5 Things That Brought Me Joy This Week

Little sparks of happiness from a really good week.

1. Walking is now my joy. Why did I not know this before? As I walk the neighborhoods of my work and my home, I find myself looking at people’s yards, marveling at the planes carving a path across the sky, pondering the clouds or bird, breathing in the air, soaking in the sunshine… Now that it’s not raining where I live, I am taking 30 minutes a day to stretch my legs and get some steps in, and it’s become my favorite time of the day. Plus, it puts me in a good mood for the rest of the day.

2. As I walk, I’ve been listening to Ram Dass podcasts. I know I mentioned this last week, but I’m mentioning it again because I feel like my spirit has been calling out for his teachings all my life, and I’m just now understanding it. I read his book Be Here Now a few years ago, and I loved it. But I don’t think I was ready for his teachings then. Now, I am. I feel completely open to the Universe, and I’m ecstatic about it.

3. I write romance novels. I said this to the grocery clerk yesterday when the subject came up, and she immediately lit up, then touched my shoulder as if to siphon off some of my good fortune. The past few years, I have viewed my life as a writer as something that is so ordinary. Nothing special. I’m just struggling along writing these books and trying to be seen in a very saturated market. But this woman reminded me that I am living my dream, and I’m really lucky to do so.

   

4. I am over the moon excited for Masquerade Mistake to publish, which is getting closer and closer, and all the more real. It comes back from my editor this weekend, and then it’s on to production mode. I have some really cool surprise plans for this book (and series) that I can’t wait to share with you. I will be sharing first on my newsletter list (which most of you are a part of, but if not, click the link to join), plus a cover reveal next week, PLUS a pre-sale link... I’ll also start recording the audiobook soon, though that won’t release until the summer. This is probably the most fun I’ve ever had publishing a book.

5. On Friday night, I treated my husband to a surprise date in San Francisco. I told him to “eat first, dress nice,” and nothing else. He drove, and I navigated us to the parking garage. Then we walked to the International Art Museum where they were holding a popup Candlelight Concert, with an orchestra playing songs by Coldplay. It was gorgeous all the way around, from the candlelight to the beautiful music.

Here’s a little backstory on the whole Coldplay thing. Years and years ago, I was married to my first husband and we were very, very poor. There were days I would be literally scrounging the couch for change. But somehow I scraped enough money together to purchase tickets to see Coldplay, this brand new band who was touring their Parachutes album (year 2000). I think the tickets were $25.

The day of the concert came, and my then husband told me we couldn’t go. We had no gas in the car, and no money to get gas. Plus there was parking, and there was no way we could afford that.

I was devastated. This was my favorite band, and their album was one I played on repeat constantly. Having the tickets but no way to get there was a cruel kind of torture.

Fast forward, and Coldplay is touring again, this time for A Head Full of Dreams (2015). And this time, I was going, but with Shawn. It was definitely a lot more than $25. We went, got parking, found out seats, then enjoyed the best concert we’ve ever been to in our lives.

We’ve since seen them three times in concert, and as different as our music tastes are, this is one band we’ve always agreed on.

So when I saw that the Candlelight Concerts included a tribute to Coldplay, I knew I couldn’t pass it up.

One cute thing that happened before the concert was while we were perusing the museum, waiting for the show to start. Shawn had figured out some kind of performance was going to happen, but still didn’t know what. But the music playing on the speakers was giving some mad hints, because they kept playing Coldplay songs, along with some other ones we both like. He joked that they stole my playlist. But he also mentioned that he’d really like to go to another Coldplay concert.

When the concert started, they jumped right into the music without introducing what they were playing, and I kept watching Shawn’s face. He was delighted. But it wasn’t until the second song when he realized this whole night was about Coldplay.

You should have seen his face. It was really sweet.

Surprise dates are seriously such a fun part of our marriage, and I love that after 15 years together, we still romance each other in special ways.

❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

What are some things that made YOU happy this week?

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I don’t just write rambling blog posts, I also write novels. Find them all here.