Happy 101

Several weeks ago, I was happy to receive the Happy 101 Award from my fellow blogger and friend, Lisa at Hamptontoes.blogspot.com. So, according to the tradition, I will list below 10 things that make me happy and then 10 blogs that I admire and enjoy. This was harder than I thought so I decided to add a few more than 10. . . just because this is my blog and I can do whatever I want! (Have I been stuck in the house with a sick 4-year old for a week or what?)

Ten things that make me happy:

1. Coffee. . . I'm sorry but it simply must top the list. I can't face the day without it and when I smell it brewing, I smile. If you ask Meg what makes mommy happy, she will say, "coffee and kisses and hugs." She knows me so well.
2. Kisses and hugs from Meg, especially accompanied with words of love like this: "Mommy, you're the best big fat mommy in the world!" I melt.
3. Dogwood trees in bloom make me oh-so-happy. The kind of happy where you take a deep, deep breath and sigh and then just sit still for a little bit.
4. New York City, which is my soul home. I was raised in California and have returned here to live now, but when I moved to NY, I felt that a key puzzle piece had been finally discovered after years of being lost under the sofa, and that the pieces of me that had never quite fit were beginning to come together.
5. The Central Park Zoo with Meg in the Fall makes me happy. There is a white goat named Norman. I even love to eat Zoo Pizza for lunch. Early summer visits are also wonderful, when the wisteria is blooming in the courtyard.
6.  Capturing photos makes me happy and fulfilled. With a camera in my hand, I am a more confident woman who will lay flat on the sidewalk or chase children or climb a brick wall to get the perfect shot.
7. A great meal, al fresco, with good wine and great friends and children playing happily on the grass. Ahhhh, happy!
8. Vacation! Specifically, a warm beach vacation like Hawaii, Cancun. . .
9. Books. . . I read almost anything I can get my hands on (besides politics). I always have a good fiction on my bed-side table and a stack of inspiring literature (poetry, histories, art books) on the coffee table.
10. Finally, gardening makes me happy. I love to grow flowers and herbs and vegetables. And of course, dogwood trees.

Honorable mention things that make me happy (because 10 just isn't enough):

11. Parmesan Reggiano cheese. on anything. by itself. with a glass of wine. . . I used to sneak it until I heard Matt Lauer also admit to eating hunks of it. I buy it at Costco.
12. Paris. It's not New York, but it's a close runner-up. If only I could master the language. . .
13.  Chocolate Molten cake. Bread Pudding. Raspberry oat bars.
14. Neil Diamond.
15. Marc Jacobs

10 Blogs I love:

1. Hamptontoes  (I love Lisa, and I love her blog!)
2. Modish
3. Bloom-grow-love
4.Comfort and Luxury
5. Lola is Beauty
6.A Cup of Joe
7. Eddie Ross (of course)
8. Lisis go to China   (I hope Pam starts blogging again soon, but with 3 small children in China, who can blame her? Start at the beginning, it's a great read! The Lisi's were our neighbors in NY, we saw them off to China and miss them dearly.)
9. Simply Photo
10. The Sartorialist  I've been loving this one for years!

Thanks for reading, and thank you to Lisa for this fun award!