This whole blog thing started out as a creative outlet for me to express my dreams, meditations, and ideas. It’s been so much fun to bring you along and to watch it grow into something more. More of a community. More of a global coffee shop. More you and me, coming together with ideas on how to change our world, our health, and our lives.

I am loving it all! I love the e-mails, messages, and comments. I love the friendship and the bonding that is happening with followers and fellow bloggers.

I have sincerely enjoyed sharing “my journey to health” with you, even with all of the deep and dark soul searching it has evoked in me, and apparently in some of you as well. It’s been amazing, and I look forward to a few more weeks of that series.

However. As much as I love what it has become lately, I feel the need to change it up a little and have some MORE FUN around here. It’s time to put the “happy” back into this blog!

So…after listening to your feedback and your interests, I’ve decided to start another weekly column (I just can’t get enough of this place!) which will highlight some the small things that I discover on an everyday basis that bring me happiness. I am going to call it “Happy Little Finds.”

It will be interactive and spontaneous and will certainly bring more fun back to this blog!

Here’s what I’d like for you to do: tell me what you’re finding that makes you happy! It could be a saying, a picture, a quote, a re-purposed door knob, a purchase, or a new-found passion. E-mail, or send a message on facebook with your “finds” and then, at least once a month, I will feature them in a post here.

I am so excited about this series, I am starting it today!

Recently I have been going through boxes and getting rid of things I no longer need, such as my four-year-old daughter’s “baby” clothes. I had previously hung onto them, for mostly obvious reasons, but now that we are having a boy, it’s high time to let them go.

I have to admit I’ve been more sentimental than I thought I would be. Something about those tiny pink shoes that just hold so many wonderful memories and happy moments. Something about the smell of those satin blankets that take me straight back to those early days of my daughter’s life.

Nevertheless, it’s time to move on. It’s time to embrace the new and the present and the bundle of blue that’s coming!

Yard sales help me do that best. They provide a big, grand release of old stuff that no longer serves me. A cleansing, of sorts. They clear my head of the clutter that tends to build in our garage, and they help to simplify my life. Not to mention, someone else gets something they WANT, for a great deal!

I had one on Saturday. And I already feel so much better.

The side beauty of it all, is that I find some really cool things I have either been looking for, or had packed away and forgotten about.

Like this fancy vintage number that my Mom gave to me, several years ago. She knew how much I adored the details and the size of this saucepan, and decided that I should have it for my own. Isn’t it glorious??

I instantly became happy when I pulled it out of the rubbermaid tote it had been hiding in for the past two years. I got even happier when I used it to make our oatmeal this morning. It was extra good, coming from this pretty little thing.

And then I found this! Such a cute mini crock, I feel I must find something to put in it. Sugar for our coffee, perhaps? Or as a planter for some ivy?

One of the great things about getting rid of stuff, is it makes room for items you really love. The things you REALLY want.

Like this french door from the next-door neighbor’s pile of stuff. I have beeen wanting a door like this to put in my garden-themed guest room. It was propped up against her side of the fence for a few days before I finally inquired about it. And to my great delight, she told me I could have it, in exchange for some empty totes.

Now it’s propped up against my side of the fence. (Don’t you just LOVE when that happens??!!) Like a canvas of wonderous character, just waiting for my touch. A few strokes of the paintbrush, perhaps? Put some artwork in the windows and you’ve got yourself a treasure for years to come.

Oh…there’s so much more! My life is full of these kinds of gifts and discoveries, and I imagine, so is yours. I can’t wait to share more of them with you and to celebrate your “finds” here on this blog!

(Check back every Monday for more “Happy Little Finds.”)