To explain my lack of updates...

This here Happy Book blog is no more, but all's well.
I started it when I realized the relationship I was in had fulfilled its respectable purpose, and that I'd need something positive each day to facilitate moving on from it.  Guesstimating it would take about a year, I made this.  Long story short, it took less time, so I no longer need this baby and can go back to my old one (which I like better anyways, it's got the boob gum story on it).

Love, Happy Girl

Julietcardon.blogspot.com

Day 210

The Happy: Duke Sinatra

Me

Ben 

Tonight I'm going to a jazz club.

A jazz club? How classy. Who are you going with?

This guy Sinatra.

His name is Sinatra?

Last name.

First?

Duke Sinatra

You can't be serious.

He's Italian-American. And a real winner.

With a name like that, it sounds like he'll jump up and start playing smooth sax in the middle...

Ben is currently under the impression that I am flirting with the idea of dating a man who I met as a result of misplaced garments at the dry cleaner's, whose ancestors are of Italian royalty, and whose name is Duke Sinatra.

Love, Happy Girl

Day 209

The Happy: The Chart House

Happy Fathers Day!

Love, Happy Girl

Day 208

The Happy: MAD MEN

If you love the sixties, you'll want to watch this.  So you don't have the same misconception I did, let me explain that Mad Men is not at all like M.I.B.  Mad is short for Madison Avenue, where slick, handsome men work at an advertising company in New York, and have dissatisfied but fashionable housewives.  Good stuff.

I recommend it, highly.

Love, Happy Girl

Day 207

The Happy: I LOVE MIDTOWN

I was out with KK on Friday, when my friend invited me to attend a DC club. My relatively large zone of comfort was being pushed way too rapidly.  You have an irrational fear of poodles?  I have an irrational fear of clubs.  I would have even endured laser tagging if it meant I didn't have to brave this.

Kaile said I absolutely had to go though.  Just because.  And that was all there was to it.

What I thought it would be like:

This does not even look remotely fun to me.  Pictures like this bring upon me the fetal position.

I have no idea where my clubbing fear comes from.  

And this is just clubs.  Raves?  Music Festivals?  The Electric Daisy Carnival? NUNCA. No no no no. I don't even know what that is.

But once we got there, and I remembered that I love dancing, this was how I felt for the rest of the night:

I'm serious, it was the most fun I've had since my gummy buffet birthday party, and no one was mean to me for asking the bartender if I could just have some water.  Yay.  Fear overcome.

Love, Happy Girl

Days 199-206

 The Happy: Lots and lots of fab

Pardon me for all the neglect.

And now, the little happenings in life for a series of Summer days.

Designing my iPhone case, if mama will be so generous...

 Sun soaking with the male princess

Choosing a doormat for my and Alyssa's apartment

 A visit from the chic environmentalist

Finding things to paint

 Finding things to make

And being very, very happy.

Love, Happy Girl

Day 198

The Happy: Wardies with Kaile

Tonight was seriously the best.  K and I went to DC for our ward froyo social, and everybody rocked.  My driving though...oh my gosh.  No.
I love you Kai! Always have, always will.

Love, Happy Girl

Day 197

The Happy: Old Navy Swim Steals

The sale section was on fire yesterday

Me in the clearance aisle:

Steals:

 

$9.oo

$14.oo

BAM.

Love, Happy Girl

Day 196

The Happy: Satisfying the Thai cravings

AMERICAN GIRL'S PAD THAI STEPS

1) Obtain handful and a half of dry roasted peanuts, and 4 eggs.

2) Go to Asian market.  Buy wide rice noodles, a Pad Thai Sauce bottle, 2 limes, a handful of bean sprouts, a few green onions (scallions), and a handful of cilantro.

3) Soak half of noodle bag in warm water for 30 mins.

4) Chop bean sprouts into half chunks, green onions into quarter-inch-wide chunks, cilantro into fine chunks, and peanuts into little bits.

5) After noodle soaking, crack eggs into large hot skillet and start cooking.  Wash your hands, pick up noodles and transfer into skillet.  Stir around for 3ish mins.

6) Throw in sprouts and green onion.  Stir around.

7) Throw in half cup of water.  Cover and let steam for 45 seconds.

8) Add sauce, stirring as your add, until it tastes good.

9) Take skillet off of heat.  Throw in peanuts and cilantro.  Stir around.  Squeeze some lime.  Eat it by yourself the first time around in case it tastes funny.

It takes a very special person to mess this up.

Love, Happy Girl

Day 195

The Happy: Maxing Out

This chicky is steadily but definitely warming up to maxi skirts.  Picky in length, I prefer they almost drag and be hardly possible to walk in.  I also need them to have great fabric and strong details.

That means really expensive.  That means I don't own one.

Here ma faves:

 

 I apologize, I have no idea where any of these are from.

Well, except for the last one.  Leave it to J.Crew to produce a photograph that says a woman should never stand up straight, sort of straight, or even remotely like a normal person.

It is a nice skirt though (it should be...it's over Two Grand), and I can never resist a peek at the Crew.

Love, Happy Girl

Day 194

The Happy: New blogging idea

Quotes of the day leave me underimpressed.  I think they're a great idea in theory, not in practice.  A day is far too short to become properly immersed into a truly inspirational piece of thought.

Somewhere between Day 182 and Day 183, I met the halfway point of my Happy Book blog.  I'll need something new when this thing becomes just an old friend and reference point.  It's been fun having this positive spin on life though, and I want to continue it, so I've decided that when Day 366 comes around I'll begin fresh and start a Quote of the Week blog in which I choose a weekly quotation and record how I lived it that week.

Love, Happy Girl

Day 193

The Happy: Fur Fur Fur and Viernes!

I just love Friday, and I love it even more in Spanish. 

I'm planning out my room for Fall, and looking for furs to accompany my bed.

Faux fur, that is.

I hear "leopard fur" and "rabbit fur" so frequently in the fur world that I don't even think twice, but I was caught off guard when I found chinchilla fur last night.  It was just weird.  Chinchilla fur.

So faux it is.  I want faux fur throw pillows and/or a blanket.

  We actually had a chinchilla named Hazel that we later bought a husband for, Burny (who ironically burned to his death in the basement furnace).

Love, Happy Girl

Day 192

The Happy: Little Toirtle

I found her on Foxden Road tonight and named her Pumpkin, which was stupid because I only had her for about 30 seconds before Liz sliced my dreams into thirds with Google searches about the detrimental effects of removing a turtle from its station.  Somebody begrudgingly put their big girl pants on and drove Pumpkin back...

ONLY BECAUSE I LOVED HER, MOM.

Not pleased about this whole taking away free pets thing.

But at the same token, nobody could have replaced my red eared slider (RIP Isabel).

Love, Happy Girl

Day 191

The Happy: Diamonds & Blackbird

In the spirit of Summer vacay, I've been testing my skill set and trying to master old passions of mine.

I want to start painting things I love.  This season, I love diamonds, and the painting below is one of the most inspiring I've ever come across.

Last night I also learned to play Blackbird on the Martin, and while thoroughly exhausted of the tune it feels nice using something so reminiscent of the man I love the most - my dad - to strum my fingers on.  I passed by his cemetery in DC yesterday on my way to The Capitol, and it got me missing my fingertip callouses and bad singing voice.

Develop your talents.  That's all for today.

Love, Happy Girl

Day 190

The Happy: That Moment in Target When You Imprint on Something...

...and then it's only 22 bucks!!!
Not even on sale, baby.  NOT. EVEN. ON. SAAAALE.
So much win.

Love, Happy Girl

Day 189

The Happy: Popsicle Grocery Store Run

Somewhere inside my brand new box of goodies lies a pineapple flavor.

So much win.

And a very happy Memorial Day to my fellow Americans and country.

Love, Happy Girl

Day 188

The Happy: The seats I got at the Easton Corbin concert that almost happened

So me and Liz go partying it up mother-daughter style in downtown Rockville because the city was throwing a free concert tonight with Easton Corbin, my favorite country singer.  Not one of my favorites.  Not close to my favorite.  My favorite.  And the best part was, living within this snooty eastern county means absolutely nobody knows who he is, so the majority of people who didn't realize he's the all-american shiz sat in lounge chairs 60 feet off.  I walked to 2nd row seating 25 minutes before he was supposed to start.  That is pride, people.  And he is fine, people.  I wore a jean vest for that man.

But as luck would have it, we had a mini-tsunami, and the show was cancelled.  No Easton.

It was awful.

But my seats were great, that's what matters.

Easton, you're my country boy.

Love, Happy Girl

Day 187

The Happy: Doller Chipotle Rice

 

Never been a Chipotle girl, unless I was with Miles (who coincidentally called me on Saturday for the first time since high school! ahh so great, love the man).  But other than afternoon burritos with Jonesi, I never enjoyed the place much.  I LOVE carbs though, rice most particularly, so I was thrilled to learn I could order a bowl of straight up cilantro lime rice for uno verde.  It was delish, I want mas.

Love, Happy Girl

Day 186

The Happy: The Village!!!!

Congratulations to me and the lovely future roommate, Alyssa!  With 1 hour left to do it, we both cancelled our contracts at our old complex and signed with The Village.  I feel so, so good about this decision.  I don't know what I'm more excited about - the indoor pool, the fact that everything is brand new (bragging), living in the same place as Daniel and Andrew, or just that it's AWESOME!  Oh my gosh I'm sooo so excited.

Lyss, I love you.  Best decision we ever made.

Love, Happy Girl

Day 185

The Happy: Taking a nice Thursday Coma with Sasha

This...is almost me. 

If there was drool, it would be me.

 Oh this is soo summer.

 Love, Happy Girl