Hi friends,

I've been planning a special treat for you! The amazing Joy of Frock Files has agreed to do a little collaboration, and I'm delighted to be able to share all the love with you!

Every other week, right here and there on Thursdays, we'll be focusing on easy, sweet, affordable ways to spend time and share the love with the special someone in your life. When my hubs and I fell in love, time was ours to soak in, travels were easy, and our priorities were just us.

Hop, skip, and labor to today, 11 years into marriage with three little people, car payments and mortgage, two full-time professions and a whole bunch of wisdom learned along the way. I know each new gray hair, and I've seen each dignified wrinkle add to his expressions. The sheer mass quantity of the experiences that we've shared in the 16 years we've known each other amaze me.

1. So, let's go back to Italy and celebrate!! It's in the works but not for a few years...
2. Let's buy a lake house and relax and flirt like we used to. A great possibility but down the road...
3. Let's book the sitter and run away for the weekend... even that empties the wallet.

And purchases aside, spending more time gazing and less time computing would be a great switch of gears for us both.

Join us as we explore small gestures of big love - ways to show your sweetie just how much he/she means to you without spending your nest egg doing so.

Today Joy's sharing a little list of small gestures you can do right now that will completely make someone feel adored. So good...

xoxo,

MJ

Hello, lovelies!! Let me wish you a happy week and a happy Tuesday. It was so delightful to chat with some beautiful ladies last week about how we loves our magazines. So many of us are torn between digital and paper, but I think paper edged ahead. Want to add your voice to the conversation? We're even commenting on comments, and it's getting to be a second-cup-of-coffee banter for me.

Let's chat about something I've been thinking about a lot lately with the gloomy, cold, snowy weather. This time of year, in particular, brings out the flower lover in me. I adore fresh flowers all year round, but I find I "need" them Dec-April.

For nearly a decade, I spent somewhere between $6-10 a week on fresh flowers. The fragrant blooms were just as important as the eggs and butter on the list. Well, maybe even more essential in that they could bring me to positivity on bad days in a way that no configuration of butter or eggs could ever do.

When silk and paper flowers were still the rage, I could get by with faux arrangements when the weather outside was tolerant. But no matter what the season, I've always felt more productive, more creative, and capable in the presence of fresh blooms.

Now I'm a sensible (wha??) momma of three with an adorable budget-conscious hubby and that makes the $500ish a year for bouquets feel a little more frivolous than necessary. However, my husband is consistently bringing home flowers and planting blooming buds in the yard to satiate my blooming, living appetite.

So, I'm interested would you or do you spend money on a regular basis for fresh flowers? Are plants sufficient for you? Or do you not notice the difference?

How would you spend that $10/week?

I'm going to grab my mug... can't wait to chat with you soon!

xoxo, MJ

PS. My fave? Flowers in my hair - like one big bloom. Would you do it?

Before we get into the meat of our bookclub this week, I need to offer my condolences to our friend, Denise, upon the passing of her father. Of course she's taking some time away from blogging and bookclub to process, and my prayers and thoughts are with her.

In her spirit, we continue forward with this week's chapter from The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. Money, money, money to happiness is the topic. Does filling your bucket with money lead you to happiness? Here are Gretchen's resolutions revolving around money:

• Indulge in a modest splurge.
• Buy needful things.
• Spend out.
• Give something up.

                       

Happiness and money are complicated companions. Gretchen explores the push and pull extensively.

Here are two thoughts I found surprising about our views on money:

1. People measure themselves agains their age peers...so if you feel like you make more money than others your age...you tend to feel happier. People measure their happiness with their pay based on their perceptions of where they fit relative to others.

2. We Americans living in great relative wealth don't rate our quality of life much higher than people living in poverty in Calcutta. (Most people give themselves a mildly happy rating.)

Two thoughts I considered longer:

1. "What makes me happy is to spend money on the things I value–and it takes self-knowledge and discipline to discover what I really want, instead of parroting the desires of other people."

2. "It's easy to make the mistake of thinking that if you have something you love or there's something you want, you'll be happier with more."

In this chapter, for the first time, we get to read how Gretchen handled a perceived failure of her Happiness Project. She begins to doubt all of her resolutions and exercises. I appreciated her simple story of children bickering, bad moods, inconsistent marital messages and how they all led her to want to give up the cause of happiness. She resolved to get more sleep and things looked better after a few days... I can relate to wanting so much to start a plan, focus on positivity, then to have an event (or 7) compound forces against your efforts...so I was happy to be able to relate to her a bit better through her struggle.

So, here's what I'm taking on for this week. Give Something Up. I kind of love the contrary nature of the statement to all associations of happiness and money. I'm still deciding what exactly this might be for me. Perhaps the occasional Starbucks coffee? Maybe that extra cosmetic that I don't really need?

What would it be for you? What role does money play in happiness?

A pinnable for you:

Happy Thursday, friends. XOXO, MJ