I'm Back, With a Goal

So I haven't wrote in a very long time, almost a year! Yikes!

A friend of my started the Eastside Happiness Project Group on Facebook. I really didn't know what it was, but because my friend started it, I wanted to support her. I joined her facebook group. She started posting meetings, I couldn't make the first few. I was able to make the third, mostly I went to have coffee with my friend and support her in group.

I arrived at the meeting as I was pleasantly surprised I was not the only one that showed up! I learned a lot, like The Happiness Project is actually a book! The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. http://www.amazon.com/Happiness-Project-Morning-Aristotle-Generally/dp/006158326X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331141090&sr=8-1
After getting over the shame of not even knowing why I was at the meeting, it was wonderful meeting new women in a small coffee shop. We talked about the book and what steps we have been taking to bring more happiness into our lives. We set goals for our next meeting (mine was to read the book!).

My friend updated our facebook group with our goals and we post progress reports through out the month. It has been a great experience to connect with others, it doesn't take much time, and I feel like I'm getting my life a bit more organized and hopefully being less of a jerk along the way.

The book is split into months, each month with a topic to focus on. This makes the book very easy to read and allows for skipping, picking and choosing. The book is a great resource as well as the author's blog: http://www.happiness-project.com/
and online toolkit: http://www.happinessprojecttoolbox.com/

So what have I been doing on my own Happiness Journey??
Good question, making a lot of lists! I work really well off lists.
To Do Lists: Plant some herbs, change my phone plan, organize my bookshelf, change my contacts out, make a checklist board.
Ongoing Stuff To Do: Work on 3 existing quilts, write on my blog, fold and put laundry away right away, clean out fridge once a week, create an Excel sheet for my Kiva loans.
I broke up these To Do's into daily (keep shirts right side out at all times), weekly(clean out fridge), monthly (sort and organize mail), and yearly (sell at a craft show) and put them on a chart. I thought of several ideas: a chalk board, dry erase board, a notebook I could carry around, an iPhone app, or some online website. In the end I made something that will work for me. I bought a small poster frame, 4 different colors of scrap booking paper, some letter stickers, and dry erase markers. I spent just under $15. I taped the paper into quadrants and put stickers on for day, week, month, year and put it back in the frame. Then wrote my goals on the glass with dry erase markers. I can easily erase, check or put a line though my list items! I have gotten through quite a lot of my list. Here are a few pictures of my board.




Our next meeting is this Sunday, I'm excited to share in the conversation! One of my goals is to write on my blog at least once a month, so stay tuned...
Sorry links aren't working, you'll have to copy and paste.