The Golden Globes and The Happy

Jennifer Garner

Sarah over at Sarah with a Chance wrote about happy things yesterday (including cupcakes – sort of – which I made last night because she got me hungry for them). And it inspired me to make my own happy list, with of course a Golden Globes bent since I want to share some of my happy moments from that as well.

I’m basically stuffed full of happy these days. Shelter and knowing where all my loved ones are and that they’re safe – these things top the list for sure. But here are some more things that make me happy, almost all tied to something I would have leaned over and whispered to you had you been watching the Golden Globes with me.

1. Great quotes make me happy. My favorite quote from the globes was from Meryl Streep:

I’ve played so many extraordinary women that I’m being mistaken for one.

I love that. Especially as a beautiful complement to the hilarious Ricky Gervais quip that, let’s face it, actors really are the most important people in the world. A great quote goes such a long way, doesn’t it? But what I love even more is when we have amazing spontaneous moments in real life that go down in family history as that really funny thing that happened once. The other night at supper we quoted several of these from our life together, and I was even happier than when I watched the Golden Globes.

2. Pretty things. I don’t even feel ashamed of this. Not even a little bit. Nice shoes, a great bag, new home decor, even – for goodness sake – a freshly-made bed or when your hair lays just the way you want it – can anyone deny how deeply satisfying these things are? Perhaps, though, that’s only true when all the big things – like loved ones and shelter – are in place first of all…

My favorite pretty things at the Globes were Kate Hudson’s brilliant white gown – she was luminous, Jennifer Garner’s girly long hair (a fun change from her normally straight look – which is also beautiful), Julia Roberts’ waves and her ready laugh (“Wow, NBC, you guys are really in the toilet, aren’t you?), and the rest of Meryl Streep’s speech, which was a lovely tribute to her mother and to her mother’s ability to smile in the face of trying times and trouble.

3. Laughing makes me happy. And Ricky Gervais is so good at making people laugh. As are my boys. Case in point: The other day when I steered Jake to the bathroom and told him we needed to brush his teeth, he who still sometimes says complete phrases that we can’t understand at all, sarcastically quoted, “Yea, that’s gonna happen.”

4. Did I mention cupcakes?

5. Having a job that allows me to work from home when necessary so that no snow day, holiday, or sick day can make me wonder, “But what will I do about work?” This makes me happy.

6. A sense of accomplishment.

7. The belief that dreams can come true. You can almost always count on at least one speech maker to preach this message. This year, I’d say that award goes to Mo’Nique. She said that at 14 she told her (now) husband, “Someday we’re gonna be stars.” And his response was, “You first.” The thing I really, really love, though, is that I believe dreams can come true and yet I also believe dreams can evolve and adjust and that sometimes we find the dream we’re living is something amazing too.

8. It makes me happy when my favorite people win. Or present. Or show up at all, really. My favorite people at these Globes included Julia Roberts and Jennifer Garner as previously mentioned, Sandra Bullock, Robert Downey, Jr., and George oh-so-classy Clooney (who would have evidently preferred “to be planning a telethon for Haiti” according to the guy who wrote the screenplay for Clooney’s Up in the Air and said that George “is one of the best men I’ve ever met), my Friends – Courtney Cox and Jennifer Aniston, and the cast of Glee. The songs from the soundtracks of that show are a huge picker-upper, and I was thrilled it won for best comedy. In more Clooney news, remember that one? Up in the Air? The movie in which I SHOULD HAVE BEEN AN EXTRA. Yea, it must have been a pretty decent little flick. Sigh.

9. Creating, creating, creating. “Do something creative every day,” director Nick Cassavetes once said (or rather, his dad I think said it. Hollywood is “not a place on a map,” Michael Eisner said, “But a state of being that exists wherever people dream and wonder and imagine.” Creating makes me happy.

10. Sisters make me happy. Charity sent me an email Monday with some of her thoughts about the Globes. And so many of them were just exactly what I had thought as well. I watched this awards show alone and for once wondered if perhaps the rest of the world wasn’t watching it after all, if maybe the universe didn’t revolve around the film industry and George Clooney and Kate Hudson’s gown. If maybe I am the only person who still feels like movies bring us all together. It was nice to hear from Charity and realize I hadn’t enjoyed them alone after all.

Photo by Capital M on Flickr.