Celebrating Simple Pleasures

My life is filled with joy moments and I share a lot of them here, on our retirement lifestyle blog. Joy moments don’t have to be celebrations of monumental accomplishments, goals attained or milestones in life, they can be simple and ordinary, like the beauty of a sunset, a child’s laughter, a fragrance that evokes a special memory, or the way a balmy breeze makes you feel -anything really, that makes you smile.

Trent, over at Trent’s World has devoted a post each week to sharing moments that make him smile. Along with his original post, he invites others to participate by sharing a link to their joy moment.

The idea is so simple, yet so powerful when you think about the ripple effect it could have. I hope you will visit his page and consider participating. We all need a few joy moments in our lives and why not take a minute to share yours.

This Weekly Smile Icon let’s everyone know you are participating

These three images represent some of my joy moments from this past week. I took these photos at the beach, which is about twenty minutes from our home. Macarthur Boulevard is a small strip of land between the Indian River and the Atlantic ocean in Stuart, Florida. It is the absolute best place to be at sunset on just about any day of the week. I posted these photos on my Instagram account and the image in the middle was requested by a local magazine. They will use it in their SM campaign to promote our city. Of course I am thrilled. It makes me smile that people beyond my own followers will get to see this image and it encourages me to take more beautiful pictures that promote Florida.

What made me smile this week was the click of a shutter that resulted in a beautiful image. The recognition was pretty cool too!

This post was also composed in response to a photo challenge at Nancy Merrill Photography. This week’s challenge is Landscapes. You do not need to be a professional photographer to participate, so if you have a beautiful landscape photo you’d like to share, please visit her blog here.

45 thoughts on “Celebrating Simple Pleasures

  1. Suzanne they’re beautiful photos (I saved the two sunset ones to my Pinterest sunset board) and congrats on being featured as well! My only complaint is that the toothy smile logo for the challenge has the teeth set off centre – it makes my dental therapist brain hurt looking at the midline shift! (Yes the OCD thing is still alive and well – and we won’t go into his lettering either!!)
    Thanks for linking up with us at MLSTL and I’ve shared on my SM 😊

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  2. Suzanne, Recently I am reading different definitions of Joy and Happiness. ‘Tomato’ ‘Tomuto’. I am not getting hung up on the definitions. I agree how they both can create a ripple effect in our world. I also agree with you how the idea is so simple, yet powerful. I love all three images, Suzanne. Congratulations on the centre image! Thank you for spreading the beauty and the joy!

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  3. Pingback: The Weekly Smile Recap 2/3 – 2/9/2020 #weeklysmile | Trent's World (the Blog)

  4. Hi, Suzanne,
    I’m finally catching up with my favorite bloggers after our return from your part of the world. I am very envious of your talent with a camera. If I were your local magazine publisher, I would have chosen that picture in a heartbeat. We passed through Stuart on our way home. Beautiful weather for a holiday weekend, and the roads were busy! Next time, we’ll stop and buy you a root beer! Thanks for sharing the pics. Joe

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    1. Joe, thank you for your kind comment regarding the photographs. It is a hobby that keeps me entertained and out of trouble! I should have extended an invitation to stop by, but I was not sure if your posts were ‘real time’ or after the fact. My bad. Next time we will make a better effort. You would love our little town!

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  5. Your images are gorgeous! And I agree completely with you about focusing on joy in life. I learned a long time ago that practicing gratitude on a daily basis is life-changing. Life is always going to present us with challenges, but might as well deal with whatever we need to do, and focus on the positive, right? 🙂

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