Week #254 – Summer Fun List: Hit the Porch! (…or deck, or patio, or tailgate…)

Greetings Happyness Tribe — and Happy Friday!

I recently returned to Los Angeles from a whirlwind visit back home at the Jersey Shore.  It was another fast and busy trip centered around a yearly concert in Ocean Grove’s Great Auditorium — which is always one of the single busiest weeks of the summer (and this year, one of the hottest!).  

Between singing in the concert and grabbing slices of time with family — there wasn’t much time to schedule other activities, visits, or downtime.

Which always makes porch-hopping so precious!!!

Porch-hopping is a special kind of visiting…no planning, no deadlines, no expectations.  You simply make yourself available and see who passes by!  It’s not a date for an entire day or evening…it’s grab-and-go.  Take what you can.  Just a few precious moments of eternal NOW.

And you learn to make it count!

For “the town where time stands still” — summers move pretty fast in Ocean Grove!  After three years now in Southern California, where there’s always another beautiful day, I could really feel the frenzy.  Running here, running there, trying to “get it all in.”

The only way to still time, it seems…is to be still myself.

We’re just about at the end of July. If you feel like your summer is flying by, going too fast, or slipping through your fingers…don’t panic.  Power down!  Make yourself available.  Hit the porch (or deck, or patio, or tailgate…)!

Sit down…and rock a while!

Your Happyness Challenge for the Week Ahead: Hit the Porch!  Whether you have a porch, deck, patio, balcony, or tailgate — pull up a chair, take a load off, sit a spell, have a chat, visit a bit, or rock a while!  Watch the traffic pass, cars park, people walk by, critters hard at work, nature doing her thing, or just observe the world moving about while you sit still.  Invite someone to join you.  Share a glass of something cold, have a conversation, meet a neighbor, visit with friends, or get to know just a little bit more about your very own family.

The world is moving fast…make porch time a priority this week!

Spread Happyness — tell me, what’s your favorite place for a nice long sit?

7/26/19 by Grace Church
© Grace Church
grace@spreadhappyness.com

Week #253 – Summer Fun List: Hit the Water! (Dedicated to our childhood friend and neighbor, Dean Morris)

Greetings Happyness Tribe!

This post comes of the heels of hearing about another loss from the old neighborhood. Dean may have grown up, moved out, and moved on to his very own family and business — but in my mind he was always the fun-loving kid next door who was ready to play the next game, come up with the next plan, or figure out the next adventure. Memories of him are always accompanied by the smell and taste of chlorine from his family’s pool — a place where all the neighborhood kids gathered to cool down, act up, and chill out during the hotter-than-hell summers of our youth.

News of his passing came to me last week when I was home in Ocean Grove — and after thinking about his wife, children, and family — I immediately thought of the pool. How I learned to swim, dive, and even open my eyes under water…right there in that big pool on the old block.

It reminded me of my post from way back on Week #45, when I mentioned that very same pool and challenged us to “Get Wet!” So here it is again…because Dean (and my brother, and another neighbor-boy named Brian) may be gone…but those memories, oh those summer fun memories, they last FOREVER!

Your Happyness Challenge for the Week Ahead: GET WET!!!  I know many of you are living in areas with record temps right now — and with that comes the tendency to limit physical activity.  Sometimes the heat just makes it plain hard to move.  But don’t despair!  Head to your favorite lake, pool, or watering hole and jump in!  When we were kids — we spent HOURS in our neighbor’s pool playing Marco Polo, Aquaman, and other pool games.  As teens — we headed to the community pool to practice our can-openers, watermelons, and cannon-balls off the high dive!  Now — as working adults — we each still head to the water after a long hot day of work or commuting.  There is nothing like the attitude adjustment that comes after a long, cold soak in the pool (or lake or ocean) — not to mention the sleep that comes afterward!

So beat the heat…and GET WET this week!

Spread Happyness — and share your favorite water activities in the comments!

7/19/19 by Grace Church
© Grace Church
grace@spreadhappyness.com

Week #252 – Summer Fun List: “Hit the Boards!”

Greetings Happyness Tribe!!!

I’m back in Ocean Grove this week!  Holy Ground, God’s Square Mile, and Heaven on Earth!!!

And all I can think about is this post…from Week #43.  So forgive the repeat…because I am busy “walking the boards and riding the waves!”  (I know you understand!)

Just four short years ago now…a new memorial planter quietly appeared on the boardwalk in Ocean Grove.  The planter’s inscription reads:

Robert Church, Jr.  1974-2014
Walked these boards and rode the waves.
Loved and Remembered Always

Since Rob disappeared from our boardwalk in 2014 — I still, even today, will look to see his 6-foot-something frame, his big wave, and his confident stride.  And with every turn onto Ocean Avenue — I’ll be reminded, once again, of his absence in this beautiful place.  A place we shared as a family since childhood — and continued to share into our adulthood.

A place we somehow, even now, continue to share today.  ♥

Through all the years we visited Ocean Grove — as children, teens, adults, and friends — we never dreamed it would come to this.  Benches and planters were for old people, maybe even pets, but not for us.  We were young, vital, alive.

And THAT is the point of the plaques on those benches and planters.  Life is about what you do, where you do it, and who you do it with.  The planters and benches along the boardwalk are filled with legacies: “…who loved Ocean Grove…”, “…who helped us all to grow…”, “whose happiness was a day at the beach…”

What would yours say?

This week’s assignment: “WALK THE BOARDS!  RIDE THE WAVES!”  Spend time doing YOUR favorite activity!  If someone were to write a memorial plaque about you…what would it say?  Where would they put it?  Spend time there doing that thing as if it was your last.  Imagine how you might want to be remembered…then make it a point to LIVE IT!  Do it with love…do it with laughter…and above all: do it with Happyness!

Don’t wait!  Live your legacy today! And enjoy every moment! (I know I am!)

Spread Happyness — share your thoughts in the comments!

7/12/19 by Grace Church
© Grace Church
grace@spreadhappyness.com

Week #251 – Summer Fun List: “Hit the Road!”

Greetings, All — and Happy Friday!

Once again, we are counting down the Fridays between now and Labor Day Weekend with some short “Summer Fun” suggestions.  Because I’ll keep saying it — while many adults are busy planning their kids’ summer fun, they often overlook their own!

And I want to make sure YOU have fun this summer, too!

This week, I’m revisiting the idea of taking a drive.  Whether it’s across country or across town — there’s a road trip for every budget. So fuel up and put the pedal down! The open road awaits!

But where?

Before you beat the usual path…get out an old fashioned map (or print one off the web) and draw a couple of circles around your town: a 50-mile radius, a 100-mile radius, and a 150-mile radius.

One Tank Trips are designed to work with your gas tank.  The average car can drive about 300 miles on one fill up — 150 miles out, 150 miles back.  That could mean 3.0 hours worth of driving though…and an overnight stay.  That’s why I recommend a 50-mile (under 1 hour) and 100-mile (under 2 hours) radius, as well.

• 150 miles: These destinations are likely to require a little planning, some advanced preparations, and possibly an overnight stay.  Don’t just look to the beach or the lakes…look for parks for camping, mountains for climbing, historic towns for exploring, or amusement parks for a full day of fun.  From the Jersey Shore, this covers a radius from West Point, NY to Lancaster, PA to Rehoboth Beach, DE and almost all of Long Island!  Where I am now in LA, this covers everything from the vineyards of Paso Robles to the streets of Tijuana — and out to Joshua Tree State Park!
• 100 miles:  These are your day trips.  Think of concerts, antiquing, hiking, swimming, museums, aquariums, and exploring.  From the Jersey Shore this includes Coney Island and Jones Beach to the East, Sleepy Hollow and the quaint little towns along the Hudson River to the North, Bethlehem and the Delaware Water Gap to the West, and Cape May and Atlantic City to the South!  Here in LA it means Santa Barbara, Orange County, or even Disneyland!
• 50 miles: These trips are less than one hour away.  Have lunch or dinner at a special place, plan an activity, organize a play date or reunion, attend a fair, pamper yourself, or spend some time on the porch with a friend!

Finally — and these are the fun ones — look in your own backyard!  Play tourist in your own town.  If a friend visited you — where would you absolutely have to take them?!  Where I live now — this definitely means a ride along the Pacific Coast Highway, a hike in the mountains, a visit to a studio, and a walk down Sunset Boulevard.  Back home, it would be a tour of my little Victorian town, and a romp through historic Asbury Park, or a drive around our beautiful lake — and definitely a stop at Cliff’s for ice cream!!!

Your Happyness Challenge for the Week Ahead: Hit the Road!  Gas up, stock some snacks, open your windows, and let your hair FLY!  (But wherever you go…please stay off your phone!)  Enjoy the scenery, talk with your travel companions, open the windows and breathe the air of a different place or town.  Listen to music, a podcast…or drive in silence.  Get out, explore, stretch your legs, meet some new people! — and let the good times roll!

Where would you go on a full tank of gas?

Spread Happyness — share your One Tank Trip ideas in the comments!!!

7/5/19 by Grace Church
© Grace Church
grace@spreadhappyness.com