I appreciate:

• Being able to recognize when I’m in a really negative mental space, understanding how that affects everything else, knowing how to change it, even a little bit. Take that, crabbiness! Knowledge is power, baby! 
• Being called both “young lady” (Bwa hahahahaha!) and “pretty lady” yesterday. Sweetness. 
• Driving along Minnehaha Creek in impossibly slow traffic and seeing a guy riding along on a unicycle!!! Almost as good as seeing a unicorn. Well, sort of.

I appreciate:

• That moment reading a book when you go from wondering if you’re going to bother finishing it to knowing you now have a couple hundred pages of fun ahead of you. 
• Feeling hopeful. 
• Sunshine, coffee, music and looking forward to a nice, productive day of work.

• Tasty espresso from my $1-from-a-yard-sale Mr. Coffee espresso machine. It may not be the Cadillac of espresso makers, but works just fine. 
• The incongruity of my lunch today: fresh spinach salad (an old standby) and then part of an Amy’s candy bar (which I’ve just discovered). All delicious! 

• Taste buds, which were, apparently, in charge of appreciations today.

• The amazing array of excellent coffee shops nearby — and a morning full of meetings that means I get to sample the offerings at several such places. 
• My excellent little car for managing to get me to Rochester and back, all over town to all those meetings today, to Minnetonka for work and back…all without me needing to even check the gas gauge. SO nice not to have to add in another errand today!! 
• Phones. They’re just really handy.

• My super amazing duo partner and friend, Sarah. I can’t even believe how much fun last night’s show was!! 
• My awesome family and friends — thank you for coming to the show. That was so sweet! 
• Monday morning coffee coffee. Some days I love you even more than usual….

I appreciate:

• A life rich with family and friends. I am often amazed at my great good fortune. 
• The way it smells outside after rain. I know I look like a wackadoodle walking around sniff-sniff-sniffing the air, but it is just so good! 
•  Getting to play pretend with Sarah again tonight! It’s our last show this run. 

• Red car with flower. 
• Sheets of rain pouring down and then stopping and then pouring down again. 
• Long talks and thunderstorms.

• Change. Sure does keep life interesting! 
• Finding change. You know — coins. I find them all the time. I used to mostly find pennies, but lately I’ve been finding dimes and quarters. I’m going to go ahead and believe that signifies something positive. 
• The unexpected weirdness of my schedule. I’ve been grocery shopping after 11 pm so many times the past few months. Didn’t that used to be bedtime??

• The chance to teach drop-in classes at HUGE yesterday. What a terrific group of people! You guys were amazing. I love it! 
• Not only getting the fun of teaching the class, but getting to see some really great scenes and meet some lovely new people! The cherry on top — getting some really wonderful feedback about the class. Win-win-win-win. 
• The joy of a day that includes teaching a class and taking a class — and then excellent social time after class with these gorgeous people. Excellent day.

I appreciate these people and things:

• Books that make me laugh out loud. 
• Katie, for indulging me and letting me read passages from said books to her, thereby doubling my laugh-out-louding. 
• Laugh-out-louding, laugh-out-louded, maybe even laugh-out-louder. Although I don’t know if that last one is an adjective describing something truly hilarious, or a noun. It’s probably a noun. I am definitely a laugh-out-louder. 
• Sara, for her excellent use of colons and exclamation points, among other things. (See how I changed my usual “I appreciate:” to “I appreciate these people and things:” so the text before the colon constitutes an independent clause?! This special one-time aberration is just for you!)