parent of virtues

It’s been a while since I posted about being grateful. I’m okay with that, since it was getting to the point where it was pretty much the same things with every post. But today feels like a nice day to remind myself.

• Work has been good to me this week. Ticketmaster offered us a few tickets to the Vikings game on Sunday and I was the only one who wanted them, so I brought Darren and his friend Mark to the game. They were Touchdown Club tickets, which meant free food and drinks and the cushiest seats ever.

• Also I got a little bit of a raise. Little is better than zero. Plus praise, which rules.
• Kyle and Jenna are married now. New sister-in-law win!

I cried a few times, mostly because Kyle cried. Betrayal! Brother tears are kryptonite.

• Got to see my family and some high school friends at the wedding, which was an excellent bonus.
• We’re going to the Renaissance Festival on Sunday. It’s the last day so everyone will probably be out of the good mead, but I don’t even care.
• The weather has been lovey. Sometimes there’s nothing better than that.

Darren is working in Wisconsin today and at least part of tomorrow (and possibly into Sunday, which will complicate Fest plans but I’m definitely still going) to make up for missing work all of last week due to a major communication fail on the part of his bosses. So we are temporarily super poor, but what can you do. We already have our Fest tickets so no big. I plan on spending tonight and tomorrow doing next to nothing, except watching Netflix and working on yarn-related projects. It shall be glorious, although I’ll totally miss his stupid furry face.

good stuff

My last post may be full of whiny stuff, and there could easily be more where that came from, but there have been good things going on too. So here I am, reminding myself, because I haven’t done so recently. Plus I could use it right now. The snow is killin’ me.

• I skipped my high school reunion a couple Saturdays ago. I do not regret it. Instead, I spent the evening watching Romy & Michele’s High School Reunion with Kate, Susanna, and Amanda. There was pizza, beer, peanut butter cups, and cat wine and exactly zero moments of pretending to care about people you don’t actually like.
• We saw Cloud Cult at First Avenue on Saturday and they were incredible as always. I said at the time that seeing them live is a more spiritual experience than any church service I’ve ever attended. I stand by that statement.

• The weather was amazing for a few days, so Enli and I celebrated with two trips to the dog park.

• It’s my birthday! Here is a gif, made from last year’s birthday present from Kate.

It’s the standing still that should be scaring you instead

Look! Look at the address bar! Domain’d.

This week seemed to drag. It started well, with the birth of some babies. Hooray! Abigail (SkyMommy) and Joel (Daddy’s Grounded) welcomed Wesley on Sunday, and then a Facebook friend had her little girl on Tuesday. Exciting times. Lots of other babies are coming this year, too, including a friend of ours who is pregnant with twins. Twins are the best- this is a fact.

See?

My blog broke yesterday. On my end, anyway. It’s fixed, though, so I guess why even mention it. But it happened! It was an event. It was actually a hassle, but I’m over it.

Work was a little ridiculous with a slew of visitors from our New York office. It’s nice that they’re able to come in every so often, especially since our market is pretty different than the other ones they work with, but it definitely throws things off. Plus it means that everyone else in the office is busy, but not me. Boooring. It’s a busy month, though, so I should maybe enjoy the slow days when I get them.

This week’s highlights:

• The aforementioned babies
• Easter brunch at Mickey’s with Mr. Baxter
• Mid-week dress weather – I could do without today’s snow, though
• I grabbed two things at the grocery store that are not part of our usual shopping list, and they are things I do not regret: goat cheese with cranberry, and German chocolate sandwich cookies. I’ve been eating the goat cheese with a fork.
• I did a thing today… it’s a job thing that probably won’t come to any sort of fruition, but I took some advice from Ben Folds and did it anyway. Sometimes putting yourself out there and just taking a shot feels good.
• A weird, random, huge spike happened in my blog traffic yesterday, which actually doesn’t seem to have anything to do with its subsequent breaking. Hello, new followers! How you doin’?

c’mon holy ghosts

The best thing that happened to me this week was not having to work today. I was supposed to (we were going to be closing early), but so many people were taking the day off or working from home that my boss told me to take the day. Unexpected three-day weekend? Yes please. I did a little cleaning today and the dog was kind of a pain, but mostly it was just delightful.

What else? Had some quality lady-bro time on Sunday, went on an excellent date Tuesday. Slept like shit most of the week which was unfortunate and entirely the fault of two pets who shall not be named.

**I started writing this Friday evening, saved a draft, and it is now in the wee hours of Sunday morning. Oops.

Chris Messina playing a kind-of-bad guy on The Newsroom is a little bit of a bummer. But dang, I do love him. Related: I have spent the last couple days finally watching The Newsroom. Aaron Sorkin for the win.

I went to the bar with Darren tonight, against my better judgement. Any time I go to a bar that’s not the Half Time Rec it’s against my better judgement, really. Terrible DJ, to start, and when I ordered a gin & tonic I’m pretty sure they gave me gin and 7-Up. I actually had to ask Darren to taste my drink because I wasn’t even entirely sure there was alcohol in it. He assured me there was. Lesson: if you go to a shitty bar, just get your gin with a slice of lime.

Well, it feels about time to leave it to the bullet points:

• Spending quality time with your lady-bros is the best
• as is Thai food on date night
• three day weekend
• The Newsroom is good shit
• I got a text from Kelsey that was just the best. I don’t have any actual sisters, but if I could I would chose those Wulf ladies.
• gin. Gin gin gin. Oh! Related: my friend Jon and a good friend of his are starting a gin distillery. Super awesome.
• Easter date in the morning. We’re going to Mickey’s. 

I wonder how soon Target will mark down their Easter candy…

as useless as searching for meaning in a Pauly Shore movie

Oh hey. Cat photo time?

Nice.

So that gratitude list thing? I decided it’s too restrictive, so I’m going to modify it. From now on it’s going to be a general list of things I’m happy about that week. Because sometimes life is less “I’m grateful that my cat stopped shitting all over himself” and more “I had the most delicious sandwich on Wednesday and it made my day.”

The cat thing is true, by the way. Darren cheaped out on cat food a couple weeks ago and WInston’s bowels were not appreciative. I got their usual food and the problem disappeared immediately. THANK GOD. And sorry for the details.

I also discovered a waterless cat shampoo that is life flesh-saving.

The sandwich thing is also true: the Italian sandwich from Which Which. Darren brought one home for me and it was so, so good. Although if I ever order it myself I’ll have to tell them to go lighter on the oil. But over all, amazing sandwich (as long as you enjoy meat).

More:

• We finally got our Girl Scout Cookie order on Monday. Delicious. 
• Danni won The Biggest Loser and I cried. It was awesome and she is awesome.
• I’ve been doing some thinking and reading about passion, and it’s been very interesting and introspective and also frustrating. Maybe a future post, if I can ever get my thoughts collected.
• I learned about (and subsequently joined) this website called Go Chic or Go Home. If you’ve ever seen Clueless,* it’s like Cher’s electronic closet. Well, that plus Pinterest. I’m obsessed.
• I discovered this Creme Caramel coffee at World Market. Now I want to try ALL the flavors.

*If you haven’t seen Clueless, I don’t know how we can be friends.

Now I’m a believer

First, this link is worth a read. Tina Roth Eisenberg’s 11 Rules for Life & Work.

Nothing particularly exciting to report. I spent most of the weekend in various states of sitting, with two brief exceptions which involved vacuuming and baking cookies. Not at the same time. At one point I sat in a booth at Pizza Luce with Kate, which was a highlight.

Darren and I made a swift trip to IKEA on Thursday to exchange a faulty chair, and to get some new ones to go with the table I purchased a couple weeks ago. We left immediately after I got home from work, which meant that by the time we got out of the store we were starving. As we walked out to the parking ramp we were bitching about our hunger, and suddenly a package of Knackebrod fell from… I don’t know where. Perhaps the sky. Or the rafters, as there was still a roof over our heads. We picked it up, because it was clearly a sign from above and now obviously I believe in all things holy.

Obviously.

Twenty bucks for a package of big, dry crackers? Geez.

Right. So I didn’t do my little gratitude list thing last week because I am not very good at sticking to goals. Real talk, y’all. But here it is! It exists!

• I had a $25 Michael’s gift card left over from Christmas, and I used it to buy a giant frame for the Doctor Who exploding TARDIS poster I’ve had sitting in the closet for like a year. Thanks to my cousin for the GC, and grateful for my addled mind finally realizing the perfect thing to spend it on.
• I am grateful that at least one of our cats is not completely ridiculous (Lucy. Winston is psychotic).
• Related: I’m so glad Enli has been aging so well. She’s not old yet, I just mean she’s a nicer dog now. 
• I’m grateful for Lena Dunham’s Twitter feed, which I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon reading because work was so, so dead.
• Not that I’m complaining about a slow day. Those are nice on occasion.
• Quitting Macy’s was one of the smartest things I’ve done in terms of my own sanity.
• Two words: Justin. Timberlake.

Gratitude

I was listening to this week’s episode of the Jillian Michaels podcast, and Janice was trying to make Jillian feel better about some stuff. She told Jillian to make a list of things she’s grateful for, to remind her that things aren’t all bad.

I was feeling a little stressed today, which is not uncommon, and I thought maybe Janice didn’t have a bad idea. Maybe once a week or so, I should sit down and list some things I’m grateful for. Perhaps Fridays would be a good day to do that. Maybe I can even blog it, and come up with some kind of snappy name. Maybe.

Well, it’s not Friday, but I can still start today. I do what I want.

So without further adieu, I bring you my to-be-named list of things I’m grateful for this week (so far).

• I have new things that make me happy: a kitchen table and the laptop I’m typing on right now. New keyboard! Such an adjustment.
• Work related: I finished all eleven contracts for our next Broadway season, so that’s off my desk.And that;s just nice.
• Easter candy is here and it is delicious.
• There are some moments when all of our pets are behaving. They are few and far between, but they happen.
• Having my nights and weekends back.
• As always, my family and my lovely friends. This is always true, regardless of whether or not I put it on any list. I have some awesome people in my life and will, of course, be forever grateful for them.

Will this be something I keep up? Who knows. But I like it for today.