thankful list.

I've recently found myself with more "computer time" on my hands which means... no excuse to not blog (somewhat) regularly.  Recently I posted my progress on my 52 Books in 2012, and on that list I included The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin as my favorite non-fiction book I've read so far this year.  One thing that book taught me is to regularly list and appreciate the things in your life you are thankful for.  I have to say, for a year now my whole outlook has changed quite a bit -- I've tried to cultivate a "Joy Choosing" attitude and bring positivity into every aspect of my life.  So I keep regular gratitude lists in my head, but maybe I'll start sharing some with you.  Sometimes I get, like, weirdly private online and tend to be kind of vague -- so I'm sorry if some things are vague, I just like to keep my personal life pretty close to my heart & small circle of confidants. 

But here are five things I'm thankful for right now (kind of in the spirit of the old livejournal days with "Friday Fives.").

1.  John.  Are you sick of me gushing about him yet?  Too bad.  Skip this one then.  He has to be number one on this list because he is the ultimate positive force in my life.  It's a joy to have someone like him be my best friend - positive, giving, smart.


2.  Flowers.  Oh how so many have bloomed the past few months.  Flowers in the garden or fresh-cut in a vase, they make me so happy.  John and I have gotten in the habit of almost always having star-gazers in the house... they smell amazing and have bright blooms.


3.  Books.  Okay, we get it, Rhianna, you like to read.  But I can't help it... when I'm not working or visiting people, I'm most likely reading.  Books take up a sizeable chunk of my time.  I'm so thankful for books.  I love that they broaden my mind, teach me, take me on adventures, let me cry, and let me laugh.  I just treasure them so much.


4.  Quiet Mornings.  I am a morning person.  I like to get up early and start my day... but at the same time I hate to talk or interact until I've slowly woken up -- I like to lie in the bed for a while with my eyes open & get used to the idea of the day.  I love starting my day quietly, wrapped in a blanket with a mug of hot tea or coffee, reading the news or watching a mindless tv program on Netflix.


5.  My New Job.  Normally something I wouldn't share online, but I've been super lucky in the job market down here in NC.  I've been fortunate enough to have to agonize over whether to stay at my current job or take a new one that was offered.  I took the new one -- time for a new adventure.  I finished up my first week and I have to say, I'm so glad I took the job.  I'm in the most positive, progressive, and female-empowering environment I've ever worked.  So it's making my thankful list.

2012. ahhhhhhhhh.

Hello there!  It's been so quiet on our blog.  John's the only one that has even thought about blogging - props to him.  He actually wrote a post about the Golden Globes the other night but he doesn't wanna post it.  Sorry.

I hope your holiday season was merry & bright!  We absolutely loved ours!  Over the holidays we got to spend our first Christmas together (we had just started dating last Christmas season but were not together for Christmas festivities).  It was so wonderful.  We spent time in Kentucky with my family for Christmas Eve & Day and then we headed over to Ohio to spend time with John's family the week after.  We were completely spoiled with gifts and love.  Although - our animals probably made out the best... so very spoiled are they.   It was so nice to be able to spend time with friends too!  I didn't want to leave after our time was over, almost entirely because of the pretty people we got to see.  But leave we did and headed back to our little country home in North Carolina for the New Year!  We headed over to some of our friends house and celebrated with two other couples by having a Harry Potter marathon during NYE day, then at night we walked across the street to their neighbors HUGE NYE party and ate and ate and ate and socialized with them.  John and I put on our dancing shoes and danced with some of the women there in the kitchen (how very The Big Chill of us... I put a link because I feel like that reference is lost on most.) to oldies on iPods.  We may have embarrassed our friends that were there with us!  Oops...

Life around here is wonderful!  We've completely cleaned & organized our house after putting away decorations.  We started P90X for exercising (I've already lost 5lbs & John's lost more than that!) and we absolutely hate it.  And by hate it I mean we love doing it and love the results so far and how we feel but we hate how dang tired & sore we are.  ;)  We've also kicked all our bad eating/drinking habits and have been eating super healthy.  We did this back in July and loved how we felt so we're doing it again.  Homemade over take out, water & tea (decaf for me, I cut out caffeine in November) over soda & alcohol.  John keeps exclaiming how productive he now is and I love that I don't need to nap anymore to make it through the evening.  I've also been calculating every calorie for the past couple weeks using an app on my new iPhone...

My big Christmas gift this year was an iPhone 4S.  It's so lovely!  I had a 3G up until April then I kicked the smartphone habit for months and months until now.  While the thought of being always connected to things still kinda gives me the skeevies, I still love this phone and am glad to have an iPhone again since the camera is better than my old point & shoot AND I can keep my music with me since my old iPod is basically on life support.  Speaking of music and pictures... here have some iPhone pictures of life lately.

Prepare for a dump.  Which may be redundant if you follow me on twitter, tumblr, or instagram.  Sorry!

Well... that's it for this post!  John will type something up for you next time.

Bye!

fleas.

On our Sunday evening walk, I made Mister stop talking (don't worry, we finished the conversation later) and said, "shh!  Do you hear that?  It sounds like a cat or something?"  Sure enough, after back-tracking a few steps, he found it.  A tiny kitten.  Crying and crying.  I jumped into the ditch and plucked her out of the thicket hissing and swiping at me.  The poor thing was so small and scared.  I cradled her in my cutoff sweatshirt and we asked the neighbors if they were missing a kitten.  After a reply of "no" we turned around and headed home.  We decided to keep the kitten.  Over the next two days, I cleaned her up, fed her (watered down kitten chow and supplementing with a bottle & formula - she doesn't look even 6 weeks yet), cuddled her, played with her, and introduced her to the other pets - Rory LOVES her, she loves Rory - Penny HATES her, she loves Penny.  Maybe Pen will come around.  And maybe not.  Oh, we also named her.  Naming her was the hardest part.  I wanted to name her something that represented her and something that was cute.  Mister wanted to name her something "hilarious" although he and I disagree on what is "hilarious" for a kitten name. ;)  Thicket was almost her name, since we found her in brambles.  Sunday, was her name for almost a day because we found her on a Sunday.  But Flea (or, as M says "Fleas") stuck.  She's about the size of one, jumps around like one, and she was covered in them until I bathed her (TWICE) and picked and plucked all the fleas off of her.  We compromised and found it both "cute," "fitting," and "hilarious."

So here she is -- meet Flea(s).  She's a pistol.

We love her a lot already.  It's so fun to watch her pounce, scamper, and play.  She runs after Rory, our 90lb dog, Rory licks or sniffs her then jumps to play with her, which makes Fleas scared and puff up and hiss -- it's so cute.

Oh, and side note -- if you don't follow me on google+ or twitter, you may not know, but I cut a foot off my hair.  It's super short now (and I might even go shorter later!).

birthday (stockings) & libraries. and flags?

we jumped from bed yesterday and headed to the local community college to check out the track they have.  it was pretty darn awesome.  we had a great walk and enjoyed seeing the college, lots-o-nature, and most importantly the library.  here, check it...

the library is fairly new and GORGEOUS.  definitely our new favorite place and a check mark for the PRO side of the ongoing list in our head for staying in this town or not.  right now, I'm adding some songs to our shuffle and going to head on over to the track again and then go get a library card.  I'm stoked.  can't wait to find a book and cuddle up in front of one of the huge windows and read after I get a couple miles in on the track.

Penny laid on the scrap fabric bag & watched me sew.

today is a good day.

also, it's Mister's birthday.  (and Flag Day.)  I got him lots of little gifts that he will open tonight. I also sewed up a Birthday Stocking (ya know, like the kind you hang from the fireplace on Christmas) and filled it with some stocking stuffers.  this sounds weird, but my guy LOVES Christmas, so I wanted to give him a bit of Christmas cheer on his summer birthday.  he was pretty darn excited when he saw the birthday stocking.  if I ever get a sewing machine (my WISH, because hand sewing even the littlest of projects is kind of not fun and takes forever) I will make a better birthday stocking and maybe we can start a tradition of sorts for ourselves.  down below is a photo of the stocking sitting on the mantle.  I whipped it together super quick, didn't draw out a pattern or anything so it's awkward AND by the time I finished I was over it and didn't even put a loop on it so it could hang.  so it plops instead, lifeless & flat.  he didn't care that it didn't hang though, so we're good.

BIRTHDAY stocking filled with treats & toys.

okay, okay, okay.  now I'm off.  busy day. 

to the track, to the library,
to the store to pick up the birthday (ice cream) cake
and ingredients for supper. 

happy FLAG DAY, to you yanks!

the little things.

It's the little things in life that make it worth living, right?  Enjoying the little things is something I'm accustomed to.  I take excitement in EVERYTHING.  As someone once commented - "the exclamation mark is usually overused by people that don't mean it - you actually do exclaim every little thing."  When I get a free bagel at Panera I jump up and down.  When Linda shows me a new supply of the blue ink pens I love I clap my hands.  Little things in life make me HAPPY.  I hate it when people scoff at that, but listen... if you have some kind of emotion, why keep it in?  Why not make it big?  And most importantly - allow yourself to be crazy excited over little things.  Smiling is important and if you allow yourself to get really excited over an awesome parking space, a free drink, hand-me-down awesome office supplies, life isn't going to seem as bad.  Trust me.  So get excited!

Here are two little things this week that have made me happy.  The first is something that is actually little.  The second is a little gesture that means a lot. :)

The Curiosity Group is starting a Calendar of the Month DIY paper craft.  If you're like me and like crafting - this is a little something special.  I found out about it from Becky's blog.  January's calendar is a little Yeti with a kitten on top.  How adorable?  I made him the other day.  He's super easy and quick to make!  A fun little paper craft that actually comes in handy if you need a calendar - with modifications if you don't want a calendar or hate the little kitty that sits on top.  I named my yeti Julian {the ginger cat is named Lawrence}.  So you should make your own!  {And don't forget to sign up with the Curiosity Group to get the new calendar paper craft each month.

Julian the yeti {with Lawrence on top!}

My mister is someone super special.  We always have a wonderful time together no matter what we are doing.  The other night we actually just sat on the couch in snuggies crocheting (him) and knitting (me) and it was so fun - we may sound lame, but we like it!  My mister is also someone that is AMAZING at the little things.  Seriously, he is the most thoughtful.  He remembers EVERYTHING, even just small things said in passing and will put that to good use later.  Yesterday I came home from my lunch break to find he had made an elephant out of towels like they do on cruise ships!  It might sound small, but I was over the moon excited.  Elephants are my favorite animal {I doubt you could even count how many you see just in my room alone} and I had mentioned one night over dinner with the mister while he was making fleur-de-lis outta napkins about how on cruise ships they always make towel animals.  He took it upon himself to learn this new towel craft and made me an elephant, sitting waiting for me on the bed when I got home.  Lovely.

luv cruisin' with my mister

{once again, sorry for the crappy quality iPhone pics.  someday I will find the time to actually use my camera again.  it's still full of other pictures waiting to be uploaded and edited.  I'm a bad picture taker girl.}