One more week of gratitude: Days 23 through 29

Day 23: Taste

I couldn't possibly have only one photo to represent taste, as varied and seasonal as my tastes are! I looked back through some of my favorite food shots of the year and picked the ones that speak to me right now. As the summer is sadly past, I will begin craving fresh and summery foods in 10... 9... 8... sigh. I am grateful for the love of fresh and healthful food (with a side of cheese, of course!).

Day 24: Comfort

Nov. 24 is our anniversary and I took and posted this picture before I really clued in on the word for the day: Comfort. While usually I would think warmth or carbohydrates, on this particular day, this particular picture spoke comfort to me. I am very grateful for the comfort that husband and I provide to each other, and am so blessed by our eight years together.

Day 25: Family

I am very grateful for the family I was born into, and the many things that each family member has brought into my life. This photo from the '70s brings me joy and a smile every time I see it, and given that it's on my desk at work, I get to see it and smile quite often!

Day 26: Routine

Morning rituals mean a great deal to me, and get me up and going! My cuppa is a big part of that ritual, whether coffee or tea (on rare occasions I have been known to give up coffee for a bit, go figure), and my mugs are also very important in the routine too. I'm grateful for routines and the structure and familiarity they bring to my mornings.

Day 27: Creativity

Whenever I feel a little dry in the creativity department, all I need to do is pick up a food or craft magazine, or open up Pinterest, and my creativity wheels start turning. I'm grateful for creativity ebbs and flows, and for the return of ideas after a dry spell. It makes me appreciate it all the more.

Day 28: Sky

Thanksgiving morning on Bainbridge Island. Beautiful and foggy, almost mystical. I'm grateful for skies that aren't always blue and filled with sunshine, and I'm grateful for Thanksgiving with family.

Day 29: Movement

Well, this one might be a little tongue in cheese, but it's in keeping with the kind of holiday we've had, which is very very relaxing. Ahhh. Mei Mei on my lap, and this was about all the movement I needed today. I am very grateful for the ability to unwind, for the fireplace and the company and the peace and quiet. Bliss.

I hope that wherever you are, your grateful list is long and your hearth is warm. Ours certainly is!

Thirty days of gratitude: Days 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22

Here I am with another weekly wrap-up masquerading as a Friday night grateful moment! What I love about the season right now is that there are grateful moments everywhere, every day. It's what I love about this time of year.

I have been enjoying this photo challenge quite a bit, even though it ends up creeping into the evenings and my creativity gets a little hampered. When I'm savvy enough to look up the daily grateful word in the morning, it can follow me throughout the day, and that's a nice thing. But often I'm up and out the door before I remember, and it's a wild little scramble to get my act together that evening.

But, still, I'm grateful, even in the noise of the day. One morning this week I was caught off guard by a feeling of gratitude while at a traffic light. Probably there was some song playing on the CD player that poked into my sentiment, and I had a little tear at the awesome blessings that we have as a family. Blessed. Loved. Grateful.

Day 18: Change

My one nod to the holidays (so far) has been putting some bulbs out to sprout. And oh how they have sprouted! I love watching the green shoots climb up to the sunshine. Watching how they change is like I imagine God feels, watching a child grow from infancy into adulthood--zoom!

Day 19: Knowledge

When I think of what it is that I really know--as Oprah says, "What I know for sure," it is that love is really all. I think I've heard it said, "No matter what the question, the answer is love." I agree.

Day 20: Scent

This was one of those days when I had nothing. Scent? Grateful for smell? Really? What smell, where? Nothing. Then toward the end of the evening--one of our first really cold nights--I made hot chocolate. The scent wafted up, and I knew what I was grateful for. Hot chocolate is a bit of a ritual around here in the winter, and I love making up mugs for the boys and having mini marshmallows and whipped cream to "enhance" the experience--and the scent!

Later in the week I roasted some garlic and made some croutons with garlic, and I thought of the word again, and was re-grateful for scent. Roasted garlic is really heavenly smelling!

Day 21: Kindness

I am so grateful for kindness in this world, and in my life. There is nothing like kindness to set a day, a person, an act, apart from the ordinary humdrum day, person or act. Kindness makes everything better. Sometimes kindness looks like correction--think of putting a kid on the right path rather than allowing them to continue down the wrong one--but done correctly and with the right heart, kindness really does rule.

Day 22: Home

There are many things I like about our actual physical abode. Right now, on this cold winter night, I love that it is warm--the fire is going and we're all tucked in. In the summer I love the light coming through the windows, and the amazing view. But the best thing about this house isn't something you can touch; it's the love and laughter we have here together, we three.

Wherever you are, I hope you are warm and welcoming the weekend.

Peace.

Thirty days of gratitude: Day 17

The word for today is technology:

This one is easy for me, in thinking about how much technology impacts my life--every day, all day. My favorite forms of technology probably revolve around connection--Skype and phone/text for family and friends, Facebook and Instagram too.

Today I was grateful for technology in the form of a livestream discussion from Hunter College in NYC. A theologian I read and admire, Timothy Keller, was discussing whether life can have meaning without God, with a humanist chaplain from Harvard University, Greg Epstein. Being able to hear their discussion, as they were having it, from the other side of the country... that's something to be thankful for.

Thirty days of gratitude: Day 16

The word for day 16 is weather:

The weather has been really lovely this fall, for the most part. I've been very grateful for the sunshine and blue skies, even if the day starts out gray. The wind generally seems to sweep out the clouds and bring in a little sun by the end of the day.

I missed a few foggy days a couple of weeks back by being out of town, and while storms do come and go, I see them as just part and parcel of autumn. They certainly haven't been extreme, yet, though that may come. I see snow sneak down the hills toward the valley, and I can't help but wish for a few flakes in my backyard, but no luck there yet.

When I thought of how to illustrate this word, this song immediately came to mind. I really do believe you bring the weather with you. Make it sunshine.

Thirty days of gratitude: Day 6

Today's word is inspiration.

It is hard for me to think of inspiration without thinking of words. In general, I believe that the words I'm meant to see, meant to pay attention to, will make themselves evident in my life, through one channel or another. I believe this because it has happened time and time again, when I open myself up to the possibility.

Sometimes I wonder what mighty words have slipped by me, on the days I'm less awake. But I try to focus on what DOES come my way, what has the ability to move me, soften my heart, make me more of the kind of person I want to be and know I'm capable of being as a child of God.

Today, these were the words that reached out to me. And, as so often happens, they were exactly the words I was meant to hear.

Thirty days of gratitude: Day 5

The word for today is clothing.

When I first saw this scarf, I knew I had to have it. I think it was on Pinterest... Of course, I forgot about it for a few days, or weeks. Then, a sign from the universe: an email from Piperlime arrived, with a model wearing the scarf right in the email itself. It was meant to be! It took a little looking, but I found it, ordered it, and have loved and worn it ever since.

Like a fool, I have been known to say that I can't have a bad day wearing this scarf. I'm pretty sure that means I'm due for a super-awful day while wearing it. But, I maintain that there's a karma effect with such color, and I'm going to proceed with my foolhardy ways until proven otherwise.

Thirty days of gratitude: Day 4 (catching up)

The word for today is art.

When I was in New Orleans last spring, I discovered these blue dog art pieces--all over the place! This trip it took me just a few hours to spot the pups again, in different locations than last time, even.

Art is such an interesting and complex topic, one that brings such emotion and subjective opinions with it. I don't pretend to have any agenda where art is concerned--if you like it, you like it. If you created it, good for you.

“Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one.” -Stella Adler

Thirty days of gratitude: Day 3

Today the word is tradition.

When I first thought of this word for this day, coffee came to mind! If there's a tradition in my life, that might be it! But then I read the definition of tradition, and it talked about passing down, usually from one generation to another, and well, coffee is not that. Coffee is more of a ritual, if I'm playing by the rules.

But John Deere? That's a tradition. It was the tractor of choice for my Grandpa Goerlitz, it is what my father drives on his property, and (as luck would have it) it's the farm vehicle of choice for my husband too. I love it.

Who knew a tractor choice could elicit such nostalgia?

Thirty days of gratitude: Day 2

Today the word is love.

This collage box represents our wedding day, from the quotes that we had around the room, the invitation, place cards, photo, flower petals, ribbon and even the jeweled clasp/button I wore on my dress. It was a lovely day but what is really lovely are the eight years since, and the love that has grown stronger during that time. I couldn't ask for a better partner to be celebrating eight years with, later this month.