Reason #7

Christmas

Oh, Christmas.  The time of year marked by stores from the day after Halloween until boxing day gimmicks start on the 26th.  Where we all pretend to care about cheer and spirit, and spend paychecks on things people don't really need or want, but will be offended if they don't get. 

Christmas.

As cynical as this sounds, the Christmas season is the greatest time of year. I mean, most people get at least a day off from work, two weeks off of school and the excuse to indulge in deserts wearing fluffy sweaters.  There's nothing quite like sitting by the fire with the glow of the Christmas tree shimmering behind you.  Then there's the ice skating, sugar cookies and those damn mandarin oranges, always the sweetest near the 24th.

I feel that in order to really enjoy Christmas, you need to expect nothing.  Don't except snow flakes falling while your boyfriend proposes, or a new Xbox or phone.  All you really should search for from Christmas is a little bit of love, and joy from people that you genuinely like. Those who set Christmas up to look like a Sears post card will undoubtedly be disappointed.


There's also nothing happier than Christmas movies, the best by far being "Elf".  I feel a personal connection to "Buddy", constantly having your spirit compromised by life's pessimists. Christmas gives us all a little bit of an excise to act like Buddy, to show that we are really just children forced to grow older. We all feel a little excitement in the crinkling of wrapping paper, or seeing an old friend.

So Christmas, take what you want from it.  However, its hard not to find a parcel of happiness tucked into a fold in its shiny red bow . 

Reason #6  

Metro Trains

I love big cities.  I have been to the metropolitans of Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Los Angeles to name a few.  I love fast paced atmosphere, the endless supply of international food and the shopping! But by far, my favorite things in all of these cities are their underground metro trains. 

I will speak about those in Montreal because it's where I spent nearly two months of my life.  Those metro trains were one of my favorite parts and contain some of my favorite memories of living there.  The first time I used them was to complete an "Amazing race" around the worlds Poutine Capital.  With my group we'd literally be sprinting though the stations, not even stopping on those fancy moving side walks. W ran through those stations until they became something familiar. 



Fastforward a couple of weeks and I was using those trains like a pro. I was confident enough to ride them by myself to get to one of my good friends who lived across the city. By not being a shy person, I'd have converstions with whoever sat near me on those under ground voyages and in turn got to practice my French. After big events, these trains were filled to capacity and you really felt a sence of closeness to actually everybody. It was gross, but enjoyable in a weird way. Kind of like chicken mcnuggets.

My metro days in Montreal past with only a single glitch, where my friends lost me while we were going out for a midnight dinner. We were all rushing through the turnstiles with me in the rear and of course, my card got stuck.  As we were all extremely hungry, they hopped on the train without hesitation and left me behind. Wow! No wonder why metro trains made my 20 happy things.

Truth be old, being lost was kind of fun.  I considered my self some sort of genius as my phone battery was at 2%, I wrote a couple of my friends numbers on my arm in eyeliner in case I found a payphone (which is extremely rare in 2015 btw).   I made the rash decision to hop on the next train, in thoughts hat maybe I'd intercept them, ignoring completely the "hug a tree" rule and eventually found my friends a few stops down the line after I had begun to cry. It was an amazing adventure.

So, metro trains. I suppose he reason they make me happy is that they correlate with big cities.  Big cities meaning constant stimulation, new people to meet and 24 hour diners on every other street corner.

Reason #5

Tim Horton's

Eh?!

Tim Horton's might just be the place where all of my spare change goes.  It doesn't really count as money then right? 

Reynolds school made the tragically beautiful mistake of placing a Tim Horton's literally rolling distance from our classroom doors.  It gives us the constant urge "should I go to Timmies" because it is always constantly available. We haven't yet developed the immunity to say no to our Timmies temptations.   Some days, I don't even bring a lunch because I know at some point I will be in that ever familiar Timmies line up with my usual order of a 'large coffee with two milks and a pumpkin spice muffin.. and a doughnut'.

There it is. Muffin epices d'autome. In English its the pumpkin spice muffin. My favorite.

Tim Hortons is also open 24/7. I don't know how many times it has fostered my group of friends, long after everything else had closed. Tim Hortons realizes that food has no time frame. My infamous midnight snack is a fruit n' yogurt parfait containing 13 grams of protein! (the amount of times I have seen that yogurt cup is frightening).  You can't do that at Starbucks, Tim Hortons biggest competitor because they close at 10 and their food looks like shriveled up airplane food.  

Theres also nothing quite as Canadian as sipping your double-double in a hockey themed to-go cup. Unlike Americans who relish in their patriotism as often as they can, we as Canadians have less opportunities to do so.  Tim Hortons is therefore used as a brand uniting us coast to coast. 

I've never not been happy walking into Tim Hortons. It's always warm.  It's always full of kind faced old people drinking out of mugs and teenagers sipping ice caps.  Its the place to go when you don't know where to go, when you need a little snack or a chance to say pleases and thank you's eighteen times like the true Canadian you are.

Reason #4

Somewhere in the world a baby is being born

Maybe two or three or four babies being born right this second. OH! There's another little baby. And now another.

Babies are probably the happiest thing in life. Yes, they cry a lot but over all no body is happier than a baby.  Their lives are not yet tainted by violence, loss or broken hearts and their entire world revolves around being fed and sleeping. Sort of my dream. 

I get extremely happy every time I get to see a baby.  I'm the type of person who actually enjoys going to baby showers and 1st birthday parties. I consider shopping for baby gifts an awesome time rather than a chore. There's nothing quite like buying tiny shoes for feet who can't even walk yet or tiny jean and leather jackets for the babies to become future cool people of the world.  Babies have snuggies and blankets and the fluffiest little teddy bears that make you just gush.   Just knowing that there are an endless supply of babies appearing all the time can make me smile despite how terrible my day went. 

Just.... Awe

I think that people are either baby people or their not.  I've never met anyone in the grey area where they claim to "love babies" some days and "The thought of having children makes me sick" others.  Sure, there's your pretenders; many dads attempting to please their wives, or worse, daughters trying give their parents a grand child. Only you know deep within yourself weather you are a baby person or not.

So, during the time that you've been reading this blog post, about 1 minute 255 new innocent little bald heads have popped into our world.  Welcome.

Reason #3

Hornpayne Ontario

So to keep up with the simplicity of my happy things I'm going to talk about the simplest town probably ever.  In the middle of no where middle of Ontario sits a little town with a declining population of 1050.  It has one general store and one train stop. That's it.

When one arrives in Hornpayne Ontario on a VIA rail train the only question you can ask is why? Why are you stopped here. The train doesn't stop in ThunderBay or Calgary.  Why the hell doess it stop for a solid thirty minutes in Hornpayne.  There really isn't a reason.  When you geet off the train, and see the ghost town you're heart is immediately filled with gratitude. Let me explain this.  Hornpayne Ontario makes you appreciate your town or city so much.  You are overflowed with thoughts of "thank god I don't live here", so much that even if you lived in Gold River or Port Hardy you too would feel a instant fondness of your isolated town.

Hornpayne makes you happy as well as it is a place where all your thoughts and worries are swept away with the same dust that lines their store shelfs and post cards.  Nothing matters here. Nobody really is here.  It's a tiny piece of Canada with no significant meaning.

We all need more happy little places in our world like Hornpayne.  If we live in the city suburbs it can get quite overwhelming, seeing new people every day.  Hornpayne reminds us that we are actually relatively small in this world, a tiny piece that can be easily left or forgotten.  As un happy as it sounds, places like Hornpayne take a deep layer of relief off of our shoulders. It reminds us that as no matter how busy and hectic as our lives may seem, not to sweat it, because our problems probably means nothing.

Hornpayne Ontario in the past. 

Reason #2

The really cute gum commercial

    So there's this really, really cute Extra gum commercial that my sister showed me yesterday and it made my day.  It was what I consider to be a successful commercial because today, whilst I was buying gum, I chose Extra.  Extra winter mint actually.   Unconsciously...

     So anyways this commercial uplifted a somewhat drab Tuesday  because it shows the most innocent and loving relationship that starts where a girl gives a guy a simple stick of Extra -gum. Throughout the commercial a female cover of "Can't help falling in love" plays peacefully in the background.  At every major milestone in their relationships such as first kiss, prom, first fight and first time apart ,  the girl affectionately gives the guy a stick of gum.  At the end of the commercial, when she returns home from time abroad she discovers that in their house he has framed every foil gum wrapper since they met. Each one has a depiction of the intimate encounter that it came from.  The final one however, is a surprise to her.  Thoughtfully drawn in the final gum wrapper is the man down on one knee proposing to his girlfriend.  She then, like something out of the notebook, turns around to discover him proposing.  And they both lived happily ever after, chewing extra gum.

     The reason why this commercial makes me happy is 1. my affinity for Elvis Presley's music and 2. an unobtainable adorable relationship goal.  I mean, this long term relationship started from a high school gum swapping incident.  It can really make you wonder, the power that a simple piece of gum can do to change the outcome of your entire life.  I will make sure to give out my gum thoughtfully from now on too. 

October 27th 2015

Reason #1  ~~  My milk-frother

  It's sort of become culture to focus on the negative things in our lives.  We more often than not, use our negativity as a common interest to forge friendships, and I have received at least 4 texts today beginning with "ugh k so.." or "i'm done".  Why is that the case?  I don't know, but I'm thinking it may have something to do with constantly being bombarded with ads, tweets, instagrams or what have you's of people living a supposedly extraordinary life that we obviously fail to measure up to.  Gone are the days chalk full of simple appreciations.  i mean, never before have we had access to the camera lenses of celebrities and socialites who are literally paid to do fun and fabulous things.  It makes our local concerts and Mount Doug hikes seem nothing but pathetic.

So, my little goal is to write about 20 happy things. Significance, cost or size isn't relevant, anything that makes me happy merits a blog post, I've decided. Therefore, what better way to start then talking about my little milk-frother.

Named the "aero latte", this little gem was purchased my me for 20.99$ at a small little kitchen supplies store near my house.  It froths up almond or soy milk (lactose intolerant here) like there's no tomorrow, creating a frothy layer of magic on top of any tea. This tea and milk combination ( more commonly refereed to as a latte)  is one of the greatest drinks in this planet.  I've discovered that it tastes the best on top of my chai tea, or chocolate hazelnut.   Sometimes, I put the sugar inside of the milk before frothing it, instead of directly into the tea to create an extra sweet layer of frothiness.  It mixes whatever substance you put into the milk such as cinnamon or coco, evenly and deliciously.  It works on both hot or cold milk, and although I haven't tried it yet, I imagine it would also work as a juice frother!  *Side note being why would you want a frothy juice?

Why not?

At Starbucks, a latte is at least three dollars. Nothing makes me happier than knowing that I'm saving a whopping three dollars every time I make one myself.

    So currently, the time is currently 6:13, and my mom is making spaghetti for dinner, which will be ready around 7.  The trouble is I'm starving and need something to fill me up but not so much that I won't have room for spaghetti.  Thank god for my milk-frother, allowing me a steamy and delectable latte any time hunger calls.

Now that's something to be happy about.