the small pleasures of life

Natalie and Amanda arrange the lights behind the main table. Note the beautifully folded napkins. Natalie works at a reception venue so she taught us all the cool little details about setting up a wedding dinner.
The cake table. As it's pretty much certain no one at the wedding will notice this, please take note of the beautifully pinned up tablecloths around it. Are they not skillfully done? (by yours truly...)

The final result.

Photos above: This afternoon is a friend's wedding; last night five of us went out to the reception venue to set it all up. It's a low budget wedding as the couple are both still students and 20 years old, but I think we managed to do a rather good job! Although my fingers still smell like rubber from blowing up balloons....

Now - I am going to blatantly copy Stacy and make a list of:

Things That Make Me Happy

1) Making lists.

2) Writing in phonetics. Seriously, you all should try it sometime.

3) Going out for meals. Especially when someone else is paying.

4) Buying nice clothes.

5) Leaving the lawns to grow a little longer than is tidy, then mowing them. Cutting through all that grass is so therapeutic.

6) Christmas carols.

7) British comedians. Especially from a little while ago like Monty Python or Flanders and Swann.

8) Jane Austen. There is something so satisfying about finishing one of her novels.

9) Wrapping up Christmas presents. Isn't that just so fun? You get them all crisp looking, and tie curly ribbon on, and make little cards or labels for them, and then you arrange them under the tree... *sigh of contentment*

10) Finding little jokes in things that no one else finds funny. I look mad, but at least I enjoy myself.

11) Thinking of names for my hypothetical children.

12) Writing a story I think is good, or even just writing a sentence I think is clever or funny. This also makes me nervous though in case I'm the only one who likes it.

13) When the Korean students I tutor say or write something funny... eg "That ballroom is too small. You must blow it." (That was yesterday, and what she meant was 'balloon'.)

14) On a similar note, when I'm tutoring and someone really doesn't get something, and I spend a while trying to explain or demonstrate it, and suddenly they click. What a great feeling.

15) Drinking a milkshake.

16) The sunlight on a clear summer evening.

17) The smell of coffee or freshly cut grass.

18) Playing the piano or recorder or guitar, especially with other people.

19) When children like me.

20) U2 songs played loudly.

21) Jazz playing on the stereo while I cook.

22) Going to the airport. When you drive into the carpark there, an electronic voice says "WELCOME!!" in a very corny voice. It's so fun to talk along with it.

23) Similarly, talking and singing along with The Sound of Music. My sister and I could probably talk along with the whole movie.

24) Getting a really hard song just right on the piano. Or playing a really loud song with a super dramatic crescendo. There is no better way to destress.

25) Getting mail. Real mail, not bills or official letters or anything like that.