A new study finds that money you spend at chain stores quickly leaves the community, while money you spend at local businesses helps make the neighborhood better. Independent stores recirculate 55.2% of revenues compared to 13.6% for big retailers. (via www.fastcoexist.com). If you want stats. When you shop at the small businesses in your neighborhood, you help support the things that make your community great! Nov 30 is Small Business Saturday, so get out and Shop Small. 
Dan Buettner, the author of Thrive: Finding Happiness the Blue Zone Way, set out to find the happiest places on earth, and he thinks he’s discovered four contenders on four different continents. What makes residents in these places so glad to be living the lives they do? Here’s a hint: It has nothing to do with their material wealth, intelligence, or attractiveness. Instead, Buettner found that members of these communities, which span the globe from Denmark to Mexico, give priority to social networks and health and well-being above all—and they make choices that reflect those values. So if you’re looking for a cheery destination for your next vacation, consider these four spots—and get ready to take notes on how to really live the good life. Read more–click here. Local stores help to sustain vibrant, compact, walkable town centers. And walkable cities are one of the things that all the “happiest” cities have in common Non-profit organizations receive an average 250% more support from smaller business owners than they do from large businesses. Buy what you want, not what someone wants you to buy: A marketplace of tens of thousands of small businesses is the best way to ensure innovation and low prices over the long-term. A multitude of small businesses, each selecting products based not on a national sales plan but on their own interests and the needs of their local customers, guarantees a much broader range of product choices.
Show your thanks to small businesses–shop local and in turn make your community a happier one.
(I know it’s not Thursday, just pretend. It’s a long story…)
Quotes from: Institute for Local Self-Reliance http://www.ilsr.org/why-support-locally-owned-businesses/ Sustainable Connections http://sustainableconnections.org/thinklocal/why
Is anybody having company for the upcoming Holidays? How about a nagging thing you really want to get done in your house before the end of the year?
Wait. OMG I just bored even me and I’m writing this.
Listen. I love decorating and even I get so bored reading about it. Let’s cut to the chase. It’s not about keeping up with the Jones’. It’s about living in a place that is an extension of ourselves. It’s about feeling good-and liking the skin we are in-the bricks and mortar we live in. Don’t be lazy. Don’t give up. Don’t live in a rat’s nest. Be a Nike ad and Just Do It. For crying out loud. Change your darn dining room light before you have the big dinner. Or pull down the vertical blinds (NO ONE SHOULD HAVE VERTICAL BLINDS EVER). Go to TJMaxx and buy 6 pillows to cover up your totally dated furniture. (Buy the pillows in matching pairs.). You have time. You have time to do one thing before the year ends. We can pretend you can get more than one thing done…but then there is all that OTHER stuff you have to do. So today is the day. Figure out what the one thing is and Just Do It. And don’t belittle it, man. It’s not bows and shiny stuff–home is where your soul rejuvenates.
In the immortal words of Nike.
“We’re all capable of a little more – a little faster, a little higher, a little stronger, a little more. And when we look at all of the little things we’ve done, we’ll see the big things we’re doing.
Where you wake up is where you start this day. Think I’m cheesy? This is what I woke up to when I was much more “young”. Push pinned to my wall right here. Still have it.
You were born a daughter.
You looked up to your mother.
You looked up to your father.
You looked up at everyone.
You wanted to be a princess.
You thought you were a princess.
You wanted to own a horse.
You wanted to be a horse.
You wanted your brother to be a horse.
You wanted to wear pink.
You never wanted to wear pink.
You wanted to be a Veterinarian.
You wanted to be President.
You wanted to be the President’s Veterinarian.
You were picked last for the team.
You were the best one on the team.
You refused to be on the team.
You wanted to be good in algebra.
You hid during algebra.
You wanted the boys to notice you.
You were afraid the boys would notice you.
You started to get acne.
You started to get breasts.
You started to get acne that was bigger than your breasts.
You wouldn’t wear a bra.
You couldn’t wait to wear a bra.
You couldn’t fit into a bra.
You didn’t like the way you looked.
You didn’t like the way your parents looked.
You didn’t want to grow up.
You had your first best friend.
You had your first date.
You had your second best friend.
You had your second first date.
You spent hours on the telephone.
You got kissed.
You got to kiss back.
You went to the prom.
You didn’t go to the prom.
You went to the prom with the wrong person.
You spent hours on the telephone.
You fell in love.
You fell in love.
You fell in love.
You lost your best friend.
You lost your other best friend.
You really fell in love.
You became a steady girlfriend.
You became a significant other.
YOU BECAME SIGNIFICANT TO YOURSELF.
Sooner or later, you start taking yourself seriously. You know when you need a break. You know when you need a rest. You know what to get worked up about and what to get rid of. And you know when it’s time to take care of yourself, for yourself. To do something that makes you stronger, faster, more complete.
Because you know it’s never too late to have a life. And never too late to change one.
JUST DO IT
-Nike
Love it. Live your life. Love your life. Love where you start it. Love where you finish it. Change one thing. JUST DO IT.
Cue Hallelujah choir.
I have a diabetic geriatric cat. A few years ago she started this lovely habit of walking into her litter box, backing up and peeing…over the side of the box. So NOT going to discuss all the ways I tried to “overcome” this. (Although an amusing story of me pushing her back while she was peeing does come to mind.) I have to lay down a garbage bag to protect the floor and then lay an absorbent terry cloth towel over this. EVERY DAY I have to pick up the towel, go outside to shake it out, spray everything down, lay a new towel down and wash the smelly one. FOR TWO YEARS. People, don’t judge me. I know what great lengths y’all have gone through for your pets.
Next. My feet. (I figured I would combine cat urine and my feet all in one post.) One day I had to borrow a pair of my friend’s socks. I grabbed a pair that just happened to be custom knitted for her specific arch height and foot length/width. We have similar size feet and high arches. WHO KNEW that custom knitted socks would feel so much better?
Back to cat pee. I splurged. I bought puppy pee pads yesterday. I found a pack of 50 for $12.95 at TJMaxx. It felt lazy and kind of wasteful when I bought them but TWO YEARS people! TWO YEARS.
Yesterday I could not believe how easy the cleaning of the litter box ordeal went…do you hear angels trumpeting and gleeful harps?? Because I did. I was GIDDY. Giddy I tell you, GIDD-DEEEE.
Last night. Went on a ghost walk, sort of. It was cold out. Did I mention that Nancy, KNITTER EXTRAORDINAIRE, gifted me along with her lovely daughter, Steph, TWO PAIRS OF CUSTOM KNITTED SOCKS? It was like walking on air all night. Seriously, I love these socks. Love the way they look. Love how they feel. I love that my feet are the perfect temperature no matter what while wearing these socks. Did I mention I camped with cub scouts last weekend in freezing temperatures (with a latrine for a bathroom) and I wore my new custom socks and my feet were the ONLY thing that were happy?
In fact, I can’t decide which I love more. My puppy pee pads that can absorb 5 cups of water or my custom knitted Nancy socks?
I am happy. Joyful. I’m telling you it’s the little things that bring joy.
Kerry Murphy
Yesterday was Wordless Wednesday. Wordless because I had no internet. Which brings me to today–Thankful Thursday.
I’m thankful that my internet is back. Thanks Comcast for showing up 30 minutes after I called and spending 90 minutes at my house!
Did you know being thankful is the cornerstone of happiness?
So grab a pad of post it notes and scribble willy nilly some things you are thankful for–then stick them all over the crazy place.
Thankful Thursday Everyone!
