...keep smiling...

...what is it that makes you smile?

for some it's new things, going shopping,
eating beautiful food,
spending time with family and friends,
a good coffee,
good music...
for me, it's also really simple things like
walks in the bush or up into the hills, 
along the beach,
it's spending time in the garden with the sun on my back,
and it's stitching...

...currently i'm in the middle of a kitchen renovation...

it's turning into a much bigger job
than first imagined...

...i've a feeling this might often happen with building jobs...
but i told myself right from the start
that no matter what happened,
i wouldn't get stressed...i would just keep smiling,
and it's working!

...find myself enjoying the process,
not worrying about how long its taking...

...what i'm really enjoying

is seeing it take shape little by little each week,
and it makes me realise that it's not so much about
it being worth it in the end 

(which of course it will be)...

...but rather,
that i will appreciate it all the more
because it's taken a little longer!

last month was my birthday,
it was one of those "significant" ones
and i wanted to do something that i'd recall 
in years to come...
sadly my original plans got scuppered  by covid...
they involved a trip to france and walking the
mont blanc trail
but that will have to keep for another year...
so i decided that i'd celebrate the last day
of my fifties
by running a half marathon
and the first day of my sixties
with a beautiful bush walk...
still not sure why i ever thought the half marathon was a good idea,
but at the time it seemed fitting...
haha!
i confess i wasn't smiling so much when i completed it,

and wasn't smiling again properly
until much later than afternoon...
but i was most definitely smiling
the whole way round the bush walk the next day...
the bush, and the hills, are my happy places,
 go to places for peace,
for exercise,
for happiness
and sometimes for sorting out sad things...

the trail took me along the banks of the taieri river,

up the hillside,
then back down again to the water
to john bull gully,
and it was amazing!

..celebrated that night with pizza

and a chocolate muffin for dessert...

what's not to smile about that :) 

...stitching...
my most favourite "smiley" occupation
and so enjoying the weekly challenge set by anne brooke...

#52hannemadetags...

...and i'm working on a slow stitch piece,

of which i have absolutely no idea what it will end up being,

it's just something i pick up every now and then

and add a few more stitches...

...its a wintery sunday afternoon as i write this,

and stitching awaits,

as it's a little bleak to go walking today!

...happy stitching,

or whatever it is that makes you smile...

jen xx