7.31.16 - July joy statuses

7.30.16 - Cooking joys

7.29.16 - Clara's joys

More pics I made for the FB page. It could be fun to revisit what she enjoys the most as the years go by.

7.27.16 - Staying cool in the summer

7.25.16 - Jack's joy inventory (again)

Last September during one of our date nights, Jack came up with 50 things that would be in his Joy Inventory. As part of my inventory expansion I made custom photos for some of those things.

7.24.16 - Paint & Vino

Today was a good day for socializing.

First I met up with Erin to get work done, and while I did get some work done we also spent a lot of time catching up and making each other laugh. I told her about my Joy Inventory FB page and she sent me a list of joys so I can dedicate a day to her. It was fun talking to her about what she picked and why and seeing how much she enjoyed it too.

Then I went home and took a quick shower and then Rachel came over. She drove all the way up from the bay area so we could use my birthday gift from Julie and Everett: a groupon for painting for two. It was only maybe a 10 minute drive away at a local hotel and it included some very cheap delicious tropical alcohol drinks, haha.

We had a great time visiting while painting and comparing and contrasting our approaches. And I was pretty happy with my finished product. I added a crescent moon and a cat to try to make it feel slightly Harry Potter-esque. The lanterns already made it feel a bit that way because they remind me of Dumbledore and his deluminator.

7.23.16 - More favorite scents

I created all these to eventually add to my FB page, but of course I want to have them here too.

7.22.13 - Joy Inventory FB page

Yesterday I decided to take a hiatus from FB because my newsfeed was getting me down to much. When I made a status letting people know, my friend Yvette suggested I create a Joy Inventory FB page. I don't know why I never thought about it before, but I love the idea! I checked and it didn't already exist, so I made one: Facebook.com/TheJoyInventory

I still disabled my account just to get a break, but I made Clara's account an admin so I could upload things to the FB page anyway. In the last two days I've made lists of new joys to get pics of and worked on better pics of old joys I added long ago, and the whole thing has been so enjoyable and fun. It's a creative outlet and it really focuses me on the good things in my life. I'm grateful to Yvette for coming up with the idea, because having it as a page just amplifies the whole process.

Now, in addition to posting pictures of things I like, I can add videos that make me happy and link to news or anything on the internet that gives me joy. My hope is that it gains followers and other people start posting their own idiosyncratic joys as well. It got about 100 followers in the first day because of me and my friends inviting our friends, so it already has enough people to feel worth it, but the more the merrier. But, really, even if no one else followed it, I enjoy doing it and having a more public place to, well, inventory my joys. Hooray!

7.17.16 - cool summer mornings

7.16.16 - Clara statuses

7.15.16 - Costco Asiago bagels

7.12.16 - When your show has great lines.