Thanks a lot, Thursday!

...okay, I'm going to back that up. 
So I ran across 365grateful the other day.  Have you seen it?  I think PetitePlanet sent it to me with the suggestion that we take on the project so as to exercise our happiness muscles a bit more effectively...anyway, I do love the idea of not only taking the time to be grateful for something each day, but memorializing it with a picture, so as of Monday I've climbed aboard.  I'm curious to see what story my photos will tell over the course of a year, and also whether it will make a difference to my overall mindset- which, if you've known me at all, you know is a little more blackdog than whitedog (yes, i'm adjectivizing these phrases into single words, i think it's going to catch on.).  I'm telling you so you can embark on your own photoessay if you want--a good use for those cell phone cameras we're all carrying around now--and also so I can create a little bubble of accountability for myself here.  Still trying to figure out where to fit a daily blog post into my life, but I'll post them in groups if need be.  (Note to self: try to only be grateful for non-risque things to avoid posting inappropriate pictures on the internets..)  These are the first three:
  

Monday, May 7 2012

Light of my life, obviously.  An obvious and easy first choice to kick off the project.
 

Tuesday, May 8 2012

We spent almost three years reading this entire series together, evenings before bed.  We just finished it the other day and I feel like it's the End of an Era.  Three years is a long time in the life of a small boy and his mother!  Naturally, he was pretty unfazed.  I tried to get a little video of his thoughts about it all coming to a close, but three seconds in it devolved into a fart-noise symphony so I'll spare you the post.  But I'm really grateful to have had something we both looked forward to so consistently...I remember picking up one of the books the first time around in Thailand before I knew he was floating around in there, and thinking "if I ever have kids I'm totally going to read this to them like it's nonfiction!"  And now, I have. (though I think he caught on to the fiction part :p)


Wednesday, May 9 2012

I totally did NOT feel like running yesterday, and even though the schedule said "Six Miles!" my obeisance bone was out of joint.  I finally dragged myself to the gym when I realized I could watch Breaking Bad even more effectively on the treadmill than on my bed...and then like 3/4 of the way through the episode this surprise storm blew in out of nowhere and I was like, why the F am I running inside when I could have been out there?!  Well, still.  It was awesome watching it through the window, and smelling it whenever the door opened, and driving home in it, and listening to it on the roof.  Thanks, storm, for thinking of me and coming to visit!
      (Also, bonus gratitude:  see that tiny shiny spot between those two trees?  That's a "lake" out behind my house.  Nevermind that it's more "" than lake, because it's barely deep enough for the ducks to swim on without scraping their toes and entirely lined with concrete-- it is an actual standing body of water and it's near my house and when you live on the sun the presence of any real live water feels like a major miracle.  Every time my eye pans across it I feel a little calmer, a tiny bit more able to cope with the searing brightness in my other eye, and 95% of people here don't have this luxury.  So, glorified drainage ditch, I am super grateful for you!  Thanks for cooling my eyeball every day!)

So.  There you have it, yet another new project for me.  I'm looking forward to it, but realizing I still have to fight the blackdog on my own ("*this* isn't picture worthy, not taking a picture of *that*, jeez it's 12:30 and I haven't taken a picture yet today harrumph" etc).  Anyway.  At least I'm throwing whitedog a bone once a day!  (...Just not my obeisance bone, I'll need it to get through marathon training!)


Update:  Just watched this video and it's making me want to do this.  I think it might be imprudent.  That is not helping.  But I'm seriously scared of those electrocution things!  I mean, seriously?!  Has anyone lived through this and wants to allay my fear?