friends

DianaK

Appreciations 4.126 – Christmas eve

Meowy-Christmas-1One of those perfectly perfect days! Started this morning (after a good night’s sleep – hurray!) making more cards while Holiday Inn played on the tv in the background.

Then, after a day of projects and wrapping, I got to see the Best. Christmas Pageant. Ever. It was sweet and funny and inclusive and involved lots and lots of singing, and best of all, featured my favorite Ruby as one of the angels. 🙂 Beautiful! Surprise bonus: sitting behind Sara and Rochelle and getting a chance to reconnect with them. What a sweet treat!

Perfect end to the day: Seeing the new Star Wars movie with Mckenzie. It was awesome! Feeling pretty darn grateful about everything right now. 💗

DianaK

Appreciations 4.123 – Winter Solstice

solstice 2Imprompu dinner with Katie and Cina! I love how flexible and easy our plans always feel. I love the fun we always have. 😀

Candlelight and holiday lights. I’d forgotten how soothing it is to sit in a room filled with candlelight.

Winter solstice. It’s the one time of year that I take some time to sit in the darkness and the quiet and just be. How peaceful and lovely.

Happy solstice to you all. The light is returning! Solstice 1

DianaK

Appreciations 4.121 – appreciate, rinse, repeat

I love reading what I appreciated on the same date last year before I write each day’s appreciation. It’s so much fun to think about last year’s brilliant and sweet moments! It’s also funny when things line up… like me having a cold starting at the same time last year. Haha! There have been other, more random things that have lined up from one year to the next, though I can’t remember them right now (because of my foggy cold-brain. Hahaha!)

Spent a lovely afternoon with the Delaneys today. Mmmm. I love that even when we’ve not been able to see each other much, being together still feels like home.  💗

A lovely evening with Katie and Cina who came over to bake about a gazillion snickerdoodles! I love how the holidays seem to give us excuses to see each other more often. I also LOVE that they made tiny mini fairy-sized snickerdoodle dots! 😀

snickerdoodles 1snickerdoodles 2

DianaK

Appreciations 4.120 – A really good night

Watching snowflakes swirling in the air as I worked this morning. Pretty!

Finishing work in time for a teeny tiny nap before leaving for tonight’s concert.

The sheer bliss of Ellis‘ show on every level. Watching Ellis share herself so warmly and beautifully, listening to her amazing songs, and seeing her effect on folks in the audience is a profoundly humbling and breathtaking experience. Add to that the joy of sharing the night with so many people I adore, snuggling with Ida during some of the songs and watching her open people’s hearts in her own way, hearing Ruby sing Deck the Halls and entertain us with some amazing jokes, seeing friends I’d not seen in ages, singing along as part of Ellis’ “flashmob band”… I don’t have the words to adequately describe how soul-satisfying it was. It was a really, really good night. 💗💗💗

DianaK

Appreciations 4.118 – celebrating life

Another amazing morning celebrating life with Pam. What an honor to be part of her healing process. What fun to meet all the people she’s touched with her sunny attitude, punny jokes, and funny funning. 😀 There were so many hugs and and happy smiles as her team celebrated her final Elixir of Radiant Life treatment. Pure bliss to be part of that!

After the spa, we had a scrumptious lunch at the Neighborhood Cafe. Tasty food and super-friendly staff! Of course, during lunch we had our usual far-ranging, engaging, hilarious talk about life, the universe, and everything. Plus, she taught me all about dijonaise for french fries. So good!

Got home and took two quick naps (no judging — I am still learning about napping!) before getting a little work done. And now it’s time for bed!

DianaK

Appreciations 4.117

Oh, the brilliance of our bodies! I’ve been feeling for many days now that I’m “doing” to the very limits (and maybe a bit beyond) of my energy… Then, this morning I woke up with a cold. It’s like my body is saying, “Hey, lady! Would you take it easy?! More down, time, ya hear?!” and then since I didn’t listen, it decided to take matters into its own hands. 😛 One curious thing, though…why does my body sound like a New Yorker when it talks to me?? 😉

Wanting a little black cotton skirt for the past couple months, then REALLY wanting one to wear for our last performance today, then going out to Goodwill & Arc and finding exactly what I wanted, easily and for $4.00. Yay!

Our final performance for the year was so much fun! It was so wonderful to look out at the Veteran’s Home residents and other people who came out, and see faces becoming more smiley and more animated as we went along. And I didn’t fall down! I was a little dizzy for the first coupla songs and wasn’t quite sure how it’d go, but then things settled down and the whole rest of the show was pure joy. 💗 Thank you so much for coming to see us, Alison, Sarah, and Ray! That was such a treat for me!!

DianaK

Appreciations 4.116

The interesting back and forth of thoughts and ideas about what is possible. Some days everything feels possible and some days just getting out of bed seems impossible. Hahaha! Aren’t our thoughts wacky, weird, wonderful things?!

The sweet joy of the Earthtones holiday party. I just love these women! And oh, white elephant, what a hilarious and fun game! I love watching someone’s face light up over an item someone else was ready to let go (or never wanted in the first place). And so fun to see which are the hot ticket items… like the Irish Writer coaster set! 😀

Driving home along the creek and looking at all the lights. So pretty!

DianaK

Appreciations 4.115

Water.

Beautiful and friendly Samoyeds. Oooooh, I almost want to get a dog again!

Finding a nice balance between doing and not doing today… got some food made for the week, took a nap, got my toesies all dressed up for the holidays, and spent a wonderful afternoon/evening luxuriating in the friendship with people I adore. 💗

DianaK

Appreciations 4.114

Another yummy morning singing with my beautiful Earthtones. Singing with these women fills me with so much wonder and love. 💗

The joy of getting to sing to some of my people! 😀 Thank you for coming out and making today even more joyful, Katie, Cina, Laura, and Sarah! Ida’s dancing had everyone grinning and giggling!

A lovely visit with Sarah and Ida. It feels like it had been so so so long… you know, like 2 weeks. 😉 What a wonderful afternoon of reconnecting!

Big evening of resting. I’m learning more and more about my time and energy resource management (much of it from my darling and inspiring friend Pam). Time for bed!

DianaK

Appreciations 4.109 – change

Woke up this morning having not slept very well, and found that as Pam says, “my cheery was weary” — meaning I was feeling a little more cranky/anxious/depressed than usual. So I did my day, noticing this, but not being overly concerned. So what do I appreciate about that? It gave me the chance to super appreciate my brain! I knew it would find some good stuff at some point.

candy cane cremesMckenzie and I went out to pick up just a couple things at Kowalski’s and while we were there, I found my favorite, most delicious seasonal gluten-free cookies! I hadn’t been able to find them at the co-op where I got them last year, nor online, and had been feeling sad. 😦 But there they were!

And yes, my little brain went to work and got all happy about it. And then it kept on working and decided that really the whole rest of the day leading up to that moment had been pretty good, and it pointed out to me that life really is, in most ways, pretty spectacular. Thanks, brain! 😀

window lightsI am further buoyed by the thrill of having lights up on the fence and around the windows. Pretty pretty pretty lights!

Topping off this very good day was a wonderfully fun rehearsal with women I love. Singing with them fills me up in so many ways!

Hahaha – the fun continues. Thank you, Pam, for your good ideas about wordplay!!….Now I’m thinking of other fun ways to describe my mood this morning…

My sunny felt funny?
My delight took flight?
My jolly’s AWOL-ly?
My sparkle went darkle?
My perky is murky?
My bright’s very slight?
My bubble’s in trouble?
My view’s in a stew?
My elation’s on vacation?
My glee is wee?
My grinning is thinning?
My mood’s got a ‘tude?

Other ideas? I’d love to hear them!!