The Passion for literature and the romance of letters

My friend Pamela gave me a great gift…a very special book that came all the way from Paris’ famous Shakespeare and Company bookshop. A little water damage makes this book even more of a treasure because it’s a paperback that has been loved. The book, 84, Charing Cross Road is easily on my top books ever read list! It’s real people writing letters to each other and developing a beautiful friendship all the way across the big blue ocean…it’s so romantic! 

I’ve always believed in the power of correspondence and I very much enjoy reading books that are a series of letters. Recently I’ve read three books that are a series of beautiful letters: 84, Charing Cross Road, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, and As Always, Julia. Each book begins the same way…the characters all receive a letter from a stranger and their correspondence leads to a lasting and true friendship. It is possible to form lasting and deep relationships with people that we have never physically met.

84, Charing Cross Road is a charming book about an outspoken New York writer (Helene Hanff) whose touching correspondence with antiquarian booksellers in London (especially with Frank Doel) develops such a mutually fostering friendship that they become an extended family. Exchanges between Helene Hanff and the Marks & Co. booksellers at 84 Charing Cross Road are all letters and books.

I found the book to be romantic in the sense that their fondness for each other expanded over time, the romance of the cities New York and London are vividly described, the yarn of letters and books flying or sailing across the sea, and there is also a mystery associated with them not officially meeting that I find romantic.

There could have been a potential for romance between Frank Doel and Helene Hanff but I found them to truly care for each other as friends first. There is an unspoken love for each other without ever seeing each other. It’s a real-life love story.

When reading the private letters of Helene and Frank, the reader gets a taste of cultural and social differences that were commonplace in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s in London and New York.

Their correspondence went on from 1949 to 1969. Throughout twenty years they exchanged Christmas gifts, news of families and careers. There was always an intention for them to meet but something came in the way every time it almost happened.

A lesson to this is that if there’s something you really want to do, do it when you have the chance or you might miss a grand opportunity.

Through Hanff’s book, the reader is reintroduced to all sorts of old classics with her passion for literature and made to feel inspired not only to write a letter to a friend, but to read a book with either a cup of tea (like Frank did in London) or a cigarette and martini (like Helene did in New York).

There was a lovely movie starring Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins that followed the book beautifully. Anne Bancroft is saucy and spirited just like I imagined Helene Hanff to be.

Hanff’s personality is humorous, demanding, witty and sarcastic whereas, Doel is the classic English gentleman. Hanff playfully begins one letter in all caps, “SLOTH: I could ROT over here before you’d send me anything to read.” Toward the end of their correspondence Hanff writes, “Frankie, you’re the only soul alive who understands me.”

If you’re lucky enough to find an edition of 84, Charing Cross Road that comes with the companion book The Duchess of Bloomsbury, you will love reading them back to back.

Another book I recently enjoyed that is also a series of letters and similar and many ways to 84, Charing Cross Road was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Set in post WWII England, it is based around Juliet Ashton, a writer with sharp wit, and a love of books. When Juliet receives a letter from a stranger in Guernsey, a correspondence begins with not just one, but many Guernsey islanders.

One of my favorite quotes from The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society that I completely resonate with is, “That’s what I love about reading: one tiny thing will interest you in a book, and that tiny thing will lead you onto another book, and another bit there will lead you onto a third book. It’s geometrically progressive—all with no end in sight, and for no other reason than sheer enjoyment.”

One last book recommendation that is a series of letters and friendship is As Always, Julia. Julia Child and Avis DeVoto based their friendship on the art of letter writing before they ever met.  I previously wrote about it here. 

All three books are written with warmth and humor. They have in common that they each find inspiration in the letters to each other, not just for their work, but inspiration for their life.

Through the three books the reader will get a sense of how the power of books and letters sustain readers in good times and in bad. The books celebrate letters in the best possible way. I always look forward to seeing what the closing will be. My favorite closing came from Julia Child’s best friend Avis: Lashings of love. Who doesn’t enjoy reading about collecting books and the pleasures of reading?

I wish for you that you have time to read these books but also find time to write to your friends…do it now, don’t wait! 

As for Pamela’s book, it’s meant to be shared with someone else now. I think I’ll send it by mail…with a letter.

The Taste of Memory Soup

Sunday morning (my favorite time to cook) I begin to bang pots and pans getting organized before I chop my vegetables. I had gone to bed thinking about what I would make the next day. Cold weather has me craving comfort foods. Craving warm meals means I am thinking of my Polish babysitter Zofia who put cabbage in just about everything. Her soup was deliciously flavorful and made us all happy to eat it.

Zofia was someone who had survived the war and endured much more; she had a lot of good secrets and cabbage was one of them. Eating cabbage is a childhood memory that makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

When we are children, the people we have in our little worlds form and shape us. As our memories grow and we age, those special times are triggered by the little things in life…a meal, a song, a figurine. We are so lucky when we find people who love our children just as a relative does. Having Zofia in my life added to my happy childhood.

It’s December and I’m shivering from the inside out, this is probably why I started craving cabbage this week. I want to feel that warm comforting feeling that I so well remember with Zofia. Well-loved memories of my babysitter have me longing for my childhood.

She made the world safe with her Polish food and songs. I wish she was still here to sing Kosi Kosi Lapci  and cook for my children as she did for me and my siblings, but life comes full circle and our children will have their own Zofia who makes the world happy and safe with mashed potatoes, tractor toys, and Backe Backe Kuchen. The paddy cake song may be in a different language but it carries that same warm feeling.

Making my shopping list for soup I write cabbage and smile. Holding the cabbage at the store I feel as though I’m holding something much more valuable like a truffle. Sometimes the special ingredient isn’t anything expensive or out of the ordinary.

When you feel chilled to the bone, begin to worry about your well-being, and your memories sneak up on you…cabbage never fails to sooth you and those you love. As I made cabbage soup I was surrounded by happy memories and I’m thankful Zofia is in my heart to help me make them for my children.

Na zdrowie

Photos of Wroclaw, Poland where Zofia was from.

Claude Monet and his muse Camille

The paintings of Claude Monet are some of the most recognizable and popular in the world. They tend to have a very strong effect on viewers and make you feel romantic, relaxed, and happy. How lucky are we that Stephanie Cowell chose to write about Monet’s life and the love of his life, his muse, Camille?

My book club recently read Stephanie Cowell’s Claude and Camille. We all loved it so much that I think we could have talked about it for hours. It was so easy to get lost in Monet’s world…romance, art, gardens, beauty…

As I was reading, I couldn’t help think of what Mikhail Baryshnikov said about being in the arts, “People of art should never get married and have children, because it’s a selfish experience.” This is so true! No matter the art: music, dance, painting…all art consumes the personal life and self of the artist.

Camille's support system included Claude's friends. One of his closest friends, Frédéric Bazille, completed an interesting triangle.The three were harmoniously together quite often and deeply cared for one another.  

The struggle of these previously starving but now famous artists: Renoir, Bazille, and Pissaro, Cezanne, Manet is now known to us all. They were bohemian Impressionistic nomads who attempted to get their art into the annual State salon at the Palais de L’Industrie.  The tight bunch of friends lived on beans, wine, coffee, and bread, and would take turns sleeping on the floor.

From one painting Monet entered in the salon (Impression, Sunrise), a new art movement began and Monet emerged as the leader of the whole group (Frédéric Bazille, Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Edouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, Auguste Renoir and Alfred Sisley) due to a hostile critic who coined the term “Impressionists.”

Looking back on his life at sixty-years old Monet said, “I was born in a circle entirely given over to commerce, and where all professed a contemptuous distain for the arts.”

Camille grew up in a bourgeois upper class family and left behind her well off fiancé and family when she ran away with Monet. Once she met Monet, she knew she wanted to rebel. She threw away her life of privilege to be with him. Camille became Claude’s true inspiration, his muse.

It's no wonder Camille's family was not pleased with their daughter's decision to run off with Claude because they knew he could not support her. Monet had a different idea of what work was. His father (and Camille's) could not convince him to take on a "real" job.

I read that he hated school and always wanted to be outside; loving the open-air, he had an obsession with sea cliffs. He grew up in the sleepy sea town of Le Havre were his dad sold supplies to fisherman.

Monet brought sunshine into his art work. More than any of his colleagues, he loved to be outside and find inspiration for his paintings. He was fascinated with how sunlight made colors look different at different times of the day.

Monet once said, "I have so much fire in me and so many plans. I always want the impossible. Take clear water with grass waving at the bottom. It’s wonderful to look at, but to try to paint it is enough to make one insane." It seemed part of Camille's job as his muse was to keep Monet from going insane.

Reading Claude and Camille I also thought of the book The Girl with the Pearl Earring.  Authors Tracy Chevalier and Stephanie Cowell have a common theme in their books. Vermeer, like Monet, had a beautiful woman as his muse. A muse is someone with a powerful inspiration who gives rise to the creator and has a deep and powerful effect on an artist. It seems most great artists have a muse.

As family life became more important to him with the birth of their first son Jean, Monet's art took on an emotional richness, and a depth; at the soul of his painting was Camille.

Camille had a hard time finding herself. She tried her hand at writing and acting, realizing it wasn’t for her she became depressed.

When my book club discussed Cowell’s book, one of the hot topics was if we thought Claude was selfish. I believe it was unanimous that we all thought he was selfish and should have tried supporting his family in another way while they were literally starving! As my friend Linda said, “He puts his pants on just like everyone else.”

We agreed that he was dedicated to his art to the point of selfish irresponsibility but his paintings make up in beauty what he could not give to his loved ones.

Monet was prepared to make any sacrifice and have his family undergo discomfort for the sake of his art. For Monet, art came first and family second. Monet truly loved Camille but he had a difficult time balancing his two loves (art and family). Painting was how Monet dealt with reality and relationships.

Camille had such a profound effect on Monet’s career. She was as mysterious as the water lilies that he strove to capture on canvas. She was complex and kept a lot of secrets. I think she was very much a free-spirit and loved Claude. He painted her for years, even in death. He felt as long as she was on his canvas, she was with him; she haunted him in life and death.

His Water Lily series is like the Sistine Chapel of Impressionism because it’s the ultimate expression of impressionism painting. When I saw Monet’s Water Lily panels at the MoMA. I remember tears filled my eyes; it was an emotional experience to stand in front of such a BIG and POWERFUL work of art. Cowell writes in Claude and Camille, "Of all his portraits of her, these paintings of the water lilies were the truest ones, for within them he had captured her beauty, her variability, and her light."

Cowell beautifully expresses how much Monet loved Camille, "My love for you is deep, deep inside myself like something below the water. Only with my brush when I can paint again will I express it."

Camille's sister Annette blamed Claude for Camille's death. Reading Cowell's book you get a better understanding of Monet's thinking..."Annette, I wish I were a better man than I am; I could wish it a thousand times,” he replied. “All I know is that Minou loved me and I loved her. You wanted a certain life for her, but she had to choose her own. She chose me and my work. I’m not separate from my work. She was very clear in what she chose, and she didn’t choose to die. I’ll never believe that. And if I ever betrayed her, I’m sorry a thousand times."

Monet’s second love, Alice Hoschedé was a cultured woman from a very comfortable middle-class background. Alice took a huge risk (a lot like Camille) when she went to live with Monet with her six children who was then a penniless artist. It was actually Camille's idea to invite Alice and her children to live with them.

Another hot topic to our book club discussion was that we wondered if Camille knew Claude cared for Alice when she invited Alice and her six children to live with them. Oh to have a time machine that could take you back to find out details!

Early on with Camille, he hardly made any money, not being able to pay rent and owing everybody. Monet relied almost entirely on his paintings to keep his family alive. Sadly, Camille never experienced the good life he eventually had in Giverny with Alice and their combined eight children.

I visited Claude Monet’s house in Giverny when I was seventeen; I remember the vivid colors and the calm and happy feeling of the painter’s beautiful garden and pink house. It was full of bourgeois character and charm. The color palette and décor is something I knew I wanted in my home, especially the yellow dining room because it’s such a cheery color.

Claude Monet is so identified with his home in Giverny. This book mostly focuses on a time before Giverny. He spent forty-three years there and created most of his great work outside in his garden.

Monet painted in many different settings throughout his life: Algeria, (painting the African sun when he was in the military), England, Holland, and the countryside and seasides of France. During his entire career, he always loved to be outside.

Cowell changed the way I look at Monet's paintings. She made me more observant to the emotions in his art. I imagine if you read Claude and Camille you will feel the same way.

In the end, Monet lost both wife’s (Camille and Alice), his eyesight, and his beloved stepdaughter. Sometimes through tragedy comes the creation of great beauty. Monet's breathtakingly beautiful work gives him (and Camille) immortality. Cowell painted the images of the characters in the readers mind through her words and truly brought Monet's art to life.

The Julia Child Book Club met and had a French country meal fit for Monet’s house in Giverny. I think Stephanie Cowell would have been pleased with our little club, Claude and Camille too.  Salut et a bientot!

Audrey Hepburn: Just Do Your Thing

We could all learn a lot about how to navigate life from the tasteful and classy lips of Audrey Hepburn. She once remarked, For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.

Audrey Hepburn had that je ne sais quoi that is still very much relevant and important today; her legacy is for all ages to treasure.

Just Being Audrey by Margaret Cardillo is a beautiful book to introduce to children so they can learn to know and appreciate the generous and kind spirit and character that was the resonating soul of Audrey Hepburn. I had the pleasure of meeting Manolo Blahnik last year and I remember him saying how sad he was that more young people don’t know who Audrey Hepburn was. Cardillo is changing that.

The theme throughout Cardillo’s Just Being Audrey is what Audrey’s baroness mother taught her from early on, to be kind above all. This is such an important message for children as they struggle with bullies throughout their school career. I cannot think of a better message for a child than to be kind to others and be happy with who they are. Like Audrey used to say, I just do my thing. Even adults can benefit from this message.

Audrey said, If I'm honest, I have to tell you I still read fairy tales, and I like those best of all.  

I love that she kept a bit of “little girl” in her as she grew older. Another treasure she made besides her many movies was an audio theatre called Audrey Hepburn’s Enchanted Tales.  I have the CD in my car and my children and I love to listen to her read fairy tales like: The Sleeping Princess, Tom Thumb, Laideronette, Empress of the Pagodas, and Beauty and the Beast. Listening to her read I can watch my children drifting into the stories being hypnotized by her voice, they use their imagination to paint pictures in their heads. It is magical!

Audrey Hepburn has always been an important idol for me, since I was an early teen watching her movies. I still want to be like Audrey, from her style, work ethic, but most of all her kind heart. 

I remember watching her movies over and over again (I still do). I think I mentally recreated the scene from Breakfast at Tiffany’s when she sang Moon River countless times. She loved culture and knew five languages. She had aspirations of being a ballerina, and a zest for life, a joie de vivre that you could see in her twinkling eyes.

I have always believed that culture is a gift that helps one appreciate and love life to the fullest. There are very few people in this world who have that radiant sparkle that is generated simply by being so extremely beautiful on the inside. Audrey was just that, a true beauty that radiated from the inside out and she lead life with her kind heart.

Audrey is the perfect idol for women of all ages because she was so kind, had good values, integrity, gratitude... She is the kind of woman you want your daughter to have as a role-model. Audrey developed her own style rather than copying someone else’s. Her physical shape was not a typical body type and she accepted hers, creating a truly unique and elegant style by going with what she had and not changing herself to fit another mold. It is very important for young girls to learn to be comfortable with their own bodies.

Audrey was slender, childlike, elegant, charming, and the most eloquent speaker. I love listening to her lovely European accent.  I could listen to her recite poetry all day like she did in Roman Holiday with Keats: Arethusa rose from her couch of snows in the Acroceraunian mountains.

She was born near Brussels on May 4, 1929 and originally named Edda van Heemstra Hepburn-Ruston by a Dutch aristocratic baroness mother and an English father.

Educated in London, she began her ballet training at the age of five. During World War II, she and her mother were caught by the Nazis in Holland. Audrey’s family endured much hardship during the occupation; I read she ate tulip bulbs when they ran out of food.

After the war she continued dancing and began to act and model. This lead to her being noticed by the author Colette who placed her in Gigi; from there her acting career took off. She was also noticed by Hubert de Givenchy and became his muse.

She was very much like Cinderella; even the roles she took had a fairy tale charm…Roman Holiday, Sabrina, Funny Face, Breakfast at Tiffany’s each show a magical transformation. In living her life she made the same sort of transformations. Audrey worked hard to make her life better; then when life got better, she wanted to make it better for others.

Hepburn was in dozens of films throughout her life, winning an Oscar, a Golden Globe, a Tony, a Grammy, and an Emmy. She was one of the most celebrated actresses ever. Acting was not her only calling; she was a natural mother. It is completely evident in the photos of Audrey hugging her babies. She had so much love to give to her two sons Sean and Luca. 

Audrey loved children and very much wanted to give all of herself to help them. Having survived the war, she knew all too well the feeling of hunger. Using her celebrity status she raised awareness and worked with UNICEF, traveling to Africa and Latin America. She said, I just decided to do as much as possible in the time that I’m still up to it.

As I reflect on Audrey I enjoy thinking of Lauren Bush using her celebrity status to FEED  children like Audrey.

Through all that she experienced and saw, Audrey never became bitter. She kept her warmth and childlike charm, and her heart continued to grow.

My favorite Audrey Hepburn quote and words to live by: I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles.

Illustrations by Julia Denos

Midnight in Paris: Let's do it, let's fall in love...



This summer if you can’t go to Paris, I have a movie recommendation that will transport you there. Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris (which opened the Cannes Film Festival) takes you into the nostalgic era of music, art, and writing of the 1920’s. A romantic time of pleasure, joie de vivre, art, whimsy, and enchantment.

It’s about a young engaged couple who realize they’re not meant for each other once they’re in Paris; and then there is the illusion that life in a different place and time would be better. When life is unsatisfying, it’s easy to wish you could escape into a different period by time travel, that’s why most people love fantasy.  

The beauty of going to the movies is we can be transported back in time.  We turn to movies and books to escape, Midnight in Paris is the whole package that is a pleasure to behold and then again and again.

Owen Wilson and Marion Cotillard

Rachel McAdams and Owen Wilson

Paris is zee world’s GREATEST city, bien sûr!  Midnight in Paris is a beautiful love letter to the divine 1920’s Paris.  Gil (Owen Wilson) thinks Paris looks best in the rain, but no matter the weather or the time, Midnight in Paris will take your breath away and leave you wanting to stay in the theatre and experience it again and again.

In a world full of wishes that are easily granted, Gil (a discouraged TV writer) dreams of becoming an expatriate writer. His fiancée, Inez (Rachel McAdams) wants Gil to keep doing what he does best so she can keep enjoying his credit cards. Gil and Inez meet up with Inez’s old flame Paul (Michael Sheen) who is an arrogant intellectual arguing with the museum guide of Musée Rodin who happens to be Carla Bruni (model, singer, first lady of France, now actress).

We later learn from Gertrude Stein that Gil’s novel may not be half bad. This gives Gil hope.

It is a fantasy of mine to become an expat writer and live in Tuscany like Frances Mayes. I totally get Gil!

Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald

The fun begins when Gil (who is a little drunk) goes for a late-night stroll and gets lost. At midnight a gorgeous antique Peugeot pulls up with happy socialites drinking champagne. He does the right thing and gets in to join the party. He finds himself at a club where Cole Porter is playing the piano and he’s introduced to F. Scott Fitzgerald and his beautiful southern belle wife, Zelda (my favorite character).



Hemingway



 I remember the summer I took a Hemingway to Fitzgerald English class at the University of Alabama. It was the perfect place to learn about Zelda because she was from Montgomery, Alabama. Alison Pill, who plays Zelda, lights up the screen and has a spot on southern accent that is fun to hear in Paris (especially when she says s'il vous plait)!

Gil befriends the ultra masculine Ernest Hemingway (Corey Stoll), Gertrude Stein (the fabulous Kathy Bates), fashion designer ingénue Adriana (Marion Cotillard), Picasso, Matisse… Each time Gil meets one of his golden era heroes his mouth falls to the floor.

Adriana (Marion Cotillard) has to be the world’s most beautiful woman past and present. She’s been Picasso’s, Braque’s, and Modigliani’s lover. I guess you could call her an art groupie.  

Woody Allen’s always witty dialogue is sharp and hilarious. Some of my favorite Woody Allen movies I love because they satisfy my “I want to travel to Europe now” bug. Hop aboard the Woody Allen European tour: Match Point (England), Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Spain), Mighty Aphrodite (Greece), Midnight in Paris (France)… As much as I adore a European backdrop, I think Woody Allen could turn a place that is not known for being romantic like Tuscaloosa, Alabama into a city of magic. Woody has that je ne sais quoi that works well in any place.

Do you ever feel like you should have been born in another time? I think this often because I like to read and escape into a fantasy. I also crave culture like water and Midnight in Paris satisfies my craving and puts me in a happy place.

Midnight in Paris reminds me of a Merchant and Ivory film because it has that international flair, beauty, and intelligence that those films produce but also the romance of the movies like Before Sunrise and After Sunset which put you in a love bubble.

In the end, Gil realizes that no time is idyllic and he can find happiness in the present. He decides to make the best of life in our own time and the ending is the REAL fairy tale, walking off in Paris in the rain with a beautiful Parisian. As they walk away I imagine they’re both singing Cole Porter’s Let’s Do It, Let’s Fall In Love.  Merci Woody!

To get you in the “American in Paris” mood, enjoy these quotes then watch the trailer to the best movie you will have seen in a long, long time.

If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast. Hemingway

America is my country and Paris is my hometown. Gertrude Stein

History takes time. History makes memory. It is the soothing thing about history that it does repeat itself. Gertrude Stein

First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you. F. Scott Fitzgerald

You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say. F. Scott Fitzgerald

Happiness is...

Americans like to smile; we like to be happy! It’s a good thing we are a culture with the best dental hygiene because smiling is something we do well. I think of the French who are not big into smiles (or teeth). Luc Tessier in the movie French Kiss says, When people tell me they are happy, my ass begins to twitch. This makes me laugh and want to smile even more! When Americans are not happy we are very good at fixing it and if you don’t want to fix it, well people will just assume you are French!

I think there’s a recipe for happiness just like your grandmother’s cookies, they’re not that hard to bake and when you make them, everyone’s glad!

All recipes begin with the ingredients; the same is true for happiness. A recipe for happiness might go something like this...add a heaping cup of family and friends, a cup full of meaningful work, a dash of optimism, a sprinkle of gratefulness, plenty of forgiveness, a generous amount of giving, and two hands full of spirituality. You can’t find these ingredients in your pantry or buy them at the store, but you do have them at your fingertips should you choose to use them.

It seems that the happiest people surround themselves with family and friends; this is a sure-fire way to find happiness and to feel fully alive. Happy people don’t spend very much time alone; they like to be around the ones they love. Someone who is cheerful probably tends to have strong relationships with those who share their joy, sorrow, and stress…It’s a wonderful thing to invest in relationships with your friends, it’s a bonus if your friends are naturally happy people.  

There are some people who manage to always look on the bright side. We may not all be as sunny and optimistic as the famous Pollyanna character but we can find her same enthusiasm for life if we can play the ‘glad game’ every now and then. Think about something you’re grateful for and voila, you’re smiling!

Grateful people are happy people. To me, gratitude is best expressed in writing letters, journaling, or even an email or a text to tell someone you love them, this can make you and that person feel better in an instant.

I find when I get really into a project or activity, I lose all track of time, stop worrying and just enjoy the moment. This is when I think busy schedules are a good thing; life’s many activities bring great satisfaction. I find this happens to me when doing enjoyable daily tasks too…dancing, playing with my children, writing, reading are all things I can lose myself in. Taking time away from other important things like work is good for our soul.

People feel happiest when they’re doing what they do best…work or play. I think you will agree with me that we should all have more fun and less stress. If you love your work and it’s meaningful, that plays a huge factor, but equal parts play and work are what equals happiness. I’m sure Freud would agree when he said, Love and work…work and love, that’s all there is.

There’s a bigger chance that you will be happier if you don’t spend too much time alone. It’s a good thing to accept social invitations, initiate social get-togethers, have face-to-face time rather than online time, and hug your family and friends. Nurture your relationships; having tons of friends could never compare to those few very close friendships that consistently make you happy. When I’m having a bad day, I like to relive a good memory spent with friends and family. 

Another way to get happy is to forgive. It may be extremely hard to do and take some time but once we forgive those who have hurt us, our hearts are happier.

Spirituality contributes to our happiness, believing in something higher gives us direction and purpose and it just feels right.

A few weeks ago, most of the world watched the Royal Wedding with great joy. This one wedding made people all over the world so happy and gave us optimism and a reason to celebrate with the world. I think most people look forward to the next big celebration that brings us all together like the Olympics.

Quotes to inspire and make you feel happy:

The best way to cheer yourself up, is to try and cheer somebody else up. Mark Twain

Whoever said you can’t buy happiness forgot about puppies. Gene Hill

The happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.  Anonymous

Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. Nathaniel Hawthorne

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. Marcel Proust

Questions to ponder… When have you been the happiest? To get you thinking here’s some food for thought with three top five happy lists from my husband, my daughter, and me. Can you guess which list belongs to whom?

1.       a to do list that’s already been done

2.       the feeling after an intense work out

3.       bedtime rituals with our children

4.       a night without doing dishes

5.       seeing the lights turn on in our children

1.       birthday cake

2.       balloons

3.       kites

4.       Hello Kitty

5.       parties

1.       the beach

2.       hugs

3.       pink peonies

4.       the sound of music and laughter

5.       being skin to skin with my babies

What’s on your happy list?