100 Days of Happy

There's been something wrong with me lately. Not sure exactly what…. Maybe my job has finally managed to suck every ounce of joy out of my being. Maybe I try to do too much and am overwhelmed. Or maybe I just need a vacation. Whatever it is, I am pretty darn cranky.

I had a rare slow day at work last week. Working for a large corporation, the usual crap goes on… we don't hit our profit targets (which may or may not be completely unreasonable… just saying), so we have to cut costs, so they lay off people who do necessary jobs and the rest of us are expected to pick up the slack. As a result, we are all incredibly busy, all day, every day… it's exhausting. Anyway, I had a once-in-a-blue-moon slow day, and once I had cleaned up my workspace, updated my files and tidied up my desktop, I had a few minutes to surf the net. And I found this inspiring website, the 100 Happy Days Challenge.

I knew right away this was exactly what I needed. If I looked for things that made me happy, I would become happier just because I took the time to appreciate them. I decided right then and there that I would do it. Since I post on Sundays, my week will be Saturday to Saturday, and on Sunday I will include my roundup of happy pics on my weekly blog post. In-between, I will post my photos on whatever social media outlet I'm on at the time, using the hashtag #100happydays.

Here's my pics for my first week:

Day 1:

I got a call from Brenda at the Art Gallery in London where I sometimes have work hanging. Someone is interested… so I packed a bunch of stuff into the car and went to London. Now one of my favourite musician paintings has found it's forever home…. not a bad way to start off the project.







Day 2:

There was a big outdoor art fair that I had thought about entering, but my hesitation about the weather eventually won out, and I didn't do it. I went to check it out… in the rain. Not just a little rain… there were ponds starting in the park. It was Sunday, and by the time I got there, lots of vendors had already packed up and left. So my friend and I headed to my favourite little coffee shop, sat there for a couple hours and caught up. More fun than doing housework, which is probably what I would have done if I hadn't made plans already.



Day 3:

A little gallery here in Port Credit is having it's first anniversary show. They invited all the artists that had exhibited there this year to submit a couple pieces, and they put together a lovely group show. I have two pieces hanging, and they chose mine to put on the invitation. I appreciate this immensely, since this particular piece has been recently rejected from two juried shows. And I still think it's pretty good. Obviously there is at least one other person out there that thinks so too.

Day 4:

I had a hard time finding something today. Everything was driving me batty, from my chatty coworkers  to the endless emails I'm cc'd  on that have nothing to do with me. I was thinking I was going to have to give up on this only 4 days in. But when I got home, the orchid that has not flowered in the 2 years we've lived in this house finally bloomed. It's a little thing, but it counts.






Day 5:

Every week when I go to my kayaking class the sun set gets a little bit later. I was already out of the boat this week, in time to catch a photo. The light was beautiful. Last week it was all gold, this week I got green and orange and blue. And I saw a loon. How cool is that.






Day 6:

 

This evening I packed up a pile of giclée prints from my Jazz Legends series and sent them off to Europe. The marketing team from Global Vernissage is planning on framing them and hanging them in an art hotel in Lithuania. Isn't that awesome? International exposure!!

Day 7: 

An evening without a committment. I spent a few hours parked in front of the tv (hey, I'm exhausted. Everyone needs down time now and then) watching a movie with my hubby and Cleo. Of course I can't just sit there, so i got in a bit of drawing time...

Overall, a pretty good week. Would I have thought so if I hadn't taken the time to notice all the good things? I doubt it... sometimes the stuff that annoys us can totally overtake the good things in our lives. I'll find a better way to show my photos next week... maybe put them all in a collage or something. If you are also doing the #100happydays challenge, leave a message in the comments (with your social media links), and I'll check out your pics too!!