Top Ten Tuesdays #27 – March 2nd, 2021

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

The rules are simple: Each Tuesday, Jana assigns a new topic. Create your own Top Ten list that fits that topic – putting your unique spin on it if you want. Everyone is welcome to join but please link back to http://www.thatartsyreadergirl.com/ in your Top Ten Tuesday post.

This week is about characters’ jobs you wish you could have. Mind you I mostly have been reading a lot of self help books, and I guess a lot of books I read have been Young Adults, so they didn’t have any jobs, yet.

1. Sisterhood Everlasting

Photo Credit: Goodreads

In this book Carmen is an actress, and I always thought it would be so cool to be an actress, and star in a movie, or a TV show.

2. The Happiness Project

Photo Credit: Goodreads

I am very envious, because Gretchen is a successful author, and blogger. That is something that I inspire to do.

3. The Outlander

Photo Credit: Goodreads

Claire is a combat nurse. When I was 10, I thought I wanted to be a nurse, but the whole Covid pandemic made me eerie, so I decided not to.

4. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Photo Credit: Goodreads

I would love to work at a chocolate factory, so I was jealous of Willy Wonka

5. White Oleander

Photo Credit: Goodreads

In this story her mother was a writer, and I always admired whatever she had written.

6. The Turn of the Key

Photo Credit: Goodreads

When I was in middle school, I thought it would be fun to take care of children. In this story, the main character is a nanny.

7. Safe Haven

Phot Credit: Goodreads

The main character is a waitress, and I always thought that it would be fun job when I was younger. I have never really been a waitress before, but I have worked a lot in the food industry.

8. The Year of Yes

Photo Credits: Goodreads

Shonda Rhimes is a successful TV show creator and writer. I can only hope that my writing is that influential and amazing.

9. The Longest Ride

Photo Credit: Goodreads

In the book, Sophia is an inspiring artist, and I wish I had those talents to become a good artist.

10. The Cuckoo’s Calling

Photo Credit: Goodreads

I think it would be interesting to solve crimes. I watch a lot of crime dramas, and I enjoy solving and trying to figure why they’ve committed these crimes. I find it interesting, and I know that it’s totally different in real life.

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March Resolutions 2021

As part of My Happiness Project, each month I focus on different aspects and areas of my life. This is about my journey of how I incorporate new habits, and a thought process into every day. For March, I have decided to focus on my possessions, and how I declutter through more of my things. I plan on putting my energy into ways I can create space in my life. I am really excited to go through my belongings, and finally see what I need and no longer need. I picked the month of March to go through my possessions, which also includes a digital clutter because spring begins in March. I have always viewed March for a fresh start, and new beginnings. On the first day of every month, I will discuss my goals, and resolutions, and how I will be making these changes. Then on the last day of the month, I will talk about how I made these changes, and to discuss on how these habits helped me experience more happiness.

My Resolutions

1. Be cautious on bringing in more clutter into my house and life.
2. Purge through items every day
3. Create a no dumping areas
4. Spend 15 minutes every day deleting emails, duplicates of photos

Be Cautious

I want to have a better relationship when it comes to owning things. I would think more clearly when I make any purchases. I feel like I have done a pretty job when it comes to this. This is something that I want to continue. I am comfortable with having less things in my life. I also like saving the money I have been saving because I’m not going out of my way to buy something new. I also refrain from taking gifts, or other things with me. Normally my Grandma will find something for me, like a new shirt, or something else, I politely decline because I have reached the point in my life, where I am happy living with less.

Purge Items Daily

I have been playing this neat game, every one is welcome to join. Although I am a bit behind in posting everything. The objective of the game is simple, on the first day, you donate, throw away, or sell one item from your house, then on the second day, you remove two items, and so on and so forth. You can either stop at the end of the month, or you whenever you are comfortable with your work. It is okay if you stop before the end of the month. I recently did a Daily Decluttering Challenge last year, where I began by removing one item a day, for 192 days. Any items that you have gotten rid of is more than what you would have gotten rid if you didn’t participate in this challenge.

Create No Dumping Areas

I have mentioned this before, but that’s okay. I feel like everyone has a zone in their house, whether it’s their dresser, dining room table, or kitchen countertop, or a bookshelf. It’s basically an area where people just “dump” everything, because they don’t have a place for them, or just don’t want to deal with any of it. My boyfriend likes to treat our bookshelf like this. It’s his dumping zone. I’ve been trying to tell him to handle and deal with his things instead of just dumping it all on the bookshelves.

Digital Declutter

I would love to go through all of my photos that I have taken for the past few years, and organize them into photo albums. I plan on getting some of them developed. My boyfriend and I have a couple of photo albums already, although we just need to get our photos developed and place them. I know it’s kind of ironic, but to me, I grew up on photo albums, and to me, they spark joy. I feel like if it sparks joy, then it isn’t really clutter. I feel like clutter is anything that holds you back, or adds stress. Another characteristic of clutter is something that no longer adds any value to your life.

I feel like these resolutions are going to make things easier and better in my life. I have been working on these goals already. I can’t wait to update you with my progress. I would love to hear about your journey if you wish to partake in any of these challenges.

February 2021 Resolutions Summary

For my readers whom may not know about my Happiness Project… Each month I focus on making resolutions for myself that focuses on different aspects of my life that help me become more organized, happier, and more loving. I became inspired by the idea from Gretchen Rubin’s book, The Happiness Project. In February, she found ways to add more love to her relationships. So I sort of did the same idea for my month of February as well.

On the first of every month, I will write about my resolutions are, and why. And then on the last day of the month, I will write about my successes and my not so successful resolutions. It has been an exciting journey so far, I have learned a lot about myself.

For more information about my own Happiness Project, feel free to click here;

https://threeyellowdaisies.ca/category/my-happiness-project/

I feel like this was a busy month, so that made things a bit more stressful. The days went by so quickly, that I felt like I didn’t have much time to get the things I wanted to get done, done. So I had to learn to manage my time better, and more efficiently. I feel like my confidence has increased a bit. I have felt like I have been loving myself more. I started partaking a yoga schedule, and getting myself more active.

My February resolutions were…

1. Fight right
2. Give tokens of love
3. Kiss each other good night and good morning
4. Give compliments to each other

Ironically, my boyfriend and I had a stressful month, because we spent a lot of night fighting with each other. Although it gave us chances to work on our fighting, and how to resolve a conflict we were facing at the time. My recommendations to fight right is paint, or draw a picture to express the feelings you are experiencing. You can write a letter to the person, and have that person you are in a disagreement, reply back. You can use; “I feel…” statements. Really refrain from calling each other rude names, because that will just make things worst.

I painted my boyfriend a painting, and I wrote him a letter. I wanted to do more for him, but he was home more than he normally was, because his work was slow. But we spent a lot of time together, to make up for the fact. We watched some new shows together, which is always fun. We took turns cooking, and cleaning.

We definitely kiss each good morning, but sometimes my boyfriend got too tired, and fell asleep before kissing me good night. But for the most part, we did fairly well with this resolution.

I feel like we did give each other compliments, but I guess we could have given each other more compliments. We can work on that next month, too.

All in all, I am starting to feel more happy with making and working on these resolutions. I feel like I will try to do better in March. I can’t wait to start and begin new resolutions. I’ll definitely keep you posted on what I am working on next.

Goodreads Mondays #19 – February 22nd, 2021

Hey bookworms! Let’s talk about books!

I have a lot of books I would love to read. I am trying to spend more reading to try to work through my To Be Read List.

I have bought this book, Help Me: My Perfectly Disastrous Journey Through the World of Self-Help for my boyfriend as one of his birthday presents two years ago. I feel bad because in those two years, neither one of us have read it, yet. I am planning on reading this book once I finish reading my library books.

This book sounds similar to The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. It’s similar because Marianne Power plans on reading 12 self-help books in one year. And each month, she plans on following exactly what the book preaches, and then she would see if that book had benefited in some way. She investigates whether or not reading self help books can make your life any better.

Goodreads Rating: 3.90 stars out of 5

Day 52

I have been working on my Happiness Project, and I am still enforcing my January resolutions in February. For those that don’t know, a Happiness Project was inspired by Gretchen Rubin, about how she makes monthly resolutions in various aspects of her life. Each resolution is to help add happiness in her life. I was inspired to start my own Happiness Project. Feel free to get caught up if you haven’t already…

/http://threeyellowdaisies.ca/category/my-happiness-project/

Gretchen has written a book documenting her journey, tilted The Happiness Project. It was an inspirational book.

One of her rules that I have been working on, too, is if it takes 60 seconds or less, don’t procrastinate and don’t get that task done. Get it done now. The amount of energy and stress we have of constantly thinking about this task, and ways to avoid it, is actually more exhausting than doing the actual task at hand. I am slowly reminding my boyfriend about this rule, too. I think that it is a good rule to have and enforce in your house.

Today, I spent about 5 minutes doing various one minute chores, like cleaning a dirty mirror.

One minute tasks include hanging up your coat when you walk in the door, adding more toilet paper to the bathroom, putting your clothes in your hamper, instead of on the floor, and I know they are so many other tasks like this, that for some reason we keep pushing off.

Today, I will focus on getting tasks that no time at all now, instead of wasting time and energy waiting to schedule those tasks in my day, or do it another day. It is best to do things as they happen, instead of waiting to do them later. We can actually save energy, and be less stressed, as well.

Day 45

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Valentine’s Day. I had a decent day, despite the fight before Valentine’s Day. Things got better between my boyfriend and I.

It’s important that we continue to show each other love and respect, not just because a holiday tells us to, but because that is what we feel in our hearts. Remember to show love to those that we care about the most. Some ways that we can demonstrate our love to others is by writing a letter, making dinner, reading that person a story, telling them a joke. There are so many ways where you don’t have to spend money to show your appreciation to others. It’s also part of my February resolutions of my Happiness Project, to show and give tokens of love.

Let’s not wait around for a holiday to tell each other how much we adore them. We can do that any day, and we don’t have to spend a fortune either.

Today, I will make a promise to express love and appreciation to the ones I love, no matter what. It doesn’t have to be some extravagant expensive gesture either.

February Resolutions 2021

As part of My Happiness Project, each month I focus on different aspects and areas of my live. This is about my journey of how I incorporate new habits, and thought process into every day. For February, I had decided to focus on love, and relationships, not just with my boyfriend, but with other relationships as well. On the first day of every month, I will discuss my goals, and resolutions, and how I will be making these changes. Then on the last day of the month, I will talk about how I made these changes, and to discuss on how these habits helped me experience more happiness.

My Resolutions

1. Fight Right
2. Give tokens of love
3. Kiss each other good night, and good morning
4. Give compliments to partner

Fight Right

This one is about being able to come to a resolution, that doesn’t include name calling, or making fun of each other. There are various ways of being able to fight right without being hurtful to one another. I would explore other ways of fighting right in order to come to a conclusion. I would keep you posted on that later.

Give Tokens of Love

I will find ways to give tokens of my love to my boyfriend. I’m not encouraging or recommending that you spend a lot of money on this. But some ideas include writing a letter, or drawing a photo, or making him a cup of a tea, or have breakfast in bed, or other ways that doesn’t cost any money.

Kiss Each Other Good Night, and Good Morning

This one is important, because you never know when the last time you will see each other, so it’s important that you end your conversations, and departures on a good note. Which brings me to my next resolution…

Give Each Other Compliments

It’s important to let your partner know that you appreciate them. So it is recommended that you show them your appreciation by saying thank you, or that they did something that you liked. And telling them a compliment is always nice. Tell them they look nice, or that their cup of tea you made them was delicious, etc. It isn’t that hard to find compliments for your partner.

Conclusion

I have loved working on this project. I am excited for what this month is going to bring for me. If this has inspired you to make these kinds of changes in your life, I would love to hear about your journey, and your Happiness Project. Be sure to keep me updated either in the comments, or by tagging me in your posts. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Day 16

I will learn to dedicate “no dumping zones” to help reduce clutter in my house. Let’s say for instance you love filling up your coffee table, or dining room table with mail, laundry, books, etc. to the point where it just keeps on collecting clutter, to the point the table cannot be used. Once you begin placing clutter on any surface, it begins to attract more clutter. It’s like a magnet.

When you vow to stop clutter from being placed on these spaces, then you might just start appreciating the beauty of simplicity. I love seeing a clear and clean coffee table. It truly is a lovely practice to start.

Since I have gotten rid of a lot of things throughout last year, it’s time to do a bit of rearranging and organizing. Toss, restore and organizing is part of my resolution for January. I am starting to feel quite proud of myself to do engage in this project. It has been really helpful.

Today, I will declare no dumping zones in my house. Instead of simply just dumping items on counter tops, or tables, I will learn to put things in their place.

Day Nine

I have learnt this from Gretchen Rubin, and her book The Happiness Project. As part of her section called Secrets of Adulthood, she mentions that “What may be fun for you doesn’t mean it’s fun for others.” I have always thought about that, but I haven’t actually considered it. As bad as that may sound.

Like today, I wanted to watch the football playoffs, but my boyfriend didn’t really seem that interested in them. I kept on asking him about him throughout the day. I could have just watched the games on my laptop, I had no issue, but he wanted to just lay there on his phone all day. He didn’t really have an interest for all of the games.

Sometimes this may be challenging to accept that there might be other people who disagree with you and what you do for fun. But this is okay. This sort of shapes you in who you are as a person. The world might be a bit boring if everyone liked the same things, and disliked the same things as well.

Today, I will understand that the things I enjoy may not be for other people. And what’s fun for them, may not be fun for me either.

January Resolutions 2021

This is the first chapter of my My Happiness Project. It is where I discuss small habits that can add so much value and happiness in my every day life. I was inspired by Gretchen Rubin’s book, The Happiness Project. Every month, I focus on a new aspect of my life. This month’s theme is Boosting Energy. Every first day of the month, I will write about my resolutions, and why I think they will help. On the last day I will report back on how I did, and if it actually helped me increase my happiness. To see all of the other upcoming months, check them out here,

http://threeyellowdaisies.ca/category/my-happiness-project/

My Resolutions

1. Get more sleep
2. Exercise More
3. Organize
4. Tackle a nagging task

Get More Sleep

The past few years, we have been known to work more hours, more than ever before. Working longer at work can negatively impact our happiness, because we often have less time for the things that matter to us, like our relationships, hobbies, and properly taking care of ourselves. I know that everyone is in a different situation than others, so I can understand where you are coming from if some nights may be more difficult than other nights. I just wished there was a way that we didn’t have to put our bodies through so much.

So because we are working a lot more than we have compared to the previous decades, we need to take proper care of our bodies. And one way to do that is ensure that we are getting enough sleep each night. Some nights may be more challenging than others, but it is still important to try.

Our adult bodies should be getting at least 7.5 hours, although some people say that they can function on less, others need more. Perhaps it takes you awhile to fall asleep. Here are my tips for you!

1. If you can, refrain yourself from screens (phone, TV) at least one hour before bed
2. Drink sleepy time tea
3. Write in a journal (your thoughts, some chores and errands for the next day)
4. Read a book (preferably one that doesn’t deal with stressful topics like money, business, cookbooks, these just don’t seem like they would be helpful before bed)

My plan is to create an evening and morning routine to help me with this transtition.

Exercise More

I plan on taking more walks in my neighbourhood. My goal is to walk at least 20 minutes, maybe 30 minutes every day. I will start off small, and increase the more I walk. I’m really excited for these new changes in my life. I might even download some Tedtalks, and or some audiobooks for my walks.

I will try to make healthier dietary choices as well. I will limit my intake on take out, sugary foods, and drinks.

Organize

Because I have already gotten rid of some things already, it is time to work on organizing things around my room again. This time is a bit different, because I am enforce my boyfriend to do the one minute rule, which is if takes less than one minute to do, you can’t postpone from the task at hand. Some of these things include hanging up a sweater, or a coat when you come in from outside. Put something back where it belongs. “Do what ought to be done.” – Gretchen Rubin.

Tackle a Nagging Task

Like Gretchen Rubin says in her book, having a long to-do list drains energy, we should slowly work on tackling tasks that we continue to push off, and not do. We probably waste more energy and thought process on ways to avoid this task than if we did this actual task itself.

Conclusion

I cannot wait to get started in this journey. I will keep track of my tasks using a check list. I’m really excited! If anyone else is wanting to partake in this journey, please keep me updated. I would love to see other posts.