a few of my favorite things from 2017

While I'd like to forget most of what happened in 2017, and still kind of feel like I'm living in some sort of whacked out alternative universe, there were a few things that happened that made me happy. They were mostly simple things -- music, well-written/acted/produced television, friends, family and cute little people starting to display their cute personalities :)

Favorite New Song: This just makes me happy every time I hear it :)

Favorite Moment of Television: DRACARYS!

Favorite Moment with My Favorite Little People: Cousin Swingtime

            

Speaking of my favorite little people, they dominated my "Jar of Joy" this year -- shocker ;)

• 1/1/17 - 4-mile walk to and from and all around Lake Balboa. Gorgeous day after New Year's Eve rain..
• 1/3/17 - Escape from Jury Duty after only 2 hours!
• 1/16/17 - Won $50 Amazon gift card from work for the 4th quarter FitBit challenge! 
• 1/20/17 - My niece Teegan is born! 
• 1/21/17 - Women's March LA.. I was one of 750,000 united for goodness vs. evil! And then, I went to meet Teegan in person! LOVE
• 1/22/17 - Facetime with Kaden
• 2/16/17 - Birthday at Burke Williams + yummy dinner with mom and dad
• 2/17/17 - Nieces day with Teegan and her big sisters 
• 2/18/17 - Bday dinner #2 at Buca de Beppo with VIPs
• 2/19/17 - Bday dinner #3 with BFFs
• 2/25/17 - Quickie unexpectedly returns to the lineup. Kings beat Sucky Ducks 4-1!
• 3/25/17 - Drive to Vegas early for Kaden Time (before CinemaCon)
• 3/31/17 - Auntie Kim and Kaden day playing and doing "the diggy"
• 4/8/17 - Walk MS in Thousand Oaks. Mom is named this year's "Most Inspirational Walker" in a surprise (to her!) announcement :) 
• 4/22/17 - Saw Dave Grohl and his mom talk about her new book "From Cradle to Stage" at the LA Times Festival of Books
• 4/27/17 - Business class cubbie to Australia!
• 4/29/17 - Land in the land down under and see the Opera House
• 5/5/17 - Meet a koala bear in Sydney
• 5/13/17 - Chevy Metal w/ Dave Grohl @ Conejo Valley Days
• 5/20/17 - U2's Joshua Tree 30th Anniversary concert at the Rose Bowl
• 5/27/17 - Kaden's 1st Birthday Party!
• 7/2/17 - Kari and Kaden at my 2nd of July BBQ! Kaden's first time in the bounce house is NOT a success ;)
• 8/12/17-8/13-17 - Listening to U2 in Joshua Tree and seeing the milky way in the clear night sky during the meteor shower
• 8/21/17 - Total solar eclipse in Oregon with JZ and RZ
• 8/23/17 - Buying baby Nikes for Kaden and Teegan at the Nike employee store
• 8/26/17 - #saturdayswithteegan start :)
• 8/30/17 - Hamilton at the Pantages! Finally!
• 10/7/17 - Cal Jam 17! Foo Fighters live!
• 10/14/17 - Gorgeous sunset on the way home from San Miguel Island
• 11/8/17 - Trip to Vegas to see Kari, Kaden and Aunt Gertie. Kaden's new thing is giggling whenever the dogs bark
• 12/9/17 - Collected 31 toys for tots at Christmas Cocktails. My friends rock! 
• 12/10/17 - Downtown Adventure day + The Nutcracker
• 12/17/17 - Holiday lights at the Venice Canals with Mo and Qball
• 12/23/17 - Kaden and Teegan meet in person and play and swing and open presents together!
• 12/27/17 - Took Kaden to the LA Zoo!

my joys of 2016

Back at the start of 2015, I started keeping a Happiness Jar, inspired by Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert. I tried to keep it going this year, but there are full months I apparently had no joys :( Oh well. LOL.

Here are what all the little pieces of paper I folded up throughout the year and put in my jar said.. Here's hoping I find more joy (or at least more time to write them on little pieces of paper) in 2017!

• 1/1/16: Lazy day of magazines and movies.
• 2/13/16: Massage in Santa Barbara + room service with wine
• 2/14/16: Walked 5 miles in gorgeous Santa Barbara and sat looking at the blue Pacific for three hours
• 3/18/16: Amazing dinner at The Little Door with James, Daryl and Karen
• 3/26/16: DTLA Adventure Day with Daryl, James and Karen. Random run-in with R2D2 :)
• 5/27/16: Baby Kaden Michael is born!!! I'm an aunt! :)
• 5/29/16: GNO Dinner at Mo's with La Lizzzz and Susie. 
• 6/4/16: Finished "Wild" ... Book #5 this year!
• 6/4/16: 1st Summer Grillin' Saturday with Susie and Mo
• 6/5/16: GDO (That's a Girls Day Out) to see "Me Before You" with Linda, Ingrid and Nicole at the fancy theatre in Westlake with waiter service and reclining chairs. 
• 6/6/16: First Hollywood Bowl show of the summer - "The Little Mermaid Live" with Katharine
• 6/11/16: Bought new MacBook Pro (after 6.5 years of the old slow Mac)
• 6/14/16: Bought a Pantages Theatre season package to guarantee seats to "Hamilton"... 14.5 months from now. :p
• 6/16/16: Met Kaden for the first time. LOVE.
• 7/17/16: Sting and Peter Gabriel at the Bowl!
• 8/10/16: Adele at Staples Center - AMAZING!!!!
• 8/19/16: Weekend with Kaden! Yay!
• 8/28/16: Beautiful day in nature on Santa Rosa Island. Saw a dolphin pod swimming free on the way there! 
• 9/4/16: DTLA Adventure Day with James and Diana
• 9/11/6: Found out I'm going to be an auntie again!!! Ryan and Brittany are having a baby girl in January. 
• 9/22/16: Vancouver weekend with QBall! 
• 9/24/16: Beautiful Vancouver day at Capilano Suspension Bridge and Stanley Park :)
• 10/2/16: Fun day unpacking with Hayden and Mackenzee :)
• 10/8/16: Kaden's first trip to the pumpkin patch! 
• 10/17/16: Wizarding Wold of Harry Potter with Ruthie, Jen and Leslie!
• 10/19/16: Kari sent the cutest video of Kaden singing in his bouncy seat
• 10/26/16: Kaden makes his TV debut on Fox 5 News in Vegas with his pumpkin patch photo
• 11/11/16: Cousin Josh texted adorable pic of Baby Ava in her "Cute" hoodie I sent her
• 11/12/16: Lucky's roses are finally blooming in the garden
• 11/24/16: Thanksgiving dinner at my house with Mom, Dad, Ryan, Brittany, Hayden and Mackenzee
• 12/10/16: Christmas Cocktails! Fun. No stress for Year #2. Yay for Joan's Mac & Cheese :)
• 12/23/16: Dad's bday dinner with the whole family!
• 12/24/16: Christmas lights walk with Kaden in his cute Santa hat and 1st Christmas onesie 
• 12/25/16: Kaden's 1st Christmas
• 12/27/16: Discovered that the pizza place near my house that used to suck is now AMAZEBALLS. 

gratitude: days 12-30

Well.. I started this and never finished or published the rest of it, so here it is. (Better late than never.. Next year my goal is to do it every day!)

#12 - What texture are you grateful for? Soft blankets

#13 - What abilities are you grateful for? Walking, reading, writing, breathing

#14 - What sight are you grateful for today? Fall leaves

#15 - What season are you grateful for? Spring

#16 - What about your body are you grateful for? That it's alive

#17 - What knowledge are you grateful for? All of it

#18 - What piece of art are you grateful for? Monet's Water Lillies

#19 - What touch are you grateful for today? When my nephew Kaden holds my finger in his little fist 

#20 - Who in your life are you grateful for? My family

#21 - What song are you most grateful for? Everlong

#22 - What story are you grateful for? Harry Potter's world

#23 - What tradition are you grateful for? Christmas morning

#24 - What challenge are you grateful for? Trying to be creative when my job is not

#25 - What moment this week are you most grateful for? Thanksgiving dinner with Mom, Dad, Ryan, Brittany, Hayden and Mackenzee.. who watched Rudolph with me! 

#26 - What form of expression are you most grateful for? Writing

#27 - What small thing that you use daily are you grateful for? Toothpaste

#28 - What small thing that happened today are you grateful for? Jury duty was postponed til January (because I'm an idiot and didn't register properly)

#29 - What friend/family member are you grateful for today? Today, my gal pal Lisa, who I had a fun happy hour with on 11/29

#30 - What talent or skill do you have that you are grateful for? Writing

gratitude: days 1-11

Ten days ago, a former colleague from my fun, editorial house of mouse publishing past, started posting a daily thing he was thankful for... it's his "30 Days of Gratitude Challenge." 

And since we need more good vibes out in the world right now, I'm going to play catch-up here and now, plus get tomorrow on the books, then post for the rest of month. (Knowing me.. there will be multiple catch up posts vs. daily ones, but that's better than nothing :p)

I'm also going to turn these into slips of paper and everyone at my Thanksgiving table will get one to read while we eat to keep the conversation off of politics and football.

Thanks for this idea Scott Appel!

#1 - What smell are you most grateful for today? My red roses

#2 - What technology are you most grateful for? Video chat that lets me see my little nephew from 300 miles away

#3 - What color are you most grateful for? Purple (duh.)

#4 - What food are you most grateful for? Italian (see what I did there.. I don't have to choose between pizza and pasta now :)

#5 - What sound are you most grateful for today? Music... can't live without it

#6 - What in nature are you most grateful for? Tall trees creating a forest of fresh air and secret silence

#7 - What memory are you most grateful for? I can't choose just one... time spent with my loved ones who are no longer with us, finally seeing my view of the Tuscan hills in person, holding my nephew for the first time. 

#8 - What book are you most grateful for? Harry Potter .. all of them, and the amazing mom who created his world.

#9 - What place are you most grateful for? My home

#10 - What taste are you grateful for today? Chai tea latte

#11 - What holiday are you grateful for? Christmas... it's a whole season of wonder and love, not just a day.

the important things

Tis the day of every year when Americans plan an entire day around one, usually very traditional meal that inevitably sends everyone into a tryptophan-enduced food coma. 

It's also a day to give thanks for the good things in your life... like being lucky enough to have enough food on your table to send you into a tryptophan-enduced food coma.

A lot of people on social media spent the past few weeks saying one different thing they were thankful for each day leading up to Thanksgiving. I thought that was a cool idea, and considered  doing it myself, but it seemed like a lot of pressure. Having to come up with a different thing to be thankful for 27 days in a row? I could see that getting snarky or superficial pretty quickly (especially in my sarcastic brain) and that would defeat the purpose of recognizing the really important things I'm thankful for, which have been front and center the last two months because those two months have kind of really sucked.

See, when the going gets tough, recognizing the important things is really easy. 

When a loved one dies, you miss them and wish you had more time with them. Time is precious and so is family. I am thankful for the precious time I've had so far in my life with my loved ones.

When a loved one's health is jeopardized, you miss the time when health wasn't a constant worry and hope for recovery. I am thankful for modern medicine and trained doctors who can remove disease from a person's body and help them eventually feel better. I am thankful my mom is on the road to recovery. I am also thankful for my own good health to date. 

When a lot of stuff goes bad in your life at one time, you miss being able to laugh and wish for more carefree times. You also need a shoulder or two or five to lean on. I am thankful for my rocks, the friends in my life who take me out for wine and let me vent, give great hugs, call to check on me and my family, and in a few special cases pray for me (and get their whole church to pray for my mom). I don't know what I'd do without my friends.

And when it pours rain, you miss the warmth of the sun and wish for brightness. I am thankful I've made it through the last two dreary months and can smile again. Being too emotionally exhausted to actually experience life is no way to live. So even though one part of my life is still in a potential downward spiral, I'm choosing not to focus on that.

One of my favorite inspirational blogs had a post a few months ago titled, Nine Things You Do Not Need to Be Happy. This line flew out at me, because I truly believe this, but often forget it: "The best thing you can do it let go of what you can't control and invest your energy in the things you can." It also says the formula for being happy is to do your best and appreciate what you have.

So that's what I did today .... and will continue tomorrow and every day after. Focus on the good things and appreciate them while I still can.

You don't need a tryptophan-packed turkey dinner for that.