Thank you, America

urban farmers

I just stumbled across an article about some local "homesteaders". The way this couple lives is pretty admirable-- they waste little, grow a lot and aim to be self-sustaining-- but the fact that they are doing it all on 1/12th acre in the middle of Los Angels makes them incredible. Read about them here.

Not just for today

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"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

- Martin Luther King, Jr. 

A little gesture with big heart-

I got a package in the mail today, which, as you all probably know, is the best feeling in the world. Who is it from? What could it be? Ah! So exciting!

This particular package was extra special, because of it's random kindness. The contents of this package were amazing... but it was the person who sent it and the reason for sending it that really tugged at my heart.

Inside several layers of protective packaging was a beautiful, delicately hand-painted Christmas ornament painstakingly made by an old friend. I teared up when I saw it because I knew it was a gift from the heart- and those are the best gifts ever!

You know, these days, Facebook and other online forums (ahem, like blogs) get a lot of criticism for being a substitute for actual human contact, as well as for bringing us back together with people of seriously insignificant relationships from our pasts. But I have been fortunate enough to have the opposite happen for me. Through Facebook, I casually reconnected with Sarah, a friend of mine from high school (or earlier, really). We were not the tightest friends back then, but we ran in the same circles, lived close enough to each other (for the country ;) and always had a great time together when we'd hang out. Sarah would have been a person that I would have lost touch with had it not been for Facebook. But, since I'm able to read her posts, see her pictures and share with her my own goings on, I've realized that we have a lot in common. And I've learned that this once awesome girl has... unsurprisingly... grown into an awesome woman who I am lucky to call my friend!

And thanks to Facebook, I got to connect with her in person when I visited her adopted hometown across the country. And thanks to Facebook, Sarah gets the latest and greatest from this very blog, and she has been one of Dreams & Happy Things best supporters! So, in this case, the internet has turned what would have been a lost friendship into something much better.

So, Sarah-

Thank you so very much for the beautiful, thoughtful, heart-felt gift. I am blown away by your sweetness... and talent! It is proudly hanging on a most prominent branch, and will forever adorn my future Christmas trees. Whenever I see it, I will think of you, and how important it is to stay connected to people with whom I just seem to 'click'. And I'll pay your kindness forward by sending something unexpected to someone special in addition to paying it back ... so keep an eye out for your mail man ;)

And on a related note... this ornament is so beautiful, I'd love to share how you made it. If you'd like to create a 'DIY' tutorial to post on this blog, please let me know!

Love,
Rianne

Just think of Happy Things

"So come with me, where dreams are born, and time is never planned. Just think of happy things, and your heart will fly with wings, forever, in Never Never Land!"

Illustration by Monisha Miriam Ravikumar

Paul

This blog is not heavy on celebrity- because for the most part, I don't find them a source of dreamy happy things... but this guy is one exception. Paul Newman.... mmmmm. How is it, that Paul Newman was able to wrap talent, sincerity and philanthropy in one super cool package?!

 How did he walk the line between so many contradictions and make them all work so well together? He was a good boy! He stayed with the same woman for over 50 years*. He donated millions to charity. He set up a fund to keep kids in school-- and yet, the coolest kids and the baddest bad boys still idolized him. The served in WWII, he chain-smoked cigarettes**... the man was a race car driver, for goodness sake! It doesn't get much cooler than Paul.

And he was smart! He was a man of the arts, of drama. He delivered thoughtful performances on screen and on stage- some roles that probably won't be considered by A-list actors today. He protected the First Amendment by giving out the PEN Award each year! He was politically liberal, and fought against the Vietnam War, for Gay Rights and raised awareness for Global Warming... and yet, is there one right-wing supporter, one good ol' boy out there who doesn't love the face of Cool Hand Luke? who didn't want to be Fast Eddie??

And on top of all these other contradictions, was his gorgeous, jaw-dropping good looks. The man was beautiful, and it didn't look like he tried at all. It didn't even look like he cared!*** He was a man's man, and us ladies loved him for it.

So here's my homage to Paul- who brought me a lot of happy over the years... through his amazing films. his generosity. his lemonade. and his beautiful face! I look at these pictures, and I smile...

It's just a coincidence that I start with a picture of him shirtless ;)

Him and Joanne at home- read more about them here 

*When asked if he ever cheated on his (second) wife, Joanne Woodward, Paul responded. "Why go out for hamburger when you've got steak at home".  Ewwww. but also Awwww.

**Chain-smoking, while certainly cool in theory, is pretty terrible in real life. It stinks, it makes most normal people look gross, and it kills- It killed Paul Newman. There, that's my PSA.

***It was referred to a lot in his movies- at least the Tennessee Williams ones (Maggie the Cat tells him how good looking he is, and then the boys beat him up in Sweet Bird of Youth to make him lose his good looks)- both scenes were kinds tragic. 

Awesome Harry Potter Fans at the London Premiere

Can't get away from the Pottermania, so I think I'll just share a Potter post everyday from now until the movie hits the big screen...

One of the best things about the Harry Potter franchise is the fans- they span every cultures and many ages, but they all have a passion for fun & fantasy and the classic story of good vs. evil. Just seeing photos of the fans at the London Premiere of the last film made me happy. They look so excited, even waiting in the rain! My kind of mob ;)

...the best for last.

Happy Birthday Bill!

There was a star danced, and under that was I born. - William Shakespeare

Hazzah to the Bard! Today, is William Shakespeare's 447th birthday. We think. 'Tis also the 395th anniversary of his death. So, for anyone not paying close attention, that means, our most revered playwright and poet, perfector of the Sonnet, inventor of over 1700 English words,  walked this earth for 52 years... to the day. He is believed to have been born on April 23rd, 1564, and to have died April 23rd, 1616. In true poetic style, Shakespeare left his admirers with an option on this day; to celebrate his entrance into this world, or mourn his exit.  

(For anyone interested in the specifics, here is an excerpt from an article on the topic. The title links back to the original site.)

Shakespeare's Birth

The baptismal register of the Holy Trinity parish church, in Stratford, shows the following entry for April 26, 1564: Gulielmus filius Johannes Shakespeare. The actual date of Shakespeare's birth is not known, but, traditionally, April 23, St George's Day, has been Shakespeare's accepted birthday, and a house on Henley Street in Stratford, owned by William's father, John, is accepted as Shakespeare's birth place. However, the reality is that no one really knows when the great dramatist was born. According to The Book of Common Prayer, it was required that a child be baptized on the nearest Sunday or holy day following the birth, unless the parents had a legitimate excuse. As Dennis Kay proposes in his book Shakespeare:

If Shakespeare was indeed born on Sunday, April 23, the next feast day would have been St. Mark's Day on Tuesday the twenty-fifth. There might well have been some cause, both reasonable and great -- or perhaps, as has been suggested, St. Mark's Day was still held to be unlucky, as it had been before the Reformation, when altars and crucifixes used to be draped in black cloth, and when some claimed to see in the churchyard the spirits of those doomed to die in that year. . . .but that does not help to explain the christening on the twenty-sixth (54).

No doubt Shakespeare's true birthday will remain a mystery forever. But the assumption that the Bard was born on the same day of the month that he died lends an exciting esoteric highlight to the otherwise mundane details of Shakespeare's life.

But what's the point in splitting hairs? Shakespeare did not live in a time when accuracy was all that important. The man used several different spellings of his own last name! He was born, he wrote and then he died. And the world was better for having him! He has gifted his works to countless generations... and we didn't get him anything. How awkward, it is his birthday, after all. This got me to think though, what do you give to the Bard who has it all? If Shakespeare was alive today, and I was invited to his birthday party- you know, just a small gathering of a few close friends (like me) to enjoy a little food and drink general merriment-- what would I gift to the b-day boy? (Oh, I'll come up with any excuse to do unnecessary online shopping!) 

Maybe he'd fancy the First Folios iPhone app, or some snazzy hightops bespangled with his portrait?

Or maybe we could just continue to value his work-- to perform his plays on stages around the world and remake them into movies of varying quality. We can ensure that high school Freshmen read not the Sparknotes for Romeo and Juliet, but the actual text, and we can prove our cleverness at cocktail parties by discussing Sonnet 130.

Of course, we can take it farther into a realm of Bardolatry, like Thomas de Quincey whose worship of Shakespeare rings through his classic 1823 essay "On the Knocking at the Gates in Macbeth":

 "O, mighty poet! Thy works are not as those of other men, simply and merely great works of art; but are also like the phenomena of nature, like the sun and the sea, the stars and the flowers,—like frost and snow, rain and dew, hail-storm and thunder, which are to be studied with entire submission of our own faculties…".

Well Tom, I don't think I'll deify the Bard as you have, but I will carve a moment today to read his words and tonight, in his honor, raise my glass, To Bill!

Bob Ross- Happy clouds and Happy trees

I've had all kinds of ideas for what I wanted to say about Bob Ross in this post. I have erased three or four drafts, because they were not quite right. I was going to include facts about him-- about his soft voice and how once he left the military he "vowed never to scream again". I was going to write about how I'd watch his show upstairs, in my parents room, and wish I had a canvas and a painter's pallette so that I could try to paint one of his serene landscapes along with him... he made it look so easy! But I realized, that none of this explanation is necessary. I imagine anyone who knows who Bob Ross is, already knows what I might write anyway. So instead, I figure I'll let Bob Ross write this post, in his own words, by sharing some of his most happy quotes...

In his own words...

Maybe in our world there lives a happy little tree over there.

The secret to doing anything is believing that you can do it. Anything that you believe you can do strong enough, you can do. Anything. As long as you believe.


There’s nothing wrong with having a tree as a friend.

Little raccoons and old possums ‘n’ stuff all live up in here. They’ve got to have a little place to sit.


Gotta give him a friend. Like I always say ‘everyone needs a friend’.


People look at me like I’m a little strange, when I go around talking to squirrels and rabbits and stuff. That’s ok. Thaaaat’s just ok.


Clouds are very, very free.


Now then, today let's just have some fun and enjoy it, let our imagination take us to some beautiful places and see what happens.

You do your best work if you do a job that makes you happy.


Exercising the imagination, experimenting with talents, being creative; these things, to me, are truly the windows to your soul.

Trees cover up a multitude of sins.


Talk to the tree, make friends with it.


Let's build us a happy, little cloud that floats around the sky.


Any way you want it to be, that’s just right.

See Bob Ross painting a mountain, tutorial stills or video clip.

Or watch this tribute video. The music sounds like it is straight from a '90s Disney musical, but the images are fantastic. I especially love the tattoos, the etch-a-sketch and what looks like a Bob Ross butter sculpture. 

Thanks for brings us so much Happy, Bob Ross! Happy painting, and God bless.

Dr. Seuss

Today is a special day, the birthday of a most beloved author. Who hasn't experienced the joy of Dr. Seuss? His stories are wonderfully fun, and often teach us how to be better people. His words bounce of the page and let us use them as if they are our own! His drawings bring smiles to our faces every time we see them. For all this, we are in debt. The world is a more joyous place because he was in it.

What Dr. Seuss book is your favorite? I grew up on Hop on Pop, and Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? And I have a soft spot for many more...

 

Here are a few facts that I just learned about the man behind the books:

1. His birth name was Theodor Seuss Geisel.

2. He was not a doctor.

3. He was born in Springfield Massachusetts and live most of his adult live in La Jolla California 

4. We've all been saying his name wrong.

You’re wrong as the deuce

And you shouldn’t rejoice
If you’re calling him Seuss.
He pronounces it Soice
                     (-friend, Alexander Liang)


5. While at Dartmouth, Geisel was caught drinking gin with nine friends in his room, violating national Prohibition laws of the time and he was kicked off the college humor magazine.


6. He attended Lincoln College, Oxford, to earn a Doctor of Philosophy in English literature. At Oxford, he met his future wife, Helen Palmer; he married her in 1927, and returned to the United States without earning a degree.
 
7. In 1937, while Geisel was returning from an ocean voyage to Europe, the rhythm of the ship's engines inspired the poem that became his first book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street!.  It was rejected 27 times.


8. He drew over 400 political cartoons for a NY newspaper. He was pro FDR and America's involvement in WWII. The cartoon have been compiled into the book, Dr. Seuss Goes to War.


9. His first popular children's book If I Ran the Zoo


10. He wrote mostly in anapestic tetrameter:

    "And today the Great Yertle, that Marvelous he
      Is King of the Mud. That is all he can see."
                                     (from Yertle the Turtle)


But he also uses amphribrachic tetrameter and trochaic tetrameter.


11. In order to fight illiteracy in children, educators created a list of words important for first-graders to recognize and asked Geisel write a book using only those words, telling him to "bring back a book children can't put down." Nine months later, Geisel, using 236 of the words given to him, completed The Cat in the Hat.


12. The Cat in the Hat alone sells about half a million copies each year.


13. His wife committed suicide in 1967. He remarried 8 months later.



14. He also authored over a dozen books as Theo LeSieg and one as Rosetta Stone

 15. He published 44 children's books and they have sold over 222 million copies.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!!!