Friday night grateful moment

Hmmm. I may have brought it on myself by referencing the occasional non-sunshiney day last Friday night. These things happen… So there was a midweek bump of grumpiness that has since been rectified by a spontaneous road trip and the arrival of the lad Seth. Oh joy.

This week I am especially grateful for the space and time to recover from a sleepless night. A day of sifting through holiday recipes and magazines (and not much else) is a gift that I don’t take for granted.

I’m grateful for my Seattle sister-in-law and our check-ins on all things exercise and nutrition oriented… and even a little adult conversation every now and again… (no, not THAT kind of adult conversation, really, just grown up topics, you know).

Grateful that Seth has so many people who love him. He played in a jazz recital this week and there were lots of people there clapping just for him. Well, they clapped when other kids played too, just to be polite, of course.

This week I was reminded, as I am every week, that I am blessed in the husband department.

I have not stopped being grateful that the growing season is over, but I am already missing REAL tomatoes and REAL basil and REAL fresh fruit. I was putting together a fruit platter for a small catering this week and it was quite obvious that we’re already back to melons and grapes and… more melons and grapes. You can throw in a pale strawberry from California if you want, but I didn’t want… Be that as it may, I am still grateful to not be out harvesting daily in the garden. Sort of.

I am grateful for the time change. The mornings have been particularly lovely this week with sunshine peeking through the clouds, and it’s nice to see that all an hour earlier! On the flip side I am not so down with the darkness descending an hour earlier… but as with most things, it seems, you gotta take the flip side too. Shucks.

Grateful for sunshine. I sat with my back in the sun and positively baked as I was looking at holiday menus, refining my lists of "must makes." It was fantastic! I felt like a cat! (No licking, though. Are you relived?)

Grateful for good reads. I finished The Lovely Bones this week and was sad that it ended, I enjoyed it so thoroughly. I will probably read (listen) to it again before too long, and I will now definitely see the movie. I know it will be sad and I will have a hard time with pieces of it, but if they can capture the tone of the book and the beautiful writing, I’ll be good. I’ll be the one sobbing in the back of the theater. Just look away and ignore me. I also finished Columbine within the last week or so, and it’s a whole 'nother read… intense and sad, but not in a fantastic-imaginary way at all. So real, so hard, but very compelling to me. So now on to new reads… maybe a bit lighter? We’ll see. The stack is high… we’ll see what leaps off next.

Grateful for good friends, for support, encouragement, ideas, green gloves and coffee.

Grateful for boots. I love boots! It is SO boot weather. One caveat: I do NOT like those ankle boots with heels that people are wearing with dresses. I just don’t. Sorry, can’t help it. Carry on, and I’ll try not to stare.

Grateful for sweaters. I am such a sweater gal. No, not in that va-va-va-voom 50s kind of way, just in the “let’s wrap up and be cozy since it’s cold outside” kind of way... I’m a fine candidate for a Slanket, don’t you think. Or a Snuggie? Hard to say, so many options...

Grateful for the creative spark, in whatever form it comes. For me, it's downstairs in the (messy) basement in a just-finished embroidery project, a couple of in-the-works calligraphy projects, some half-baked applique jobs, two oh-so-close-to-done patchwork projects and a myraid of other snips and clips and threads. For my dear friend Corinne it's her weekly (sometimes thrice-weekly!) wedding flowers that thrill brides. Check out this great photographer I found this week; not only is his wedding photography great, but check out the food shots too! Holy cow, he's something.

So my friend Megan got me hooked on the new Michael Buble album this week… with the following video.(I had downloaded the songs but not even listened to the album yet!) And then I kind of clued in that he’s doing press for the album right now and he’s EVERYwhere… on Letterman singing the Top 10 list, sticking his foot in his mouth on Rachael Ray, singing on Oprah (which made his mom very happy), you name it, he’s been doing the dog and pony show. And I’ve always been a fan, but watching him this week I became not just a fan of his music, but of him—his style, his cheekiness, his Argentinian girlfriend (she’s the girl in the video), his real-ness. He IS Canadian, after all. He MUST be real. Well, believe it or not, naive me thinks he really is really real. So there.



And of course, if we're talking Michael, I had to go back to his previous albums... and this video, which I also love:



So yes, I'm grateful for Michael Buble. He makes me happy. I imagine he makes a lot of people happy... happy music!

Happy weekend, everyone. I plan to enjoy mine to the fullest. Many hugs all around.