Category: Happiness

This is a guest post by Lauren Weber.

We all do crazy things for love. People get tattoos expressing love. People go online and cross the oceans hoping to find a lifelong partner to love. People die for love.

While my story isn’t quite so dramatic, I will be the first to say that love has changed my life in so many ways. Here’s my story.

I went to college with a solid purpose: to earn a degree, which I would put to use one day. Halfway through my schooling, I decided to end my continuous string of boy drama and concentrate on something I never thought of: myself.

I decided I was going to move to Chicago after college to pursue my passion of public relations. I dreamed of loft living, relying solely on public transit and late nights dancing in the VIP section with my girlfriends.

Then something happened and snagged my plans: I fell in love. I tried to deny it at first. I told him that I had plans to move, so it was in his best interest to not get too close.

He didn’t get the picture, and after months of chasing me, I decided to give in and try dating him. Just weeks in, I knew I couldn’t live without him being part of my daily life. We vowed our hearts to each other in marriage three years later.

Chicago was then out of the picture. Growing up a farm boy, he couldn’t fathom the idea of leaving family behind and not having easy access to green spaces. I compromised. If we couldn’t do Chicago, I wanted to work in Detroit (and live in the ‘burbs to appease him). Fortunate for me, he followed after I landed a job.

We knew we didn’t want to wait long before starting a family…and a year and a half later, we found out we were going to be parents. It was one of the most amazing feelings ever.

When I saw our little girl for the first time, her life flashed before my eyes: I saw her first day of school, her walking across a stage and receiving a diploma and finally falling in love with someone just as I had.

The thought of missing a single moment of my little gal’s life filled me with tension, and nothing seemed to matter but being in her presence – reading to her, wiping away her tears and yes, even changing her messy diapers.

Despite having a career many would love, I gave it up. At first I shuttered at the thought of giving up on the college degree and career I had worked so hard for to just stay home. But as time went on, I began to see things differently. I thought what better way to put my college education to use than staying home while she’s young to teach her and help prepare her for her life ahead?

My career can wait. My baby and her life can’t.

So, fast-forward to now: We are on a tight budget. No big future vacations planned. We won’t be getting a new vehicle any time soon. And yet, I’ve never been so sure that this was the right decision.

I may be financially poorer now than ever, but I’m richer in love than I’ve ever been.

How has love changed your life?

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Lauren Weber is a former PR professional turned stay-at-home mom and freelance writer. When she’s not changing diapers or trying to get her daughter to say “ma-ma,” she’s keeping up with Detroit news and sharing things she finds interesting on Twitter. Follow along: @LaurenWeber84.

This is a guest post from a new friend I met in the blogosphere, Jenny Herman, aka Many Hats Mommy. Her husband and I connected on LinkedIn and were exchanging messages about PR and social media, and he suggested that I would be a good fit for Jenny’s Wednesday’s Woman feature. Jenny featured me on her blog in a two-part series about best practice tips for blogger outreach. Check out part two here.

Jenny’s post originates from her February article for Today’s Essential Woman, but it’s a perfect fit for my blog. Enjoy!

Nothing says “blah” quite like Michigan in February! Cold winds keep us inside, we slip on ice, and the cloudy skies dampen our spirits. As I was contemplating this, I came up with a few reminders to help us all fight the Michigan winter blues.


Buddy up
Spending time with someone else takes your mind off the grey clouds in the sky. Grab a friend and go to a coffee shop. Window shop at the mall together.

Are your friends too busy? Make new ones! Attend a book discussion at the library. Join the church choir or a volunteer group. Go to a creative class at your local arts and crafts store.

Look for others to help
One of the easiest ways to beat the blues is to help someone else! Make it more fun by doing things anonymously. Challenge your family or friends. Give everyone a little note card that says, “Hope this brightens your day.” Encourage each person to use their card in the next 24 hours. Of course, to give the card away they need to do something for someone else – leave money for coffee, fold laundry, shovel snow, leave groceries on a doorstep, etc.

Activate endorphins
Take small bits of time in your day and do a quick pick-me-up exercise break to release those happy brain chemicals called endorphins. For example, I have started doing “exercise expeditions” with my sons. We walk quickly down the apartment building hallways. We do some stair-stepping on the lowest level. We wave our arms around crazily as we walk.

Another idea is simply to turn on some music and dance to a song or two. If you’re self-conscious, do it when no one is around. If you have children, get them involved. They will love being silly with you and won’t even realize they’re doing exercise.

Have a grateful spirit
It’s hard to be thankful and complain at the same time. This practice has really improved my mental health. I know – you may be facing really tough times. Try to find something to be thankful for, no matter how small. I would encourage you to purchase an inexpensive spiral notebook and each day write down things you’re thankful for. Some days one may seem hard enough, and other days you may find 20. Later, you have something you can read over when you’re feeling down.

So, the next time you’re walking outside, ankle-deep in brown slush, and you think of how “blah” the day is, remember these four little things you can do to turn the day around. In fact, why don’t you start right now by sharing this article with someone else who may be feeling a little too wintry today.

Jenny Herman fights the Michigan winter blues in Southgate with her husband and two boys. She thinks out loud about a variety of topics on her blog (manyhatsmommy.blogspot.com) and invites you to stop by.

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I had a meeting tonight with a friend I see about once a month. We met at her office, and I noticed a vase with these gorgeous red flowers with long stems. I commented that they were beautiful. My friend then told me that her husband brings flowers to her office every single Tuesday. I asked what was so special about Tuesday. She said it’s the first day of the week she’s in the office, and her husband always brings her flowers that will last her the entire week. He thinks it’s important that she has a beautiful vase full of flowers to brighten up her office every week.

Call it cheesy, corny or over the top, but I see it as devotion and love in their purest forms. Think about the small amount of time it takes my friend’s husband to go to the florist, buy flowers and drop them off at her office. An hour, tops. That small gesture brings rewards that last the entire work week.

Think about the things you can do for others that only take a fraction of time out of your day but will make a lasting impact. Then, do those acts of kindness and love whenever you can.

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Summer is starting to wind down, and that means it’s almost back to school time for many children. I remember how much fun it was to go shopping for all the new school supplies I would need for the upcoming year. I loved picking out a new backpack and finding folders and notebooks with cool designs that matched my personality (many were pink and glittery…go figure!).

Unfortunately, starting a new school year is not always a happy time for kids because many parents cannot afford all the necessary school supplies. You might be thinking, “How much can a few pencils, pens and notebooks really cost?” But trust me, it adds up.

Continue reading “How You Can Make Back to School a Happy Time for Children”

I’ve been living vicariously through my many early-to-wed friends for the past three years. They were lucky to find real love in their early twenties (some started dating their now husbands/wives in high school) and decided there was no point in waiting to tie the knot. I’ve attended 10 weddings in the past few years, growing increasingly anxious for when it would be my turn. I’m one of those who grew up believing I would be married with kids by 25 (ambitious thinking, right?). Well, that didn’t happen, and frankly I’m A-OK with it.

I was lucky enough to have met the incredible MAL three years ago, and we’ve been together ever since. Our love story entered a new chapter last weekend when MAL proposed to me in Glen Arbor on the shore of Lake Michigan after hiking Sleeping Bear Dunes.

Sidenote: I HIGHLY recommend staying at the Sylvan Inn if you visit Glen Arbor. It’s a five out of five stars bed and breakfast.

I’d like to extend my deepest gratitude to the wildly-successful Pure Michigan marketing campaign for making me want to travel in-state, which resulted in the perfect opportunity for MAL to propose. Of course the proposal would have still been memorable if we were hiking in Denver or lounging on a beach at some tropical resort. But now we’re only four hours away from revisiting a city that will forever be “our special place”.

On to the wedding planning! We don’t have a date set yet, but we’ve already agreed on one thing: Our resounding love for Detroit means we want to have a Detroit-themed wedding with the reception (hopefully!) in the city. Luckily I have an amazing friend/event planner/bridesmaid/wedding planner to help me along the way.

Feel free to share any wedding tips/tricks or your engagement story in the comments!

It was Friday after work. I didn’t get enough sleep the night before, so I was exhausted. Even though couch time sounded enticing, I had been looking forward to playing in a tennis mixer all week and had multiple practices canceled in previous weeks due to the weather. Once again, the weather decided to not cooperate and it was raining off and on the whole day. I stopped at the store to buy my contribution snack fully knowing the match would be canceled once I showed up.  You know those times when you’re crabby just because you feel like being crabby? That was me. So, I was not in the best mood when I walked in the store.

I chose to stop at Trader Joe’s because it was conveniently located on my route home. I quickly located what I wanted and got in line. If you’ve ever been to Trader Joe’s, you know customer service is a top priority. I’ve always been pleasantly surprised by how cheery and just plain nice the cashiers are at that store. Some people like to go about their business and not make small talk when shopping, but I appreciate when someone goes out of their way to talk to me. My sour mood quickly changed once I started chatting with the cashier. He made sure I didn’t need anything else and then got me talking about my weekend plans. Maybe he’s one of those perma-peppy dudes, or maybe he was just having a great day, but his happy mood quickly lifted my spirits. Our talk lasted no longer than a minute, but I left feeling silly for ever being crabby in the first place. I also made a mental note to remember why I need to visit Trader Joe’s more often (good customer service = customer retention, for all you marketing folks out there!).

Fast forward to today. A friend of mine told me about some on-the-side work he’s doing for The Friendship Circle. He mentioned how his contacts there want to connect with more people in the community. He introduced us, and I checked out the place today.

The mission of the The Friendship Circle is to provide assistance and support to the families of children with special needs. I had heard of the organization, but the little I knew about it revolved around the $100,000 grant it won earlier this year through the Chase Challenge Facebook contest.

I took a tour of The Friendship Circle and its Weinberg Village, an interactive and mock real world town that lets children with special needs have fun while learning important life skills at the same time. They get real spending money from the bank, which they can use to go to the movies or buy something at the drug store. There’s a pet store, a library, a salon for haircuts and manicures and even a dentist and doctor’s office. The village provides a safe environment for children with special needs while making them feel like an important part of society and teaching them how to do daily tasks that someone without special needs most likely completes without thinking twice.

Weinberg Village was super cool, but I was also impressed with the main area – the Ferber Kaufman LifeTown. Everywhere I looked I saw something that was meant to bring happiness to children. The LifeTown area had a variety of themed rooms, like an arts and craft room and an interactive room with games. There was a huge tub of colored balls where kids could jump in and play, monkey bars, a sand pit and plush foam squares with a trampoline below it. So fun, right? There’s even a special quiet room where parents can chill out and relax while their kids participate in activities.

I learned today that The Friendship Circle is not only a happy place for children with special needs, but also for parents, volunteers and everyone else who works non-stop to make the organization successful. I couldn’t believe that a place like this that is so unique and important to our community has existed for 15 years, but I just learned about it today. There will be more to come on The Friendship Circle in the next few weeks!

Those are my two recent happy tales to get your week started off right. Please share any recent happy experiences if you have them!

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Ernie Harwell, a Detroit legend who was the broadcaster at Detroit Tigers games for 42 seasons, passed away on May 5.

I didn’t grow up listening to Ernie’s voice on the radio as he gave the play-by-play at games. I don’t associate summers from my childhood with Ernie narrating the games like many baseball fans do. I have no recollections of ever watching a baseball game on TV or in person while Ernie was broadcasting it. All the knowledge I have about Ernie Harwell I gained through stories in the media and MAL, who was a huge fan (proven by the fact that the cat he found in an alley by Comerica Park is named Ernie). Ernie may not have directly impacted my life, but he definitely has indirectly, and I’m proud to say we shared the same hometown.

From what I’ve learned about Ernie, I know he was a gentle, friendly and humble man who loved life, his family and the great sport of baseball. He was so much more than the voice of the Tigers. His voice impacted and touched the lives of people in a very uncommon yet profound way for a sports broadcaster. Ernie gave people the sense of comfort and care, and many felt they knew him simply because they listened to him call the games year after year.

Continue reading “Put a Little Ernie Harwell in Your Life”

There was an interesting op-ed piece titled The Sandra Bullock Trade in The New York Times this past week about happiness and what teams of researchers have discovered about happiness in the past few decades (hat tip to the Zappos for tweeting this article).

One of the key research findings is that “worldly success has shallow roots while interpersonal bonds permeate through and through.” Makes sense, right? You cannot place the same amount of value on happiness and success because many successful people are miserable. Having a multi-million dollar annual salary means crap if you work 80 hours a week and never spend time with the people you love or doing the activities that make you happy.

The “money can’t buy love” mantra reminds me of reality TV shows I’ve seen about people who win the lottery but wind up unhappier than they were before they hit the jackpot. Winning the lottery doesn’t automatically boost your well being. Neither does landing a promotion at work. The article points out that people get slightly happier as their income rises, but this is contingent on how they experience growth. Wealth can bring on unrealistic expectations and derail stable relationships. But for those who experience growth in a more positive way, new responsibilities at work can lead to more interesting opportunities in life.

The overall impression from the happiness research is twofold: (1) Economic and professional success aren’t as rooted and important as interpersonal relationships. (2) Most of us pay attention to the wrong things, meaning we are trained to concern ourselves more with the material things in life versus those that truly matter.

I’m not trying to denounce the importance of money. I wish every person on this planet had enough money to live comfortably. What concerns me is people who equate happiness to wealth. You have to ask yourself, is earning a six or seven figure salary worth it if you never have time to enjoy life? I say absolutely not.

I would choose my health, friends and family who love me for who I am and a good balance between my career and social life any day over money. If that means I’ll live in a three bedroom bungalow in a metro Detroit suburb for the rest of my life, then so be it.

Who’s with me?

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If you live in a part of the world where cold weather exists for a good portion of the year, you understand why the first signs of spring are a sigh of relief. I walked out of work every day this week and instantly felt excitement/happiness from feeling the warm temps and seeing the ice melting on the Detroit River. It’s amazing how something as simple as warm weather can instantly brighten a person’s mood. I took the above picture to share a little piece of the happiness I’ve been feeling all this week.