50 Things That Make Me Smile

In no particular order…

1. The opening sequence to the Mary Tyler Moore Show.
2. The morning after a big snowfall.
3. The Muppets singing Bohemian Rhapsody.
4. The last five minutes of Cinema Paradiso. Best. Ending. Ever.
5. The Italian word albicoco (apricot).
6. The guys who sing doo-wop on the 2 train.
7. Scratching off a lottery ticket.
8. My dog attacking his stuffed sheep. Okay, my dog doing anything.
9. Strawberry ice cream.
10. Hey Abbott, who’s on first?
11. Dr. Jane Goodall.
12. My friend trying to get our rented Nissan Micro moving in Bath, England. “I’m just going to put the car in neutral and we’ll coast down the hill.” So you had a to be there, but  I never laughed so hard in my life.
13. A big, steaming cup o’ Joe from Gorilla Coffee.
14. My friend Ken Wheaton’s book.
15. George Clooney
16. Watching Lucy and Ethel trying to wrap chocolates. (Close second: watching Lucy trying to crush grapes.)
17. Knowing that texting can be used for good: at last count $60 million raised for Haiti relief through text donations.
18. “Put your lips to the world/ And live your life.” – Mary Oliver
19. Browsing at the indie bookstore.
20. Finding jeans that fit.
21. The Grand Canyon.
22. The dosa cart in Washington Square Park.
23. Georgia (not the state) at Best Friends Animal Society
24. The fact that I don’t work in a 1960′s ad agency a la Mad Men.
25. Penguins.
26. Bob Ross, the paining guy. I’ll put a happy little tree right here.
27. The way the winter light falls across the Chrysler Building.
28. The sweet smell of the cut flowers for sale in front of the bodega.
29. Thinking about quitting the gym.
30. Writing (and finishing) my novel.
31. Helping a dog or cat get to their forever home.
32. Making apple pie in the fall.
33. “For as this appalling ocean surrounds the verdant land, so in the soul of man there lies one insular Tahiti, full of peace and joy, but encompassed by all the horrors of the half-known life.” – Melville
34. Yoga.
35. The Jungle Room at Graceland.
36. Beacons.
37. The Peanuts Christmas special.
38. Landshark!
39. The way golf announcers talk.
40. The wedding ceremony dance sensation.
41. Will Ferrell’s rear end in Old School
42. Wide open spaces.
43. The smell of baby powder.
44. Eating a blast from Sonic.
45. Going shopping with my cousin.
46. “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” – Thoreau.
47. Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson.
48. The dog park.
49. Waking up in the middle of the night with the perfect combination of words for a story.
50. The ocean.

Send some things that make your list.