I joined a book club for bloggers, The Next Chapter, early this year. It's the third one I have done with the group, which was started by Jamie Ridler. This time around, we've been reading and discussing The Happy Book by Rachael Kempster and Meg Leder. I haven't posted each week this time, solely because I've been short on time and am honoring a commitment to myself to spend less time online each day.
I have been doing the activities in the book. One thing that is really neat about this group is that there is an actual copy of the book going around. Members of the group have been filling it in, reading what others have shared, and then sharing their own thoughts, feelings, or interpretations of the exercises. I received the book this week and have enjoyed looking at everything others have shared. This weekend, I will have my turn and share some things and then send it on to another member. The book has traveled across the world to many different women who share a common bond through the book club.
If you're looking for a book that is across between a journal, women's chat session, and Chicken Soup for the Soul mixed together, I recommend this one for your summer reading and journaling schedule.
So this Friday I will share something that makes this girl happy. Quite simply, I love to look at my flowers. I am not a gardener by any stretch. I kill plants so easily. When I plant new things, I need to Google the type of thing I am growing so I know what to do. A few weeks ago, we pulled out a big dead evergreen and replaced it with a Wisteria tree. It is smallish and will take time to grow. I like Wisteria and chose this one because it is pretty and said it needed sun to part sun. I knew nothing else (like that I will be needing a trellis for it one day when it grows a bit) until I brought it home and Googled it.
I like pretty flowers and always have them in the house. I love to look at them, as they make me smile. It's really a simple thing--pretty things that grow--but it's something that can brighten any cloudy day.
I love my peonies...even though they didn't last too long.
There's nothing like azaleas in bloom.
Watching my strawberries grow makes me happy....until I watch the squirrels nibbling on them from my living room window.
I miss the tulips from spring. They were in vases around the house right up until the season was over.
Who doesn't find happiness in a bunch of sunflowers?
Or these? Of course, they make me smile as well!