Tuesday, November 1, 2011

One Little Word Blog Hop - November Edition

Hello and Welcome to the One Little Word Blog Hop! If you came here from Jenn's blog, welcome! You made it to the right place.  Grab a drink and stay awhile! I love visitors!
If you are a regular reader, you already know the drill! ;) The entire hop goes live at 8:00 a.m. Pacific (11:00 my time) so if you are early, just check back later to catch everyone!

My one little word for 2011 is "happy". I am focusing this year on what it means to be happy, what makes me happy, how mindful I can be about choosing happiness.

For September, Ali asked us to revisit February's prompt and do a divided page of photos. I culled through my archives for the last six months and chose photos that just made me happy to look at:

The only photos that might need some interpretation are: 


top left --that is one of our cats drinking out of a glass of ice water that my daughter left on the sofa -- she prefers her water cold and will help herself to anything left unattended!


Center: my two youngest on a college visit.  I do feel ready for this next stage!


I also chose two photos to enlarge to 5x7 and added some favorite quotes.  If you are a regular blog reader, you'll already know why these photos are special enough to be worthy of enlargement.  If you are a casual visitor or just popping in from the One Little Word classroom, you can find the story of this photo here.


This is me just goofing on the beach.  The story behind this photo can be found here. No question but that I am HAPPY in this moment.


My self-assessment for the month of October. I did have a much harder time with exercise this month... and I'm finding that weekends and travel both tend to trip me up in terms of maintaining commitments to myself! 
But I'm proud of how well I did on the sugar-free elimination diet.  An entire month with no ice cream, cookies, cake, brownies, or other sweets. My two slip-up days were travel days.  One involved a fruit smoothie in the airport.  The other some cola on the airplane, attempting to stave off an impending headache.  I honestly don't think the sugar-free diet helped my fibromyalgia symptoms at all.  Sure didn't affect my weight. :(.  But I'll know for sure in the next few days as I allow some treats back into my life. 

Thanks for stopping by! Your next stop on the hop is Jan's blog.  And just in case you get lost, here is the entire hop list:

Margie              http://xnomads.typepad.com/
Julie Ann           http://julieannshahin2.blogspot.com
Lisa                  http://backtoallen.com/writers_blog
Sam                 http://learncreatedo.wordpress.com
Jenn                 http://studiojenn.blogspot.com
Cheri                 http://cheriandrews.blogspot.com  <----- YOU ARE HERE
Jan                   http://mysimplelittlelife.typepad.com  <------ NEXT STOP
Debra               http://blakleyhomeplace.blogspot.com
Nikki                 http://www.inkyart.com.au
Rebekah           http://istampscrapcraft.blogspot.com
Lynn                 http://crafty-creativity.blogspot.com
Amanda            http://scrappnbee.blogspot.com
Jill                     http://jillconyers.typepad.com/
And many thanks to Margie for keeping this going so that we all have incentive to stay up-to-date with our One Little Word albums!

17 comments:

ScrappnBee said...

What a fabulous 9 patch! Great job with your OLW homework! Love the quotes that you picked as well. Thanks for sharing! -Amanda

Debra Dotter Blakley said...

I have to say, your pictures made me happy as well, and I love the picture of you at the beach and the quote. So true and all of us are finally reaching this place of acceptance aren't we.

Rebekah said...

Wow, good for you on the no-sugar. I've often wondered if I would really, truly feel different without so much sugar. Thanks for sharing your happy thoughts with us! :)

Julie Ann Rachelle Interior Design said...

Did I know you have fibromyalgia and forgot? I also have it Cheri! I was diagnosed in 1997-ish. The last few days have been especially bad for some reason, I hope I'm not going to have a bad winter.

I love your darling happy photos! I especially love the caterpillar/butterfly quote! Well done, well done!!! xoxo

Anonymous said...

Those chocolate strawberries look delicious.

Cheryl said...

LOVE the pic of you on the beach, and the quote pairs with it perfectly! Way to go earning all those gold stars!

Cheryl said...

I too love the quote and the picture of you on the beach just tell the story to a tea x

Jan B said...

All your photos ARE so happy! And that card with the stars - hmmmm, I really resonate with stuff like that, though I don't always follow through. But I'm inspired to give that a try in a few areas I need to work on. Maybe if it something I saw every day, I just know I'd want to get lots and lots of stars! :)

Hope you stay in that happy place! Blessings...

Anonymous said...

It's always such a treat to come visit your space here. Gorgeous photos, and I absolutely love the one of you on the beach!

Anonymous said...

I think making a happy collage would be a great project even if our word was different! Loved it. I've fallen off track with my OLW, and I'm not sure I'm going to get back on.

MonicaB said...

You truly look so happy. You are living your word. The collage looks wonderful and I really love your star chart. I said it last month but I really need to make one of those for me.

scrappyjacky said...

Love the bright,happy collage,Cheri.

Anonymous said...

Such great photos. My favorite is the one of you on the beach. It is a perfect representation of what you are achieving with your word. Your entry exudes happiness this month. It appears that your efforts are working!

Unknown said...

Your photos are beautiful! Congratulations on your healthy progress. Love that your still using your calendar.

Ginger said...

Cheri I love that self assessment page! You mention how you did not do so well with the exercise, but when I look at all those stars I think you did VERY well! Love the photos!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful collage full of bright happy pics. I love your other photos and quotes too. I've though about the no sugar thing too and downloaded an ebook on it the other day. But then I wonder if it's a good idea to do it now right before those Christmas treats.

Deb @ PaperTurtle said...

I have really enjoyed seeing you keep your HAPPY word alive this year, Cheri. I think you've done a fabulous job - right down to having a great big HAPPY on the wall of my craft room (under paint now, but still...). Your photos are awesome, and I love the ones that you have added quotes to. :o)

Also really like the one of your kitty-cat drinking out of the water glass. My two cats do the same thing!