Upbeat. It's already January 1, 2019, I have my travel Wrap-Up posted (read it here), so I guess that means it's time for my Happy Jar summary! All year long I write down what makes me happy and slip the little colored papers into a glass jar on my dresser so that I see it every day. Usually just seeing the jar and the tiny pieces of happiness it contains is enough to get me out of a bad mood, but in the case of extreme melancholy I'll take out those slips and read each one of them, reminding myself that I have a lot to be happy about. This year's Happy Jar contained a whole lot of animal-related joy, as well as a bunch of excitement and accomplishment regarding our house. In case you missed it, Jared and I bought our first house in December 2017, and we moved in during January 2018. The house has kept us (mostly me, because I'm a busy-body) occupied with minor improvement projects, including gardening. Gardening, surprisingly, also featured heavily in my Happy Jar this year, as did travelling (duh). Check out a few examples of my happiness below, and feel free to share bits of what made 2018 great for you!
Last year Alisha and I scored permits to hike the Grand Canyon, this year we got permits to backpack the Tetons! Backpacking permits for major national parks are notoriously difficult to come by, and you usually have to book your trip on the first day it becomes available to reserve. The first Wednesday in January saw me glued to the NPS website, waiting as the site crashed for a nerve wracking two hours until I could be sure our reservations were accepted for our desired hike and dates. We got them!
2018 was filled with babies! Not mine (don't get excited) but there were a whole lot of the furry kind of babies that filled a vast majority of the year. The first was Leonard, an infant ring-tailed lemur who I took in turns with a couple coworkers to care for. Leonard was tiny when we first got her, about the size of my palm, and her favorite place to be was clinging to my neck. She still prefers sitting on shoulders, and it was our pleasure to have her home with us for a few days over Christmas.
I did say our house has been the source of a lot of my happiness, and I meant that. Including buying "adult" things, like a new couch! Of course, we had to make sure it was big enough to fit Jared, myself, Marley, Callie, Ghost, and all of the cats. It is!
I have wanted chickens for years, ever since some friends of ours had a flock back when we were kids. One of my requirements for buying a house was it had to be able to accommodate chickens! Just over a month after officially moving in, we got chicks!
Gardening has always been enjoyable to me, and I've kept at least a few potted plants throughout the years and several moves. Now that we have a house of our own, I can put plants into the ground! I started working on garden plots within a few months of moving (winter in Texas is a great time to do so!) so when spring came and I had the time, I planted my front and back gardens. I still have a lot more I want to do, including gardens along the sides of my house as well as a vegetable garden, but that's what this year is for.
Never underestimate the amount of joy I get from having visitors. Jared and I really aren't the most sociable of people, but when we have the time and energy to entertain, we love having people over. My sister in particular seems to practically live at my house for as often as she shows up here, but Jared's parents, my brother, and my mom and aunt have all come to visit in the last year, and we're always open to hosting more!
An absolutely enormous part of the last half of 2018 was the addition of Luna to the Tiger Creek family. Luna was a six week old little white ball of lioness fluff when we got her at the beginning of July, and to everyone's utter delight most of the staff at Tiger Creek were allowed to help raise her. As in, we got to take her home on a rotating schedule and care for her. Yes, we had a lion in our house. Frequently. And holy cow did she cuddle hard! It was awesome.
You guys, I finally got my orange kitten! This is not news to anyone who's been following along since August, but Jared surprised me with a couple of kittens at the end of July, one of whom happened to be a fluffy little orange tabby. Hoodoo and his sister, Rey, have settled in wonderfully with our already extensive personal zoo, and Hoodoo regularly accompanies me on my trips, including hiking six 14,000 foot mountains in five days (read it here)!
My last visit to Nebraska was not only a surprise to my sister (who graduated with her Masters Degree, woohoo!) but also a bonding moment for myself and Torrey. We've known each other since we were in grade school and have travelled together to Pikes Peak every year since 2014. This year, we decided to commemorate our annual vacation with a tattoo! That's right, we got a matching tattoo of Pikes Peak, where our artist took one of my photos and drew our tattoo from it. Torrey had the vision to color the mountain in shades of purple, and I think it turned out amazing. So much love!
I have always had a thing for photographs, going so far as to take as many photography classes in school as possible and even considering going to an arts college in Denver to pursue my passion with an acutal degree. I didn't follow that path, but my love of taking pictures has trailed me through the years. Now that I actually have a house where I can knock holes into the walls as I see fit, I knew I wanted to start hanging up my photos. The only problem was, I didn't know where to start. It was a conversation with my sister that inspired me to turn my hallway into a photo gallery, with various canvas prints of my favorite photos lining the walls. I finally began to turn my dream into reality (canvases are expensive, if you didn't know!) and have slowly started hanging my pictures. I love seeing my art on the walls of my home, and can't wait to take and print even more photos as the years and my travels progress.
So there you have it, a few examples of my pride, happiness, and accomplishments throughout 2018. There is absolutley nothing wrong with reflecting over each year and picking out the best parts of it, remembering the year based on the things that made you happy. I already have several things I know will make me thrilled during 2019, but I also keep in mind that I can find joy in little things. Unexpected happiness could be waiting in the future too, but I won't know it until it happens. So here's to saying goodbye to 2018 while ringing in 2019 with a bright and hopeful smile.
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