Really?  Maybe that’s too strong of a statement, but here are the 10 8 things, that in a perfect world, I couldn’t live be truly happy without. (I’m not sure I can even say that with conviction).  {Please know that I realize I can live without all but health to keep me alive, maybe not in happiness, but I could be alive}

Here you go:  10   8 things that I can’t live without make me very  happy.  The bluebird of happiness flies very close when all of these things are in sync.

1) Coffee, good, rich and strong.  Two cups per morning.  Occasionally, in the afternoon when I feel like I’ve hit the wall, one more cup o’ joe, please.

2) My family and friends.  Maybe it’s because I’m an only child or I am simply a needy person, but I thrive on contact with others and the relationships I enjoy with family and friends.  I love them all, and each time I hear from them it brightens my day. Mr. B. is my best friend and I feel fortunate to have him in my life all these years!

(Above) son #1 – Kyle, standing; son #2 – Kevin, sitting, talking with Olivia our granddaughter, all essential components to my happy place.

3) Fresh plants and flowers indoors.  I really delight in  fresh, live plants indoors.  I am giddy with a bouquet of fresh flowers, even simple greens from the garden with a few shrub roses thrown in the mix, I am happiest when flowers are present and live plants are in the room.

4) The few blue and white accents in our home.   The weird thing about this is that for most of my married life I have not had blue and white in my life through no fault of anyone except myself.  I started married life trying to forge my own way where color was concerned.  Many of my best friends were using blue and white as their base colors and I longed to be different…all the while, I really loved the look of blue and white and the way it made me feel {I believe color has a big impact on how we feel in our homes, do you?}.  I know, I’m an idiot, why wouldn’t I just concede already?  Anyway, I’ve finally started, in earnest, introducing blue and white into my home and I must say I wonder how I managed without it all these years?

5)  Books, all kinds and topics.  I have less time to read these days and have adopted using Audible, an audible book store that allows you to upload unabridged books onto your iPod (great for multitasking), but there is something about the presence of books that calms me.  I can sit down with a book, begin to read and feel my blood pressure drop. 

6)  Music.  Same as a above…really a lot of different styles of music appeal to me.  I tend to listen to classical in my car.  Hey, I live in Southern California, have you seen the traffic?  There is nothing like Mozart for putting a stop to the negative reaction that tends to take over when you encounter careless, clueless drivers, which are found in abundance on the busy streets of the greater Los Angeles area, including Orange County. {Note: I was going to try to insert a little button you could push to play a song, but I didn’t figure it out}

7) Work in the garden.  Communing with earth, if you will.  I do love to labor in the yard and living in Southern California affords us nearly year round weather to accomplish this.

8)  My dogs, really all of the pets I’ve ever owned have brought me such pleasure.  Raising our sons we had a veritable zoo at one time, including a Texas tortoise named “Timothy”, a lop-eared bunny named “Lucy”, cats and dogs, a canary, and our youngest son had a lizard and some mice at one time.  If you are a pet lover, you know what I mean.  Winnie and Madison are rescue dogs.  Madison is a Jack Russell/Border Terrier mix and Winne, well what can I say?  We don’t know what she is, we only know that when we adopted her she was 30 lbs and the shelter told us she was full grown, she just turned 9 years and she weighs 90 lbs!

Do you have a list of happiness triggers? 

I hope your upcoming weekend brings you joy.

I’m over at Ricki Jill’s Art @ Home, sharing my “happy list”, stop by.