Gratitude Gems: Happy Birthday to Me!

Welcome to Gratitude Gems, where I show a little appreciation for the good things in my life!

It was my birthday yesterday, and I have lots to be thankful for!  I got to hang about in my pajamas for as long as I wanted, and I played video games, and I read, and I got lots of Harlowe cuddles, and I ate pie, and my hubby gave me the cutest birthday card and a beautiful scarf, and we went out with two of our very best friends for a fancy dinner, and I went for a walk with my love around downtown afterwards!  Altogether it was an awesome day!

It’s hard to imagine that, this time next year, our baby will be almost a year old already!  My 33rd year may prove to be my most exciting yet!

S

Gratitude Gems: 13 Months Off

Welcome to Gratitude Gems, where I show a little appreciation for the good things in my life!

I am extremely grateful today, as today marks the first of many Mondays where I don’t have to go to work!  As of Friday last week, I am officially off work due to pregnancy!  My maternity leave will start in about a month, which means that in total, I’m going to be off work for the next 13 months!

I have never been more happy to be pregnant!

A Simplistic Dystopian Read

As part of my reading challenge, I had to read a book I should have read in high school.  Initially I had no idea what I’d read to fulfill this requirement, and then a friend of mine asked if I’d read The Giver.

Apparently, she read it in high school and was surprised that many people she’d asked had not – since she read it in school she assumed others had as well.  I had not, and she proceeded to give rave reviews about how interesting a read it is.  Not only that, but the three sequels were also worth reading, if I was interested.  I quickly made a note for myself that The Giver would be my “from high school” selection.

A Poetic Pregnancy

Because I’m feeling all sorts of feels lately, I find my emotions best summed up in verse!  Enjoy!

Gratitude Gems: No More Shoveling

Welcome to Gratitude Gems, where I show a little appreciation for the good things in my life!

As I walked out to the car this morning through the fresh snow that had fallen overnight, I couldn’t help but consider our new shoveling situation.  We used to live in a house, and so we were responsible for not only our lengthy walkway including stairs up to the front door, and the path around the house, and the driveway out back, but also for the publicly-used sidewalk in front.  It was a lot of shoveling.

Wayward Goals

Over the course of this year, I’ve set out to accomplish a lot of goals.  Some of those goals are even lists in amongst themselves, and so the list really is quite lengthy.  As I near my 32nd birthday, I’ve been considering how best to approach completing as many as possible on that list, and a few goals in particular have stuck out.

Cross Stitching for Christmas

Every year around the holidays I always seem to make note of endless ideas for Christmas-themed cross stitching.  There are so many great ideas out there, and I always wish I had a little bit more time to try a couple before the season is over.  And every year I find I’m simply too busy with other stitching and/or getting ready for Christmas to do so.

But just after the 2015 holidays, I decided it wasn’t too late yet and I got to work making something in preparation for next year!

Gratitude Gems: Walking is for the Birds

Welcome to Gratitude Gems, where I show a little appreciation for the good things in my life!

I had to walk to work this morning for the first time in a loooooong time, and boy what a drag!  I’ve come to realize that I really, really didn’t appreciate all that my body was capable of before getting pregnant, which puts me in the position now of desperately missing the simple luxuries of walking to work without the added back and hip soreness.  It makes me feel pretty pathetic, but as a coworker reminded me, I am carrying a whole other human being with me after all.

That said, I really enjoyed my walk this morning for one simple reason: the birds.

Home Office Space

I’ve had the opportunity to work from home every once in a while now for well over a year – probably going on two years at this point.  I’m lucky to have a manager that believes in providing the best possible working environment, and if that means allowing an employee some time to work on their own wherever they’d prefer, then so be it.  She’s happy that I’ve proved myself capable, and I’m happy I’m not always stuck in cubicle land!

This year, I made myself a goal to create my own space to work at home because in our previous house our computer room, or study, or whatever you call it, became more of a dumping ground than a useful space. 

Gratitude Gems: A Whole List of Things

Welcome to Gratitude Gems, where I show a little appreciation for the good things in my life!

Here I’ve missed two Mondays in a row, and that’s just unacceptable.  It’s not that I haven’t been grateful, but I’ve just been too busy and/or lazy to make note of it here!  So in classic catch-up style, here is a plethora of things for which I’ve been grateful lately: