Disclaimer:  It’s Friday and I’m exhausted and highly caffeinated, so this post is a little all over the place.  please excuse any rambles or typos  today.

January was a big month for me.  I planned 80% of our wedding– we signed venue contract, booked photographer, dj, florist, limo, bus, hotel room block and hair/makeup person, bought my dress, chose bridesmaid dresses, ordered the invitations, and more.  Whew.  I threw a huge dog toy charity event….and since then have expanded the organization and have some exciting things in the works.  We went to Tahoe.  I discovered my new favorite workout obsession (kickboxing- I look forward to it all week).  I subbed at Sunday School (the kids are so cute).  I saw that guy die at my gym right before my eyes.  And then, of course, Jared’s grandma died and we flew back to Florida unexpectedly a few days ago.

At least January has been full of really, really nice sunsets

January has been full.  It’s been stressful, trying, and exhilarating.   Some of it was a lot of fun.  But some of it was tough too.  The tough parts reminded me once again to appreciate what we do have in life and to stay grounded in the simple things.

It’s so easy to forget how lucky we really are. 

After having two death experiences this month, it’s made me a little reflective.   I know it’s been said many times before, but at the end of someone’s life, they’ll never say they wish they spent more time working or more time doing errands, etc.  We want our life to be full of the things that really matter.  And more often than not, it’s really the simple times just being fully present together that we enjoy most.  It’s up to us to make the most of life before it’s too late.

In case you were wondering where I spend 40+ hours of every week….this is it! Exciting stuff, huh? Coffee, suglasses, photo of jared are pretty much constant accessories

I’ve said it before on the blog, but I often need to be reminded to appreciate the simple things.

I want to be more consciously grateful for the things I take for granted.  I was at a friend’s birthday happy hour last night and met a girl who is a doctor and spent the past 18 months in Rwanda.  She said that since moving back to Cali, she is so fearful of getting back into the materialistic mindset that is so common in American culture.  “We don’t even realize how good we have it!” she kept saying.  And she’s right.  If we have a headache someone will always have Tylenol to help you, we have full grocery stores, we can (usually) walk down the street safely, we can afford tvs and warm clothes when we need them, etc.  We stress about the trivial things like not having the right outfit to wear to a party.

So in February, my goal is to capture one thing I’m thankful for….kinda like Kate does on one of my favorite blogs.

I tried to do this a few months ago, but I felt so boring that I stopped recording it.  But I promise to stick to it this time.  It might be a second post of the day or I might combine it with my regular post…some might be really, really mundane and simple and some might be more interesting…we’ll see how it goes.  I’m hoping that by the end of the month, I’ll have done a better job adding gratuity to my life and appreciating how lucky I really am.

So here goes…..really simple things number 1 and 2 from yesterday:

February 1st:

1) I’m grateful for having a Starbucks near work that I can walk to…..

Some days you just need fresh air and just need some caffeine.  A 15 minute walk for coffee makes some afternoons, including yesterday, just so much better.  I work in the subburbs….if I was in the City, this wouldn’t be an issue because there’s a coffee shop every 2 blocks, but I’m not.  So it is.

tall coffee, s’il vous plait.

2) The post office….

Now this might sound really silly, but I actually think it’s kinda neat that you just drop something in the blue box and then it gets to whomever you want it to get to in only 2 days (ish).  Plus, finding a card or a magazine in your mailbox is SOOO much better than just opening your email inbox.

Okay, so this was my long way of saying that I’m going to count my blessings and become more grateful this month.  We’ll see how it changes me by the end of February!

Anyone want to participate???

– Have you ever kept a gratitude journal?
– What’s one thing unexpected January has taught you or made you think about?