Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of...BLISS! Not to be confused with perfection.

Okay- typically speaking, the famous phrase in the Declaration of Independence, "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness". Which is said to have been paraphrased from an original work of John Locke. In my own personal pursuit of happiness, I stumbled upon some interesting findings. More on this later...

First, let's define happiness. According to the Noah Webster's 1828- HAP'PINESS, n. The agreeable sensations which spring from the enjoyment of good; that state of a being in which his desires are gratified, by an enjoyment of pleasure without pain; felicity; but happiness usually expresses less than felicity, and felicity less than bliss. Ah-ha! What better than happiness? BLISS! Although, realistically speaking bliss is not a feeling that can be enjoyed constantly, so I guess I can settle for a state of mere happiness with peaks of bliss.

Lately, I've experienced some moments that can be described as a state of less than happiness. What do we name those moments? I do not wish to toss a negative term out there, let's keep this blog clean. There will be no pollution found here, to distract from the point at hand- happiness. I have had some reflective time today to think about my past week, month, 2 months! The amount of time my husband has been in Alaska. 2 months now. Ugh, I can't lie - it's been rough. Enough said. So, during my reflective time I am pondering happiness. What does it mean to experience and enjoy it? What does it take to GET it? I think that's just it, many people just don't GET it! I refuse to be one in that number. In my own opinion, the key to happiness IS....(drumroll).... a simple change of perspective. Be positive, think positive, do positive = have positive. One cannot expect happiness at the moment of complaining. It's important to look within. Get to the heart of your discontentions - wait! Is that a word? Discontentness? Discontent. Point being, I've got to be real with myself. Having a few select, positive, trusted people in my life helps that tremendously. *key* I need to be able to make the call and spew my inner thoughts, just to be able to get to the root of the problem. Knowing when I make the call, MOST of my problem is my own skewed thinking. Don't get me wrong, I have happiness right here under my own roof, 24/7. An abundance of it! Sometimes it is blurred or polluted by my negative feelings at the moment. I am so thankful that my trusted sources are willing to help me sort things out. The change is astounding! I cannot tell you enough, it's almost instant. Just looking at a problem from a different angle changes so much. It's the whole "glass is half empty or half full" idea, taken to the extreme. Try it! But you have to go into it willing to accept a new idea. It's easy to dwell, feel sorry for yourself and whine about things. Sometimes I don't want to accept another's perspective simply because I want to continue the pity party. Go right on ahead. I guess it all depends on priorities. To me, happiness is a priority. While there are many other feelings that have their time and place, my ultimate goal in life is to enjoy happiness. There are always going to be a few bumps in the road- trust me I've driven the Yukon both in reality and in theory! Happiness and/or Bliss can be enjoyed on the bumpy roads, too. It's true what they say, you cannot give what you do not possess. That statement does not refer to material possessions in my book. My bottom line- Experience happiness and SPREAD IT!! Makes sense to me.

Gloom & Doom

Woke up to dark, gloomy rain clouds yet again! I am a creature who feeds on the sun. I tell ya, I can be in a total trance on a horrid wet day, the sun will peep through the clouds and it just shoots right through me and WAKES me up. In an instant! This week we are supposed to be getting back on track with school after a week of Spring Break. But the kids have a hard time even dragging out of bed. I allow them the extra time to sleep in, knowing that we're obviously not going outside today, and we have all day to do school. I can appreciate the occasional storm, especially when it's offering reflief from a streak of hot, dry weather. In that case, it's nice to open up a window and let the fresh rain scent waft through. Nothing like curling up on the sofa in lounge pants, under a soft blanket with a good book and a cup of tea! But there's nothing dreamy about it when it's been raining for days. I'm beginning to wonder if I should start building that ark soon...

Well, enough doddling for me. Time to face the gloom head on. After-all, it's only Tuesday!

My ironic new cake recipe...

I find the most ironic things occuring on a fairly regular basis. Recently I fell in love with Julia Child. After watching the movie- Julie & Julia, I began to realize how amazingly lovely Julia Child really was. I ordered up her old series on Netflix, and read her biography "My life in France". I have found that she is one of those people who- the more you know of them the more you like them and the more you want to find out! She was simply fascinating.

People who know me- know that I am pretty much food obsessed. (Now, if I could just break down and buy a treadmill...I think I could get the food and my figure to agree with one another.) Anyhow, I love food. I have purchased old cookbooks from garage sales, estate sales, ebay. I have new cookbooks, too. But, I do love the older "used" cookbooks more dearly. I love the thought of who they belonged to, if they belonged to a beloved wife or mother. Or, how many times she may have used the exact recipe and the people she served it to, with love. My favorite recipes are the ones that have notes scribed to them in messy hanwriting offering variations or substitutions. Or the recipes that have smudges of muffin batter. I know - I am crazy! Those things would probably gross most people out.

Anyhow- today I took out an old dessert cookbook to find a recipe for crepes- which we made for breakfast, yum! And then I left the cookbook lying on the ground. I asked Bradley to pick up the cookbook and put it away for me, when an old newspaper clipping fell to the ground and caught my eye. The headline read "French Chef branches out, goes American"!! Whoa! How exciting, a "new" article by Julia Child (actually this clipping is at least 30 years old) and it's a splendid new recipe for me to try, not published in any of her books.

Hows that for irony? Anyone up for "French Chocolate Cake"?

My First Blog

My first blog. Uh-hum. Strangely, I'm feeling a little nervous about this. I think it's important to just get this first blog out of the way. My creative energies will never begin to flow if I always have the pressure of this first blog hovering over me. I can't say that I've never blogged before, if you count Myspace. This feels a bit more formal (and mature...ouch). I have always liked the idea of having a blog and have pondered starting one for quite some time. I have a few unanswered questions about this blogging business. Does one stick to the happenings of today and tomorrow? Would it be interesting to hear about life yesterday? Anything would be more interesting than this, surely. History is what shapes us though. It's what makes us, US. I have a few crazy stories of my past that just might blow your hair back. How about a condensed version of a few interesting tidbits?
I once swallowed a live goldfish.
I have seen lightning strike, more than once.
I lived in a tiny, "dry" cabin in Alaska for a year.
I have driven the distance between Alaska and California 6 times.
Once I broke down in the Yukon with 5 children, and no husband.
My grandfather had a major influence in my life.
I love grumpy old men, and I don't mean the movie.
I once won a chili cook-off and best dressed in a beauty pageant (though I hated the dress).
*yawn*
Okay, I won't bore you with anymore historical facts of my life. I am thankful to report we can now put my first blog behind us, where it belongs, in the past.