Get Happy

In light of my new positivity, it's Friday, it's the end of January, the sun is shining and there is fresh snow on the mountains - all good reasons to get happy, and the soundtrack to my good mood has to be Pharrell Williams' brilliant song "Happy" which is featured on the "Despicable Me 2" soundtrack and is highly likely to win the Oscar for Best Song on March 2nd.

It is just the most uplifting song and alongside the phenomenally cool Williams, the video features real people dancing and lip-synching, along with some celebrity cameos from the likes of Steve Carrell and Jamie Foxx and the odd minion (the little yellow guys from the movie.) Williams has created a genius website: 24hoursofhappy - the world's first 24 hour music video, which features a whopping 360 versions of the 4 minute song on a loop and allows users to choose whichever time segment they wish to view thanks to an interactive clock. You can never have too much of a good thing and it is incredibly catchy - I really could listen to it all day!

Williams appears 24 times, on the hour and he's quite the style king - has anyone ever looked cooler in shorts and skate shoes? (I wonder if I can persuade English Gent to sport a pair this summer....) He also rocks a good hat, which I like - the vintage Vivienne Westwood Mountie version he jauntily sported at the Grammy's last weekend caused such a stir it had its own Twitter account @Pharrellhat and 16,000 followers by the next day - that's fame for you.

Photo: Kevin Mazur/WireImage

So thanks Pharrell, for telling us all that happiness is the truth. I'm off to clap along - I defy you not to join in. Have a good weekend everyone.

Ring out the Old, Ring in the New

Happy New Year. It's good to be blogging again and I hope that these early weeks of 2014 have proved a positive beginning, with the sense of hope and change that accompanies the start of a new year still resonating.

Photo: Pinterest

This year, I have decided that it's the small changes that are going to make the biggest difference and I am using watchwords rather than resolutions to keep myself on track: to be mindful, grateful and that little bit braver.

Photo: Pinterest

One of the reasons I took a break from my blog at the end of last year was because the sadness that I was dealing with due to the loss of my much-missed father became a weight that I was constantly carrying around with me and I was simply concentrating on getting through the days, keeping going and hiding my emotions, without giving myself the time to process my feelings. If my blog is where I voice and share my thoughts, then I didn't want to go there - I preferred silence.

Photo: Pinterest

Meryl has a point, and I've realized that's precisely what I've not been doing - in trying to keep my emotions in, I've been closing myself off, which is no good for anyone, least of all me.  But I've found that if I am mindful of the present and grateful for what I have, the weight lifts a little and I feel more able to re-engage.  This year I am determined to be happy, I want to take chances, accept the challenges and be the best person I can be - as a mother, a wife, a sister, a daughter, an aunt, a friend. Sounds simple, but it's so much harder in practice.  

So whilst the sadness is still there, I think it's going to be OK - I can take it out, look at it, cry if I need to and then put it away, and get on with my life. Tennyson wrote a wonderful poem called 'Ring out Wild Bells' and it contains the lines: "Ring out the grief that saps the mind, For those that here we see no more." And it continues: "Ring out the old, ring in the new, ring happy bells, across the snow: the year is going, let him go..." So here's to letting go, to being happy, and to a new year full of promise.  I look forward to sharing it with you.