This is a heartfelt quickie on my way out the door.  I don’t care what religion/faith/belief system you subscribe to - I guarantee you will get something out of Gil Fronsdal’s audio dharma talks.  Some of the great things about Buddhism (for the uninitiated) are that you don’t have to believe in it to get something out of its ideas, you don’t have to go anywhere to practice it, and you don’t have to know anything about it to understand its main ideas - it really operates on a human scale, and is the same for laypeople as it is for those who are “more advanced”.

Anyhow, I’ve been listening to these talks in the car all week and I’ve been sharing them with absolutely everyone.  I highly recommend two of his recent ones, “Effortless Effort” and “What can you let go of?” - I strongly doubt anyone will find these offensive (but feel free to prove me wrong).

I think a big part of happiness is having your life at the right scale and using your energy in a way that is efficient and well-prioritized.  Many people I know who are unhappy spend a lot of time on things they couldn’t care less about, or on things that they know make them unhappy.  Why not edit these things out of your life?  Why hang on to ideas and objects that make you unhappy or keep you from being in your ideal situation?

Just try to answer that - I dare you.  In the meantime, enjoy his free talks.  I’ll be back soon to rehash my birthday and give the lowdown on my new favorite shower products (courtesy of Continental, who routed our luggage through three extra cities).

Welcome to the August 1 (2, sorry!), 2007 Happiness Carnival. I received a lot of great submissions - glad to see there’s so much happiness out there! I wasn’t really sure what some of these had to do with happiness per se, but I figured I’d give the benefit of the doubt this time around. I’ll have information on the next carnival within the next couple of days, so be on the lookout - there may even be a prize for the best article submission!

Without further ado, here are the submissions…. » Read the rest of this entry …

I’ve got a great post on happiness and procrastination coming, but I can’t seem to get it done :)  (That’s not even a joke!)

In the meantime, I wanted to announce that I’ll be hosting a happiness carnival here on Beautiful Things Abound. For  now, I’m planning to have a new edition every month…if I get enough submissions, I’d love to have it as a weekly carnival.

Round 1 will be open to anything having to do with happiness - people and things that make you happy, happy memories, tips and tricks that have helped you in your pursuit of happiness, even reviews of popular books on happiness and how to attain it.  I just ask that you only submit your own work (and that you’re respectful of others’ copyrights along the way).

Submit your article by commenting this post with your link and a brief description, or email those two pieces of info to me at beautifulthingsabound “at” gmail.com.  Submission deadline for the first Happiness Carnival is midnight(ish - I won’t be too picky) on July 30th. The full edition will be posted on August 1st.  Bring on the happiness!

If I ever get the chance to meet Peggy Brill, I plan to shower her with gifts. See, I have a “hereditary” tendency toward slouching…my family just loves to keep their shoulders and neck in tense, uncomfortable positions. Hard to be happy like that, I’m afraid - not only does it lead to that neckless sort of look, it restricts your breathing, affects circulation, and limits your range and fluidity of movement (read: you walk around like an angry robot).

I picked up Brill’s The Core Program: Fifteen Minutes a Day That Can Change Your Lifefrom the library last fall when I was shopping around for some new Pilates inspiration (my budget and I refuse to pay $100 an hour to use the studios around here), certain that I’d see some rehashed poses and abbreviated movements. Not so. Every word of this book is fresh, new, and effective.

For the beginning user, Brill’s tone is welcoming and her instructions are simple, clear, and appropriately detailed. For the experienced exerciser, you’ll be glad to see that her programs really do fit into the time limits that she promises, and the movements are familiar and well-sequenced without a single wasted moment. Both categories will benefit from the most important fact: this book works.

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I love organizational systems…schemes…hopes…plans. I think that being organized is a big part of being happy - knowing where to find things and having clean surroundings are BIG stress relievers. However, even the best organizational plans can go astray if they’re not the right solution for the situation, creating even more stress (and, from experience, guilt) along the way.

How many planners, organizers, and calendars have you purchased that ended up blank at the end of the year? Most of mine have gaps of at least two weeks from time to time; my 2006 datebook is full (and intricately color-coded!) until the end of May, at which point entries are reduced to hastily scrawled bits at 40ish-day intervals. It was a beautiful, expensive book, but it just wasn’t for me: the blocks weren’t big enough, the binding didn’t allow the pages to lay flat, and it was just a touch too big to fit in my usual bag without sticking out or stabbing me in the hip.

Enter the PocketMod disposable organizer. Design your own organizer (don’t worry, there are templates for everything and a super easy-to-use interface) and print it right from your computer. You choose what’s on your pages, how many pages to print, and what order everything goes in. Templates include games, lined pages, a variety of planner/calendar pages, reference guides, and even Ben Franklin’s virtues.

I’m a huge fan of printing a few PocketMods before I go out of town - Sudoku for the plane, and a custom organizer for each day I’ll be traveling so that I can take notes without having to carry (or lose) a whole book. If I get tired of my PocketMod layout, I can change it and print another within seconds. If I get tired of the whole idea, there’s no guilt - I just don’t print any more for a while, so no pages are going unused.

PocketMod has definitely kept me organized and on track through some chaotic times. If only it could update my Remember the Milk lists automatically from my pocket….

I’ll freely admit that the name of this blog was inspired by an Eisley song. The song (Marvelous Things) is pretty incredible, which is no surprise - I’ve yet to hear a bad song from these kids.

Disclaimer: my musical tastes are all over the place, and my work with a radio station forced me to listen to 350+ new CDs a year for several years. I listen to anything and everything, but only the good parts.

So, back to Eisley (or check out Eisley’s MySpace.) The quick rundown: 5 talented siblings, ranging in age from 18 to 25, who play wholesome, ethereal, intense, emotional pop-rock. A lot of my high school students are big fans, but they’ve gained a wider audience (and a contract with Warner) over the past year and are currently on tour. Recommended for: chilling out, long drives in the suburbs, growing pains.

I was introduced to Eisley two years ago by my friend Ken, who is “that guy who’s always in the know about the music scene.” Honestly, he’s hardwired into some secret network of independent music Illuminati.

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Ten short weeks ago, I met the man I’m going to marry.

Trust me, we’re courageous, not impulsive (he’s from the Midwest ).

Since he figures so prominently in my life, and since wedding product reviews will be coming along shortly, here’s the silly story of how we met.

I was fresh out of a stormy relationship, already playing the field but not at all looking for something serious, when I stumbled upon his Craigslist ad.  Yep, we met on Craigslist. (I’d love to say instead that one day, while roaming the palace grounds, he rode up to me on a white horse and melted me with one gaze, and so we rode off into the sunset, but honesty is the best policy.) I never look at the personal ads, honestly - I was only on to post in reply to someone I’d met at a show earlier that night - but somehow I came across this man’s ad and, lo and behold, he replied to my reply.

We only exchanged a few emails before meeting for Cinco de Mayo (Drinko de Mayo) drinks that weekend.  (Don’t lecture me on Internet security - I know my way around this place pretty well by now, and his emails were too sweet and honest to be anything but authentic.) I made the plan to meet him at my favorite divey Mexican restaurant, forgetting that the romantic outdoor cabanas would be full of loud, drunk groups. He got there early and found us a table anyhow, in true responsible, upstanding fashion.

I was nervous, he was nervous, but we talked up a storm - so much that, after four margaritas each, we had covered life stories, future plans, and past failures. I learned that he had worked for animal control (think: dog catcher), I confessed my secret love for pop music and my dislike for Kirsten Dunst, and he mentioned again that he was moving to Los Angeles at the end of the summer, a fact which he’d brought up via email but which didn’t concern me at the time…surely we’d just be a summer fling, anyhow.

After drinks, we met up with some of my friends who live just down the block…we were in no shape to drive, and that’s not something on which I compromise.  We went for pizza and more drinks (Sofia Coppola canned champagne, anyone?), and met up with more friends…more talking, much more laughing, and definite chemistry.  He even laughed when we were walking to the car and my shoe’s heel got caught in a hole, causing me to briefly disappear as I had fallen off the curb (we were sober by then, I swear).

Nearly 8 hours after the date started, we went back to his place to keep talking. He also introduced me to Arrested Development, now one of my very favorite shows (and I’m known to be reasonably anti-TV!). It was a wonderful, magical evening of deep connection, but no one knew where it would lead….

We all know that, just as recess was often the best part of school, lunch can be the best part of the workday. Eating out can be smart sometimes - it’s a great networking opportunity, for instance - but it’s deadly to your bottom line…and to your bottom line, if you get my drift.

Packing a lunch…or perhaps convincing your darling pre-fiance to pack you a lunch…isn’t much work at all, and it’s amazingly cheap. It’s also a great chance to pack yourself a little reward to make it through the day, a trick my mother taught me long ago. (All of my elementary school lunches contained something like stickers, pencils, surprise cookies, or tiny toys, each carefully chosen to ensure that I would keep my spoiled little self at school for the full day). The pre-chosen rewards will at least be cheaper - and healthier - than something from the vending machine….

For instance, today I brought a peanut butter and fridge-cleanout sandwich (not an exemplary day, but at least it’s all organic and on sprouted, multigrain, high-protein bread), some delicious flaxseed tortilla chips, some blueberries that pre-fiance and I picked a couple of weeks ago, and a square of Santander dark chocolate. I also managed to skip Starbucks by packing some coffee in my superduper no-leak travel mug. For 10 minutes of work and about $3, I have something I can really look forward t0. I know what the nutritional information is like, I know where the food came from, and I have strong personal connections to every step - a great way to bring some extra fulfillment to the lunch hour.

I’m hardly the first person to extoll the virtues of bringing your own lunch along, though. Here’s some more inspiration from blogs that I frequent:
The Simple Dollar’s How I Made Brown Bag Lunches Work For Me
Zen Habits‘ Simple Way to save $3,000 a Year - Brown Bag It
The Vegan Lunchbox - you don’t have to be vegan (or have kids) to appreciate her adorable, innovative creations (in fact, I’ve linked to her book below - it’s a great resource when you feel stuck about what to pack!)
Bento TV is adorable, and be sure to check our her Ebay store for adorable lunchbox accessories (tiny containers are cute and much better than zip-locs for your wallet and the environment)

I’ve got a lot more to say about lunch, but in the meantime, here are some of my current favorites:

I read a lot.  That’s not lip-service; before I met pre-fiance, I finished at least four “serious” (literary fiction) novels a week, along with a smattering of non-fiction and some drivel. Reading is a great way to find some quiet, to calm your mind, and maybe even to learn something.

I always keep something readable in my car, just in case I end up waiting somewhere unexpectedly or (shh) traffic is at an absolute, total stand-still, as frequently happens here when car accidents shut down entire freeways without warning. While the life-changing tomes of Tolstoy and T.C. Boyle are great, it’s nice to have something a little lighter from time to time (especially in traffic), even something inspirational.

Natural Health Magazinerarely breaks new ground. If you’re familiar with the idea of treating yourself well, the articles will be equally familiar: eat fresh, organic, local things; sleep enough and at the right times; exercise for pete’s sake; control and/or eliminate stress in all areas of your life. But even I need reminders from time to time, though, and that is where this publication really shines. The recipes are usually great, too, and there are frequently good spa and beauty tips. Sure, it contradicts itself from time to time, and many of its articles are written on soft knowledge, but it’s still nice to read something so friendly, so upbeat, and so devoted to improving its readers’ quality of life. And trust me - it’s heads and tails above the SkyMall catalog or, heaven forbid, Cosmo.

So make some quiet time for yourself, catch up on your reading, and consider flipping through this magazine while you’re at it.  Even pre-fiance and I still manage to get in some reading time on the weekends…I promise that there are few things cozier than good books, good company, and hot tea in bed on a rainy Sunday morning.

I have debt.  I went to a good college, I attended an expensive graduate school (briefly), and I’ve been 95% financially independent since I was 16.  Sometimes, I think (know) that I should be putting every extra cent I earn toward these debts - it’s a strong vote for my future, and every penny I can pay now is worth a penny plus 5-12%….

But sometimes things come along that you can’t resist.  I’m not talking about material urges that strike at any shopping mall, or a need to keep up with the Joneses. These are rare, beautiful, quality things that fill a need in your life, even if it’s not quite an essential, air-water-food type of need.

These Dolce & Gabbana Sunglasses filled that need in a way that words can barely describe, but I will do my best.

I used to eschew names and labels, especially “designer” ones.  I avoided anything with a logo and convinced myself that there was no more style, elegance, or quality in a name brand product than there was in a generic one.

 Obviously, I was wrong.

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