Things That Make Me Smile

Inspired by a friend's recent blog I've decided to take a look at all the little things in my life that make me happy and make me smile on a daily basis! Lately I've been thinking about how I'm really quite happy with my life right now. I'm in the sort of limbo right now because I've just graduated college but I haven't moved on to a "real job". I am still working at my work-study job on campus, but I'm no longer a student. I'm waiting for the next chapter of my life but I don't quite want to leave behind the old chapter. In a time of such indecision and uncertainty I've still found some joys in where I am in my life. I can look forward to the future without yet worrying about the responsibilities and issues the future will bring. I can plan anything in the world as the next chapter of my life. Anything at all! What a wonderful feeling to have no responsibilities anymore/yet! I can go to work and not care about the job because I know my last day is only a few weeks away, I can go out with my friends, see movies, go to the gym, hone my hobbies, have time to myself because I know good friends are not far away so I don't have to feel lonely, I can learn to cook things, and make plans for my future. And besides all that....spring is on it's way, I can feel it! Spring is my absolute favorite and it makes me so happy and it also causes The Beatles' song "Here Comes The Sun" to play in my head constantly :-)

Other things that make me happy and make my smile:
-The Beatles
-random holidays and festivals like Frozen Dead Guy Days
-reading the blogs/emails of my friends who are studying and traveling abroad right now
-pajama pants
-Cadbury eggs
-personal emails and letters
-the smell of rain
-the satisfaction of conquering a new song on my violin
-candles
-pay day
-a book that makes me laugh
-planning a trip (studies show it's the planning of a trip, more than the trip itself that makes people happy, isn't that weird?! I say if you plan the trip right, you can also find happiness in the end result)
-visiting or being visited by friends
-hippies
-puppies
-sushi
-VW buses
-Knowing that no matter where I go or what I do in my future I will always have my roots, childhood, memories, and home in the beautiful and amazing place that is Boulder
-I'll add more later :-)

Frozen Dead Guy Days

In an article in the Daily Camera about this year's Frozen Dead Guy Days festival a CU student was quoted saying "I feel like Nederland's the place with all the people too weird for Boulder". Oh man I hope so!! Boulder, I fear, is getting less and less weird as the years have gone along. It's interesting to have grown up here in Boulder and see how it has changed. Going up to Nederland really does feel like you get a taste of everything I love about Boulder but is harder to come by. Nederland is a fun, weird, hippie kind of town in the mountains just above Boulder and the home to a festival dedicated to celebrating the town's very own frozen dead guy. He's been cryogenically frozen in a shed for 20 years now, awaiting the day when science makes it possible for him to be brought back to life. Even after his family was deported to Norway, the frozen dead guy remains in Nederland, kept on ice year round, and his festival gets bigger and more popular every year.

I went with some friends who had never been before and I was so excited at their reactions to the madness around us. They loved the hearse parade, polar plunge, coffin races, and the food and beer, and they loved the idea of such a ridiculous festival existing in the first place!

I am SO glad to live near such a silly place like Nederland!