My January short list on {happy}:

The truest greatness lies in being kind, the truest wisdom in a happy mind.   - Ella Wheeler Wilcox

1. Mornings.

I used to hate, dread, DESPISE mornings. And that was even when I was getting a solid 7-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Motherhood has caused a strange shift in my attitude toward waking early.

As exhausted as I may be from the night before, I find that when Kai begins his morning babbles (usually between 6-7:00) a part of me is actually excited to get up and start the day.

Maybe it's God's way of insuring alertness despite inadequate sleep, I don't know.

I have been really enjoying the quiet of the darkness right before sunrise. I make a hot cup of tea and as Kai plays and babbles I just sit and reflect, read, write and pray.

Then, when the light fills the sky we are ready for breakfast followed by a little nap (sometimes for Mommy, too!).

2. Post-workout endorphins.

The best way to keep to your workout routine is force yourself to GO, and when you GO, make it worth your time and GO HARD!

Motherhood has really taught me to maximize my workout time. If I have someone to watch Kai for an hour, I'm going to make sure I can burn as many calories as humanly possible in that one single hour. No lolligagging for this Mama, I'm all business, so sorry if I don't stop to chat...

I absolutely LOVE pushing through a hard workout, coming home, having a healthy recovery meal, and then taking a nice, hot shower.

Post work-out endorphins, or "runners high" as it is also known as is, in my eyes, your body's way of saying "Thank you" for the workout, for sweating out impurities and then hopefully re-hydrating and re-fueling properly.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.

3. Productivity

It makes me happy to check things off of my "to-do" list. I am a compulsive list maker, and it gives me great satisfaction when, at the end of the day I see a list of strike-throughs.

Lately, my lists have been filled with "stay-at-home" Mom tasks. You know, the stuff you always wanted to get done when you worked full time, but never prioritized because it wasn't time-sensitive or any way you wanted to spend your precious time at home.

i.e.: Organizing tupperware cupboard, put order to tax information which leads to creating a more functional filing system for bills, routinely going through Kai's "too-small" everything, unpacking my counseling office in our home office and trying to create a lot of order out of a lot of mess....that kind of thing.

Tedious, time-consuming tasks--but the kind that feel SENSATIONAL to cross out.

4. Minimalism.

One of {our} joint new year's resolutions was to live simply.

We really have way too much stuff. Gary and I really want to be more practical in our buying, collecting, eating, etc. It's really just an honest attempt at becoming more frugal, and the few things that we've focused on thus far have already been liberating.

We've decided to clean out the cavern that is our pantry, and eat out of it until it is empty (it's going to take awhile!!). We (or, ME pretty much) are not buying clothes (sigh. BIG sigh.) I have too much as it it, and honestly, I don't want to buy any single garment until I drop a few more sizes anyhow.

Basically, before we buy anything, we ask ourselves "is it something we really need, or just someting we want?"

It's amazing what you can live without, once you tune in to all of the extra you have in your life...and it's refreshing to de-clutter all of the excess "stuff."

5. Old fashioned company

I love game nights and dinner parties and think there should be more of both in my life. A house full of people you love, good conversation, a little competition and a whole lot of laughter HAD to make my "happy list."

Here's to more of it all in 2011!

Optimist: Person who travels on nothing from nowhere to happiness. -Mark Twain