Are you happy?  Are you living your life in such a way that you are maximizing all your happiness potential?

I posed this question to myself while reading the book The Happiness Project: Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun by Gretchen Rubin.  It’s not that I’m unhappy, but reading about Gretchen’s year of happiness-seeking made me want to figure out exactly what makes me happy and how to bring more of that joy into my everyday life.  I highlighted many passages on my iPad as I read, but this is was the jumping off point, the part that made me think about my own life:

I was suffering from…..-a recurrent sense of discontent and almost a feeling of disbelief.  ”Can this be me?”

“Is this really it?” I found myself wondering and answering, “Yep, this is it.”

How could I discipline myself to feel grateful for my ordinary day?  How could I set a higher standard for myself as a wife, a mother, a writer, a friend?  How could I let go of everyday annoyances to keep a larger, more transcendent perspective?

Yup, that’s exactly how I feel: not unhappy, but as my son says, “meh.”  I don’t want or need to make any drastic changes in my life; I like most of my everyday life (my husband and kids, I’ll keep them) and what I don’t like, I accept.  I just don’t think that I am mindfully enjoying or creating as many happy moments in the midst of my busy, chaotic life as I can.  Life is weighing pretty hard on me right now.  My natural inclination is just to “man up” and “get it done” (whatever it is that day), but that doesn’t necessarily bring me happiness.

Gretchen Rubin was very methodical about her Happiness Project; she chose a theme for each month and concentrated on making that particular area in her life happier.  She also charted her progress (or decline) in order to be accountable to the project.  At first glance this is right up my alley because I love to chart and plan and organize, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that sometimes I get in my own way.  This is something that I need to just do–not plan.  I jotted down notes as I read the book and came up with some immediate action steps–which I will explore in subsequent blog posts–but I am sort of free-styling my Happiness Project.    I also plan to read What Happy People Know by Dan Baker and The Joy Diet by Martha Beck.  Coincidentally “read more” is one of my Happiness Goals, so I’m grooving already.

Do you want to take this journey with me?   I would love the company.   If you need tools, Gretchen Rubin has them on her website, or you can free-style it like me.   If you are happy enough already–just so giddy that you can’t even stand yourself anymore–then you can read about my quest and help me get to my happy place.  I just bet “helping others” is on your Happy List.

Get ready.  Get set.  Be happy!

© 2011, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

*Today I am participating in Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop by answering the prompt: 2.) About me. Do you have an about me page? Because people want to know. Write a page that describes who you are and what you’re about or spruce up your current about me page.

This is my Check Me Out page on my website; I think that it describes me pretty well!   Even though I’ve had this website for well over 2 years, I’m always tweaking my About Me page; that’s a fairly new photo and I linked to some more ways to learn about me.

Because I know you want to know!  You were sitting there with bated breath, anxious, tossing and turning at night, mumbling under your breath “Tell me more Funkidivagirl; I need to know more!”  I know.  It’s okay.  Here I am.  Shhhh.

Can you be both crunchy and fabulous at the same time?  Absolutely!  That’s me!

I shop almost exclusively at Whole Foods and believe that yes, organic foods are better for you.  My children slept in the family bed, I nursed them both well beyond their second year of life and I birthed one of them at home.  I have dredlocks.  That’s the crunchy me.

But I’m only a psuedo-hippie because I also like some BLING!  Peace signs are my favorite icon, but they are even better covered in Swarovski crystals or diamonds.  I don’t consider myself a shopper, but somehow they know me in Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s.  I am also a beauty product junkie; Sephora is one of my favorite stores and I’m always searching for the perfect mascara and lip-gloss.  The fabulous me!

I am a stay-at-home mom, but that is what they call an oxymoron, as I am never at home.  I have been married forever and have a teenaged son and ‘tween daughter.   I live in the South, by way of the Northeast, by way of the West, by way of the Midwest.  But I plan to move to the beach and become a surfer.  I will take my husband with me; he’s cool even though he is irrationally afraid of birds.

I have an uncanny ability to remember lyrics to a frightening number of songs. Even obscure grocery store loudspeaker ones. Or sappy sentimental ones, which I hate. I haven’t figured out how to parlay this skill into a beach house, but I’m sure it’s marketable somehow.  I love cartoons, but not politics and certainly not political cartoons.  I am very opinionated and not afraid to say so!

I started this Lifestyle Blog because my husband, who is a social media big wig, made me.  He thinks that I have a lot to say.  Or maybe he just wants me to say it to someone other than him.  Either way, I accept my mission: To Save the World From Mediocrity.

New to Funkidivagirl.com?   Start with The Best of Funkidivagirl to read my favorite posts.

Want to know more about me?  Learn useless–yet fascinating–random facts about me in Betcha Didn’t Know and on-going revelations (or confessions, depending on your point of view) in What About Me.

You can also find me on:

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Got questions?  I’ve got answers.  Email me at Funkidivagirl@Funkidivagirl.com

If you read my blog, I promise to be charming and witty. Make sure you don’t miss a thing by subscribing via RSS Reader or email.  Please come back and visit me often and leave nice comments.

Peace,

Funkidivagirl

Visit Mama Kat’s Losin It to write a prompt of your own.

© 2010 – 2011, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

*Today I am participating in Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop by answering the prompt:  3.) Write about what blogging means to you. Why do you blog? What purpose does it serve you and how have you benefited from sharing a piece of yourself online this way?

I wrote this post after attending my first blogging conference, Blogalicious 2009.  Inspired by all the wonderful bloggers around me, I left the conference asking myself these questions:  Am I blogging with purpose?  Am I passionate?  Am I even doing this right?  And mostly…Why do I blog?

I asked and I answered:

I blog to give information in categories like Techknow Mama, Things I like and Ma-Gyver.

I blog to entertain in Kickin’ It Old School and through many of the silly travel family videos that I post in T as in Tango.

I blog to build a community through posts about myself and my family in What About Me, My Charmed Life or Word From the Mother.  I hope that the more you know about me, the more you will share about yourself; that creates community.

I blog Deep Stuff to foster discussion and conversation.  I’m a thinker and I know you are too.

I blog to save the world from mediocrity.  We’ve got to keep the bar high people.  We’re all fabulous; let’s live it!

Through it all, I blog to tell stories.  As Scott Rosenberg says in his book, Say Everything: How Blogging Began, What It’s Becoming, And Why It Matters, “A [blog] post is a shared memory….And in the end, that’s what we want and need to remember about our lives, and the lives of others: not factual details but meaningful stories.”  Whether I am writing aboutDisney World, my marriage, Henry Louis Gates or the best cupcakes, I aim to do it with passion, transparency and authenticity in a way that hopefully makes you remember your own stories.

I blog because I have a voice and I have something to say.  And that is reason enough.

Visit Mama Kat’s Losin It to write a prompt of your own.

© 2010, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

*Today I am participating in Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop by answering the prompt: 1.) Your childhood neighborhood.

I moved a lot as a child, so in reality I don’t have one childhood neighborhood, but I do identify with one neighborhood in particular, Stonebridge, in Hazel Crest, Illinois.   We moved there from Chicago the summer that I turned 10.

It was a big move.  We lived in an older home in Chicago in a more established neighborhood, but Stonebridge was in the suburbs;  everything was new and shiny–including our house and all the furniture in it.   There was an attached garage, family room, den, separate dining and living rooms, a huge eat-in kitchen, swanky new appliances, an office for my dad and a big back yard, perfect for my new puppy.

It looked like a neighborhood on television.  The houses weren’t cookie cutter, but there were only about 6 variations.  They were laid out differently, painted different colors and tweaked a little here and there, but it looked like a cohesive neighborhood.   All the lawns were green and freshly mowed.  Our parents belonged to the Stonebridge Neighborhood Association, which I supposed made sure that residents took care of their property, but really I think that it was just an excuse to drink and play cards together.

My family can’t remember the house number, but at least I found the street on Google Maps.

But then I “walked” down the street and found my old house!  I love Google Maps! Wow, the house and neighborhood still look great.

It was a neighborhood full of kids and I had many friends.  I lived there for only 3 years before moving to Minnesota, but I made some great memories.  Here are a few: (more…)

© 2010, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

*Today I am participating in Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop by answering the prompt: 3.) Steppin outside the box (describe a time when you went way out of your comfort zone).

I like to challenge myself.  Sometimes it ends well, as in story number 2 and sometimes not so well, as in story number 1.  Either way, I learn and grow (or look ridiculous).  I posted these stories last year when the Facebook note “25 Random Facts About Me” was circulating.   I only posted 12 facts because that was more than enough; these are #10 & #11.  If you are at all intrigued at my obvious lack of shame, check out the rest.

I stepped outside my comfort zone when I tried to windsurf because: #10  I love the beach, but I’m afraid of the ocean.  Mostly the sharks in the ocean.

I love, love, LOVE the beach and plan living near the ocean (again) someday.  Looking at the water both soothes my soul and gives me energy at the same time.  At least once a year I try to make it to some beach, somewhere.  My kids love the beach as much as I do and we can stay there all day long collecting shells, flying kites and looking for marine life.  But except for an occasional wade out into the water just to cool off, I like the ocean from the vantage point of the sand. I’m afraid of the ocean and of course there’s a story behind my fear.   There’s always a story.

Back when I worked at Club Med, one of the perks was being able to experience all of the Club activities along with the guests.  I took tennis lessons, went horse-back riding and played pool games.  One day I decided that I wanted to learn how to wind-surf.  The wind-surf instructor wasn’t busy that day, so he gave me a beginning lesson on the sand and in the shallow water.   When he thought that I had the hang of it, he urged me to go into the water even further, but still close to the shore.

Now would be a good time to mention that I didn’t know how to swim.   (more…)

© 2010, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.