It doesn’t take much to make me happy, most days.  (Note: My children will read that sentence and say, “You choose how you feel, Mama; no one can make you happy or unhappy.”  Wonder where they heard that?)

The other night, as I was choosing to have an unhappy moment, I gave myself a challenge: in less than 30 minutes, list 50 happy moments from 2013.  By the time I got to number 3, I was already feeling better.  By 35, I was feeling pretty damn grateful, and peacefully happy.  The best part?  I could have kept going – easily.  For the 50 on this list, there were at least another 100 that I thought of before I went to sleep that night.

Having an un-swell sort of day?  Take the challenge yourself; you’ll be amazed.

And now, in no particular order, here are 50 things that made me smile, inside and out, this year:

1. Outstanding in the Field, and being there with two of my closest friends.
2. Lucia Blue Lotus candles
3. Pimm’s Royales on Easter
4. Zinnias that sprang up from seeds my husband scattered in the alley behind our house
5. Lulu Tinkle Beast, aka Destructo Dog
6. Kadota figs from my neighbor’s yard
7. Having a post Freshly Pressed
8. Clinique Repairwear Laser Focus
9. The Kinfolk Table
10. Seeing kayaking explorer Daniel Alvarez again, and following his travels through his blog all year
11. Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad series
12. My friend Marjorie’s beautiful silver hair
13. Having my photographs published in the local paper
14. Shared Vision, the collection of photographs I would own if I had the money (except for the Joel Peter Witkin; never did like Witkin’s work)
15. The fact that there’s a ‘cement pond’ at my sister’s fancy new house (and that she calls it by that name)
16. The Olivet, Michigan middle school football team
17. Watching my daughter master intricate designs on the Rainbow Loom, thanks to hours spent watching YouTube videos
18. The Big Texan
19. Fresh lettuce from True Vine Farms 
20. Lilly koozies from my sister for my birthday
21. L-I-C-E is a Four Letter Word, by the Bitchin’ Sisters
22. Listening to The Sisters Grimm series on the way to school
23. Oggl
24. Seeing Elton John in concert
25. Amurica, the craziest photo booth ever
26. Acura of Memphis, best car service team ever (and I’ve owned many cars)
27. Dinner: A Love Story
28. Lesley Carter’s Social Media brainstorm, and the new blogging friends I met because of it
29. Bernard’s shaving half his head and putting on make up to be Two-Face for Halloween
30. Learning how many fellow foodies also hate kale
31. My son’s winning football game on his birthday
32. Making platinum prints for the first time in 25 years
33. Being featured in the Memphis Business Journal
34. The Camp Gyno video
35. The Bitter Southerner
36. Fishing on the 4^th of July
37. Tina Seelig’s Crash Course in Creativity (Stanford Venture Labs)
38. Having lunch with my uncles Memorial Day weekend
39. Watching my daughter play softball for the first time
40. Going to my Hutchison 30^th reunion dinner (surprise, I know, right?)
41. Taking winter clothes to the dry cleaner and finding a whole spring wardrobe waiting
42. Watching Here Comes the Boom with my son and listening to his belly laugh
43. Assembling art collages for my children’s school auction
44. The hilarity of the Optional School campout
45. Retiring from competitive USTA tennis.  Forever.  I mean it.
46. The public fall of Lululemon (yes, I do feel guilty being happy about another’s misfortune, and I know karma will come for me as it did for Chip Wilson)
47. Interviewing Gannon Hamilton, chef de cuisine at The Elegant Farmer
48. Not going Black Friday shopping
49. Seeing the picture of Princess Diana and Nelson Mandela and remembering that the good always trumps the bad
50. The WordPress community.  Seriously.  The posts, pictures, likes, comments, follows and WP challenges, I love it all.

Cheers to a happy 2013.  May next year be the same.