317 - 320 Fun Things to Do!

317 - Take advantage of the bonus day in Leap Year - February 29th - and do anything you want, as much as possible, all day long! I wrote "anything I want" on my calendar for that day a long time ago. It's always fun to have something to look forward to, and I am enjoying wondering if I am going to schedule my day, just let it unfold, or a combination of both. I know for sure that it is going to be a day to remember! Maybe I will go out of town, cajole a friend into joining me for an adventure, try something I've never tried before, write a poem, visit someone I haven't seen in a long time -- a lot of the fun has been in the speculation. I do have a jar that is filled with strips with suggestions for day long fun ideas, so maybe I will try one of those and let the jar decide part of my day! All I know for sure is that February 29 is going to be one fun day! If you do something unusual on Leap Year Day, I would love it if you would share it here in the "comments".

318 - Sleep in and wake up whenever you feel like it. This is especially appealing if you have to get up with an alarm clock day after day. It's always good to pick a day when doing this will not disrupt anything else you might have planned. This might even be the start of that leisurely day you have been dreaming about!

319 - Set the alarm one hour early and give yourself a whole hour to do whatever you want without worrying about any responsibilities. Whenever I am up really really early or late, I feel like I am operating on stolen time, and there is a little bit of a thrill element, as if that time is mine, and absolutely no one else's.

320 - Treat yourself to some flowers that are out of season. Many of us live in a climate with four seasons, so the sight of tulips at the grocery store is a happy and welcome sight. Soon they will be growing profusely all over town, but for now we can enjoy cut flowers in all their glory. As of today, there are only 28 days until Spring! Hooray!

Your comments and ideas are always welcome. We are almost 1/3 of the way to the 1,000 Fun Things to Do Challenge goal!

312 - 316 Fun Things to Do!

312 - Do a portrait of yourself in chalk on cement! This is my 8 year old grandson, Nate, who loves basketball. This self-portrait is now covered by snow, but it was so fun to watch him bring it to life! I am so glad I was there to document this exciting chalk art event.

313 - Do a portrait of someone else in chalk on cement! My grandson, Drew, who is 6, did a portrait of his Grandpa Tom, who is my husband. Then he asked what else he could do, and I said, "You could write -- G-Ma is beautiful!" That's a running joke with us -- that not only am I G-Ma, but that I'm beautiful, too! So he decided to have Tom say I'm beautiful, so he made a little cartoon balloon, and wrote in the word "beautiful". What could be more fun that making a portrait in chalk that talks, too?

314 - Take some time and read all kinds of different magazines at your local library. Explore some magazines you wouldn't normally read. I love to read interviews, and after I browsed through some of the other magazines, I settled in for a good long time with "Interview" magazine. Now I can save some money on magazine subscriptions and still have a lot of fun.


315 - Treat yourself to beautiful orchids, which are much easier to care for than you could ever imagine! I spent many years thinking I had to have some special orchid juju to take care of these gorgeous orchids. Imagine my surprise when I saw a sign at a local store that said -- Orchids - just 3 ice cubes weekly! Since they were only $10, I thought I would take a chance. That was three months ago, and my purple orchid is still wonderfully glorious! Last week I got a double white one that has a tag for justaddiceorchids.com. I registered for reminders of what day to add my 3 ice cubes, and you can even take pictures of yourself with your orchid and send it into their website! Talk about hilarious orchid fun! They are my indoor Winter garden.


316 - If you have friends who are in warm and sunny climates during the Winter, it is important to send them photographic reminders of what they are missing. They already know they are smart, but it's good to bring an extra smile to their faces!

311 - Fun Things to Do!

311 - Take photographs of buildings that hold happy memories for you!

See previous post!

The Little Bliss Building List!

Today I woke up and remembered that it was the day to post my "Little Bliss List" for my blogging course. All week long I have been noticing blissful experiences -- doing Zentangles with friends, going to the movies, hanging around with family - but this morning I got a different kind of idea. I thought of taking photographs of all the buildings in Akron, Ohio that I inhabited today that contained blissful experiences for me. That way I could have an unusual record of my Friday bliss list. If you would like to see where the idea for "The Little Bliss List" originated, and also participate in the "blog hop" with other bloggers who are also describing bliss this week, go to blog.livlane.com. "Bliss" is the word that Liv Lane has chosen to represent her year, and she has invited anyone who wants to join her in noticing bliss in their lives, too!

The photograph above is of Resnik Community Learning Center where I had the privilege of reading to my grandson Andrew's first grade class this morning in the library. What could be more blissful than reading fun, colorful, and happy books to a group of youngsters? Even the memory of it is delightful for me.

It was such a beautiful day today so I took my beloved car, Molly Marie McGee, for a ride through the car wash. I put on classical music and had a blissful time noticing how the music matched the spraying of the water, the dancing of the suds, and the swirling of the sponge strips. The hardest thing was not looking too exceedingly happy as we exited to get dried off!

My next stop was Highland Square Library, my friendly neighborhood book paradise, to return this week's books and get some more fun books for next week. I like to get books about peace, kindness, friendship, and adventure with great illustrations and appealing stories. It's easy for me to find bliss in the children's section. Take two Dr. Seuss books and call me in the morning -- I bet you'll be feeling blissful, too!

Off to lunch with my precious 94 year old Paparoonio, my wonderful husband Tom, and my terrific son, Kevin. (It's all right to say great things about your own family, isn't it?) Any time I get to spend with any one of them is blissful to me, but to have all three of them at the same time is triple bliss for sure! All the waitresses adore my Dad, and he loves being adored!

I spent the rest of the afternoon in my favorite coffee shop - Angel Falls, in my favorite neighborhood - Highland Square. With a big cup of rose tea, I set up my laptop and created a blissful office environment. I even had the pleasure of sitting at a big round table with two med students who were studying -- thank heavens there are young people who are willing to work so hard to enter such an amazing profession. Hooray!

Thank you, Liv, for giving me another opportunity to pay attention to bliss this week. Has anything made you feel blissful lately? I'd be so delighted if you shared in the comments!