With the holidays over, the onset of a fiercely cold winter in most parts of the United States and the beginning of (almost) six months of school, there may not seem much to smile about these days - But don't say that to Ruth Kaiser. She not only smiles a lot, but manages to find a 'smiley face' in almost everything she sees, even her lunch!

The best part is, that this amazing photographer from Orinda, California, has turned her passion for being happy to making other people happy, by taking smiley face pictures formed naturally from normal everyday items and posting them to a website called 'SpontaneousSmiley'.

Ruth's fun project began accidentally about a year ago. Always partial to smiley faces, she was taking a photo of a smiley face formed by a puddle of spilled soda. A passerby asked her what she was doing and when she explained it to him, it brought a huge smile on his face. To her surprise, he returned a few minutes later, and asked her to follow her to see his newly discovered smiley face - in some mud that was smudged on the pavement!

That was when Ruth got the idea to launch the 'Spontaneous Smile' website. Today, she has over 500 smiley face pictures on her website - some taken by her, but most contributed by people from all over the world, from as far as China and Chile. In fact Ruth's photos have become so popular that she even published a book 'Spontaneous Smiley' and recently held her first art show, where every photograph portrayed a . . . . . smiley face!

So the next time you are feeling a little grumpy, look around and see if you can spot your own smiley face. When you find one, take a picture and share it with the rest of the world on SpontaneousSmiley.com! Happy smiley face hunting!

sources:oaklandtribune.com. spontaneoussmiley.com