Things that Make me Happy Part One

I was thrilled last week to receive the Happy 101 award from the lovely Flick of Everyday Chick. I love reading her blog which is full of the adventures she regularly embarks on with her family in Perth, Australia.

The rules of the award are:

1. Thank the award giver (Thanks Flick!)

2. List 10 things that make you happy.

3. Pass this award on to 5 others.

I'm going to divide the 10 things that make me happy into 10 individual posts over the next few days otherwise this post will end up being too long. I could ramble for hours about the things that make me happy!

1. Books

I devour them! I am at my happiest when sitting curled up in a corner or in a sunny spot somewhere with a good book. I love the look, smell and feel of them. I spend hours of my life browsing in book shops. I love any kind of book; novels, cook books, children's books, second-hand books, library books. I have wonderful memories of visiting the local library when I was a child and choosing a pile of books to take home. I've just finished reading The Garden Cottage Diaries by Fiona J Houston. It's a wonderful account of this inspiring lady's year living in the way of her eighteenth century rural Scottish ancestors. She recreated their lifestyle in a one bedroom cottage, surviving only on what she grew in her own garden or collected from the wild. It's full of ideas of how to live a more simple and self-sufficient life. I admire her determination and resourcefulness.

I'd like to pass this award onto 5 bloggers who I can always rely on to make me smile.

1. Rebecca at Daydreams in Lace for her lovely diy wedding ideas

2. Tammy at Sugo and Sunshine for her witty observations on life in Italy

3. Cathy at From Australia to Italy for being another foreigner marrying an Italian

4. Sara in Le Petit Village for bringing me a little part of the South of France

5. Laura May at Home Sweet Home for being my 41st follower!

Thank you again Flick for passing this award onto me. xx