Happy Anniversary, Janet & Nate! (gratitude #32)

July 22, 2008

My in-laws are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary.

True to form, they wanted to celebrate together with us: their daughter and their son and daughter-in-law. After a little bit of discussion, they decided on the location for the celebration - Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. It’s a fitting destination, the family camped here together often. Prior to [...]

Gratitude is my top strength, from authentichappiness.com (gratitude #31)

July 19, 2008

I took the VIA Signature Strengths test at authentichappiness.com (test is free, but requires registration on their site). Here are my top 5 strengths. The one thing that stands out to me is that my top strength in this survey is gratitude. Since I have been intentionally cultivating gratitude this year, I wonder if I [...]

How social networking sites gave me a very happy birthday (gratitude #30)

July 16, 2008

I have to hand it to the constellation of social sites to which I belong. All combined to give me a very happy birthday today! I turned 38 today, and I didn’t get the iPhone I was seriously hinting for because of local shortages, and my husband has a summer cold, so has been prone on [...]

A party on the block (gratitude #29)

June 30, 2008

The 600 block of South First Street had a block party last Sunday (6/22/2008). Wendy, my across the street neighbor, organized it by gaining the signatures needed to get the permit from the city to close the street. We live on the block of First Street where it goes from 1 way to 2 way. [...]

My most amazing bridesmaid’s dress (gratitude #28)

June 29, 2008

Everyone complains about bridesmaid’s dresses. I’ve bought some pastel tiered wedding-cake-esque “wonders” that immediately went into the “for Kiwanis” pile after the event. But I did get one dress, for my sister’s wedding, that has become my go-to dress for formal events and weddings since.
My sister is a pragmatic woman. When she got married, 11 [...]

Garden visitor (gratitude #27)

June 12, 2008

So, I’ve been contemplating doing some landscape work on the backyard. The grass is dying (grubs, I think), the deck is too small for the table and the grill we have on it, and the random plantings (my fault) and the bi-level deck and backyard (inherited from the previous owners) feels like there’s too much [...]

Spring Bounty (gratitude #26)

June 4, 2008

Today was a banner day. My sister and I stopped at a local farmstand for eggs, rhubarb, and asparagus. Tonight, we harvested wild leeks, though we were kind of wary since the leeks were in the spot folks have been sighting a juvenile black bear.
Dave and Nathan enjoyed a day fishing and catching (instead of [...]

Comedy of errors on the ground and boy are we lucky (gratitude #25)

May 23, 2008

So, Dave and I took the Cessna-182 from UM Flyers to Tobermory for Memorial Day weekend. Due to the weather, we might have a short long weekend, we might have to come back on Sunday instead of Monday, but I was excited to fly instead of drive. Holiday weekends involve long, long, long waits at [...]

The value of libraries and bookstores (gratitude #24)

May 22, 2008

So, there’s this blog I read, and the author has a book with a really compelling title. I’ve enjoyed his blog posts on the topic, and I had put his book on my Amazon wish list.
In support of my intention to acquire, maintain, and store less stuff, I moved most of my Amazon wish list [...]

A decade in my meditation community (gratitude #23)

May 19, 2008

I just realized that this is my 10th year in the local Siddha Yoga Meditation community. At the time I first went, it was about a block and half from my apartment, but it took me several months to get there. I don’t know the date of my first visit, though it would have been [...]