♥♥♥ grateful thursday ♥♥♥

everyday i journal
and in that journal
i also write a quick and dirty
list of what
i have recently
been grateful for.

here’s a snippet:

♥ lilacs
♥ pug snoring on the couch
♥ sunshine
♥ hot showers
♥ no headache
♥ a new polka dot dress
♥ beaches and books and ponytails
♥ running into my brother at the grocery store
♥ the house smelling like lilacs & baby powder
♥ how a friend made me laugh by saying he
hoped baby powder wasn’t made from babies
♥ garden centers
♥ late night conversations with Cam
♥ unexpected sweet text from Em saying she misses me
♥ a good night sleep
♥ hair in a messy bun
♥ bare legs and bare feet and polka dot flip flops
♥ people that tag me when they see polka dot items on sale.

flyin' purple people eater....

I have wanted
purple converse
for as long as I can remember.

They were on
countless lists-of-things-i-absolutely-must-have
from about grade 10 on…
(along with a Far West jacket,
double tape deck and a CD walkman)
(oh and a pink telephone
that came with a LOCK
for in my room)

Everything I wore
in high school
was purple…
shoes, tank tops, sweaters,
socks, hair bows…
my binders, my duotangs, my pens…
the marker I used to
write Billy Idol Rulez
and I ♥ Prince
on every desk I sat at
was purple
(that’s how I always got caught).

I started a vision board
and one of the first things
on it was purple converse.

A couple days later,
they showed up
in my facebook ads…
(likely because I printed
a photo of them for my board,
not just because they were ON my board…)
but they were on sale…
and for once, I had the money for them
so I thought
well…that’s a big enough sign.
So I bought them.
And they came today. :)

Now I just need the snow to go away.
:)

friday i'm in love...with so many things... ♥

So many things making me happy right now::

♥ Today is my mom’s birthday. It’s a big one. ♥♥♥

♥ I have been making this chicken noodle soup
lately and loving it. I don’t know why I am still
always so surprised to find out a homemade
version tastes SO much better than a can.

♥ This little list fits in perfectly with my self-care word
for 2021 - glow.

♥ As does this…plus I just love that he thinks about
the poems over night…that he is really absorbing them…
so sweet. And makes me miss when my kids were littles.

♥ Just floss one tooth…start there….don’t think about the rest…

♥ I am on the last episode of the last season of this…
I loved it. I really did. It kept me on the edge of my seat for
most of it…

♥ I set up my new Canon Pixma printer today!!

♥ This week, I have seen chickadees, a squirrel and 2 foxes
in my yard. :)

♥ I finally caved and downloaded TikTok. I am not sure
why I held off for so long. I assumed it was all funny stuff
and pranks, etc…but I was SO wrong. :) There is so much
creativity happening there! Music, arts, videography,
photography…DIY, interior design, wellness, healthy eating…
I fell in love with this song because of a TiktTok duet. I’m hooked.
(also I love the line “I can’t save you with embers in my lungs….”)

Happy Friday!!! :)

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hindsight is 2020...a review

there is a part of me that feels
like maybe it’s wrong
to do a review of 2020…
that 2020 has left a sour taste for
so many people…

i am a bit of a pollyanna-personality though.
:)

it’s just in my nature.
even the year my marriage ended,
i did a year end review
and was able to focus on the positives
so i guess i should be ok with
a pandemic.
heh.

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Every year, I reread my
journals, blog, facebook posts and instagram…
(and, not gonna lie, I catch myself thinking
that someone should take my internet away
many, many times during this exercise).

GEEK GIRL 2020 HIGHLIGHT REEL

♥ I read 31 books! My goal was 30 so I am ahead of the game albeit by a tiny margin,
but still…and one of the books was a computer science text book but I read it cover to cover
so it counts!

♥ Speaking of computer science, I passed my first course with 84% and plenty of tears,
cursing, frustration and questioning myself.

♥ I turned 50! and had a party complete with fireworks (and a stern warning not to light them myself…for good reason), McDonald gift cards for Happy Meals, lots of laughter, hugs and candy and my brother and partner-in-crime told me::

♥ they were taking me to CABOT TRAIL as part of my birthday present!! It was so great! I was able to cross something big off my bucket list AND spend some concentrated time with my niece and nephew who have learned that I am both amusing AND annoying on a road trip. Heh.

♥ After a lot of manual labor, back cramps and cursing, I was able to complete the yard clean up. It only took at least 43 yard bags and a dumpster, but I got it done. Other big orange house accomplishments included fixing the broken wheel on the lawn mower ONLY TO HAVE ANOTHER WHEEL IMMEDIATELY SHATTER, spray foam which resulted in a very artistic sculpture- y display but also kept the ants out, and a garden that produced roughly 60 billiondy tomatoes.

♥ Creatively, I sold some cards, paintings and a little book that someone asked me to put together. I am not gonna lie…that one pushed me HARD out of my comfort zone but the recipient was happy with the final result and that’s what matters. I also got out for lots of adventures with the camera and bought a new phone…JUST for the camera. AND I had a photo shared by CBC…not just CBC PEI (sorry, CBC PEI, I get excited about that, too) but the BIG CBC…like…CBC!!! :) I also built a smurf display!

the photo shared by the big CBC!! :)

♥ I watched all the Star Wars movies and all the Marvel movies! I joined a book club and even
went to some of the meetings! I started a photography club at work (pre-COVID) and started a book trading group with a friend in an effort to let go of some of my possessions. I also started an accountability group with a friend but again…COVID foiled our plans.

♥ I went snowshoeing, also got so lost in Bonshaw that I had to ask 4 grown ups to lead me out..I survived the gruesome shellfish foot injury of the summer of 2020 where I pretty much had my foot amputated (ok…it required a muppets band aid on it but still….I could have died.) I also accepted a marriage proposal from an internet scammer who thought I was a coal miner with 7 children…until I couldn’t give him two to three thousand dollars for foodstuff for his son…heh. Takes all kinds.

All in all, 2020 was not a bad year for me.

And honestly, I am hopeful for 2021.
I’m going into it with big plans, goals and ideas…
world domination blueprints and a weird sense of humor
just like I always do.

Happy New Year…thanks for sticking with me
as long as you have. I am always surprised that
this little scribbling I do in the teeny tiny quiet corner
of the internetsphere gets any readers at all…
so I greatly appreciate you. ♥♥♥

I hope 2020 was not too painful for you
and that 2021 brings you good things…and candy. :)
(mostly cause I think you are nice…
and that you will probably share with me….heh)

friday i'm in love...the comfort edition

♥ with long periods of deep, uninterrupted, heavy comforting sleep

♥ manchester orchestra - the gold

♥ chicken noodle cup of soup with crackers

♥ cinnamon-spicy tea in a polka dot mug

♥ a book read by the glow of the christmas lights

♥ this guilty pleasure show

♥ my new smurf display

♥ it is the season of stripey leggings and oversized socks…

♥ coming home to find a big bag of smurfs on my doorstep
including these which I ABSOLUTELY LOVE!!! :)

happy friday…
i’m looking forward to curling up
on the couch with a blanket and a cup of soup
by the christmas tree
and losing myself in a good book
for the rest of the night.
♥♥♥