Do you hate seeing tag/award posts? Me too. XD Most tag/award posts are some of the most unattractive posts I see. Worse than apology ones. I only do them once a year and try to make them fun on my doll blog. :’)

But this tag created by Maya has got to be the most creative, unique, non-boring tag I’ve ever seen in my life. When Clara tagged me for it, I promised I’d do it as soon as I had a personal blog! (Thank you so much, Clara!)

So here I am, with 10 things that make me happy, and then at the end you’re probably tagged to share some too.

Music

MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC! One of my most favorite things ever. I have headphones (apparently they’re actually called earbuds) in pretty much half the day, and always have them on me. Even in my jacket pocket just heading into Walmart.

Music is the #1 thing that motivates me (I’ll go from lying on the couch sick to getting up and going on a strenuous photography excursion and putting a guest post together), inspires me (a ton of my story ideas, scenes, and titles, not to mention blog post ideas and even the title of this blog have come straight from songs), and encourages me (it’s literally proven that music boosts your mood and even lowers your perception of pain!).

Sound is very powerful, which is why I take special care to only listen to Christian or good-spirited instrumental music. God created the entire world by speaking, so I like to sing good words!

Although sad contemplative songs are massively relatable. XD

My favorite genres are:

  • Christian hip-hop/rap
  • Christian EDM
  • Instrumental epica (think upbeat movie trailer music)

My all-time favorite songs are:

  • Adventure by Matthew Parker
  • Adventure (Acoustic) by Matthew Parker
  • Shadows by The Afters
  • I Can’t Quit (feat. Reconcile) by Capital Kings
  • This Is the Intro by Spencer Kane
  • Into the Wild by Manic Drive

My five favorite artists are:

  • Matthew Parker
  • Capital Kings
  • LZ7
  • GAWVI
  • NF

My current favorite songs (they generally change every week) are:

  • In the Building (feat. Pyrexx) by Benjah
  • On My Momma (feat. Reconcile) by Benjah
  • Freedom Tonight by Benjah
  • Get to Work by Benjah
  • Better Off by Benjah
  • Bold by Ledger

As you can probably tell, I go on artist binges until I tire and discover new music. These are all in the Christian hip-hop/rap genre, and Benjah is a FANTASTIC artist.

Also, does anyone else besides me just play the iTunes sample over and over again until they’re absolutely sure they want to buy the song? XD

Writing

I’m called by God to be an author. You can tell because whenever I talk about writing, my face lights up and the passion with which I speak raises a few notches. If money were no object, I would spend the rest of my life writing. I would pay to write!

I could get lost in my story, my characters, and the incredible adventures I go on in my head before it even comes out on the page forever. It’s my happy place. It’s worth the grind and the hard work. It’s the best!

Writing is beautiful. *cries happily*

My author website is here, if you’re interested in checking it out.

I’m currently on another writing break while I continue to make progress in my health, but the story I’ve been working on for the past few years is Warfare. I’ve drafted it four times but keep rewriting it, and my outlining process is very intense and thorough so it’s taking me a while.

It’s historical fiction, set in 1680 Japan. In this story, the ninja way of life hasn’t completely died out yet… I take a little historical liberty because NINJA!!! ADVENTURES!!! MISSIONS!!! ESPIONAGE!!! ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS!!! EPICNESS!!!

(That isn’t to say I haven’t done my fair share of research, by the way. I’ve done a ton of research and continue to do so.)

Adventure

So, I used to have this thing where I hated change. When I first moved here, I spent the entire first couple years in resistance, refusing to enjoy my life and just clinging to how things used to be.

Part of that, of course, was just the normal being-sad-after-moving that lasts for everyone for a while. But I was stubborn too.

But then… I stopped being pessimistic and pitying myself and HAD THE BEST YEAR OF MY WHOLE ENTIRE FREAKING LIFE.

2017 was the peak of literally everything for me. My blogs were soaring. My writing was roaring. And my life? I was enjoying every second. LIFE WAS A TOTAL ADVENTURE AND I LOVED EVERY BIT OF IT.

On January 3rd of that year, I commented on the most self-pitying blog I followed and publicly stated that “Man, 2017 will be the best year I’ve ever had, only to be topped by each one after. Should life give me lemons, I’ll squeeze lemons in its eyes and punch it in the throat.”

And that attitude propelled me into living the heck out of my life. It was the most beautiful adventure in the whole entire world.

So, since then, I’ve absolutely adored adventure. I never take things slow! I like to go do spontaneous things just to shake things up. I once wore mismatched socks to my orthodontist and when he asked if I had gotten dressed in the dark that morning, I said, “I like to spice life up a little.”

And though I’m a little shy socially, in everything else I always thrive off of adrenaline and excitement. Competition? I’ll aim to compete, defeat, repeat. Rollercoasters? Falcon’s Fury 90-foot straight drop? Let’s go.

And I end up having a great time.

Of course, I did that too much with tons of projects and pedal-to-the-medaled my body out, crashing my adrenal glands and sinking my health, so take things in moderation but the point is ADVENTURE.

I encourage everyone to just shoot high and live for God because life is short and He’ll take you on the grandest adventure. Ever.

Go listen to Adventure again. Right now. I’m commanding you. >:D

Memories

The picture above doesn’t look like a picture encapsulating the term “memories”, but it carries a wealth of memories to me.

I am literally obsessed with nostalgia and memories. That’s partly why I like adventure: to make awesome memories!

Just going through my favorite photo memories to find a picture overwhelmed me with that beautifully bittersweet nostalgia feeling. *cries*

Sometimes I purposely try to make memories (always associated with music because it’ll bring me back to the memory later and therefore nostalgia), and sometimes they just happen. But my favorite memories will always be those first six months of 2017. Those were heaven.

♪ this is heaven / this is living / together we touch the sky, oh woah / this is heaven / this is believing our dreams will come alive ♪
– Adventure by Matthew Parker

So adventures = memories. ?

I may have a bad habit of looking through my old favorite memories and being sad because I miss them and feel like nothing can compare (… sounds like what I did before 2017), but I try to remember to stay in the present—even if I’m not where I want to be in life—and make new memories.

Happy, Aesthetic Photos/Places

This is why I love Instagram so much, although I’m currently taking a break from it too. THE BEAUTIFUL GIRLY HAPPY BRIGHT AESTHETIC THEMES.

Do you know what I’m talking about? Here’s an example where I tried planning out my IG theme in advance (the very top left photo is a stock photo and not mine, I just had it there for inspiration):

SEE WHAT I MEAN? Obviously mine aren’t a gold standard, but the girly aestheticy feel was what I was shooting for.

Bright, happy, colorful, warm, girly, aesthetic, writerly/productivity photos just make my soul happy. I love both gazing at them and creating them. They actually inspire me to write or be productive. XD

Same thing with desk places and such. The prettier and photo-worthier, the better!

Obviously aestheticness isn’t always reality but please stop hating on when people edit photos to create something pretty to make my soul happy. GO AWAY WITH YOUR CYNICALNESS.

Swinging

I thought I was the only one who enjoyed swinging while listening to music, but I found a few online friends who do the same thing!

Music motivates, inspires, and encourages me, right? And movement encourages blood flow to the brain and I just daydream while excitedly swinging to the epic music and the ideas and daydreams and wonderfulness just FLOW.

I swing with music every morning and take multiple “swing breaks” throughout the day.

Swinging is my “zone” of inspiration. I mention that in a post I did about how to literally never run out of inspiration.

I don’t know why I’m linking to my own blogs so much in this post but I promise I’m not trying to just shamelessly self promote, I’m still on my professional blogging break so I don’t care about traffic and whatnot at this point. Just trying to be helpful if you are curious about inspiration zones.

Dolls

DOLLS! They are what got me into blogging in the first place (along with God telling my parents to let me have a blog even though they weren’t going to let me originally).

And I don’t think liking dolls as a 16-year-old is immature at all. I don’t even think adult doll collectors are immature.

Everyone should have a hobby that’s fun for them, and a lot of people have found great success making money online blogging about dolls, creating stopmotions, or partnering with doll companies.

But success or money or not, DOLLS ARE FUN AND I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. My very favorite are American Girl dolls, and I’ve blogged about them for seven years here. And as soon as I’m feeling all the way better, I’ll be back to it!

I especially love dressing them up and taking photos of them, as well as writing stories using my dolls as characters and taking photos of them to go along with the story (called photostories). ae;oIFHLSDKAFGH.

^ I couldn’t explain the enjoyment in words so I just keyboard slammed.

My dolls make me very happy, and reading doll blogs is one of my favorite things to do. ♥

Road Trips

*flies off of chair bonks head and dies five times* RRROOOAAADDD TRIPS!

Adventure, memories, and music all rolled into one.

One of my very favorite things to do is sit in the car with the windows rolled down, the heat seaters turned on, my headphones blasting or phone connected to the car with the bass turned literally all the way up, and just get lost in my daydreams and the scenery and the music.

I especially love writing in the car!

Road trips are really special to me because I’ve made so many amazing memories—summer vacations especially!

I love flying in an airplane, but road trips are my favorite. ♥

And no, I don’t drive yet, nor am I learning to yet. Why do people always feel the need to ask this? I just don’t get it. XD

Daydreaming

A recurring theme throughout my favorite things.

What am I doing when I’m swinging? Daydreaming. And when I’m listening to music? Daydreaming (besides working on a project or dancing it). How about staring out the window during a car ride? Daydreaming. When I look up and think through a plot hole or am trying to just get lost in my story? Daydreaming!

The power of imagination is incredible, if you’ve ever heard any biblical teaching on it.

And I just love getting lost in my mind… and then grasping those daydreams and turning them into reality.

I also love what Matthew Parker said in an interview about his latest full-length album Daydreamer. He said a lot of people weren’t where they wanted to be in life, but they could daydream and hope. And that perfectly described my situation a year ago when it came out, and even now.

♪ we are the born and brave daydreamers / we won’t give up, we will be legends, we won’t grow up / we will be young ’til the day we die / legends written in the starry sky ♪
– Legends by Matthew Parker

♪ hold on to hope, just hold on ♪
– Braver by Matthew Parker

And as my pastor says, “Don’t look at where you are right now, because where you are right now is not where you’re going to stay.”

So if you’re going through a rough patch like I am… don’t let go of your dreams! The future is worth this current fight. Keep dreaming and especially daydreaming.

Summer + Sunshine

I LOVE SUMMER WITH ALL OF MY SOUL. Fall and winter are depressing and if they went away forever I would not complain once.

(I don’t mind the cloudy, cool-weathered fall days, though; those are adventure-inducing. And I love Christmas; I just love summer 10002301948% more.)

I love warmth so much that I will wear long pants and jackets even in the summer. I love the sunshine, I love the freedom from school (sometimes; depends on my homeschool schedule) and all the time to just work on projects and have the adventures of my dreams. Even adventures I’ve never dreamed of via Ephesians 3:20.

I really don’t know how to describe it, but summer makes me so happy and sunshine is the best.

♪ hello sunshine / so glad you came ♪
– Hello Future (DJ Maj Par-T Side Remix) by tobyMac

SUNSHINE IS SO WARM AND BRIGHT AND HAPPY.

Literally, when my backyard is bathed in sunshine and it’s on my face and it lights everything up I thank God for it because I feel He did that just for me.

I’m so glad I live in the Sunshine State (even though it rains a ton, lol—rain is adventurous too!).

And I’m also fighting sadness now that summer is over and I didn’t have the summer I really wanted thanks to health.

I’m making the most of the seasons now, of course, but I can’t wait for summer. I keep listening to tropical Christian hip-hop/rap and just daydreaming of summer adventures.

I guess cold-weathered months will just make me more grateful for summer when it comes (if that’s even possible! Hurry up, summer!).

Ahhh, I’m so glad God thought of summer. ☀️

_
Obviously, if you wanted your average short boring tag post, you read the wrong one.

I’m just glad to finally have a place to rant about whatever I want and I got to talk all about happy things and share my heart so thank you Clara for tagging me!

Now to tag 10 others who make me happy. ♥

She already did this tag, of course, but she is such a sunshiney wonderful human being who brightens my day and makes me laugh out loud every time I see a message or letter from her! Thank you for being my friend, Clara: you make me very happy!

One of the most supportive, kind, thoughtful, and fun human beings to ever exist! She knows how to have a great time and what the important things in life are (CANDY) and is my amazing pen pal.

My long-time roleplay and writing buddy of over two years now, and we just had the privilege of meeting in person in October. ?

THE SUPPORT RADIATING FROM THIS HUMAN CANNOT BE MATCHED, also how is she so talented in sewing and drawing?

  • Livy

Otherwise known as Olivia Bell, founder and editor of Christ’s Light Magazine and also probably the most encouraging person you will ever meet in exactly 5,000 years. I’m not kidding, this angel has a heart of gold, she truly displays the love of Jesus through what she does.

SHE IS LITERALLY SO KIND AND FUN, I could read her blog posts for hours and I love getting replies from her kind soul. Also her aesthetic is so inspiring. ?

  • More people

Okay, I know more people make me happy, but there are so many that not just one person sticks out and my brain is literally just not cooperating with me today (it took me ten tries to find the % sign, even though I’ve typed it all the time? What?). So…

  • Any follower of this blog, even those reading this in the future. YOU MAKE ME HAPPY.

Guess who just cheated the system to tag more than 10 people even though I actually only tagged seven?

_

I didn’t have room to talk about Chick-fil-A chick-n-minis or Starbucks mocha frappes, but if you know me, you already know those make me VERY happy. >:D

If you read all the way to here, thanks for reading. ♥ ☀️

If we have any similarities in what makes us happy, feel free to nerd out with me. XD I hope you have a happy day!