Year of Happy | Caught Read Handed

Back in January, I told you guys that I was participating in Allisonleighann and October June‘s #YearofHappy with the love letter I wrote to myself. This month’s prompt was this:

Go to a thrift shop or dollar store and buy the weirdest, goofiest, strangest things you can find – anything that makes you happy! Then, make a haul post or (better yet) a video sharing what you bought. Don’t spend more than $10 and remember to have fun!

You may have noticed that it’s the last day of February. Nothing like waiting until the absolute last minute, right? It happens. Today, after babysitting for four hours, visiting BAM, and picking up a month’s worth of comics at my local comic book shop, I headed over to the Goodwill near me to see what I could find. I ended up pulling up about fifteen minutes before they closed, but this gave me plenty of time – at least to me. In my head, fifteen minutes means fifteen minutes. According the absolutely HORRID lady working there, it meant about five minutes and then her staring at me with the evil eye until I decided to just buy the few things I had in my hands and leave. After, of course, she rang up my items, was absolutely rude to me even though I turned up my friendly to eleven, and barely wrapped my vase up and shoved it into the bag. I could do a whole rant about the fact that this was her job and if you work in customer service, you should learn how to actually be friendly, but this post is supposed to be a happy one.

So, not a great experience. I didn’t leave all that happy about the few minutes in the store. BUT I did find a few cool things that I’m excited to use. Let me show you what I got!

I got this really pretty vase for $3! I’ll probably end up never using it, but it was too pretty to pass up!

I also picked up this beaten up copy of The Hunger Games, which – don’t hate me – I plan to use for some kind of art project. I bought the copy of Let It Snow, even though I own it already. I’m not sure what I’ll be using it for – probably adding it to a giveaway in the future.

Sorry for the crap photo! Black records are really hard to capture. Whatever. I picked these up because I’ve been wanting to do some kind of art project with them. Again, not sure what I want to do with them, but I might paint on them or cut them up or something.

So, my grand total for the whole trip was $5.35! Even though I had a not-so-great time at the actual store, I’m pretty excited about what I bought, and I can’t wait to get crafty and make some cool things. Plus, I was listening to the Belzhar audiobook on the way home which I’m really enjoying so it made up for the whole encounter with the rude lady because I got to disappear into a good book for a little while.

I hope you’ve all had an absolutely wonderful February. I’ll be doing my February wrap up tomorrow. ❤ you all!

Allisonleighann and October June have created a year-long monthly blog series called #YearofHappy. There’s a prompt for every month (an activity, project, or post) to inspire you to “go out, experience life, do crazy wonderful things and bring back the findings onto your blog, all in the name of a happier year.” I thought this sounded like a lot of fun. When I saw the first prompt though, I wasn’t sure if I was going to do it. I don’t tend to get too personal on the blog (which is something I’m considering doing more of this year), but after I thought about it for a few days, I decided to go for it. Here’s the prompt:

Write a love letter to yourself. Write all the reasons you’re awesome, write down your hopes and dreams for the year ahead, any resolutions, heck, write what you had for lunch. Share why you’re grateful for 2014 and what you want to achieve in 2015. Share whatever you want – it’s your letter.

In the spirit of a happier year, my letter is more a list of things that make me happy versus hopes and dreams for the new year. Because, honestly, my hope for 2015 is to be happy. So my letter is short and to the point. Here we go!

Hey you,

I know this prompt was hard for you. I know that you struggle with happiness. I know that you fight every day to be happy, but I want you to know that you can do it. I believe in you. You are strong. For those days when you forget, here’s a list of things that make you happy:

Waking up early, getting a cup of coffee, and sitting in the quiet for a little while.
Having a dance party by yourself to some good music (your current favorite is “Uma Thurman” from Fall Out Boy)
Talking to fellow book lovers on your blog, on Twitter, on Goodreads. Do it often. You love them and they seem to love you too.
Listening to music in the car. I know you love audiobooks (they are awesome) but try not to overdo it. Remember to listen to music in between audiobooks for a day or two. You forget how much you love listening to music in the car every time you listen to an audiobook.
Going to the movies.
Working out. I know it hurts because of that darn arthritis, but stretch it out, go for a walk in the nice weather, lift some weights, anything. You feel better even if you are sore.
Go somewhere you’ve never been. Even if it’s only a couple hours’ drive. Just go! See beautiful places. Meet some strangers. Go on. You love it. Sometimes you just have to forget about money and do it. You feel restless ALL THE TIME if you don’t.
Taking pictures of books. Who cares how silly that sounds? It’s fun and creative and you need that.

Some things to remember:

Try not to get upset about the little things.
Try not to stress about the little things. I know you are a worrier. I know it’s hard not to stress when it feels like stress is a part of you, but do some of those things above and it gets easier. You can’t change what’s happened. Keep moving forward.
Don’t let the rude people get to you. You’re pretty good at letting the stupid things people say roll off your back, but sometimes the things people say still hurt. Just remember that not everyone is as nice or as polite as you.
Remember that you’re awesome. You tend to forget the things you can do when you put your mind to it. You can do anything.
Do those things that make you happy.
Don’t internalize your unhappiness, panic, stress, feelings. Write about them – even if no one reads it. Paint. Read. Even if you don’t really have anyone to talk to about it, you can find a way to let it out. Internalizing is bad. Bad, bad, bad.

2015 ~~can~~ will be a GREAT year. Don’t forget that. Do the things that make you happy. Keep moving forward but remember to stay in the moment. It’s okay to not feel happy every day and you are allowed to have bad days. That’s life. Just remember that you’ve got this. Be you, because you are awesome. You are a good person and I love you.

All the best,
Stefani
(January 2015)