Welkom! Jumping Off the Planet and a New Landing Pad

Welkom to Holland, Michigan, USA! We (Lisa Catherine Brown and my husband Coley) have finally landed in our new place after making a swift decision to change our lives. This choice took us from a 3-acre peaceful country home centered deeply in distressed eastern Michigan to a downtown loft in a mid-sized coastal community on the west coast of the state. A distance of 162 miles seems a lifetime away after less than a month of settling into our new digs.

We can now boast of living in the second happiest city in America, according to a Gallup-Healthways Well-being Index poll released last February. Considering Michigan being one of the most economically embattled states with double digit unemployment levels, this may seem like an anomaly in the ranking of metropolitan areas throughout the US.

So what makes us happy and why did we challenge ourselves with this move?

Happy, young couple at the beach.

Big RedThe Happiness Factors