Back in 2011, I set out to start this blog, SimpleJoysofLife.com (still makes me smile seeing those words) and I’m not sure what happened. I had every intentions to make it the best blog I’ve ever put out. Through the years I’ve thought often about picking up where I left off but I didn’t, I got distracted with other aspects of life. So much has happened in the last 4 years and I can’t very well backtrack and write about them as though it just happened, so I will do the next best thing…..just start anew and fulfill my good intentions. I’m very happy and excited to start it up again, it’s good timing now, perhaps not so much before. Stay tuned. 😊
The Art and Skill of Merging Lanes
I am a self proclaimed Expert Merger! What is an “Expert Merger” you may ask? Well I’ll tell you!
I’m very skilled at merging my car into driving lanes on the road! 😀 Whether it’s on ramp, off ramp, traffic or not…well, I guess if there’s no traffic, then there’s no need to “merge”, I think merging lanes is a skill that not a lot of people have mastered.
How do I make such bold claims? Because I’m on the road driving behind these non-merging drivers and feeling the frustration of their hesitancy in merging lanes.
Merging Lanes is a Joy!
Today I was driving on an off ramp from a highway that merged onto another highway. In fact, this highway I was getting onto was at a split with yet another highway so it can be a bit confusing to some who’s never driven on it. But lucky for me, I navigate that road often enough to know what to do. Unfortunately, I ended up behind someone who I will categorize as a “non-merger”.
Not only was this non-merger going super slow but they were straddling both lanes trying to decide which one they are suppose to take while oncoming traffic was fast approaching. For me, I didn’t need to merge over to the other highway but I wanted to be on my way and not get stuck behind a non-merger.
This is where Expert Merger strikes again!
As soon as the non-merger moved over more than half way with their lane straddling, I saw the opportunity to speed up and go around them! With a glimmer of joy in my eye, I seized this opportunity and I was on my way to my destination which I believe was me going home from the gym. I saw in my rear view mirror all the people wanting to be in my lane but unfortunate for them, the non-merger had delayed their attempts at merging lanes too.
In that brief delightful moment, I felt a smile form on my face. I was on my way and avoided a potential accident situation with non-mergers.
The Art and Skill in Merging Lanes
Perhaps not just a skill, there is an art form in merging lanes. Not only do you have to be observant and aware of your surroundings, you usually have only a second or two to make a decision and then go go go with it! Timing is important and anticipating where your car at the current speed is able to merge into the speed and space of the oncoming traffic is an art form. It’s amazing how the brain can calculate through it’s senses all the information necessary to successfully perform such tasks as merging lanes.
See the opportunity and seize the moment, that, to me works in merging lanes and in other things in life 🙂 Smile the next time you’re merging lanes too!
Taking Time to Smell the Roses
I can’t help it, I love flowers, especially roses! So whenever I am within 20 feet of these beauties, I will “stop and smell the roses“.
Sadly, a lot of the fresh cut roses you find in stores don’t offer up much of a scent. I’m not sure why that is, whether the scent has been hybrid cross-bred out of the modern day versions….or maybe I just sniff the cheap ones at the grocery store. 😛
Nevertheless, I am not opposed to taking the time to smell the roses at the stores. And I don’t just sniff one bunch, I’ll sniff them all until I find a rose that has even a slight scent. The scent of roses is very intoxicating. It is also said that the rose scent can have uplifting qualities for your spirit. The energy level of roses and their scent is rated very high so smelling a nicely scented one can make you happier, more joyous!
Aside from the lovely scent, roses are a beauty to behold. Looking at them makes me smile and such beauty must be captured on film…..well, digital these days! 😜 Check out my series of gorgeous roses pictures from the store and at home.
Roses sold at the store
These were at the local Sam’s Club:
Taken at Costco I believe on a different day:
My aunt’s rose bush outside of her house, these smells soooooo good and are so pretty:
More store displayed roses at Sam’s Club, they really have some pretty looking roses but most of them have no scent:
Roses I actually had at home
As much as I like taking pictures of the gorgeous bunches of roses at the store, every once in awhile, I like to splurge and buy myself some roses. It’s much nicer when I get them sent to me or brought to me by a guy…what girl doesn’t love roses, right? 😍
Hey look, I actually bought some at some point:
Roses were sent from FTD to my house and they were absolutely breathtaking!!:
Closeup of the roses sent from FTD:
Roses in the wild
Sometimes I take walks around the neighborhood where I live and there is a house that has these beautifully scented roses right along the sidewalk. Even though the house is on a dead end street, I’ll still walk up that way just to smell the roses. Here are some pictures I’ve taken through the years of roses I find in the wild.
This was taken in Denver in a rose garden:
This also was taken in Denver in a community rose garden:
The Single Rose
And lastly, the simplicity and beauty of the single rose. These are close up pics from bouquets of the past…Oh how I love thee!
I love the way the water beads on this rose:
Beautiful pink rose in ambient lighting:
This rose was a part of a bouquet that was sent to me via FTD after my trip to Denver:
This rose along with a huge bouquet of other flowers came on my birthday from a friend. It was ordered from FTD but was arranged and delivered by a local florist:
Delicate and classy pale pink rose, this picture has been one of my favorites for decades, I refer to it as the perfect rose:
I hope you have enjoyed my pictures and that maybe it will inspire you to take a little time to go smell the roses too or go buy some flowers for someone you care about! 😘
The Joys of Clean Underwear
Earlier today I was running around getting ready for the gym and in reality, one probably don’t “need” clean underwear heading to the gym where one will be sweating anyway. BUT what is nice is to be able to open my underwear drawer and find that I do indeed have cute clean underwear to put on!
Needing new underwear
I was in serious need for some new panties to replace some of the older worn out ones. You know the ones where the elastic is starting to not hold tight and your underwear starts to fall down. I’m not sure which is worst, having your underwear ride up or fall down?!?? 🙄 The cotton underwear will start to get tiny little holes near the seams and the nylon ones will start shredding fine threads of nylon from being stretched too much.
What’s a girl to do? Buy new panties! Cute ones too! Unless you ask the guy I’ve been dating…when I told him that I just bought some new panties, he said, “why? you can wear them ’til they disintegrate”. 😟 I’ve seen his underwear…uhh…no!
Underwear Sale
And because I got them on a super sale at JCPenney, I was able to get 12 new pairs of these really cute nylon hipster style panties, yay! All different prints too to mix it up a little. But the greatest thing is that I have so many new cute pairs of underwear that when I do laundry, I am set for a good while WITHOUT having to wear the old ones that end up being worn when you don’t have clean underwear and end up being termed “granny panties” because they are out of shape and not so cute anymore!
I think women can relate to the joys of having clean underwear a lot more than men. I suspect men will wear dirty underwear for days on end instead of doing laundry. 😋 I feel a lot more feminine and confident knowing I am wearing clean cute panties, clean underwear is definitely one of the simply joys of life to me. 😊