Okay, so I dislike Simon Cowell a little less this morning...

This blog has helped me have a more positive attitude in general, but I discovered this morning I'm still fighting with a cynicism I developed when I moved to a city for the first time. I have heard about Sally Boyle, the woman who sang on Britain's Got Talent last week. I saw all the video links to her performance, but I never clicked on them because I figured they would have a mean tone to them, especially since Yahoo! had a teaser that highlighted she was 47 and had never been kissed. But my friend Katie sent me a YouTube clip of the performance and the judges' reaction with the subject line "Watch this and I DARE you to tell me it didn't brighten your day". 

So I figured I'd click on this one. And I would be lying if I said it didn't brighten my morning. Yes, it starts out a little embarrassing for the woman, but by the end, you just feel so happy for her. 

And while I'm on video clips that made me warm and fuzzy, I have to include the following story from FoxNews in Detroit, Mich. Normally I don't like FoxNews since I lean in the other direction politically, and I have not seen much good news coming out of Detroit since the recession started. But this report about the return of two stolen pomeranians to their five year-old owner is great. You have to play the clip to see his absolutely precious smile. 

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Sorry... I just kinda had to...

Bright news for a rainy day

It's kind of gloomy here in Boston today. Gray day but at least the weather is mild. After the 96 feet of snow we've gotten this winter, I'm just glad the precipitation is not frozen. : ) 

I found three more newspapers taking Brian Williams' lead in soliciting good news. The Detroit Free Press is trying to lift the gloom off Detroit, while the Shelby Star in North Carolina has already started posting the good news sent in by readers. Bob Wooten of the Northern Virginia Daily News is taking a stab at it himself in his column. Most of his items are local events and the coming of spring, but it's a start.

More good news for Detroit, depending on your opinion of the man. Jay Leno is coming to town to do a free show for the state's unemployed (Reuters). The city, one of the hardest hit by the recession, has a reported one in eight citizens unemployed after the auto industry crumbled and housing prices dove. Billed as "Jay's Comedy Stimulus Plan," the late-night host will have an hour and a half show on April 7 in the Palace.

This next one is yummy on several fronts. As reported in the Independent, Cadbury Chocolate has partnered with Fairtrade farmers in Ghana to source its chocolate. Forty thousand of Ghana's 700,000 cocoa farmers will benefit from Britain's biggest-selling chocolate brand making the move to Fairtrade.

This last one is a real heart-warmer. In Arizona, a set of conjoined twins were born in January and had an intricate surgery that same month to be separated. The two boys had health problems at first but are now doing just fine, according to the Arizona Republic. Read all the way down to the last line. It's probably the best of the article. 

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I really just can't resist posting these pictures. They crack me up every time. And no, Joel, I'm not that much closer to cat lady. Pbbt.

Trying to keep the smiles coming...

These always make me smile, particularly when the ring true for me. Yesterday morning my kitty woke me up not once but twice in the middle of the night by ever so nicely slapping me on the cheek with her claws out. She wanted some attention. 

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I can say without a doubt that even on day two of doing this, reading these stories before I post them has put me in a better frame of mind already. Now when I read the news sites, I also comb them for happy stories. Helps balance it all out.

In the New York Times, we have a story today on how Madison Avenue is jumping on the band wagon to produce happy advertising campaigns.

In "Grateful for rescuers," a man from California expresses his gratitude to the people who helped him after his car flipped over in a traffic accident (The Reporter, Vacaville, Calif.).

As you probably know, animals are close to my heart, so I am happy to have two stories featuring happy endings for dogs today. The Sun-Journal in Lewiston, Maine features this story about Buck the golden retriever who was found after being lost for six months, and the Santa Cruz Sentinel had a story on the SPCA booth at a local Pooches at the Park event. Apparently Little Trixie took advantage of a windy day for an adventure and was dropped off at the SPCA until her human could be found.

Last, but certainly not least, are the stories of two families reunited after many years apart. Two sisters who lost each other for 74 years met again thanks to the investigative work of a grand-daughter (KPIC 4, Roseburg, Ore.), while MySpace brought a family back together after 30 years (News 3, Savannah/Hilton Head, S.C.).