Reason's to Smile

So often in life we focus on the negative things that happen to us in our regular day-to-day life.  I know I am guilty of this, so I decided to make a list of my current reasons to smile. So that when I’m having a down day or something negative happens, I can look back on this list and I am sure it will bring a smile to my face.  Writing a list and physically identifying the things that make you smile, really helps to put things in perspective and allows you to see things that we offen take for granted.

1.      Chocolate Chip Cookies fresh from the oven

2.      Red Velvet Cupcakes

3.      Sunshine

4.      Smell of fresh summer rain

5.      Sunrises

6.      Bouquet of beautiful flowers

7.      Fresh, clean sheets right out of the dryer

8.      A glass of ice cold lemonade

9.      Looking at the ocean

10.   Seeing an elderly couple hold hands.

11.   Homemade dinners.

12.   Having a cup of coffee in the morning with vanilla creamer

13.   Family BBQ’s

14.   Finding a clothing item I really wanted, on Sale

15.   Enjoying a glass of wine with my girlfriends

16.   The smell of my favorite perfume, it never gets old

17.   Cuddling with my dog

18.   Childhood pictures

19.   Getting to see my best friends who are also my family

20.   Soft Pillows

21.   My Canon camera

22.   Picnics

23.   OC Fair

24.   Afternoon naps

25.   Cucumbers in everything!

What are the curent things thats make you smile?

"Out Takes"

All of my life I have always loved photography, I had no choice, it surrounded me every day since my mom was a photographer.  The other day I came across old pictures that my mom had taken of my sisters and me.  She used to dress all of us girls up in Victorian style dresses, set up her back-drops, and would have a staged tea party.  Looking back now, as annoyed as we were at those times when we were younger, those pictures are something that all three of us treasure.  My favorite pictures are the ones my mother would call "out-takes" which consisted of us girls laughing, one of us picking their nose, not looking at the camera, or one us having our eyes open when we were instructed to keep them closed. 

"Out Takes" are often the pictures that we do not like because we are not looking at the camera, it's our bad side, our eyes are closed from laughing too hard, or our smile is too wide.  The emotions and joy behind those photos are often not displayed or admired, and are usually pushed to the side or deleted for no one to ever see.  I wish more people took the time to appreciate those pictures and those emotions because those are true moments.  When I am really happy... the right side of my mouth goes up a little higher than the other and while I hated this smile showing up in pictures, I have come to appreciate that flaw.  Because when I see a picture where my smile is a little higher on one side, I know that in that moment I am at my happiest and I cannot help but show it.

Here is one of our famous tea party pictures that my mother still has in a frame in our house.

Everyone smiles in the same language.  ~Author Unknown