Just like Deanna and I, Beth and I have been friends since we were 10. I think the card playing started when we were 12. See, Beth and I took piano lessons from the same (awesome!) teacher, which meant that one of our mothers took us to the various piano competitions that we participated in. [...]
I have known Deanna since I was 10, can you believe that? And now, 15 years later, we are still the best of friends. I don’t really want to limit what makes me happy about Deanna to this one thing—meeting at Cielito Lindo on Campbell for salsa, queso blanco, and margaritas—but that is the last [...]
I know, I know, this topic is intimately related to #6, but I still feel that it deserves its own spot on my 100 Things That Make Me Happy Besides Money list because I get a happy, satisfied feeling when we reach a solution. Quite often we talk about our fighting patterns and how we [...]
A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of. -Jane Austen, Mansfield Park I believe, as do many others, that society is largely to blame for our fascination and deep-seated desire for money, and Jane Austen’s quote demonstrates the feelings of those who buy into what society continues to sell us. [...]
This one seems kind of obvious, doesn’t it? We haven’t been married that long, only a little over 3 1/2 years, but we’ve dealt with enough to know how strong our marriage is. Before we were married, I had a lot of debt. Rob didn’t have money, but he helped me in a more intangible [...]
Okay, for the sake of full disclosure, I have to tell you that I did not figure out how to solve the Rubik’s Cube on my own. Mac taught me my junior year of high school on a bus on the way to a dam near St. Louis at a science fair trip. That little [...]
There are many reasons that taking good pictures make me happy. I think the main reason that taking pictures is so important to me is that memories are encapsulated in those images. Photos are a way of memorializing my life: the places I’ve been, the experiences I’ve had, and the people I’ve met and who [...]