Gratitude of the Day

I am suddenly very aware of a certain gratitude I don’t celebrate nearly enough:

That moment at the end of the day when you realize you have made it through all your work and what’s left of the day is all yours.

I am in said moment right now and feel it is only right that I take a second to be grateful for it. My day started bright and early, I went straight to work, pulled an 8.5 hour shift with a multitude of ridiculously frustrating situations, ran an errand, went to the gym, lugged a very heavy bag home (from the aforementioned errand) and sat down to work for 4 more hours. But it’s all okay because it may be 11:30 at night and I may conk out in 30 minutes but until my head hits the pillow — the night is all mine!

Gratitude of the day: Not being a teenager anymore

Sometimes when I’m down I feel compelled to make a list of all the things I’m grateful for. The list is usually quite serious and introspective — filled with thing like “my family” and “having a safe home”. But today I would like to express my gratitude for something far simpler — not being a teenager anymore.
All it took was a gaggle of adolescents getting on the subway next to me to make me realize how grateful I am to be done with that part of my life. Normally when I see a group of teenagers yelling across a streetcar or smoking on the corner of school grounds I roll my eyes and struggle to suppress my irritation. But something about this particular lead me to a revelation of how happy I am not to be in that age bracket anymore. Clawing for attention, desperate to understand who they are, wishing they felt they fit in, questioning each and every decision they make because the whole notion of “just be yourself” makes absolutely no logical sense, feeling they have to buy this electronic or that purse because they can’t possibly be cool without it, pushing to get in a comment so they can establish they have a place in the crazy world that is high school. Man. Did that ever suck!
Lately magazines are filled with celebrities saying they feel better than ever at 30, at 40, at 50 — whatever age it is — my gosh, it has to be better than 13 through 18. You couldn’t pay me to relive that ridiculous insecurity and self doubt. I’m not saying I radiate self love and confidence every second of the day, but I certainly feel a whole lot better about myself than I did five years ago and that is something to be truly grateful for.

Ways to think more like a kid

Today it occurred to me that I often enjoy life more when I spend it thinking like a kid. Everything is more entertaining and enjoyable when you approach it from a child’s point of view. In that spirit I share with you questions you can ask yourself so that you can live every day more like a kid would:

“When waiting in line at a restaurant – why stand around whining about the slow service when I can spend my time making outlandish wishes in the koi pond until I run out of pennies?”

“Why walk to my next destination when I can run like a mad person with arms and legs flailing around at will?

“Is this cupcake really going to go straight to my hips or is it going to warm my tummy and sweeten my day all the way down?”

“Is this traffic truly the end of the world or is it just an opportunity to baffle those around me with my skills at 20 questions and the alphabet game?”

“Why cram myself into a smelly gym when I can chase my friend around in circles until we’re both dizzy and out of breath?”

“My underwear has become wedged and needs to be removed – is there any point really being coy about it?”

Hope these questions help you get more fun out of each and every day!

Hope for Humanity

Let’s face it – it’s easy to get overwhelmed with all the crap that goes on in the world. Which is why I think it’s so important to take note of those moments where you think – there just might be hope for us after all! Considering my work day ended with me getting yelled at, by a woman wearing sunglasses indoors no less, for not having a sugar-free cinnamon shaker at her immediate disposal – it would be easy to spend my evening stewing about how much people stink. But instead I’m going to pretend that moment never happened and instead focus on an encounter I had at 7 in the morning.

I had been up since 5am and, due to the appearance of a large foreign class trip, I had been toasting dozens of breakfast sandwiches for over an hour. Plus I hadn’t had time yet to grab a coffee jolt. So, needless to say, I was not in the best of moods when one of our regulars came in. Fortunately, she is my absolute favorite regular because she’s so cheery in the morning and eager to make conversation.

My company has a “just say yes” policy so no matter what ridiculous demand a person may have we are expected to make it happen. This is a great idea but it often means that the pushiest and rudest people wind up with free drinks and the best deals. So I decided to change things up and give this wonderful lady a free coffee. I didn’t say anything and figured even if she never noticed, I’d still get to feel like I’d balanced the world out a little bit. But as she went to swipe her debit card she exclaimed “Oh no! It only says 2.05$, I think I’ve been undercharged.”

What a kind and honest person! Considering I’ve experienced people running away with tip jars and money boxes for ailing children, it certainly is refreshing to have someone insist they pay for their coffee. When I told her it was on me today she couldn’t say thank you enough. I really think we both made each others days.

 

36 Days until Christmas!!!

Alright everyone – my weekly countdown to Christmas is getting very close to the month mark and that is extremely exciting. This newfound proximity to the holiday brings something wonderful with it – Christmas themed everything.
Last night I came home to the awesomeness of this collection my roommate had put together:

I didn’t even know holiday themed dish detergent existed! Genius! As far as I’m concerned the more things that have cartoon snowmen on them and are peppermint scented – the happier I am!

Winnie the Pooh’s thoughts on rushing

I have noticed lately that I always feel like I am in a rush. It doesn’t matter if I give myself ten extra minutes to get to work – I still end up power walking and get impatient when I get caught behind slow movers. And then I came across this quote that really helped me see things in a new light:

“Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”

- Winnie the Pooh

My jobs are in fast paced environments so I know there will always be times where I need to rush but I’m starting to think there are lots of times where it wouldn’t hurt to slow down and appreciate things. So that is exactly what I will aim to do!

Wedding bells are ringing!

I am very excited to announce that my sister and her boyfriend (correction…fiance) announced their engagement last night. Which means my blog for the next year will be gaining an additional focus on weddings. And since weddings are the happiest of happy things (short of new babies – which might be up for discussion soon *wink wink*), discussion of them goes along very well with the theme of my blog. So get ready for new and exciting posts on the creation of colour palettes, ring bearer pillows, bachelorette party favors and much more! It’s going to be a good year for happy happenings!

Surprises!!!

I think it’s official…surprises are my favorite thing ever. Okay, maybe not bad surprises – learning the day of that there is no new episode of The Bachelorette for me to watch or that I’m needed at work when I thought I had the day off are not welcome. But good surprises are definitely the greatest things ever. For example, I had a very long night of work at the restaurant (40 minute wait times, demanding customers and very achy legs) but then came home to this:

My roommate made peanut butter-chocolate chip cookies and left them on the counter inviting me to help myself! I practically collapsed out of delight. I was cranky and starving and it was exactly what I needed. I am going to make it my mission for the next month to perform little surprises for my friends and family because they really do make a person’s day. It’s time to spread the joy!

Baby Koala!

I absolutely love the website Happy News because they seem to be the only news source that focuses on the positive that are going on in the world. And this baby koala video is just too cute for words. I mean, how often do you get to see a baby koala? Not nearly enough, I say.

 

 

Today’s Cute Picture

Young Love…