Fortune Cookie

Two weeks ago I had Chinese food for dinner with an old friend; I very rarely get Chinese food (Thai is a much preferred favorite of mine), so I was excited to open up my fortune cookie at the end of the meal.

"It isn't our position, but our disposition, that makes us happy."

It didn't make a whole lot of sense to me at first, but then I thought about various people that I know who are unhappy with their lives and their current situations, and I finally understood the meaning behind this simple fortune. Happiness does not come from external sources; you can't find it in your job, your friends and family, your house. Sure, these things may make you feel happy, but ultimately, genuine happiness comes from within - we must create it ourselves, and we really only have ourselves to blame when we are unhappy with elements of our lives. It's so easy to blame others for our unhappiness (ie. "I lost my job" or "I had to move back in with my parents" or "My significant other broke up with me"). I know, accepting negative life changes is hard! But that shouldn't turn you into a negative person. There are so many people out there that are in must worse positions than you or me, and yet somehow these people are able to embrace life and find happiness in the littlest of things. That's because they make their own happiness; they don't let their position in life keep them down.

If you keep a positive disposition, happiness will find its way into every aspect of your life.

I may sound like I'm preaching about happiness here, but the truth is that I come across an astounding amount of seemingly miserable people on a daily basis, and it leaves me wondering what got them into that mentality in the first place. Hello! We are alive! We get to breathe, walk, and talk on this Earth! We are so lucky to be able to explore all the beautiful geological aspects of this planet, and it's even more incredible that we are able to make connections with other people every day. And yes, sometimes life is rough, but when you look at the big picture, why would you want to live most of it with a negative mentality? We need to take it all in stride - take the good with the bad - maybe then we'll find that most often times, the good overrides the bad and when we can focus on that, then we can be truly happy.

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Fun Finds Friday #17

These 50 photos from 2012 are beautiful!




I love the design of this wooden keyboard... too bad I just bought a new keyboard!




I'm two weeks late but these valentines for foodies are cute!




America, you make an awesome bookshelf.




I would love to have a periodic table of herbs and spices in my kitchen.



+ Did you know that you can explore the Grand Canyon on Google Maps?
+ You can also explore some other world wonders!

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Brews and Bent Spoons

I've been enjoying some delicious food and beers lately. A few days ago a friend and I had dinner at Delicious Heights; and it was indeed delicious. They had a special that day: $9 for a flight of your choice of 4 drafts (from a list of at least 12). We each ordered a flight (I really enjoyed 2 of the 4 beers I tried: Terrapin's Flux Capacitor & Delirium Tremens) and a sandwich, pulled pork for me. The french fries were amazing!

The other photos are from when Shawn, his friend Fran, and I went to Princeton for an afternoon. It was absolutely frigid that day so we didn't stay very long; just long enough to grab lunch at Triumph Brewing Company: more beers, some scrumptious fried pickles, and an incredibly indulgent macaroni & cheese that I was too excited to eat and forgot to take a photo of... it was awesome. (It was actually our second time eating at one of the Triumph locations; now we just need to go to the one in Philly!) And of course a trip to Princeton isn't complete without stopping at The Bent Spoon for ice cream and hot chocolate!

Yummy!!!

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Snow Day

This is what I woke up to earlier today... lots and lots of snow!

I have the day off since the bakery is closed today. Which is a good thing because there was no way my car could leave the garage this morning. (We spent two hours shoveling! After that, we're pretty much convinced we'd rather have a condo than a house one day... or at least a driveway that's much shorter than this one!) I'm looking forward to an afternoon of reading, snacking, and seeing an old friend from high school.

Enjoy your Saturday, snow or not!

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Fun Finds Friday #16

Your eyes are not playing tricks on you, those are indeed two-dimensional hand-drawn bags.




I love this paintbrush packaging design. (Is anyone else reminded of Walter White?)





What if Dr. Seuss books were titled according to their subtexts?





This cottage is modest, charming, natural and absolutely wonderful.





Have you heard about the boy who became friends with marmots?

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Wednesday Wish List

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Anthropologie's most recent catalogue arrived in our mailbox a few days ago and after flipping through it, I am smitten with every single item within its pages. I've always been a fan of Anthropologie (definitely more so than Urban Outfitters and Free People- they're all the same company, in case you didn't know); Anthro's styles are frequently vintage-inspired or adorned with unique designs and in my experience, many of the pieces are higher quality than things sold at its sister companies. But along with higher quality comes a higher price tag, and since I'm not really in need of any of these things currently, and thus trying not to spend money on new clothes after my January splurges, I thought I'd share my wish list here instead.

Happy Wednesday!

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A little Groundhog's Day humor...

I know Shawn's the resident comic artist in this relationship, but I thought I'd have a go at it today.

One of my co-workers and I were discussing the history of groundhog's day; it made us ponder - why does the groundhog, of all the animals, know when spring is going to arrive? And is there an equivalent to Groundhog's Day in other countries? If so, what animal determines winter's fate there? Perhaps we were thinking too much about a day that's all in good fun, but if you know the answer to any of these questions, please do tell!

Also, I know I skipped out on the Fun Finds Friday post this week... hopefully this kind-of makes up for it!

Happy Saturday, everyone!

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