5 Things to Be Happy About Right Now (during winter)

1. Wearing tights (black are prettiest and sophisticated) with both winter and summer dresses


2. Exercising outside (yay running!) without getting overheated


3. Soup filled with lots of beans and veggies


4. Holiday music is so cheerful!


5. Hot chocolate--always a warm classic

Thankful

• that class ended early on 11.26.07


• that D'lites is closed on Thursday and not Wednesday (buy 2 get 1 FREE day!!!)


• Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade tradition


• being with family (and not having to work or go to school instead)


• my beautiful new home in Tampa


• that I didn't bust open my face when I fell in the Sweetbay parking lot yesterday


• my three lovely blogs


• sweaters! and blankets! and heaters!


• wedding location recent developments/prospects
  
• inspiRations


• Health/happiness/a job/an education/opportunities/priceless & wonderful blessings


• life life life life life life life life life life life life life life life life life

Jeez, I could go on FOREVER, but I'll end here so I don't bore anyone...so I'll lavish my thanks on God, in my prayers, which works pretty well, too...

Current obsessions/passions/whatever you might call them:

• being thankful


• warm soup


• home decor blogs


• fruit gum


• Regina Spektor


• cupcake art


• D'lites ice cream


• "Pushing Daisies"


• planning and making Christmas gifts


• dimes


• dreams


• straws


• daily snapshots


• mini braids


• leggings and tights


• collecting lesson plans

Looking forward to...

• No work, no school tomorrow after 4:45 pm


• A new mini laptop?


• Finishing all assignments and the fall semester!


• Villagefest in Carrollwood Village


• Thanksgiving and a day off--from everything!


• "Winter" cleaning


• E-bay, Etsy, and Craigslist listings


• Making and compiling Christmas gifts


• Seeing my darling Amy


• Spending the weekend after Christmas with my family


• Blogging/reading blogs


• Crafts: paintings, plushes, gifts


• Holiday movies (even though I haven't been to the movies in forever!)
  
• President Elect Obama's inauguration

Hey, it's ok!...

• ...to give more presents than you get at Christmas.


• ...to be an adult and wear colorful tights.


• ...to spend a little more money than you meant to at the craft fair.


• ...to say, 'No!'--to Uncle Scottie's gourmet smoked pork-whatever, another party, or coffee-after-dessert-after-Thanksgiving dinner-after-brunch with his grandparents.


• ...to not write a 'to-do' list for a day!


• ...to eat all of the cookie dough out of the ice cream but get upset if anyone else does the same thing...

Gifts that give back

• charitywater.org -> $20 = drinking water for one person for 20 years!


• oneacreatatime.com ->$50 = saves 200 sq.ft. of forest


• unicefusa.org -> $35 = 1 bike to get a health worker to remote areas


• survivors.com -> buy jewelry made by survivors of sex trafficking to support their rehab programs


• we-care.com & igive.com -> merchants donate proceeds to good causes


• roomtoread.org -> promotes child literacy in the developing world


• scaw.org -> $35 = the basics for a needy child


• womensbeanproject.com -> buy bean dips to support homeless women who are employed to make these dips


• mercycorps.org -> $70 = farming supplies and equipment for 2 families in Uganda


• malarianomore.org -> $10 = 1 insecticide-treated mosquito net (that will protect a child for years)


• modestneeds.org -> help pay a needy family's bill(s)


• dogoodchannel.com -> find out what non-profits in your area need specifically

These are all awesome ideas (courtesy of some magazine or another--I subscribe to too many to remember which!) that you can do as Christmas gifts--give a gift in their name! Whoever the gift is given to will thank them, too; helping someone in need is a much more beautiful gift than another pair of socks or even a cool new iPod.

Merry Christmas shopping/planning! :)

My paraphrasing of Ikea's guide to de-cluttering

1. Sort: by owner, frequency of use, if it can be donated/sold. The fewer the categories, the better.
   
2. Reduce: If you don't use it on a daily basis, seriously reconsider it's purpose in your home. Again, donate and sell it if you can!
   
3. Assign a home: Figure out what where and in what room everything belongs.
   
4. Count and Measure: so you know how much storage space you need!
   
5. Choose your storage: Of course, Ikea gives suggestions for their products (which is not a bad idea, people) but Wal-Mart works, too!

Looking forward to...

• Tomorrow morning (breakfast and "Bonnie", relaxing)
• Kickboxing!
• Thanksgiving in Bradenton (family is stressful but still fun)
• Completing all Fall Semester assignments
• Teaching on Tuesday?
• Bum's visit! (I am hopeful!)
• Saturday = Ybor Farmer's Market in the morning
• 11.21 = Art After Dark with Starbucks
• 11.22 = Villagefest in Carrollwood in the morning
• Christmas break (from school, there'll still be LOTS of work)
• The store during the holiday season = better sales, music, and decorations
• D'lites every Wednesday
• Blogs daily! :)
• Roadtrip Summer 2009
• Wedding 10.10.10

Guess!

These are some randomly chosen/popular/pleasant-sounding slogans found in American culture; how many of these can you guess? [answers at the bottom!]

• I'm lovin' it (we'll start w/an easy one!)


• Is IT in you?


• No rules. Just right.


• The style of your life.


• Your world delivered.


• Live your life.


• Save money. Live better.


• Characters welcome.


• An American Revolution


• Start a band, rock the world


• A new kind of family.


• Watch what happens.


• The object of your desires.


• Real Life. Drama.


• Chase what matters.


• Instinctively good.


• Follow the leader.


• imagination at work.


• Growing Ideas.


• Uncommonly good.

***********************************************************

• McDonald's


• Gatorade


• Outback Steakhouse


• Dillard's


• AT & T


• American Eagle


• Wal-Mart


• USA


• Chevy


• RockBand


• abc Family


• Bravo


• Blackberry


• A&E


• Chase


• Planters


• Garmin


• GE


• Weyerhaeuser


• Keebler

"You only live once, but once is enough if you live it right"

WHY I shouldN'T care what THEY/OTHERS/the freaking WORLD think of me:
[but it is hard for me to do this so a list of affirmation is in order]

• this is MY life, not theirs/yours/whoever's


• only GOD has the right to judge me


• very few people are special enough to understand me


• "If it makes you happy, it can't be that bad"


• being unique is beautiful


• i have ONE shot at life -- so I'd best not waste it on anyone/anything that is not worth it

they may be pointless to you [but they mean something to me]

*collections*

• Band-aids [favorites include pirate, hello kitty, and strawberry shortcake]
• Pressed pennies [from theme parks mostly]
• Postcards [haven't gotten too far on this one]
• Business cards [they're everywhere]
• Stickers [because you can ALWAYS use stickers]
• Journals [mmm. love.]
• Books [to build up a super extensive and impressive library]
• Bottle caps [to make jewelry]
• Magazine pictures/cut-outs [for collages, of course!]
• Charms & Lockets [& other adorable tiny things]
• Websites [because i am so easily inspired]