The Little Things

Little Thing #26: Cuddles from a puppy.

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 21:22:06 -0500

These days, I spend my time more stressed out than ever. I’m transferring locations at work, moving out on my own to an apartment I probably can’t afford and packing up my life, one box at a time. When I do get a spare moment to myself, it’s normally spent worrying about all the stuff I have to do. But sometimes, I’m lucky to spend that free time with an adorable boy and an even more adorable puppy. They are my favorites and the puppy, while adorable, is not always the sweetest dog. Her cuddles are extra sweet because they are few and far between. And so, when she jumped up on my lap to cuddle this weekend, I loved every second of it. She can be a lover, not a hater. Sometimes. And that was what kept me going this weekend. It’s the little things.

Little Thing #25: Surprises

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 08:57:37 -0500

Hello all! After a large hiatus, I think I need this little blog. It was really helping me focus on the positive and I need that now, more than ever.

Little thing #25: Surprises

I’ve been having really crappy luck these days and I had a particularly bad day last week. Well. Boys, though they can be stubborn and dense, MUST be able to pick up on these things because I had a little surprise waiting for me after work. It was small, mind you, but it meant a lot. It was Kinder chocolate, which is German and you know, I’m kinda into the whole German thing. My family is from Germany, I took German for 3 semesters in college, I just love all things German. It was sweet and thoughtful and I adore him for it. Thanks for making my day. Gutentaaaag.

Little Thing #24: A Hug from my niece.

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Thursday afternoon, I drove over to my sister’s house to show her my new car and pick up something from her. Well, as always, little Miri was so excited to see her Auntie! I love that. Miri and Krystel were both a little sick, but you could barely tell because as soon as I got there, Miri started bringing all of her books over to show me and we started doing a puzzle and it was adorable. Well, Krystel says Miri gets particularly cuddly when she is not feeling great, so Miri wanted to sit in my lap, which was also adooorable. And at one point she stood up, walked away and came running back with her arms open to tackle me into a hug. It was so cute and definitely made that rainy Thursday a little better. :)

Little Thing #23: The last few moments before you say goodbye.

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 20:55:00 -0400

I know you’re expecting this to be a really sentimental, mushy post, but I am actually talking about my old car, Octavius. haha. I recently got a new car, which is great. And I’m donating my old car, Octavius to a charity. Well, I haven’t had the time to do all the paperwork for his donation yet, so he is still sitting on the street outside of my house. I actually had to drive him for a few days after I got my new car while the insurance got switched over. Those last few times driving Octavius were so bittersweet. I knew the end was near for our time together and it made me sad, but I was happy thinking about all of the trips we had made together and all of the memories.

He was a good car, Octavius, and I won’t soon forget him! <3

Little Thing #22: Finding the right name for my new car.

Wed, 03 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0400

I have had my new car for a few days now and I absolutely adore it. But I had a hard time figuring out what his name was. I have to name my car - it’s an absolute must. We will be spending a lot of time together and I have to know what to call him. Well. Driving home last night, it came to me. Leopold. I liked the idea of calling him Leo, but wasn’t sure what the full name should be. I kind of liked Leonidas, but that is so Greeky (or Spartay to be more correct) and my last car was named Octavius so I kinda wanted to get away from the whole Greek/Roman thing and try something new. And so I found Leopold. It is Germanic and means brave or bold people. I like it. And it was very satisfying to finally know what I am supposed to call my car from now on. :)

Little Thing #21: Listening to people with accents.

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0400

I love listening to people talk. Even if they don’t have an accent. It’s just interesting to me how people say words differently. I love it. But today, a co-worker and myself had to make a call to the IT people of our company to get one of the registers fixed. And the guy that helped us was from Australia. And it was lovely to hear him speak. It definitely made my day a little better, that’s for sure. And now I am off to work again, so I will say….G’day.

Little Thing #20: Snapple facts.

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 18:24:00 -0400

I love tea. Iced tea, hot tea, whatever. I love it. I particularly love taking Snapple to me when I go to work. It is tasty and refreshing. And something that just makes me love snapple even more are the Snapple Real Facts. Most of the time, they are things I know, but sometimes they are just so random and out of the blue and I love them. Thanks for teaching me things, Snapple. I appreciate it.

Little Thing #19: Dressing up on Halloween.

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 18:20:19 -0400

I don’t care how old I get, I will always dress up for Halloween. It just reminds me of when I was little, getting dressed up to go trick or treating. A simpler time, for sure. I love Halloween. I love dressing up. It is a wonderful thing. Trick or treat, everyone.

Little Thing #18: Ok, this one's big.

Sat, 30 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0400

I am now the proud owner of a 2008 Mazda 3. It is metallic grey and I am absolutely in love with it. My old car has been dying a slow death and it is so exciting to have a reliable vehicle. And it’s all in my name, which is just affirming the fact that I am growing up and turning into a real person. I love it. And it terrifies me. But mostly it makes me smile. :)

Congratulations to me! :D

Little thing #17: Days off in the middle of the week

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Having a day of from work that isn’t the weekend is a WONDERFUL thing. It is so less hectic to run errands, go out for a run, go shopping, get dinner, whatever. There are far fewer people out and about and people are just more pleasant during the week, I think.

I love having off in the middle of the week. It’s great.

Little Thing #16: Making someone else laugh

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 22:43:37 -0400

I had a terrible day. Really awful. But in my rather bitter and annoyed mood, I made someone’s day - a coworker of mine. We had a rather serious situation occur and I was taking my frustrations out on a display we were making. And she could NOT stop laughing at me, which in turn made me laugh.

Laughter is great. And I love making people laugh. :)

Little Thing #15: Dark chocolate-dipped pretzels

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 23:00:13 -0400

Holy crap, Rold Gold, you’ve really outdone yourself this time. After an extraordinarily awful day at work, I needed some chocolate in my life. I came across these little pieces of heaven in the groceria and could not pass them up. Rold Gold pretzels. Dark chocolate. A beautiful and perfect combination, perfect for curing all that ails you. Including terrible days at work. Thanks, pretzel guys, you’ve made my day.

Little Thing #14: Cashiers with personality

Tue, 26 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0400

It’s ever so refreshing when you get a cashier that does more than just the plain old Hi, how are you? Blah blah blah. Got that when I went to Safeway. A nice woman was the cashier and she actually had a conversation with me. It was a short one, but it was nice to actually talk to her, instead of just say hi and then leave. Kudos to you, nice check-out lady.

Little Thing #13: The smell of leaves.

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 00:12:00 -0400

I love Autumn. Love love love love it. Everything about it, down to the smell of the leaves during this wonderful time of year. Up until now, I had not caught a whiff of that lovely smell of dying leaves. haha. But tonight, on my drive home, it made its way into my car, which was delightful. It is truly one of my favorite smells - I wish they made a candle called “autumn leaves”. Do they? They probably do…(They do…)

I can’t imagine the candle smells anything like the real thing though. I love it and today, it made me smile.

Little Thing #12: Hanging up on telemarketers

Sat, 23 Oct 2010 18:05:56 -0400

I think this one’s pretty self explanatory. But seriously, this telemarketer calls the store today to try to talk me into something. A) It’s a BUSINESS. B) It’s the WEEKEND. Why on Earth would you bother me? K, bye. The telemarketer didn’t make me smile, but telling him I didn’t have time for him and hanging up did. :)

Little Thing #11: Trees

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Today, I saw the most beautiful thing. Driving down the road, trees in full autumnal bloom. From the back, the trees were illuminated by the full moon and from the front, the trees were lit by the setting sun. One of the most gorgeous things I’ve ever seen. If only I could have taken a picture. But alas, I was driving and had no camera, other than the one on my cell phone.

Little Thing 10: Dancing leaves.

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Driving to work today, I saw one of my favorite fall-time occurrences. When leaves get swept up in the wind and seemingly dance down the road/sidewalk. It is a truly magical thing. I love fall. And leaves. And getting caught up in a tornado of fall-time wonder and majesty. :)

Little Thing #9: Buying new clothes

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 18:38:13 -0400

I recently got a new job that requires that I dress fancy. And while I have some fancy clothes, for the amount of shifts I have per week, I needed more fancy clothes! So, today (and Monday, too actually) I went out to find some new threads. Well. There’s something about getting new clothes that just makes you feel good. I was not having a really fantastic day before, but now I feel great. I love clothes. And when you look good, you feel good. It’s just a fact.

It doesn’t hurt when said fancy clothes are on sale either. Thanks, new job, for giving me an excuse to buy new clothes and smile, of course.

"Life is made up of small pleasures. Happiness is made up of those tiny successes. The big ones come..."

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 10:50:33 -0400

“

Life is made up of small pleasures. Happiness is made up of those tiny successes. The big ones come too infrequently. And if you don’t collect all these tiny successes, the big ones don’t really mean anything.

-Norman Lear, writer and producer

”

Little Thing #8: Hearing a good song on the radio

Tue, 19 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0400

I rarely listen to the radio when I drive. I normally have my iPod plugged in. However, my place of employment is about 7 minutes away from my house so I don’t feel like it’s worth it to plug in my iPod for approximately 1.7 songs. So, I turn on the radio. Most of the time, it is fairly disappointing, but yesterday was a great day for radio. There are some songs that just put you in a good mood and I really appreciated that as I drove to work, knowing it would be a slow and boring night.

The song? Neon Trees, Animal. It totally made me smile. Thanks, radio. You did good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM7Hlg75Mlo