Too often, we get caught up in our day to day routines and forget to appreciate the little things in life.  In my Little Things series, I like to honor the details that are making me happy today, and ask you to do the same!

The Little Thing making me happy today is…

This mug my sister gave me for Christmas.  It says “enjoy the simplest pleasures in the everyday.”

You can be a part of “The Little Things: Reader Submissions”page! Send me a photo of one of the “little things” making you happy today, along with a short note. You do NOT have to be a blogger to take part, but if you have a blog, I will link back to you. Send your posts to me at savvyjulie@gmail.com

INSERT THIS CODE INTO A TEXT WIDGET:

<div align=”center”> <a href=”http://www.savvyeat.com/category/reader-submissions-the-little-things-2/” target=”_blank”><img src=”http://www.savvyeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/LTBadge1.jpg”/></a></div>

Yup, I ran out of places to hang our leaves. We had lots of little things to be thankful for this year!

We celebrated Thanksgiving, Dan’s birthday and the 50th Day of the Little Things with a fabulous feast. Even though the turkey was done an hour earlier than expected (!!), I managed to get everything on the table at the same time, hot and ready to be eaten. Though I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the help of my aunt and uncle!

HUGE thanks to everyone who participated in the challenge with me! I don’t know about you, but it made every day a little bit better.

One evening, I was feeling incredibly stressed to the point where deciding what to make for dinner and how to spend the evening made me want to cry. Dan gave me a hug and handed me a paper leaf, “Little Thing. Write one. You’ll feel better.” Though it didn’t take all of the stress away, it did make me smile and cheered me up.

To recap the 50 Days of the Little Things challenge:

The Little Things #50: Coming Soon!
50 Days of the Little Things
How It Works
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6

What little things made you happy this week?

Some of my little things from Week 6 of 50 Days of the Little Things:

• Cornell Vet Hospital
• Max feeling well enough to want to play.
• Watching Max attempt to play with a ball…it keeps getting caught under the cone, and he can’t figure out how to get it. Very cute and very funny.
• Vinegar + water to make wallpaper removal MUCH faster.
• Mail from Heather arriving right when I needed it the most.

What little things made you happy this week?

My little tree is getting to be so full. Hopefully I don’t run out of branches to tie the rest of the leaves onto!
Some of my little things from Week 5 of 50 Days of the Little Things:

• Date day with Dan
• 10% off day at the co-op
• Good music and podcasts to distract from the never-ending wallpaper removal
• Frozen berries from the summer
• No headaches in three weeks!

What little things made you happy this week?

We’re already done with nearly a month of 50 Days of the Little Things. Time is flying by!   Some of my little things from Week 4 of 50 Days of the Little Things:

“Flowers” from Heather.

My husband, the “dog catcher”

Shoulder massages from Dan.

Hot apple cider with a little brown sugar and some spices.

What little things made you happy this week?

And the giveaway winner is…Sarah!

Congratulations! Please send your mailing information to savvyjulie@gmail.com, and I’ll get you your cookies!

  

And…time for another giveaway! This time, one of you will win two dozen of my maple sugar cookies, all decorated for fall. And who knows… there may be a few other little goodies in your package as well!

To enter, simply link up your post about 50 Days of the Little Things below OR leave a comment telling me five little things that made you happy this week.

Giveaway ends at noon on Friday, November 4. The winner will be announced in that day’s Little Things update!

We’re already on to week three of 50 Days of the Little Things! How did that happen?

Some of my little things from this week:

Dan is home! He was at a conference Saturday-Thursday, and things get a little lonely when you’re home alone for six days. Though I did make sure to take some time to be crafty and have fun having the house to myself.

Being surrounded by cookbooks. I left a big open area on the floor of my office, and I love to sit down with a stack of cookbooks and flip through them for recipe ideas and techniques. It is so calming to me for some reason.

Getting out of the house when I’m home alone. Since I was home alone for six days, I made it a point to get out of the house at least once a day, whether that be to run errands, go out with a friend or get some work done at a coffee shop. I needed that change of scenery and some face-to-face interaction with someone other than Max (though I love my puppy).

Beautiful yarns. Megan and I are both planning to start knitting again, so we went shopping last weekend for yarn for our first projects. There were so many gorgeous options!

Email chains with Heather, Kelly, Liane. These girls never fail to make me laugh and cheer me up when I’m feeling down.

What little things are making you happy this week? Leave a comment or link up below!

*This giveaway is now closed. The winner is Rachel. Congratulations! Please email your mailing address to savvyjulie @ gmail . com *

Time for a 50 Days of the Little Things update {and a giveaway!}

Some of my little things from this week include…

• Finding a new General Practitioner who listens and is working with me to figure out what’s going on.
• Cincinnati chili and pear crumble while watching the Brewer’s win their game last night.
• The days when I wake up and find that Dan has emptied the dishwasher and done the dishes that need to be hand-washed before he left for work.

Have you had a good week? Have you found lots of little things to be happy about? I hope so, because I have a giveaway for all the 50 Days of the Little Things participants!

A few months ago, I stumbled upon Katie’s shop, Gadanke, and was immediately smitten with her journals. I loved the little envelope pockets and library cards. The paper was beautiful and the pages were filled with writing prompts and little thoughts to inspire your journaling.

Last week, as I was preparing for the start of 50 Days of the Little Things, I noticed that she had the perfect journal for this project… {The Little Things} Journal! It was meant to be. And look at how cute it is:

Katie loved the sound of 50 Days of the Little Things so much that she graciously agreed to give one of YOU your own {The Little Things} journal.

A Little Bit About Gadanke:

Document who you are and what you crave and believe. Handmade journaling products at the award winning shop, Gadanke, are filled with creative writing prompts and tidbits to make you think (and laugh!). These baby books, prayer journals, travel books, and diaries make your writing process more meaningful and fun! Plus they’re totally eco-savvy with 100% recycled papers.

I’ve gotten quite a few questions about how 50 Days of the Little Things “works.” Really, you can do it however you want, as long as you are recording your 50 things (one a day until Thanksgiving) somewhere. But if you want to see your 50 Days of the Little Things on Savvy Eats, here are a few answers:

1. What is 50 Days of the Little Things?

I posted an invitation to the challenge here. Basically, I want you to record one little thing in your life that made your day better every day for 50 days, ending on Thanksgiving. It is based off my Little Things series.

2. How do I record my “little things?”

Any way you want! I included some ideas here.

3. What if I’m just now seeing this post and want to start? Can I join late?

Of course! Even 4, 10, 17 or 33 days of the Little Things are better than no days of the Little Things!

4. How can I tell other people about this challenge?

Share the button, found here! Or share on Facebook, Twitter, or tell your friends.

Note: If the button isn’t appearing, it may be because the quotation marks in the code aren’t copying and pasting correctly. Try retyping the quotation marks!

5. I want to participate, but I don’t have a blog! How can I share my Little Things with everyone else?

That’s okay! Send what you’d like to say to savvyjulie@gmail.com, and I’ll post it for you on my Reader Submissions page.

6. Where can I read everyone else’s posts about their Little Things?

In the link-up at the bottom of this post! It will remain open until the Monday after the challenge closes. Whenever you post about your Little Things, you can add your link below. You can add as many links as you’d like.

And guess what? Throughout the challenge, I will be offering you some fun giveaways of some of my favorite “little things” — get excited!

So let’s get started. I know some of you have already posted about the challenge…link it up below!

Note: In order for your post to appear, you must include a link to http://www.savvyeat.com/tag/50-days-of-the-little-things/ somewhere in your post.

The tree is ready,

my leaves are cut out, ready to have happy little things written on them,

and the participation button is made.

Just paste this code into your sidebars:

<a href=”http://www.savvyeat.com/the-little-things-50-coming-soon/”><img src=”http://www.savvyeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/50Days.jpg”></a>

Today marks the start of 50 Days of the Little Things! Who’s in?

And let’s get started: what little thing is making you happy today?