To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition, the end to which every enterprise and labour tends. — Samuel Johnson, the Rambler, No, 68.
That’s the very first quote in Gretchen Rubin’s brand new book, Happier at Home (affiliate link) which — like its predecessor The Happiness Project — is sure to be a blockbuster. The Samuel Johnson quote immediately hit home for me, because golly, isn’t this blog about finding happiness in our sweet little midcentury homes… about loving the house you’re in, instead of pining after what it may lack… and about giving our houses our tender loving care — so that they can give theirs back?
Crikes, sorry to get all mushy there. But in case you haven’t guessed, I am hugely enormously, gigantically, sentimental about happiness in house and home. It is kind of… all that I think about. I also just read Gretchen Rubin’s first book The Happiness Project (affiliate link) in July. I thought that the book was hugely enormously gigantically brilliant. It was a #1 New York Times best-seller for good reason. The book is NOT self-help FLUFF. This woman is a take-no-prisoners serious, avid researcher. She wrote lauded history books about Winston Churchill and John F. Kennedy before she turned to the more prosaic, yet elusive, topic of Happiness. In a nut, with The Happiness Project, she synthesized amazing amounts of research on the topic… and then… and this was the especially brilliant part: She put her findings to work in her own life, small-step-by-small-step, over a 12-month period, and chronicled her experience. The book is super easy to read, super encouraging — but at the same time, it’s deeeeeep. How often can you say that.
Now, Gretchen (I don’t think she will mind my familiarity) has followed up her first best-selling happiness book with a second one that focuses even more specifically on cultivating happiness within your home and with the creatures who may live there with you. UPDATE: Happier at Home has just hit #2 on the New York Times best-seller list, in just its FIRST week on sale. THIS BOOK IS A MUST-HAVE!
One more happy thing: Gretchen once gave a shout out to Retro Renovation on her blog — and send several hundred new visitors our way. She like the retro. Can ya believe it. I can: Retro is Happy!
Kathy says
I am happy when all is its place…or when give-a-ways like this are offered!
CindyP says
I’m happier at home when I can make supper with veggies grown in my own back yard, with flowers on the table picked from my own back yard, and my husband sitting next to me, who has just finished working with me in our own back yard
Dd says
I’m happy at home when it is a snow day. I can stay in my pj’s and cook pasta w my roasted toms stashed in the freezer. I can enjoy a little of summer and think of next year’s garden.
Jackie DiGiovanni says
I’m happier at home when my family is visiting.
CEN says
It makes me happy to actually use those old linens I pick up at yard sales or that got passed to me from relatives.
Lisa says
I’ve boosted my happiness at home by resigning from my job, getting chickens, planting a fall garden, and writing about my encounters with nature.
suzanne says
I’ve boosted my happiness at home by finally getting hot water after six years of living without. Suburban homesteading has made me appreciate a lot of things I’d taken for granted over the years…like having hot water!
Amber says
I’m happy curled up on the couch with my three cats and a good book!
sarah jane says
Make room for whimsy. A ceramic frog in the corner, a favorite toy from childhood, a child-size chair.
Linda says
I’m happy at home while relaxing with my animals.