CHANGE=CREATIVITY=HAPPINESS!!!

all right all of my happyfaceproject fans and there are QUITE A FEW OF YOU!!!!! THANK YOU first of all for happying along with me through the month of June. I know it is not quite over yet, but I have some exciting news for you!! casting about for a wonderful thing for the cast of THE FANTASTICKS--in order to express my gratitude and love for a few weeks WELL SPENT with fantastick song and dance, love, magic and beauty (yeah ...what could be better?) a CO-WORKER of genuine importance suggested that I give them each a HAPPY FACE!!! And so I did!!! Here are the little darlings all lined up along the closing stage--the stage that my devoted son swept and mopped every show, the stage which was home to some of the MOST TALENTED actors EVER, and the stage managed by-yes, you are right-the best stage manager EVER--here they are!!! Right before I gave one to each actor, with instructions to place the HAPPYFACE somewhere beautiful and wonderful and happy, snap a shot, and email it to me so that I can put it here on our HAPPYFACEPROJECT blog!! See how fabulous and FANTASTICK life is when you ARE CONNECTED TO GOOD PEOPLE? THANK YOU, thank you, thank you--everyone.  THANK YOU for visiting the HAPPYFACEPROJECT blog, thank you for sending happy thoughts, thank you for living a happy life, and thank you for being happy.  I believe it makes all the difference, and knowing that some of you checked out the blog, wrote comments, and sent me emails made me the HAPPIEST EVER!!! Love always and look for HAPPYFACE pictures from global destinations as soon as I get them!!!

FOUR TIMES HAPPINESS!!!!

Oh dear HAPPYFACEPROJECT friends!!! I placed FOUR HAPPY FACES and then only got to post them THIS MINUTE online!!!! Yes! That is just how BUSY a HAPPY life can be!!! So while the FANTASTICK FANTASTICKS is winding down and THE SOLID GOLD CADILLAC gets ready to hit the stage and SOLSTICE is upon us and AN IMPORTANT ART SHOW readys for an OPENING in just a couple of weeks--WOW!!! I can still make the time to BE HAPPY, post HAPPYSFACES for you and me, and work for HAPPINESS every possible moment. So here they are for YOU!!! BE HAPPY OK!!! be happy DEAR FRIENDS!!!! 1) ON THE BEACH!!! 2) A PLAYGROUND WITH REALLY HAPPY KIDS!!! 3) THE HAPPY, HAPPY RAINBOW GATE!!!! 4) Mr. BEN FRANKLIN contemplating HAPPINESS!!! Love always!!!!

A RETURN TO PURE HAPPINESS!!!!

THANK GAWD we still have a couple of bookstores, REAL BOOKSTORES, left in this city!  With all the big corporate bookstores running with their tails between their pages and many people reading books on their "electronic devices" (shudder), man oh man AM I HAPPY  a few real live, page-turning, print on the paper BOOKSTORES are still with us!!! This store in particular makes me VERY VERY HAPPY, because next to my KIDS, and my DOGS, BOOKS are my very, very, VERY best friends!!! It is June 17th I am pretty sure and I am still FABULOUSLY HAPPY from working THE FANTASTICKS (a most HAPPY show!!!!) and just HAPPY to put HAPPYFACE #17 in the window!!!! Love always!!!!

A NOT SO HAPPY DAY!

well, i guess it happens. could be the grey. like a too thick blanket. in the meantime, there is chocolate and dang! chocolate, cookies, and goldfish are the three food groups that keep me only a cheating vegan!! i know a little dark chocolate will help me find HAPPY again. so here we are--YAAY! CHOCOLATE HAPPY FACE #17 I am pretty sure.  Love always!!!

SO MUCH HAPPY!!!

Yes today I am bringing you TWO HAPPY FACES at once!!! Not because I am lazy, oh no no no no NO!!! But because life is speeding by at the speed of life and WHEW!!!! There is barely enough time to do all of the important things!!! Forget all of the unimportant NONSENSE and just FOCUS on the meaningful HAPPINESSES in your life, OK?  That is definitely what is working for me in this particular time of my life.  Ah!!! That is A LOT of ME!!! All right, let's talk about YOU and HAPPY FACE #15 and HAPPY FACE #16, for June 15th and 16th, of course.  #15 is for you to FEAST YOUR EYES on that broad and smooth and gorgeous green expanse.  Never mind the fence!!! You must take delight and BE HAPPY fence or no fence, right? UMMMM . . . green!!!! LOVE IT!!! And #16 is right smack on the outside wall of a VERY HAPPY, very active place.  There are many HAPPY PEOPLE there!! Paint splattered, covered with glitter and feathers, and piecing and patching together every amazing and HAPPY thing you could ever imagine!! BE HAPPY dear HAPPYFACEPROJECT PERSON!!! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity so FOCUS ON HAPPY!!!! Love always!!!!

HAPPY CAT DAY!!!

This is a HAPPY DAY--June 14, 2011 and this is HAPPY FACE #14.  Written on, spot chosen, and taped up by my beloved wee granddaughter.  One of her favorite fountains, with a backdrop of roses, and the pure gleeful happiness that only a six year old seems to be capable of expressing.  Four hours with my granddaughter is more than enough to keep me going for . . . oh I don't know--about a WEEK OR MORE at least!!! She is so golden, and energetic, and positive, and spontaneous!!! She makes me believe that all good things are possible.  She makes me feel loved and wanted.  And she makes me almost impossible to describe~~ HAPPY~~!!!  Love always!! OH!!!! We forgot to show you the flip side of HAPPY FACE #14--it is decorated with FOUR HAPPY CATS!!!!

WHY HAPPY???

Sometimes the old habit trails of depression in my brain whisper really useless things in my head.  Does this ever happen to you?  Like . . . why be happy?  The world is fraught with misery.  Why be happy?  The morning has dawned yet again with nothing but grey skies.  Even the crows are silent.  Why be happy?  We are in THREE WARS at the moment.  Why be happy?  No matter how few animals I eat, some people still eat lamb for gawd's sake!!! But it only takes a breath or two of time to glance around and find beauty, inspiration, and confirmation of the benefits of hanging on to HAPPY.  Just looking across the street and seeing this luminous, insanely HAPPY FACE still grinning at me reminds me that I am a player in the grand scheme of things and CHOOSING HAPPY will make everything I do meaningful.  Yes, I will continue to educate myself and help in any way I can to end misery, war, and lamb-eating (and all other animals) DOWN WITH FACTORY FARMS!!!on this planet!!! In my own way, that is exactly what the HAPPY FACE PROJECT is all about--you gotta start HAPPY, stay HAPPY and positive even in the face of mass ignorance, and help everyone you know stay HAPPY and inspired, right?  I believe so.  HAPPY FACE #12 certainly thinks so.  And yes, all of your media devices are correct.  I guess I did step into that time machine because this is HAPPY FACE #12 for June 12th!!! Yesterday.  Time to go wake up some HAPPY crows!!! Love always and please do NOT support factory farms!!!

GOOD HEALTH IS DEFINITELY HAPPINESS!!!!

HAPPY JUNE 12th!  I have had the honor and pleasure of working with great actors who maintain fabulous athletic stamina and perform nothing short of a marathon bringing a wonderful production to the stage night after night.  WHEW!!! Just the mere thought of what they do makes me extremely HAPPY!! HAPPY FACE #12--June 12, 2011 goes like lightening speed along the cyber highway all the way to Oregon and straight into the hearts of some very DEAR PEOPLE!!! Stay strong, get healthy!!!! I am sending every healthy HAPPY THOUGHT AND WISH I can!!! Love always!!! Oh.  And HAPPY FACE #12 is hanging smack on the gate of one of SB's most HAPPY PLACES!!!!! Great, great music and performances under the STARS!!!! Not much can be HAPPIER than that!!!

TIME MACHINE HAPPY!!!!

OK. All right. I missed a day.  I did not miss a day exactly, but I did not get to post for JUNE 11th, a very HAPPY DAY to all of us who were here to enjoy it.  And as I was finishing up work I turned and saw something I had NEVER NOTICED in three years of shutting this very same closet door.  Look closely . . . do you see it?  TIME MACHINE!!!!! Scrawled right there with an arrow pointing within a person sized closet!!!! OH HAPPY DAY!!!! Let's go I am thinking and perhaps find a HAPPIER MOMENT OR TWO OR TIME, or maybe just fix a little something that would help make all present day days HAPPIER!!!! Who knows what mischief we could indulge ourselves in!!! Ahhhh, this HAPPY FACE #11 is dedicated to Mr. H.G. Wells himself and all of those fantastickly foolish perfectly wonderful thoughts he put into my little girl head with his time travel machine!!! Yaaaay!! HAPPY JUNE 11th!!! No matter where or how you travel!!! Even by closet!!!

HAPPINESS IS A WARM BLADE!!!!

Oh come on . . . you know what I meant!!! You know how my mind works by now, right? The Beatles song with rollerblading=happiness=skate park=TRUE HAPPINESS ON MY PART because my beloved middle child is back home for a short while.  Visiting from college, I sent him out on his first afternoon in SB with instructions to post #9 HAPPY FACE in one of his best HAPPY PLACES!! And, of course, it was the skate park--a place where he began skating, OH WOW!! I meant aggressive inline skating otherwise known as ROLLERBLADING which he loves very much and he is oh so good and he continues YES he continues skating.  YAAAAY for him!!!! Rollerblading makes him HAPPY times a brazillion!! And because he is home for a sweet and wonderful time?  I am the HAPPIEST person on the planet!!!! I hope you are too!!! Love always and SKATE SAFE!!!!

HAPPY HAPPY DOG FACE!!!

If you know me at all, then you know that I am known as leader of the pack--dog pack that is--and other than the faces of my beloved children--this is the dearest, kindest, most loving and bad ass face on the planet!!! Sancho is 15 years old.  He has helped raise three kids, three other dogs, chased brazillions of tennis balls, mountains of rocks, and any cat he can find.  He has not too many teeth left and yet he will growl at imagined intruders, invaders of his privacy, and even me if I try to kiss him.  Yeah.  He is THAT COOL, that handsome, and THAT AWESOME.  And need I say--THAT HAPPY!!!! Aching joints, bones, muscles--NOTHING holds him back.  He might groan a little when he first gets up, but before I can even down my first cup of coffee, he has dropped a soggy tennis ball at my feet and is waiting patiently to play EVERY SINGLE MORNING WITHOUT FAIL.  You knew it already . . . HE IS MY BEST FRIEND AND THAT MAKES ME VERY, VERY HAPPY.  Here on June 8th with HAPPY FACE #8--SANCHO THE MAGNIFICENT!!!

HAPPY ART SCHOOL!!!!

I know I have said this a brazillion times . . . but there are few places on earth HAPPIER than an art department, an art school, an art class, or dang . . . even a hallway of art lockers.  And here at SBCC--definitely one of the MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACES on the planet--there is a particularly HAPPY HALLWAY.  Look how HAPPY HAPPY FACE #7 looks on this locker!!!  ART=LIFE=LOVE=HOME=LIFE=ART=HAPPY!!! Go to SBCC and just WALK AROUND.  It is so fabulous there!! Like a country club in paradise!!!! You will be SO HAPPY!!! Thank you to the distinguished art professor who was kind and interested in what a somewhat odd jabberwocky woman was doing in a downtime hallway photographing HAPPY FACE #7!! Love always!!

The Most Beautiful Tree

I certainly can understand why people sit in trees and tie themselves to trees in order to preserve such grand beauty.  OMG!!! HAPPY FACE #6 on June 6th is posted on THE MOST BEAUTIFUL TREE.  SB is full of beautiful trees, I know, and even though my camera skills could just barely capture the magnificence of this one---BELIEVE ME!! It is beyond fabulous.  This tree is so perfect and balanced and graceful and fantastic, it always, and I mean ALWAYS makes me HAPPY!! Easily a thousand birds board in it every night.  The canopy of leaves is so full it looks like a mini-galaxy of green.  I love this tree so much I can hardly say.  It is a happy, happy tree and PROUD OWNER OF HAPPY FACE #6!!!! BE HAPPY and love always!!

Still Happy-one day late--JUNE 5th!!

OK. Apologies! I took HAPPY FACE photo #5 on the 5th of June but then I got soooo busy sewing that I didn't get around to posting it until now!  There was a slight computer glitch in our household and my sweet mini computer became the number one most valuable item to be shared if you know what I mean, so instead of kicking someone else off to post HAPPY FACE #5 on June 5th--TODAY you will get TWO HAPPY FACES!!! That is a LOT OF HAPPY!  #5 is on the door of the best and most wonderful frame shop in our city. There is actually a WISHING TREE outside of their shop!  Every time I walk past I notice all of the wishes hanging on the tree which makes me really HAPPY and I send all of the people HAPPY THOUGHTS about their wishes!! OH, BTW, didn't that rain make you extra HAPPY?? Love always!

LIFE IS FANTASTICK on June 4th!!

Time and time again we hear and speak and write and read that LIFE IS RELATIONSHIPS and nowhere is that more relevant and important than in the world of LIVE THEATRE.  Here is what I think: live theatre is a perfect metaphor for life!  YEAH! It really, really is!!! Think about it . . . diverse people, of all backgrounds, interests and talents-coming together working INCREDIBLY HARD on details, split seconds, and a brazillion decisions and then SHOWTIME and the run of show after show and then?  IT'S ALL DONE! The curtain lowers for the last time, the construction guys clear the stage of the set within days, and the experience lives on in the shared moments of cast and crew and the lucky audience.  WOW!! Just thinking about my backstage work makes me INCREDIBLY HAPPY!!! Tonight is OPENING NIGHT!!! One of the happiest moments in theatre and our lives for sure.  So HAPPY FACE #4 is dedicated to my friends and colleagues at the theatre.  The FANTASTICKS!!! A show of much LOVE and HAPPINESS and most of all?  CONNECTION!! So for supreme HAPPINESS--stay CONNECTED!! You can always shoot me an email!! I will respond with a HAPPY ONE!!! LOVE ALWAYS!!! Theatre=life-art-life-love.

BYOH. Easier said than done. June 3, 2011

Well . . . I can't always be little Mary Sunshine now, can I?  But this HAPPY FACE certainly can!! HAPPY FACE #3 is especially happy because it hangs over the door to a DANCE STUDIO where someone I know works hard at learning to tap dance!  How happy is that?  Oh My Goodness but dancers are DEFINITELY heroes of mine and thinking about what to do for a monumental birthday that is not that far away  . . . along the lines of being my own hero? BMOH? I think I just might sign up for dance again and study and love something that I was deeply involved with more than a lifetime ago.  That would be brave.  That would be cool.  I think that just might be a really HAPPY thing to do.  Ahh!!!! To dance again!! OK. I am HAPPY even thinking about it.  A special thanks to someone who got a chair to position HAPPY FACE #3 just right!!

HERE IT IS!!!! June 2nd!!

The first public posting of the happyfaceproject and WOW!!! What a spectacular HAPPY FACE #2!!!! and in such a FABULOUS and HAPPY location!!  Thank you to the kind and handsome gentleman who complimented my photograph as I was hanging HAPPY FACE #2 to the side of the KOI TANK!!!  The place where I have spent many, many hours with kids and dogs watching the simple and magnificent beauty of the  swimming jewels.  And the message on the back of HAPPY FACE #2?  Very easy!!! Load up your favorite music and START WALKING because WOW--LIFE IS SO, SO GREAT WITH A SOUNDTRACK!!!! Might as well make it yours!!! HAPPY JUNE 2nd, 2011--the one and only!!

WELCOME!!

So there I was in the depths of depression, funny that we never say the heights of depression, I guess depression by its very definition is deep, wow, that's deep, and just like the brightest LIGHT BULB EVER I had this most brilliant thought . . . sit down, wait for it . . . LIFE, JUST BECAUSE IT IS LIFE-- IS GOOD!!  And I mean really, really, REALLY good.  GREAT in fact!!! Because, well, come on, the only other side to life is being dead and that is just not good!  Not in any way!  So life itself is WONDERFUL simply because, and here is the most important part, because it is LIFE!!! Yippee you should say every single moment I AM ALIVE!!! Whoa doggies that is such a FABULOUS thing!!! BUT, and yes, everybody has a big one as Peewee once noted--BUT, there do come those times when a little thing or a really big thing just trumps that happy good feeling and DANG! as one of my sons would say-you just cannot find a SINGLE THING that makes you smile.  VOILA!!! The HAPPY FACE PROJECT is now here with you!! One of my friends was fighting a major depression, and being a survivor of the down and out gutter blues myself, I wanted to help her.  I thought of painting these ridiculous HAPPY FACES and writing ungodly wonderful cryptic messages on the back and putting them all around our happy little seaside town!!!  And I thought of doing it every single day for the month of June.  Add to this compassionate and dare I say, HAPPY THOUGHT--the extreme design talents of my beloved granddaughter who designed AND painted AND photographed the very first NUMBER ONE HAPPY FACE, and the unmatchable skill set of her multi-talented mother and HERE YOU GO!!!! The number one HAPPY FACE of the Happy Face Project brought to you by our sincere wishes, hopes, and desires for your own happiness to put a smile back on your face. Photographed with a favorite polka-dot pillow and a striped kitten at home . . . the very best place of all!!!