6. Snuggles with kiddos

7. Family bath time

8. Access to high-quality, grassed, affordable ground beef (thank you, Janis)

9. Ability to breastfeed my babe

10. Positive feedback from parents at school 3 months ago

2. Recent bloodwork noted no increase in my antibody level. No need at this point to go to SF for further fetal testing. Whew!

3. Help and support from family

4. Luxury of eating seasonal, fresh produce

5. Respect from colleagues 9 months ago

1. Feeling the babe move around today. 9 months ago

1. A week of sunshine coming our way beginning tomorrow – I might even go outside with a blanket!
2. Birds discovering my bird feeder and stopping by to nibble very often
3. Long relaxing weekend with my husband
4. Feeling strong enough to go and see parade and fireworks
5. Burnaby Village Museum – love that place despite the rain
6. Overcoming my fear of needles. I was fine this morning despite 6 vials of blood they had to suck out of me :)
7. Talking to my sister and parents (they are so excited I’m coming!)
8. A great conversation with A. I think we are on the same page about seeing each other.
9. My if solo wedding coming and it will be no rain!
10. Finishing editing office photos. They look so fun comparing to my previous ones. I got better at it.
11. Great inexpensive lunch yesterday
12. Getting 2nd newspaper with my photos in it!
13. My back is a bit more flexible after a week of exercise
14. Seeing a therapist tomorrow
15. Going home in just 2 short weeks! 10 months ago

1. Feeling slightly better and not keeping the same bland diet day after day
2. Endoscopy tomorrow – finally!
3. The other procedure is confirmed on this Friday
4. My husband’s unconditional love and support
5. His solo grocery trip buying a whole fridge of delicious things and cooking them entire weekend :)
6. Reading a self-help book that has some answers for me
7. Being able to do an engagement on Friday despite being sick a couple of days before
8. No more migraine!
9. Watching soccer with husband and enjoying our togetherness
10. Editing a big block of photos and feeling proud of the work I’ve put in them
11. Talking to my sister who is getting ready to get pregnant (hooray!)
12. Having money to order and buy gifts for everyone
13. Finding perfect presents for grandma and mother in law
14. Having our own lettuce and arugula for lunch!
15. My new Lowepro camera bag – Im so in love with it!
16. Being calmer after a very tough and busy week
17. My photos being accepted to the newspaper
18. Organizing all the receipts I had gathered for a month
19. My house for being my safe, cozy and private escape from outside world
20. Realizing I had a very productive week despite all the setbacks 11 months ago

1. To have my husband make delicious dinner on a grill twice this week (chicken and veggie kebabs today – yumm!)
2. Nice conversation with sister and showing her what a cool thing Pinterest is
3. My third photo ending on PP this month!
4. A coffee date
5. Meeting A. and having no anxiety at all
6. Taking a photo that his mother called his personal best
7. My birdie being so happy, clever and friendly
8. Talking to my precious grandma
9. Dressing up a bit more this week
10. Doing well at salsa class

OK, and a few things that sucked.
1. I can only see a doctor in October (I can’t even wrap my brain around it yet)
2. All the drama with R. She is so unhappy and sad which I get. But with that comes her trying to manipulate me, to make feel bad about myself… Brrr. I hardly can deal with it now. I’m staying calm and strong though. Not answering texts at 11.30 at night. 11 months ago

1. My seeds are finally sprouting :)
2. Sunny weather whole week
3. Being crazy in love with my husband
4. Making spaghetti that knocked our socks off!
5. Finally telling my sister about my phobia
6. Nice conversation with my dad
7. My friend coming to Vancouver
8. Being excited about taking photos again
9. A lot of new creative ideas
10. Feeling stronger despite being ill 12 months ago

My online photo school was approved for that long promised grant and I am going to start it ASAP. That was such an amazing surprise yesterday – I was jumping up and down! I can finally stop worrying about it :) 13 months ago

count my blesssings and b gratefull 13 months ago

I’ve lost count.

1. Married a year today to a beautiful hairy funny husband.
2. Our son is 8 months old and creates joy and smiles as well as comically filthy nappies
3. Spring is springing

It would be nicer if there was not so much cancer and ill-health amongst my Loved Ones at the moment. But disease and death are part of life, and if they need to come along for the ride so be it. 13 months ago

Things I am grateful for:
1. A wonderful long weekend we spent exploring the great outdoors
2. Lovely weather we had for a few days
3. Great session I had with a therapist today
4. Church on Sunday
5. Taking a few photos I liked
6. My best friend – always there for me and always ready to cheer up and give friendly support
7. Being kinder and more forgiving to myself
8. A conversation with mom that didn’t end with me crying (I stood up for myself and pointed out that she was unreasonable and manipulative – not in those words, of course :)
9. Positive self affirmations. Wish I found out about them before!
10. Realizing that even though I face quite a few problems right now, I have resources and power to deal with them 13 months ago

- Guys that know how to kiss/etc. and want to do these things with me ;)
- Days off (napping)
- Trying something new (fitness boot camp)
- Completing a good workout
- Waaaater
- The new Black Keys discography I have to enjoy
- Girlfriends
- Various online forums that keep me writing (like this one :) 13 months ago

Today is my Friday!! (It’s really Sunday, (well, Monday now, if you wanna be technical) But it’s MY Friday in that its the last day of my work week and I have off the next 2 and a half days!) 13 months ago

Today I’m grateful for:
1. A sunny day with lots of blooming things outside
2. Buying lots of healthy and delicious things during our weekly grocery trip
3. Finally getting potting soil for my balcony garden project
4. Feeling happy and healthy (knocking on wood)
5. My husband making me laugh so many times today
6. Finding out I have another event to photograph (free but I could experiment with setup of a photo booth)
7. Watching 3 episodes of Modern Family and really enjoying it
8. Having a talk with V. about how we really don’t have to be friends with rude/inconsiderate/boastful people. It took him a while but we are finally on the same page
9. Our house being so clean and cozy as ever
10. Not having to cook – delicious pot roast and cake leftovers!
11. Having a nice evening with friends in a bar yesterday.
12. Having very little anxiety this weekend (except of around some drunk and loud people on skytrain)
13. A soccer game that was fun!
14. Our dance class on Saturday
15. Finding out our neighbors are going to have a baby – so happy for them! And it means I am going to have a baby to be around very soon (they live next door :)

ok, I better stop now… 14 months ago

Today I am grateful for

All-nighters—there’s something in the air in the middle of the night, when you haven’t slept and don’t plan to til daylight. When you’re pushing for a goal and won’t stop until you’ve completed ‘just a little more.’ You head out into the world to celebrate, and calm your hurried, bouncing-brain… and you sneak up on the sun as it rises for the city below.

Early-Spring Blossoms in the Park—(see picture :) I absolutely love that such a beautiful park is just a couple of blocks away from my apartment. I walked Peanut there this morning and got a few shots on my phone.
It also makes me really want determined to go down to D.C. to the Cherry Blossom Festival. Since the weather’s been so mild, the trees are blooming early this year. I’ve never been to see them; in fact it’d been years since I’d been to D.C, even longer since I’d been for a respectable reason (like a field trip). I hope the weather is nice next Tuesday cause I’d like to go then.

Laundromats—where I can wash, dry, and fold all my linens and etc. in less than 2 hours.

New inspirations/ideas; doodling; BEING CREATIVE

Crawling into a freshly laundered, and made bed—especially when you’ve been awake (and functioning) for nearly 40 hours

Meditation music—Thanks, Pandora! Hopefully this can help me get to sleep 14 months ago

. 14 months ago

Today I am thankful for:

- It’s my day off. I was able to sleep in (which kind of bummed me out at first, but is understandable since I was up until nearly 6 am) I had the whole day to work on my blog.

Coffee/caffeine: to help keep me going

Tumblr: I posted Day 3 and 4 of my road trip journey. I got a lot of likes, some reblogs, and 4 new followers (for a total of 20 so far!)
I tried some new stuff, and think I’m getting quicker with my process.

Fresh pineapple. YUM!

Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck: I began reading it last night when I couldn’t sleep. It’s wonderful! I took breaks between posting to read a few chapters.

43 Things: I am constantly reminded how wonderful this site it every time I use it. The more I put into it, the more I get out of it. Just like life.

750words.com: I created a new account so I could track myself from here on out. I wrote over 800 words today. I hope I can keep up with it. 14 months ago

1. No more rain for the last couple of days
2. Help and support from many people on this site :)
3. Working on organizing and unpacking and seeing the progress (finally!)
4. Amazing closeness we share with V.
5. His support during the last few days and especially on Saturday
6. Making 2 great dinners yesterday – gluten and dairy-free and a regular one
7. Finding a few more things I enjoy that are gluten free
8. My mom trying to support me in general with advice on dealing with GERD (although our conversation was a bust I ended up in tears)
9. Sleeping more and sometimes even better
10. Saturday was almost entirely pain free 15 months ago

Today I am grateful for:
1. My husband’s love and support during this difficult for me time
2. Beautiful flowers and a card with meaningful words that I got for Valentines
3. The news I got yesterday about the kids coming over and an hour long conversation with them
4. A perfect cup of hot chocolate
5. Feeling a bit stronger today
6. Finally finding a physician that I’m going to see tomorrow
7. Having time to get better and to resolve my issues
8. Seeing the signs of spring everywhere
9. Not having to go to a dentist for another 6 months
10. Yesterday’s walk by the river 15 months ago

for:
1. Discovering a new beautiful park nearby
2. Sunny weather that feels like spring
3. My loving, supportive and affectionate husband
4. Meeting friends for bowling and sushi afterwards (great place nearby!)
5. Finally being done with nagging task and putting the whole thing behind
6. Planning our trip back home in July
7. Living in this breathtaking city that keeps on surprising me every day
8. Finding a perfect present for V. for Valentine’s day
9. Calling hair salon and letting them I was not happy and getting another appointment (first time I stood for myself with a stylist :)
10. Nice casual conversation with parents 15 months ago

I wanted to put this goal on my list for a long time. It won’t be a daily goal but hopefully I will have enough reasons to be grateful often enough.
Yesterday I was grateful for:
1. Beautiful day outside
2. A great walk in downtown and taking a few nice photos along the way
3. Driving back home with my husband and hearing about his challenging but fun day
4. Making a fast but delicious dinner in a record time
5. Getting our PR cards in mail – we are Canadian residents and I look good on my ID card :)
6. Having enough money to buy gifts for people I love
7. Our stuff being picked up in Montreal (it should be here on Monday!)
8. Having friends to make fun Saturday plans with (bowling!)
9. Our families and us being healthy (except for V’s brother)
10. Better mood a couple of days in a row 15 months ago