Reasons to Be Happy
My Reasons to Be Happy lists started with my young adult book by the same name and have become a regular feature of my newsletter, Kat’s Pajamas, and a very popular class, which you can book on demand today! Scroll down for a few of my recent lists.
Reasons to Be Happy
^ Celebrating thirteen years since I accepted a dinner invite from my friend Mindy who wanted me to meet “this great guy” she knew.(That great guy became my fella, and we combined households a year and a half later. Eternal gratitude to Mindy and Greg!)
Stephen Colbert
The old lady perfume aroma of peonies (with peonies pic)
Colin Jost and Michael Che doing the Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live
The fact that unhatched baby sea turtles communicate with each other from inside their shells to coordinate a synchronized exit (Hatching as a group makes it safer for the little ones on their journey to the water.)
Learning that Orcas are one of the only other mammals who experience menopause (Trashing those yachts makes a lot of sense to me now!)
Watching our Annie cat ambush our Serena beagle (Annie will hear Serena’s nails clicking as she comes down the hall, and she’ll race to get into position behind an armchair so she can pounce and “tag” Serena’s back. Serena just wags her tail and doesn’t break stride. Annie races away, no doubt wishing her sister would chase her. It is my summer quest to catch a video of this.)
In Sweden they built a smart machine where crows deposit trash in exchange for food. They turned those clever birds into city cleaners.
Long gardening days (At the end, I’m filthy, with dirt in my hair, my shoes, and my bra, and I pour myself a homemade Aperol spritz.)
Making homemade Aperol spritzes—my favorite drink of spring
When I’m visiting my Dad and we can hear the University of Dayton’s chapel bells carrying up the hill on the wind
Trading perennial plants with friends (Thanks for the coneflowers, Lauren G.)
Watching my amazing pack circle the wagons for a beloved friend with a scary diagnosis and being so grateful I know such incredible, strong, generous, compassionate people
^ Raindrops on bluebells (Thank you, Sarah C., for the beautiful photo from your hike.)
A whole day with no commitments—sleeping in, making good coffee and toast with jam, sipping coffee with a cat in my lap with nothing pressing keeping me from being in the moment
Starting a terrifying/exhilarating new chapter in your life
The delicious buttermilk pancakes bigger than my head at the Clifton Mill in Clifton, Ohio (Eating those pancakes with good friends? Bonus!)
The Artemis II mission! (I felt emotionally invested in it. Intelligent people working together to do difficult things? Ahh. How delightful. Thank you for reminding us that this was possible. A friend said they saw it described as “competence porn,” and we are all starving for it.)
An animal shelter in the Hamptons named a litter of nine adoptable pitbull puppies after characters from “The Pitt.” Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons, Inc., then Photoshopped doctor and nurse attire onto them, making for the cutest adoption photos.
The baby blue dome on the University of Dayton chapel
Fun weekend with girlfriends, full of good food, laughter, hilarious mishearings (“His face is shrinking”), and ghost stories
The Candy Bar Latte on ContempoRoast’s spring menu (chocolate, salted caramel, hazelnut, espresso, milk)—my new favorite from my favorite local coffee shop
The flavor combination of pear, bleu cheese, and prosciutto
Windows open to morning birdsong
Foaling season and fuzzy baby horses (Thanks for the adorable photo, Magdelyn S.)
That there are three little eaglets in the nest of Willa and Scout, the bald eagles who live in Carillon Park in Dayton
Researchers at M.I.T. have found that the sound of rain causes some seeds to germinate faster—not the water that hydrates the seed, just the sound waves caused by the falling droplets. Isn’t that cool? This world is wondrous and strange.
^ Silly little Annie cat deciding to take over one of Serena’s dog beds (Serena will approach Annie in the bed, pause, wag her tail slightly, then head to another bed, like, “Oh. Okay.”)
Perfect cinnamon toast “just because” in the morning
A brand new notebook
The sweet, fresh scent wafting through open windows after a long winter
The HBO Max series“The Pitt”! (Holy wow! I’m completely obsessed with this emergency room drama and embracing my fandom. I love shows that immerse me in a world I wasn’t familiar with before.)
The Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop (Such a magical three days with writers and comedy galore. An overload of inspiration and creativity. I love being a student and I attend every single session I can when I’m not teaching one myself!)
A perfect, exquisite espresso martini
The way that this month the Ohio landscape will become a Monet painting, with all the pastel colors and blossoms of forsythia, dogwood, magnolia, redbud, daffodils, tulips, crocuses, cherry, pansies, and hyacinth
Seeing all the perennial plants emerging from the earth (The hostas currently look like green Wicked Witch fingernails poking up out of the dirt.)
The fact that the Worcester Public Library in Massachusetts launched an initiative that let patrons clear their overdue fines or their lost and damaged book fees by submitting photos or drawings of cats! (The fee forgiveness program, known as “March Meowness,” is meant to reduce barriers for library borrowers who might not be able to pay.)
Making crafts with friends (Thank you, Darren and Darrell, for hosting a collage party that fed my creative soul.)