Happy is {as Happy does}

happy, happy birthday, baby.

Quote ~ ~ brittanygolightly ~ Leave a comment

1da9dbdaef2a6b2ecec28a98fabf5e7a_article

i turned 34 this week. the estrogen-compelled ageist in me bemoaned the fact, condemning the gray hairs abounding along my middle part (of course. of course they sprout up in the exact place they would be most noticeable), and my metabolism, aka the physiological version of a last-picked-in-P.E. loser, no longer able to sprint through any of my all-you-can-eat culinary acquisitions the way it used to. but, the Moonriver cantillating, stained-glass reverie dwelling, heartsome part of me reveled in the blessing of another year on a planet so apt to provide. aside from grateful communion with my God, i felt there was no better way to express my thankful wonder at the world then by composing a list of 34 reasons why I am so very glad to be alive and well.  Continue reading →

Girl: Happy

Quote ~ ~ brittanygolightly ~ Leave a comment

polaroid_00

“In this world in which we live, simplicity and kindness are the only magic wands that work wonders.”
-L. Frank Baum

When I think of living simply, I immediately envisage small living spaces. Most often, the requiem I find myself in is a small loft apartment, with charmingly crackled walls, cold concrete floors, and a bed clad in diaphanous white linens, the center of it all. There are countless little towers of vintage books, haphazardly strewn throughout the humble haven, all standing watch like little sentinels.  Continue reading →

I Don’t Care If The Sun Don’t Shine

Quote ~ ~ brittanygolightly ~ 5 Comments
polaroid_00
^ That was taken at Versailles! “Isn’t it marvelous?!”

“With freedom, books, flowers, and the moon, who could not be happy?”
-Oscar Wilde

Ernest Hemingway said to write hard and clear about what hurts. A truth I am trying to champion is that there is an acuity to my words only when they are written extractions of my tragic vulnerabilities (proof: here); I want to be able to extract my happiness with the same amount of expressive precision.  I have hesitated for quite some time to publish this part of my life for fear of brandishing my unpleasantries for the world wide web to witness. But, another truth I am trying to overcome is that I am not very brave. And so I am going to do as Ernest urged. He was, after all, a man so very handsome, and as  “I’m just a girl who cain’t so no” to a handsome man… Continue reading →

Girl: Happy

~ brittanygolightly ~ 3 Comments
 
“Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all.” 
-Emily Dickinson

Kurt Vonnegut once said, “I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim, or murmur, or think at some point, ‘If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.’” I thought of this quote not long ago during one such moment, and I did just that- it wasn’t an emphatic exclamation, but a contented vocalization: “I’m happy.” And that was the first time I can ever recall recognizing happiness at it’s exactness.

Starting Today

~ brittanygolightly ~ Leave a comment
fe5c779e2210b3910f3ab0305976b0ec
{ hol-i-day }
-noun
 1. a day fixed by law or custom on which ordinary business is suspended in commemoration of some event or in honor of some person. 
  –adjective
 2. of or pertaining to a festival; festive; joyous: a holiday mood.
 
Oh by no means is it an altogether recognized “holiday” to most people. But I am not most people, and The First Day of Summer is, in every above sense of the word, a holiday to me. Continue reading →