The Happy Book

Hello lovelies,

So, I was feeling a little down today because my cat still isn't home from hospital. Apparently he's all better, but they just can't get him to eat. Boo. Long story short, rather than wallow in my misery, I decided to do something I've been meaning to do for a while now - start a "Happy Book". A few months ago I went through a really bad patch where I spent most of my time crying or laying in bed. Ultimately, I spoke to a psychologist and decided to come up with ideas/ways to get better, and if possible, to never end up in that situation again. One of these ideas was the Happy Book. Basically, I want to fill it up full of things that make me smile. I plan to add a few more pages every week, and then put it aside to flip through whenever I start feeling sad. At the moment it looks a little like a cross between a teenagers journal and a lookbook. Which is exactly what I was going for, of course.

The front cover - I got these Emily The Strange name stickers free from an awesome magazine (which has since gone out of business) back in my early teens. Leopard print notebook was $2.99 from Crazy Clarks.

Page One, how exciting. Crazy dog picture was cut from the same awesome-but-out-of-business mag that the name stickers came from. Heart Quotes are:
"The reward for conformity is that everyone likes you but yourself." - Rita Mae Brown
"The opposite of bravery is not cowardice, but conformity." - Robert Anthony

Page 2 & 3, as you may have noticed, are all about friendship. L - R (over both pages) from the top: My friend J & I in Grade 2, J & I in approx. Grade 11, J & I heading off to Grade 7 camp. S & I (Ghostbusters T-shirt) on the beach in Surfers Paradise in Grade 9, a group of us (me with long frizzy black hair), J & I at Stradbroke Island for Grade 9 camp, J, S & I approximately Grade 11 again. Heart Quotes are:
"What is a friend? A single soul in two bodies." - Aristotle
"If you judge people, you have no time to love them." - Mother Teresa
"Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together." - Woodrow Wilson
"We are all angels with only one wing - we can only fly by emracing each other." - Anon
"Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light." - Helen Keller

Page 4 & 5, pictures from Dolly, Girlfriend & Grazia Magazines. Sunflower card, 3 for $1.00 at my local random shop. Heart quotes are:
"I change my mind so much, I need two boyfriends and a girlfriend." - Pink
"Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months." - Oscar Wilde

Pages 6 & 7. For those who aren't aware, I have a major crush on Scarlett Johansson. I would, for serious, marry that woman. The Boyfriend doesn't seem to mind too much. Scarlett Quote: "I want to be part of the history of film-making - I would like to accomplish something more than looking pretty in a gown." Pictures from Cosmopolitan, Dolly and Grazia. Heart Quotes are:
"If we do not plant knowledge when we are young, it will give us no shade when we are old." - Lord Chesterfield
"There is a level of cowardice lower than the conformist - the fashionable nonconformist." - Ayn Rand.

Pages 8 & 9, background art is Punks In Love by Ash Santilla, from the band 67 Special. Pictures from Dolly, Girlfriend and Cosmo. Heart Quotes are:
"Every day do something that will inch you closer to a better tomorrow." - Doug Finebough
"Above all, remember that the most important thing you can take anywhere is not a Gucci bag or French-cut jeans: It's an open mind." - Gail Rubin Benery

Pages 9 & 10, pictures from Dolly, Girlfriend, Grazia, Cosmo. "Hope" card is another 3 for $1 dealio. Heart quotes are:
"After the game is over, the king and the pawn go into the same box." - Italian Proverb
"You cannot plough a field by turning it over in your mind." - Unknown Author
"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." - Albert Einstein
"In the hope of reaching the moon men fail to see the flowers blossoming at their feet." - Albert Schweitzer

Pages 11 & 12, pictures from Grazia, Cosmo & Dolly. The note is from Countess Von Belfry - my favourite eBay seller, when I last bought a corset from her. She makes amazing clothes, and I'm always ecstatic when I know I have a parcel coming from her. The "Hervey Bay At Night"postcard reminds me of one Summer when my friends roadtripped up to see me in Hervey Bay. One of them couldn't make it, so we were going to send them a postcard. I found that one, which is exactly as it appears - just a black card. It never actually got sent, so now I just giggle about it. Heart Quotes are:
"They can because they think they can." - Virgil
"If you would create something, you must be something." - Johann Wolfgang
"You cannot step twice into the same river, for other waters are continually flowing on." - Heraclitus
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." - Mahatama Ghandi

That's all for the moment! I'm not sure whether my Happy Book concept will keep me from being depressed again, but it sure took my mind off my poor cat. And it does make me happy to look at it, and add to it. Time will tell for the rest!

Until next time, xo.