Top 10 Happiest Vertical Gardens

April 29, 2014November 10, 2017by happsters23 Comments

Lately I’ve been slightly obsessed with living walls/vertical gardens. The first time I saw one on Pinterest I was hooked. Then I started noticing them around town and decided to create one in my own house!

Here are the 10 of happiest vertical gardens I’ve seen:

1. Living wall by Patrick Blanc including felt and rock wool.

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2. The B&Q vertical garden at the 2011 Chelsea Flower Show.

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3. Love this garden in Ibiza, Spain.

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4. Amazing vertical garden – Terrain At Styers – Glen Mills, PA.

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5. A pocket garden created by Jamie Durie.

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6. What a dining room!

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7. The largest living wall in North America: Semiahmoo Library.

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8. Herb wall in the kitchen.

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9. Living wall at the Carlton Residence.

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10. Vertical garden in Caixa Forum, Madrid.

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And just for fun…Here’s our living room vertical garden!

Do you have space at your house to garden? Which one of these is your favorite? Let me know in the comments!

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Happy Weekend Pics

April 27, 2014April 27, 2014by happsters17 Comments

Hope you had a beautiful weekend! Here are a few snapshots from mine.

Enough work. Time to play.

Pallet succulent garden we made from an old pallet.

Beach fun.

Billy checking the waves – “Look at those lefts!”

The beach down the street from us.

Huge pieces of art at the Little Italy Art Fair.

Bought a cute “home sweet home” sign with a heart over San Diego. Now I just need to decide where to hang it!

Couldn’t pass up the living wall photo op.

What did you do this weekend? Did you have time to hang out with friends and family?

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Happiness, Positive Mantras

Tips for a Great Morning, Every Morning

April 26, 2014October 28, 2015by happsters24 Comments

What are some of the first things you do each morning when you wake up? Recently, I’ve been really conscious of what I choose to do when I open my eyes in the morning.

I go through phases of reaching for my phone on my bedside table to see the time and then getting sucked into reading work email and checking social media while still in bed. Since I’m a social media manager, I look at the Twitter and Facebook accounts that I manage at work and then check my own personal ones. Sometimes I would center myself with some morning mantras or meditate, but it wasn’t a daily routine.

Three weeks ago I made a rule for myself that I would leave my phone in the other room and commit to some new morning rituals. Note: I am a fairly early-riser so I have about an hour of extra time before I need to get ready for work in the morning.

Here are the rituals I try to do each morning. I get to about 5 of the 6 each day.

1. Think of 3 things I’m grateful for.

2. Meditate

3. Read a few pages of a book. Right now I’m reading The Power of Self-Healing by Dr. Fabrizio Mancini.

4. Do some stretching exercises/yoga.

Photo of me and Billy at the Wanderlust Festival

5. Go for a morning walk around my neighborhood (and sometimes down to the beach!).

6. Eat breakfast

Morning Rituals

What does your morning routine consist of? Let me know in the comments!

#imahappster, Happiness, Happiness Tips

Your Happiness News for the Week

April 5, 2014October 28, 2015by happsters7 Comments

Happy Saturday, friends! I thought it would be fun to do a round-up of all the best articles about happiness that were published in the last week. Enjoy!

1) 12 Ways To Be Happier At Work In Less Than 10 Minutes

In this article, Sharon Salzberg breaks down the key to workplace happiness. One of my favorite suggestions is to find ways to “break down the momentum” of the day. Read more here.

2) 43 Of The Happiest Little Kids In The Whole Wide World

The cutest and happiest kids you’ll ever see. You are guaranteed to smile while browsing through these photos. See them here.

3) 9 Ridiculously Simple Ways To Feel Happier Today

Sonja Lyubomirsky, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at the University of California Riverside, suggests simple things to do to increase your happiness. A few recommendations including smiling, expressing gratitude, and walking outside. Read more here.

4) Spend Your Money on THIS to Be Happier

A new study found that while Americans tend to believe that material goods provide better value, buying “life experiences” actually makes Americans happier than buying material possessions. Read more here.

5) Discover a kingdom where happiness rules

A look inside Bhutan, where “Gross National Happiness is more important than “Gross National Product”. I especially enjoyed this excerpt from the article: “The concept is evident in the day-to-day life of the people, from the regular meditation and reflective gardening that’s built into the school curriculum, to the charming road signs that line the main roads. These run the gamut from encouraging (“Life is a journey! Complete it!”) to paternal (“This is a highway, not a runway!”). Even the graffiti is upbeat: In Thimpu, I read a white scrawl that read, ‘Life is not a race.'” Read more here.

Have some happy news to share? Leave a comment below!

P.S. Get daily inspiration at http://www.instagram.com/happsters.

Happiness, Happiness Tips

Top 14 Physical and Psychological Benefits of Meditation

March 30, 2014March 30, 2014by happsters22 Comments

Hi Happsters!

Sorry I’ve been MIA lately! I hope you’ve been as happy as ever!

Today I wanted to share some fascinating meditation facts with you. If you’ve never tried before, I highly suggest giving it a shot. I used the free app “Headspace“, which was created for beginners, and I can’t say enough good things about it. I love it because it starts you out with meditating 10 minutes a day for 10 days. They talk you through the whole thing and make it very easy to get started.

I’ve found that meditation helped me significantly reduce my stress levels. Meditation actually “activates the ‘rest and digest’ part of our nervous system, helping with stress management. Our heart rate slows, our respiration slows and our blood pressure drops. This is often called the ‘relaxation response.'” (Source)

I’ve compiled some of the physical benefits, as well as the psychological benefits of meditation below:

(Source) Photo by Jack Bates Photography

(Source) Photo by Jack Bates Photography

Do you meditate? If not, are you up for giving it a go?

P.S. Get daily inspiration at http://www.instagram.com/happsters.

Appreciation, Happiness, Kindness

15 Random Acts of Kindness That Take Less Than 5 Minutes

January 7, 2014January 7, 2014by happsters24 Comments

I hope everyone is having a wonderful 2014 so far! I wanted to share with you some simple random acts of kindness that everyone has time for. All of the suggestions below take less than 5 minutes! I hope to knock these all out in less than a week. Are you with me?

Are you going to do any of these random acts of kindness? Do you have another random act of kindness that isn’t on the list? Let me know in the comments!

P.S. Receive an email each Friday featuring something to make you smile as you go into the weekend here: http://tinyurl.com/heyheyfriday

Happiness

Happy Quotes to Live by in 2014

December 31, 2013December 30, 2013by happsters32 Comments

Are you making any New Year’s Resolutions this year? One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to live in the moment and just be happy. If your goals are similar to mine, I think you’ll relate to these 10 happy quotes. They keep me motivated and make me stop and think about what’s really important in life. I hope you like them too!

Happy Quote #1: If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking.

Continue reading “Happy Quotes to Live by in 2014” →

Happiness

4 Yummy Recipes to Make You Happy Going into 2014

December 29, 2013December 28, 2013by happsters9 Comments

A few months ago I posted about the “Top Foods That Make You Happy” and highlighted mood-boosting foods like salmon, chocolate, bananas, eggs, beans, mushrooms, asparagus, and nuts. I thought a great follow-up to that post would be to highlight a few recipes that include some of these happy foods! Here are 4 delicious recipes from my friend and fellow blogger, Lindsay from Weeknight Bite.

Continue reading “4 Yummy Recipes to Make You Happy Going into 2014” →

Happiness Tips

5 Ways to Win the Holidays & say no to Stress

December 10, 2013October 28, 2015by happsters6 Comments

Photography via Jack Bates

The holidays are the most magical time of the year and I don’t know about you, but December is my favorite month :). But with all of the holiday parties and present buying, sometimes stress creeps up on us unexpectedly. Here are 5 ways to win the holidays and beat holiday stress: Continue reading “5 Ways to Win the Holidays & say no to Stress” →

Happiness, Kindness

Top 5 Happy Events in November

November 27, 2013October 28, 2015by happsters4 Comments

Happy almost Thanksgiving! With so much violence and negativity in the news, I thought it would be fun to point out all of the happy events that have gone on in the past few weeks. Here are my top 5 happy events in November:

1) Pharrell’s New Song “Happy”.

Pharrell just came out with the first 24 hour music video consisting of images and people dancing to the happy song for a full 24 hours! Check it out here: http://24hoursofhappy.com/

2. Strangers Making Friends with Each Other

When a ball pit was set up in the middle of the sidewalk with a sign that read “Take a Seat & Make a Friend”, strangers found themselves hanging out in it together and making beautiful connections. Check it out here. Continue reading “Top 5 Happy Events in November” →