finish the list by December 31!

TALK: What always makes you happy?

Ali

Ali

0 Responses

  1. Love your list!
    I can especially relate to: 1, 5, 7, 8, 10, 25, 27, 29, 37, 51

    A few things that make me happy:
    – pretty sunrises/sunsets
    – finding good deals
    – cooking/baking
    – running a race
    – laughing with good friends

  2. Getting a million yummy things at Trader Joe’s and end up not paying more than $30.

    Fresh coffee waiting in the morning after remembering to set the programmable coffeemaker.

    Hot pink stuff (I decked myself out on Marathon Sunday…and some might say I have an unhealthy obsession: http://caffeinatedrunner.blogspot.com/2010/01/my-signature-color.html)

    New CDs at the NYPL (to burn to your iTunes library!)

    Race PRs!

    Awesome Groupon deals like $25 for $50 vouchers to the Gap or the Running Company

  3. good hugs. the real kind, not the side standing awkward goodbye ones you sometimes have to do.
    and i love your list! and especially #60 because that totally happened yesterday in bodyart! i heard bethany comment on your form. good job!
    my legs totally hurt but you have to sit next to me today in spin!

  4. Hi! I found your blog via Caitlin’s and just wanted to say that I LOVE the idea of having a list like this. It’s a perfect pick-me-up. Yay for Ocean City, NJ — that’s one of my favorite shore towns!! 🙂

  5. I love your list! There is a book called “14,000 things to be happy about” – As a kid I had a camp counselor who would read the cabin a page or two each night before bed. I re-found the book about a year ago in the wrong section of the bookstore and bought it as a present to myself. I read it randomly when I wake up, or other times when I need a pick me up. Definately makes you smile, laugh (or even scratch your head). The book itself would make my “100 list” ( although… is that cheating? something thats 14,000 being one?!)

  6. Birthdays make me happy because you hear from so many random people on Facebook! 🙂 I also love curling up in front of a roaring fire wrapped in a warm blanket. Sad that I don’t have a fireplace in NYC!

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about ali

I’m the creator of the Ali on the Run blog and the host of the Ali on the Run Show podcast. I’m also a freelance writer and editor, a race announcer, a runner and marathoner, a mom, and a huge fan of Peanut M&Ms, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (way better than the first one!), and reliving my glory days as a competition dancer in the early 2000s. I’m really happy you’re here.
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