–Spending the noon hour in my garden. checking the progress of my new plantlings and feeling the warm sun on my face. Lovely.
–CatGirl and GameBoy’s dental checkups went well. No cavities for either of them–even after having had braces for the last few years.
–Betting the checker at Trader Joe’s that I could estimate the total cost of my groceries better than he could. I was almost exactly right. He was $30 too high (ah, because I’m such a savvy shopper….)
–Vegetarian mushroom stroganoff for dinner. Yum!!
–Teasing the kitties a bit: preparing their dinner meal w/o singing the tuna song. Eyeing them to see if they would know it was mealtime despite the departure in our routine (yep, they had it figured out pretty quickly).
–Our showerhead working again after a visit from the plumber today. No more cold and dribbly showers. And the tub is draining much better, too. Hooray for the perfect warm shower experience to start the day!
🙂

Dear Readers:

I am tired and more than a bit discouraged tonite. I’ll probably wrap myself in my favorite black sweater and curl up with a pirated episode of an HBO show in a moment (thanks JohnW!). A mindless diversion to finish off a long day.

But you, can you send me something to get tomorrow off to a great start? Can you tell me what’s made you smile lately? Because hearing your joys will undoubtedly be a huge boost for me.

–Eating lunch in the department with a colleague. a vigorous discussion about the various Indian Removal Acts, the Trail of Tears, and how long and hard one needs to study to pass the French language exam.
–Feeling confident in my knowledge that the War of 1812 was with the British. And they burned our White House. But we won.
–A cup of tea with John in his office at midday.
–The trees at UCI, because they are blooming and dropping petals into John’s dark locks.
–Carrot cake w/cream cheese frosting and chopped walnuts on top.
–A lovely Valentine’s Day evening. Full of gifts from my beloved.
–Counting down to the imminent holiday weekend. knowing that we will celebrate the Pres’ birthdays in style.
🙂

–three small pale-green pear-scented candles burning on a blue & white china plate on the table in front of me. fresh and lovely.
–celebrating john’s birthday in our own special way this afternoon. followed by an afternoon nap. waking up and finding tobyjoy curled into a small ball between our pillows. staring at john as he slept with his dark curls spilling across the white bed linens. and contemplating 18 years together. heavenly.
–eating leftover ‘tres leches cake’ in a bowl of cold milk for breakfast. oh-so-sweet and tasty (where are those fresh peaches when you really need them?)!
–wearing short sleeves because it is 80 degrees in SoCal today. time to get the seeds sprouting in my garden!
🙂

-playing Ticket to Ride with some pretty smart friends at Elise’s Bday party. Winning by such a landslide that no one was even willing to tally points. I RULED from Winnipeg to Santa Fe and throughout the West. Wow, it feels pretty darn good to be a railroad magnate.
-Kristen’s cute little baby bulldog that took a liking to my robotic leg, and gave my titanium ankle lots of slobbery loving.
-getting a new battery in my watch and they even fixed the little date thingamajig to the right date for me. Amazing. All this time I’ve never even used the date function!
-buying something for John’s birthday (reminder: Feb 3rd). Knowing that even if he doesn’t LOVE this particular item, I WILL! [Note: I’ve also bought him some things that I know he will like, but I just couldn’t resist the pull of this one particular item that’s really more for me than for him]
🙂

-“Studying” at the Gypsy Den after Meeting: speaking of death, of school, of pursuing one’s dreams.
-A free ticket to the PSO. Lucky me that I keep running into people with spare tickets. The absolute bliss of a seat so close to the orchestra that I could reach out and catch the sweat as it dripped off of violinist Cho-Liang Lin‘s brow. Absolutely amazing, breathtaking, heart-stopping, and gorgeous. As Carl St. Clair explained so eloquently just before the concert, this Brahms concerto was rich and full-bodied like good chocolate. And he was oh-so-right.
-Focusing on school. Again. Intensely reading in coffeeshops, the grad reading room, my office. Remembering why it is that I am pursuing this crazy dream of a PhD.
-Riding my bike home from school last night. So cold that my eyes were tearing, my whole body shaking. Walking in the house and expressing gratitude for a warm hearth.
-a new box of mikan oranges in the mail from my mother-in-law.
-finding this site and giggling at the misfortune of cats who look like hitler (click on the ‘best kitlers’ tab on the left to see those with the closest resemblance).
🙂