Gratitude Friday

Such a gorgeous color

1. Adele’s return, her new album, new interviews and videos.

2. Thanksgiving, a yummy dinner with good friends who even let us come over early and take showers, (one more week and our bathroom will be done!).

3. Time off from CSU work. The rest of my life is just so wonderful. Even the work doesn’t feel like work.

4. Rest. Naps, reading books, cuddling with the dogs, the quiet of a snowy day.

lorysnowlight03

5. My tiny family. Texts from my brother, talking on the phone with my mom, walking with the dogs, laughing with Eric.

Bonus joy: Cooking, listening to podcasts, Tig Notaro’s new comedy special, warm cheesy biscuits, sparkling apple cider, a quiet house, down blankets, going to the gym, yoga, my Kindle and all the books on it, twinkle lights on a dark morning.

birthdayflowers

1. Time with friends. I got to spend some with three of them this week. I hadn’t seen them in awhile, and it was so good to be with them. We ate, laughed, cried, got covered in dog hair, and talked about important deep heart stuff.

2. My birthday. I’m happy to be celebrated, but also feel so grateful and lucky to get another year. I got to talk to my mom and brother, received some sweet gifts, was the center of a day long love fest on Facebook, and Eric made me a pie.

berrybirthdaypie

3. Winter lights in Old Town. I just love them so much.

oldtownlights

4. Ringo Blue turned two years old yesterday. I posted this picture on Facebook and Instagram, with this caption: “The first time I heard about him, I felt a flutter of knowing. The first time I saw a picture of him, I knew. The first time I held him, I was sure. Today when I was taking pictures of him as he tried not to fall asleep in his favorite chair, I could tell when he looked at me that he knew too.”

ringoistwo

5. Eric. For the pie, for walking the dogs every day twice a day while my foot rests, for taking them hiking too, for the sweet birthday card and the pie, and for making me laugh.

loryhike

Bonus joy: Two weeks down on the bathroom renovation and two to go (the latest: we have walls and they got painted today), the half bathroom at the back of our tiny house, how (mostly) good the dogs have been with all the chaos, a weekend off followed by a whole week off for Thanksgiving break, yoga, a chance to sub for my favorite class next week, sleep, clean water, Susannah Conway’s new ecourse “The Inside Story: Running a Heart-Centered Business” which is so good and perfectly timed it’s blowing my little mind.