Look around your world, Pretty Baby, is it everything you hoped it would be?

According to my horoscope (that is found at the top of my home page--it's not something I actively seek), today would be a day full of greater challenge than the day before. It also said to not spend a lot of time criticizing or complaining because that doesn't impress people. If you ask me, that's just good old fashioned generic advice and not really the work of a fortune teller--but I digress.

In the spirit of cheesy horoscopes and the horrendous bout of existential dread I struggled with earlier today and the fact that it's easier to get over a bad day by not re-hashing it--I give to you a list of ten things for which I am most thankful tonight.


1. Food that lives and sustains. I've been starting my days with Greek yogurt, honey and strawberries with 1/2 a cup of organic granola and wheat germ. Would you believe that I usually don't require a lunch break until around 2:00 pm. I'm working on drinking only water--it will come in time and my tummy will be thankful.
2. John Mayer's cover of Free Fallin'. Put this on and I'll let you dance with me from behind while I finish the dishes.
3. Generosity. Sometimes it can be overwhelming but there's something graceful about the humility of receiving. And besides, if there was no one willing to receive we wouldn't have givers. "Everyone is vital to the flow."
4. Flirting with the old men who come into the Deli. If I can wiggle a wink out of one of them, I go home happy. I think that flirting is God's gift to crummy days and achy backs.
5. Jamie and JD. Maybe it sounds like shout outs and maybe it is because this duo is literally half of the people that I know that actually read this. You have it and I want it and I am not completely certain of what it is but I think I'll know it when it climbs my stairs and knocks on my door. And I will practice the exuberant patience that has been demonstrated to me by you for years followed by the sincerest gratitude.
6. Shaving cream. No aerosol foamy, scented puff balls for me. Nope, not since Skintimate started making shaving cream made with oil from olives and jojoba. This product has revolutionized my relationship with my legs.
7. The fact that my last botched dye job is growing out to the point that I can chop off all of the black and start anew with virgin locks.
8. Thrift stores that carry everything that I need for my home for under $2.00. Not only is it inexpensive, it's all worn in and has it's story and is going to come in and be a part of my story. So far, my most favorite item is a mail sorter from the 60's that I picked up in Lindsborg for all of seventy-five cents. I can't wait 'till you can see where I live. You'll want to rent out my second bedroom. And I will kindly oblige. Come, we'll merge journeys.
9. While I am proud of my snippets of independence, I treasure the interdependence between myself and my closest friends. They have something I need and I have something that they require and there is freedom in holding nothing hostage. They could get it from anywhere and I could give it to anyone. But we chose one another and we keep choosing.
10. Amos. He's a lump of a human, merely 10 months old but filled with absolute wonder and awe and a laugh that you can get to by squeezing his thigh. And he is in love with me, too.

Row, row, row your boat
gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
life is but a dream.