Write things that make me happy, daily

Seeing my not-so-little-any-more cousin who’s visiting from Australia

The unexpectedly huge attendance and energy at the civil marriage rights march yesterday

Being free to spend a very lazy day today to recover from an intense weekend

Finding the USB extension cable I needed

Prosciutto tortellini with pesto and a glass of wine

A long weekend of really connecting with friends and family, important conversations, successfully negotiating a couple of potential complications, expressing myself with complete honesty, and feeling cared about and valued.

Acknowledging, today, that I’ve had as much thinking and figuring-out as I can handle for the moment, and being able to give my head a break and some processing space.

Meeting my uncle’s toddler and new baby for the first time.

Sunshine and sea air and crashing waves, wide open vistas, hills and mountains, trees and wild flowers. I’ve been some beautiful places in the last few days.

Making progress with plans for my upcoming trip.

My soft grey fleece PJs, perfect for a lazy day.

A lovely evening with Big Bro, spent walking by the sea and climbing the headland and having a good catch-up talk

Icecream that was supposed to be purple but came out ludicrously pink

The way honeysuckle smells even more divine than usual at twilight

Three proper healthy meals today (plus a few of Big Bro’s fries and an icecream at the seaside, but you have to have icecream at the seaside :o) )

Having a shoulder to cry on and being reassured it’s alright

An invitation – and free ticket – to join friends at a fancy gourmet food festival type thingy tomorrow

I had a guilt-free day of doing very little, since I can still hardly move: reading, net-surfing, chatting to friends, cuddling with my kitties, and journalling. I enjoyed the down-time and am now really looking forward to a more active day tomorrow.

My aching body makes me happy in a roundabout kind of way. It hurts, but it means I got a really good workout yesterday, and what I’m actually feeling is my body getting stronger as the muscles heal.

The calypte-style Eton Mess I’m currently eating makes me happy. Fresh strawberries, strawberry yoghurt, and chocolate-chip meringue for extra decadence :o) _{Thanks, calypte!}

Herbal tea makes me happy. I’ve been remembering to drink more of it lately. Healthy and yummy.

I’ve referred to myself as a woman twice in the last 24 hours, without thinking about it. Usually I say “girl”. I’m not quite sure why this makes me happy, but it does. Maybe I’m finally beginning to feel like a grown-up. (That reminds me that the other day, my dad kindly informed me that I was “no longer in the first flush of youth”. That made me feel grown-up in quite the wrong way. But this is a happiness list, so I shan’t be cross about it. :-p )

The prospect of going to bed now in a minute, and waking up tomorrow with less achiness, makes me very happy!

Today started really well. I was up early enough to do a couple little household chores before work, and had time to kick about in the drifts of leaves in the park for a few minutes as I walked in.

Oh, and I got free coffee this morning too, courtesy of a promotion at one of the cafés en route to work. Mocha with cream is a deliciously decadent way to start the day. :o)

It was a good day at work – not too busy, not too quiet, and I got to work on something new and therefore interesting.

My friend’s spiffy new purple shoes made me happy. Envious as all hell, but happy :o)

I love, and I am loved. When other issues threaten to get in the way, just remembering that makes me happy. I’m a very lucky girl.

I’ve just started a new book which is shaping up to be very good indeed, and I’m about to get ready for bed nice and early so I can curl up with it for a while before sleep.

I eventually managed to do something pro-active to try to lift my low mood, and it worked. I mixed up a salt scrub with as many soothing, balancing, uplifting essential oils I could lay hands on (lavender, rose, clary sage, juniper, lemongrass and peppermint, if memory serves – I thought such a hodge-podge would smell strange, and didn’t mind cos it was medicinal rather than for pleasure, but it actually smelled wonderful) and took a long, luxurious shower, complete with face mask and colour conditioner. I felt fantastic afterwards.

The hair colour I used on the spur of the moment isn’t a total disaster, which it easily could have been considering it was one I’d never tried before and I didn’t do the inconspicuous-test thing first :-p I’ll probably re-do it tonight, though, cos it’s not quite the shade I was going for.

There was the most magnificent moon, just a shade off full, and I got to watch it go from soft, pale luminescence against a misty twilight sky to clear, hard silver against black. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

My friends unexpectedly invited me over for dinner last night. M. made pyzi, a kind of potato dumpling dish with sausage and onion, which was delicious, and we drank some wine and played Wii bowling (and I won! :o) ). Oh, and I found lots of new kinds of chocolate to try when we were shopping in the Polish supermarket.

I got some good advice and a virtual kick in the pants to help me get moving when I couldn’t motivate myself to do anything today.

None of the various plans that were threatening to invade my weekend of me-time materialised after all.

There was a really striking sunset out my window earlier. The photo doesn’t do it justice, but it was the most wonderful shade of purple :o)

I made a discovery at the airport last night which pleases me immensely :o)

I spent yesterday being treated to an early birthday celebration – lovely food, the most wicked-awesome present ever, my favourite chocolates, purple balloons, back-rubs, and generally being spoilt rotten. Happy, happy me :D

A mid-week day off work spent in wonderful company… watching movies snuggled up under the duvet while the rain poured down outside, learning to play Uno (and winning! :o) ), love and laughter, sex and silliness, thinking and talking and understanding and being understood.

The nine fingertips that currently don’t have nasty staple-inflicted wounds. You forget to appreciate properly-functioning fingers until one gets damaged.

The prospect of a fun-filled weekend ahead – office-sponsored drinks tomorrow evening, a comedy show on Saturday and meeting up with a good friend on Sunday.

A few realisations I’ve had in the last few days – I’ve come a long way with one particular issue, I’m not doing as badly as I thought with another, and a third which after one tantalising glimpse is now lurking obstinately in my subconscious, but I know it’s there and will reveal itself in its own good time.