GOOD WEEKEND!

This was a good, good weekend. Which was good and needed, because Friday was AWFUL. Oy.

Friday, we had our bi-weekly poker game with Bobby's buddies. It was fun, as always.

Saturday, I took my dog to see her "grandma" (my mom) and play with her "uncle" Mikey (my mom's dog) while we played with crafting stuff (the results are on my other blog, check my profile if curious!), along with a girl around my age from my mom's church! Turns out we had a ton in common, and she's moving close to me this fall, so I might have a new buddy! After crafting, spent some one-on-one time with Mom at dinner, which was nice and much needed.

Today The Hubs suggested we have breakfast out somewhere because we had a really busy week and didn't get to spend that much time together. So we went to a new, super-nice place (it'll have to be a rare treat rather than a regular joint) and enjoyed it immensely, came home and had a little *ahem* private time, and then took a little walk together with our dog. Then I "let" Bobby watch golf (he doesn't actually need permission) while I went to see "Toy Story 3"! Highly recommend, btw, good times.

So yes, a very nice weekend to help get over a bad end to the week.

Two Days Catch up!

Hey, at least it wasn't a month this time! ;p

Yesterday was happy-making in that the weather was just beautiful. Loved it! In our area, especially, sunny yet cool days are rare and will disappear in about a week, I'm guessing. ;p BUT I sure enjoyed it while I could!

Today was not a good day... I had an "emo" day, and I was unfortunately in my head way too much. However, since The Hubs and I are sharing the car right now (his truck is in the shop), I had to walk from my temp job to a nearby cafe' to wait for him to come get me. The weather was nice again, and the walk felt nice, too. Plus I got to just sit, chill, and enjoy some tasty shrimp tempura while waiting. It was a nice way to decompress for a little bit and give me a moment's peace. Also, we took Daisy (our dog) to get groomed, so I look forward to seeing the results of her makeover!

So... monthly bliss?

I just realized I haven't posted in a month.

I kind of lost my "blissful" focus. 2 weeks of insanely busy subbing jobs (that were pretty awful more often than not), followed by 2 weeks of two different colds... the second week being the worst of the two (I'm STILL coughing and my throat is still sore)! So it's been a little difficult to be blissful.

BUT this is still a damn good idea. I'm in an interesting place right now, trying to figure out what makes me happy and what I want out of life. I'm just over a year away from the next major milestone (the big 3-0), and life has not quite worked out as I expected or hoped. So did I make the wrong plans? Or am I just taking a detour? It's all very interesting and confusing. Yay for early mid-life crises? It's certainly not blissful...

Of course, though, that's not the point of this blog: I'm trying to find bliss in general, but I want to focus on those delightful little moments of bliss that happen every day and go unnoticed by my usual negative attitude. Hence the point of it being a DAILY exercise!

That said, this is me jumping back on the horse! Official! *jumps*

So what was blissful about today?
- seeing the video of Kathy Griffin handing Elizabeth Hasselbeck's behind back to her after EH tried to call Kathy out for being a smack-talker (then went back to cowering in her corner of the couch when Kathy literally said "BRING IT"). Kathy Griffin is AWESOME.
- Daisy being so happy to get out and run around a little. She's just so dang cute, and I love seeing her happy. I imagine this is how I'll feel when I see my kids being happy, too - once I have them. ;D
- My temp job allows me to listen to my iPhone as I please while entering data, so I downloaded a few audiobooks for free from my local library. It's actually pretty AWESOME to get free audiobooks (and they have a decent selection - I need to wait for a few more popular books to become available, but what I have for now will tide me over fine), and the time flies by so much quicker. It was really nice.
- Texting back and forth with my mom today. I love feeling connected to her; I almost wish I lived closer to her (as it is, I'm only 1.5 hours away)... I do consider just moving back to my original area and getting a jobby job doing ANYTHING to afford it. Either way, it was nice, and I smiled several times today. =)

See? 4 different "blissful" things about today... and when I started that list, I was grasping at what I could write about. But once I got started, I came up with 4! THAT'S why I'm doing this; to remind myself that for all the bad I focus on, there's actually a lot of good.

So my goal is to do this at least M-Th, with weekends optional (but encouraged). I'm committed, darn it!

Weekend bliss!

Best part of yesterday: Easy sub assignment with students I actually subbed for long-term earlier this year. Nice to see them and be mostly happily welcomed back. =D Also, back was feeling MUCH better for most of yesterday until spending 6+ hours playing poker. BUT I came in 2nd in two of the 3 games (and hubby won the 3rd)! That's actually really good for me, haha.

Best part of today: Playing on Polyvore while resting my slightly-recessed back, then going to the new Dave and Buster's with friends. I will admit, initially I was annoyed as heck about the wait for food service (2 FLIPPLIN' HOURS!), and we chose to go play games instead - and almost every game had a wait, so I started out a little grumpy. BUT the wait wasn't too long, and we started with one of my favorite (shooting hoops challenge), which immediately lifted my mood and I had a better attitude. We played until we were basically out of credits, then since we were hungry, we went to a nearby burger joint that Bobby and I A-DORE. Our two friends hadn't tried the place before, so it was fun to introduce them to the place (it's our typical "Oh, you haven't tried them? Let's go there!" restaurant for friends from out of town, but we'd assumed they had tried it because they live around here, haha.)

My back is mostly feeling better, so tomorrow (er, today) I'm FINALLY going to get back on track with walking Daisy for her daily loop. My back being strained again has NOT been helpful to that, and it reminds me also that I need to get back on track with watching what I eat. We had a "cheat week" that's turned into 3 weeks now. Oops. So we need to get back on track with that. =/ I'm actually looking forward to being able to take Daisy out for a nice walk together! =D

2 days' worth of happy

When your back is hurt and you can't do much, it's hard to find the blissful bits (other than "Yay, back is in only MILDLY excrutiating pain today!"). BUT I PERSEVERE, FOR YOU. Well, really for me.

Yesterday the best bit was lying on the floor to help my back, and using that time to play with my dog, who is bored due to my not walking her very long due to my back. We both had fun, and it made me smile :)

Today I felt strong enough to shower and run a small bank errand! Whoo-hoo, clean AND left the house! Best bit today, though, was The Hubs getting transferred to a new area in his dept, which he's happy about. Could mean small raise in 3 months if he proves himself, too!

So they're not much, but they're there. It really does keep my spirits up, too, to make these little notes about what's good about each day, a little less cynical energy. :)

Weekend of bliss: Santa Barbara

Sunshine, smell of the ocean, beautiful surroundings, spending a full weekend with an old dear friend, AND meeting newborn babies...

Pretty darn blissful weekend. =D

Also: Would like to win the lottery so I can move to Santa Barbara kthnx.

ROAD TRIP WEEKEND! With a friend who lives in NYC and came out to see another friend of his who had a baby this week - and wanted company on the trip (and I am an excellent travel companion, btw)! I'm working on a playlist for the trip - and rediscovering music I forgot I had, haha. I love having all my music at my beck and call, but admittedly I tend to get addicted to about 10-20 songs and listen to them ad nauseum. This usually contains at least one "Glee" song at any given time (right now I'm loving their version of "Physical" and, strangely, "Total Eclipse of the Heart" which I normally can't stand).

SO PUMPED FOR THIS WEEKEND. OMG. Will hopefully have lots of blissful moments to share when I get back, although I will miss my husband and my dog (possibly not in that order ;D).

Oops!

I'm behind 2 days now, CRAP.

Well, Wed. had me a little blue, but one thing I really enjoyed was walking by a flower garden and being smacked with their beautiful smells all at once. It only lasted a second, but it was an out-of-nowhere delight. :)

Yesterday I finished my mother's day cards and mailed them out. I'm really happy with how they turned out, and I felt good while making them, too.

This weekend is going to be full of awesome, as I'm road-tripping with a good friend I never see to a town I've never been to! I also get to meet his friend's new baby girl, which I'm excited about, too, 'cuz I love me some babies. I'm making a happy 1st mother's day card and picking up a small gift for the new mom as well :) It's shaping up to be a pretty sweet weekend!

Today's highlight: New episode of Glee. It brought the LOLZ.

That's about it. =/

I'm fearing redundancy.

It's weird... I started this project to record MY "daily bliss", but some days there really isn't a truly great moment. Some days are just meh. Not bad, but not great. Then the few "daily bliss" moments I DO have seem to be repetitive.

I might be expanding my entries to include things that might inspire a little happy in other people soon... what that is, though, will have to wait and see what I stumble upon. =)

So, for now, here's what brought me a little happy:

• Taking a walk with The Hubs. We're starting a plan to gradually increase our walking health, with the hope to walk a 5k (my first!) in September to benefit AIDS research. So our distance is only about a 1/2 mile loop, but we're REALLY out of shape. Plus it benefits our dog, too - Daisy gets some sunshine as well, and as we walk longer distances, she'll get in better shape, too (and more tired out by the end of the day!)
• Planning my road trip this weekend with my friend J. Turns out we'll be passing "the Dutch capital of America" on the way down, so I'm hoping to convince J that we NEED TO STOP THERE. There's a Hans Christian Andersen museum! I love his fairy tales!
• El Pollo Loco. OM NOM NOM NOM NOM. They put crack in their skin or something, it's such freaking delicious chicken.
• Got a half-day sub call - it was a teacher I've subbed for before, and this time I actually got to meet him. He likes my work, and asked for my number and name to make sure he could request me in the future. *beams @ compliment*

Huh. Guess my day was better than I thought - which is the whole purpose of this blog! To recognize the good moments, so I don't just focus on the negative!