I am having a hard time blogging tonight; I had a fun full day, and I'm just tired. I went into Washington D.C. with my some of my very best friends. It was a great day.
41) Meeting my friends in D.C. topped my list today.
42) I found out that two of my closest friends (guy and girl) have started dating. It took me a bit, but I do think it is cute.
43) We had lunch with the guy's dad where he works at a government building. It was fun to sit and talk at lunch. The dad has known me all my life, so it was good to see him.
44) I bought a book today, The Twelve Days of Christmas in Washington, D.C. I grew up right outside D.C., so this book really speaks to me, and I look forward to sharing it with future children. Also, the money went to a good cause, which relieves my anxiety at spending money when I'm unemployed, a bit.
45) We visited the National Cathedral today, a beautiful, large Episcopalian church in D.C. It is very beautiful, and has a tower with an extraordinary view of DC and the surrounding areas.
46) After we walked through the cathedral, we had to stand outside to wait for our ride, when the cathedral closed. We all (three girls, one boy, huddled close together to stay warm. It was amusing.
47) I took the time to catch up with my best friend's mom (diff friend than the one whose dad we ate lunch with). She is a surrogate mom, and she noticed something that someone else did yesterday, I'm more vivacious than before. Good to know that I'm recovering well from my heartbreak.
48) A good old fashioned sleep over. :)
So all in all, a great day. Now I'm watching a movie with my girl friends, all spending the night at one girl's house, (minus the new boyfriend, also known as old friend). Very fun.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Early Christmas Joys
Crazy how I've been blogging daily. Before I blogged so erratically. I might blog a little less after this challenge, but definitely more regularly.
34) One of the great joys of babysitting is when you give the children back to their parents. After babysitting for well over 12 hrs, it was a relief to give those cute girls back to their mom. Good thing it'll be a little while yet before I'm a parent myself.
35) After the holiday itself, my favorite part of Christmas is all my friends coming home on break. Several of my friends were back in town from school and it was so very good to see them at church, even if my responsibilities in the nursery limited the time I got to see them.
36) But my favorite person that I got to see after a long time was my cousin. He was away for 2 years on a mission for our church, and he came down to my ward (congregation) for a family event. I was so excited to see him standing there in the hall. :D
37) Spending the afternoon with my big family was so wonderful. I have six younger siblings (full and step) and then there was my parents, my step-grandparents and uncle, my grandma, and my recently returned cousin. It was so awesome to be all together.
38) My step-grandma has Alzheimer's, which is so hard for me to see her go through, so my step-mom made us all t-shirts with our names on them to see if she would interact more. It didn't make a big impact, because the size of the crowd was a little overwhelming. But seeing her light up every time she saw the shirt that her son was wearing, that said Schmuncle, which is what his nieces and nephews call him, was worth it for me.
39) We had a big Christmas dinner tonight. Sweet potatoes with marshmallows, ham, rolls, my step-mom's mac and cheese. Yum, yum!
40) We also exchanged gifts tonight, since my dad works on Christmas. That was fun, especially seeing how much my step-grandma enjoyed her gifts.
I think that's it for tonight. A little less than halfway to a hundred. My goal is to finish this by New Year's, right now. We'll see how joy filled this next week is!
34) One of the great joys of babysitting is when you give the children back to their parents. After babysitting for well over 12 hrs, it was a relief to give those cute girls back to their mom. Good thing it'll be a little while yet before I'm a parent myself.
35) After the holiday itself, my favorite part of Christmas is all my friends coming home on break. Several of my friends were back in town from school and it was so very good to see them at church, even if my responsibilities in the nursery limited the time I got to see them.
36) But my favorite person that I got to see after a long time was my cousin. He was away for 2 years on a mission for our church, and he came down to my ward (congregation) for a family event. I was so excited to see him standing there in the hall. :D
37) Spending the afternoon with my big family was so wonderful. I have six younger siblings (full and step) and then there was my parents, my step-grandparents and uncle, my grandma, and my recently returned cousin. It was so awesome to be all together.
38) My step-grandma has Alzheimer's, which is so hard for me to see her go through, so my step-mom made us all t-shirts with our names on them to see if she would interact more. It didn't make a big impact, because the size of the crowd was a little overwhelming. But seeing her light up every time she saw the shirt that her son was wearing, that said Schmuncle, which is what his nieces and nephews call him, was worth it for me.
39) We had a big Christmas dinner tonight. Sweet potatoes with marshmallows, ham, rolls, my step-mom's mac and cheese. Yum, yum!
40) We also exchanged gifts tonight, since my dad works on Christmas. That was fun, especially seeing how much my step-grandma enjoyed her gifts.
I think that's it for tonight. A little less than halfway to a hundred. My goal is to finish this by New Year's, right now. We'll see how joy filled this next week is!
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Babysitting Joys
So I spent the day babysitting for my dear friend while she and her hubby have a solo weekend. It was a pleasure, seeing as I love her three little girls very much. And her two kittens are pretty sweet too.
29) One of the kitties snuggling me on and off all day :)
30) Little girl snuggles are even better.
31) The oldest girl called me mommy 5 or 6 times today. It cracked me up.
32) Hugs and kisses at bedtime.
33) Doing the dishes, after putting the girls to bed, was surprisingly a joy tonight. I think it was because it was doing it as a favor for a friend, and not as a chore at home.
Yeah, I had a ton of fun today, we watched movies and played games. I'm looking forward to being a mom someday, but for now, I'm glad I'm giving these precious little ones back to their mother tomorrow.
29) One of the kitties snuggling me on and off all day :)
30) Little girl snuggles are even better.
31) The oldest girl called me mommy 5 or 6 times today. It cracked me up.
32) Hugs and kisses at bedtime.
33) Doing the dishes, after putting the girls to bed, was surprisingly a joy tonight. I think it was because it was doing it as a favor for a friend, and not as a chore at home.
Yeah, I had a ton of fun today, we watched movies and played games. I'm looking forward to being a mom someday, but for now, I'm glad I'm giving these precious little ones back to their mother tomorrow.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Out of Patience, Still Finding Joy
Does your patience ever just disappear? Mine did tonight while I was babysitting. It just vanished, but I still managed to find joy in the day.
24) My first joy of the day was this beautiful post about how Christmas still comes even if our life isn't perfect: When You're Not Ready for Christmas
25) I love cheesy Lifetime Christmas movies, like A Boyfriend For Christmas and Hallmark ones too.
26) I love the snuggles I get when I babysit.
27) I was babysitting an 18-mo-old and his older sister. The 18-mo-old just learned to say thank you, and it is sooo sweet when he does.
28) The easy part of babysitting- when you've got them in bed and you're just hanging out. :)
I need to stop just lounging around, and doing more to create joy. I think the best joy I could find would be to get a job, but that will come. I am looking forward to this weekend, I have another babysitting job, my favorite kids, tomorrow, and Sunday my dad is celebrating Christmas. Lots of joys coming.
24) My first joy of the day was this beautiful post about how Christmas still comes even if our life isn't perfect: When You're Not Ready for Christmas
25) I love cheesy Lifetime Christmas movies, like A Boyfriend For Christmas and Hallmark ones too.
26) I love the snuggles I get when I babysit.
27) I was babysitting an 18-mo-old and his older sister. The 18-mo-old just learned to say thank you, and it is sooo sweet when he does.
28) The easy part of babysitting- when you've got them in bed and you're just hanging out. :)
I need to stop just lounging around, and doing more to create joy. I think the best joy I could find would be to get a job, but that will come. I am looking forward to this weekend, I have another babysitting job, my favorite kids, tomorrow, and Sunday my dad is celebrating Christmas. Lots of joys coming.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Day 3
I wasn't looking as hard today, but there were still joys.
19) SNOW!!! It snowed here in Southern MD today. I love love love snow, it is so so pretty.
20) Subsequently, I loved teasing my friend who doesn't like snow.
21) Fun songs like Dynamite by Taio Cruz and Club Can't Handle Me by Flo Rida ft. David Guetta. I love dancing to those songs and musta played them 5 times each while I was getting dinner ready. Good thing my younger brother was napping or he woulda killed me.
22)We drove around looking for a Christmas tree tonight, unsucessfully, but seeing all the Christmas lights was wonderful.
23) Singing Christmas songs in the car with my mom was also fun. :)
I was pretty lazy today, so that's about it. Here's to finding 87 more.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Joys Abound
Day two of finding joys, and I find that they are surprisingly easy to spot, despite the various difficulties in my life.
9) Renewing hope for the future, as I read the testimonies shared through the blogs of faithful Christian women, testimonies that remind me that God is always there and through him, my future is always bright.
10) Watching Gilmore Girls episode Love, War, and Snow from season 1. Love me some Gilmore Girls, especially the ones about snow.
11) I love the sleep button on my TV remote. Courtesy of the ex-hubs, I now fall asleep to the TV. Thanks to my lovely sleep button, I can make it so the TV turns off on its own and doesn't wake me up right before I fall into deeper sleep. Almost every night, I say out loud how much I love that button.
12) I took one of the suggestions from Rachel Olsen's blog on preparing for Christmas, and relaxed in a bath while listening to Christmas carols. It was super relaxing and peaceful.
13) Specifically, I really enjoyed listening to Christmas Offering from Casting Crowns. It really helped me to think about the meaning of Christmas, the birth of my Savior.
14) I also rediscovered on of my favorite Christmas songs from my childhood, Picture A Christmas. I forgot how much I loved that song.
15) I loved finding a comment on my blog, and knowing I am sharing this journey with other bloggers to find 100 joys. Thanks again, Sarah, for this wonderful challenge!
16) Courtesy of my commenter, from the blog It is A Beautiful Ride, I listened a little more carefully to the Lady Antebellum song, Hello World. I really do love those lyrics:
Hello world
How’ve you been?
Good to see you, my old friend
Sometimes I feel as cold as steel
And broken like I’m never going to heal
I see a light
A little grace, a little faith unfurled
Hello world
9) Renewing hope for the future, as I read the testimonies shared through the blogs of faithful Christian women, testimonies that remind me that God is always there and through him, my future is always bright.
10) Watching Gilmore Girls episode Love, War, and Snow from season 1. Love me some Gilmore Girls, especially the ones about snow.
11) I love the sleep button on my TV remote. Courtesy of the ex-hubs, I now fall asleep to the TV. Thanks to my lovely sleep button, I can make it so the TV turns off on its own and doesn't wake me up right before I fall into deeper sleep. Almost every night, I say out loud how much I love that button.
12) I took one of the suggestions from Rachel Olsen's blog on preparing for Christmas, and relaxed in a bath while listening to Christmas carols. It was super relaxing and peaceful.
13) Specifically, I really enjoyed listening to Christmas Offering from Casting Crowns. It really helped me to think about the meaning of Christmas, the birth of my Savior.
14) I also rediscovered on of my favorite Christmas songs from my childhood, Picture A Christmas. I forgot how much I loved that song.
15) I loved finding a comment on my blog, and knowing I am sharing this journey with other bloggers to find 100 joys. Thanks again, Sarah, for this wonderful challenge!
16) Courtesy of my commenter, from the blog It is A Beautiful Ride, I listened a little more carefully to the Lady Antebellum song, Hello World. I really do love those lyrics:
Hello world
How’ve you been?
Good to see you, my old friend
Sometimes I feel as cold as steel
And broken like I’m never going to heal
I see a light
A little grace, a little faith unfurled
Hello world
I really identify with feeling as cold as steel, and like I'm never gonna heal, but this song gives me hope.
17) This one comes from tooling around on YouTube. I love this parody of the Old Spice commercial from Sesame Street: Smell Like A Monster. It just puts a big smile on my face.
18) And the final joy for today's blog is watching Prep and Landing on ABC Family with my mom, who just loves it. And I do too. :)
So, 10 days til Christmas. I may finish this by then, maybe by the New Year, but it is definitely making my Christmas season merrier.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
More Joys
I feel a little silly posting twice in one day, but I want to continue adding joys to my list, before I forget them. I will try to keep it down to one post per day after today.
3) The little gingerbread village my family tried to put together. It's a little sad and pathetic, but it was fun to do it together.
4) I added a few things to my Christmas decorations collection today, and put out my little Christmas village on my dresser. I LOVE Christmas.
5) Watching It's A Wonderful Life with my family.
6) Making chocolate chip cookies for my family, enough to fill the cookie jar :)
7) My mom told me tonight me how grateful she is to have me here this Christmas, and thankful for all the effort I am putting into making Christmas a little more special this year, especially for my brothers. Hearing her say that helps me feel like I'm going in the right direction, even when life still feels a little wrong.
8)The last one for the night is the post-it message of the day from Operation Beautiful: "Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think!" Operation Beautiful is this wonderful site with the mission of changing the way women see themselves by posting notes around in public places. I love that. I feel like I have healthy self-image, but I know sometimes I think too negatively. I always feel uplifted after visiting the site.
3) The little gingerbread village my family tried to put together. It's a little sad and pathetic, but it was fun to do it together.
4) I added a few things to my Christmas decorations collection today, and put out my little Christmas village on my dresser. I LOVE Christmas.
5) Watching It's A Wonderful Life with my family.
6) Making chocolate chip cookies for my family, enough to fill the cookie jar :)
7) My mom told me tonight me how grateful she is to have me here this Christmas, and thankful for all the effort I am putting into making Christmas a little more special this year, especially for my brothers. Hearing her say that helps me feel like I'm going in the right direction, even when life still feels a little wrong.
8)The last one for the night is the post-it message of the day from Operation Beautiful: "Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think!" Operation Beautiful is this wonderful site with the mission of changing the way women see themselves by posting notes around in public places. I love that. I feel like I have healthy self-image, but I know sometimes I think too negatively. I always feel uplifted after visiting the site.
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